#people look at him and go like THAT is the fullmetal alchemist? the one that used to pick a fight wherever he went?

[erlico]

ed should look like a total nerd after 25...

[sassydefendorflower]

One of the biggest “I love you”s in Fullmetal Alchemist are all the ways people respect each other’s bodily autonomy. There are two scenes that carry this theme to its fullest potential, and I love them so, so much.

The first one is quite iconic: Riza’s throat was slit and Roy has a chance to save her - by dooming their country and committing human transmutation. And Roy would do it. He would throw it all away just to save her, even though he knows that human transmutation is an unforgivable sin. But she looks at him and signals him to Not Do It. And he doesn’t. He wants to, but he doesn’t do it. Because only minutes earlier, he hurt her again by dooming himself (and potentially the country) with his fury.  And if there is one thing Roy Mustang doesn’t want to do, it’s hurt Riza Hawkeye any more than he already has. Even if that means watching her die. Even if that means letting her go.

He respects her and their goals enough to say no.

He loves her enough to let her die.

The second one is just as heart-wrenching: after Al sacrificed himself, basically dying in the process, Ed tries to think of a way to save him. Both Hohenheim and Ling offer him a Philosopher’s Stone to bring Al back - and Ed says No. Even though he wants nothing more in life than to save his little brother. Even though there is nothing he wants more desperately than the safety of Al. He says no for many reasons - Hohenheim is his father after all, Ling needs the stone to become Emperor - but mostly he says no because he and Al promised to never use a Stone for themselves. And he respects that. He puts Al’s wish above his own desire to see his little brother again. He respects Al’s decision (his own conviction) enough to break the rules of the world to find another way.

Because he loves Al - he loves him enough not to break the fundamentals of their principles. He loves him enough to respect the integrity of their believes.

And the narrative rewards both Roy and Edward for their choice to respect the agency and bodily autonomy of their loved ones - they survive, are saved, are brought back... and neither Ed nor Roy had to force their own desire for them to live on clearly stated last wishes.

So often we see media portray the disregard for bodily autonomy (especially in medical contexts) as a sign of love, the breaking of patient-doctor confidentiality as a sign of care, the violation of a living will as a sign of family - I like to think that Fullmetal Alchemist shows us that there’s strength in respecting it instead.

[shadysadie]

I love that Raine got to be part of the final battle.

With as many people as Belos hurt, pretty much all the characters deserved to be there to help deliver the final blow (or final *stompstompstomp*) but short of doing a giant Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood style showdown in the middle of the castle (which would not suit this show like it did FMAB) there was just no way that everyone who deserved to see Belos destroyed was going to get that satisfaction. 

I really love that the one extra person that got to join the Owl Family for this was Raine. 

Because Raine has given absolutely everything to the revolution. Idle Scree has a fantastic video on the subject, but to sum it up, Raine went into the bard coven with the explicit goal of working their way up through the ranks and uncovering the truth behind Belos’ plans. It has taken them decades of espionage to get where they are. They cut themself off from all of their relationships, crossed moral boundaries, and even asked the woman they love to give up her life in order to take Belos down. 

So when Belos takes control of them they fight back.

While Hunter’s possession is a lot more brutal, simply because Belos specifically wanted to make Hunter suffer as much as possible, while mocking Luz and friends, Raine’s struggle is almost harder to watch.

They’re getting tossed around, their arms are getting dislocated at the very least, they’ve vomiting Belos goop, but they are still fighting with everything they have to regain control because they did not spend their life trying to take Belos down just to end up his play thing. 

Hunter had to crush his best friend with his own hand in order to break free of Belos, Raine is fighting with indignation and fury alone.

And they keep fighting.

Even without their weapon, as soon as they have enough control to get their fingers to their mouth, they cast Belos out. And after that, they could have given up. They were free. They must have been exhausted, but they are clever, probably the most clever person on the Boiling Isles, so they realize exactly what’s going to happen and they can not let that happen.

The way they fall up the stairs here shows just how hurt and tired they are. Think of what their timeline has looked like from their perspective: the Day of Unity happened, they nearly died from the draining spell, they fought through excruciating pain to save Eda as what they thought was their final act, then the eclipse ends and they are still alive, but suddenly these evil stars are attacking them, then they spend months “sequestered in a darkness like onto death” only to be awoken and have their most hated enemy take over their body. 

And through all that THEY KEEP GOING.

And again, this fight is brutal, they are basically suffocating in Belos’s flesh towards the end, and they still don’t give up.

They shatter their weapon in one last ditch effort to stop Belos, but it doesn’t work.

They lost. They were a second too late and now everything they fought for is for nothing. Belos made it to the heart. He can take control of the very Titan itself, and there is nothing Raine can do to stop him.

But even then, they don’t give up. They keep whistling, even if it’s weak, even if it doesn’t do much, they whistle to keep themself alive, because they are going to keep fighting until their very last breath.

So after all of that, the fact that they get to be one of the people who actively take Belos down…well, I think they say it best for themself…

[zelmyna-dragonheart]

I don't normally scream about other people's rottmnt au on here, but @somerandomdudelmao 's Cass Apocalypse Au is driving me up the wall, and I have words!!

Everyone who is reading the series knows it is currently in the process of Casey Jr. resurrecting his uncle/dad's.

Theory Time!

First off, let's go into why Casey can do this.

Yes, Cass has confirmed that the memory spell that was used was mixed with a time travel one. Thus, using one's memory's as a gateway to not only traverse time but dimensions.

However, Casey Jr. is able to see spirits when he does this but also remains physically in the present - which leads me to think that he is being astroprojected across time and space as a literal spirit. Hence why he can visit his memories and the past without altering the events on a physical level. As a spirit, Casey Jr. can see and engage with other spirits in existence at that time.

In the powers of spirit to spirit interaction, he is the only person alive who can literally pull other spirits through dimensions. With his body anchored in one time branch and his memories anchored in the other one, Casey Jr. Is the literal bridge for spirits to cross from one to the other.

No matter the condition of the spirit.

Theory #2

Cass has shown us F.Mikey communing with his ancestors when Donnie originally pasted on. It also was largely suspected the krangg could destroy ninpo and spirits.

With the Hamatos, spirits and ninpo are consister linked if not one. So, of course, when Casey Jr. travels back to his past in his time branch and is able to intact and unintentionally pull Donnie's disintegrating spirit into and out of time with him; Casey Jr. effectively saved Donnie's ninpo. Immediately after his recuse, Donnie admits that his NINPO is in shambles and that he is doing everything in his power to hold it together.

With this confirmation in mind, let's have a look at the conditions surrounding the other turtles' ninpos and spirits.

First off, Raph

Raph's spirit and ninpo were perfectly healed and intact with in the robot body Donnie created for him. The only thing is that Raph's 'body' could be turned activated or shut down. Like a Fullmetal Alchemist parallel, Raph's soul, spirit, and ninpo are housed within a metal container. In episode two or three, when Casey Jr. found the robot, Raph was reactivated after an emergency shutdown that lasted YEARS.

His ninpo and spirit woke up. Know that, shutting himself down again to allow his generator to be redirected as a power source would not kill Raph but rather put him to sleep. He would never die but remain suspended for all time, trapped in his metal shell until someone reactivated him.

This made Raph not only be the easiest but most accessible spirit for Casey Jr. to rescue. Raphs' spirit would have remained there, in perfect condition, for however long it took for Casey to get to him.

Now, let's look at Mikey.

This old mystic warrior was the most in tune and most powerfully adept with his abilities. Drained he may have been, Mikey said that opening a time gateway would use whatever he had left. His mystic powers and ninpo are linked. Opening the time gateway was a strain on his spirit, his ninpo. He was literally splintering apart as he opened the portal. In Mikey’s moment of death, he pushed the last of his ninpo in the portal. His ninpo burst like a firework.

At this point of this written theory, Mikey's has not been rescued.

This leads me to speculate the condition and difficulty of said rescue for one Casey Jr. Mikey's soul is untrained by Krangg's chemical warfare, so it is not in danger of disintegrating but nor is his soul bound to a metal shell, his spirit is actually free to reform and rejoin his Hamato clan.

This leaves Casey Jr. vary little time to connect with Mikey's spirit. There is the option that he will witness Mikey's ninpo shattering into a million pieces. However, he may also be witness to Mikey's ninpo, in stark contrast to Donnie rapidly decaying ninpo spirit, pull back together. In glorious younger self. All golden and whole.

All that training and usage of his ninpo would have given his spirit and ninpo the ability to reform faster than one that was infected with a ninpo-distorying illness. This moment, where Mikey spirit lingers before ascending or choosing to join with his ancestors, Casey would have to approach.

Then again... Mikey could also rather stick around and wait for Leo to join him.

Option 2 is that when Mikey explodes, Casey Jr. would have to act fast to catch the ninpo pieces upon explosion. I like option number one a lot better.

Regardless, Mikey could be a time sensitive rescue. Mikey is quite literally a wild card in this realm.

This brings us to Leo.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

It's not a secret that Casey has related to Younger Leo about how his future self was a shield for Mikey's ninpo.

F.Leo is shown to have sacrificed the use of his ninpo, or lack there of, to draw the Kranggs apparently one-time-use ability to lock or damage ninpo/magic on to himself to free Mikey to mystically blast Kranggs to oblivion. In contrast to Mikey's fully intact Hamato ninpo, Leo's utterly demolished ninpo is in full view for us to see .

How it got way we can only speculate - but it may have been sacrificed to help Mikey originally and never fully recovered. F.Leo even claimed once, after using his ninja skills of speed to confuse and irritate Krangg into using that ninpo destroying sonic wave they have, that he had no magic or anything for them to destroy.

So here is the thing. If a Hamato spirit and ninpo are one in the same... where does this leave Leo's spirit? His soul? His ninpo? It's all in pieces, broken, destroyed. Claimed to no longer exist. But the pieces remain.

They are pieces in a container. Like how Raph's spirit and ninpo were contained in metal, Leo's broken ones were still collected together within his living body.

So what happens when Leo's body is incinerated by that krangg's beam death? Like his twin, Leo’s spirit has been affected by the krangg and was unable to heal. There is no holding himself together here. He is most likely already like clear glass like pieces on the breeze or scattering in the wake of the after math. Destined to fade from existence.

He's the most likely to join his Hamato ancestors immediately, but without the ability to pull his ninpo together on his own, Leo would take time to reform with the Hamoto Clans help.

If Casey is to save Leo's ninpo and spirit at all, he would have to find away to collect the pieces of Leo's shattered ninpo once the beam hits.

Another problem, if Kraggs technology has the effect of destroying one's spirit, Casey's astroprojected spirit could be in danger if that death beam gets too close. He wouldn't be able to save his sensai and himself if that is in the way and active.

Saving Leonardo's shattered spirit and ninpo would not only be near impossible, but a definite risk to Casey Jr.'s own spirit. Astroprojecting his spirit still puts put's his life in clear physical danger of coming in contact with spirit damaging tech. Saving any remnant of his sensai's spirit and ninpo is going to acquire a plan. Or dumb luck.

That being said... Donnie is our evidence that even in pieces, Leo could be saved. Casey Jr. would have to get dangerously close to the death beam. That or stand among the lingering pieces of Leo's soul as they float for a moment in the aftermath. In any instance, all Casey Jr. would need to do is come in contact with any of these spirit partials, and they would all be sucked up in to him.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure Leo's broken spirit would be overly responsive to any of Casey' Jr. 's concerned shouts, if at all. But Casey would be able to feel him.

On returning to the present, we know from Donnie that krangg effects are left behind. This would result in two ways of Leo being resurrected.

1. On returning to the present, Casey would scramble for the cloning tube and instantly deposit the ninpo fragments. Leo would return with a new body shell for his broken bits. In this case, Leo would probably be comatose for a good long while until his pieces, now cleansed from anything krangg, reform and heal in safty.

2. Leo's ninpo is too weak to transfer into his clone and takes refuge in Casey instead until his cleansed ninpo pieces find a way to pull together. Maybe with help from Mikey?

Also, could Casey house two Hamato souls at once? Since Mikey and Leo practically died at the same time.

Because to wrap horribly long theory thread, I would almost expect a spirit Mikey to tell Casey's to grab Leo first then come back for him as Mikey's spirit is safe in the aftermather of the death beam. If Casey housed two Hamato spirits at once (headache just thinking about it), then Mikey mystic warrior aspect could collect and even help mend Leo's shattered ninpo.

But in conclusion, F. Leo is the most at risk and dangerous Hamato spirit to rescue. Logic states that there would be a possibility that F.Leo may never get rescued and be a lonely turtle spirit with his ancestors after. However, this is Cass's Au and Donnie of all people is defying logic. So I predict that some kind of Dumb Luck option from above will be Leo's saving grace. I just feel Casey Jr. is going to have a few singe marks on his soul to tell about when all this is said and done.

TL:DR - Raph was the easiest turtle to rescue as his spirit was stuck in a tin can. Mikey is a wild card in terms of spirit condition, but saveable on a time limit. Leo is the most riskiest and dangerous to save with a broken ninpo.

Casey Jr. and Donnie have no fear.

Live on future turtles!

[mostlybuddingthoughts]

Me letting go of 2023 negativity looks like this: I, personally, did not enjoy how Madhouse's anime adaptation did the Ring Scene in Frieren.

Spoilers for episode 14 of the anime, and the equivalent manga chapters they were based from.

Fundamentally I think it comes down to this shot.

Himmel drops to one knee, and Frieren looks… Shocked? Surprised? Either way, it's a much more dramatic expression than I was expecting. Than the one I read in the manga.

Frieren constantly has this detached air in her flashbacks. We know this, and we know why: she hasn't yet realised that these people are important, and hasn't begun to make the conscious effort to learn about and open up to them.

So why does the anime choose to emphasise Frieren's expression? We should know Frieren's expression. In doing so, it seems to imply that it this expression is a deviation from the norm. That this affected her in a way beyond normal.

But it didn't. Like all other flashbacks, she never realised the beauty of it except in retrospect. Which is why I do think Frieren looking at the Ring after Himmel's death was an excellent addition by the anime.

(incidentally, I do like the subsequent shot of her face which DOES emphasise her confusion)

No, like all other flashbacks, this isn't necessarily about Frieren, but about Himmel. And above all other chapters, I think this chapter gave us a glimpse beneath Himmel's normal charisma. At the heartbreak he carries inside.

I think this panel single-handedly was the reason for why this chapter was the most popular chapter in recent polls.

This manga always has these smiles I love. People always say the characters only have one expression, but I don't think that's true.

The smiles all have such different feelings to them.

And this one is paiiinnnnn.

You can see how cruel he finds the situation. That Frieren would pick a gift so close to his desires whilst being entirely oblivious. His brow, raised just so, is an amused wince. His smile, so flat and drawn out, lingers in irony.

I've seen videos where people made the same comparison.

(if someone could help me find the video, I'll add a link. I've found YouTube's history to be very finicky, and I can't find it)

But despite the universe mocking him, Himmel puts it to the side. In the manga, I feel you can understand his intentions even more. To accept that Frieren doesn't understand, and probably won't ever reciprocate his intentions, but he can still indulge in the fantasy, selfishly, just for a bit.

I've always liked how Frieren looked here. Politely curious, I've described it to others before. She knows something is happening, but no idea what or why she should really care.

While this shot is fine, I do somehow feel the emphasis is once again going to Frieren. But again, I feel like this isn't about Frieren. Frieren is entirely passive in this scene (that's why it's paiiiinnn). It's about Himmel and what he chose to do with the ring, because it shows what he felt about it and her.

Anyway, the anime adaptation is beautiful and a 10/10, but I think this is the first time I've seen the anime stumbling in adapting its source material. A pity is was with the most popular manga chapter.

I could not be happier or more surprised that this anime is becoming so popular in the mainstream. No better successor to Fullmetal Alchemist at the top of MAL.

[pikahlua]

I've been in the dkbk fandom for 3 years and my husband is an anime only. We just watched the new episode and he was disappointed. He predicted that Star will die and the plot won't really move forward. He's a sci-fi fan and he's seen many a series fall apart after more characters, complexity, and a war are introduced. I've been avoiding spoling the manga for him but since he's lost interest, I spoiled him and confirmed that the manga has been in a holding pattern for 2-3 years with this final arc. I told him what you said about Bk's death and Deku losing his arms as being symbolic but he said those actions being reversed lowers the stakes and it's hard to maintain emotional investment if you know that major plot points will just get reversed. I wanna believe in Hori but I'm waiting for payoff instead of enjoying the story. Is what's happening really good storytelling if this final battle has been dragging on so long and Deku's characterization has come to a halt?

I’m hesitant to answer this. I said I wouldn't answer any asks that were looking to me for reasons to keep liking MHA, and I really don't want to encourage more asks like this--and yes OP, I don't know if you realize it but that's basically what you're asking. You've framed this question around your husband's opinions, but you're couching your own thoughts inside.

If your issue is that you and your husband like different media, then that's a marital issue to resolve; accept that you shouldn't always watch all media together, particularly if doing so isn't fun for both of you. But your husband doesn't like what's going on in MHA, and this is enough to make you doubt whether or not MHA is written well? Despite the fact that many, many people like MHA in its current form? That sounds more to me like you agree with your husband. It certainly doesn't sound like you tried to sell this story arc to him.

I decided I'll answer a question like this this one time because it'll help me summarize my feelings on these topics, though I'm sorry to say the topics I address may not be what you expect.

"We just watched the new episode and he was disappointed. He predicted that Star will die and the plot won't really move forward."

Is this really a surprise? I don't remember anyone being all that into this arc when it first came out. Everyone was saying Star would die, and yet most people did not correctly predict the actual outcome of this fight--that Star's quirk would be eliminated and Tomura would be weakened. Most guessed Tomura would steal Star's quirk and become overpowered.

"He's a sci-fi fan and he's seen many a series fall apart after more characters, complexity, and a war are introduced."

You mention sci-fi but uh, has your husband watched like...any other anime? Ever? At all? MHA is far from the first shounen anime to do this. You can't really make your husband like MHA if his problem is that he came to an anime restaurant and got upset when there was nothing but anime on the menu.

Seriously, MHA is not doing all that much different with its ending than what Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood did, and that's one of the most critically acclaimed shounen anime of all time. If he's predisposed to dislike the stuff anime does, that's not a writing problem. That's a mismatch of anime with his tastes.

It strikes a nerve with me because I grew up loving anime and was bullied for it by people with opinions such as your husband's. Now, the mainstream-ification of anime has drawn those same sorts of people to anime for whatever reason, and all they seem to wanna do is complain about anime being anime. Take sci-fi for example: I typically hate outerspace-themed media and the concepts such media often explore, and you know what I do? Not watch it. I've decided such media is not for me. Honestly, the same is true for a lot of anime too. I am very picky about anime because there are some tropes or themes I'm just sick of.

"I've been avoiding spoling the manga for him but since he's lost interest, I spoiled him and confirmed that the manga has been in a holding pattern for 2-3 years with this final arc."

This is where it sounds like you primed him with your own feelings, because it certainly doesn't sound like you were selling him. I don't even know what this means. "A holding pattern"? Do you mean the arc has just been going on a long time (see: welcome to anime being anime)? Or do you mean not much has happened with Izuku? Because I am getting a bit of a sense that your issue is you're an Izuku fan and his growth has been slow because the arc has had to wrap up all the other characters' arcs first. Because a lot HAS been happening with all the other characters (and we recently got some Izuku progression too).

The only other thing I can think of is an opinion I've had for a long time. I think a lot of anime fans don't realize they're not actually manga people. You watch an anime you like a lot and you wanna get up to speed, so you go to the manga not understanding that the manga is different from the anime. The pacing is different, as is the presentation and focus on details. The manga presents one or two story points per chapter, whereas anime episodes are 2-3 chapters compressed into one sitting. The anime's major selling point is its fast pacing, but this is not a selling point of the manga--of ANY weekly manga. "2-3 years" means very little in the context of a 15-page-a-week-AT-BEST manga.

"I told him what you said about Bk's death and Deku losing his arms as being symbolic"

The symbolism angle is one thing. I've never really understood why people like any media without symbolism--that's what gives a story its flavor, isn't it? If we're talking about tropes and familiar story structures, the artist's approach to familiar items is precisely what makes it unique and interesting to me. I wouldn't become invested enough to care about Katsuki's death if all that mattered to me was the surface-level event.

But are you saying you spoiled the fact that Izuku lost his arms? That's...not that big of a plot point to spoil if you ask me. Certainly not one I'd bring up as one of the greatest hits of this arc. This is another detail that makes me feel like you're particularly focused on Izuku, which is not a bad thing nor is there anything wrong with that, but Izuku doesn't actually feature very much in this anime season all things considered. It's hard to sell anyone on what's currently happening with Izuku in the manga since we just got to his stuff and it's not complete.

Again, this was what happened with Fullmetal Alchemist. The last arc covered the events of one day that ended the final war. The main characters were only occasionally featured and didn't do all that much in the season until the very end, as one would expect. When it was coming out in manga form, the pacing was admittedly very weird because of this storytelling choice, albeit it felt a bit different from MHA since it was a monthly manga and covered more ground per chapter. But when the same arc was adapted to anime, the feeling and pacing were very different, and a lot of iffy elements improved on me as a result.

"he said those actions being reversed lowers the stakes and it's hard to maintain emotional investment if you know that major plot points will just get reversed."

Is your husband someone who watches things only once and then can't rewatch and enjoy them ever again? Does he only watch stories for plot twists and once he knows the twist he stops liking it?

I don't understand this general obsession with consequences and stakes a lot of people have. Sure, they are elements that can contribute to a mood or feeling in a story, but they're far from the make-or-break linchpins so many people make them out to be. The "reversals" are major plot points too. I find much more enjoyment in trying to follow why a writer would do such things and what they're trying to say than wondering how likely some character is to die or how many people will be brutalized.

I'm in the camp that believes spoilers should not make a difference in whether or not I find a series "good" or whether or not I can invest in it. I personally have played video games specifically BECAUSE they were spoiled for me and it sounded like I would like them, and having those major things spoiled for me did not detract from my enjoyment at all. I'm not saying everyone has to be like me, but I do certainly think a story's ability to persist as an impactful and memorable work has very little to do with its stakes and everything to do with how it handles its story and characters. Was Star Wars memorable and beloved because of how many people were at risk of dying in it? Was something taken away from the story when Luke got a robotic replacement for the hand he lost?

Goodness, didn't the MHA fandom predict for years that Dabi was Touya Todoroki? And wasn't everyone just waiting for the reveal to fucking happen already so we could get it over with? And wasn't the entire fandom surprised and enthralled when the Touya reveal did happen precisely because it was handled in such a unique and cool way with Horikoshi's flair? Did predicting that twist really ruin anything for the story?

A good story is a good story.

"I'm waiting for payoff instead of enjoying the story."

I can't know what payoff you're waiting for. I've enjoyed all the events and details along the way, even if there were some expected dips here and there. When I went back and reread the entire arc in one go, the pacing really hit me differently and I got a lot out of it. If you're not enjoying the story, that's not about whether or not the story is employing "good storytelling." I've enjoyed plenty of stories that were told poorly and sloppily because there were other redeeming features that appealed to me. This is about preference. You and your husband have your own personal preferences, and that's okay! But you both have to manage your preferences with respect to each other and to yourselves.

"Is what's happening really good storytelling if this final battle has been dragging on so long and Deku's characterization has come to a halt?"

If you're actually interested in whether or not MHA has "good storytelling," I'd suggest you take a creative writing class or otherwise learn about the way stories are told in different media i.e. novels vs comics vs TV shows vs movies vs video games. But I honestly don't think that's what you mean. I think you're looking for permission to keep liking MHA even if you personally don't like its storytelling or how Izuku's character is currently being handled. I can tell you from experience that yeah, you can. Plenty of people do it all the time. Some people get so frustrated with the stories they like they write fix-it fanfiction. Some people appreciate the way a story is so perfectly written that they cannot build a fandom around it because they can't come up with anything to add. It's going to depend on you and how you want to approach the situation, and while I'm happy to talk about what I like about MHA and which writing choices I think are well made, that's not going to get us very far if you don't like the same things.

I do often find media that I personally think is not written that well, and like I said, sometimes I like it and sometimes I hate it, but if it's a piece of media with a large fanbase like MHA, I have a hard time calling its writing universally "bad." If it speaks to that many people in some way, clearly there's something about it that reaches people effectively, and who am I to judge? I'm certainly no expert in quality of writing. All I have are what I've taken away from my education in literature/writing, my years of experience with many anime that came before MHA, and my thoughts on all the other media I've enjoyed. My experiences will lead to different conclusions than others'. I know I don't like a lot of what's popular with most people, so I certainly can't hold myself out as some paragon of good taste.

It's okay to like or dislike whatever for whatever reason. I don't always stay with the same fandom. I move around when I find new and good things. I sometimes come back to old things I loved and like it anew or find it underwhelming as I currently am. As of right now, I'm actually willing to say something I never was before, which is that MHA might be one of the best-written manga if not the best manga I've ever read. While FMA is top-tier, its themes are a lot safer than MHA's ambitious goals. MHA was always going to be controversial in some ways just because of what it attempts to do, such as telling its story through comic book-themed superheroes. It also says a lot of political things that risk alienating readers. The levels of risk MHA takes are part of what makes it amazing to me and what makes it a worthwhile piece of art to enjoy. I'm so happy it exists, flaws and all. No story will be universally loved, and that's something I accepted a long time ago when I decided I wouldn't let the bullying stop me from liking anime. All I can hope to do is have the courage to love the things I love and the grace to leave alone the things I dislike for others to enjoy.

[awesomedurraworld]

some of my Fullmetal alchemist headcanons: Elric Brothers edition

Edward experienced favoritism in his childhood, he was often met with the lines that he is the older brother and wasn't allowed to act in the same way Alphonse did. Which led him to act out most of the time.

Trisha’s main caregiver was Edward, since the Rockbells couldn't help her full time and Hoho wasn't there. Edward learned everything that his mother did in order to run the house while she was bonded to the bed.

Ed blames himself for Trisha’s death because he fell ill with a cold two weeks before her death. She pushed herself to take care of him and that made her body weaker which lead her to pass away.

Because of that Alphonse when he gets angry, he screams that their mom’s death wasn't their father’s fault but Ed’s

Yuri Rockbell was the closest one to the boys after their mother’s death, he took it upon himself to make sure that they were taken care of and had enough money and all their living needs, he also made sure to spend time with them every day.

After Yuri’s death, Edward and Alphonse were alone, they didn't have enough money to pay for bills and electricity or buy food which lead them to steal sometimes.

When they got caught, Edward will always take the blame, which left the whole village to say that Edward was a brat and a bad boy while Alphonse was the total opposite.

When families from cities come to look for orphans to adopt, and they visit Resembool where all the orphans will line up hoping that they get adopted- the Elric brothers were never wanted- sometimes families choose Al who refuses to go without his brother.

Edward and Al, although close to their granny, she abused them mentally, and sometimes on occasion, physically. They didn't know that was abuse until after they started to work under Mustang.

Alphonse finished only 3ed grade ( while Ed first grade since he dropped out to help his mom.) before they went to study under Izumi for a year before they were kicked out from her home and they made their way back to Resembool.

They tried to bring their mom at ages 10 and 9 ( instead of 10 and 11.) and of course that failed. They ended up living with the Rockbells for 6 months before Major Mustang found them.

Edward joined the military before he turned 12. He was 11 and some and his first birthday after he joined was the 12th.

Both brothers idolized the Colonel, subconsciously or consciously. Since he was their legal guardian, Edward’s commander and the adult who was stable in their life, it just seemed to fit.

Edward is short because as a child he didn't get to eat well, therefor his body did not grow well- unlike Al who ate his meal and Ed’s ( Ed used to give him his meals because let's face it, Ed is dumb like that.) he dislikes being called “ small.” because his mom used to nickname him her small man. So when people make fun of his height, they make fun of his mother’s nickname.

Edward’s harsh, angry, loud and impolite personality comes from two points, the first being not having guides growing up. Maybe Al is considered more polite but really, Ed raised Al while raising himself. Al is just sweeter and is shy and he doesn't put the angry mask on like Ed. And the only reason Ed does have it on is to protect himself and his little brother.

Al calling Ed “ big brother.” or “ brother” more than by his first name because Al sees Ed as an adult if that makes sense? Those names are titles, just like when he called Trisha “mom” that is her title. Ed’s title is “ brother.” because Al can't call him mom or dad so he just sticks to their relation.

Ed’s red jacket was inspired by the colonel’s black one. We see Ed coming to the state exam and receiving his watch while he wears all black- I bet He saw Colonel looking cool with the black coat and since he doesn't want anyone to think he is copying his CO, he went with the red jacket instead.

At the start of his millitry career, Ed refused to sleep and eat to the point he developed disorders. He genuinely thought he deserved to live the same way Al was living- Thankfully he had the whole team Mustang catching him and helping him get better and receive help.

Speaking of team Mustang, they are all just a family to each other, and that includes the Elrics! The boys viewed the men ( Jean, Haymans, Vato, and Maes.) as their uncles, since they acted like ones and it just felt right thinking about them as If they were uncles. Kain being younger and closer to their age, Ed and Al saw an older brother in him. Riza took a longer time for them to see her role in their life, before it dawned on them after a couple of years how much motherly she is towards them, it wasn't the same way as Trisha or Izumi, but Riza was their mom too. As for Roy he was the father they needed but had the hardest time admitting that since the word “ Father and Dad” meant HoHo. Eventually tho, both brothers found happiness in these titles.

Ed’s foodie personality continued even after the promised day. Starving for days as a child made His body always wanting to eat more than a normal person's because it is scared it will go through starvation again.

Sure Ed and Al are close but you bet they still fight like normal siblings on normal things- like who get to sit in the shotgun seat or the upper bunk in the bed or gets to do that one chore.

Ed grew his hair as a promise to Al. He burned the house as a promise as well. The house one so he won't quit and go home and the hair as a reminder, he will not cut it until Al can cut his hair too. So that day when Al got his hair cut after PD, and Edward got one too.

Ed and Al went back to Resembool. They both took a year break before Ed joined the military again as a research state alchemist after Roy was able to pull a few strings, that way Ed could research alchemy and get well paid in order to get Al into a university.

When Roy knew that was Ed’s goal, he surprised him with the fact that he will pay for both of their educations. Saying that “ both of my kids deserve the best education. You did plenty for your bother, let me now carry that burden.”

Alphonse stuided Biochemistry and then traveled to Xing, to learn Alkheasty.

Edward studied physics and engineering ( double majoring!!) he started playing with the idea If humans could fly using vechails ( I like to think he started sketching airplane.) After he finished his studies and traveled around for few months, he proposed to Winry.

Alphonse and Mai decided that they will play as the aunt and uncle in the family as they weren't ready to be parents yet with their lifestyles.

Edward and Winry had 6 kids and Ed was a stay at home dad while Win countined her ever-growing business.

Roy adopted the Elrics, but no one really mentions that. It was after the PD, as a promise that he will still take care of them and look after them even when they left the army, and that they will always have a place with him- all the good parental things.

Ed’s kids are named after important people or things in life. Like his oldest, a boy is named Yuri Roy Elric, honoring both of Win and Ed’s dads. And so on with the rest of their children.

Alphonse gave his gate to Ed as a birthday gift, since he stopped using it and just saw it a fitting after everything Ed did to him.

Edward when he shared that with Roy and how he has his alchemy back, he became a soilder again, “ Colonel Elric.” and became Roy’s bodyguard ( since Hawkeye and him got married.) and Roy’s secret weapon. No one knowss that Ed has his alchemy again so he always took his enemies by shock.

Alphonse lives in Xing and is a honorable member of the royal family.

Ed opened the gate and exchanged his automail leg with his arm. It was painful getting a new port, but for his new bodyguard gig, it seemed like the best choice, since his arm is his weapon.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride, Shana! Could I please get some badass/genius/generally impressive Ed please? I'm not picky about which AU, I love all of them! ^-^

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6

The first time they hear an explosion, they assume they're under attack.

Everyone reaches for their firearm, except for Roy, who pulls on his gloves. Rize cautiously opens the door, looking for intruders, and instead she gets a face full of smoke that's very obviously coming from across the hall.

She sees people down the hall doing the same thing she is, looking for the source of that very concerning sound. It happens again and this time she's close enough to see the walls shake with it and the smoke a changes color from a typical dark grey to white and gains a sweet scent.

Everyone ducks back in their offices, deciding that they're not being invades and so feeling absolutely zero need to investigate further when all that commotion is coming from the Fullmetal Alchemist's office.

She looks to Roy. "This is your jurisdiction, sir."

He tugs off his gloves, giving the smoke a concerned look. "What, just because it's an alchemist's office no one else is willing to say anything about it?"

"You say that like we don't benefit from the same thing," she answers, although they've never exploded anything before. Inside the office.

Roy shoots her a sour look but strides forward and gives the door two sharp knocks. "Colonel! Explain yourself!"

The door opens and the smoke starts filling the hall even more rapidly, although for some reason this one doesn't cause her to cough.

The infamous Colonel Elric leans against the doorframe, nothing close to proper posture. She can also hear several people yelling from behind him.

His hair is in a high tale, his jacket is off, and his white shirt has been rolled to his elbows, the first two buttons are undone, and there are several strange green streaks over it and one high on his forehead. "Oh, hey Mustang."

Riza's glad everyone else had decided this wasn't worth having to interact with an alchemist if only so they wouldn't see Roy getting treated disrespectfully and him not doing a damn thing about it.

He should. But she's seen that look on his face before. She supposes she should just be grateful that the Colonel's not wearing a skirt.

"What the hell are you doing?" Roy demands.

"Want to see?" he returns brightly, a glint in his eye that would send Riza running for cover if this was a battlefield. "You like making things go boom, don't you?"

Before Roy can reply, Colonel Elric reaches out, loops his hand in the chain of his watch, and yanks him into his office, kicking the door behind them with a cheerful bang.

"Uh," Havoc says, "should we - do something? About that?"

Their team is bad enough and they only have the one alchemist. Colonel Elric may be the only State Alchemist, but he has three more alchemists on his team, to say nothing of the rumors she's hears about his automail mechanic. The paperwork on Roy's desk is important, but even she has her limits.

"He has his gloves," Riza says finally, "I'm sure that if he decides he needs rescuing, he'll be able to handle it himself."

[dungeonmeshi-confessions]

sometimes i feel many issues within the fandom are because people that are not used or do not enjoy anime are watching it now thanks to netflix and so trie to apply fandom purity rules.

Like the trope '1000 years old looks like a kid' thing is disgusting because it is used for sexualization of characters, not because it exists, half foots are allowed to have whole life and not one is posed or drawn like parody porns or voiced like little girl role plays.

The thing about Shuro also seems to be rooted in this, only focusing on the autism similarties without inspecting the societal rules and when applying race not considering that this is a japanese media.

The orcs too, people say it is colorism and i do not doubt there is some bias but Zon is more patient than Leed; she insults the party and Chilchuck repeatedly and only help them because of respect for her brother and diplomacy. Zon was telling his kid how they end up in the dungeon and has to discuss it with Marcille who never tried to examine her racism and he didnt punish her for it, then he let them eat together and asked Laios genuinely and believed him in his goals in the dungeon. If the fandom falls in the 'oh the light skin character is better person' is because their biases, not Kui's.

Senshi's pantyshots are a comedic gag mocking the usual trope to ogle female characters it does not make the media more pure and honestly it is a bit insulting because if Kui wanted it to be sexy she woukd have done it like that, she is very very good with anatomy. The fact that it is a groundbreaking concept for so many people speaks of the ignorance of the media, plenty animes have a Comedic Gag to keep the story lighthearted (think of Fullmetal Alchemist and the Alphonse badly drawn) and has no significance on the overall theme.

And Mithrun. He just had his anime debut and I am baffled. People are calling him ugly and geriatric when he also fits anime tropes so recognized that his VA voices another character of nearly the same personality. And ugly??? he is drawn like any other overpowered twink but has a lazy eye and you call him ugly??? hell, SPECIAL EYES are another trope in anime to distinguish the characters, to dismiss it with a 'so ugly' is so ignorant and reeks of ableism. you should have seen him and think 'oh this an important character'.

i want to gatekeep anime and i dont even like it as much. Try to interpret the media on its own genre (seinen) and tropes instead of treating it as any other of your western pandering cartoons (and yuri is a genre too!if you are going to be 'oh this is queerbait because of farcille' go put some fucking work and get acquainted with japanese queer media, which has canon couples! yuri is not a meme!!)

.

[karolinswritings]

Fullmetal Alchemist Envy Headcanons

My headcanons for Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist! Honestly they turned out to be more of a Envy x Reader type of headcanons. I hope you like them anyways, I also appologise for any mistakes, since english is not my first language.

secretive

once he starts taking interest in you he would most likely stalk you from time to time, then ask you about what you did that day to check if you are going to lie to him

feels at ease when you say the truth, really values honesty

enjoys late night walks/meetings

"Hmm..You know what? I have never tought talking to a human could be so entertaining. This definitely won't be the last time we see each other, human. Expect another visit very soon."

deep conversations after midnight

"So..the other day.."

Once he feels comfortable enough around you he will voice every tought that crosses his mind for you to hear

is aware that he craves physicial affection but would never admit it

looks away when holding your hand

pretty obvious, but gets jelous very easily

the type to deny romantic feelings at first

"I hate getting hurt, you know? I hate the feeling of pain..and being here with you..talking to you..thinking about you, a human..makes me go though..so much pain..but when I am not around you, it's worse..I want to be around you again..it's almost like..like I am.."

would deffinitely return the favor if you do something for him

very protective

loves it when you're honest with him

enjoys it when you trust him

would definitely be taken aback if you go out of your way to defend him

the type to always praise himself but be suprised when he recieves a compliment

"You really think that? Well, thank you"

definitely acts one way in front of people he doesn't trust and a completely different one with ones he does trust

ride or die type of guy

loves it when you treat him the same no matter what form he has shifted into

I hope you guys enjoyed my headcanons, pleaase tell me which Fullmetal Alchemist character you would like me to write headcanons for next? Or maybe I should do a part two for Envy?

[wizard-finix]

Ao3 tag game!

THANKS @ragecndybars FOR THE TAG I APPRECIATE IT

*cracks knuckles* lets do this

How many works do you have on AO3?

24 works! I would have never expected to have that many 5 years ago, hahaha

What's your total AO3 word count?

186,291! oh wow, almost 200k!! (unsurprisingly PT minato takes up over a third of that LMAO)

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

10 fandoms! I'm counting Persona 3, 4, and 5 and separate, but I'm grouping all the Zelda fandoms together since it's all Linked Universe fic.

Here's the breakdown!

The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms (6)

Persona 5 (5)

Persona 3 (5)

SPY x FAMILY (Anime) (3)

Wizard101 (Video Game) (3)

SPY x FAMILY (Manga) (3)

Runescape (Video Games) (3)

Pirate101 (Video Game) (3)

Persona 4 (2)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom (2)

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga (1)

Star Wars - All Media Types (1)

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors (1)

Top five fics by kudos:

The Ghost of Mementos/Stygian Ringlet (Persona3/5) - to the surprise of absolutely no one, since this is currently my longest fic. I'm very happy with Stygian Ringlet being the top because I love my boys :)

True Crime Special on the Midnight Channel (Persona 4/5) - my Ren has a TV Dungeon fic! also very proud of the dungeon concept for this one, I really need to finish the last two chapters

Dark Clouds on the Horizon (Linked Universe/TOTK) - I feel like this one got a lot of momentum partially because it was directly in the wake of TOTK's release, but I'm happy with how it turned out :)

Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven't Met (Persona 3/SPY x FAMILY) - this was a collab series with mewrose and a few others in the marigolds discord! we were throwing ideas at the wall to see what stuck and I really had a lot of fun with Shinjiro-related prompts, because I LOVE him and hitting him with the isekai baseball bat into a universe with Anya brings me great joy

Salt Tears and Raindrops (Linked Universe/TOTK) - directly related to Dark Clouds, and I'm glad people enjoyed good ol' fashioned angst >:) (I do need to post more of my wips, I do have a couple more roleswap AU wips that I want to post)

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I almost always do because I really appreciate them and its my way of saying thanks for the comment! If I don't comment it's because I lost track of it or because I can't think of a response.

What's the fic with the angstiest ending you've ever written?

Probably Salt Tears and Raindrops. I was in a Mood and decided to go for the tried-and-true method of putting fictional characters I like through the emotional wringer. That's how I got the rough draft for this fic :)

Do you write crossovers?

*looks at my persona fics and recent LU fics*

...I think it's safe to say most of my fics these days fall under crossovers lmao

Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

I wouldn't say I have? One or two comments that came off as rude, but no actual hate, thankfully. If I did, I forgot about it. I've been blessed by wonderfully nice readers <3

Do you write smut?

Nope. I don't read it, so I wouldn't know how to write it anyway.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of? I sure hope not.

I have seen a couple short fics slightly imitate Ghost of Mementos though, which I thought was really sweet that they liked it enough to inspire their own writing.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but I'd definitely be open to it!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

RYOMINA. Hands down. I love them so much, I am so mentally unwell about these two

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

My two Runescape fics, Whispers in the Temple and Welcome to the Jungle. I absolutely loved going hogwild with rewriting old quests in Runescape, but I psyched myself out of Welcome to the Jungle because I got overly anxious about accidentally doing bad representation.

(in hindsight, it probably wouldn't have been as big a deal as I thought; it's hard to make it worse considering how bad Legend's Quest was with the british-african stereotypes. that quest DID NOT age well.)

I also want to finish Snake in the Grass; that was my first attempt at a genuine mystery plot and I really liked playing with Warriors in that fic in the context of the gang trying to figure out who the heck is trying to murder him.

What are your writing strengths?

I feel like I'm pretty good at dialogue! I try to make sure it matches the character's speech patterns and personality. Really well-written dialogue can tell you who's speaking without actually telling who it is. (For example, the way I write them: Minato speaks as few words as possible and has very little filter with his observations when he does share them, and Shinjiro is pretty rough around the edges, with shortened words and the occasional swear. Warriors is good with words and wit, but he has a certain military-esque directness and doesn't dance around the topic.)

I do try hard to keep the plot clear and understandable over everything else, so probably that as well.

Also, now that I think about it, maybe fight sequences? I don't do them much, but I do enjoy the challenge of making a clear sequence of what happens in a fight and trying to make it understandable. Fight sequences are easy to skip or gloss over, but I think of them like their own miniature plot. What happens? What surprises are there? What are their movesets? How do they get the upper hand? (and of course, what looks cool as fuck)

What are your writing weaknesses?

Time management. I tend to over-proofread since I beta my own work, and often I'll go back to tweak stuff if I had additional thoughts to add to it, or extra insight. Lately, it takes longer to write chapters than I'd like.

Also, dialogue-heavy scenes often get very chaotic in my WIPs because of the way I rough out fics. I'll throw together a bunch of dialogue bits I think would be cool to include, and sometimes they'll clash or get really messy, especially if there's lots of characters (looking at the latest two chapters of Stygian Ringlet)

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I think it's cool! It adds flavor to fics. If it's more than one short phrase though, or if it's story important, then I do prefer that there is a translation in the author's notes. I haven't done any non-English dialogue in fics, save for one memorable adventure into trying to figure out how Latin grammar structure works for a character that didn't speak English.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Wizard101 and Pirate101. I was obsessed with those two for YEARS. I really, really liked pirate stories in high school, and having a cast of crewmates that accompany you throughout the game really inspired me to write my first fic featuring my OC. (I was also into One Piece at the time, but I never wrote for it.)

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written so far?

Stygian Ringlet. It's really dear to my heart. I have poured so much love and effort into that fic, and the reception on it has completely blown me away.

THANKS FOR THE TAG!! Uhhhmmm for tags I'm going to go with @skyward-floored, @catreginae and @breannasfluff (but only if you want to!! no obligation of course)

and of course any other writers that want to do it as well!! go forth

[wickedcriminal]

Just started playing Skyrim as Edward Elric, here's a few highlights of my run and the Lore:

I'm playing on legendary survival mode because Ed's life sucks <3

One of the essential goals is to level alchemy up to 100. I will also be playing as a mage (which I've never done before so this should be interesting)

I'm not allowed to kill ANY PERSON. Not even bandits. Because Ed's a staunch pacifist so the 'people death' counter stays at zero for as long as humanly possible if not the entire playthrough. This is only for people, though, so draugr, animals, monsters, robots etc don't count. (I'm not sure where dragons land on that but I've already killed one so I guess it's too late to ponder it)

Also im not allowed to use soul gems. Those are functionally philosopher's stones, so Ed's not keen on that

I will also not be using any shrines/amulets because Ed's an atheist

Only steel and iron weapons! He's the Fullmetal Alchemist after all. Preferably one-handed weapons, as the sword arm is his go-to.

Enchantments are allowed (outside of soul trap for obvious reasons) as long as they come with the weapon when I find it, and I can't recharge them or make my own since I can't use soul gems

Leather armor because Ed wears leather in canon. Presently looking for a red outfit that looks anything like his coat. I'm thinking the vampire armor will be my best bet

I've got no mods otherwise I'd add a dwarven centurion follower and have that be my Al

As it stands, though, I've come up with a story that Al is functionally dead but Ed can summon his soul to fight for him in the form of conjuration spells. So far I've been summoning 'Al' as a wolf familiar and even a storm atronach when I found a scroll for it

(I considered dressing a follower up in armor so that they can be 'Al'. Still thinking about it but i kinda like the conjuration thing)

Ed's 'journey' lore wise is researching the Dwemer, since he thinks their disappearance could be related to Al's body being gone. I'll be reading every book possible about the Dwemer and researching every possible Dwemer ruin when I find it (I don't know a lot about the Dwemer anyway so me and Ed both are learning Together)

I'm also gonna be going to hermaeus mora's creepy realm cuz that's probably the closest to the truth dimension im gonna get (I've never finished that quest before this is gonna be fun)

I've got no Winry stand in but every time I upgrade my armor and weapons I pretend I'm stopping by Rush Valley or smth. Winry is there in spirit

I will be punching every godlike being in the face whenever humanly possible because that's what Edward Elric would do

That's it so far, I'll keep you updated on what's going on with the pipsqueak as i go along✌️

[newtthetranswriter]

Please may I have a Fairy tail headcanon of Gray Fullbuster with a female S/O who has Edward Elric's abilities from Fullmetal alchemist. S/O joined Fairy tail when she was a young child not long after Gray did..S/Os unlimited abilities meant that she can basically create anything that she can put her mind too..she isn't nicknamed the metal mage for nothing. She isn't proud of what she had done back then..she earned those abilities to be a metal alchemist at a consequence of trying to revive her late mother..she was damn lucky that she didn't lose her body parts..she is a independent young woman in Fairy tail and a member of Team Natsu.

So, I've never done headcanons before, but I'll give it a go, hope you enjoy these. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I did my best, if you enjoy please feel free to let me now and don't be afraid to send ion more requests. Anyway Enjoy and have a good day/night. MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS DO NOT INTERACT

Alchemy isn't an exact science, things can go wrong, and that's what happened when you tried to bring back your mom.

Unlike past Alchemists who had tried to bring people back from the dead you were lucky, you saw the truths of the world but managed to hang on to all of your limbs.

With the knowledge of the universe giving you a major boost in your magic at such a young age, you needed to join a guild to help control and grow this power.

At the age of 8 you wondered into the guild hall of non-other than Fairy Tail, a legendary guild full of powerful mages.

You were welcomed with open arms by nearly everyone there except one kid who couldn't keep his clothes on, when you first meet Gray, he was cold to you, not to say you were really any better having just lost your mother for a second time.

As time passed you grew stronger and more confident in your abilities to manipulate the chemical structure of items and shift them into new things. You primarily specialized in turning things to metal to create more useful weapons.

Master Makarov saw your potential and by the age of 17 you had become an S class wizard known as the Metal Mage.

Along with growing your power the tension between you and gray only got worse, almost like him and Natsu's fighting but with a little more flirting

like I see you guys sitting at the guild hall ignoring each other until he pops off with something stupid about being better a making things with his magic and you just use your magic to make something to hit him with using the table and yell at him about covering his abs because in typical gray fashion he's probably in his boxers.

At first no one notices the more flirty comments until one of you calls the other handsome/beautiful directly making the other blush

Being as stubborn as you are you try to deny it for the longest time and so does he

Now if we add on the being a part of team Natsu, it gets more hectic

I'm talking Happy teasing you, Natsu trying to tease you but ultimately ending up fighting Gray for something he says, Wendy is just confused, Lucy and Erza think its kind of cute that the two stubborn mages wont admit their feelings, and then there is Carla who just thinks everyone involved is dumb

And when you guys finally get together i don't think a lot would change

like yeah you guys don't fight as much or the comments aren't as pointed but there is still playful bickering between the two of you

I just feel that Gray is the type to show affection by being sarcastic

also spend a lot of time just hanging out show off your magic to each other and getting ideas from each other

When you get together Happy still makes stupid jokes, Natsu still tries to tease you guys but fails, Lucy, Erza and now Wendy are secretly planning your wedding as soon as it announced you're dating, and Carla is happy for you two.

Now on to some other aspects of the relationship,

If you are having a bad day because of something reminding you of your past Gray will 100% understand, and try to help you calm down

He knows how hard it is to have a difficult childhood and lose your family so he's going to try to make it better

he may not be able to bring your mom back but he can try not to fight Natsu as much and stay close to you for support.

and vice versa, if he's having a hard time with let's say Juvia being annoying, You would be there to try and be a buffer, or if she doesn't take the hint just telling her off.

Overall I see Gray and you being very close and comforting when its just the two of you, but if you're with the rest of the guild or on a mission you know how to be respectful of everyone around you.

[ecargmura]

Tadaima Okaeri Episode 1 Review - The Fujiyoshi Family

It’s here! It’s here! Ah! My most anticipated show for this season is finally here! It’s the first ever omegaverse anime! Before I get into the review, I’ll inform you of two things:

If this reminds you of Gakuen Babysitters, you are perceptive! The character designer for this anime, Mina Owada, did the character designs for Gakuen Babysitters. The three kids in this anime are all voiced by voice actresses who were in the anime too with Hikari, the black-haired baby being voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki who voiced Kazuma Mamizuka and Kirin’s mother, Yayoi Kumatsuka, Michiru, the brown haired boy being voiced by Kaede Hondo, who voiced the infant Midori and Ryuichi’s classmate Yuki, and Hinata, the infant girl, voiced by Konomi Kohara who voiced Kirin.

What is Omegaverse? It’s a universe where male and females can be impregnated by those of the same genders, but there are additional sub-genders, alpha, beta and omega. Alpha are the elites, the ones on top of the hierarchy. They excel in anything they do and are considered the favored species in the universe. Beta are ordinary people. Omegas are usually considered inferior because they go into heat cycles, which causes their pheromones to become stronger in order to attract mates, specifically alphas. Males can impregnate other males, females can impregnate females, and in some cases, females can impregnate males in this universe. So yes, Hikari is biologically Masaki and Hiromu’s child and he’s not adopted or born from surrogacy.

Now that you understand the basics, here’s my review of the premiere!

The premiere of the very first omegaverse anime is adorable as heck! You can see there is a soft, sweet and domestic atmosphere in the Fujiyoshi family with Hiromu, the black-haired husband and an alpha, and Masaki, the brown-haired husband and an omega, being the sweetest and happiest couple with their equally adorable son Hikari. The story is just about their daily lives as they deal with being an alpha-omega couple in a world where different sex couples are looked upon unfavorably compared to marriages of the same sex.

The first episode shows the type of world Hiromu and Masaki live in and details of how they dealt with prejudices from how the previous home they lived in discriminated against Masaki to Hiromu’s subordinate being shocked that his boss married someone of a different sex. It can be shown in their behavior too with Masaki being rather self-degrading and timid when these topics are brought up and Hiromu being rather protective of his mate and child because of this. There isn’t a lot of gender drama in this first episode, fortunately. It’s mainly a set-up to how future conflicts will come to them.

Hiromu and Masaki are written to be a couple that has been together for a long time, but still act like newlyweds and it’s adorable. Individually, a lot can be said for both of them too. Hiromu is extremely doting towards Masaki and Hikari and is pretty much Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist if he was put in a domestic omegaverse setting. Masaki’s personality shows that while he is living a happy life, he still has his fair shares of insecurities and self-doubt due to him being an omega; I can tell that he’s someone who dealt with a lot growing up. Actually, I read the manga (and many times at that), so I know how the story goes!

Hikari is adorable and is a boy growing up with loving parents. As he’s almost two, he’s just a toddler. He’s still blind to the world of omegaverse, but that doesn’t matter as long as his parents, an alpha and omega, are happy. I can tell he will grow up to be a kind and sweet child just from how his parents talk to him and how he behaves around them. He’s legitimately so adorable. I was legit acting like Hiromu during some of his cutest moments here.

Other than the main three characters, there are a few other characters introduced. There’s Matsuo, who is Hiromu’s co-worker and childhood friend who’s like an older brother. He’s the biggest victim of Hiromu’s love life as he’s the one Hiromu shows off his family to the most in picture and video form. There’s the Hirai family who lives next door with the mother who treats Masaki and his family kindly by giving them flowers after complimenting her garden and going along with Hikari’s cute antics. Her son is introduced towards the end, but he won’t be formally introduced until the next episode, so I can’t say much other than he’s not a source of conflict, as you can tell by the opening that he’s going to be involved with Matsuo. There are also Hiromu’s subordinates whose names I don’t know, but the female one with red hair is super cool.

This anime is animated by Studio DEEN, who is practically the go-to studio for BL anime at this point. They animated Junjou Romantica, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (a personal favorite of mine), Hybrid Child, Sasaki and Miyano and now Tadaima Okaeri. While the studio does get some flack for non-BL anime, you cannot deny their BL animes are some of the visually prettiest of their works by far. I think the animation in general is a step up from their previous works. Look at the scene where Masaki kisses Hiromu’s mole. The way he brushes his hair back was really smoothly animated.

The music is really cute! I am listening to the opening song on repeat! The song is sung by MADKID, a J-pop boy band. I do wonder if they were influenced by K-pop in a way because their song does have a K-pop feel. It reminds me of Seventeen in their rookie days with the refreshing concept. The ending song is also nice to listen to! The froggies being the Fujiyoshi family is a nice little detail!

The voice cast is very strong. Did you know that before the anime, there was a drama CD of Tadaima Okaeri? Well, the cast in the anime have been reprised from the drama CD. Masaki is voiced by Atsushi Tamaru. He’s a BL regular. For non-BL roles, he voices Kunimi from Haikyuu and voiced the stalker dude who stabbed Ai in Oshi no Ko. I love how his voice is so gentle when voicing Masaki. Hiromu is voiced by the one and only BL emperor Toshiyuki Morikawa. He’s practically a household name in the BL world. I love how silly he can be with Hiromu, especially the scenes where he’s gushing over his family. Hikari is voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki. If you’re not familiar with the name, her roles may be familiar to you. She is the voice actress of Anya Forger from Spy x Family and Frieren from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Shocking, right? She did voice Hikari in the drama CD and reprised the role! Tanezaki is seriously a versatile actress as she can voice babies to immortal old elves. Another big name in this cast is Kosuke Toriumi who voices Matsuo. If you’re not aware, Toriumi used to be super active in BL in the past, but not as much recently. Some of his roles in BL includes Haruhiko Usami from Junjou Romantic and Akira from Togainu no Chi. Some of his non-BL roles include Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia, Imaizumi from Yowamushi Pedal and Gilbert from Pandora Hearts. During the drama CD era, I thought Toriumi was a bit of a miscast at first, but now, I think he suits Matsuo well as he gives off the aura of a handsome elite. He doesn’t have to be deep-voiced; instead, the voice makes him sound caring, which he is. Also, the boy introduced at the end of the episode, Yuuki, is voiced by Taku Yashiro. He’s also a regular in BL in recent times. His non-BL roles include Friede from Pokemon Horizons and Spitz from Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective. In all honesty, the voice cast is super strong and they all do an amazing job.

I can’t believe I can look forward to Mondays thanks to Tadaima Okaeri! I just hope the animation stays consistent as well as the cuteness. I can’t wait for Mondays to be my happy days—shocking, I know! If you’re watching this anime, what are your thoughts on the premiere?

[chronicsinner]

The HeadCanon's of ChronicSinner - Greed (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

Hiya! I kind of wanted to post more of my original works on this account but unfortunately most of them have been deleted. Luckily though, I do have a lot of them stored else where, so here is one of my old works, edited a little so the writing is less shitty lmao. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Greed will look at attractive girls when they walk by, he can't help it! I mean after all, he is the personification of Greed and his cupidity runs deep within his core. Despite his vices, however, he would never actually cheat on you. He wouldn’t trade you for the world

On the same token, he is also the jealous type. (What, Greed being jealous? Who would've thunk' it!) He doesn’t like other men flirting with you and isn’t afraid to tell them off. He might even use the Ultimate Shield as a scare tactic.

Greed sometimes wishes he was human so he could grow old and experience things only humans can with you. He won't ever tell you this though, he wants you to view him as confident and he struggles with being vulnerable.

You are one of the only people he is willing to share things with. He may still be hesitant with certain things but he will eventually give in. "Hmph, fine go ahead.." he would sigh, handing you the item.

Greed likes to tease you, He will photo-bomb your selfies and will give you rabbit ears. He may also surprise you by sneaking up on you as the Ultimate Shield.

Greed is a big spoon and loves taking you into his arms. It comforts him knowing you are all his.

He calls you babe and doll as pet names.

Greed isn’t used to being romantic, struggling with it at times but he tries his best to show his affection. "Here, I found some flowers down at the supermarket. I thought you might like them."

Greed is very hesitant to say he loves you. He finds sappy stuff like that embarrassing. Its one thing to lie to seduce woman but its incredibly daunting to say something vulnerable and actually mean them. Despite his shyness, he absolutely ADORES you.

If He is caught blushing or being anything that makes him feel exposed, he will make a hasty excuse out of embarrassment. He will get even more agitated if you tell him you find this cute.

NSFW HeadCanons:

As previously touched on, Greed loves to tease you and he loves to make you beg.

Greed is a rough and sloppy kisser.

While Greed does lean more toward the dominant side of things.. This homonculus is a SWITCH, no doubt about it.

When Greed is dominant with you, he leans more into the dynamic of being a soft dom. Biting and sloppily kissing your inner thigh, whispering things as you fuck like "You are doing so good for me, doll.. Taking all of me like t-this.."

Because he is the embodiment of Greed, he can be possessive and isn’t afraid to leave hickeys or bite marks on you that take days or even weeks to heal. He will complain if you try to cover them up with clothing or makeup, wanting the world to know you belong to him. He doesn't mind if you leave marks on him, though he doesn't like it when other people notice.

Greed can become impatient if you tease him. Seeing what he does to you is a huge turn on. He loves seeing how much he can get you hot and bothered.

He will get annoyed if you refuse to sleep or flirt with him in his carbon form. He wants you to be into him both as a human and a monster. If you find him attractive in his Carbon form, it will give him a sense of pride when you two are intimate like that.

Greed loves it when you beg for him or even just express the simple desire for his attention; it fuels his ego. "Oh? Does my little doll need her man's affection? How cute."

[lwh-writing]

I was just contemplating Fullmetal Alchemist (as one does), thinking about the absolute peak hilarity that is Ed, Al, and Havoc, the certified Country Boys(TM), teaming up to bully Mustang, the certified City Boy(TM), when I was struck with an epiphany.

Riza Hawkeye is the OG Country Girl.

Like....

Lived in the middle of nowhere with her father in a 1900ish setting. In THAT time period and THAT location, she and Hawkeye Sr. would've had to have at least a homestead type of deal. Something small that they could work on and live off of on their own, unless they hired farmhands (which I doubt).

So a two-person homestead. I would love to claim they cultivated dairy to go with Arakawa's background, but to make that livable, it would be too many cows for 2 people to realistically handle on their own. So either they did a smaller animal, like, say, sheep and goats, or they harvested corn, wheat, or tobacco. Midwesterner here, so let's say corn and wheat.

Anyway, Riza and her father living it rough on a homestead.

Money's a bit tight at times, but Hawkeye Sr. can take care of most of the repairs with his alchemy, so they always get by.

They've got chickens, two cows, and a lovely mare who pulls the cart whenever they need to go to town.

Three-year-old Riza being super excited about feeding the chickens for the very first time, giggling and squealing with joy as she throws feed everywhere.

Five-year-old Riza walking five miles into town to attend classes at the little one-room schoolhouse. There are a little more than thirty total students, only eight of which are anywhere near her age.

Seven-year-old Riza holding back tears when Hawkeye Sr. teaches her how to pluck and prep a fresh chicken. She can do it all on her own with a dry eye by the time she's eight.

Eleven-year-old Riza finding a goat one day on the farm, and after checking with the neighbors to see if they're missing one, decides she might as well keep it.

This is a mistake. The goat and Riza are mortal enemies. The thing will refuse to stop nipping at Riza whenever she goes out to milk it. But it keeps giving milk and sneaking away only to come back with baby goats, so she's left to suffer in silence.

Twelve-year-old Riza waking up at dawn in the summer to go detassel corn. Comes back around noon with scrapes all up and down her arms and eats enough to feed an army.

Thirteen-year-old Riza learning how to shoot and being known as the best shot for miles around before the year is up.

Fourteen-year-old Riza coming home from school only to find a sharp-looking, sweet-talking, soft-handed City Boy who her father claims is going to be his alchemist apprentice from now on.

Riza despairing about Roy-Fucking-Mustang and his complete and utter incompetence at everything that isn't alchemy. The boy can't cook, can't hunt, and wouldn't know the first thing about farm animal care if Bessie the Demon Goat bit him in the eye.

Eventually, Riza puts Mustang on cleaning and laundry duty, because that, at least, he can do. (Thank God for his three-dozen sisters and their insistence that Roy pulls his weight with chores.)

Riza's schoolhouse friends sighing over "that handsome Roy" and Riza blanches because she could never see herself falling for someone who thought milking the cows hurt them somehow. (It doesn't. Refusing to milk an animal is extremely harmful to the critter involved, and it's very likely that they could get an infection and seriously injure themselves and/or die. Don't let the radicalized vegans fool you)

Riza, to her chagrin, does develop a crush on Roy-Fucking-Mustang, who wouldn't know farm animal care if Bessie the Demon Goat bit him in the eye.

Roy, for his part, has long been crushing on Riza Hawkeye, the swol farmer's daughter who could pick him up with one hand a shoot a goose out of the sky with the other.

Neither admits it though because Roy has long since embarrassed himself past the point of no return, and Riza has complained too much to the folks in town that if she were to romance Roy now.... Well. Ain't either of the kids going to make the first move, so no move is made.

Fast forward a decade or so and Team Mustang is investigating something in the country.

Ed, Al, and Havoc are giving Mustang shit about approaching a horse wrongly and how there ain't no fancy cars out here.

Roy tries to refute it and shut them down, but Riza snorts and idly says something about him still not knowing jack about farming despite living on hers for two years.

Riza exposes Roy. Ed, Al, and Havoc rejoice. Roy despairs about his secrets being out, and Maes demands any and all pictures once he finds out.

And that's how Roy Mustang spent the rest of his days being bullied by four blond-haired Country Folk(TM).