#the animated show gave us 3 scenes where these two characters were in the same proximity

[prodogg]

”Read this and tell me what you think should be done, Azula“

[aftgficrec]

can you do any fics where jean and neil are besties?

The friendship between Neil and Jean is a popular concept (especially in the wake of The Sunshine Court), although it’s not always the main focus. - S

This recent post will show you a greater number of recs, while below are a few of the newer ones: 

favourite Neil & Jean or Neil/Jean fics here

Drowning In Your Warmth by starsnsoul [Rated G, 2711 words, complete, 2024]

“Why are you here?” He asks as he stares at one of the looser threads on the multicoloured blanket. Neil finishes changing into clothes that are not clinging to his skin and sits on the edge of the bed, “I was in town.” He says. “Liar.” Jean says. I missed you too, he thinks. - Jean fears the sound of thunder, the smell of rain. Neil knows this and visits when the rainy season starts.

tw: panic attacks

Defining Friendship by yall_send_help [Rated T, 3954 words, complete, 2024]

4+1 someone said that jean and neil were friends + one time they realized it themselves

animal brisé, humain vivant by electric_typewriter [Rated T, 3109 words, complete, 2024, locked]

Part 3 of the healing and rebirth of nathaniel wesninski

Nathaniel and Jean begin the long and difficult road to playing together again. Perhaps, to get through it, they need each other more than they need anything else.

tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: dissociation, tw: panic attacks, tw: anxiety

To balance your conviction with certainty by The_stars_ship_us [Rated T, 1374 words, complete, 2024]

Alternate scene/added scene to The Sunshine Court. Neil cuts Jean’s hair.

tw: implied/referenced abused, tw: mentioned minor character death

the complications of asking your best friend to be your best man by defenselessgold [Rated T, 551 words, complete, 2024]

“Jean.” Jean could almost hear Neil’s lip curl in a sarcastic smile. “I need a favor.” Jean replied with a low hum, his nerves getting the better of his vocal cords. Neil let out a short but quiet spurt of laughter. “Could you be my best man?” or Neil calls Jean in the wee hours of the morning to ask him to be his best man.

Clipped Wings by rosebouquets [Rated M, 25504 words, incomplete, last updated August 2024]

They hadn't run away before he was adopted into the Ravens. He did though, he ran years later with a different body by his side and the past haunting him. It's not something to escape, he'll never be able to escape it fully. Without a second thought, he gave in to the offer for the Foxes, not for himself but because Jean couldn't run forever. He ran from the Ravens once before, this time he'll have to face them head-on. Neil and Jean escaped the Ravens at sixteen, they found themselves as the new Freshmen for the Palmetto State Foxes, and facing their pasts as the partners they were meant to be.

tw: violence, tw: panic attacks, tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: vomit, tw: implied/referenced disordered eating

Aftg Runaways AU by @sillysapphillean [tumblr, 2024]

use tag aftg runaways AU on author’s blog to see more

AU where Mary dies when they are in france and coincidentally around the same time is right before jean was about to get sold

Art

8D asmr sounds would finish these two off  by @doesephs

forever partners in another life by @wuzeio

[flying-bear-tv]

Some stuff i noticed in the fionna and cake finale + betty theroy

# 1 Prismo's face glitch

This one is pretty self explanatory. for a frame prismos face glitches for no reason. I cant think of something we have seen that would explain this.

#2 After credits apple

After the credits there is a short animation of two shapes morphing into an apple. I thought this was a logo or something unrelated at first so I reversed image searched the apple but I couldn't find anything. So if its not related to a company it should be related to the show right? The shapes and bow for sure remind me of golbetty and apples have appeared multiple times (mostly use to shrink in size) This probably is important.

#3 Season One

The image on the left is a promotional poster for the show. On the bottom it gives the date episodes will start airing. Notice the lack of "Season One" near the top. The image on the right Is for the show's soundtrack which was released yesterday. All im gonna say is if I were producing a 10 episode miniseries I wouldn't want to specifically label it as season one if there was only one season.. And I definitely wouldn't only put that on promotional materials AFTER the season was done airing. I bet $72 there will be a season 2.

OKEY GUYS IT TIME TO TALK ABOUT BETTY1!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!! :]

Adventure time season 6 episode 43. The Comet. yea im bringing this up.

I saw a post saying this means "comet". It has the same number of characters as the bus sign but I no idea where they found how to read this. I think it makes sense though and I'll tell you why

As Simon is flying away from golbetty he sees her do this .. Notice the color of the light (electricity?? fire?) I also think she changes shape a bit. the image on the left is her when she first electricitys herself and the image one the right is a few seconds later. I'm not gonna draw any conclusions on why this is right now.

Now back to Adventure Time ;]

In The Comet finn witnesses several of his reincarnations. The two shown are a comet and a butterfly.

Now IF the bus is saying golbettys destination is "comet" this HEAVILY implies reincarnation as comets are directly tied to this in adventure time. Also notice how the electricity golbetty is using is THE EXACT SAME FUCKING COLOR AS THE COMET. And what does simon wake up to after seeing golbetty do that.

A FUCKING BUTTERFLY I AM GOING TO LOSE IT. she is kissing him

I think what happened is by Simon and Betty both moving on from their toxic yuri relationship Betty's wish to keep simon safe was realized. Because tbh the thing that was mostly likely to hurt Simon was his own indifference to life and tendency to self sacrifice. I mean, he was completely ready to say goodbye to his sanity multiple times JUST that episode.

This allowed Betty to separate from golb because she no longer needed its power. She gave simon and kiss, and then fucked off to do butterfly shit.

Even if im wrong this show was so beautiful TvT I really needed it. I totally understand if yall are disappointed because simon and betty didn't get a happy ending together but. They really needed to move on. And who knows.. maybe we'll get a season two ;) bye

Oh and the scarab fight scene was way too long and bringing jay and little destiny back was weird and forced.

[otakween]

Digimon Frontier - Episode 34

A lore dump episode. It wasn't bad, but I had trouble focusing as they blabbed on and on lol. Lots of nice background art at least. A needed break from all the boring gray backgrounds they've been throwing at us.

Notes:

The Venus Rose sky kinda looks like the Northern lights that everyone in the States have been memeing about. Appropriate timing!

It doesn't seem like there's any rhyme or reason whether they digivolve into their human or beast spirit form first. They definitely favor the human form (maybe it's still easier to control?)

Koichi got his own digivolution sequence which, though appreciated, felt kind of weird because they had a split screen for Takuya and Koji and then a 3 way screen for Junpei, Izumi, and Tomoki. They could have just stuck Takuya, Koji, and Koichi together, but I guess the rival characters have to be separate?

Nice to finally meet Ophanimon and hear the same story we heard previously from their point of view. Not sure we needed to hear the whole war story over again, but oh well. It's probably for the kids that missed those episodes lol.

I really like Ophanimon's design/colors. Fascinated by their hair that is brunette/red at the top but blonde at the bottom. Is that even hair? Maybe just part of their helmet? It kinda looked like a mullet in some scenes lol

Lowemon is casually OP, single handedly dealing with the Phantomon. I wonder when Koichi will get to the stage where he feels more comfortable with the group.

MC Escher strikes again! This time in Cherubimon's palace. They sure love doing those kinds of backgrounds in anime.

I was a little surprised they didn't acknowledge Patamon in the scene with Ophanimon, but I guess maybe Ophanimon already knows the situation.

We learn some more about Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Cherubimon's roles as rulers and the drama that arose from having two human-types out numbering one beast type. That does seem pretty unbalanced, they shoulda gone with an even number lol

So wait, when Cherubimon ~went to the dark side~ was that considered a digivolution? Can you digivolve into a different color palate cuz you're angry? lol

Ophanimon's plan to get the children to the digital world sounded pretty far fetched but I liked the explanation for how the kids were guided to their spirits. The destinations Ophanimon gave them via the digivices make a little more sense.

Izumi being like "I wonder if Cherubimon was in love with Ophanimon" took me by surprise. Like "huh?? That's what you got from the story?" Was that foreshadowing or was that just showing Izumi's romantic side?

[room-surprise]

Dungeon Meshi Season 1, Episode 3 Review

I think it was fantastic, and like the other episodes my complaints are all so minor, they're basically nitpicks. Spoilers below!

The Japanese subtitles are still kinda bad, when you watch the English dub afterwards it somehow manages to better convey the same information without leaving anything out. Japanese performances are fantastic but yeah the subtitles really suck a lot of the life out of them. There's some gems in the dub performance, like Chilchuck saying "Sword, please" to Laios instead of "can I borrow your sword" or something more elaborate.

Everything that was good about the original manga chapters is in this episode, and this was one of the early chapters that hooked me and my spouse into Dungeon Meshi - seeing how Laios figured out the living armor and how he defeated it was something really cool and thoughtful that stood out from other media to us. It was clever and novel and went into monsters and speculative biology in a way that we both adored. This episode is also the one that really foreshadows the rest of the series and it's themes. If something is alive, it desires something, and if you can figure out what it desires you can find a way to defeat it. If something is alive, you can kill it, and if you can kill it you can eat it.

All of the fight scenes in this episode are incredible, and there's tons of fun camera shots and interesting choices being made. Love the bit where Marcille catches a helmet in the loop of her staff. Also loved the bit where she caught Laios' head in the loop of her staff and shook him around angrily. They found ways to include information from the extra monster tidbits into the main narrative, which is fantastic! I'm hoping they'll be able to do this for the rest of the anime as well, because there's a LOT of vital information and funny jokes in the tidbits that enhance the story.

So nice to finally have our first Senshi panty shot and know that they'll at least give us some of those.

Though the animation is spectacular, there is a noticeable style shift between the first two episodes and 3. They obviously have some very talented animators working on this episode (the suits of armor are all rock solid, detailed, and move in fantastic ways) but they are NOT really good at drawing the human characters on-model and it shows. It's not awful but it is noticeable. I'm glad they at least were able to keep it consistent, the characters look that way through the whole episode and don't switch back and forth between individual scenes. That would have been a lot more distracting. Pet peeve, I hated the gag with the egg sack flying through cosmic space to show Laios had figured out the secret of the armor. I didn't think it was that funny, and I felt it interrupted the flow of the already very exciting and tense fight scene. Just the memory sequence being drawn in such a crazy loose style was enough for me! And the style of it flying through the cosmos and everything just felt very out of place and modern. Oh, and Laios says "oh my god" at one point in the dub, which also annoys me, but I think is better than "jeez" since a pagan could theoretically say "oh my god."

But overall a fantastic episode and it gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the series. I was worried that they were going to compress the story too much and try to fit 4 chapters into this episode, because of how they put 3 chapters into episode 2, but they gave this 2-chapter story room to breathe, which it very much needed. Can't wait for next week! I think we'll get the golem story as well as the orcs.

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA - Episode 2: Warriors (3/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

It's funny to me when people critique the show by saying that 'Katara never needed help with her waterbending, she just taught herself to be a master and it's a bad lesson - it's ok for characters to struggle and need help' when…animated Katara taught herself WAY  more waterbending than live-action Katara did. Live-action Katara could barely lift any water at all before she got advice from another bender about the mindset (spiritual mindset) one needs to bend, then she needed the waterbending scroll to do any forms. In the animated series, she was doing a whole bunch of waterbending moves without any formal training at all - no consulting with Aang about how he bends either. She was doing great even before episode 9 when she gets the waterbending scroll. So in the animated version, she's a great waterbender with 0 help from anyone else and in the live action, she gets help from Aang, the waterbending scroll, Jet, observing earthbenders, the healers at the Northern Water Tribe, and Pakku's moves during their fight. So it sure looks to me like live-action Katara was much more steadfast and devoted to learning waterbending no matter how hard it was for her than the animated version.

I don't find Suki's interest in Sokka to be 'ruining' her character at all nor is it 'anti-feminist' for her to see Sokka as the embodiment of the outside world she never got to experience. She's extremely sheltered and here's a warrior from another part of the world - a cute one - who's interested in connecting to her too. It makes perfect sense that two teens in that situation would be drawn to each other and create a quick little romance. To me, it's a much better connection than 'sexist boy was mean to me, I beat him up, then once he apologized, I got a crush on him and kissed him'. Suki's whole thing in the animated series was 'I'm a warrior AND I'm a girl' and I think the live-action really fleshed that out and updated it to give her a bunch more power and character depth than she had. The 'I'm a girl, too' sentiment isn't just 'I want romance as well as warrior stuff' it was that she was a PERSON, too. A person with hopes, fears, wants, desires, dreams of the future and the desire to connect to something outside of the village she's lived her whole life in. No, the live action didn't 'ruin' Suki by having her 'simp' over Sokka from minute one. Personally, I think she's a much stronger character than she was in the animated episode.

Love Suki trying to flirt and connect with Sokka by being extremely awkwardly confident and thinking that people like it when you show them you're better at something than they are. It was so painfully relatable to those of us with zero game and gave us the same 'Suki beats Sokka's ass' scene without it being because Sokka is a sexist that needs to be taken down a peg - she literally thinks she's just connecting with him over stuff they're both good at. Sokka, understandably, is freaked out over it and bails, but comes around to her and seeks out training like he does in the animated version. He knows he's not the best warrior - even though he wants to be - and he's willing to swallow his pride and try learning. Plus I love us seeding in the idea that even non-benders can be badasses. It think that's something Korra really dropped the ball on since the Equalists quite literally were correct that benders are treated better than non-benders in the Avatar world. Sokka and Suki have to fight against that structural inequality and prove their worth in a world where bending is seen as making you better - and used to subjugate everyone.

This episode alludes to Aang's journey with Jong Jong where he hurts Katara with his firebending - in this instance, it's Aang remembering how he accidentally hurt ppl with his airbending because he was just more powerful, so he had to spend more time learning to control himself so he didn't keep hurting others - and that they were afraid of him. I think it's possible that in season 2, we'll have a call-back to this with a Jong Jong episode where Aang will hurt Katara and it will have been set up that he sometimes can't control his power. I'm also completely good with Katara finding that passage about the past lives stuff for the Avatar since she just randomly knew that in the animated series. In episode 3, while they're in the Avatar shrine at the Southern Air Temple, Katara just…knows all that. At least in the live-action, she's reading about it in the shrine of an Avatar from a person who's studied the Avatar.

Love the inclusion of Zuko confiding in Iroh just how hard the hope is for him now that he's found the Avatar - it adds real depth to his character rather than the flat angry Zuko we see so much in the animated show. Live-action allows us to see the cracks in his mask of power and see the scared little kid beneath it. After all, this is a 16 year old who was banished from his home at 13 and pretty much told never to return and the only person he knew who came with him was his uncle. He's been so alone and without hope for a long time and it makes sense to show this child cracking and feeling pain at that hope that's just arrived.

Again, I cannot overstate how much I love Gyatzo being a tether for Aang. It's Gyatzo who pulls him from the Avatar state in the first episode and Gyatzo who centers Aang enough to meditate into a position where he can meet with Kyoshi. Kyoshi's "both sides will fight harder now that the Avatar has been found, hope does not come without a cost" is such a great theme to explore all through this (and future) seasons. Connecting a theme to both sides is always great to me. Also, getting a bunch more on what it means to be the Avatar is nice, especially for new watchers - introducing the idea that each Avatar is shaped for their time, they have many roles, and they have to give up their own wants to be the 'avatars' (heh) for balance was a great recap, too, of the trials Aang will face.

People keep talking about them 'toning down' Katara's anger, but y'all couldn't even handle Kyoshi's very understandable two seconds of frustration when talking about murdered people with Aang, so I don't trust you at all with Katara's "girl power" feminist tirades. Kyoshi was amazingly patient and gentle with Aang until he said he was afraid of hurting people with it - only then did she get stern with him as Kyoshi is not the pacifist type. I've seen complaints that they made her 'villainous' with her looming presence and 'demonic' voice and I'm going to need people to get serious real quick. Kyoshi was 7 feet tall - she DID loom, it's kind of a massive part of her character, and that reverb layered voice is how EVERYONE sounds when they go into the Avatar state! It's to represent all the past lives talking through you!! Seriously, when those 'complaints' are made in those posts claiming that the live-action actually hates women, it just tells me that YOU hate women and can't stand a strong female character. Kyoshi is supposed to be 'a lot'. She's supposed to be scary af. If you don't like women characters to be like that, then maybe you don't actually like diverse women characters, you only want the palatable ones.

I like how the fight on Kyoshi island doesn't just start the moment the fire nation arrives, the two leaders have a tense chat and there's the option for the firebenders to turn around and leave in peace - of course Zhao doesn't take this opportunity (also like that it's Zhao and Zuko on the island, fleshing out Zhao's rivalry with Zuko even sooner) Zuko having the strategy while Zhao just has the sheer resources to cover all bases. Mama warrior bodying a man before the real fight breaks out was incredible and love that we kept in Sokka deflecting the fireball from Suki with the fan, too! Honestly I think one of my favorite moments of the season - so well shot and dope af. Katara getting her one-on-one with Zuko fight was great - really shows how far she'll come by the finale - and shows Zuko's unwavering need to capture the Avatar. He gives Katara the chance to back down, but when she doesn't, he has no problem beating her down with the intent to seriously maim.

And Katara is fierce AF! That's how you show a character who's not all powerful, who's terrified, still courageously standing firm and facing down a bunch of seasoned warriors to protect their friend - and fight to save the world. Standing your ground even when you're terrified is such an undervalued expression of strength and ferocity it's pissing me off that people are writing this Katara off as 'bland' and with 'no flaws or character development'. Like, understand what that means, people. But in the end, of course she's beaten - she's not a seasoned warrior yet and she still has all her firebender trauma in her - she tries and fails (ie not a perfect character) and will be beaten if Aang (or Kyoshi) doesn't step in. Yeah, she's a strong character - but she does still need help and the show doesn't shy away from it (like some people are trying to claim that it does).

[jeanandthedreamofhorses]

‘Anime Japan’ March 2023: Attack On Titan Stage Event

Preamble

Every March in Tokyo, representatives of different anime studios and shops put up stalls at the Tokyo Big Site Exhibition Hall to advertise upcoming anime and related goods. ‘Anime Japan’ is also a locus for interviews with voice actors. This year, Kaji Yuki (Eren), Ishikawa Yui (Mikasa), and Inoue Marina (Armin) went to promote Part 3 of The Final Season.

I couldn’t pass up the chance to go. However, there is limited space at the Stage Events, and the success of an application is determined by lottery. I applied for five events and got rejected from four – but as fate would have it, I got the ticket for SNK! I was as excited as Armin at the ocean. I of course went in my Survey Corps cloak.

Two caveats: photographs were not permitted, so none are provided. Also, my Japanese isn’t perfect, but I’m confident I got the gist of what they were saying.

The Event

The three seiyuu expressed sadness at the series coming to an end, and at how this would be their last time at Anime Japan after ten years. They thanked the presenter for having been their ‘MC’ for all this time.

On the projector, a scene from the last episode relevant to each of their characters was played. First up was Armin and his love confession to Annie on the ship (no pun intended). Inoue expressed interest in the complex feelings between them, and is curious to see where it goes because, unlike the other two, she hasn’t read the ending yet.

Next was Mikasa, who was given the redux of her “See you later, Eren” scene from the start of the series. Ishikawa was really excited for everyone to understand the meaning of those words, but managed to hold herself back from spoiling us.

Finally we had Eren with his breakdown in front of Ramzi. Kaji referred to this scene as Eren expressing his honne. In Japanese culture it is often said that people have a public face, tatemae, and a private face, honne. This is very true of Eren. Kaji commented that, although Eren is acting like a scary titan, this scene shows us he is human at heart after all.

Kaji found it very difficult to talk about the scene further without spoiling anything, but what he did say was very interesting. He expressed his inner conflict over Eren’s actions: acknowledging their awfulness, but understanding the desire to protect the people close to you. Having been with the character for such a long time now, he told us that, ultimately, he wants to be his ally. This was immediately followed up with a pained expression and the rider that “it’s complicated”.

I was really impressed by how deeply Kaji understands Eren. It’s exactly what you’d want from a lead actor, to have such a connection with their character. Interestingly, the word he used for ‘ally’, 味方 (mikata), is the same one Historia uses when she rescues Eren.

After this, the presenter mentioned perhaps the biggest event from the last episode: Hange’s death. Kaji reflected that, although it’s tragic, Hange must be happy to be with their senpai again.

Then came various announcements of events for the SNK anime’s 10th anniversary. You can find all these on the anime’s Twitter page. The merchandise collab with the Gudetama ‘Lazy Egg’ character drew a laugh from everyone.

Another landmark was SNK Radio’s 100th episode. Kaji was fiercely proud of this. He gave a booming YOROSHIKU ONEGAISHIMASU and an inordinately deep bow when he asked us to tune in.

A video compiling key moments from across all four seasons was then played on the projector. Inoue was conflicted, wanting to go “Woah!” on the one hand, but also “Nooo” because it’s ending. Ishikawa agreed there was a certain painful feeling.

The actors will be giving their last interview for the series at K Arena, Yokohama in 2024. Like Inoue, Kaji said he can’t look forward to it because he doesn’t want everything to end – but that he is excited nevertheless. There was a cute moment when a baby started crying and Kaji joked around with a dad in the crowd.

For the finale, the audience were instructed to stand and give a Survey Corps salute on Kaji’s SHINZO WO SASAGEYO, which filled the hall without the aid of a microphone. Ishikawa smiled and waved in my general direction while she left, so I can die content.

The Red Stage, where this interview took place, had no room for ticketless bystanders, so I really was lucky to get in. At the Blue Stage, I was able to peek over the stanchions to watch the BokuYaba and Tokyo Revengers interviews. I didn’t take notes on these, but I can sum up what I remember if anyone’s interested.

[tanenigiri]

Episodes 6 and 7 of Our Dining Table have my favorite ever scenes in the manga (and that's not even considering that scene) so my opinion of the whole show was pretty much contingent on these two episodes.

And they knocked them out of the park.

(Stray thoughts and ramblings on Our Dining Table eps 6 and 7. Some light manga spoilers but nothing too revealing.)

Our Dining Table was one of the first manga I read, and by then I was very new to the concept of Christmas in Japan being a primarily romantic thing. So that whole scene about Minoru struggling to ask Yutaka about his Christmas plans flew over my head during my initial reading, but after re-reading it it made a lot more sense why Minoru was so on edge about it. I thought the show did this really well, and that added scene with Minoru and his manager in the ramen shop was a great way to contextualize it too.

We only see her for a single scene so let me just say: Ohata you will always be famous. (And her outfit looked so good??? We should've had a scene where Yutaka asked her for advice on which scarf to get.)

The whole "taking care of your sick loved one" trope is 50/50 for me as those scenes seem to be quite predictable, but I really like how Our Dining Table uses it as a catalyst for both Yutaka and Minoru to start truly opening up to each other. Sure, they've gotten very close over the past few months and I think both of them recognize by this point that their "friendship" is something special, but I found it very interesting that it's only by this scene - both in the manga and in the show - where they start digging deep into their issues and expressing why that friendship means a lot to them.

I've already said it in my previous two posts but it bears repeating: how they're handling Minoru's past in the show is such a step up from how it was in the manga. Minoru deciding to open up first so that Yutaka can be comfortable sharing his own past is so in-character and honestly makes that Christmas scene even more of a gut-punch than it already is.

And THEN we get that absolutely devastating scene with Tane and his dad, with the latter worrying about Yutaka dying. I feel like this scene was given a lot more weight in the show - mainly because I felt it gave the scene the space and time to play out - and I am still recovering from it. Very much a top 3 scene of the series for me.

(Also, shout out to the dad for getting the memo not once, but twice and letting Minoru get his much-deserved alone time with Yutaka. I'm sure he's making up for interrupting them in Episode 5.)

Cannot stress enough how fantastic the show's little plot additions have been, and the matching scarves as gifts is probably at the top of my list. I could go on and on about how it represents warmth and comfort and all that, but really I'm already screaming at the fact that they had the same idea on what to give each other.

I also want to point out how much I love that the very first shot of Episode 7 (after the opening credits) is Yutaka's dish rack with the washed bowl and utensils as it takes the viewer a second to realize that this was Minoru's doing. It's up there with the shoes in Episode 2 for me.

While I fell in love with the manga by like the first chapter, I think what cemented its grip on me was how they decided to gives us Yutaka's backstory in the style of Tane's drawings. That was definitely the scene I was most looking forward to in this entire series, and when I saw the Episode 7 preview at the end of Episode 6 with Yutaka just tearfully recounting his story to Minoru, I was worried that they were gonna do away with it. So you can imagine my reaction to not only seeing that Tane's drawings were kept, but that they also decided to animate a significant part of that backstory with the drawings. (All I'm gonna say is that I had to pause the video to calm down.)

Tane clinging to Yutaka like a koala was the best shot of the episode. It was a nice break from all the heavy emotions. And then Tane said sike and gave us that head patting scene and he really got us while our guard was down huh.

I really have nothing to say about the kiss as I'm not really a fan of dwelling on these kinds of scenes, but I will say that how understated it was fit with the tone of the show. If anything my only complaint was how I felt that scene was a bit dark (as in it lacked lighting haha not that it was grim).

Next episode is gonna be a rough and frustrating one I'm pretty sure, but I am curious on where they're gonna end it. There's one more scene I'm really looking forward to seeing but I think that's gonna come at like the finale.

I love this series so much. It's nothing flashy or groundbreaking but it takes pride in its simplicity and makes the most out of it. And I'm so glad more people are discovering it thanks to this show.

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 3

It's time to fight the crows!

This map took me several tries, which was super annoying. The rules of where the crows can and can't attack are confusing, and every time I thought I had it figured out, I wound up putting someone vulnerable in danger. (Usually Mist. Sorry, Mist.)

I finally used this square strategy where I just put all my characters in a square, so that the crows could only attack someone in one of the four corners. Also, I love that Ike says this. I'm sad we don't get to see Ike have a similar conversation with Soren— surely the two of them discussed that incident at some point, right? Or did Ike just trust Soren enough not to say that slur again?

I watched this scene very carefully, because I know that at some point Soren supposedly leaves. However, you can see his sprite in this cutscene, watching over Ike as he interacts with the dragon laguz. I was interested to see if there was a certain point when his sprite disappeared.

It's Kurthnaga! Such a cutie pie. I'm glad he has a bigger part to play in the sequel.

I love Ike and Mist's sibling dynamic. They have such fun teasing one another. And I love how Ike's expression changes to this unamused glower whenever Mist teases him.

Ike moved, showing that Soren is yet again standing in the same spot. I wonder if this was unintentional on the writer's part, but I do like to think that Soren, despite being terrified by the dragon laguz, made sure to stick around long enough to see Ike return safely to the boat.

And here it is! The beginning of Ike questioning everyone about Soren's whereabouts, inviting the player to unlock all of Ike and Soren's supports. I adore how often Ike brings up Soren in conversations that didn't have anything to do with him. I think I will keep a counter.

Now for some supports!

Kieran, my dear, you were so heartbroken by Oscar's absence... even if it took him a long time to finally notice that Oscar had disappeared. What Kieran lacks in brains, he makes up for in heart.

Mia is so damn funny. I love her character. She's just so high-spirited and passionate about her 1 interest. She's like if Don Quixote was a genki anime girl.

Tanith!!! She has such strong yuri vibes. I mean, look at that haircut, and that unimpressed demeanor. In a GL, she is absolutely the type that seems all cool and put-together on the outside, but who becomes an illogical mess around her crush. (Which in this case, is Sigrun.)

I always laugh out loud at this line. I love that, for all that Ike and Soren love and trust each other, they are not above roasting one another. It's an important aspect of their dynamic.

Elincia you absolute Cutie Patootie.

Anyway, this post is getting long. Stay tuned for part 4, where I play the map that gave me the most trouble thus far.

[galespider]

Inktober 2023 Day 3

Now for Luze's turn.

Much like him, I have some similarities that I can associate myself with. Both of us have long hair, I am more rational at my temper at times like he is, we both may have inner violent tendencies towards others if things push too far, we both seriously need to calm our older twin down, Luze and I may be annoying, we are more or less dependent. But not only that, he is such a vague character that leaves me so much room to interpret what his actions, stories, personality is like based on short scenes from both manga and anime.

He is the main reason I keep drawing this character from Uraboku. Thanks to him sporting a military uniform for one thing. But he also gives me so much room to think of many alternate scenes if this or that happens within Uraboku. It's really fun to think and type stories like those! And I should really get on that sooner, if not later at a blog I created for him: Luze Crosszeria (tumblr.com)

Anyway, just like how I thought Luka was similar to my twin sister, I think I could relate to what Luze has to deal with from his past situation and now. During and before college, I relied on some people to tell me what to do since I felt like I didn't have any choice in the matter from strict parents. I was quiet and reserved much like Luze who may have been a bit sheltered when he was younger. I also felt like I was an annoyance to my sister when we would always stick around each other.

Maybe Luze felt the same way during his teen years? Maybe he also felt that he didn't want to leave Luka's side at all until things happened in the far future. Maybe he felt that he was an annoyance as well. And this was like during college where my sister had to take a break from it. Not only was she not really ready for that life, but more of needing more space which I didn't know she needed. I've spent almost three years by myself in the total of five years in college after she left. It gave me a feeling like Luka where he left not only his world, but left Luze behind for centuries I assume in their Demon years.

Both of us were alone, we almost felt like we have no choice but to keep moving forward after what was said and done. We couldn't keep following our older twin forever. So, at that point, it felt like we were forced to follow what was given to us and deal with it our own way. And sometimes, it could lead to good things right after all the chaos was thrown at us. Luze finally found where he could belong in a different world that those he cares for lives in. And I could at least go back to where I can focus on life situations one step at a time and be back with my family.

Although, both of us still need some help with catching up with modern life things from our older twin. Maybe Luka shows Luze how to manage things here and there and catch up with each other just like how my sister was with me now that school was out of the way.

And there you have it. I am very glad I found Luze first only to find out that he had an older twin, which so happens to be the deuteragonist of Uraboku. The Crosszeria twins made it SO MUCH easier to one, create other stories with them along with others since they don't have much compacted stories behind them and they basically leave everything to interpretation. Two, relate to real life situations I have to deal with. And three, I really love their aesthetics.

[lethekazhorai]

We watched the Spy Classroom stage play

AKA "Spy Room" officially, or "Spy Kyoushitsu" in Japanese.

We were really hyped for this one both because we're big fans of Spy Classroom, and because we knew a whole bunch of the actresses from Assault Lily plays (Asakura Fuyuna/Grete as Moroi Saho, Hoshimori Sana/Monika as Seren and Shenlin, Ishii Haruna/Thea as Nagisa and Kiito, Kitazawa Saki/Annette as Imari, Sakura Ui/Erna as Raimu.)

And it delivered! In fact it probably ties with the Bocchi the Rock stage play as the best play based on an anime (or on something that got an anime, anyway... I'm not gonna count Assault Lily in that though) that we've watched so far.

The play adapted the entire first novel (corresponding to episodes 1-3 of the anime) with some minor abridgements.

The weakest parts of it had little to do with the performers themselves. One big issue was that the stream audio, specifically the actors' mic balance, was bad. We could hear characters that had powerful voices like Klaus and ones that yell a lot like Lily, but some others like Grete and Sara were completely inaudible as often as not.

Another thing I didn't like is that Renjo Makoto used an extremely deep voice for Klaus and it was clearly at the limit of her vocal range, making it sound kind of monotone. I assume the director or someone told her to do this, probably to mimic Klaus's voice in the anime. If I were in charge, I would've leaned into Klaus being androgynous and had the actress use her natural voice.

But that's enough about the bad. Let me talk about the good.

Yokoyama Yui's Lily was excellent, which was surprising when she had relatively little experience in stage acting compared to the other performers (not none, just little.) Takaoka Kaoru's Sara was also charming, and I particularly liked the new scenes where the two of them talked with each other—they gave Lily an "encouraging big sister" vibe she doesn't get to show that often in the novels.

All the Assault Lily veterans were excellent, of course, though if I were to pick one it'd be Kitazawa's Annette and her cute antics even in scenes where she wasn't the focus.

I complained about Renjo Makoto's voice for Klaus, but that aside, her acting was great too.

And I have to give a honorable mention to Takada Jun's Guido, who left quite an impression on me despite only appearing in the final act and not being a cute girl. He should have been tapped for Majima in the LycoReco play instead of that wannabe Joker guy.

Last but not least, the effects and video projection were great, and even the extras were remarkably memorable, particularly the ones that dropped in during Erna's attempts to defeat Klaus on their date out in town.

All in all, it was an excellent and very enjoyable play that was vastly superior to the anime's take on the same novel. The anime got a lot better later on, but the disappointment of that first arc felt like getting stabbed in the back.

You've still got time to catch the final two streams on Confetti (hopefully they fixed the audio, we watched the very first performance that got streamed.) Don't dawdle though, the archives will be available for less than a week from the moment I type this.

[eerna]

Sorry if this is a bit long but I do really like coming here to talk about our latest fiction gripes lol. Ok so I totally agree with you about tdp and now s5. It's definitely something that started back in s4 but I was still trying to be optimistic. The show is as wide as an ocean but about as deep as a puddle recently. Pick a lane on how mature you want the show to be writers? I love kids shows i do (I loved Nimona), and I love adult fantasy animation as well (Vox Machina). And yes no show is without flaws, but guess what, the thing that they both have in common is GOOD emotional writing and choices that don't make the audience feel stupid when watching it. The dragon prince would have been amazing if it started out as a darker more mature adult show like vox machina. But it instead WAS written with the emotional stability and thought provoking messages of being for all ages that Nimona has (seasons 1-3)! I think the time jump kinda screwed with the pacing and the writers thought older characters must mean a little less fart jokes, more horses getting eviscerated (that was something I was THROWN with lol). But writing depth is not that simple obviously, I do like the more mature fight scenes and villains(the sea captain was actually pretty cool and I wish we could've gotten more of him) but just constantly jumping back and forth between the childish schneagains of claudia and her boyfriend and then back to something more dangerous and "scary" is not a good way to try to bring in every audience age group. I'm kinda tired of the 3D art too? Imagine if the characters were animated in 2D just like all of the fantastic 2D backdrops and end credit art. Oh well i guess. I am curious what their "hard hitting" writing will turn into (even though I think you're right in that it alienates the very young audience that made the show successful?). I just wish I could go back to feeling the show gave me back in the first 3 seasons, because I still love the characters themselves.

I forgot to add cause I just thought more about it lmao. The overall Satisfaction is what is missing from tdp in these past two seasons. In seasons 1-3 what was really fun to watch was the character growth, Rayla and the boys learning to trust one another and what got everyone into this situation in the first place. Now its kinda stalled and it sorta feels like its more filler than giving us the meat we so desperately want. Like what happened in the two years Rayla was away? What are aaravos's more grand scale plans? Why do they refuse to touch more on Raylas parents and Runaan in the coins?Etc Etc Etc But nooo give us another season of slow filler and fart jokes just to get to one goal (that they honestly could have done by the middle of the season) and than we're just left with a WELP SEE YOU NEXT YEAR. Ummmm yeah thats about it off the top of my head lol

No worries, my asks are always open to ppl ranting about fiction~~

Awwww I am so so sorry you were disappointed, but yeah your gripes are valid! I have it way easier, I realized I was just charmed by the setting and none of the seasons were for me actually, but I can imagine how it must feel to want more of something you've enjoyed and only keep getting bad versions of it. You're so right that the plotline of arc 2 feels like filler- we cut back to the characters and they are STILL in some random woods STILL talking about the same stuff STILL being boring and then we do it for 18 episodes. This is where I think the show would profit fantastically from "monster of the week" format, where yeah we spend 18 episodes traveling but every episode or two delivers SOME form of a narrative conclusion. It doesn't even have to be literal monsters if they think that's too childish, it could be any kind of short, self contained stories that add up to a larger story, kind of like how a proper cartoon aimed at all ages should be lololol. Your last bit of ask 1 depicts how I feel perfectly - "I wish I could go back in time and feel the way I did during the first few seasons, also I wanna see what is soooo dark and mature that kids can't be exposed to it".

[anjumbai]

Attack On Titan Season 4 Part 2: Thoughts

MAL Rating: 8.77

Studio: MAPPA

Personal rating: 7.5/10

Well I've had my share of finishing the manga right after season 3 part 2. I was like everybody else, not blown away by the ending. But it didn't matter a lot to me. I appreciated the show for its jaw dropping sequences, story telling, and the mysterious world it offered us.

But yeah, I did get uninterested with the anime of Attack on titan after I finished the manga. I just couldn't get myself to watch it while it released anymore because the excitement of what happens next just wasn't there anymore. Yet after a year of not watching anime in general, I find myself back at it. So here are some thoughts I'd share on this season.

Studio change: Well one of the biggest demotivating factors of the fourth season was the studio change from WIT to MAPPA. While I think both the studios offer amazing animation to us viewers, MAPPA just did not have the time or schedule to fit my needs I guess. Studio WIT provided us with jaw dropping ODM gear blasting, smooth visuals, you could just tell they put the time and work for it. THEY GAVE US HAND DRAWN TITANS BRO. Of course the common opinion on "Mappas dark and gritty style suits the tone shift of season 4" is also something I agree on; the actual kick you got from the amazing ODM gear and titan on titan action was missing from this season. That being said, MAPPA's character design is phenomenal and some of the monologue driven scenes hit way harder.

Eren and Reiner: I have to say- I'm still astounded by these two. From Eren beginning the season with telling Reiner that he and Reiner were the same to Eren doing everything that you couldn't even think of Reiner doing. I love the duality of these two and it did make the whole show a lot more enjoyable.

Voice acting: Is it a surprise that the voice actors make Attack on Titan way more intense?

Writing: Hajime Isayama did something truly remarkable when he started Attack on titan. It wasn't a long straight road trip, but a truly intense puzzle where each piece of the puzzle is in the hands of Isayama and he knows exactly when and where he can fit it in. The story didn't feel like it was come up on the spot but rather thought out from the very beginning: each mystery reveal, character intentions make you surprised yet you don't think "this doesn't make sense" cause of course it does he set it al up.

Well in the end this final season sums up all of the show. It hasn't ended yet and I think they are planning for an anime original ending. I do think MAPPA would've done something phenomenal if they were given enough time. Cause season 4 part 3 hits the spot and they had time for it. This season lacks a lot but by no means was it a bad season. Maybe I'm just riding on the fact that no season can top season 3 part 2. But it's good to see Eren again. This character is built up from episode 1 and truly a remarkable journey to be on. I'll be keeping up with the next hour long episode and I guess we'll witness the end of Attack on titan.

My anime list:

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/PPman101

[alyss-kelly]

My opinion about Another Code Recollection Part 3

Continuation of the negative.

Ashley and Matthew's relationship You don't see the same attention they gave to Ashley and D with her and Matthew. At the end of the game, it doesn't feel like she really bonded with him and became close friend with him. Deleting scenes or changing them didn't help them out. A lot of times he disappears and Ashley have to go and find him. At some point she says that it's mean of Matthew to do so, which yeah, I understand but, in the OG, I don't think he ran off that much after they paired up and when he does, I remember him leaving a message when they're in Richard's house. (btw I think you can see it on the table but once again you can't interact with it) She quickly thinks about him at the end but it just feels "empty". It doesn't feel like they cared about each other much. And I think that's a shame.

Travel In Two Memories, you had to go place to place with the stylus and you could also use the control pad. It was a top-down perspective and it could feel a bit weird, but it added to creepy vibes of Blood Edward Island. It would also only zoom in when you were close to location where you had the possibility to interact with objects in it. In R, you mostly moved Ashley from right to left, clicked on her to interact with the decors and inside you could only see her back and look around without her moving. This doesn't sound very fun, I know, but what I mostly miss, is that kinda funny looking animation of Ashley making a little speed up run to get to another location. It was weird but it added to the charm of the game to me, it was uncanny but also original. When I look back on it, only being able to look from one perspective outside was kind of a smart move, they didn't have to create a full 3D game, they could just make you slide from one place to the other, kind of like an "old" Mario game.

No more choices At the end of each chapter in both games, you had a little quiz where Ashley had to remember what happened until that point. It could be annoying (depending on how quickly you finished the chapter) but memories being the center of the plot of each game it's logical to put these sections and it reinforced the importance of what memories means to Ashley, it really showed how scared she was on forgetting more of her life. But they deleted them, which is maybe a relief for the player, but it skips an important part of Ashley's character. On another note, you could always pick the wrong answer it didn't change anything, you just had to do the question again. In the second game, there was little animation of Ashley giving two answers to other characters, one was the right option and the other one, was of course wrong. It was funny to make her pick the wrong answer and it added to the charm.

End of Part 3

---

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

[mirtifero]

I actually want to talk about a short story book plan I had back on around 2020(?) and that I'm slowly coming back to.

I cant remember if it was around 2020 or 2021 or if it started in 2019, but I remember being in front of a computer while thinking about it, so idk. Maybe 2020.

Cus I remember being influenced by senmu's work by the time? And some of these seem to have some ressemblance.

I remember stopping writing them because they started making me feel ill to my stomach. Maybe you'll see why. The scenes of each story were too personal and were wounds that hurt too much for me to handle at the time.

Now I see them with a bit of fondness.

The stories are going to be written in portuguese tho, ahahah. Not here! Here you'll have short summaries.

Warnings for each story summary on the improvised name for each of them

Dream Boy (abuse, murder, suicide)

This one is quite simple. A man in a big city has developed major depression due to loneliness and is struggling in a small friend group he made of horrible people. These "friends" basically just use him for his (broke) wallet or to beat him up or harrass him. Due to that, he slowly starts to make a fictional person inside his head to be his best friend. He eventually actually develops feelings for this fictional boy, and starts going slowly but surely mad. His life is a mess, he is constantly almost getting evicted, he locked his university course and his friends suck. That dream person is the only person he has. He eventually has a breakdown and kills his "friends" and ends up getting arrested. He commits suicide shortly after to reunite with his beloved.

Girl best friends (abuse, suicide, murder, homophobia)

This one's very short and simple. Two girls are best friends in a very conservative town, and one starts developing feelings for the other one. Let's call them 1 and 2. One day, they are having a sleep over, and 2, who knows about 1's feelings for her, starts whispering sweet poison to her. 1 gets flustered and asks what she's talking about, receiving a confused look from 2. Basically things like that happen for a while, 2's whispers developing from sweet nothings to... something weirder. 2 starts to talk about death and wanting to kill hersef when they graduate highschool, which was some months from then. Slowly 2 also starts suggesting for a double suicide. 1 is scared, but 2 keeps pushing and pushing for her to do it. On graduation day, they go to the roof together, and 1 once again hesitates, but 2 looks at her and tell her she loves her so so much and that she can't wait to die together with her. 1 sits on the edge and breathes but chickens away, making 2 angry. 2 pushes 1 down the building. 1 looks up while falling, realising 2 was not jumping. 2 had tricked her. She never wanted to die. She wanted 1 dead.

Three friends (cannibalism, animal death)

This one. Changed a lot. Originally it was about a starving girl, her dogs and a mysterious kind stranger. The stranger gave her food and she was forever grateful. Slowly though, her dogs start missing. Her meals are her only source of comfort. One day, instead of a full meal, the stranger appears and shows her one of her dead dogs. Rips it apart and feeds it to her. She had been feeding the girl on human and dog meat all along.

Now, there's only 2 people in that story (which I took some liberties to change from its actual original, since silly me doesn't remember much besides dogs and cannibalism), so why the 3 title? Thats because for a good while I changed it. It is the time loop yuri story I talked about. With the same characters and similar ideas, a girl was trapped in a time loop where her two friends kept killing each other and grotesquely mutilating and eating themselves, and how it kept getting worse because the girl started actually making things worse HERSELF.

But I ended up... not liking it? I don't know, my original ideas were feeling based only, I couldnt seem to make a plot out of it. It's a nice idea, but not for them. I won't scrap it, just like what happened to Henry (hence why there's two of them), but the murder besties will stay on the shelf for a while.

Yes I will write the dog eating story instead. Lol.

That's honestly it? Like, it's three stories I made at a very low point of my life, and based off emotions I couldn't seem to explain at the time. Now I understand them better and wish to explore it on these stories I made at my lowest.

Sharing here because... maybe someone here likes grotesque stuff? Haha. Well. Hoped you who read this liked it!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 325: Deku VS the Outside of U.A. ~Conclusion~

Previously on BnHA: Ochako was all “dear bloodthirsty mob, this kid you see standing before you has fought harder than anyone and put his life on the line to protect you all, so please chill the fuck out, jesus christ. like, putting aside that he’s humanity’s best hope and so it’s very much in your best interests to let him rest and recover someplace safe so that he can keep fighting for us, are y’all seriously going to turn away an injured and exhausted child in front of his sobbing mother?? seriously?? come on now.” I’m paraphrasing here but that’s basically how it went down. Anyway so then the mob was all, “...” and Deku collapsed to his knees in tears, and Gigantic Fox Lady and Kouta ran over to give him a hug but then the chapter ended.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “FINE, YOU CAN HUG HIM”, which, was that so hard?? The U.A. Clown Mob is all “come to think of it, we’ve kind of been taking the heroes for granted this entire time, maybe we should be less passive in the future. anyway so Deku if it’s not too much to ask, can you please save everyone and fix everything.” Deku is all “I sure can, and by the way I forgive you for swarming around all menacingly two minutes ago and trying to deny me basic shelter and stuff.” Ectoplasm is all, “hey Todogang get a load of this. [walks in a circle].” Hawks is all, “that’s literally the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” Rat Principal is all, “anyway so that’s what your students did today, hope you’re enjoying your new *~*ROBOT LEG*~*, Aizawa.” Aizawa is all “[lots of exposition about Kurogiri and for some reason, Toga, while being all brooding and sexy].” All Might is all “[standing here right outside of U.A. doing absolutely nothing and being foreboding AF]” and that immediately sucked away all of the warm fuzzy feelings from the hugs, goddammit.

each new week has become a waiting game of “when will Deku finally get to take a bath so people will actually be willing to go near him and give him the hugs he deserves.” the stakes have never been so compelling. I’ve almost forgotten about AFO entirely

lmaoooooo

me: for the love of god will someone please give Deku a hug before I die of old age

Mineta: YOU GOT IT!! --

Iida: [SWIFTLY CUTS HIM OFF] NOT YOU

fucking losing it at Mineta’s crying face. he really wanted to hug him. I legit feel bad but this is also the funniest thing I have seen all week, omg

somehow Kouta, who last week was only a hand’s breadth away from touching Deku’s head, is now twenty miles away from him in this new chapter

can I make a Loki reference here. is this recap a good place to insert a joke about someone using a TVA time-rewinding device to fuck with my poor boy Kouta over here. well anyway there it is

AND NOW HE’S BACK ALL OF A SUDDEN OMG

(ETA: since when is he “niichan” omg?? can’t handle this cuteness.)

BUT THEY’RE STILL NOT HUGGING HIM FFFFKFFFFF. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO. WHO DO I HAVE TO BRIBE AND/OR BLACKMAIL

OH NO KOUTA IS CRYING THAT’S IT I’M DONE FOR

“when I heard that lady I knew that I had to go, but then stop again within inches of actually touching you because you smell like week-old rotten onions.” listen Kouta, I’m not saying I don’t get it, but you all can’t keep doing this to me. it’s the way you guys keep teasing it. like, if you’re gonna hug him, hug him. don’t just stand there with your arms held rigidly out in front of you like a molded action figure

OH MY GOSH BUT HE SAID THE THING

KOUTA SWOOPING IN AT THE LAST MINUTE TO TAKE ALL THE CREDIT FOR FIXING DEKU LIKE THAT ONE KID IN THE GROUP PROJECT WHO DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT STILL TAGS HIS NAME ONTO THE REPORT ANYWAY, WHAT A KNAVE

GASP

(  ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )

SHE PICKED HIM UP LIKE A LITTLE BABY OMG?? she just leaned right over and lifted this child like he was a small animal. like a lil baby futon that she was about to hang up to dry. oh my god

-- HEY WHAT

(: well that’s extremely fucked up. though sadly not too surprising given what we just saw these past couple chapters

incidentally, I hope that anyone who was legitimately defending the civilians’ perspective earlier takes note here of how quickly that line of thinking -- “we’re just trying to keep our families safe” and all that-- can lead to straight up bigotry. if you’re willing to deny a child shelter and protection simply because he’s not YOUR child, and because you’ve decided based on Internet rumors (no real-world parallels there, I’m sure) that he might present a threat, it’s really not that much further of a leap to discriminating against entire groups of people simply because you perceive those groups as being dangerous. I’m sure the people who turned Gigantic Fox Lady away also told themselves afterwards that they did it to protect their families. “better safe than sorry.” “she’ll be fine, someone will take her in, but as for us, we can’t afford to take that risk.” people can come up with all kinds of justifications for treating other people as less than human, and the really scary thing about it is how fucking easy it is

one last quick side note, which is that Horikoshi does a great job here of showing how scapegoating works, given that AFO is the one who’s really to blame and who presents the actual threat, and yet Deku is the one who ultimately winds up being the target of the mob’s fear and outrage despite him being as much of a victim as they are. gotta love that irony, which unfortunately plays out far too often in the real world as well.

anyway I’ll get off my soapbox now, sorry about that. let us continue

YES, FINALLY OH MY GOD!!!!

AND THAT’S THE STORY OF HOW GIGANTIC FOX LADY BECAME THE GREATEST HERO. PACK IT ALL UP, WE’RE DONE HERE KIDS

holy shit. the real MVP right there. thanks for getting it done champ

jesus christ I have had it up to here with these people

literally the bar is set so low at this point that I’ll go ahead and take it. helping him because it offers them a tactical advantage is at least one step up from not helping him at all

“WHY NOT SHIKETSU” MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD

-- thank you!!

okay this one guy with the antennae hair is having himself a character development speedrun here

-- okay, but this part?? fucking this part, right here??

can we repeat that again?? the part where this guy acknowledges that the problems of hero society were caused not just by said heroes, but also by said society?? the part where he acknowledges that they treated the heroes like celebrities who were putting on a show for them?? the part where he acknowledges that when push came to shove, the vast majority of those heroes, when faced with a situation that offered no reward, were nonetheless willing to put their lives on the line to protect the very same people who then turned around and blamed them rather than thanking them?? are the civilians of BnHA even allowed to have actual deep thoughts about this stuff. holy shit

bro!!

ANTENNAE HAIR GUY SHOVING KOUTA AND GIGANTIC FOX LADY OUT OF THE WAY TO SLAP HIS NAME ONTO THE END CREDITS AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. CONGRATULATIONS SON YOU FIGURED OUT THE CORE PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION AT THE VERY HEART OF THE MANGA. WAY TO GO BUD

meanwhile, on today’s episode of “one more chapter to go till the big volume cliffhanger, how else can I drag things out let’s see”

it’s a panel. of people’s feet. just a bunch of normal feet. with sneakers and shit

this All Might shirt guy is getting more screentime in this arc than 90% of the class 1-A kids

I guess I’m supposed to feel sorry for this dude now that he’s all “if we let you stay here do you promise to somehow magically fix every single problem that we are now currently facing?” those are some ridiculously exacting standards my dude. come on now

KACCHAN SIGHTING

thank fuck I’m not the only one who’s thoroughly unimpressed by absolutely all of this lol. I feel better now. meanwhile Iida and Kouda and Kiri are ready to run over there and hug them all. you guys are way too forgiving. damn you and your pure hearts

anyway so Deku’s like “yeah, definitely”

(ETA: almost forgot to comment on the “I’m no longer alone” part – he basically corrects the guy and says “sorry, but you’ll need to direct that question towards all of us, not just me, because moving forward we’re a team.” good stuff.)

you know what though, all joking aside... fuck yeah. because perfect victory, right. the strongest guys don’t settle for anything less. so I guess Deku has pretty exacting standards himself

also can you all just take a look at this fucking kid who’s got so much light in his eyes now that I’m gonna need eclipse goggles. hot damn. “you’re welcome” says All Might Shirt Guy as he is frantically interviewed by several local news networks asking him how he daringly managed to save Deku all by himself. “well I guess I’ve just never been the kind of guy who can sit back and let a bunch of rabble-rousers blame a little kid for all of humanity’s problems. someone had to step in and take action, you know?”

oH MY GOD THE SCENE IS FINALLY ENDING

don’t let the door hit you on your way out All Might Shirt Guy

but meanwhile, sudden Tododrama action??

oh shit

there are honestly so many ways in which Ochako’s very moving speech could have wildly backfired that I genuinely have no clue where this is headed lol. how exciting!!

so now Horikoshi is once again stalling for time with random filler panels, but this one is 10x better than the shoes lol omg

(1) was Ectoplasm’s jacket always this oversized. (2) did you guys know that if you go back to chapter 319 you can see that Horikoshi gave us a sneak peak at Enji’s Sad Detective disguise and I in fact made a joke about it in the 319 recap not realizing it was actually the stone cold truth. (3) did Shouto deliberately speed up out of impatience because Hawks was walking so fucking slow and he couldn’t take it any longer. (4) and what, I ask you, is up with these dramatic speedlines. so many mysteries here. what a masterpiece

everyone is acting all shocked about something ahh what’s going on

wait what

what the heck. did they just loop around behind everyone. what was the point of that lol. “anyway, so this is what they look like from the back” well okay, thanks for that Ectoplasm

(ETA: so it seems like they were actually hanging out someplace else away from the crowd this whole time, I guess? here I thought they had more faith in Enji’s disguise. I guess Shouto and Hawks don’t particularly want to attract this crowd’s attention themselves right now either, though.)

I am so fucking confused lmao

speaking of All Might WHERE THE FUCK IS HE lol. but yes, good, OFA brings everyone together, and Hawks is very deeply moved about this out of the blue all of a sudden. you know how it is

aw heck yeah now this is another filler panel I can get behind

Mineta really wants that hug, good lord. I genuinely love this actually. Mineta if you could just stay little and cute and keep crying about how much you love your classmates in a non-gross way for the rest of the series I would be so appreciative. you’re doing great

IIDA IS HOLDING DEKU’S HAND THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ONE TIME WASN’T ENOUGH FOR MY MAN HE’S ADDICTED NOW

what did I tell you. Kiri wants to get all of the mob’s autographs now. Kiri you’re a peach

Shouji having a conversation with another mutant type is a very nice touch! we really need to get to his backstory soon. I feel like that casual remark from GFL earlier was kind of hinting at more to come

is this the first time we’ve ever seen the Yaoyorictionary in action?? never forget that Viz tried to call it the “Yaoyorozu Reference Book” because they hate fun

last but not least, KAMIBAKU IS BACK ON THE MENU, FUCK YEAH. Kaminari trying to spice things up and introduce a little bit of controversy by smacking Kacchan on the back of the head for god knows what. I will be deeply disappointed after this if I can’t find at least one person unironically declaring that KamiBaku is now toxic and abusive

lfkdlWLWK TODODRAMA??

oh my god. Shouto’s face. Enji’s face. the back to “oyaji” again. the blunt, not-taking-no-for-an-answer, “I don’t know how much louder the universe can scream at you that doing things alone is not it, so hopefully you got the point” directness of it. fffdlkslj I’m so ready for this Horikoshi please don’t fuck it up my expectations are so high

HOLY FUCK

I SCROLLED DOWN AND HE WAS ALL “( ❛‿❛)” AND I JUST WASN’T FUCKING EXPECTING THAT OKAY. JESUS CHRIST. GIVE ME A SEC

lol okay moment over and now Enji’s pulling his hat down all dramatically like a world-weary Cowboy

OH MY GOD WERE YOU FACETIMING??

AHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: not to put Iida down or anything, but it’s kind of strange that Aizawa is all “the class rep sure did great” when Ochako is the one that was giving that whole big speech for like twenty minutes just now lol.)

(ETA 2: “thank god Iida stepped in just in the nick of time to keep Mineta from hugging Deku.” sorry Mineta I really do like you lately but it’s still low-hanging fruit lol.)

HE LOOKS SO SAD??! HE LOOKS LIKE HEARTBREAK ITSELF??! I AM BESOUGHT WITH THE URGE TO REACH INTO MY SCREEN AND PULL HIM INTO THE SAFETY OF MY ARMS??? MY GOD, AND I THOUGHT DEKU NEEDED HUGS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH okay I was gonna just hold down the letter H for a full minute and count it out loud but within about ten seconds I realized I needed to chill lol

-- but then again NO, I DON’T NEED TO CHILL, I HAVE ZERO CHILL, ACTUALLY, BECAUSE IT’S AIZAWA WITH A ROBOT LEG AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

COMPLETE WITH ROBOT TOES FOR THAT EXTRA TOUCH OF AUTHENTICITY!! I LIKE HOW HORIKOSHI PUT ALL THIS EXTRA “!!!” EMPHASIS AROUND IT IN CASE WE COULD SOMEHOW POSSIBLY FAIL TO TAKE NOTICE. “REMEMBER, EVERYONE?” SAYS HORIKOSHI HELPFULLY. “REMEMBER THAT TIME AIZAWA CHOPPED OFF HIS OWN LEG?” oh wow now that you mention it we somehow forgot all about that. like who do you take us for

OH NO NOT THE SAD BOYFRIEND ANGST THAT I WAS SECRETLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WITH GLEE

well at least he’s not M.I.A. or back with the villains again like I thought he might be. still, that’s gotta be brutal to know your friend is in there somewhere, but to not be able to reach him again no matter how hard you try. that’s the kind of angst that pays off in final battles just when you most expect it. such is my hope, at any rate

what’s this now??

trying to decide if this is Horikoshi’s way of saying don’t worry about that, or his way of saying definitely worry about that lol

anyway so Aizawa is out here being all irresponsibly handsome once again. when is someone going to do something about him

here for Sexy Robot Leg Eyepatch Aizawa clenching his fists and making speeches about revenge. pretty sure we’re all here for that

WELL, WELL, WELL

IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME

I’M VERY GLAD YOU’RE ALIVE AND SEEMINGLY WELL, THOUGH!

BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK THOUGH, ALL MIGHT

ffff. bracing myself for that cliffhanger next week. you’d better not touch one hair on this man’s head Horikoshi. I’m watching you