#still amazes me how much people don’t pay attention or read the manga to miss that conversation about tengen not caring for gender but | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

claymorecut · 3 years

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YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE LOVE WHEN YOU CAN’T STOP LOVING YOUR WIFE EVEN WHEN SHE GROWS A PAIR OF KINTAMA

A GinTsu fanfic

Word Count: 8072

A/N: This fic is long. And messy. And I wanted to write this for a really long time. Hope you guys enjoy! <3

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‘Huh? When did I get here..?’

Standing under the scorching afternoon sun, this is the first thought that crosses the silver-haired samurai’s mind. The familiar crossroad bustled with people as Gintoki scrunches his eyes and shields them from the blinding sunlight. Not long ago was he lying on his precious couch in his cozy little apartment, so how come is he now standing on the middle of Yoshiwara? Oh yes, he was already on his way to pay his busy wifey a visit.

‘Must be the heat, I might’ve lost track of when I reached here.’ Rubbing his eyes which seems to itch a little, the man decided to make his way towards the infamous tea-house. It has been months since he last visited Yoshiwara but the true reason he’s here today is because he wants to see his wife. For the last few weeks, Tsukuyo has been coming home late due to work and to his disappointment - and sure enough, hers as well - they hardly get the chance to spend time together.

Of course, like always, Gintoki stays the same, good, supportive husband who doesn’t constantly nag his wife about her workaholic nature and busy schedule but right now, perhaps, he has started to feel a little lonely. And as cheesy as it sounds in his thirty-five years old mind, Gintoki really misses her. Not just the sex or the long, passionate kisses, but he really misses spending quality time with her. Seriously, when was the last time the two sat down and read their favorite manga series together? More importantly, their second anniversary is only a few dates away and this time, he wants to surprise her with something special. Something that can help the Tsukuyo take a break from her job and relax.

The former city of night appears as same as ever with people busy with their daily work. A few Hyakka members patrolled the streets, in case of any transgression. However, far away in front of another tea house, Gintoki catches a small crowd of woman swarming a large, tanned man, most likely flirting with him while he seems to be going along with them playful pokes and giggles. Due to his back facing him, he can’t get a clear look on the unfamiliar man except for his wide back and blond hair which perfectly contrasted his bronze skin. No wonder so many women were flocking around him, he appears to be quite a good-looking man.

“Oh Gin-san, how have you been?” The delighted owner of the tea house was greets him as he walks inside.

“Usual, I guess.” The man simply replied and takes a seat on one of the benches, facing her. “I just saw this guy outside. You guys hired a new bodyguard?”

At his curious question, Hinowa gives him a confused look. “No. We haven’t had new recruits for quite some time now.”

“Oh.”

“So, Gin-san.” Hinowa asks, changing the subject. “What brings you here?”

While Hinowa gives him her signature smile, Gintoki finds the situation quite odd. Wouldn’t a teasing “Here to see Tsukuyo~” with her playful smirk have made more sense?

‘Perhaps, she’s gotten used to it.’ His mind reasoned back as he brushed off the thought.

“Uh…well, I was basically here to meet Tsukuyo but I was thinking of taking her on a trip for our anniversary.” Looking down, he nervously rubs the back of his neck. He may have been a married man now but even still, showing his rather romantic side of his in front of anyone except Tsukuyo makes him a little…flustered.

“You know how she is with her ‘I don’t want anythin’’ and stuff. That woman has been working constantly for ages and she really needs to get some rest! I never thought choosing a gift for a woman would be this tough, let alone surprising her but it’s her we’re talking about after all….So, I thought maybe you can suggest me something.”

After finishing up his chattering, Gintoki looks back up at her with a flushed face, only to find Hinowa confusedly blinking at him. “…Eh? Anniversary?”

The man knits his brows. “Don’t tell me you forgot?”

“Forgot what?”

“My and Tsukuyo’s anniversary.”

“But when did you get marri-“

“What’s goin’ on?” A deep and surprisingly familiar voice came from behind the silver-haired man.

“Oh, Tsukuo. Did you know Gin-san got married? He just told me.”

“What? When?”

“I don’t know…maybe he’s talking about someone else…”

This casual exchange of words sounded strange. But what sounded stranger is the name of the man who is talking with Hinowa. Who is now standing right beside him. Perplexed at this sudden change of events, Gintoki slowly turns to his side to find the very same tanned and muscular man he has seen before entering the tea house standing who now looked at him and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“Yo, Mr. Husband. Did ya forget to invite us or what?” The man named Tsukuo teases him.

And Gintoki felt all the blood drain off his face.

He knew something was off. Really off. And as he got the closer look of the man’s face, the more he finds himself horrified. “W-who are you?”

The large man quirked one of his brows and then looks back at Hinowa, directing his thumb at Gintoki. “Is he okay?”

“He looked fine before. Gin-san, you look pale. Are you okay?”

No. No, he isn’t. Because this doesn’t look right. And no matter how much he tries, his brain has now failed to process the entire situation as Gintoki finds his eyes fixated at the buff man who looks shockingly familiar. Blond hair, violet eyes, the familiar black kimono decorated with autumn leaves and the infamous scar that he has gotten accustomed to kissing - Gintoki has been seeing all these features for years now.

In his wife.

Pointing a shaky finger at the large man, Gintoki felt his voice turn into a mere, almost squeaky, whimper “Hinowa-san….what happened to my Tsukuyo?” He could no longer contain the shock and disbelief in his voice. No way is this happening!

“Tsukuyo?” At this, the raven-haired woman looks puzzled. “But that’s Tsukuo.”

“I-I know..but…did some strange light fell from the sky and changed her sex? Like how it happened last time in the Dekobokko arc?” Each syllable he stutters makes his heart race a little faster. “What happened to Tsukuyo?”

“….Gin-san, what’re talking about? There’s no one named Tsukuyo here.”

His mouth falls agape. “Hinowa-san, please don’t joke like this.”

“But….I’m not joking, Gin-san….”

“Then…you’re saying my wife…is now…a man..?”

Suddenly he feels a large hand on his shoulder, probing him to look at the other direction which he was so badly trying to avoid. “Are ya outta your mind, ya bastard?” His said wife says up loudly, sounding quite offended by his genuine question. “I’ve always been a man.”

…

‘WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?’

*****

“Of course Tsukuo-dono has always been a man.”

“Who doesn’t know about the King of Night in Edo, Danna?”

“Gin-san~ Why are you suddenly so interested in that bastard when I’m right here~”

“Oi, Sarutobi. I’m right here - By the way, why’re you asking around if Tsukuo has always been a guy or not? Did you lose your memories or something?”

Nobody remembers. Nobody.

For the last three hours, Gintoki has been running around the city of Edo after dashing out of Yoshiwara, just so he can find out whether the unearthly Dekobokko cultist have made their comeback or not. Unfortunately, nothing of that sort has happened. In fact, after asking Kyubei, Saachan and the Shinsengumi who once turned into the opposite gender knows nothing this uncanny event of his wife turning into the male version of her. Actually, his wife never swapped genders even when they did.

And every time he frantically asked the same damn question, their responses also stayed the same - “But Tsukuo has always been a man. We don’t know anyone named Tsukuyo.”

The statement itself is like a tight slap on his face. But what hurts more is that she is no longer here. Nobody remembers their marriage and…nobody remembers her.

His ring is gone.

All the wedding pictures and albums he once had in their little house are all missing.

And now that he looks at the empty shelf where they once had a beautiful framed picture of them kissing on their wedding day, Gintoki slumps down on the floor as he ponders about this absurdity he is currently in. Wasn’t it just this morning when he saw his wife leave for work before giving him a quick peck on his lips? Wasn’t it just a few hours ago when was planning to surprise his wife on their second anniversary? But now it feels like he is in a completely different world. And suddenly he is back to the same ol’ single and unmarried Sakata Gintoki who no longer has the amazing badass blond bombshell of a wife by his side.

In this sorry state, Gintoki recalls a memory from the morning where his favorite weather girl, Ketsuno Ana was announcing today’s horoscope predictions.

“For Libras, today, you may find yourself in an uncanny situation. Perhaps, your love life will be tested today under very confusing conditions but let me tell you, do not give up hope. As long as you believe in yourself and your partner, everything will turn out just fine.” The woman gave a bright smile from behind the screen as he flicked the TV off.

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?” The utterly confused and enraged man yelled at the ceiling without paying any attention to what his neighbors are going to think. Confusing!? No, this is a hellish situation! “OI WRITER! WHY WON’T YOU JUST LET ME LIVE AS A HAPPILY MARRIED MAN!?”

Even breaking the fourth wall didn’t work. Finding himself alone in the bland living room, Gintoki hopelessly looks down on the floor and then at his empty left ring finger, gently rubbing it. He is not a sappy man, never has been, but truthfully, the empty finger does not suit him anymore.

The day he found out Tsukuyo had been in love with him throughout the runtime of the series was the day realized how much of lucky bastard he has been to have someone like her in his life. Idiot he might have been for not acting on his feeling but the day he took his vows was day he promised he will not let go of her. Ever.

‘Then why the hell is this going on…?’

A knock on his door interrupts Gintoki and he lets out a heavy sigh. If it was any other day, he would definitely have answered the door. But right now, ignoring it seems like a better option. Must be the baba is what he thinks and then stands up from his place to go look for some strawberry milk in the fridge. Maybe that can help him cool down…even just a little. Another two knocks, this time louder, tries to get his attention but he chooses not to respond again. No way is he in the mood to have a chat with someone.

“Oi Gintoki! I know you’re in there!” A voice calls out for him. A very familiar voice that he just wants to…avoid right now.

However, his mission fails instantly when another knock comes in, making him rub his already throbbing temple.

Groaning, Gintoki turns the other way to greet the unwanted guest in his house. Well, technically that was her- oh sorry, his house too, but according to the current situation, calling him a guest seems more appropriate. Sliding the main door open - and deep down, wishing it’s Tsukuyo standing there – he finds the male version of his wife nonchalantly smoking from the signature kiseru with his muscular arms folded under his well-toned chest. His blond hair is now tied in a small ponytail and damn, he is a few inches taller than him.

“Why did ya run away like that?” Tsukuo asks, putting down his kiseru. And while he refuses to admit, Gintoki can clearly hear the concern in his voice which seems so…familiar. But this isn’t her.

“Just had something to do.” Shrugging, Gintoki tiredly looks at the man. “I don’t know what I was saying, sorry about that.” He lies, really not in the mood to explain whatever this is. And possibly, this man will not believe him.

“Okaaay.” Tsukuo trails off, confused at his dismissive behavior. “You okay now? You seemed a little off back in Yoshiwara.”

Oh, can he just stop resembling her so much!?

“Yeah. Can you just leave me alone? I’m gonna get some sleep now, my head hurts” He knows he is being an ass but this is for the better. Tiredly, he slides the door close only to find a tight grip on the doorframe and shoves it open again.

“Hey. What’s wrong with you?” Tsukuo asks, slightly annoyed as he bends a little forward to look into the silver-haired man’s eyes. “First you act like you’ve seen a ghost and now you’re actin’ like an asshole?”

Hearing this, a vain pops in his head. He really can’t catch a break, can he? First, he sees his wife turn into this extremely handsome and muscular man who has lost all memories of their marriage and now, he’s supposed to explain why he is acting like this like a madman!?

“So, how else am I supposed to act, huh!? Act like everything’s normal when it’s actually NOT!?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!?” Tsukuo snaps back, confused at his sudden outburst. “Isn’t this normal, you moron!?”

“Oh yeah!?” Gintoki grits his teeth, feeling fumes coming out of his ears. “Maybe it would have if my married life hadn’t been suddenly erased from existence!”

“And when the hell did you get married!?”

“ ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO ON 21ST JUNE, AT THE END OF SPRING!” Gintoki screams out, making the passerbys look above at the two men who are now engaged in a heated argument.

“What the-!?”

Scoffing loudly, Gintoki throws his hands up in the air in utter defeat. “See! This is what I’m talking about! A few hours ago, I was a happily married man, planning to surprise my wifey for our second marriage anniversary and suddenly, I see everything is gone! Poof! Vanished in thin air like it NEVER existed!! And the worst part- nobody remembers my marriage, NOT EVEN YOU!”

Tsukuo only returns him another puzzled look. “And how the hell would I remember that!?”

“Because you’re the one I’m married to, damn it!” Frustrated, Gintoki jabs his pointer at the man’s well-built chest, only to realize what just he said and immediately rephrases his statement to, “Or should I say the female version of you.” and awkwardly pulls back his hand. “And now, suddenly she looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger and I’ve no fucking idea how or when it happened! I don’t even have any evidence to prove myself in this…this crazy situation and damn it, this all sounds so ridiculous!”

Silence follows and the two men stare at each other, one giving an extremely baffled look while the other groans in embarrassment. This is not going anywhere.

Covering his face his hands, Gintoki breaths out a long, exhausted sigh. “Listen, I think I need to clear my head. Can you just…go?”

The man doesn’t reply for another few seconds. Perhaps, he’ll just leave him alone now.

“….I’m not going anywhere.”

Gintoki’s ears perk up. Did he really just..?

“And I think it’s better if we talk properly.”

Finally, he looks back at the man’s earnest face. “Eh?”

“Let’s get outside.” His said wife suggests and turns to walk down the stairs. “I think you should tell me what exactly happened. Maybe that can help you clear your head.”

“You believe me?” Gintoki calls out, baffled at how serious he sounds.

“Not completely.” Tsukuo looks back as he steps down the last stair. “But I do know you’re not lying.”

*****

Tsukuo is popular, just like his wife. Very popular.

But fun fact, unlike Tsukuyo, who makes every other lecher look the other way with her intimidating glares, Tsukuo doesn’t seem to mind all these flirtatious wink and compliments that keeps coming at him from the opposite gender.

“You seem to have quite a huge fanbase in Edo.” Gintoki inquires. The two has been walking down the streets of Kabukichou for quite a few minutes now and the extra attention the tanned man keeps garnering is making the silver-haired samurai a little distressed.

“Well, can you blame them?” Tsukuo looks at him, smirking proudly.

“No.” Gintoki shrugs, glancing at another group of women eying Tsukuo, who literally has the body and face of a Greek god. “But I never thought you’d enjoy so much attention.”

“I don’t exactly.” The man casually replies. “But when someone wants to talk and spend time with me, I can’t just say no to them.”

“And you just said the typical playboy line. How convenient.” Gintoki mumbles, not audible enough for the man beside him to hear. He remembers the first time when he met this version of Tsukuyo back in chapter 441 in the Dekkobokko arc. To watch the serious, tsundere woman suddenly turn into a player who shamelessly flirted with his female version was such a shocker.

“Flowers have no beauty nor ugliness. If such a thing does exist, then it’s in the looks of a man that cannot admire both equally.”

“HEY, WHO IS THIS GUY!? A VIRGIN WOMAN SUDDENLY TURNED INTO A PLAYER!!!”

Gintoki lets out a sigh. Even though back then such a thing happened, the situation was, more or less, temporary. Tsukuyo’s sudden personality change was only limited to that one arc. However, from what he has come to understand here, this Tsukuo has always been…Tsukuo. Sneaking a glance at the man, he again finds him smile at another woman on the sideways who flushes bright red and shyly hides her face behind her palms.

‘Yup, this is not Tsukuyo…’

After another few minutes of silence, Tsukuo asks. “So, you were saying I’m your wife?”

“No. I’m saying my wife got replaced by you.” Gintoki replies bluntly.

Unnoticed, the man rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Do you remember what exactly happened?”

“What do you mean what exactly happened? I was on my way to meet my wife, but then I see you and suddenly everybody has forgotten about Tsukuyo and our marriage.”

“Yeah, you already said that. But I’m asking did something happen when you were on your way?”

Gintoki knits his eyebrows. “…Huh?”

“Did you meet any…shady fortune teller on your way?” Tsukuo inquires seriously, glancing at him.

“Umm..nope.” Comes his honest answer.

“Then did you inhale or drink something strange before?”

“Nooo….”

“Then what about the headaches you were getting?”

“Most probably because of stress. What about it?”

Tsukuo shrugs. “I don’t know. I thought maybe it’s some sort of a side-effect of some ‘magic spell’ you’ve been put into?”

“This doesn’t make any sense, you know.” Gintoki scowls at his absurd speculations.

“Well, this is Gintama. Remember when the animation staff decided to freeze you for an entire episode due to budget issues?” Tsukuo points casually.

“Yeah, I do remember tha-“

“Plus, this is a poorly written fanfi-“

“Please don’t mention the obvious to our readers so casually. It can ruin their reading experience.”

Tsukuo sighs. “So, nothing out of ordinary happened?”

“No.” Except for his horoscope coming true which he cannot tell him.

“Tsk. That’s a very cheap way to move the plot though.”

“Would you stop being fussy about the plot already?”

“I was just pointing out the errors.” Tsukuo says as a matter of fact.

“You’re starting to sound like Onishi-kun now.”

Tsukuo grumbles. “Fine, I’ll stop.”

“Good.”

Even like this, the nitpicky and logical side of her is still clearly there. And a part of him feels happy that it is there. As the two continue to stroll around the streets of Edo, Gintoki finds his lips curl upward for the first time in the last few hours, unaware of the blond man looking at him with him own small smile.

*****

The afternoon heat is now replaced by the breezy evening evening as the two make their way to a public park. Gintoki has no idea why they are still hanging out together. Or why Tsukuo still hasn’t left for work? Or why they are suddenly in a park and why does it feel like a date? Well, obviously he does not mind spending time with him – it’s actually quite refreshing – but still, Tsukuyo has always been a busy woman, a workaholic who doesn’t leave her duties behind, so, shouldn’t Tsukuo be like that too?

“Why’re we here?” Gintoki asks as he watches Tsukuo taking a seat on a nearby bench and stretches out.

Tsukuo, to his question, gives him a blank stare. “Because I’m tired of walking.”

“You aren’t even wearing any heels!” Gintoki frowns, pointing at his zori. “Tsukuyo can jump twenty buildings on her four-inch heeled leather boots and won’t even beat a sweat.”

Listening to his sudden proud comment about his wife, Tsukuo gives an amused smile. “Oh, that sounds interesting. That’s what I expect from the female me.” He gives himself a few pats on his shoulders.

Gintoki scoffs at his prideful gesture. “You’ve no idea how she’s like.”

Scooting a little to the side, Tsukuo taps on the empty seat right to him. “Wanna tell me how she’s like then?”

There is a moment of silence between the two before Gintoki walks towards the bench. “Oh, she’s just…amazing.” Taking a seat beside him, he grins widely, suddenly at a loss of words to describe his wife. “Sometimes even I end up thinking how I landed a woman like her.”

“You sound like a love-sick puppy.” Tsukuo chortles lightly.

“Well, I am a lucky man.” Gintoki shrugs, surprisingly unabashed by Tsukuo’s previous remark. There is a familiar sense of security in his company even though the man is the very much different from the woman he has fallen for.

“Well, you did marry me. Of course, that makes you a lucky man.”

His cocky response made Gintoki scoff in dismay. The moment he was starting to think they were a little alike, Tsukuo once again made him rethink his words.

“I didn’t marry a smug bastard. She’s the complete opposite of you.” Gintoki proudly replies, ready to explain his point. “Beautiful, serious, workaholic and definitely not a flirt - that woman can kill a lecher just by looking at him her venomous stare. And she’s called the Shinigami Tayuu in Yoshiwara. Well, formally, but you get how scary she is by that name. Hell, even I once became a victim of her wrath for ‘accidentally’ groping her before we started going out. Fortunately, she didn’t kill me then….”

Memories of the time flash in his mind as a soft chuckle escapes his lips. “Actually, it was my fault so I really can’t blame her….There’s always been so much more. She’s always been so strong and kind and…so different from me. Someone that I thought a broke man like me could never have. But she still stayed…right there with me….That’s what made me fall for her.”

“…You really love talking about her, don’t you?” Tsukuo asks, smiling at the man.

Gintoki sighs, smirking proudly. “Boasting about my wife once in a while isn’t bad.”

Soon, silence falls between them. Without having any idea of the kind of face the man sitting beside him is making, Gintoki lets his eyes stay fixated on the bushes right across their seat. For some reason, he has been rambling quite a lot today. Was he always this chatty? No, as far as he can remember, he was not. Probably, it’s the heavy feeling in his chest that’s making him so talkative.

“…and, who proposed first?” Tsukuo first breaks the silence.

This catches the silver-haired samurai’s attention.

“Of course, I did.” Gintoki replies, turning to see the man giving him a shocked look that made his eye twitch. “Oi, don’t gimme that look! I saved for the ring!”

At this, Tsukuo gives him an impressed smile. “Who’d have thought, Sakata Gintoki would become such a hopeless romantic for his precious wife?”

This time, the playfulness in his voice makes Gintoki grunt in embarrassment but he chooses to answer anyway. “For her, it’s worth it.”

“Umm-hmm. But I’m pretty sure she made most of payment during the wedding.” Tsukuo cleverly remarks.

Gintoki sighs, nodding in agreement. “Yes. Yes, she did.”

Sneaking a glance at the blond man, Gintoki finds the blond blankly gazing up at the sky, a small smile adoring his lips as he closes his eyes and breathes heavily. Albeit all the striking differences, he couldn’t help but find a sense of secrecy surrounding him, much like her. And right now, his serene expression reminds him of the way she would sometimes get lost in her thoughts.

“Missing her?” Tsukuo asks after a moment of silence.

Upon hearing the question, Gintoki sadly smiles. “Of course…Plus, we haven’t been spending much time together recently because of her work so….yeah.”

“…you still don’t know what’s going on?”

“Nope. But my horoscope did say it’s gonna be a strange day.” Gintoki confesses as a dry laugh escapes his lips. However, Tsukuo doesn’t inquire him any further.

Suddenly, a sense of uneasiness envelops Gintoki. He quietly watches the kids run back to their homes while the sky now appears to be painted in a deep shade of orange, the sun slowly disappearing in the broad horizon. It is strange how everything seems so normal to everyone but him; everything here feels like a strange dream he is unable to wake up from.

For the last few hours, being in Tsukuo’s company didn’t make him feel lonely in any manner. No matter how different he is here, there is a sense of peace in with him.

However, this is not his reality. This is not the place he belongs to. And this person, at the end, does not have any feelings for him.

“I think I should go back.” Standing up from his seat, Gintoki decides to take his leave. A part of him fears if he stays any longer, he would forever remain stuck here.

As he walks away, Tsukuo call out to him. “Oi, where are you going?”

Gintoki can hear his footsteps now. “Home. And I’m hungry.” He replies without turning back.

This still doesn’t stop the man from following him. “How about you come with me to Yoshiwara? It’s better than staying up like some loner in your little house.”

This time, Gintoki turns around, skeptically looking at him. “Don’t you have work?”

“Nope.” Tsukuo shrugs and walks to him. “Hinowa told me to take the day off.”

Well, that kinda hurt. He didn’t even come on his own accord, that’s how bland their relationship seems now.

“Well. You’re free to return back to work, then.” Gintoki waves his hand dismissively, ready to leave again.

“There’s a new izakaya.” His immediate response stops Gintoki on his tracks as he hears his stomach growl hungrily. “My treat.”

*****

By the time the two reached Yoshiwara, it has already turned dark outside as the full moon shone brightly above, illuminating the night sky. The streets appear busier than it was during the afternoon as the two make their way to. But before that, Gintoki gets to hear all the Tsukuo fangirls welcoming him back to Yoshiwara after his oh so long, tiresome day. Damn, nobody even bats an eye on the Savior of Yoshiwara anymore.

“Tsukuo-sama, how about you spend your night with me?”

“There’s a new kimono I received, I’d love~ to show it to you~”

“But I wanted to serve you sake and enjoy watching the full moon with you~”

Damn it, he hated how Tsukuo is like a chic magnet. Yes, the man is handsome and of course, he cannot blame the ladies for being smitten over him but he has been seeing since the afternoon and now all these flirty gestures are starting to get on his nerves. First, he brings him here – basically bribes him with free food - and then, pulls off this shit!

Picking up his pace, Gintoki makes his way through the crowd, leaving Tsukuo behind. If that blondie is going to take his sweet time with his precious ladies, he might as well search for this new bar and get something to eat all by himself.

“Oh Gin-san!” A familiar voice call for him. His mind was so delved into Tsukuo’s apparent bachelor life that he forgot to notice he was passing by the teahouse. “Are you doing okay? ” Hinowa asks sweetly, walking towards him.

“Um…yeah. I’m-I’m fine. That was- I was asking those questions f-for a friend of mine. Sorry for leaving like that.” Gintoki nervously chuckles, scratching his head. It’s better if he just stay quite instead of bombarding her with another set of ridiculous questions like before.

“I see. That’s good to hear. I was worried.” The rave-haired woman politely smiles.

“Um, yeah. Tsukuo mentioned.” There is a hint of disappointment in his voice as his eyes fall on the dusty street. “But you didn’t need to tell him to take day off for me.”

“Oh, but he was way more worried than me. At first, he just simply went back to work when you left. But I could tell how much he was worried.” Hinowa instantly replies, catching Gintoki’s attention. “You know how that man is. Always working and acting like he doesn’t care when he actually does.”

Baffled, Gintoki looks back up to find the woman giving him her signature smile. “You mean-”

“AHHH HINOWA!” The loud voice quickly interrupts their little chat as Gintoki finds a heavy arm casually crash around his shoulders, making the poor man wince. “I’m treating this dude for dinner at Sato-san’s place.” Tsukuo fakes an excited grin.

Not noticing the slight blush on Tsukuo’s face in the dim light, Hinowa beams excitedly. “Oh, that’s great! Their bar is right around the corner. You must taste their kushiyaki, Gin-san -- Tsukuo, don’t forget!”

“Yes ma’am!” Tsukuo obediently notes and starts dragging Gintoki by his neck. “Now let’s get you something to eat!”

“I can walk on my own, damn it!” Comes Gintoki’s grumbling as he frees himself from Tsukuo’s death grip.

“Yeah, yeah, ojii-san.”

“Who’re ya calling ojii-san, bastard!?”

As the two continue their banter on the way, Hinowa lets out a chuckle, waving at them. “Enjoy you two!”

A few moments later, the two enter the new izakaya which appears quite crowded due to its growing popularity. The interior seems to be pretty much similar to Otose’s snack bar – with a bar counter stretching to their right and a few dining tables to their left with customers enjoying their meal – the lively atmosphere feels refreshing. But what catches Gintoki’s interest is a savory aroma of grilled meat around the room that almost made his mouth water.

Walking up to the bar counter, Gintoki takes a seat on one of the stools with Tsukuo sitting beside him. He watches the man take his kimono off and place it on lap, exposing his well-toned biceps that can make every man in the bar look away in envy. Yes, even him.

“Ojii-san, two beef kushiyaki and one sake.” Tsukuo signals the old man behind the counter who quickly responds with a “Coming right up!” with a big smile.

Gintoki gives him a surprised look. “You don’t drink?”

“Nope. Never have.” Tsukuo honestly replies. “Does Tsukuyo?”

“Oh, yes! She loves drinking.” the silver-haired samurai exclaims, remembering all the times when they trashed countless bars together after getting wasted. “But that woman is terrible at handling her liquor.”

This catches his interest. “Really?”

“Yeah!” Gintoki shivers at the thought of his drunken wife’s face. “Give her one drop of alcohol and she turns into a savage beast! I got my head smashed by a bottle of sake when we first had a drink together.”

Tsukuo lets out a chortle. “Damn, I guess it’s better for me to not drink then.”

“Good choice. I call her ‘the drunk terminator’.” Gintoki proudly declares the infamous nickname he once gave to his lovely wife.

The old man places their order in front of them to which Tsukuo gives him a generous nod before turning his attention back to their little chat. “That’s why you called me Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lookalike back when I came to your house.”

Gintoki chuckles and picks a kushiyaki from his place. “Who else am I supposed to compare the brawny male version of my wife with, then?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” With that said, the two dig in to their plates. “Itadakimasu!”.

Taking a bite of the flavorful kushiyaki, Gintoki hums in delight. “This is really good - Ojii-san, I’ll have another of this!”

“You really don’t say no to free food, do you?” Tsukuo shakes his head, not surprised by this habit of his at all.

“Well, you offered.” Gintoki slyly replies with a mouthful to which Tsukuo feels his lips curl.

The two then continue to eat in silence, with Gintoki sneaking a few glances at the distracted man who now has again started smoking from his kiseru after the old man offered his an ashtray. Something about this entire day feels off and yet, with him, he felt at ease. Still does, actually. Perhaps, it’s because Tsukuo’s the only one who knows about his condition. Or perhaps, he’s just trying to deny the fact that he’s, at the end, the same person deep down inside that he has always felt at ease with.

Gintoki recalls the horoscope news– your love will be tested – that’s what it said. Maybe, now he understands what the test really means. But to say it out loud to him; wouldn’t that make things awkward? Because, at the end, this Tsukuyo has no reminisce of the things they have shared together…And the last things he wants to be called is a creep by his own wife.

‘Just talk to him, damn it!’ Slapping himself inside his head, Gintoki pours a glass of sake for himself and chugs it down in one go, loudly exhaling at how unusually strong it tastes. However, before he could bring up the subject, he watches a middle-aged woman wearing a lavish kimono walk to their direction.

“Tsukuo-san, I didn’t expect you to be here.” The woman stands to his right, her silky tone didn’t going unnoticed by Gintoki as she casually puts a hand on Tsukuo’s shoulder.

Something inside Gintoki catches fire.

“Oh, Kirishima-san, what brings you here?” Standing up from his seat, Tsukuo places his kimo and generously greets the lady who, not so surprisingly, reminds Gintoki of a jorogumo. What about personal space- she even has the audacity to stand so damn close to him.

“Oh, nothing, nothing.” The said sophisticated Kirishima-san replies as she coyly places a hand on his chest. “You haven’t been here the whole day, I was looking for you.”

Gintoki chugs down another cup, the burning sensation in his body no longer because of the alcohol.

“Oh, um, I’ve been a little busy.” Tsukuo nervously glances at Gintoki who seems to have been declared invisible by the woman while he continues to drink his sake. He looks furious. “Is there something that you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh, yes. Regarding the donation work.” Kirishima-san says courteously. “If it’s okay, would you like to come outside for a little?”

“Ah, yes, I almost forgot about it.” Tsukuo apologetically says as he escorts the vixen-like lady outside of the bar. Whether it’s just work or not, this Kirishima-lady definitely has ulterior motives.

From the corner of his eyes, Gintoki watches the two chat about something that’s pretty much inaudible to him. The woman says something and Tsukuo nods. Then Tsukuo says something and the woman flirtatiously giggles. From this little view, he could say how badly she wants to get into his pants. However, he feels his blood boil when the woman starts to seductively rub her hand over his left exposed arm, as if he’s her little plaything. And Tsukuo doesn’t seem to mind at all!

‘Hah! He really is a player!’ Immediately, Gintoki looks away before he could see that Tsukuo has politely taken the woman’s hand off his arm.

Scoffing, he drinks up the rest of the liquor from the bottle, sighing in satisfaction. Again, this wasn’t the first time he is seeing this side of Tsukuo but it would be a lie to say none of it…disturbs him. Not even a slightest. Of course, he understands the two are different and never can he ask the person to be someone else but still, isn’t this the same person? At this point, he really cannot comprehend any of such thoughts. And by now, he can feel the alcohol kick in, making his mind all dizzy and muddled.

“Ya know, Ojii-san, I’ve a wife! She’s jus’ the best in the world!” Gintoki slurs in front of the old man, his mind now all foggy. Never had one bottle of sake been enough for him. But tonight, it’s somehow started to show its effects.

“You are a lucky man, sir.” The old man smiles at him.

“Right~” Gintoki hiccups, a goofy smile now plastered on his flushed face. “And she’s called the Shinigami Tayuu, isn’t that cool!?”

“That’s a very great name, sir.”

“Wanna show me where she is?” Ginotoki giddily whispers, just like a little child who has found lost treasure.

The man politely nods “Of course.”

Directing his thumb outside the door, Gintoki points at the Tsukuo with lopsided grin. “There! That man with the blond hair my wife!”

Hearing his little declaration, the old man laughs rather awkwardly while Gintoki continues to ramble. “Isn’t that funny? Like, she was this really sexy, badass woman before but poof, she’s a sexy, badass man now! And seriously, I don’t ‘ave any problem with tha’. But she doesn’t even remember anything! She doesn’t even love me anymore and is now flirting with other girls!” Slapping the counter loudly, he lets out a dry laugh, making the customers nearby look at his direction.

“Sir, I think you’ve had enough drink today. It’s better if you return back home with Tsukuo-dono.” The old man politely says, now giving him a concerned look as if he is now some drunk who has lost all his senses. Seriously, who was he kidding? There is no chance anyone will ever believe his words. And truthfully, a drunk’s confession is generally considered gibberish.

Exhausted and slightly dizzy, Gintoki stands up from his seat. “That guy will pay.” With that said, he leaves the bar quietly.

*****

Staggering on his feet, Gintoki somehow manages to get out of the flashy and lively streets and enters a dark, deserted alleyway. The full moon shines brightly above him, fortunately enough for him to not lose his steps and stumble down on his face like some cheap, homeless drunk. His head aches and at this moment where he has no solution to whatever-this-is, giving up seems like the only option.

“Oi, Gintoki!” The familiar voice call to him…yet again. And just like this afternoon, he wants to avoid it.

“Will ya just wait!?” Tsukuo yells again, his breathing heavy as Gintoki finally stops at his place and faces him.

“…What do ya want?”

“Why did you leave like that?” Tsukuo asks, slowly walking closer to him.

“You seemed busy with the pretty lady so I left.” Comes his cold response, making Tsukuo stop just a few steps away from him.

Gintoki expected a cocky laugh. Instead he finds Tsukuo gravely looking at his direction.

“…it was work. Really.”

Oh yeah, sure it was work. It’s always work. Whether it’s in here or there, it’s always work! And goddamn it, he was so tired of listening. All he has been trying to do for the last few weeks is to be a good, supportive husband who does not nag his wife for overworking or not spending enough time with him. If he’s being honest, he was angry, really angry at everything. But the moment he tries to make things better, some stupid horoscope predictions decides to test his affection for his wife and now, he’s stuck here with an alternate version of his wife.

Despite all this, he decides to stay quite again. No way is he going for another round of ranting session. Exhaling sharply, Gintoki rubs his temple again. “You know what, instead of doing all this, I should be looking for a way out. But for some dumbass reason, I ended up spending the entire day with you and watched you smug ass getting constantly flocked by your fangirls who you just shamelessly flirt with while I’m constantly reminded that you are not the person I love when I know it’s not true!”

….He failed. He ended up rambling again.

And so to calm himself, Gintoki breathes in. A long, deep breathe. While the man standing in front of him freezes on spot, dumbfounded and speechless.

“…were you jealous?” Tsukuo finally finds his voice back and carefully takes a step forward.

“Of course I was jealous!” The permhead finally admits.

“Why?” And another step forward…

Gintoki scoffs. “Really? You’re asking me ‘why’?”

“Yes.” And another…

He sighs loudly. “Because I love you.” And Tsukuo smiles.

“Even when you are this flirty, cocky man! Even when you don’t remember a thing about us! Even when I know that you don’t love me here! Because whether you’re Tsukuo or Tsukuyo, deep down, I know it’s you. It will always be you. The same person that I happily devoted my heart to and there’s nothing that I ever want to cha-“

Before Gintoki can finish, Tsukuo’s presses his lips against his, shutting him up in an instant. And Gintoki freezes on his spot, his hands awkwardly dangling around his sides while his eyes widen in surprise. There is nothing too fierce and hungry about the kiss; it feels like the ones they always share after waking up, chaste and full of love. Slowly, Gintoki closes his eyes and returns the kiss back with the same favor as his. Unlike the soft and pink ones, his lips are slightly chapped. And yet, the taste and smell of smoke he has so gotten used to is enough to tell him that yes, he’s kissing the right person.

Shortly later, the two pull back. Panting, Tsukuo puts his head on Gintoki’s shoulder, hiding his now flushed face as they silently stand there, savoring this little moment.

“It’s good to hear that you still love me.” Tsukuo is the first one to break the silence, his voice a little muffled.

‘Still?’ Gintoki knits his brows, confused as he recalls the strange horoscope predication.

“Guess I’m bound to fall for you no matter what.” He can hear the relief in his voice as Tsukuo slowly raises his head. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

The test, this strange world…His smile said everything. “You knew…?”

Tsukuo doesn’t answer his question. Instead, he just lovingly smiles at him and says something else as Gintoki feels his vision get blurry, his face slowly disappearing before him as his voice gets replaced by the one he has been hearing for years.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. I’ve got something to tell you.”

*****

The stiff sofa cushion has made his back ache painfully as Gintoki slowly sits up, stretching his arms and legs to loosen up his sore muscles. Sluggishly, he scans the surrounding to find the bulb above him glowing and outside the window, its pitch black, suggesting its night by now. He doesn’t even remember when he fell asleep. The TV is right around the corner as always and so is the little shelf. And there are two frames kept there- one of the Yororzuya and the other of his wedding day…

“You’re awake.” His eyes snap open at the familiar….and feminine voice of his wife who emerges from their bedroom right behind him. Turing around, he finds Tsukuyo walk up to him with her nightgown on.

In an instant, Gintoki jumps up from his seat and rushes to his wife, embraces her in a tight hug and almost making her lose balance. “OhmyGod, Gintoki! What’re you doing?”

Even her yelp didn’t make his huge grin disappear as he held his wife close, breathing in her freshly bathed scent. “I missed you!”

“H-huh? W-what’s the matter?” His sudden confession made the woman turn a deep shade of pink.

Pulling back from the hug, he lovingly presses his lips against hers. “I’m saying I missed you, woman!”

Watching the joyous smile on her husband’s face, Tsukuyo feels her lips curl up too as she caresses his cheeks affectionately. “I missed you too, you foolish man.”

“I just had the strangest dream ever. All just to see that no matter what or who you are, I will always end up falling for you.” Placing a hand on her heart, Gintoki looks at the love of his life with the brightest smile on his face. “It practically called you my soulmate.”

Hearing this, Tsukuyo lovingly holds her husband’s face in her palms, her amethyst eyes and soft voice entrancing him for the rest of his life. “Soulmate or not, I’ll always fall for you, too. No matter what.”

This makes the man exhale a sigh of relief. “I love you.” Gintoki says and leans in to touch his forehead with hers.

“I love you, too. And I’m sorry I couldn’t spend time with you for the last couple of weeks. You even came to meet me today but I couldn’t make it.” Tsukuyo apologetically says and closes her eye, finding comfort in his embrace.

Instead of asking when he went to meet her, Gintoki gently presses a kiss on her forehead and looks back at her. “Don’t apologize. Just…don’t overwork yourself, okay? And take a break. I was thinking of keeping it a surprise but let’s go somewhere for anniversary, on a trip.”

To his offer, Tsukuyo happily hums in response. “Okay. Let’s go.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulls him for a hug which he happily accepts.

Gintoki doesn’t remember what exactly happened here; the dream is only that he has memories of. And yet, there is a part of him that knows that wasn’t just a dream. However, instead of pondering about the past, he’d rather live in the present. After all, he deserves this moment of happiness his wife after getting his mind bombarded by a strange ‘test’.

“By the way, I think I’ll have to take a longer break.”

At this, Gintoki pulls back a little, slightly confused. “Huh?”

Looking down, he watches Tsukuyo take his hand off her waist and slowly bring it to her belly while Gintoki looks back up at her, astonished and completely speechless.

“Looks like you’re gonna be a father again, Sakata-san.” Watching the sexy smirk adoring her beautiful face, Gintoki feels his face go from surprised to purely ecstatic. And in an instant, he sweeps her off her feet, spinning her around in exhilarating joy while Tsukuyo giggles warmly in his arms.

“WE’RE GONNA PARENTS SOON!”

“Hahahaha! Gintoki, stop it!”

“WE’RE GONNA BE PARENTS SOON , BABY!”

“Yes, yes! I know! Now put me down!”

In between their giggles and joyous laughs, the two stop midway in their little celebration as Gintoki carefully brings the woman down. His wide, goofy grin never leaves his face and he once again presses his lips against hers, which she wholeheartedly returns. No way can he ever explain how happy he is now. After years of running away, after years of calling himself unworthy of love, he finally found someone who now shares her life with him. And never in this lifetime or any other, would he like to change that.

“Thank you for making me the luckiest man in the world.”

#gintsu #gintoki x tsukuyo #gintoki x tsukuo #sakata gintoki #tsukuo #tsukuyo #my fanfic #gintama

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g--r-e--e-n · 4 years

Text

The Date

Pairing: Leviathan x MC

Warning: There's a mention of self destructive thoughts, but the story does not revolve around that and you can easily skip it, so don't worry. It's not really angst, not yet.

A/N: It technically is way past midnight so I'm late for Obey me! MAX, but Mammon's piece took longer than expected and I had to do some research for this, mainly for the places and trying not to make Levi too OOC. It's hard. But I hope it's not too bad!

You both were siting in front of the screen, laughing maniacly and getting lost in the bluish light that slowly ate up the room. No sorrow, no insecurities, nothing bad could go through Levi’s door. Dang, it even took YOU a long time to be accepted.

“Oh, C’mon!” Levi complained, as half of the screen turned red. “You are just pressing buttoms at random! It’s so not fair!”

You softly chuckled, leaving the controler in front of you and slowly resting your head on the demon’s shoulder, as you had learned to do when he felt the slightless of envies. You hated when you saw him eating himself all over, thinking how life was so unfair, how he was only a yucky otaku. After all, he was so beautiful in your eyes you couldn’t help but stare.

His orange eyes barely reflected the screen, his soft hair barely covering them. His face was redder than anything you had seen before, and together this all reminded you of the beautiful coral reefs you had only seen in movies.

“Oh, come on Levi, don’t be a sore loser” You softly tease him, softly caressing his hair, his smile betraying his superficial annoyance. “You owe me something, don’t you?”

He soon sighs, closing his eyes and leaning a bit towards you, hoping to enjoy some love before having to leave. Why did you have to convince him so easily?

“Do we really have to do it..? It’s so comfy here…” He complays, reaching for your hand. You couldn’t help but feel certainly proud seeing how comfortable he was eventually getting around you, even if all he did was play with your fingers, probably to trick you into staying a bit longer.

“No way” you soon stood up, leaving him frowning and staring at you like a lost puppy. “Levi… You know I love our game dates. But when was the last time you stepped out of the house? You need some fresh air, dear.”

Levi didn’t even bothered answering, simply looking sideways. It wasn’t the first time you had this conversation, but you did not know how else to show your concern. Sure, at times you too felt too lazy to leave, too comfortable playing with your dear boyfriend to pay attention to the outside world, but there’s a certain limit. Demons might resist this situation better than human beings, but you are pretty certain it’s not too good either, not only for his body, but for his mind.

You felt proud whenever he spoke to Solomon, but you knew the exchange program would finish sooner or later. What would Levi do then? Of course he talks to his brothers, but they are busy with their own problems most of the times. He doesn’t have clasmates, he doesn’t have any sort of acquairance.

You understood his anxiety. But it was such a shame to see how such an amazing creature wilthed by itself. It’s not like you wanted to get him directly to meet people. Just… Outside. To see the beauty of this land he’s too used to to appreciate like you, a newcomer, do. Discover that he can live what he reads about in manga. That he can experience what his favorite character in his new anime is going through.

Still, you didn’t want to push him too much, so you simply sighed.

“Alright, alright. It’s fine, let’s give it another go.” You tried your best to erase any concern from your voice, but he would not fall for something like that.

“It’s fine.”

“What?”

“I-It’s fine. Doing normie stuff and all. But just this once!”

You blankly stared at him for a few seconds, your eyes lighting up, making him feel like he was about to go blind from the sheer beauty you so unkowingly holded.

“Just you wait! It’s going to be the best date ever!” You excitedly scream, before launching yourself for a tight hug, a grin so big on your face that you felt your cheeks slightly aching, poor Levi struggling not to fall. “What do you think about Siren Coast?”

You couldn’t see his face, but the way his arms tighten around you was enough to know his face had just lighten up. No fancy restaurant, no crowded streets, no awkard situations, and, what’s more, close to water and it’s somehow relaxing roar.

“Woah! Really??” He spoke a bit too loudly next to your ear, not that you minded him that much really, but at least you decided to let him go a bit, enough to see his smiling face. God, was he really thinking you would get him shopping or something? Maybe it was the way you were firmly staring at him dead in the eye, or the closeness of your body but he soon seemed to combust yet again. “Not that I want to go or anything!”

“I mean, we could always go to the mall” you shrugged, failing at keeping a smirk from your lips.

“Ah, no! I was kidding, kidding! I take it back! Let’s go!” He pulled you into the hug again, tightly, and you didn’t take too long to actually respond to his affection, even if you wanted to leave the room so badly. He was lucky to have a beautiful and fairly big room, but it didn’t help when what you really wanted was to go out.

“Alright, so… Let me get us some lunch, alright?” You said as softly as possible, pushing him away so delicately it almost felt like a caress. “Is there something you fancy?”

He softly sighed when you pulled away, obviously missing your touch, but at least taking your words into consideration, making you smile ever so tenderly.

“I made some sweets yesterday, while you were at RAD. I told Beel it was Mammon who cooked them, so they should be safe. And we can always stop by Lament on our way, right?” He proudly smiled, like a child waiting for praise, screaming how amazing of a boyfriend he was. Of course you obligated, caressing his cheek sweetly. Honestly, the sense of accomplishment on turning Levi’s baking from an occasional thing to something he genuinelly enjoys doing when his eyes are too tired to continue with his marathons is something you’ll bring to your grave, even if it took way more cooking series than you thought would even exist.

“What have I done to deserve you?” You didn’t allow your words to hang around for too long, knowing they had sinked in as soon as they left your mouth. “Alright, do you want to get changed, pretty boy? Or should we get going already?”

“No, I’m fine to go” He noded happily, barely hidding his obvious excitement. Going out might me a lame thing normies do, but right now it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. You didn’t know wether to be concerned because of his quick change of opinion or rather glad he is willing to actually hang out. “I mean, if you want to…”

You softly shake your head, offering him your hand to stand up. He hesitates a bit, but finally takes it. Both of your hearts race slightly, cheeks softly blushing to a lovely shade. You may have come a long way as for accepting physical affection, but it looks like you never truly got over it, still too drunk in this weird sort of puppy-love you really didn’t want to dry anytime soon. It doesn’t seem that any time has passed at all really, both of you as dorkish as ever.

But it was fine. Everything was fine when you were with Levi, his mere presence being more than enough for you to feel the soft warmth spreading on your chest.

You barely leaned a bit towards him, starting to walk away from his room, making sure he doesn’t get too sentimental waving goodbye to Henry 2.0. It’s hard to believe this very adorable dork was ever in any sort of war, and you were dying for every bit of it, for keeping him just as safe as he was keeping you. He had gone through enough.

“Alright, Levi, that’s it. That is NOT the Henry you should be focussing on right now” you complained, dragging him by his sleeve rather than his hand, knowing you had to be a bit rough.

Leviathan, to your surprise, softly chuckled. Being the avatar of Envy could be nice at times. Times like this, when he could tell how you heart ached to be the one and only for him. To some degree, it calmed him down. He always tended to be the jealous one, glaring daggers at you when you hanged out with Mammon or decided to go shopping with Asmo. Knowing that you, too, felt the same way lighted up his little heart. Reminded him that you could’ve chosen any creature in the universe and, still, decided to give him, a good-for-nocing otaku, the right to spend such precious moments with you.

Of course he wouldn’t admit any of this outloud, and decided to simply complain as you dragged him to the kitchen, barely managing to make Lucifer stick his head out of his room to hush you both before quickly going in. He was so done, but both of you couldn’t help but laugh like the fools in love you were, raising chaos happily, the wicked days long behind your backs.

Soon you had reached the kitchen, and levi opened the fridge like a treasure chest, soon grabbing some foil-wrapped goods.

“Behold!” He proudly removed the foil, allowing you to see some sort of pink pastry shapped like a flower. You soon recognized it “You normie might not appreciate this, but this is…”

“This is the candy magical girl Ringo made in the second season of 'I used to be a very powerful demon but I somehow got hexed by some witches and turned into a middle school girl and at first I was surprised but now I kinda like it and have started an occultist club but now it has turned into some sort of bakery club and I was really confused but the girl I like really adored candy so it's ok I guess'"

Levi actually blinked a few times before the "WOOAAAAH!!" you knew so well crawled through the air.

"You remember it?!"

"Well, you made me watch it like... A million times. And it was kind of fun" you shrug it off, struggling not to smile at the close call. Being fair, it was not the show itself what caught your interest, but rather Levi's passionate ramblings about it.

"You're the best player 2 ever! Are you some sort of angel?" You could see the slight blush on his cheeks, the happiness shining in his eyes as he got the lunch ready to carry. Usually people would treat his ramblings as background noise, so seeing that you actively cared for his interests, making him feel special, was the best thing he could ask for. God, he questioned your taste with men, but was he glad your standards somehow fitted him. "Now, let's go! I'll get you this super nice bufo milk tea flavour I've seen online to celebrate, alright? But don't you let it get to your head!"

"Aye, sir!" You brought your hand to your forehead, imitating the military, before letting go a soft chuckle. "Do you mind it if I hold your hands today?"

Levi hesitated. He wasn't always in the mood, and that's the exact reason you felt the need to ask. He was all for cuddling while playing games, in private, but the outside world was a completely different case. However, today he seemed to be feeling as generous as ever, as he shyly extended his hand, eyes focusing on a seemingly very interesting corner of the kitchen, his face pink like a peony.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. Not like there's that much people outside today, either way"

Not like he was proud to have you by hid side. Not like you managed to calm him down when the situation got rough.

You carefully took his hand, slightly cold, within yours, before walking away from the house and brothers, yearning for some fresh breeze.

It was a peaceful walk, always picking routes with as little people as possible, partly because of how much did social situations exhaust Levi, partially because of your human condition and not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.

In a few minutes you were in front of Lament, the store he had condemned as "lame" and "meant for normies" but eventually became a frequent customer soon, even if it meant that he sent you over as much as he could.

The young lady behind the desk smiled gladly at you, happy to finally see the guy responsible of both your frequent visits and her payrise, specially after Levi introduced Beel to the store.

You ordered between giggles and smiles, trying your best to help Levi out whenever the woman tried to drag him into the conversation with her best of intents. It made the process slower, but soon it was all payed and both of you were back on the streets.

"You know? At times I feel like you spoil me too much" you said, absent mindedly, eyes lost in the street. "Like, you always take me to so many cool places, like that time you brought me to the C.S, remember? And today you're even going out of your way to spend some time together! I must be the luckiest human alive to have you by my side!"

Levi was not ready for your words. Levi was not ready for your smile. Levi turned into some sort of bright red puddle of joy that covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

"A-Are you serious?!" He stared at you in disbelief, even stopping walking, making you turn your head around, Right eyebrow arched. "I mean, I just... I guess just really like being with you. Maybe... Maybe even more than being alone. You're my Henry, after all."

Even if he had clearly struggled, he actually managed to stay calm. God how much you wanted to hug this dork but how you feared he wouldn't like it, not here.

"You're so sweet, Levi, but please don't make my fall any deeper, I don't think I can take it!" You softly bump him with your shoulder, resting against his body for a while as a loose excuse to touch him a little bit, even if you were holding hands already. He kept quiet, mainly because he didn't know what to say without feeling too awkard in public, but he started softly rubbing circles against your hand with his thumb, slowly, lovingly.

The now closer sound of crashing waves soon catched your attention, and you even dared to rush a bit to the shore, even if it meant dragging your not so athletic boyfriend with you. Soon you were looking over the Devildom sea, feeling the breeze play with your clothes, kiss your limbs softly leaving the sea's smelt dancing between your flesh.

You didn't really get to see it, of course, but a gorgeous pair of amber eyes relied lovingly upon your figure. Levi, who had always admired the sea, would now much rather admire you, and it was driving him crazy.

"It's so beautiful! Didn't you miss this?" You turned around with a bright smile, and he felt like he was about to combust.

"I guess. It was nice to hang out with Lotan" he softly nods, sitting as close to the water as he could get. "But it's slightly more complicated."

You look at him, knowing he could easily read the questions floating in your eyes.

"When I was... When we were having a bad time" he said, so softly his words tangled with the breeze, like he was simply a part of the scenario, a piece of a perfect fitting whole. "I used to come here. I used to stare at the waves, just wishing they could take me with them. I felt so useless. I felt like a waste of space. But at the end... I wasn't even brave enough to actually take a dive."

He left out a sore chuckle, dragging his fingers along the sand. You were about to say something, to do something, but he hadn't finished.

Levi stared at you, his bright eyes watery, his smile so bitter, so painful to even see.

"Now you must really think I'm lame, right? I'm such an attention seeker, and you know it so well... I still doubt why would someone like you be with someone like me."

You saw his eyes darken and an arrow crossed your heart, not in the right way. Carefully, you cupped his cheeks, looking him dead in the eye while maintaining a serene smile. Reassuring. Warm.

"Levi. I'm glad you're alive. I'm so proud of you for making it this far." You softly and momentarily removed his hair from his forehead, giving him a soft kiss there, then on the cheek, before softly wiping away his tears with your thumb. "I love you. I love spending time with you, I love when you ramble about things that you like, when you do every little thing without realizing how much it means. Be it putting your whole soul on a cosplay or gifting Satan your earphones. You are simply such a lovely person. Such a lovable person. And I'm sure your brothers feel the same way. They'd be fools otherwise."

You give him a last kiss on the tip of his nose and he soon tackles you in a hug that inevitably makes you fall on your back. Not that you complain too much either way.

You both lie there, his head buried in your chest, listening to your heartbeat mixing with the waves, slowly calming down as your hand runs through his hair, softly, tenderly.

He felt so loved. So in place with the sea just next to him, with his arms around you like that's all they were meant to do.

It took him a while to realize you had fallen asleep, perhaps because of last night's marathon. He was careful when pulling away, taking his time to appreciate your sleeping self, deciding to lay a small surprise for you.

He quietly took what you both had brought, trying his best to make it Devilgram worthy before taking a picture, even if he struggled a bit around the idea of sharing a moment with the world he'd much rather have for himself. Levi decided to think about it later.

Only when everything had been perfectly laid, he walked over to you, kneeling at your right and giving you a soft peck on the lips he spent minutes bracing himself for, like you hadn't done it so many times before.

You softly complained, way too sleepy to even know what you were saying, but successfully making Levi promise himself to actually marry you.

"Hm... Levi? Are you feeling better now? What... What time is it?" You asked in a rather low voice, standing with the demon's help, a beautiful smile adorning his features.

"Time for a snack, of course!" He cheerfully answer, soon showing you his little masterpiece. "

#obey me #Obey me!#obey me levi x mc #obey me leviathan #obey me levi x reader #obey me fluff #Obey me MAX #gn!reader

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unexpectedreylo · 4 years

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Congratulations, You Played Yourself? Why We Didn’t See TROS Coming

I read a great meta by @ariainstars and it inspired me to finally address something I’d been meaning to write about since TROS came out. How were so many smart Reylo fans and Bendemptionists convinced things were going to turn out with a happy ending, Rey and Ben riding off into the sunset, when JJerio as well as fired writer Colin Trevorrow clearly had other ideas?

This isn’t a defense of TROS or its spin-out-and-crash ending. I still think Ben’s fate was totally mishandled and it leaves DLF with the choice of a) never addressing the post-ST galaxy or b) resurrecting Ben from the dead in one form or another. (When that will happen is of course a mystery. My guess is not for at least not another decade.) Returning to Rey Whateverherlastnameis without Ben is to dig their hole deeper, especially since I think the pop culture gods will determine that Ben’s departure was premature and unlike the deaths of Boba Fett or Darth Maul, materially damaging to the overall story.

This is an object lesson though in how fans and creators can end up on different pages and also how creators underestimate the power of their own work.

I thought that death was always on the table for Ben but TLJ’s compassionate treatment of the character and his relationship with Rey as well as piles of well thought-out metas convinced me he was going to survive. I was sure they were going for an unabashedly happy ending because it was the last film (not simply because it was Disney) and they would want to go out on an up note. I didn’t think a Dead Ben would end things happily (and really I was right...the air gets sucked out of the movie the second he abruptly dies). I also didn’t think they would solve the Skywalker problem by tacking the name onto Rey at the very end of the movie (sigh).

I think the fundamental problem was highlighted in @ariainstars‘s meta: many thought we were getting Pride And Prejudice or 50 Shades Of Grey while they were riffing off of Phantom Of The Opera. All of those stories are variations of La Belle Et La Bete, Beauty And The Beast. POTO though ends tragically because Erik is too much of an outcast and his crimes are too terrible. @ariainstars states that Kylo/Ben was always doomed because he’d killed his father. A happily ever after was never going to be possible for him.

Why did so many of us reject the idea that killing Han meant Ben had to die in TROS? Because a lot of sequel fans grew up with Asian and Asian-influenced media, namely anime, manga, and shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender or Dragon Ball Z. Serious crimes weren’t necessarily bars to redemption or a happily-ever-after. There were and still are lots of comparisons between Kylo/Ben and Prince Zuko, who was redeemed, survived, and marries (though not Katara). Dragon Ball Z’s former villain Vegeta sacrifices himself but is allowed to return to his body and he gets to be in love with Bulma.

JJerio and Trevorrow though didn’t grow up with that stuff. They grew up with Star Wars and everything else Hollywood produced in the ‘60s-’90s. While I’m pretty sure Rian Johnson would’ve sold it better if he’d directed and wrote IX, I am not sure if Johnson would’ve let Ben get a happily ever after either. While Star Wars always had an Eastern influence, it still is very much a product of the West and all it entails.

Maybe the trouble with Ben’s arc is Abrams and Kasdan deciding he had to kill Han Solo. When I saw TFA, my first thought was Kylo would redeem himself in the last movie but he was toast. Which is too bad, because you doom your character in the very first movie and that’s not fun. TLJ then only offered false hope that this would not be the case. I get that Johnson was making redemption credible but either he was too optimistic that whoever followed him would consider letting Ben live or he unwittingly oversold Ben to the point where you not only wanted him redeemed, you wanted him to survive so he’d have a chance to be happy and free. (And of course that Rey would have lasting companionship with an equal.)

Another reason why we thought we’d get a happily-ever-after is because Kylo/Ben was the son of Han and Leia and the only Skywalker scion, this meant he was somehow bulletproof and his importance in the story was only going to grow. Adding to this assumption is Rian Johnson referring to Ben and Rey as co-protagonists. But to Abrams and company, these movies weren’t about Ben. This was Rey’s story and in case you don’t understand that, she appears in nearly every scene in TROS. While Kylo/Ben leaves a big impression, if you pay attention you’ll notice he gets less screen time in the movies than guys like Poe or Finn. To those who made TROS, Kylo/Ben was little more than a foil, a catalyst for their heroine. He was supposed to be Darth Vader to Rey’s Luke Skywalker. (If you want to understand why some fans who clearly aren’t TFM types don’t like these movies, there’s your answer...the Skywalker family got sidelined in the last third of their own saga.)

Perhaps though there’s another simple answer and that is fans are great at being in denial. If we want a certain outcome, we’re going to bet the farm on it. Soon among a subset of fans, it’s practically a tenet of being a part of that subset. This led to what I call following “signs and wonders,” fans believing there are secret codes they were putting out to reassure us we were going to get what we wanted. I”m seeing a lot of that now with regard to Ben returning, though I don’t buy they are really giving it much thought right now.

Reylos correctly predicted that Ben would turn and there would be some acknowledgement of the attraction between Rey and Ben. We actually got most of it right. But Ben’s death wasn’t an outcome most Reylos entertained to any extent. There were fans who predicted Ben’s demise but they didn’t talk about it very much and those metas weren’t as enthusiastically shared. Why? We didn’t want it to happen and we didn’t want to think about its possibility.

Whatever JJerrio’s and Lucasfilm’s intentions, Ben Solo was a character who had escaped. I guess everyone knew Kylo Ren was going to be popular and iconic but those guys severely underestimated his power. It’s due to the mystique built up in TFA, the revelation of his humanity in TLJ, being the last Skywalker, and his relationship with Rey over the course of the films, all expertly performed by someone who always brings his A game and had plenty of charisma to spare. Some sympathetic story groupers added further pathos to his back story in various comics and novels. He, like the cinnamon roll The Onion made famous, was too pure for this world.

Moreover, they severely underestimated the power of Reylo. They unwittingly tapped into something primal and mythic with those two. Nobody could’ve foreseen their incredible chemistry and they didn’t fully understand or appreciate how epic the pairing truly was. Or at least those not named “Rian Johnson.” But many in the audience could see it. There was a lot in the media about Reylo. The two times I saw TROS in the theater people applauded when Rey and Ben kissed. It was the gas in the ST’s tank.

That’s why we bought it. It’s amazing to me how often studios, filmmakers, and show runners miss this stuff while fans keep expecting a different outcome.

#reylo #reylo fandom #reylo fam #ben solo #bendemption #tros #bring back ben solo #kylo ren

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natsspammityspamspamham · 4 years

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Dino Watches Anime (Nov 15)

BOI, I HAVE A MIDTERM ON TUESDAY AND TEST ON WEDNESDAY. SCREW THAT. I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE ANIME I’VE BEEN WATCHING IN BETWEEN STUDY SESSIONS! Yeah, the studying is like 2% while the anime and games are like 98%... I’m working on that, okay? Anyway, I’m going to cover mostly seasonal stuff with some other stuff.

Let’s go over the seasonal stuff first. Summer had so few anime coming out whereas Autumn/Fall came in like, “OPEN THE FLOODGATES! LET’S GO!!!” I haven’t even gotten around to all the anime airing this season that I want to like Yuukoku no Moriarty, Majo no Tabitabi, and Adachi to Shimamura. I missed some last season too like Deca-Dance which I just didn’t want to commit to if it was only for the good animation.

Taisou Samurai (DROPPED)

I dropped it after two episodes. MAPPA has two major series this season, but they clearly gave more time and attention to the one that was actually going to make money here (which I’ll talk about later). This one seems like a passion project without the passion in it anymore. It’s like opening a bag of chips and finding out they went stale long before you even reached into the bag.

Taisou Samurai, at its core, has a premise that I found really promising. I happen to like watching gymnastics sometimes, and the idea of an athlete who doesn’t want to retire is interesting. They went wrong with the execution. I don’t know what they were trying to pull here, but with unlikeable characters and a terrible run at it, it’s like they weren’t playing with a full deck of cards here.

Also, if you don’t know what a gyaru is, one of the supporting characters will look like a racist caricature. Also, this bird has no other point than to try to make up for this show’s lack of usable humour by using Kappei Yamaguchi’s range and going, “Please, save this show. I beg you.”

I didn’t even bother giving this show three episodes to drag me in because I just couldn’t see myself wasting another 20 minutes here. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart, but for now, I should be having better things to do.

Munou na Nana (WOULDN’T RECOMMEND)

I know everyone has made this joke already, but this is really just My Hero Academia x Among Us. I feel like if there was some more... budget put into this anime, they could’ve made it a lot better. The manga had a lot more detail, so a lot of the gruesome scenes with zombies or killings, etc. were muted and toned down beyond belief. Not to mention, I guess watching it after I read the manga just made me feel stupid. This is such a junkie show that pulls tricks that everyone knows is coming. Nonetheless, I can’t find some big reason to say “do not watch this” because it’s still a very mediocre show. It has its good points, but its presentation devalues it, the voice acting is meh (especially since Yuuichi Nakamura is playing THREE overpowered main cast characters this season), and the jig is up after the first episode, so the twists are just to make you sympathize more with the imposter. I haven’t seen a show like this for a while though, so I guess you can watch it if you want something refreshing like that. I don’t think you’re supposed to like this cast of characters, so I won’t say anything against not liking this cast.

Kamisama ni Natta Hi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

Jun Maeda... the man who manages to incorporate baseball into every anime he does... seriously, every anime I’ve watched by him has it from Angel Beats to Charlotte to that unfinished Little Busters I just left on hold. Anyway, Kamisama is no exception. Jun Maeda has a reputation for building touching stories that start off strong then really lose their footing once he realizes that he’s not going to get 24 episodes and needs to squeeze all of those 16 episodes of story left into 4 episodes or so. It also doesn’t help that sometimes he goes off on useless storylines that pay no use to the story.

Hina is really funny sometimes (but can be annoying). Narukami is funny. Really, everyone has some valid point about them that makes the show better compared to the previous entries.

Seriously, some little kid comes up to you and goes, “The world is ending, I am God, and I’m going to stick by you.” Meanwhile, you’re just a simp that’s trying to get your childhood friend to fall for you.

Honestly, I’m still having a blast watching this. As much as Maeda’s writing can really suffer from tonal shifts (mostly in the end), I still wanted to watch this anime simply because I always like his storytelling in the beginning, and the laughs it brings can sometimes still muddle out the bitter taste that’s left in your mouth when the series finishes. I can already feel this train going down a slide and off a cliff. I already paid for my ticket though, so I’m obligated to stay on this shootshow until the end.

Seriously, I do not like where some of these relationships are heading.

Maoujou de Oyasumi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

This anime is relatable. It can get stale fast for a lot of people, but every time I think I’m going to get sick of it, it pulls one of the same gags that makes me go, “This. This is why I’m sticking with this.” I’m not sure how much more there is to say. It’s just an abducted princess who couldn’t care less that she’s a hostage and instead, takes this newfound time to take some good ZZZs. What a life.

Oh yeah, this princess is also willing to commit murder, mutilation, theft, and assault to get the sleep she wants.

Tonikaku Kawaii (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

I’m not dropping this show... even if it makes no sense. The premise is astoundingly stupid, but it pulled a Zombieland Saga on me. It sounded so stupid, but once I gave it one episode, I found myself being entertained and almost rooting for the characters and their relationships.

Imagine this: You are about to get into the high school of your dreams when you see the girl of your dreams cross your path. You want to ask her out so you jump over the barricade and get hit by a truck. You’re on the brink of death when you realize you can’t die there without confessing your love. You chase her down with blood coming out of your head and confess. She says that she’ll only go out with you if you marry her. You then... somehow survive, drop out of school, then get a job to search for her. I kid you not. This is the setup. It’s as stupid as it sounds, and the anime knows this. It doesn’t try to fool you into thinking that this series is supposed to be anything but some highway fast-track way to convince you into watching a married couple. I think what irked me the most is that the character designs didn’t change from when they were in middle school to when they were adults. It wasn’t the being hit by a truck and not being sent to another world, it wasn’t this girl who stopped the truck without ruining her hair, it wasn’t anything else but their character designs staying the same.

Anyway, this anime is cute as long as you can jump some hurdles. It’s basically puppy-love marriage with anime stupidity through and through. I don’t know what about this series people, including myself, find charming.

Jujutsu Kaisen (RECOMMENDED - BUT DON’T COMPARE TO DEMON SLAYER TOO MUCH!)

It’s Shonen Jump. “Will it be the next Kimetsu no Yaiba? The next big Shonen Jump series? One of the next big three? Five?” No, I don’t think so. I’m not enjoying this nearly as much as I did binging KNY. The cast isn’t nearly as likeable, but I’m still having a good time. It’s not all that fair to make that comparison anyway. The cast for Jujutsu Kaisen is passable. I like some of the main cast, but I feel like they lack the same kind of depth with its main heroine. I know she gets more stuff done in the future chapters, but her backstory so far is, “I had a friend once... No, she’s not dead. She just left our small town.”

The fight scenes are actually so much fun to watch. MAPPA gave this series a lot more time and budget than say that first anime I mentioned. It’s fluid, the camerawork is amazing, the choreography is on-point.

The voice acting for this anime is spectacular among the main cast... when character dialogue allows it.

I feel a bit of imbalance, but Yuuji does offer a good protagonist template. Junya Enoki makes his lines so funny and gives this nonchalant approach that is the polar opposite of his performance in Tonikawa. This is definitely his season.

Junichi Suwabe voicing the main demon thing is amazing too. It fits so well, and he sounds so cool and evil. It’s great.

Gojou is also one badass mentor played by Yuuichi Nakamura. Overpowered, part of the main cast, etc. Insert your reverse Kakashi joke here. Just give him more Sharingan genjutsu, I dare you.

Yuuma Uchida is back playing another tragic character that’s serious and uptight. I can’t say much more about him.

The opening and ending are both worth listening to even if you don’t want to watch the anime. Lost in Paradise by ALI has been on repeat for me.

Besides that, I’m going to go over some other anime that I’ve been watching.

Hunter x Hunter (AS IF THIS HASN’T BEEN RECOMMENDED ENOUGH)

Slowly. Slowly but surely. 11/148.

I know this is going to be amazing... I just want to be in the right mood to full savour it. I don’t want to be consumed by stress and not pay attention. The reason why I like a lot of those seasonal anime is because I don’t pay the same kind of attention.

If you told me these characters’ ages, I probably would’ve believed everyone... except Leorio. The guy looks like a middle-aged money-hungry gangster.

What I would give to have the energy and serotonin of a Shonen Jump protagonist.

Haikyuu (YEAH, IT’S GOOD)

I’m watching this one with my mom and sister as they go “OMG OMG OMG” as we watch while I’m sitting there like -_-

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good show, but sports anime are made like shounen battle anime (because they are in a way) with different stakes. I’ve felt more “nervous” about some of the Haikyuu matches than I did with some of the Hunter Exam. Worst case scenario in Haikyuu, you lose the match. Worst case scenario in Hunter x Hunter? You die.

I knew what I was going to get into when I was watching Haikyuu, and it’s given me what I remembered (since I did watch 10 episodes of it a few years ago) and expected.

SKET Dance (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)

Unfollow me. Unfollow me right now. This is what I’m going to be talking about for the next month. I can feel it. I’ve had this show for like 3 days and watched around 33 episodes along with some of these other titles. I have a problem. I know that, but I don’t feel like fixing it. This show is just too good.

I get why people call this a poor man’s Gintama, but it’s not quite that. I can get the similarities, but it’s like eating an empanada and saying that it’s just like that dumpling you tasted last week. It looks alike on the surface... if you’re not that great at... telling the difference between things... but once you get to the meat of it (PUN HAHA), you realize that they are completely different, and you were a fool for thinking otherwise.

That’s our main heroine! Go go go!

Dude, episode 25 hit me out of nowhere, AND I READ THE SPOILERS! I won’t say any more than that.

The cast is one of the best that I’ve seen in a while. Their chemistry is basically the entire show. Without one of the main three, you wouldn’t have the show anymore. It handles its female characters better than some of its fellow competitors at the time, and it may have what some may call a “token fat character”, but the character never makes fun of her for being fat. They make fun of her for saying “Yabasu” every single sentence. It hurts that the manga ended with some loose ends, and this anime isn’t getting a season 2.

But at its weird and mushy core, this show is about three people with heavy and complex pasts who simply want to help people work out their issues in their own... unique ways.

I don’t want to say much else, but I wish more people would watch/read it and create/post most content for it even if it’s a bit old because it deserves it. I’m almost a decade late, and this anime still holds up.

I gave Mairimashita Iruma-kun its own post.

#dino watches anime #seasonal anime #sket dance #haikyuu #hxh #hunter x hunter #tonikaku kawaii #tonikawa #kamisama ni natta hi #Jujutsu Kaisen

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library-with-tales · 4 years

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Bungou Stray Dogs Band AU that I spontaneously came up with like a second ago.

Based off the mobile game if you haven’t noticed. Someone probably already thought of this buuuuut I like my idea so here we go:

World setting

Port Mafia, Armed Detective Agency and The Guild are music agencies while the other smaller groups are just bands (haven’t read manga yet but I’m aware there are other groups). The Special-too-long-of-a-name people are the big boy cooperation (I am so uneducated with the music world why do I do this to myself).

Port Mafia are filled with talented people yes, but they have the habit of straining the music artists sometimes (this will be relevant in a bit) and are more focused on the monz. If you want a reference, their music are on the same level as your good ol’ big pop groups, the real famous on the radio ones.

Armed Detective Agency (in this case they’re called Armed Music Agency, yes they are still armed) is a smaller agency since they prioritize quality and feelings over quantity and catchiness, which makes them pretty indie tbh, They have songs that don’t particularly appear on the radio a lot, if not, not at all. Though they’re talented all the same.

The Guild are basically the equivalent to K-pop and J-pop, not quite famous in Yokohama, but definitely famous enough to go on tour there.

Atsushi’s arc

There were a few ideas for him (music school was in the draft but I dunked it faster than I pulled it up) but it boils down to one thing: Atsushi accidentally becomes a famous singer from an old video he made when he wasn’t fully into music yet. He, being the oblivious guy he is, suddenly starts gaining fans and is beyond confused yet appreciates it very much.

Though not sure why people are calling him the Beast below The Moonlight (Plot twist, you big stupidhead, that was the title of the old song you made). He goes along with it though, calling himself Moon Tiger, which is so him honestly.

Anyways it’s not Dazai if he doesn’t try to drown himself so while Atsushi’s vibing by the open canal he just sees him. Like canon, Atsushi saves Dazai. But the thing about Atsushi is; he’s camera shy and most of his videos have him covering his face and out of camera view, so Dazai doesn’t immediately recognize him as the famous youtube singer.

As thanks, Dazai treats Atsuhi to dinner with Kunikida, and Dazai has a hunch that Atsushi is Moon Tiger so they start a small convo about it. Atsushi’s all; “ERRRRMMMMMMM” and he wants to leave until:

“Y’know, whoever Moon Tiger is, I’d totally pay a lot of money to hear him sing.” Dazai hums. Kunikida kinda agrees to this, saying how talent like his shouldn’t come totally for free. Atsushi doesn’t ask for donations or get youtube money (because he dunno how :( ) so he’s almost flat broke, and this kinda perks his interest.

“Actually, uh, I kinda know Moon Tiger. I didn’t want to bring it up because I thought you’d ask for autographs or something ha ha. I agree with the paying part.” Atsushi you’re low key greedy ngl, Pre-Bullshit Atsushi was greedy. Money-eyed hoe. “If you want I can get you to meet him, but he won’t wanna show his face so it’s gotta be somewhere he can hide himself while still being able to sing.”

“Done!” Dazai holds his hand out like it’s some sort of deal. “I know a place.”

I’m sorry Dazai, but I’m not smart or sexy as you, so I don’t know the place. Let’s go with the regular canon spot, yeah? And Dazai listens while Atsushi sings behind a big crate and when Atsushi is done, he expects money but he gets a thunderous applause instead and suddenly his identity is revealed and everyone is clapping and staring at him super amazed.

And Atsushi faints from being too overwhelmed.

Anyways, things happen, some parts are alike to canon, some parts aren’t. Atsushi’s main goal in this AU is to get over his terrible stage fright while simultaneously trying to avoid clashing with Port Mafia, who at first, wants to recruit him before he fully signs the contract with AMA.

I don’t know how battles would work in this, but they happen.

Dazai’s backstory

So my man Dazai amirite?

Not a surprise, he used to be under Port Mafia. At some point he does numerous collabs with free lancer Chuuya because Chuuya’s little sheep band had an issue with copyright with Port Mafia (oops).

Onto the main course though: Odasaku.

Ango is in charge of Oda and Dazai, who usually does music together because they’re friends (hurray). But Oda had long gave up on doing vocals because his throat just couldn’t handle it, he much prefers writing music and Dazai doesn’t mind because he never has extremely big ideas anyways.

A clash with Mimic happens and Mori’s all: We need more music we need to stay number one. And so -I dunno how- he forces Oda to finally use his voice to sing via Ango’s persuasion.

Oda completely loses his voice in the end, like he completely damaged it, and he can’t handle the music industry anymore so he leaves. And Dazai’s all: “Don’t go please.”

And Oda writes on his phone and holds it out for Dazai, “This agency. It doesn’t care much for music, does it? I used to sing because I liked singing, because there were feelings in it. But slowly this agency stopped me from being able to do that. Dazai. Don’t you think you should sing with feelings too? You’ve never made an opinion on my ideas, is it because you can’t or you won’t?”

And Dazai realizes he only likes doing music because of the people around him, especially Oda, and now that Oda isn’t in Port Mafia anymore, it just isn’t the same. He’s been making music to grab people’s attention and not much because he wanted to. So he decides to change and switches agencies.

(His relationship with Akutagawa is as straining as canon; “I don’t care about how you made this dumb song, it’s not good enough! How will anyone want to listen to this crap?” Now Aku’s music are catchy and all but lacking in meaning.)

Other things

Yosano’s music is pretty rough, but it literally lets all the feelings out, so it becomes pretty nice. So you know that music that cures this and cures that? That’s Yosano’s music, except it’s really hardcore. I don’t know how she does it, she just does.

Kyouka is the daughter of two big music geniuses and is expected to be the same, so she gets an immediate acceptance into Port Mafia and it nearly breaks her until Atsushi meets her. During a concert or something -because in the end, Atsushi’s still the fan boy type- Atsushi goes up to Kyouka and asks if she’s okay and stuff.

“I’ve made 35 songs, but I can’t...hear my own voice, my own music...” Your Lie in April ref do not hunt me please.

Ranpo is known to have serious in depth meaning behind his music, and a good 20% are just matryoshka songs (he gives out stuff if you find out if his song is an in depth meaning one or just nonsense that somehow speaks meaning while having no theme at all)

Poe’s are somewhat the same as Ranpo, except they’re more like stories to be honest, and his songs get numerous fan interpretation and so far, Ranpo always gets it right. The only one who ever does without missing a beat (ha ha got em.)

Debating if I should just make Kunikida an agent or a music artist that just likes writing songs rather than performing them.

Naomi could be an idol ngl but she’s not, she’s her brother’s number one fan! (She’s a secretary in the agency.)

Chuuya’s more famous for his pretty looks than his music at this point, but it doesn’t mean he’s a shit music artist though.

Higuchi is Aku’s agent.

Kenji’s songs are so happy and go-lucky it makes anyone listening to it feel pumped up. Hence his music are often used in AMVs or sports exercise (what a range!)

Yumeno’s music are those cursed type of songs that weren’t meant to be creepy or weird to begin with (e.g Tonight You Belong To Me, it’s an innocent song yet it can be taken as horror(?)) but end up becoming one anyways.

Dazai’s songs are so sad sometimes but they’re always upbeat. A weird yet perfect balance for his listeners.

That’s all I got! Honestly, don’t really know how to develop The Guild in this, maybe one day I will.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #band au #dazai osamu #atsushi nakajima #kunikida doppo #yosano akiko #odasaku sakunosuke #kyouka izumi #akutagawa ryuunosuke #yumeno kyuusaku #edogawa ranpo #edgar allen poe #higuchi ichiyo #kenji miyazawa #tanizaki naomi #nakahara chuuya

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tombugg92 · 4 years

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Wiley - Godfather III

I thought I should start this by giving a short intro to Wiley. Widely accredited by fans and artists as a pioneer of the Grime scene, it would be impossible to overstate the impact he’s made in Grime, in fact it would be impossible to overstate the importance that he’s made to UK music in general. Starting off as a member of Pay As U Go Wiley first began his life in UK Garage, eventually as Pay As U Go disbanded Wiley went on to form Roll Deep, containing Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and many more. This was where we really started to hear an evolution of the UK Garage sound and things started to sound more like the Grime that we came to know and love. It’s certainly not just Wiley who thinks he’s the “Godfather,” not many in the scene would argue that, but he’s certainly not going to let you forget it.

A lot of newer fans were put off with last years altercations with just about anyone who makes any music, after Wiley was widely publicised to have labelled Drake as a “pagan,” and Ed Sheeran as a “culture vulture,” before taking a much more direct approach with Stormzy, firstly sending very direct tweets on Twitter before the pair released a few tracks which must have been absolutely shocking if you hadn’t grown up watching Lord of the Mics. I think people who have been listening to the scene since the Rinse FM days will have attributed this behaviour as just clever marketing, I know I was expecting this album long before it came. This marketing is tried and tested and it works, it was certainly successful for Wiley, exposing himself to a whole host of people who’s entry point to this whole genre was Stormzy. I heard people talking about the tracks everywhere, at work, in bars, in fact I even got into an argument with my barber over who we thought took each round (word of warning kids, don’t start an argument with your barber).

Then the dust seemed to settle slowly, I wasn’t hearing the arguments anymore and Stormzy had disappeared from Social Media altogether, but there was still no album from Wiley? I was hearing that Wiley was all over the capital, recording verses with MC’s from just about everyone involved in the scene, but there was nothing solid as to why. I’ve heard that it was something to do with labels telling Wiley he had to wait before releasing the record on his own label, but again nothing concrete. I saw something on Instagram that it was going to come out 1st of January, but at this point Wiley was posting a story or a tweet once a minute so I was hardly surprised when this date came and went. Finally in June, nearly 5 months had passed since Wiley’s last send for Stormzy, we had an album. Even then it wasn’t easy! It dropped first on Apple Music before making everyone on Spotify wait a little longer. I actually signed up for Apple Music when I already had Spotify because I couldn’t wait one extra day for it to come out, so if anyone knows how to contact Wiley I’d like to invoice him for that pointless subscription fee.

So finally it was here! I was really busy at the time and I don’t like to listen to a record before I can give it my full attention so I actually saw the track-list before I even had a listen, and at first was amazed by the lack of features, where had all those verses that Wiley had been collecting suddenly gone?! Then I saw a tweet from Big Zuu saying that he’d featured on on a track but had not been credited (Track 20 - West London, if you’re wondering) and I thought “Wow, that’s just so Wiley.” A couple of days later though Wiley himself released a list of all the features on the album, and when I saw that I had to listen straight away. There’s some huge huge names on that list, both established legends in the scene like D Double, Jammer and Footsie, to what I think of as the new breed of people that will carry the genre even further like Big Zuu and Capo Lee, and some people who I won’t lie I’ve never heard of. It seems like Wiley is determined to use his last record to make sure that the wheels of this genre are still spinning.

So onto how the record sounds. Normally I like to do a bit of a breakdown of every track, it allows me to really work out any tracks I really enjoy or any that I think could be left out, but I’m not going to be doing that right here. Purely because this record is incredibly long and I really didn’t fancy writing my thoughts when it comes to 22 separate tracks, I’m not exaggerating either it really is 22 tracks long! Obviously the whole thing does have a very Grime feel to it. Just the lengths of the tracks themselves make me think of the old days of Grime. With an average track length of less than 3 minutes it gives the whole thing a really fast paced feeling, comparable to the way that Wiley has always flung bars at us at a million miles an hour, his final album flings tracks at us with comparable speed.

The first listen I felt almost overloaded. With so many features that I did find myself thinking “Was that so and so?” so much that I missed just about every punchline and barely even recognised the productions. So I had to go back a few times and listen all over again, although that’s definitely not a chore! Production wise it’s much as you’d expect, very Grimey and very heavy in the early tracks which leaves me feeling that Wiley really is cementing that flag in the scene before he departs. Don’t make any mistakes at all though because this is not a record in which all tracks sound the same, Wiley keeps even the Grimiest tracks sounding varied by switching up his rhyme flows often and the hooks change between each track. Production wise my favourite track would have to be family which features Flirta D, Footsie and Goldie1. I think the track is produced by Mr Virgo and for me it brings a really fresh sound which can often be quite difficult when producing a genre which is nearly 18 years old now.

Lyrically Wiley comes just as hard as he always has. He comes out swinging on Intro letting us know exactly what he thinks of his role in the scene saying “I’ll be the father bro, you can be the son of it.” As a huge fan of wordplay I also feel like I’ve got to shout out the London scheme in Intro also, which end with a punchline saying “They’ll pull up to the junction, jump out and Clapham.” Had me screwing up my face like I was in 2004 all over again. The bars continue from Wiley as the record goes on, always following the similar theme with Wiley reminding us exactly who we should thank for this whole genre. In terms of features for me it’s Tempa T that absolutely steals the show, probably because I don’t think I’ve heard from him for so long. But having just written that I’m having so many more ideas, J2K is absolutely incredible on Double Dragon and Manga Saint Hilare shines on Amsterdam alongside Breeze, Scratchy and Wiley. Yes you did read that last sentence correctly, it’s basically a Roll Deep reunion on that track.

My only concern with the new album coming out would be that it wouldn’t have any flow. Lately Wiley seems to struggle to focus on one topic, in his interviews with Zeze Millz and Poet for Filthy Fellas I didn’t really know what he was talking about more often than not and I was concerned that lack of cohesiveness would translate into the record. My concerns were unfounded though and, like I’ve said earlier it’s very much a Grime showcase in the early tracks. This does get mixed up as we go continue through though, Rinse for example uses a production that Donae’o once released to give a more UK Funky feel. I also love the final track Press Record, which slows everything right down and moves as far away from Grime as it’s possible to go, but lets us really feel like Wiley is talking to us. I also find it quite emotional because it makes me feel like Wiley is actually serious that this is going to be his last album, and I just don’t even want to begin to imagine this scene without him.

Think what you like of him, and he’s certainly split opinions over the past few months, you simply cannot overstate the impact he’s made. And if you were doubting this statement, this final effort will make sure you rethink that. It’s quite amazing that there are 22 tracks and I genuinely cannot think of a single one that could be taken off this record, a truly sublime effort from the true Godfather. Thank-you Wiley.

#wiley #godfather3 #grime #albumreview

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dragonhrte · 5 years

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Destiny? Chapter Seven: Back There

*Author's Note:*

Thank you so much for giving this work a read! Quick disclaimer, for all intents and purposes MHA/BNHA are not mine they do not belong to me. The manga and anime have inspired me to write this fiction and dialogue as well as events are given credit to the beautiful people who have blessed us with this series. Aside from standard story line events this work is mine. Don't forget to comment and heart!

Please note that

*abc* is a sound effect

'abc' is internal thoughts of whomever

"abc" is dialogue

(abc) is a side note from yours truly ;)

*~Love, DragonHearte*

I go down the steps quickly, often taking two at a time, hoping I don't have too much ground to cover to catch up to the two of my classmates. I'm pleasantly surprised when I see both Kirishima and Bakugo waiting at the exit of the building for me. Bakugo is clearly perturbed that he had to wait.

"Thanks-", I'm cut off by Bakugo abruptly pushing off the wall and running off towards the entrance. I pick up the pace to a run to keep up with Bakugo's eagerness to get to the action.

While running, I turn my head towards Kirishima and pant, "Thanks... for... waiting..." I manage to get out between breaths.

He turns to me and replies, "You're… welcome."

I smile and turn back to see Bakugo ahead of us, as we continue the fast-paced journey to our destination. The fountain is almost within view, just a couple more turns and we should be able to reach it, but I'm starting to lag behind. Kirishima notices I’m not beside him and starts to slow his pace.

I wave him off and say, "No... you go... I'll... catch... up."

A concerned look on Kirishima's face and I grab a bit of my chub from my stomach to emphasize my point and say, "I'm ...out of ...shape, go ...ahead..make sure...Bakugo ...doesn't ...get himself ...killed."

Kirishima nods in determination and speeds up, having to make up for the distance he lost talking to me, to catch up with the hot-head.

Even though I hadn't stopped, I am fifty yards away when I see Bakugo and Kirishima up ahead reach the fray. I see Bakugo use his quirk to propel himself forward towards the warp-gate guy. A second later while in the air letting out a violent explosion when he reaches a spot within the mass. I catch a glimpse of shiny metal and realize that I wasn't the only one to notice that object. 'Wow, blasty-boy was really paying attention. He wasn't just trying to blow the smoke guy up with a random explosion.' I feel an unexpected twinge of heat at my hip, as I stop watching in wonder the scene unfolding before me.

Bakugo has slammed to the ground holding the only solid object appearing to be tied to the warp-guy, and saying, "You're not all that you misty mook."

I notice All Might, wrestling with some strange behemoth type creature, in an odd position, half of him on one side of a portal and halfway through the other when a layer of ice started to appear on the creature's body.

I hear, "So you people came here because you think you can kill All Might," and then see Todoroki walk into the central area of battle, "however, scum like you could never kill the Symbol of Peace."

I watch as Kirishima lunges towards a different villain with pastel blue hair, whose upper body is covered in hands. Kirishima's hand in it's hardened state as he throws a punch. The villain just barely manages to dodge the attack.

"Damn, I almost had 'im." exclaims Kirishima.

"Guys!" Midoriya cries out right before All Might manages to wriggle out of the grip of the mutant creature.

The pastel blue haired villain says, "Well, you've essentially neutralized our only way out. That's going to be a problem."

Bakugo shouts at the villain he has pinned beneath him, "You fucked up and in a big way too! You can only turn certain parts of yourself into that warp gate, and you’re also probably using the mist as a screen to hide your physical form. I'm right aren't I?! Come to think of it, if your whole body was mist then physical attacks wouldn't work at all. But you said when we first rushed you,'That was close!' "

I think back to that instance and I don't recall the exchange, 'Bakugo was closer than the villain anticipated and he was able to hear him due to his close proximity.'

The villain beneath him starts to squirm a bit under Bakugo's hold.

Bakugo yells, "Don't move! If I think you're doing anything questionable, I swear I will not hesitate to blow you to smithereens!"

Kirishima sends a worried glance over his shoulder and says, "That's not very hero-like dude."

The villain with the hands on his torso says, "Our League of Villains should be ashamed of our inability to at least kill some of you measly students. However, you kids of the new hero generation are something else entirely. You've beaten us and managed to stay mainly unharmed. Nomu take out the explosive brat, we need our escape route back."

The giant creature that was wrestling with All Might, contorts its frostbitten body to escape and stands up. Half of its body breaking away from the chunks of ice that Todoroki had caused to form. Scrambling forward despite the carnage, the creature doesn't appear to register the missing limbs.

"How is he still moving even with missing body parts?" I mutter to myself.

All Might exclaims, "Everyone get back! This creature is very dangerous! What on earth?! I thought his quirk was shock absorption!"

The villain with the hands on his torso replies, "I don't remember saying that was all he could do. This here is Hyper-regeneration." As he says that the Nomu sprouts muscles and skin right before our eyes, rapidly regrowing the right side of his body.

"Nomu is a superpowered living sandbag designed to withstand everything you've got." The villain continues. The Nomu lurches forwards towards Bakugo in the blink of an eye, I watch in horror as the giant beast is about to make contact. Then, there is a burst of motion, too fast for the eye to track and then an explosion through the wall behind where Bakugo was.

'No!' I scream internally, as a small whimper escaping my lips and a tear sneaks out of the corner of my eye. I felt a strange tightness in my chest, almost suffocating. Then, I spot him, out of harm’s way flat on his ass, by Kirishima, Todoroki, and Midoriya. It looked as though he had been there the whole time. The tension in my heart instantly released.

"Did you just dodge that Kacchan?! That was amazing!"

"Shut up Deku!"

The dust from the explosion settles, revealing All Might with his hands in a blocking position.

"That explains why he was able to dodge." says Kirishima.

"Do you not know how to hold back?! They're just kids!" All Might exclaims.

The unknown villain replies, "Just kids you say? I was just trying to protect my companion who the blonde one had threatened. That's disregarded though because he was trying to save someone else though right? It really pisses me off! Villains and heroes both use violence in order to accomplish their goals, but they're labelled as either good or evil. You're labelled as the Symbol of Peace, but you're just a tool that the government is using to control everyone. In the end we're all violent, even you. Killing you will show the world the truth!"

All Might scoffs and says, "That's a load of crap, you're pretending to be an idealistic criminal when you're not. You're doing this for fun."

"You got me." the villain with the hands covering his torso replied.

"It's three on six." Todoroki points out.

"Yeah, and Kacchan showed us the misty guy's weakness." Midoriya adds.

"Even though they're really strong, if we support All Might we can do this together!" Kirishima shouts, getting super pumped.

"No! Get out of here." All Might interjects.

"I don't know if you noticed, but things would've had a different outcome if I hadn't assisted you just now." Todoroki says.

"All Might, you're also wounded, and you might not have much time left..." Midoriya starts off super insistent and confident, but trickles off in his statement.

"I appreciate your efforts Todoroki, but I need you to stay out of harm's way for now and let me get serious." says All Might and he rears his hand back.

"Nomu, Kurogiri, you take care of the Symbol of Peace while I take care of the kids," the head villain orders, and then lunges forward, "let's get rid of these brats and get home!"

"He's coming get ready guys!" Kirishima shouts.

All Might charges towards Nomu, and punches him with enough force to create a shockwave. Myself and the other students are knocked back from the force behind the blow. It also caused the villain who was coming at us to jump back and avoid becoming collateral from the all out fist fight occurring a few feet in front of us.

They're bounding all over the central area dodging each other's attacks and exchanging blows, but you can tell little by little, All Might is the faster and stronger one.

All Might shouts out, "His quirk is shock absorption! Which means that he has a threshold! You said that he's akin to me in every way to handle my quirk at 100%?! I'll just have to go beyond that!" All Might continues, "A true pro-hero is always prepared to come through in difficult situations! Tell me villain, do you know the meaning of... PLUS ULTRA!"

And with that he punched the Nomu with so much force he rocketed up into the air and through the ceiling of the U.S.J. building.

"That was like it was straight out of a comic book!" Kirishima remarks.

"He basically smashed his way past the absorption. It couldn't keep up with the damage." I say.

"In my prime taking down that thing would've taken me five hits tops, that was just over 300. Now villain," All Might said addressing the villain with his torso covered in hands, "why don't we get this show on the road?"

"You cheated!" The villain exclaimed, "You say you're weakened but given that display, clearly you're not! How dare you do that to my Nomu?! They lied to me."

"Are we going to finish this or what? You said you wanted to clear the game, right? If you think you can truly take me on, then bring it!" All Might says, determination in his piercing blue eyes.

"Guys we're clearly not at this level yet, we need to hang back for this one." Todoroki says.

"Come on Midoriya we should head back, if we stay much longer they might take us as hostages." I say, trying to talk to him isn't doing much. He's standing there still as a statue, fixated on the scene unfolding in front of him.

"Maybe there's some other villains left, we should probably go check and see if anyone needs our help. All Might will be able to handle these guys. Let's go." Kirishima says, and we all start to walk in the direction of the stairs. All of us except Midoriya.

"Midoriya!" I exclaim as I watch him jump into the middle of the fray by himself.

"Get away from All Might!" Midoriya shouts, arm extended to punch Kurogiri. The hand of the lead villain reaches through the mist towards Midoriya. Suddenly, a bullet shoots through the villain's outstretched hand. I look behind us and realize, 'They must've managed to send someone for help.'

There they were a small group of pro-hero teachers assembled at the top of the platform of stairs. One of them starts using his quirk to shoot at the villainous pair. As the villains try to escape through a warp that Kurogiri creates, it seems that they are starting to get pulled away in a different direction, and I see Thirteen hoisted up on the shoulders of my classmates, heavily wounded activating hia quirk to try and suck them into his black hole. It's not enough, and the duo escape. The warp vanishes, leaving the other villains behind.

"Based on the fact that all these pro-hero teachers are here, I don't think they attacked the school itself." Todoroki says.

Midoriya laying on the ground his legs clearly in disrepair, and crying. Kirishima and I both start to run over to him, we've almost reached him before a wall of cement erupts from the ground in front of us. Then, Cementoss says, "We need to ensure all of the students are safe. Please head over to the entrance. I will deal with the severely wounded."

"Okay.” I say, wondering what someone without healing powers will be able to accomplish, while Kirishima responds with, "Roger that!"

We make it to the top of the stairs to join the rest of our classmates, and they start counting all the students they have gathered. There's a guy in a trench coat that says, "Aside from the kid who messed up his legs, it looks like everyone is pretty unscathed."

The rest of my classmates started conversing, I wasn't really paying all that much attention to what was being said until Tsuyu asked, "What about Mr. Aizawa?"

'Yeah, what about Mr. Aizawa I saw him dive down and start kicking ass, not bothering to take names. After that though, I didn't see him at all...'

The class goes quiet as the guy in the trench coat says, "Both of his arms were smashed to splinters. His face is fractured, thankfully he got away with minor brain damage. His eye sockets were pulverized... and there's a high chance he may suffer from long-term vision loss. Or so I hear... Thirteen has terrible lacerations across his back and upper arms, but his life isn't in danger. All Might's injuries aren't life threatening either. Recovery Girl's healing will probably be enough to get him back in action, that's why he's been sent to the nurse's office." There was a collective sigh of relief, but there was one more question.

Ochako asks, "What about Deku?"

Ida quickly asks as well, "What of Midoriya?"

The guy in the trench coat answered, saying, "Oh him? He made it to the nurse as well, and should be fine after Recovery Girl fixes him up. Go back to your classes though okay?"

"Okay!" the class responded in unison.

We loaded up the bus and went back to our classes, even though most of us were too distracted to really learn anything after the ordeal.

Chapter Eight: Neither Here Nor There

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Smash!! 01 and 02: Smash!!Might is a Fucking Menace

okay, so. I have about a million other things I should be doing instead, including (1) responding to asks and/or finishing in-progress metas, (2) reading Vigilantes, and last but not least, (3) actually making a dent in the ever-increasing backlog of Actual Work That I Really Should Be Doing Instead.

so naturally I’m procrastinating by taking my first stab at reading BnHA’s cute 4-panel omake spinoff series, BnHA Smash!! IT JUST MAKES SENSE. look, I have exactly one thing I felt like actually doing and not procrastinating today, so I might as well do the thing. basically it’s my attention span’s world and I’m just living in it.

anyway! so apparently this series was scanlated by good ol’ Fallen Angels. that’s right; prepare yourselves for some very creative cursing, fellas. other background info for anyone who, like me, is unfamiliar with this spin-off: this series debuted on November 9, 2015, a little over a year after the original series. said original series was currently at chapter 66, meaning the Final Exam arc was just wrapping up.

so now that we’re all properly oriented, let me go over a few disclaimers real quick and then we’ll get started!

all comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.

I’m aware that not everyone may be familiar with Smash!! even if they’ve read/watched the original series, so I’ve tried to make this recap comprehensible even if you haven’t read the spin-off. that being said, it’s probably more enjoyable if you have, so you can either purchase the first volume from Viz here, or read the chapter online (I don’t want to link directly, but the spin-off is available on most of the usual sites. literally just google “read mha” and you’ll find some good options).

this readthrough contains a handful of sorta-kinda spoilers for the BnHA manga, although there are no direct spoilers. just an indirect reference to a joke in chapter 242, as well as a reference to a theory which as of now is in no way canon. but just to be on the safe side I’m posting a heads-up.

and I think that’s it! so here we go.

so we’re opening with a brief summary of the series. people have superpowers and shit’s nuts. you know the drill

there’s also a brief description of the way that the superhero economy works, complete with Mt. Lady’s employees unionizing and demanding better pay

...what

guys I keep staring at this and thinking that surely, SURELY it doesn’t say what I think it says. sidekick... what... manager??

you know what? Viz unfortunately doesn’t include this series as part of their subscription package (WHAT AM I PAYING YOU FOR, VIZ), but it does at least include a free preview of Smash, and I bet you that this, the first fucking page of the series, is a part of that preview. so... let’s see...

okay, see, this actually makes sense! so did the FA scanlating team collectively all have a fucking stroke?! just, what??

this is one of the reasons why I had difficulty reading Vigilantes too, tbh. those early chapter scans were, uh. but at least Vigilantes has a Viz scanlation too. I don’t want to spend 10 bucks just to read one volume of this, but we’ll see. anyways

so now there’s a strip about baby!Izuku watching his favorite clip of All Might saving one hundred people from a bus accident or whatever

lol Inko you should not have left your shrewdly calculating four-year-old son unattended omg

TWELVE MONTHS’ WORTH OF TEXTBOOKS HOW CAN THIS EAGER YOUNG MIND RESIST

and this is why you don’t leave your credit card info saved on the computer when you have kids. life lessons learned today

this is the first indicator we have ever had that baby!Izuku wasn’t perfect and was, in fact, capable of being a little shit and giving his mom plenty of gray hairs in his own special way. ngl, I fucking love it

also 12,800 yen is about $118 USD, which is honestly a really good deal for a year’s worth of textbooks. he got three boxes of books! I just googled the average cost of college textbooks, and the google article said the average student spends about $1200 a year. so this is a fucking steal tbh

OH MY GOD INKO HOW MANY TIMES MUST HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF BEFORE YOU LEARN

at least install a fucking adblocker ffs. you’re lucky quirk supplement ads are the worst of the ads he’s getting! PARENTAL CONTROLS

now we are cutting to a comic about baby!Izuku defending another boy from my problematic fave, as seen in page one of the original series!

lmaooo

I’m not clear on how much of this spin-off can actually be considered canon. my understanding is that it is Horikoshi-reviewed and approved, even though he doesn’t actually write it. but it’s obviously a humor series, so a lot of it is just going to be jokes. that being said, I think my approach is going to be “if it’s not completely ridiculous and doesn’t contradict the actual manga, go ahead and consider it canon”

(ETA: I might change this up after reading the first two chapters. most of these strips would have terrifying implications if they were actually canon sob.)

anyhoo, this actually does contradict the manga in that we saw this encounter play out very differently. but I kind of wish it was canon regardless because looool. these cocky preschoolers and their fucking Battle Tears

the next comic is Mt. Lady accidentally stepping on a guy’s face and the guy being way too fucking happy about it (read: having a fucking nosebleed and taking an upskirt shot). we’re just going to skip this entirely. this is another problem I was having with Vigilantes too. you know, for all my complaints about Mineta and such, BnHA as a whole is so much tamer than it could be, and I need to give Horikoshi credit for that. he mostly knows where to draw the line, and to his credit he’s also much, much better about this kind of thing than he was when he first started. maybe Mineta’s standings in the character poll results are helping to clue him in

anyway, I’ll mostly just skip past the iffy stuff because I don’t have patience for it and there’s still plenty of other stuff to cover. so on to the next strip

which features a bunch of reporters fawning over Mt. Lady’s flashy quirk while Kamui Woods laments in the shadows

and yet we know this kid will have a prominent rise within the next six months. it’s so strange to revisit the start of the series and see how much things have changed in such a short time

oh my god

no one who dresses up as a giant mushroom could possibly have good intentions. I. just

and look at the fucking disappointment in Deku’s eyes. KAMUI WOODS HE BELIEVED IN YOU!

now some strange man is coming up to Deku and is all HEY YOU, YOU’RE A HERO OTAKU, TELL ME WHAT TO BUY MY SEVEN-YEAR-OLD SON FOR HIS BIRTHDAY. better not ask him unless you’re prepared to shell out $120 bucks for some fucking textbooks

hey, what!!

WE DIDN’T EVEN GET TO SEE WHAT HE BOUGHT HIM? unless it’s the action figure the kid appears to be holding? but I’m just going to go ahead and assume Izuku recommended the number one best gift that any seven-year-old child would love, i.e. a giant sword

now it’s a sludge monster omake!

so Izuku is trudging home all depressed after CERTAIN INCIDENTS, and Sludgey is glooping his way out of a sewer towards him

oh no All Might

my biggest takeaway from this is the fact that the entire second half of chapter one takes place after All Might has emerged from a fucking sewer. I forgot all about that somehow. or maybe it never fully processed until just now. but omg. this entire chapter must have smelled so fucking bad. these poor kids

wow All Might

sure called that one wrong. ah well nobody’s perfect

looooool

lmao, Smash!!All Might appears to be quite a bit more vain than the original. wow dude

btw, friendly reminder (and I think this is something that was actually pointed out to me after one of the recaps; that’s one of my favorite things about doing these) that All Might, after saving Deku, actually read his notebook before signing it. super-fast, I guess, because he’s the best. but yeah, so he knew exactly how smart and observant Deku was, and how much he wanted to be a hero. his decision to pick him as his successor didn’t just come out of the blue; even before the “my body moved on its own” thing, there was a lot Deku had going in his favor. this is one of those little details of which BnHA has so many, and which I love

lmao what the fuck

ngl this version of the series would have been amazing in its own way. but yeah. so this is why we clearly can’t assume everything in Smash!! is canon lol. but I can already tell I am going to enjoy the shit out of this series

now we’re cutting to Deku running at Sludgey in order to save Kacchan, oh shit. the most dramatic part of chapter one. clearly no moment is sacred

sob what

I don’t understand this strip at all. is this supposed to be a serious moment inserted unexpectedly among this multitude of joke strips? or did I miss the punchline? heeeeelp

(ETA: okay so. my best guess is that All Might wrote all over Deku’s life-saving advice, and so the joke is that Deku no longer knows what to do when assaulting sludge men because HIS NOTES ARE RUINED. idk. what does 25 P mean??)

now All Might has Done The Thing and saved my boys, and now Mt. Lady is helping with the cleanup. scooping up all the bits of sludge and putting it in trash bags

oh my god

nope nevermind. nope. nope

-- shit. okay, you know what? this first chapter has been a real in-your-face reminder of the fact that the sludge monster was not made of cute sparkly 2018-trending-fad slime, but was in fact composed of RAW FUCKING SEWAGE. (ETA: to be clear, I’m pretty sure the joke in this strip is that she accidentally picked up dog-doo during her clean-up. but still, the fact that it was indistinguishable from the rest of the gunk speaks for itself.) I think I forced myself to gloss over this fact originally due to the nope factor. but just. Izuku and Katsuki were both choking to death on this shit?? and just, how the fuck did they make it out of this not traumatized

and also, like. All Might was straight up going to leave Izuku alone afterwards, just, “well enjoy your autograph, fine citizen” and blasting off out of there. and everyone fucking saw Katsuki almost suffocate to death later on, and after giving him a pat on the back they fucking let him go off on his own too? and you can’t even make the argument that this was Just Another Day In Quirk Society either, because more than a year later, Katsuki is still a bona fide fucking celebrity from the media coverage of his attack. it clearly was not something that happens every day. in conclusion, these kids are resilient as fuck, and thank god for that because people apparently just do not give a shit, holy christ

anyway. at least Mt. Lady had gloves

OH MY GOD

I FUCKING KNEW IT OH MY GOD. THE ROIDS. MUSCLES LIKE THAT DON’T JUST GROW ON TREES, I DON’T CARE HOW MANY LBS OF GARBAGE THIS KID HAULED OFF THE BEACH. THIS BOY BEEN HITTIN THE JUICE

Smash!!Might is so fucking shady omfg. probably sells cheap counterfeit electronics on Amazon

oh shit and that’s the end of the fucking chapter lol. that’s it?? that was only eight pages. fuck it, let’s read another. but first here’s Horikoshi’s note on the spin-off

so he really feels that Neda gets the spirit of the series and understands him. that’s very encouraging. the best spoofs and parodies are done out of love. I really think I’m going to enjoy this series

so! onward to chapter two

so here’s All Might dressed as Mr. 2 Bon Clay from One Piece, I guess??

“you know what’s funny? dressing a man in girl’s clothes LOL.” guys can we grow the fuck up. and also acknowledge that All Might can look good in anything, so this questionable gag wouldn’t have even landed anyway. you work that tutu All Might

lmao check out the past users of OFA here

All for One for All theory fucking confirmed lol. just look. that’s him in the back of the conga line. clearly

so Deku is all “hell yes why would I possibly say no??” but then

HIS LIMBS. lmao. sign here

in all seriousness, given the shit this kid has been through since the part of the series, All Might probably should have gotten him to sign a liability waiver of some sort. not that it would have stood, since Deku is underage! anyways Deku you totally have grounds to sue the shit out of the Symbol of Peace should you ever choose to do so. and the trend of Smash!!Might being shady af continues yes please give me more I love it

so now All Might is giving Deku his fitness plan which has a really elaborate name

given that this is Smash!!Might, I can’t help but wonder if this plan is in actuality some sort of MLM scheme. All Might are you trying to get Deku to do Herbalife

lol what in the fuck

the original series skipped right over a hell of a lot, it would seem. like the time Deku traveled to Arizona and fought coyotes in a poncho

I’m starting to suspect that Neda-sensei might be on some sort of substance. “let’s see what jokes can I make about chapter 2 of BnHA. I know, I’ll send the protagonist to a fictionalized version of the American Southwest in a sombrero, and then turn him into a 65-year-old oil tycoon.” naturally

lmao that’s really it, that’s the strip. moving right along. okay??

now Izuku is staring at the intimidating piles of Beach Trash and is all “I HAVE TO PICK ALL THIS SHIT UP?”

omg Deku no

somebody call Marie Kondo. Deku none of this is salvageable. not even to reuse in a color page photoshoot spread four years from now

OH SHIT

PROVED ME WRONG OH SNAP. SHOWED ME RIGHT WHERE I COULD PUT THOSE SASSY TAKES. MY BAD DEKU I’M SORRY

anyways I don’t know what Smash!!Might is so upset about. he probably wove some kind of clause into the contract Deku signed that allows him a percentage of the profits. unless Deku already spent it all on textbooks

what the fuck is this fucking series lmao

time for a round of “what is All Might casually crushing in this panel?” is it (a) a cardboard box, or (b) like, a mini-fridge or some fucking shit. IT COULD BE EITHER. IT MAKES EQUALLY AS MUCH SENSE EITHER WAY. “HEROES THESE DAYS ARE [FLEEEEEEX] OBSESSED WITH BEING FLASHY”

holy shit no wonder he ran away to the Sierra Nevada. it’s only a matter of time before this freak fucking kills someone

NOW WE’RE CUTTING AWAY TO KAMUI WOODS DRESSED LIKE A DAFFODIL, IN THE SAME FUCKING COMIC STRIP, BECAUSE REASONS

my jokes about the mangaka being high as a fucking kite when he wrote this are gradually becoming less jokes and more serious inquiries??

lol so he coincidentally just stumbled across All Might and Deku at this exact moment

AND IT WAS A FUCKING REFRIGERATOR OH MY FUCKING GOD

do you guys remember during the final exam when All Might beat the everloving shit out of Deku and Kacchan, and everyone was all “JESUS CHRIST WOULD YOU LEARN TO FUCKING HOLD BACK A LITTLE THEY ARE CHILDREN YOU MANIAC.” but now we can see plain as day that he was, in fact, holding back. anyways Smash!!Might is terrifying as shit and if this had been the main series I would have already pegged him as the final villain by this point

here he is now wearing an old-timey bathing suit but looking more like an escaped convict than anything else

this panel is actually canon. I’ve decided. this 100% definitely happened at some point. especially the swimsuit

now two bikini babes are walking up and they’re all “IS THAT ALL MIGHT??” with excited sparkly eyes because they don’t know that he’s actually a deranged con artist who crushes refrigerators like empty soda cans. this spin-off has truly opened my eyes

LOOK AT THIS SKEEVY FUCK. JUST LOOK

AND NOW HE’S RUNNING OFF AND LEAVING DEKU TO DROWN IN EXHAUSTION, SON OF A

“SUDDEN BUSINESS” KSJLDKF SMASH!!MIGHT IS A FUCKING MENACE TO SOCIETY AND ALSO DOES NOT GIVE ONE SINGLE FUCK. NOT ONE!! HE’S OUT THERE FUCKLESS, AND NO ONE IS SAFE

now Deku is approaching his mom all serious and says he wants to change up his diet

and she’s looking at the menu he prepared all impressed and thinking that she might join him. as long as it’s for your health, Inko. if this manga starts making jokes about your weight, I will beat it over the head with Deku’s textbooks

OMFG

THIS WENT IN THE EXACT OPPOSITE DIRECTION I WAS EXPECTING, AND THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I’VE EVER READ WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. the whole fucking family is on the juice. and the fucking mangaka is on some special juice of his own oh my stars

now we’re cutting to Mt. Lady stomping on a car

thank fuck no one was actually in there. also does she not wear shoes

and also, it only just occurred to me that she must be another person with a special quirk costume, because her suit shrinks and expands along with her. Hagakure and Momo are really getting shafted by the costume design team here. they need to fire some people

anyway so Mt. Lady slipped on this carelessly placed vehicle and fell down and crushed an entire building whoops

bruh, you think you’re “ow.” let’s hope that building was empty too

and now she’s toppling another building just fucking because, I guess. and saying she can’t do urban areas

lmao and now the sidekick [CENSORED] manager from chapter one is back to guilt-trip her omg

I need this man to show up in every freaking chapter. please. respect my wishes

and now Izuku is standing on top of his collected pile of garbage screaming in victory

I only just realized that there’s still a big old Pile O’ Trash on this beach, though. someone needs to haul all of this junk away. or else get All Might and Mt. Lady to crush it all with a combined effort

oh shit here it comes y’all, the famous “eat my hair” scene. potential comedy gold right here omg

lol what the fuck

this man is a fucking billionaire and he’s out here clipping coupons and deleting pictures of his son in order to make room for them smdh

okay now we’re doing the hair scene

oh. oh no. I know where this is going sob please keep this comic rated PG for the children Neda

motherfucker they really --

Smash!!Might is a straight-up felon. this man has no fucking scruples. that’s okay Midoriya-shounen, if you don’t want to eat my hair we could just try some REDACTED, jesus christ I am going to need some bleach for my eyes after this

OR LET’S JUST STRAIGHT UP GO THERE WHY NOT

lmao sob. well, two chapters in and we’ve established that no territory is off-limits here. it’s a brave new world. wow

so that’s it! our introduction to BnHA Smash!! I enjoyed it a lot and I will definitely be reading more! I’m not sure what kind of schedule I’ll keep, but this is a really good procrastination manga thus far, so knowing me I might actually work my way through this relatively quickly. especially since the Manga At Large is on break this week. anyways my deepest apologies to the many people who have been requesting for me to start Vigilantes instead. I just need something lighter right now, and this is a good fit. one of these days I’ll get my shit together with the other two spinoffs as well.

#bnha smash!!#boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #all might #midoriya inko #mt. lady #kamui woods #bnha smash!! 01 #bnha smash!! 02 #makeste reads bnha #the pile o' trash is a legit plothole though you guys #are we just supposed to pretend it magically vanished #they really drew deku standing shirtless on top of a heap of garbage #and in the very next panel declared that the beach was spotless??#so what is the truth #someone #answer me

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murasaki-murasame · 5 years

Text

Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 Episode 6: “Perhaps We Should Invite Ourselves Over”

If I had have been into this series when I was younger, I probably would have had a big gay crush on Kyo and Haru, but now that I’m in my early 20′s, let’s just say that Hatori can GET IT.

Anyway, this was another great episode, and I still really like the decisions they’ve been making with the pacing and the arrangement of events for the reboot. It all feels very natural and smooth, though it probably won’t please everyone.

Thoughts under the cut.

So in this episode we have chapters 7 and 9, or maybe I should say 9 and 7, since that’s the order they got arranged in, lol. It’s actually how I wanted them to handle it, since it works a lot better to have the sleepover happen at the end of the episode, so I’m happy with how it turned out.

It’s kinda interesting how the biggest changes in pacing the reboot has made have revolved around having stuff related to the culture festival happen earlier than they did in the manga. We had chapter 8 adapted back in episode 3, and now we have chapter 9 adapted right before the sleepover part. I think it’s a good choice all around. It helps make the reboot feel a bit less ‘episodic’ than the manga or the 2001 anime, if that makes sense. Like, instead of having the culture festival get brought up and then happen all in one episode, it’s set up a few episodes before it actually starts. It’s kinda hard to explain why I like it, but I do.

Even aside from how shuffling things about like this helped out the culture festival part, I’m happy that they didn’t spend TOO much time on the sleepover part to begin with. The episode in the 2001 anime where they spend an entire episode on it is one of my least favourite parts of the whole thing, since the comedy filler they had to add was super unfitting with the rest of the story’s tone, and it got really repetitive really fast. It worked a lot better here. For one thing, having it only take up half of this episode means that we still got introduced to Momiji and Hatori in this same episode, and it ended with the cliffhanger of Tohru getting invited to the Soma estate. In the 2001 anime, the sleepover episode felt very filler-y because the ONLY thing that happened in it was the sleepover, and they even cut out the hat scene, so there was absolutely no set-up for any future plot points in that episode. This episode feels a lot more substantial.

Also, I think I kinda prefer the sleepover getting done at this point in the story even more than how the manga did it. I always thought it was a bit awkward how abruptly we just get a sudden flashback in the manga to Tohru telling Uo and Hana about her living situation, but I think it was really neat that we got to see Uo and Hana get gradually more and more suspicious as the culture festival went on, until they eventually confronted Tohru about it. It also meant we got to see Tohru go ‘I’m not DATING him, I’m just LIVING with him, lol’, which was amazing. I just think it all flowed together surprisingly naturally, considering how substantially this episode was swapping and rearranging chapters. It kinda says a lot about how episodic the first few volumes of the manga were, that the reboot’s shuffled stuff about so much without it being noticeable.

This isn’t really any sort of a change from how it’s been handled before, but I still think it works really nicely to have the sleepover happen right after what happened in the last episode, since the theme of found families gets expanded upon as we see that Uo and Hana pretty much took Tohru in after her mother died, and they’ve been looking out for her ever since. I wish more anime could take notes from this series and have these kinds of strong female friendships.

I’ve seen a lot of people say that they don’t like Momiji’s voice in there reboot, and I can see that, but I don’t really mind it. I haven’t seen the dub version of this episode yet, though. I’m curious to see how both voice actresses handle things in the long run, since Momiji’s physical growth is a pretty commented-on thing in the manga.

In terms of things I didn’t really like in this episode, one super minor thing was that they didn’t seem to have any sparrow symbolism going on in the Akito scene, unlike the manga. Maybe I just missed it, but if they really didn’t include anything like that, then it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

And on the topic of Akito, I’ve also been seeing some people say that they dislike how ‘obvious’ the “““twist”““ is, and honestly all I can say is that maybe people should step back and consider that if it ends up being so unavoidably obvious that Akito’s a girl when she’s voiced by a woman and has a naturally feminine/androgynous design, maybe that just means that it ends up being a pretty transparent secret, lol. tbh, the entire concept of treating Akito’s gender as this huge mystery we all have to keep just feels really contrived. It doesn’t impact the story at all, at least not until waaaaay later. I think it’s very telling of how unimportant it actually is that the reaction of everyone who either gets spoiled about it or just ‘guesses right’ the first time they see her is “oh ok then”. Because that’s really the only response you can have to it. It’s just not that big of a deal, at least now until we find out the exact circumstances of it all way later on. I know that I’m kinda biased and bitter about this whole plot point, but I feel like it’s going to be one of the things that falls the most flat with modern audiences. Most people are just gonna be put off by the idea that Akito being a girl should be seen as shocking and scandalous, and I think that a lot of people are gonna be annoyed when it becomes clear that it’s less about patriarchal family structures, and more about Akito’s mother being so jealous of the fact that her husband was paying attention to a woman that wasn’t her that she forced Akito to live as a man.

ANYWAY, with that rant out of the way, I guess it’s time for me to launch into another rant, since there’s the whole elephant in the room of “that whole scene where the joke is that Yuki’s in a dress”. To be honest, this scene in a vacuum isn’t really a huge deal, but when you’ve read the whole manga it’s kinda obvious that it’s a piece of a larger topic of how this series just has some weird hang-ups about gender expression, and especially about the image of a man wearing a dress. At least in my opinion, I think that Takaya has good intentions with all of this, but she still ultimately plays into and in a lot of ways validates outdated gender norms. I’ll get into it when it actually comes up, but Momiji’s character in general is the best example of how I think that even when she’s clearly trying to be understanding and supportive, it’s the sort of uncomfortably narrow-minded allyship that says “it’s ok if he wears a dress if it looks nice on him. He’ll grow out of it later on anyway, so we should just let it slide for now”.

I also want to point out that even though they try and say in this episode that Yuki ‘has a complex about his looks’, it honestly doesn’t really come across that way. He only seems to get annoyed about it when he’s either forced to wear a dress against his will, or when Kyo calls him a girl as an insult, or when Kakeru calls him a princess as a joke later in the manga. And even then he never really seems to care THAT much. At least not compared to the things that he actually has complexes about. So it just all makes this whole thing seem even more forced, especially since it feels like Yuki’s more masculine in the reboot than he was in any other version of the story.

Although that does remind me that part of why I’m annoyed with how they never actually do anything interesting with the idea of Yuki having a complex about his femininity is that, sorta like with the whole plot point later on of him being ashamed of how he doesn’t have romantic feelings for Tohru, it all feels like it at least would be more interesting if he was gay. At least then there’d be room to explore the idea of him irrationally rejecting his femininity instead of it not going anywhere.

But that’s all getting into stuff that hasn’t even come up yet, lol.

Either way, for the most part I think this was a really good episode that made some nice adaptation decisions, even if it does also make it seem more and more clear that the reboot might ultimately suffer a bit from being TOO faithful to the manga, instead of changing/removing the more outdated parts of it.

Anyway, it looks like the next episode is going to be Hatori’s backstory. I think they’re gonna handle it like the 2001 anime did by having the episode basically just be all of chapter 10, with the more extensive backstory flashback from chapter 12 worked into it to flesh it out. If they do it like that, I think they’ll then spend episode 8 on the new years part, and then in episode 9 we’ll finally see Haru.

And on the topic of Hatori, before I forget, one reason why I like how they changed the timing of him contacting Tohru was because it let them show him looking at Kana’s portrait in his office when he’s talking about the prospect of having to erase Tohru’s memories, which was a really great way to handle that scene, and to set up the next episode.

#murasaki rambles #fruits basket

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1358456 · 5 years

Text

Review Response, June 9-15, 2019

Once again, I wasn’t at home yesterday so this got delayed, and once again that 1 day delay doesn’t change anything whatsoever.

... And whatever the hell happened to the horizontal line breaks?! Now I’m just manually making those lines with - like a sucker...

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Destiny #006

1) Oh shit I finished the chapter so quickly it felt like it only lasted a couple minutes (though I know it’s a lot longer, I just got too eager). In any case, I was super excited to see White in this chap! I can’t wait to have her and Black interact, I absolutely love the way you write them (just like with Ruby and Sapphire kek). Speaking of Ruby and Sapphire: the jealousy from Sapphire’s side was on point! And I cannot wait for Sapphire’s reaction to Ruby’s answer. Btw nice sort of cliff hanger on that one. And tbh I have no idea what Ruby would say. I feel like he might say no because of Sapphire and the whole mega stone or keystone thing whatchamacallit, but again I’m not sure. Also, no? Blue answer your calls from Red? He’s worrying about you, love. All you need to do is answer and boom! On your way to happiness! Well. Sort of. I guess. Baby steps. But anyways, Dia’s (and Pearl’s no kidding) was adorable. And it made my little shipper heart happy, so kudos to you for that. And also I think it was great how you wrote Platinum as still polite yet attached; regal even when literally lying unconscious a couple minutes prior. It was so like her, and it still amazes me how on point you write these characters. Though admittedly Blue is not how she is in the manga (but that’s sort of the whole point, so like that’s what’s ideal). And so although you stay true to their personalities, it’s also great that you kept in mind how things would affect certain people and changes they way they behave in accordance to that. So kudos to you for that too. Also, definitely NOT going to be happy meeting Peter again in this story. I know it’s going to happen, but I can only hope that the guy spying on Blue (whom I assume is Peter) will not do anything to her, and if so isn’t revealed as Peter. Simply because I just don’t want to put up with his douchebaggery. Oof my reviews are long, but I get so caught up in it that I can’t help myself. Thank you again.

I do like writing with Black and White. But unfortunately, they are just 2 of MANY Dex Holders, so they won’t be getting as much focus as you’d like, especially since they’re particularly high on my Preference List. Damn. That said, when there’s one, there’s always the other with these two. Inseparable!

Indeed. All Blue has to do is answer Red’s call and everything becomes just fine. Another parallel to Legacy, if you will. In Destiny, Blue ignored the calls out of her fears and thus sh*t happens. In Legacy, Blue answered the call, and thus she was able to attain true happiness! But Destiny is the “mid-point” between SA and Legacy. The “mid-point” of the pairing shift. Blue’s progression towards Red has to be a gradual one.

Oh, Platinum. She must always retain her elegance, even if she had just gotten absolutely stomped a minute prior. That’s what makes her... her, you know?

Blue’s character traits of melancholy and depression (when alone) is mostly canon, but her steps towards rampancy is a... personality extrapolation given the canon. If she was to be pushed a certain way, how would she react? That kind of thing.

I’m loving your long reviews! But I do notice that it’s been a month since you started Destiny, and this is chapter 6. Out of 43. ... Hmm...

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Wings #001

1) Hello, hello! Right from the start, this story was surprising to see since I remembered that you said that you didn't like these sorts of high school AU things. I've only seen bits and pieces of this story being mentioned, but I didn't expect this sort of thing! The start was amusing; I found it funny how Y was paying attention to the way she looked, but by the end, I understand y now, and I feel sorry for the poor chap that ruined her reputation already.

Hey, you started on Wings! Yay!

Yep, I absolutely detest high school AU stories. But only because they’re all mostly the same thematically. Wings aims to avoid every single one of those common themes.

1) Self insert: I am not putting in “myself” with a disguise of the main character in a high school AU to “relive” high school but with my desired outcomes. No. Y in Wings is nothing like me. In fact, I’m basing Y’s aggression based on a web comic series I’ve seen years ago. And my high school “outcomes” were mostly identical to my desires anyways, so... meh.

2) Unpopular girl main character: My understanding of the main characters in “those high school AUs” is that the girls are always like timid and unpopular and gets bullied by the “pretty and popular” mean girls until the main character eventually triumphs once the “popular guy” falls in love and... blech. ... What do you think will happen in Wings if the “pretty and popular” mean girls were to bully Y? Yeah. Wings is nothing like those types of stories.

3) Romance: Y doesn’t give a f*ck about love in Wings. Some “cute popular” boy makes a move on her, she gives him the finger and then walks away. The end.

4) “(Name) is a normal girl attending high school and-”: ... Y is not normal. Yes, she wants a normal high school life, but literally right off the bat, I smashed that wish because Wings cannot be remotely similar to any of “those high school AUs”.

And on and on.

I’m glad you thought it was amusing! Wings is intended to be purely for fun. Especially later on as more shenanigans happens.

... But I’m curious that you’re leaving a GUEST review, instead of the signed one, currently with the ID of... er... ... keyboard mashing. Hmm...

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Wings #002

1) It's nice to see the Kalos group coming together! I still haven't finished reading the XY arc of the manga, but it's nice to see Y and Shauna's interactions. I like how you gave a brief insight to Shauna's life in her middle school years; getting bullied sucks, and it must have been hard for her if she prefers to be friends with someone who is viewed negatively and lowers her own reputation down, rather than increasing the chances of getting bullied again. Maybe I'm just overthinking this, but it's still nice! And for X...dang, I feel sorry for him...salt and pepper in his eyes and mouth? That was extreme. Overall, a pretty great chapter! It was amusing from the way X and Shauna unintentionally contributed to lowering Y's reputation in her classroom, and to watch Y beat up intimidating students was funny to imagine.

Yep. Y and Shauna will be one of those “BFFs”, but... not really like those. I have to retain Shauna’s canon personality, which is a bit... sarcastic? So she’ll have a more “cool” friendship with Y instead of those “omg hug” types or whatever. F*ck those.

Hmm... Shauna having a bad middle school experience is not really intentional, but it does make sense, if you think about it like that. But it could also be that Shauna just finds hanging out with Y to be amusing.

X getting salt and pepper poured into his face is LOOSELY based on what I went through in high school, where some prick randomly poured a packet’s worth of salt on my head (getting all that damn salt out of my hair took absolutely forever), and so I took revenge by emptying at least 30 packets of salt and pepper into a sheet of paper and then pouring all that into his hair the next day. So... poor me, poor that kid, and poor X. Hehe.

Oh, there will be more instances of Shauna inadvertently worsening Y’s reputation, with real and fake stories. But Y won’t really mind since it’ll already be too late. There’s no turning back with her reputation now.

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Wings #003

1) Like a bolt from the blue, it's time for a (ratherlatethanintended) review! I really missed the way you write and how you describe everything in detail. Really helps me visualize everything! I know that's the point of writing, but your writing style is effective since I tend to zone out whenever I read something too long. Plus, the way you have each chapter structured keeps things interesting. My interest in piqued with each passing chapter! I'm thoroughly enjoying this story so far.

Okay onto the chapter itself! I like how Grace is supportive of Y's choices even when her daughter's being really violent in school, though perhaps it's because Grace was a delinquent herself when she was younger? Maybe?

And the way X behaves and reacts whenever Y is around is both amusing and sad. Very traumatic for him I'm sure. I do hope that his and Y's relationship as friends improve as chapters go by.

Faitsu and Crystal finally appears so I'm happy about that! I hope more familiar faces appear soon! Speaking of which, I felt like the teacher at the end of chapter 1 could turn out to be someone we know, but I don't know if that's just me. (It's not at all possible due to your preferences, but I keep thinking it's Green, even though he's in the void of nonexistence.)

Getting decked in the face by a soccer ball...hah. What a way to meet your future teammate! ...assuming she ends up joining the soccer club that is.

Overall, a great chapter! I like how lively everyone is, even the nameless students!

Ehehe... thank you! I’m glad you’re enjoying this deviation of a story of mine. After all, I’d never make another high school AU, ever, and this is the only one, so... it’s quite the deviant.

My thoughts on Grace is that she’s kind of a cool mother. ... Though I think that’s more... er... non XY arc. Hmm... Well, like mother like daughter... right?? Hehehe...

Oh, X and Y will be GOOD friends as time passes! Can’t have Y stressing out the poor boy, now can I? He will certainly prove to be a good supportive friend, though... not physically supporting (later on).

Faitsu and Crystal (and Black, technically) have appeared! More and more familiar faces will appear and be mentioned as time passes, of course. In fact, most everyone will be in Wings. Red, Blue, Gold, Crystal, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Black, White, Faitsu, X, Y, Sun, and Moon! ... Even Sword and Shield, if Wings lasts long enough. ... So... no, Green is not in Wings, since he has been banished into the void for eternity.

Yep. Decked in the face. And bloodshed. Real hard to get by ONE day without bloodshed, eh? Hehehe.

I look forward to seeing your review for the 4th chapter!

#qna

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softshouyous-archive · 5 years

Note

do yona!!!

AHHH HELLO LOVE THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! i smiled so much when i saw this ask last night thank you for enabling me hehe (under a read more because i . am very chatty today JFLKG)

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation (please it’s so funnie, there is amazing chara dev, oh no i forgot my last point gfjg) (the manga esp is so amazing omg thank you miss kusanagi)

fav characters: yona: she is SO strong god i . god i love her sososo much i’m tearing up just thinking about her hjkgdfhgfjdhg her chara dev is SO amazing oh my god. if you watch the first episode and then read one of the most recent chapters you’d just be stunned at the difference . i love my queen i was going to go on some more about my other faves but this would get Long so i’ll just list them: the four dragons, yoon, and lili least fav characters: gogi (goji??) and perhaps the king that they’re facing off rn, i forgot his name jkghgdfjghffav relationship: hak and yona and hak and jae ha GDFJLKGJ they’re so dumb gdjksgk OH and yona and lili fav moment:omg okay honestly my memory of yona is like . super bad esp since i sped read it like . maybe a year or two ago gdfjkghdfg so i forgot a lot, though i plan to reread soon hehe (~: i actually reread the arcs where lili appeared and wow

like okay first . yona saving lili from that guy who was on nadai??? drop kicking him and then turning to lili to ask if she’s all right??? please that was really cool.... and also like. i really love how lili saw yona and was inspired to change because of her??? like she realized her own flaws/insecurities once (?) she saw yona’s strengths and was like shit dude??? when she realized her flaws i feel like, hm how to say gdfjghjf yona’s strengths helped her improve in the areas of herself that she was unhappy with?? that just makes me feel . so warm like. wow . gjdfksgjfkd but yeah she wanted to change things > her dad wouldn’t let/help her > and she was also. really scared?? but i feel like seeing yona’s displays of courage really helped her be more brave !!!! for ex, when they were staying at the inn where the guy responsible for nadai was at, yona put herself out there and protected lili and tetora. lili questioned yona’s actions and asked if she was scared and said that she wasn’t strong. yona pretty much agreed with those things but was like ‘even though i’m scared, i have to protect you both’ (or smth) and just. wow . that really. Does Something you know??? and i just love yona so much for that she’s so admirable like putting yourself out there even though you’re scared??? i..... h. and wow i’m really going off track . i feel like that all really fueled lili’s next actions of taking the golden water seal and making all those decisions for the better in order to try to get rid of the nadai. if i remember correctly, even though she was scared and knew of the repercussions, she still went on because of the courage she saw yona had and because she really cared about her nation and i just !!!!! fuck man !!!!!!!! she’s so strong and that made me so happy to see that she wasn’t held back by her fears and that she was willing to sacrifice things for the better like . god man .

and i just love their friendship besides that like when they hung out in the tent and just their convos are so fun!!!!! i love that yona is lili’s first friend like i think that’s so cwute ))): i would die to see an ova or an extra story of just them hanging out and having fun like god i really love their bond so much like every time they’ve had to part i get so emo like no please stay together T___T and i also really love that they’re both figures ??? of royalty in some sense idk why i think it’s kool gkjdghfdoh and that guy who tried to kill yona after they were exiled, his chara dev was great i love and appreciate that gjkfdhgjf

headcanons/theories: oh BOY i WISH i had some ugh but my brain and its lack of creativity ://// oh wait hm maybe i would like to think that hak one day is able to move on and receive some sort of closure from what soo won did ???? like i completely recognize that it’s super hard to recover from what happened ://// like god his. anger from when he first saw soo won again???? like zude . i feel like that was illustrated vvv nicely but it was also so sad to see how mad he got bc it just means that he’s hurting so much you know ))): like his anger and pain was so strong that it was so difficult to hold him back ))):

hm i like to think that the night of when that happened, yona just sits with hak outside and he just starts talking about his feelings and yona is just there listening because hak doesn’t really talk about his feelings )): he usually keeps the Cool and Strong front for Princess Yona but those feelings are bound to come out one day, and that day was after seeing soo won again. he goes on about how it felt to see him again and you know about how he just felt so betrayed and hurt, about how ‘i refuse to believe that the gentleness we were shown was fake’ (as said by yona but i like to think that hak feels this way too) and i just feel like that makes it so much more painful because. you have someone who was your childhood friend who was really nice to you and who you had a lot of fun with. then one day they turn around and suddenly take the life of someone very important to you. you want to hate this person and detest them and lock away any memory of them, but it’s hard because you have fond memories of them, they were a good person to you. so then it’s like how do you feel??? i feel like it leaves them feeling vvv conflicted and torn. and it’s just so. heartbreaking to hear hak express his feelings like this esp because she can Feel his hurt. they’re sitting side by side and it’s dark with Minimal moonlight but she can still see the slight tears ): she can’t hear him crying because he’s talking normally and masking it somehow gjdkfhgjf but she gently puts his head on her shoulder and takes his hand and i die unpopular opinion: hm i sadly don’t see that many akayona opins in general so i don’t know :/// oh hm one of them may be that i don’t really like soo won??? gdjkghf like i’ve seen some people say they like hm... and i honestly don’t know how to feel??? i’m trying to pay more attention to his character during my reread and right now i’m Conflicted because . you know gjdkfghdfjgf but hm he is interesting thoughhow’d you find it: OH boy so i have a friend who i watched anime with during my last year of hs and she recommended that we watch yona!!! it was sososo funny omg the anime is so fun!!!! i really loved it and decided to read the manga and oh Man am i so happy that i did because it shows way way more than the anime does and it’s SO good SO amazing i love

random thoughts: zude i feel SO sad for zeno ))): okay before i go into it, first can i just say. the fucking TRAUMA of everyone seeing his power for the first time???? when he got cut up and got his HEAD cut off ???? like miss kusanagi did not hold back with that and showed it i gjdghj and god yona’s expression when that happened like the HORROR on her face i . even though he ended up being okay, i don’t know how someone can recover from that trauma you know???? of seeing a loved one get their head taken off like that??? like god....

but anyway onto my point gdjfklgf i feel so sad for him because of his immortality )))): like he’s going to go through his life meeting and bonding with so many people that he’s going to eventually lose )): as he goes through out his life, he must get sad thinking about the people who he’s lost and how he can never talk to them again no matter what. he carries these memories of loved ones and i think that SUCKS i would literally just want to die i don’t think i can deal with a loved one dying, and for that to happen again and again forever???? like..... zude

also jae ha is so stupid i love him

#oh..... this got way way longer then i intended GJDFLKG i hope it made some sort of sense hgjkfdg #also dont take the hc seriously i don't know how to come up with hcs hgjkfdg #long post #thank you again anon love you hope you're doing well <3 #anonymous #lovemail

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND June 28, 2019 - YESTERDAY, ANNABELLE COMES HOME, MAIDEN

I’m going to do things a little different again this week, because while I normally would begin with the bigger movie of the weekend, I actually have a lot of stuff about ANNABELLE COMES HOME (New Line/WB) over at The Beat, as you can see below, so instead, I’m going to put a little more focus on Danny Boyle’s YESTERDAY (Universal), because... well, read on...

It’s not often a movie comes along that combines all of my favorite things into a completely unexpected movie that works, but Yesterday, written by Love, Actually’s Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle, does just that. It takes a fairly high concept premise of a world without knowledge of the Beatles and their music and turns it into a hilarious comedy about fame and love and plenty of other things. Maybe that’s to be expected when it comes from a writer who has helped define British comedy and one of my favorite directors, but that doesn’t always mean that it will always work.

We meet Himesh Patel’s Jack Malik as he’s doing his regular busking around Sussex at any gig his best friend and manager Ellie (Lily James) can get for him, but it’s not going well and Jack is ready to give up. One night, after coming back from one such bad gig, the lights go out across the globe for 12 seconds and in that 12 seconds, Jack’s bike is hit by a bus. He ends up in the hospital with two missing teeth but when he gets out he starts playing “Yesterday” on an acoustic guitar bought for him as a gift by Ellie, and realizes that none of his friends realize who the Beatles are. Jack immediately realizes that it’s up to him to preserve the songs so he tries to remember them and incorporates them into his shows, at which point he suddenly starts getting more attention.

The first thing about Yesterday that’s immediately apparent is the talent and charm of Himesh Patel who really carries the film and has you constantly rooting for him. I’ve long been a fan of Lily James, especially after her turn in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, but I feel like the role of Ellie allows her to be more of herself than some of her other ones.

There are quite a few other levels to the humor, the first one being when Ed Sheeran, played by the real Ed Sheeran, contacts Jack Malik about his music and becomes involved in his story. The next level is when Kate McKinnon enters the picture as Sheeran’s manager who wants to turn Jack into a money-making superstar ala Sheeran. Sheeran ably makes fun of himself and his own talent as a singer/songwriter, but McKinnon takes her character so far into the world of sleaze that she’s hysterical (especially to someone who has worked in the music biz and has seen this first-hand). It’s also good to mention Joel Fry as Jack’s bumbleheaded friend/roadie Rocky and Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal as his parents, all who bring even more laughs to the movie.

Probably the most interesting turn is when Ellie is ready to say bye to Jack as he heads off to L.A., and she suddenly realizes that she’s in love with him though those feelings aren’t reciprocated. As Jack tries to navigate the music business with his sleazy new manager, he realizes that he has to go to Liverpool if he wants to remember the last of the Beatles songs, and once there, he reconnects with Ellie as they try to sort out their feelings.

That’s all I’m going to say because the last act is so full of surprises that really helps bring the whole thing home. And then on top of all that, you have the music of the Beatles, which still gives me goosebumps as performed by the talented Patel. (Once I buy this soundtrack, it will be the second record this year I’ve bought of an actor performing classic pop/rock songs and selling them as well as the original artist(s).)

I don’t think you have to be a Beatles fan to appreciate what Curtis and Boyle done with this premise, and maybe it’s because I’ve been in Ellie’s shoes, falling in love with a friend who just sees me as a friend that I really connected with the romantic angle of the film, one that really pays off.

Yesterday is just wonderful, and it’s easily one of my favorite movies of the year.

Rating: 9/10

Interview with Writer Richard Curtis over at The Beat

Getting back to Annabelle Comes Home, I’m sure that New Line’s latest entry into the ConjuringVerse is going to prove popular, especially with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Larraine and Ed Warren. It’s screenwriter Gary Dauberman’s directorial debut and it stars the amazing McKenna Grace (Gifted) as the Warrens’ daughter Judy, as it shows what happens when the Annabelle doll is released in the artifact room, drawing a gaggle of malevolent spirits to the Warren home as Judy and her babysitter (and friends) fight them off and try to figure out how to stop them.

My Review over at The Beat

Interview with Writer/Director Gary Dauberman at The Beat.

LIMITED RELEASES

Another movie I’m really excited for people to finally see, one which I saw way back in January around when it premiered at Sundance is Alex Holmes’ doc MAIDEN (Sony Pictures Classics), which tells the amazing story about how Tracy Edwards put together an all-woman sailing team to race in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race despite all the odds against them. I loved this movie, not only because it’s an amazing story but also I’m a sailing enthusiast who sadly has not been able to get out and go sailing as much as I’ve hoped. But Edwards’ story and what she and hew crew

Over a year since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley stars as OPHELIA (IFC Films) in Claire McCarthy’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamletwith Ophelia taking center stage as the lady-in-waiting to Queen Gertrude, played by Naomi Watts. George MacKay from Captain Fantastic plays Prince Hamlet, and the movie will open at the IFC Center as well as select theaters across the country.

Also opening at the IFC Center on Friday (and then in L.A. on July 12) is Jan Zabelle’s Three Peaks (Greenwich Entertainment), starring Alexander Fehling and Bérénice Bejo (The Artist). Fehling plays Aaron who wants to be a family with his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in the Italian Dolomites, but has trouble gaining the boy’s acceptance.

Opening in select cities is Mitch Davis’ THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN 2: FIRE OF FAITH (Artaffects), a sequel to the 2001 faith-based film which grossed $4.7 million. Christopher Gorman returns as the missionary John H. Grober who returns to Tonga with his wife and five daughters, where they have a sixth child who is suffering an illness.

Opening at New York’s Film Forum is Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid, set in a deluxe Mexico City hotel where chambermaid Eva spends her days making beds and dealing with needy clients, partially inspired by Sophie Calle’s The Hotel.

Opening at Film at Lincoln Center is James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir’s experimental film The Plagiarists (KimStim) starring Lucy Kaminsky and Eamon Monaghan as a couple stranded by a snowstorm while visiting a friend in upstate New York and are put up for the night by a strange guy named Clip (Michael Payne from Parliament) only to discover that his hospitality was not what it seems. The filmmakers will be on hand for QnAs after the screenings Friday and Saturday night.

Opening at the Quad Friday is Eddie Mensore’s Mine 9 (EmphatiCinema/Levey Distribution)about nine coal miners in West Virginia trapped underground after a methane explosion.

Also opening at the Quad (and at the JCC Manhattan) is Avi Nesher’s Israeli film The Other Story (Strand Releasing) about two rebellious young women from Jerusalem who clash in unexpected ways.

From China comes Derek Tsang’s thriller Better Days (Well GO USA), opening Thursday in select cities, about a female student preparing for the important “gaokao” college entrance exam tests, who teams with a small-time criminal named Bei when she’s being bullied over a classmate who committed suicide. (NOTE: I just read that Better Days was pulled from Chinese release a few days ago, so I’m wondering if maybe it’s U.S. release will be delayed accordingly, as well.)

Alicia Vikander and Eva Green star in Swedish filmmaker Lisa Langseth’s English-language debut Euphoria (Freestyle Releasing) as two sisters travelling to a mystery destination in Europe. It also stars Charles Dance and Charlotte Rampling and opens in select cities.

Last, there’s Martin Owen’s Killers Anonymous (Grindstone Entertainment) about a support group for killers, which stars Gary Oldman, Jessica Alba and Suki Waterhouse. This is probably a mostly VOD movie that might be released into a few theaters.s

LOCAL FESTIVALS

I had to omit this section last week due to time constraints, but this weekend begins one of my favorite annual New York film festivals, and that is the New York Asian Film Festival, mostly taking place at Film at Lincoln Center and then the SVA Theater. This is the 18thannual festival, dubbed “Still Too Young to Die,” and I have to admit that over the past few years, I’ve been somewhat neglect in my attendance and coverage of the festival. I hope to change that as there are definitely some things I’m hoping to catch. You have to remember that many of the films that play this festival NEVER receive U.S. distribution so NYAFF is the only chance to see some of them.

This year’s festival opens with Bernard Rose’s Samurai Marathon, a period piece set in the 1850s with an all-star cast and a Philip Glass score. This year’s centerpiece is

Eguchi Kan’s The Fable, adapting the Manga about a Yakuza hit man trying to lead a “normal life.” For a third year in a row, NYAFF has a competition for the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film with seven films from different Asian countries in competition, many having their North American premieres: Moon Sung-ho’s 5 Million Dollar Life, Kim Yoon-seok’s Another Child, Huang Chao-liang’s Han Dan, Nojiri Katsumi’s Lying to Mom, Kenneth Lim Dagatan’s Ma, Yi Ok-seop’s Maggie and Wu Nan’s Push and Shove.

Legendary martial arts choreographer and director Yuen Woo-ping will be receiving the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award, and they should be showing some of his best work at this year’s festival including Donnie Yen’s Iron Monkey, The Miracle Fighters and more.

This year’s festival will run until July 14, although the Closing Night film has yet to be announced.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Streaming on Netflix starting Friday is Paul Thomas Anderson’s musical short Anima, starring and scored by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke.

REPERTORY

Before we get to the individual theaters, be aware that Spike Lee’s all-time classic Do the Right Thing will be receiving a 30th anniversary rerelease both in a new 4k digital restoration and in some cases, on an archival 35mm print. Check your local theaters to see if it’s playing near you, and if you haven’t seen it yet after 30 years, then you have no excuse not to go see it this week.

METROGRAPH (NYC):

When it comes to music docs, Les Blank is one of the pioneers and thankfully, Les Blank Films (along with Argot Pictures) is issuing two restorations of the ‘70s films he was involved with including Chulas Fronteras (1976) and Del Mero Corazon (1979) that look into the amazing music crossing the border between Mexico and Texas. Chulas, translated as “Beautiful Borders,” is a fascinating hour-long film that uses the music as a backdrop to show the everyday lives of those who live on the boarder. Del Mero (“Straight from the Heart”), co-directed with Maureen Gosling (who will be on hand Friday and Saturday night), Guillermo Hernandez & Chris Strachwitz is a shorter film mostly about the romantic songs from Mexico. Honestly, as someone who frequently has to listen to Mexican “mariachi” music on the subway while I’m trying to relax and listen to my own music, I wasn’t sure whether and if I’d connect with either film and while Chulas is definitely a stronger overall film, they both offer some great insights into the Tex-Mex music and musicians that have paved the way for others.

The Metrograph joins other New York arthouse in closing off Pride Month with Films of Pride and Protest: Stonewall at 50 with two series of films by various filmmakers documenting the groundbreaking rallies and protests that have helped the LGBTQ movement get to where it is today.

This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph screening is the Safdie Brothers’ Heaven Knows What (2015) while the Playtime: Family Matinees offering is Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921) in 35mm!

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

This week’s Weds. matinee is Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz from 1969 – I guess the new Bev is still going through the movies of the late ‘60s, a running theme the last couple weeks. Weds and Thursday’s double feature is Krakatoa, East of Java and The Boston Strangler (from 1969 and 1968, continuing that theme); Friday and Saturday sees a double feature of Steve McQueen’s Bullitt (1968) and George Sheppard’s Pendulum (1969); and then the Sunday/Monday double feature is Liza Minnelli’s The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) with 3 in the Attic (1968; in 16mm, no less!). The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is another Steve McQueen movie, The Reivers, also from 1969, and then the midnight movies are Tarantion’s Inglourious Basterds on Friday night and Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant(1969) on Saturday night. Chris Nolan’s Inception (not from 1968 or 1969!) will screen as a matinee on Monday and then next Wednesday’s matinee is the James Bond film From Russia With Love (1963).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

On Friday, the Film Forum begins screening the Coen Brothers’ 1998 comedy classic The Big Lebowski for a week for no particular reason… but who needs a reason to catch up with Jeff Bridges’ The Dude and friends? It will also screen Elaine May’s classic bomb Ishtar, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, again for no particular reason. Maybe because it’s summer? This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1982 John Huston musical Annie, and then on Sunday, the Forum will screen Otto Preminger’s 1954 film Carmen Jones, introduced by Donald Goble.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Cinematic Void presents a double feature of Ti West’s The House of the Devil(2009) and Wolf’s Hole (1987) on Thursday and then on Friday, the Egyptian goes further into the Czech New Wave with The Anarchic Cinema of Vera Chytilova, a double feature of Daisies (1966) and Fruit of Paradise (1970) as well as a couple shorts by the Czech director. The series continues on Sunday with a double feature of Panelstory and The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun. I honestly don’t know much about the Czech New Wave (or actually, nothing) but it certainly seems to be back in style. Also Sunday is a Barbara Stanwyk double feature as part of The Style of Sin, showing Ladies of Leisure (1930) and Baby Face (1933).

AERO (LA):

Thursday, there’s a screening of the new The Doors: The Final Cutwith director Oliver Stone and Val Kilmer in person, and it isn’t sold out, as of this writing! Friday is a screening of Charles Shyer’s Irreconcilable Differences (1984) with special guests and then the weekend is all about one of my favorite filmmakers, Lynn Shelton! After a preview of her excellent new movie Sword of Trust on Saturday, there’s a TRIPLE feature of Your Sister’s Sister (2011) on 35mm, Touchy Feely (2013) and We Go Way Back (2006) on Saturday and then a triple feature of Humpday (2009) on 35mm and 2017’s Outside In.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad continues to show its 2k restoration of Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg’s Before Stonewall (1984) through the weekend

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

On Wednesday, the Roxy is screening Humphrey Bogart’s classic Casablanca on a 35mm print, then Thursday, it’s showing the 2002 dark comedy The Rules of Attraction. Getting into the Pride spirit, Saturday sees a 35mm screening of the 2000 lesbian comedy But I’m a Cheerleader, presented in conjunction with Flaming Classics, as well as a 35mm print of the 1969 doc Portrait of Jason about black, gay sex worker Jason Holliday, which will screen one time on Saturday and Sunday.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance wraps up with Brian De Palma’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie (1976), Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad is Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata (1978) while the Late Night Favorites: Spring concludes with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001). The IFC Center will be one of the theaters showing Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing on an archival 35mm print, but only for the 7pm showtimes for the next week. Also in celebration of Stonewall (just a few blocks away), the IFC Center is premiering a 4k restoration of Frank Simon’s 1968 film The Queen (a Cannes selection), which looks at the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant, organized by LGBTQ icon Flawless Sabrina with judges including Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers and Terry Southern. It will be shown with the 1967 short Queens at Heart.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

On Thursday, BAM and FAB Flicks will show the 1961 musical classic West Side Story outdoors at the Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center. On Friday, BAM joins the celebration of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing with a 30thanniversary rerelease. The Beyond the Canon series continues on Saturday with a double feature of Dibril Diop Mambety’s 1973 film Touki Bouki with Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960)

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

Astoria, Queens’ premiere arthouse continues its Grit and Glitter: Before and After Stonewall series this weekend with John Waters’ Multiple Maniacs (1970) on Friday, Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon (1975)and Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) on Saturday. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2004 film Tropical Malady will screen on 35mm on both Saturday and Sunday. The See it Big! Action series will screen Pam Grier’s Coffy (1973) in 35mm on Saturday and Sunday.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

Lincoln Center’s 50thanniversary celebration continues with 50th Mixtape: Free Double Features with Agnes Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) and Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996) on Thursday night.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday’s midnight movie is Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (1997)… subtitled!

Next week, it’s the extended 4thof July weekend and Sony’s seventh Spider-Man movie Spider-Man: Far from Home will go up against Ari Aster’s sophomore effort, Midsommar.

#Yesterday AnnabelleCOmesHome Maiden Movies Reviews WhatToWatchThisWeekend TheWeekendWarrior

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suki90 · 6 years

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Konjiki no Gash Bell / Zatch Bell One-shot

Disclaimer: I do not own Konjiki no Gash Bell or Zatch Bell, all rights are reserved by Makoto Raiku.

Author: Suki90 Spanish title: Vuelve pronto. English title: Come back soon. Series: Konjiki no Gash Bell/Zatch Bell. Characters: Kiyomaro/Kiyo Takamine, Suzume/Suzy Mizuno, OC, Gash/Zatch (Mention) Pairing: Kiyomaro Takamine x Suzume Mizuno (Kiyo x Suzy)

Completely tired, he dropped himself on the large sofa at the living room. He had worked for hours with his father at the England University, analyzing and trying to decipher ancient writings that they'd recently discovered in one of their expeditions; so the only thing he was looking for was to be able to rest and sleep, even just a little.

Silence…

But he well knew that that was not what he wanted. "Ah, who I'm kidding? It's been more than fourteen years, but I'm still not used to this serene tranquility...," he said to himself as he straightened his head and rested his arms on his legs. "I can't believe... that it's really been so long..."

He took out a small photograph from his pocket and stared a it, the picture was a bit old but it didn't matter, he always brings it with him because of the meaning it had.

The photograph took place in the mountains, from the time he had gone with his group to a summer camp. All of his companions back then were there, having fun, having a good time.

A smile crossed his face, that picture brought him back fond memories of when he finally started making friends and getting along with his class. They were difficult times, but he was able to overcome everything that prevented him from being an ordinary teenager...

And it was all thanks to that little person with yellow hair and amber eyes who was right next to him in that portrait.

"It's incredible how much time has passed," he thought as he looked the picture with nostalgia. "Fourteen years, Zatch... And I can't still believe it. Despite having learned to live without your scandalous presence I still miss you a lot," he said in his head, stroking the portrait lightly. "You were an important part of my life, one of my first friends, an unforgettable companion, someone brave who never gave up, and who pushed me to keep going on no matter how hard and difficult it seemed."

Leaning back on the sofa he allowed himself to close his eyes for a moment so he could remember each situation he had lived with his little monster, that child who never seemed to get tired.

Thanks to him his life changed, and for good. It was through Zatch that he was finally able to make friends, because of him he met wonderful people throughout the world like: Li En and Won Rei, Megumi and Tia, Lori and Kolulu among many others, like the idiot of Parco Folgore and Canchome or the powerful Sherry and Brago.

So many people who in the end showed him how important it was to trust and believe in others, just as Zatch told him from the beginning.

Oh, how he missed him...

Suddenly a slight pull on his pants made him leave his thoughts abruptly. "Daddy..." A thin little voice called to him. The honey-eye colored man finally looked down at his knees and there's where he can see a mini copy of him trying to get his attention. "Daddy..."

At the insistence of who carried the same blood as him in his veins, Kiyomaro Takamine, of 28 years old, had no choice but to make his memories aside and pay attention to his present.

"Hey little one, how long have you been there?" He asked as he stood up and held his son in his arms.

"Kōta has been trying to get your attention for at least 5 minutes." A female voice answered, a voice he knew very well.

Turning his head slightly, the boy raises his hand. "Mommy!"

Kiyo also raised his eyes too to meet a woman with brown hair up to her shoulders and a calm smile.

With the same smile he greeted his son, Kiyo Takamine stared at the woman who gave him one of the best gifts of his life. She, who was his best friend, his companion, his confidant, his lover, his wife. "Hi Suzy..."

Yeah, that's right. The woman who was there smiling to them was the one who used to be called Suzy Mizuno, Kiyo Takamine's clueless highschool classmate.

"Hello, dear Kiyo. Welcome home," she answered while smiling the same way she always do, the smile which made him fall in love with her through time.

Suzy Takamine was now a 27 year old woman who had matured incredibly compared to fourteen years ago, but there were some bad habits that still came up through time such as her hobby of drawing her husband's face on any fruit or vegetables that were placed in front of her, although now she added their little baby's face too, or her bad orientation sense in new places.

However, Kiyo was no longer bothered by those habits because they were what made that girl, who was now his wife and mother of his son, special. But along side with that something incredible came: Suzy turned out to be pretty motherly and cautios with her son. Sure, it can sound contradictory but when it came to Kōta, her little baby, everything was different.

A little restless, the 2 years old boy raised his little arms towards Suzy. "Mommy, Mommy...!" He called with a big smile, so with that Mrs. Takamine approached her son and her husband quickly to enjoy a small family moment.

Kiyo, who was in the middle of both, watched them coexist with a warm smile. Of all that had happened to him throughout his life, this small family he had formed was one of the most precious things he ever thought of having. They were deep inside his heart, as well as the invaluable friendship of that little mammodo that allowed him to leave that dark corridor through which he had walked for a long time.

With a determined and demanding look, Kiyo Takamine observes the sky through the window. "Come on Zatch, you have to come back soon, since I have to introduce you to my son..."

Suki: Well, this was a small writing that came out of nowhere after reading the manga a bit and finishing the anime. It really isn't something really complicated and I just wanted to use certain characters, that's why I didn't mention them all. I hope you liked it, especially the Kiyomaro x Suzume fans. I love that couple, it just seems adorable to me; not that I don't like the Kiyomaro x Megumi ship but... Suzy stole my heart, I'm sorry x3

Thank you for reading!

P.D: I'm so sorry for my grammar mistakes. I'm a Spanish native spearker author, and I just wanted to share my work with the English fandom. If there's anyone who wants to help me by checking this one-shot it'll be amazing!

#kiyomaro takamine #suzume mizuno #konjiki no gash bell #one-shot #kiyo x suzy #kiyomaro x suzume

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maiverypt · 6 years

Text

Inopinatus

Reminiscing [2]

inopinatus, inopinata, inopinatum

adjective

Definitions:

unexpected, unforeseen, surprising

A/n: This is all a flashback chapter.

~~~¤~~~¤~~~¤~~~¤~~~¤~~~¤~~~¤~~~¤~~~¤

"Johnny!"

The petite , cheerful girl ran over to the tall male who was placed on the old, wooden swings that lay centered in the park. Her arms waving up and down as she tried to gain his attention. The boy looked up from his phone to face her, a playful smile staining his features.

"Hyerin, you're actually on time for once, what a surprise!" His voice oozing with sarcasm as Hyerin jokingly punched his shoulder.

"Bitch." Her face wearing a warm smile contrasting her brash words.

Johnny had asked her to hang out that night, why her best friend suddenly had the urge to eat ice cream at 2am was a mystery to her, nevertheless she complied his wishes.

Taking a seat next to him on the swing set, she asked.

"Where are we going now?" Turning to face the girl, Johnny put his finger against his lips as he replied.

"It's a surprise! You would have to wait and see." His face serious as he gestured for her to cover her eyes.

Sighing, Hyerin followed his instruction and shut her eyes close. Suddenly, she felt her hand being intertwined with another - assuming it was Johnny - she held it tightly . Getting up from the swings, Johnny carefully guided her, walking slowly to make sure she wasn't about to fall over something. Step by step, Hyerin became more curious, however before she could question him he announced their arrival.

"Open your eyes."

Slowly, Hyerin uncovered her eyes, the light hitting her as she tried to adjust to the new setting.

As she surveyed the area, she found herself in awe, they had arrived in front of her favourite café, it was open 24/7 and they even provided the customers with different books and comics whilst they ate and drank. Hyerin was delighted as she immediately ran inside, dragging Johnny along with her. How he knows her so well was surprising.

They had chosen a couch that was near the windows, allowing them the view of the surroundings and greenery. After forcing Johnny to order and pay, Hyerin grabbed a comic from the shelf behind her, beginning to read it as she waited for Johnny to come back.

She was suddenly interrupted when a loud bang echoed the room, the view of bubble tea and fries seen from her peripheral vision. Exclaiming in delight, she shut the manga close and focused her attention on the food in front of her. Oh how she missed nights like these, eating good food and spilling all the good tea that occurred during school. Stuffing a fry into her mouth, she watched as Johnny sat down before her, beginning to rant about something that would not likely interest her, however she chose to listen to it anyway.

"Okay so calc sucked. There was this bitch called Chittaporn or some shit like that , and basically he fucking made me get a low score in our project because his bitch ass-"

As Johnny was oh so passionately explaining the occurrences of his day, Hyerin couldn't help but notice all the little things about him. Like how his hands would make gestures as he talked, how he would always talk with so much emotion, how his lips looked so-

Her thoughts were interrupted as the taller male waved his hand up and down in front of her to get her attention. Snapping out of it she focused her gaze on him.

"You okay Hyerin? You keep daydreaming, am I that boring?!" Johnny exclaimed in shock, completely dramatising his words. His hands coming up to clutch his chest, as if he was struck with pain.

Rolling her eyes, Hyerin playfully threw a fry at him, which he managed to dodge.

"Just continue talking idiot." Her hands once again finding the food below her.

The night was eventful to say the least, after recieving glares from the cashier for being loud, they had checked the time and decided to go back, after all they did still have school the following day. Johnny had offered to walk her home, which she kindly declined, however he did so anyway. Which made her question why he would keep asking at this point.

They had made it to her door step -which took them longer than usual because Johnny was complaining about how he was full and couldn't walk- Hyerin turned around to the boy.

"See you tommorow."Her hands making a small wave as she unlocked her door, her back facing the boy.

Johnny's gaze directed to the floor as his smile dropped. He cleared his voice before replying.

"Yeah." His voice strained but he tried his best to cover it up. He waved back as Hyerin entered her house, leaving the boy on the porch.

"I hope so." He whispered as he finally turned around to leave. His head lowered in disappointment.

•

It was 8:40 as Hyerin ran down the streets, her cup of coffee still warm from this morning. She had forgotten (again) to set her alarm the night before. She really needed to get into the habit of setting it.

Dodging the people who walked by, she managed to get inside the gates on time, the teacher adjacent to it glaring at her. Giving him a cheeky smile, she thankfully bowed as she dashed to her classroom.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.'

She wasn't late however, as her form teacher hadn't shown up yet, which was quite convenient. Panting as she reached the door entry, she scanned the room for any traces of Johnny. Her eyes skimmed the room, however all she saw were unfamiliar faces, non of which were Johnny. She sighed (she tends to do that a lot nowadays) as she trudged over to her desk, taking a sip from her cup. Hopefully she hadn't forgotten any of her books, she wasn't in the mood for detention today.

"Hyerin?" An unfamiliar voice called out to her as she began to un pack her bag. Turning around, her eyes met another pair. The male was quite short -in her opinion- yet his angelic features lit up and his eyes sparkled with cheerfulness. Confused as to why this ethereal being decided to call out to her, she looked around them to check if he was speaking to her before facing the male once more.

"Yeah?" She scrunched up her brows in confusion as she questioned the male.

The boy scratched the back of his neck as he contemplated whether or not to ask her.

"Um, have you seen Johnny? He hasn't replied to any of my calls and we have a group meeting today."

That was strange, no, it was really strange. Johnny was the type to answer his phone straight away, so if he hadn't picked up something must have been wrong.

Hyerin looked dumbfounded before replying back. " Sorry I haven't, uh who are you?"

His eyes widened in realisation as repeatedly bowed.

"Sorry for not introducing myself, I'm moon taeil "

The male stuck his hand out gesturing for her to shake it, in which she did so.

"Well I'll ask him to call you back." Hyerin replied to him, still not believing the current endeavour. The boy's features lit up once more as he smiled warmly at her, nodding towards her as he made his way to the other end of the room.

Hyerin felt suspicious, bringing out her phone to text Johnny.

Sent to: Johnny

Where are you?

Seen at 8:44am

Hyerin scoffed and sent him another message.

Sent to: Johnny

Hello? Don't just see my text and not reply

Seen at 8:44am

Hyerin scoffed in disbelief, whatever happened to him must have been awful for him to leave her at read. He wouldn't just do this with no reason. She knew that people have their privacy and she knew not to pry, but how could she not be concerned for her best friend?

Huffing, Hyerin shut her phone off and slid it into her pocket as her teacher walked into the room. She would not enjoy today.

•

It had been a week, and Johnny had still not returned to school, even managing to ignore all of Hyerin's texts. She was beyond anxious now, what if something bad happened to him? The past week was terrible, she had no one to rant to and to pick on. Minhee tried her best to cheer her up, however nothing seemed to brighten the girl's mood.

Hyerin walked into class, her feet dragging across the floor as her shoulders slumped. She sighed.

'Another day and I feel like shit.'

She made her way to the back of the class, choosing to sit in the corner, deciding that she was going to act like an anime character. She set her bag down and gazed outside the window, lost in her thoughts. She didn't know what happened to Johnny and why he was avoiding her texts, at least she didn't feel lonely with Minhee around and keeping her company. She yawned as she layed her head on the table, the drowsiness taking over.

Bang!!

Hyerin looked up as the door to the classroom slammed open, revealing a bunch of rowdy boys who came scurrying inside, their obnoxious laughter filling the air. Hyerin rolled her eyes as she lowered her head back down onto the desk.

'Some loud jackasses' She scowled as they had interrupted her nap.

The loud commotion in the room died down as the boys huddled around a single desk, the classmates's stares averting back to their original focus. However the nine boys soon broke the silence as the noise returned. Hyerin groaned as she lifted her head up, ready to scold the living shit out of them when they suddenly started talking.

"That was amazing. Who knew Johnny could run like that?"

One of the boys spoke aloud, brushing his silver hair back, his face full of amusement. The rest of them nodded in agreement before a taller male had stood up, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever do you mean? If I tried ,I could possibly beat Usain bolt for all you low peasants would know."

His finger pointed accusingly at every one of them as feigned gasps of shock filled the air.

'Wait a minute.' Hyerin thought to herself, she glanced at the male from afar.

'Isn't that Johnny?'

Next part: Reminiscing [2.5]

#nct #johnny #johnny seo #seo youngho #nct 127

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