#the manga is good. does it need to be butchered to hell and back? really?

[lycanr0t]

the further into trimax i get the more stampede just falls... totally flat for me lol. tristamps placement of events is just odd and makes the characters come off entirely different and it does a huge disservice to the story overall. it focuses too much on all the wrong parts of the characters while leaving out important aspects that the whole story is built on.

eurgh. idk. theres just so much about stampede that leaves much to be desired. i wish it wasnt so rushed feeling. i wish they were doing a proper trimax adaption rather than retelling. i wish it didnt shuffle around events. the claims that its "more like" trimax than the 90s anime are so far total BS. (both animes are inaccurate and only take pieces from the manga but the 98 anime is... more 1:1 actually)

I'm still working my way through trimax (5 volumes left) but i kinda dont care if stampede gets more or not ngl lol

(also dont try to like "convince me" that stampede is good or argue w/ me or whatever i do not care. i dont care! im saying my opinions on my blog its untagged and you can just mind your own damn business its as easy as clicking away try it sometime)

[la-hannya]

So raisin’s long awaited Shiina Sessrin chapter finally released and it confirmed that Shiina seems just as dedicated to butchering Sesshomaru’s character as Sunrise/Sumisawa did. I can’t believe the fandom is still simping for PedoShiina when he’s aptly demonstrated through this chapter alone that he makes the characters just as OOC as Sunrise did. Between Kagome “being jealous” of Sessrin and wishing Inuyasha was a more romantic husband like Sesshomaru (as if she herself hasn’t always been Inuyasha’s single biggest fan and would never dare to make him feel small by comparing him with Sesshomaru, his racist brother who tortured him in his youth, also rather than “envying” Sessrin she would be the first one in line to shoot an arrow through Groomermaru’s Pedophilic ass) and now him actually having Sesshomaru be the one to make the first “move” towards Rin and say incredibly sappy OOC stuff like “Rin is my everything” - it’s clear he doesn’t understand these characters any better than Sunrise.

Also his incessant need to continue making callbacks to “child Rin” during the “Sessrin” chapters and having Rin outside say she worships Sesshomaru like a God… 🤢🤢 At least it proves something the entire fandom has always been knew: They were not and never will be equals. Rin isn’t some strong girlboss ~QUEEN~ who wears the pants in that relationship like her fans self-inserters claim. she is an infantile child who was groomed by her guardian who she will forever hold up on a pedastal as a literal God and can see no flaws within him because he was the first/only person who ever gave her a sliver of kindness, and thus she feels she literally can’t say no to him.

Heya! @sweet61 beat me to most of what I wanted to express first, so you should check her answer before the things I'm gonna add to that here ^^ cause I share her sentiments.

Shiina's take on SR is him taking a bandaid 🩹and trying to stop a leak💧on a dam with it. Cause it's pretty obvious he knows about the backlash with all his statements. We went from anime loliconmaru using Rib as a creepy experiment cause he was curious about what was like to love and being a dad to "he made advances on her but actually Rib was the one who started it by seducing him with "Did Rin grow up? 😉😊" Stuff like that. Including him BLUSHING which was like a big no no for the rules RT has for his character. OOC and if he actually ever does that blush it would actually be microscopic as hell. You would need to get your 🔍 to actually see it. I understand Sesshomaru can be awkward but by the gods... WTF

BUT

He's still no different from the anime hny cause he still doesn't give a fuk about them kids really, has inukag on deep-freeze along the kid wife in this supposed masterplan along his mother because he doesn't really know WTF he is doing.

Congrats, you just made the infamous "Aristocratic Assassin" lord of the west a complete dumbass with creep still sprinkled around 🙄

I've already talked about this in the Sesskik Discord but Rin believing Sesshomaru is a God/Kami—Shiina took that from the wide-ban volume interview RT did about Rin and Jaken. Which btw, as you can see she makes clearly here what Rin was meant to be (and it's not what the romantic kind. This was before the Hogosha one)

And another call back to the "child". Interesting how Rin is supposed to be an adult, all we getting on this thing is references and personality of her being said child 😑.

I'm not surprised. Since "adult Rin" seemingly doesn't exist. Manga "adult Rin" doesn't even look like herself. It's like Shiina took his mouse, clicked cut on Kagome, took her to Photoshop and then called it a day. I'm sure the Sesskag Fandom had good laugh about that.

I'll say this. I'm not gonna name or whatever but I'm gonna say it. If you love this fandom and don't want it to finish going to a Oblivion like it has recently these past few months... Don't Support this. Stop giving it ratio. Just cause it's giving you some crumbs of said characters' daughter. And I adore said character mind you. Plus the villain. Hells, he even called pedomaru out for bad parenting and being awful. He had potential. But really think about it.

Like at this point I barely even see even stuff from my favorite characters. Because most of it is a constantly barraged out of the algorithm with unwanted CP SR in various positions unless I block it cause that's all they think about their ship while simultaneously constantly making week celebrations just to be able to trend cause they can't even make the official polls without bots...

Don't give your time on that. There's a ton of people in this fandom. Who are amazing and can do better content in a day that even Shiina, or Pedosawa, or even RT will. From Sesskik, Sesskagu, Sesskag, SessSara, SessNara or just Sessh himself while also being a cool single dad cause that's also valid and fits his character completely. As well as content about the other Inuyasha characters. The twins don't even look like their own "mother" so you can even imagine the mother as someone else.

Even a little ❤️, like, or comment for any of those content creators is enough. By showing support to the original series and people who truly love and understand these characters, I swear you'll be happier in the long run as well as peace of mind. We already got that anime fanfic cancelled. Plus don't let sinners try to censor you with lies, or try bully you into accepting their ship in social media. If they want to ship it that badly they can stick to their corner and stop harassing peeps who have the minimist disagreement about it or ship something else. They constantly diss other ships and make up stuff to attack others, yet they expect us to stay quiet about theirs and their antics 🙃

....double standards

That being said if you're ever feeling like shit about this just remember. Even Shiina knows "it's not canon". This is his "doujinshi" of that original animation. Yes, it's an official product but it isn't part of the main continuity that is the original Inuyasha.

The og series ended in June 18, 2008, with an ending that had enough openness to interpret whatever you like on what happens next

And that's the canon ending.

Yashahime is just one these. It's a bad one. OOC. An insult to the original. Destroyed the development of main characters. I know. RT didn't even write it. But in the end you choose. I already did and I announced it back for my pairing's weekend so look forward to it once I'm able to publish it, hopefully. if you're interested it on my imagination about it.

Phew! That was more than I expected to write.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves.

[obeiii-mee]

Hello! Can I request an hc about a shady MC who's not phase by anything in Devildom with the brothers (and Diavolo?? he deserves love!!!)? Like, when Luci's like "i CaN KiLL yOu hUmAN", MC's reaction was like "Oh... congratulations then." i need more shady mc who may or may not be planning to ruin your life😂😂 Thanks and take care!!❤❤

The Brothers + Diavolo with an MC that is not phased by DevilDom

__________________________________

Pls I need more shady MC, they would not take any shit from the brothers. Put any Gen Z-er with these guys and you’ve got yourself a suicidal and reckless human exchange student.

They wouldn’t know what to do with one of those ahaksbakanhaka you’re right, Diavolo deserves all the love >:(((((((

You better take care too >:( thanks for sending me this big brain request. I’ve been preoccupied with other projects so I took a while to get to this ask. Hope you’re doing OK💙

____________________________________

Lucifer:

-He thought having a human exchange student was going to be bad enough as it is but this…..this was so much worse than he could have ever imagined

-The moment you arrived, he already knew you were going to be a problem child and a persistent one at that

-Literally the first thing you asked him was : “Why do you look like an off-brand Levi Ackerman?”

-And he was left there, astounded, confused and offended because he had no idea who you were talking about (cuz at that point you hadn’t met the third eldest) and the tone you had was, frankly, pissing him off

-You kept wondering off on your own????? Without looking like you gave a shit even though you almost walked into a butcher’s shop that specialises in human meat???? Tf MC?

-Also really irritated that you couldn’t be intimidated and that DevilDom was like a playground to you, for some reason? Like, MC get out of the fiery pits of eternally tormented souls- this is Hell, not the McDonald’s ball pit ffs

-Things did not improve for him lmao, by the end of the first week he had already ripped out a good chunk of his hair because of you

-“MC, you should know by now provoking demons like this for no good reason is only going to make life harder for you. Keep this up and you’ll get killed in no time because of your behaviour.”

-“Great, can we have a hip-hip and a hurray?”

-In the span of one day, he’s had to come to your rescue six times (approximately) because you’re too nonchalant about your surroundings around literal creatures of hell

-He doesn’t have enough coffee or will to live for this bs

-“Lucifer, I found this dead plant and brought it here because it reminded me of you.”

-“…..sigh. Why? Why does it remind you of me?”

-“Because it’s cold and unresponsive.”

-He made the consecutive decision to ignore you

-(low-key kept the plant tho)

-Honestly, you get on his nerves a lot and he has definitely contemplated killing you in the past but at the end of the day he really can’t bring himself to do it

-We both know he tried a few times lmfao

-“I will tear you limb from limb, human-“

-“Can I finish my tea first.”

-“You…wait, what?”

-“You’re crazy if you think I’m letting this tea get cold. Try to kill time before I’m done and I’ll smash this cup against your head.”

-If you try hard enough, you might even elicit a laugh out of him, especially if your shadiness is directed at any of his brother which results in him patting your head affectionately

-Nowadays he’s just concerned because you seemed to have made an alliance of sorts with Belphagour and Satan and that’s not a good sign

-For his sake, if not yours, at least try to survive the year without getting chomped on by a random demon please

-He’s too stubborn to let you die just because you’re unbothered by everything so cut him some slack and help out damn it

Mammon:

-“Oi Lucifer, how come I’m stuck babysittin’ this stupid human?”

-“And how come I’m stuck with this asshole for a tour guide, with his fake ass designer shoes and no brand sunglasses. That’s a lot of smack talk from someone with crow shit stains covering the back of his jacket. Also, did you stick your hair in a bucket of mayonnaise?”

-……..

-He was so offended lol

-Normally, humans like you cower in fear whenever demons are as much as mentioned because of the whole “I can eat you whole” thing

-And here you are; insulting the Avatar of Greed and one of the princes of Hell himself just because you didn’t like his attitude

-Don’t worry tho, he warms up to you in less than a fucking month simply because you still come to his rescue whenever his brothers start insulting him and wow, look at that, his heart is now combusting on the floor

-“Y’all have no right to criticise Mammon when he has the most self control out of all of you.”

-“Since when does Mammon have any self control? He can’t keep himself from nicking anything that looks shiny.”

-“Motherfucker, I don’t see him trying to choke me to death, respectfully pls shut the fuck up. I don’t want to say I have favourites but if I do, it’s definitely him.”

-While Mammon’s in the background, with hearts instead of pupils in his eyes like ❤️👄❤️

-He doesn’t even mind running around after you anymore (will still complain about it though because your ass is in constant danger and he’s had enough)

-Honestly, you keep starting shit with random demons, some of which are quite powerful mind you, and you don’t back down even when he’s there to step in

-Would low key love to watch you fight one of your classmates at RAD and organise a ticket selling booth for the event but Lucifer will hang him a new one if he does

-So for now, he sticks to baring his teeth at the aggravator in question and you’re there, giving the same demon the middle finger

-The way you sometimes match his energy gets him so hyped up lmao

-“Mammon, did you steal Levi’s money again?”

-“T’s none of her business human. Now go away, shoo!”

-“Bitch, don’t ‘shoo’ me, I ain’t a bird. Now tell me, did you?”

-“…..Why do you ask?”

-“Because a new flavour of instant noodles just got announced, called ‘Super Hell-Sauce Flavour’ and I thought you might be more interested in that than wasting the money on gambling.”

-“….ok but only if you come with me to buy some.”

-This…this is true love right here

Levi:

-Oh no, now there’s two of you

-Why do I feel like his energy would match MC’s almost immediately? Maybe it’s because he spends too much time in his room on the internet like the rest of us do

-“What do you want, you stupid normie?”

-“300…..”

-“….300 what?”

-“300 mangas collected, thousands of episodes of anime watched, over 60 character figurines, plushies, body pillows, merchandise and several posters only to be called a fucking normie by a demon weeb that’s only known me for 10 minutes.”

-Boom, instant friendship

-He becomes attached to you almost immediately and now that he knows how unphased you are by DevilDom, he is seriously worried

-Hell, you’re making him consider going outside his room just to make sure you’re alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere because you decided to get on someone’s nerves that particular day

-Even during the quiz thing, when he almost kills you, you’re just sitting on the floor and awkwardly watching him as he throws a sissy fit

-Levi feels sort of conflicted with you because one one hand you’re good company and he loves having you around, you’re his Henry after all

-But on the other hand, you put yourself in so much danger it makes him paranoid so often to the point where he wants to keep you locked in his room and wrapped in bubble wrap

-Nearly had a heart attack when you almost walked right into a pit of lava like MC???? This isn’t one of his video games???? You’re not gonna respawn if you die????

-Besides all that, he gets a bit jealous of you confidence and your ability to just do whatever without fearing death or consequence

-“MC, how do you do it?”

-“Do what?”

-“How do you go about your life without a care in the world?”

-“I guess I’ll tell you my secret Levi. I’m not like other humans that’s why, I’m just so unique I do things differently.”

-“You sound like a pick me-“

-As long as you’re OK and not injured because of your carelessness, he’s indifferent about your behaviour and will even applaud you for your bravery when it comes to this sort of thing

-“lmao the human exchange student just dumped Solomon’s cooking in the trash while looking him dead in the eye 💀💀💀”

Satan:

-Your attitude towards DevilDom and demons in general kept him entertained, if nothing else

-You rarely seemed to consider how much of a threat that place really is and usually you were just running around, completely ignoring Lucifer’s rules and doing your own thing

-Which, you know, he’s all about

-I can’t say there were no incidents between the two of you

-With his short temper and your tendency to say things without caring about the consequences, there were definitely moments when he might’ve snapped on you

-“MC for goodness sake, what happened to my room?”

-“What do you mean?”

-“It’s an absolute mess! I just told you to bring me my spells and curses book, not mow through everything!”

-“It’s not my fault this place is built like a fucking labyrinth. You should be grateful I went to get it for you at all, I almost tripped and died several times on my way back. Also, you should get a new ladder for your shelves. It did the broken.”

-“MC….”

-“Yes?”

-“You are so lucky I love you.”

-Other than the fact his anger takes over him when things like these happen, he not so subtly encourages you to keep going because seeing Lucifer scowl at your antics gets him wheezing his lungs out

-I like to think Satan would be very impressed, even in the beginning, at the amount of nonchalance you can radiate at times

-I mean, you sure as hell don’t see it often and he loves how unpredictable you are more often than not

-If anything, he should probably thank you-idk how, but his patience has increased significantly every since you got here and he appreciates having some more control of his emotions

-“I’m gonna go put oil in Lucifer’s shoes.”

-“Do you have a death wish?”

-“Satan, I am old enough to make my own decisions and I concluded that this action is necessary.”

-“Necessary for what?”

-“Raising everyone’s morale! All of you seemed to feel down lately so I thought this would be fun for everybody!”

-“Except Lucifer, right?”

-“Except Lucifer. He grounded me from my D.D.D like I’m a fucking teenager who needs to be supervised-pssshht, I’m the most responsible one here.”

-“Yes clearly.”

-“Goodbye dear Satan, I may die today. But it’s for the greater good! (Dramatic exit with sound effects)”

-“WAIT MC!”

-“(pops head back in) yes?”

-“May I offer you my assistance?”

-You’re basically taking turns pranking his brothers and it’s hilarious

-Satan is not too worried about your well being simply because he knows his siblings and him are always going to be nearby to save you if you pull something stupid again

-Even so, he checks up on you throughout the day; just to make sure

-“Where were you?”

-“Running from a bunch of demons. Who wanted to go munchy crunchy on me, I assume.”

-“……”

-“Either that or people here are a lot friendlier than originally expected.”

-You can be such a handful and it really tests him, especially when he’s angry enough to begin with

-But despite your amazing talent at either getting completely lost around Hell, purposely walking into a prohibited place just because you felt like it or riling up others with how blunt you are, he still cares about you deeply

-You may be a pain the ass, but you’re his pain in the ass <3

Asmo:

-He should’ve known something was up with this particular human when you stood there, completely calm and collected, while Beel salivated at the thought of eating you on your first day

-Asmo just brushed it off for a while but it kept happening???

-The first time Lucifer ever told you off, you really went and said “Or what? Are you going to eat me? If so, you can go ahead and start with-“

-He came to your rescue and covered your mouth before you got to finish and before Lucifer unleashed his wrath on to everyone in that house

-“OOPSIE! I think MC has been spending too much time with me. Sorry Lucifer, we gotta run now! We have a party to attend, don’t we MC darling?”

-“You mean the one hosted by the guy that tried to kill me because I shoved into him on the hallway at school and then proceeded to tell him to go fuck himself right back into whatever hell hole he was born in before you came and charmed our way out of it?”

-“Yes.”

-“Ah OK. “

-You’re tiring for sure but you’re not exactly unlikeable

-You have a certain charm hanging about you that Asmo loves

-“I almost died like…30 minutes ago.”

-“WAIT WHAT?? WHY?? WHAT HAPPENED-MC ARE YOU OK???”

-“Yeah, I almost drank some poison today because someone told me it was water. It smelt off though so I didn’t.”

-“….”

-“Anyway, I got you this bracelet on my way home.”

-He really does wish you would take things a bit more seriously

-This is your life on the line, you know? What would he do if you died?

-“MC, you’re not immortal, you can die so much more easily than I can, you know that right???”

-“I don’t care.”

-“Well I do! And you should too….”

-A lot of people don’t see past his vanity tbh, because he can be such a caring person towards the people he loves

-The amount of videos he has of you appearing to be completely calm while pure chaos is descending in the background is pretty impressive

-Every time he uses his charm on you to try and get you to commit his sin, it just doesn’t work???? For some reason???? And even if it’s just with simple, innocent affection for now, he is determined to tempt you into it

-“MC~gimme a hug!”

-“But that’s social interaction and I don’t support it- do you have a charger for my D.D.D by any chance?

-Or at least die trying to ig

-Asmo loves having you around but you’re giving him wrinkles and that’s not okay >:(

Beel:

-The moment he realised how carefree you actually were, he sort of started checking up with you quite frequently throughout the day

-It’s his way of protecting you but if he could, he would follow you around all the time

-Becomes your body guard because you may not care enough about your safety but he certainly does so get ready to be carried everywhere

-You will not get hurt nor will anyone mess with you if he has a say in it and let me tell you, he does

-Thing is, his brothers mostly know him for being slightly dense in some aspects of day to day life

-He’s not perceptive of things that don’t involve food or his loved ones

-And because you most definitely are a loved one of his, he does notice how careless you are really often

-And it scares, rather worries, him because DevilDom is an incredibly dangerous place-even with all the precautions they had taken when you came

-“MC get down, you could fall.”

-“But Beel, look-I’m finally taller than everyone else! Taller than you even! Hey, should I do a backflip?”

-He has no idea why you thought jumping from 60 meter high cliff into a small river of squashed demon blood was a good idea but he wasn’t going to risk anything just because you felt like showing off your diving skills

-Proceeds to carry you away, completely unfazed

-In this case, I feel like Beel is not someone who gets bothered by the horrible things happening around there either

-As long as he has food and his family is safe and happy then he’s also happy, as mentioned above

-But he knows he’s alright with DevilDom because he’s been living here for centuries now

-A bit curious as to why you’re so unbothered

-And even more curious as to why you weren’t terrified of him transforming in his demon form after he lost control when he found out you ate his pudding

-Or more like Mammon did and pushed the blame on you

-“YOU. ATE. MY. PUDDING!”

-“Beel I love you but if you did not just see Mammon shoving the damn container in my mouth two seconds prior to this, then you might need glasses.”

-He apologised to you later for it but even so, you didn’t seem to mind like at all and he didn’t really understand why

-Unless you end up explaining why exactly you feel so indifferent about your life being in potential danger, he won’t really pry

-But now he has even more reason to follow you around like a lost puppy

-Since it’s clear you don’t really care about protecting yourself

-So now it’s his job to do it

-MC protection squad? Mostly Beel and Mammon

-ahhh he cute

Belphie:

-Oh

-You piss him off so much

-He’s trying to have his moment, you know?

-Finally getting that glimmer of satisfaction after killing a human as a way to avenge his sister’s death

-Trying his hardest to make it as miserable as possible because he has so much rage in him, he needs you to suffer

-“Harder Daddy-“

-“Oh fuck off.”

-Nah but for real, what the fuck MC

-Why does he even bother, he feels like he should be sleeping instead of dealing with your bullshit

-Even afterwards, when your future self shows up and he tries to kill you again, you look more thoughtful than irritated???

-Lucifer and Beel are literally holding him back from doing another Chocky on you and you’re standing there, looking at him with your eyebrows raised

-“Hey Belphie, I have a quick question. I know you’re trying to kill me and everything but do you like the colour blue?”

-“HUH??!?!”

-“It’s a simple yes or no question Belphie. Do. You. Like. Blue?”

-“WHAT DOES IT MATTER???!!!”

-“BELPHAGOUR, AVATAR OF SLOTH-YES OR NO, JUST FUCKING ANSWER!”

-“YES! FUCK YOU!”

-“Ah ok thanks. I like blue too :)”

-????????????

-Pls he felt like sticking his foot down your throat

-As of late, he’s kind of glad he didn’t manage to scare you away that day and that he didn’t traumatise you or something

-At the time, he was mad because he didn’t understand why you weren’t scared but now he just wants to make it up to you

-“You didn’t deserve any of that. I’m sorry MC, I won’t blame you if you decide to stay away from me now.”

-“Stfu dipshit, what’s gotten you so depressed? Did you have another fight with Beel? I told you not to eat the last slice of cake.”

-“Rude ass, I was trying to apologise for my past mistakes-let me repent will you?”

-“Said no demon ever. Now let’s go hang out you emo bitch.”

-Y’all vibe together on a spiritual level once that shit gets sorted out

-But he’s kinda scared you might pull out a knife on him ngl

-Obviously, you’re still annoying as fuck with that indifferent attitude of yours but he can live with it

-He appreciates the fact that you’re not scared of him, even after what he’s done

Diavolo:

-Ah yes, the future King of DevilDom himself

-He’s very enthusiastic about the idea of you having fun this year…..and to keep you alive….

-He, of course, expected a range of reactions from you when he first summoned you here

-None of which were “Ok but could you not have given me a heads up? Before the whole teleportation thing? I face-planted your onto marvellously polished the floor and now I think I lost even more brain cells than before.”

-He felt so bad gagajajahahwgehhsb

-He apologised for bringing you out here without any warning like that and then proceeded to introduce you to everyone

-Diavolo is actually kind of relieved to see you’re handling everything pretty well

-He thought that maybe DevilDom was too much for a human to deal with

-Meeting Barbatos also went incredibly smooth

-“Barbatos? The one that cleans the floors right? Big fan of your work, I could eat off the floor of the main hall.”

-He’s so glad to see you getting along with everyone and not getting intimidated by the brothers

-It gets him excited thinking about how the exchange program is gonna work and all three realms will be united

-But he’s not stupid so don’t think he’ll allow you to stumble around, getting up to all sorts of mischief

-He always has someone watching you because he would hate to see you die, despite being pretty fond of your carefree attitude

-“MC, please be careful. Most demons here aren’t all that nice.”

-“Aye aye Captain.”

-He fears that many demons would take your indifference as a challenge and try to assert dominance or something by kidnapping you

-As far as creatures of hell go, they love installing fear in people

-So he always keeps an extra eye open for you

-And he’ll be there to help you if something goes wrong

-But other than that, he’s pretty chill as well and he finds you so hilarious, it’s been a while since he’s seen someone as eccentric and dramatic as Mammon and Asmo

-Idk what else to add here, Diavolo is very accepting and as long as you don’t get hurt, he’s glad you can get used to your new surroundings so easily

———————————-

Al~

[sa-tou]

Chapter 139 + ending opinion

Okay..where do I begin, I already wrote something yesterday but now having read the English typeset I have come to this conclusion regarding the ending of SNK. (It’s a long post, may have some typo’s, which I will try to fix while editing the post)

Disclaimer: Isayama has my respect, even if I may not agree on all points I want to thank him for years of hard work and bringing us a beautiful story, that being said his story is not immune to criticism and so I will write this with my fullest and honest opinion. (Do not send Isayama or any of the voice actors and anime production staff any hate, if you didn’t like the ending that’s fine! But do not harass anyone else because of it)

Here goes:

Chapter 139, what can I say, even after reading it in English I cannot seem to like it.

Why? First of all, Ymir’s love…oh god I dreaded writing this but, her love it’s not comparable to Mikasa’s, that’s why I am unable to link the two, but at the same time I don’t see them as very different characters either. Let me elaborate, Ymir was a slave who had her whole family killed by king Fritz, had her tongue cut out and was impregnated at a very young age because she has the power of the titans, Ymir falling in love with him is nothing short of Stockholm Sydrome. Sure Mikasa being able to kill Eren and end it, was something Ymir couldn’t do but WHY and WHEN was Ymir ever in love with King Fritz…back to Mikasa, she let go of Eren, but in the end she really didn’t (Eren wishing she’d never move on came true). Yes you can mourn your loved ones for how long you want but, why did Isayama have to put her in a position where she is always tied to Eren, she never had her own character growth, because when we thought she finally let go of Eren, she returns with the scarf and ends up crying at his grave for the last 3 years (kind sounds like how Ymir started off wandering alone in Paths no?) regardless the EreMika built up came out of nowhere and it was to sudden for me to actually believe any of it. Opinions may differ but, it’s lackluster and well, to me SNK was never about romance, so this whole romance subplot was meaningless and shat on every character who died in this manga.

What also irked me is, Reiner’s character. SUCH A GREAT character, so much build up, so much amazing storytelling and he ends up not dying, nor sacrificing himself, no instead he ends up sniffing Historia’s letter… I still like Reiner but, this development went straight down the trash bin.

Also Historia having a baby, but why? We’ll never know. She supported Eren’s rumbling plan, but why? We’ll never know. Paradis turned into a dictatorship with fascist leaders, but why? Fuck it I don’t give a fuck.

But what I do wonder is, is Armin this naive? Does he think nations will just sign a peace treaty? No way, geopolitical relationships don’t work like that, look at the real world, we are constant war because people can’t set aside difference, now people want to tell me that after Eren stomped on 80% of the world’s population, they want to just be at peace? I don’t think so, especially now that Eldians no longer have titan powers, have zero advanced technology in weapons..Makes no sense.

The worm…wtf was it, why was it there, who stopped it and where did it go? It had a mind of it’s own and even after Zeke and Eren dying it still kept going so my question is, what was the purpose of introducing this shit and then not to further elaborate on it? Why did everyone have to turn into titans for them to turn back into humans in no time? Why not just take the sad route and have every shifter die and have Ymir reborn as a free girl, because I thought Ymir was shackled to paths because she couldn’t be a free human, that’s why the rebirth theory sounded so plausible, but now all Ymir is, is a Stockholm syndrome patient who was waiting to…..what the hell even happened to Ymir? Where’d she go, why did she leave, what was her fucking purpose in the end. You want to tell me that she put so many people and teenagers under stress because King Fritz wanted more women than just Ymir? Jfc.

Now to Eren, so we know Eren was always a crybaby and never fully mature to do what he did, but what the fuck was this chapter? Sure he loves his friends and wants them to be save but, how did you go from “I know what I need to do and this is why I must start the rumbling” to, “I don’t man, just felt like it, I love Mikasa and you all so I don’t want to die but I don’t know Ymir wanted this and I don’t know what Ymir wants”, like did Yams stop remembering his own story here?

Regardless, Eren dying is a good thing, he could not and should not be redeemed for mass genocide, I think we can all agree on this. But my whole issue is, why put the warriors, especially Reiner, through so much shit, when you started the whole massacre on your own. One chapter was all it took to butcher Eren’s persona, then again he was never my favorite so I couldn’t care less about him.

Another point, he says he will give everyone their memories back once he dies, they will learn about his plan. Sure, but why do Mikasa and Levi experience this? Is this the cause of their headaches? I don’t get it, wasn’t the whole plot that Ackermanns under no circumstance could be mind manipulated…so how the fuck did Eren pull this off? It just took that subplot and flushed it down the toilet.

ZEKE, the only man with an actual plan and he died for no reason, just like Porco, Marcel, Ymir, Marco, Erwin, Hanji, Shadis, Colt, Magath and every other character that died for no reason.

The ending to me feels like a bad EreMikaMin fanfic, it just left so many plot holes untouched and now we are left wondering wtf all the other 137 chapters were for.

To end this post, up until chapter 132 I really really really liked the story, after that I feel like Isayama just wanted to finish the story and just did what the shippers wanted and finished the story in a wholesome way without really tying up any loose ends. It’s a shame but, it is what it is.

[kelluinox]

My (negative) thoughts on SNK 138

I will say right off the bat that I was immensely disappointed with this chapter. This was definitely not what I had expected, and, frankly, something that I didn't want. I'm not sure that I will be able to even continue watching the anime, or ever revisit my favorite moments of snk after the way 138 has tainted the entire plotline and butchered so many characters. I'm not going to be polite about this.

Now, with that out of the way, the reasons why I hate this chapter:

1) I'm pissed that the silly reunions of the Warriors with their family members took up so many pages. Except for Falco (and maybe Reiner), I don't give a shit about any of these people, they are awful, selfish human beings, and nothing they've done has been able to redeem them in my eyes. I hate that they almost got their happy endings, as they did not deserve them in the least. Especially Annie who proudly professed that she would commit the Paradis atrocities all over again. Fuck these people.

2) I hate the praise Leonhardt got. A hero? You mean the guy who adopted a little girl and beat her ass daily so that he could mold her into the perfect soldier for a Nazi regime and live in comfort? No. Just no.

3) Literally no one was surprised by Eren coming back. No one. This moment was so contrived that even the characters barely reacted to it. They're like: "oh, you're still alive? Still breathing? Cool, let's kill ya."

4) Levi fucking ABANDONING his squad just like that. No parting words, no emotions, nothing. Does he even care for these people???? HAS he ever cared for them??? First Sasha, and now this?? "Smoke doesn't affect Ackermans and shifters fam, let's bail. Bye SUCKAS!" Just what. The actual. Fuck. Is this his character now? I guess I should've seen this coming. Ever since Erwin died he's only cared about the monkey, and now that the monkey is gone his character is officially dead and a plot device. A one dimensional soldier who's only good for battle scenes, nothing else.

5) What is even Eren's PLAN at this point?? Why the hell would everyone suddenly titanize, what does he GAIN from this?? This is so stupid?? I expected the Rumbling to restart, but no, I guess we're getting this shitty scene of Eren turning his FRIENDS into titans for NO REASON for shock value. Just no, fuck this. I do not accept this.

6) My boys Jean and Connie are really going to go out like this, huh? Titanized for no reason? Slow clap Bravo, Isayama, my expectations have indeed been subverted. But just like with Kathleen Kennedy, I was only impressed by the sheer amount of stupidity that you crammed in at the very end. Congratulations.

7) Armin's whole "you must love this hell" thing.. How, how can you misunderstand Eren so much??? Especially after you've been so desperately defending Marley and the Warriors, after you said yourself that Eren was doing all of this for you?!!!?! JUST HOW IN THE HELL DOES EREN LOVE HELL?!?! Shut up, just shut up you fucking Bertholdt loving idiot, I'm done loving and defending your stupid ass, at this point you should've died in the Serumbowl. But then it would mean Erwin getting butchered in this trainwreck, so I guess I should be glad that Levi made the selfish choice back then.

8) How does Mikasa know where Eren is? Just how?

9) Mikasa's entire dream sequence... I feel sick. Apparently Eren has been reduced to a spineless pussy. You really expect me to believe that the guy whose entire philosophy is to fight would just abandon fucking EVERYTHING to have pity sex with his adoptive sister??? AND THAT THE TWO OF THEM WOULD LEAVE ARMIN WITHOUT TELLING HIM?!?! Just goes to show what a great friend Mikasa is to Armin if this is her perfect world. "What blonde kid? Oooooh, yeah, fuck that guy. I ran away with my looove." Eugh. I can't believe her. She would abandon all of her friends, leave her entire country to sit in some cabin for four years with the guy she's been obsessing over her entire life. Mikasa is a disgusting human being. And her continued gross misunderstanding of who Eren is is just giving me so many stalker vibes. This is not healthy relationship material at all, she seriously needs to get some professional help.

10) If she had confessed Eren would not have used the Rumbling?!?!?! I'm sorry, I just... I can't. I could literally cry from this. My favorite character is now a guy who decided to destroy the world just because he got familyzoned. I... Isayama just spat and shit on everything Eren was, everything he represented, everything he believed in, all the development he went through... I just.. I have no words.

11) That. Fucking. Kiss. Eren did not consent to it and what the hell is wrong with you????? This is so disgusting on soooo many levels???? What porn for necrophiliacs IS this??? I mean, if this was like a Jango fett situation where she just held his head and said goodbye I wouldn't have been so revolted, but HERE I AM, trying not to puke my guts out. To make matters worse, you can actually see the blood pouring out of his neck.

12) Isayama went all out this chapter, that's for sure. He even butchered the character who didn't speak and barely appeared. Ymir, my baby, what have they done to you, sweetheart? I can't believe you're now a creep who's getting her kicks out of seeing people kiss disembodied heads.

All in all, I'm so sad, disappointed and angry beyond belief. I do not accept this.. whatever it is. There were so many ways to give snk a send off that would be remembered for years, but... Isayama really did lie when he said that he wouldn't GOT his own ending. Even if 139 is a masterpiece, it will not salvage this manga, not for me. I honestly feel like the author is so tired of SNK that he began to hate it and this is the result. I have never felt so sickened and betrayed before in my life.

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, onto chapter 6 of “No Regrets”!

So the first thing I want to jump into here is, once again, something which the manga vastly improved on over the visual novel, and that was the scene following the flashback to Levi and his friends learning about the long-distance scouting formation before the expedition, and then Flagon’s instructions to them in the present.  I don’t think this scene was even included in the visual novel, but it’s indispensable in understanding Levi’s mindset going into the fateful final act.

Isabel gets carried away by Flagon’s speech, and ends up saluting, expressing genuine enthusiasm for the SC’s cause, before realizing what she’s done and turning around, seeing Levi and Furlan looking back at her in silence.  Furlan looks unimpressed, while Levi wears his usual stoic expression. You can’t tell one way or the other what he’s thinking, which is why the next scene is so hugely important, because we get a look into his inner thoughts.

I saw another person say not long ago that in this scene, Isabel expresses a desire to join the SC, and Levi blows her off and ignores her, only thinking about his revenge on Erwin, and to that person, I would like to ask ‘What scene were you reading?’, because that’s pretty much the opposite of what happens here.  This scene reveals so much about Levi’s own, inner conflict, and how he’s beginning HIMSELF to understand and even sympathize with the cause of the SC, and the soldiers who have dedicated themselves to it.  Let’s dissect it here a bit.

The scene takes place at night, before they ride out again, and Levi is sitting up with Furlan and Isabel, and he’s thinking quietly to himself.  The first thing he’s recalling in his contemplation here is Sairam’s words, asking Levi if he knows how many elite soldiers have been eaten by Titans. This plainly shows Levi’s growing concern for Furlan and Isabel.  The longer they spend outside the walls, the higher the risk of something going wrong, and that’s a worry that’s heavy on Levi’s mind here.

He then remembers, in quick succession, all these various interactions and the words of different people throughout his short time up here on the surface.  He recalls Sairam hurling insults at him and his friends, calling them punks, and then Hange’s opposite words of encouragement and appreciation, telling them they’ve given everyone hope.  He recalls Furlan’s words, telling Levi that with him there, they’ll really be able to raise hell, and then Isabel’s words, pointing out that the SC soldiers really believe their cause is worth dying for.  Finally, Levi recalls Flagon’s degrading words, about how Levi and his friends have spent their whole lives in a trash heap, implying they’ll never amount to anything more than garbage, and last, he recalls Erwin’s words, how he’d seen the desire to kill in Levi during their first encounter.  

All of this is hugely important to understanding Levi’s psychology, I think, and understanding his feelings of conflict and confusion, and how it ultimately plays into him making the choice he does.  For Sairam’s and Flagon’s words, it’s the assumption people have made about Levi all his life, that he’s nothing but a worthless criminal who can’t do anything good for anyone, and Levi’s struggle to overcome that perception that people have of him.  In contrast to that, Hange’s words are sending Levi the opposite message, that he isn’t just a worthless criminal, but someone who can actually contribute something positive and important to other people’s lives.  He’s someone who can inspire hope.  Something Levi’s always secretly wished he could do.  And then there’s Furlan’s words, serving as a confirmation to Hange’s, in which he expresses his reliance on Levi to help make his own dreams come true, and Levi seeing himself in that role, of taking care of these two people whom he loves.  And there’s Isabel’s words, a clear admiration and astonishment at the realization that these soldiers really believe in a cause bigger than themselves.

We see all of Levi’s greater hopes, his desire and wish to help other people, coming into conflict here with the way he’s been treated all his life by others, as a worthless, good for nothing criminal, and how that treatment has forced him to become the very thing they accuse him of being, someone ready and willing to kill, someone ready to commit crimes, etc…  It’s Levi’s pride and anger battling with his deeper desire to protect and help others. The thing his life and his environment has FORCED him to become, against his truer nature.  This is such a vital, important scene, and once again, the manga succeeds in explaining and revealing Levi’s complexity as a character, whereas the visual novel just flat out butchered it.

Now getting back to Levi’s interaction with Isabel in this scene, and the woeful misinterpretation I saw another person make one time.  

Furlan is talking about how, given the complexity of the formation, they won’t be able to break ranks without being spotted, and he suggests they should just wait until they’re back behind the walls before trying to steal the documents again. Levi points out that if all three of them leave, then yeah, they’ll likely be spotted, and gives no further opinion.  Already, Levi is thinking that maybe he could go after Erwin and the documents alone, thinking of taking the entire burden of the operation on himself, carrying the hopes and dreams of all of them on his shoulders alone, (which is why he later calls himself conceited and proud, having relied on his own strength entirely, instead of his friends too, ending in failure, which in turn goes back to the very beginning, with Levi’s statement about never knowing what the better option is, to rely on oneself, or on their comrades).  But anyway, he doesn’t protest or try to counter Furlan when he says they should just focus on getting back alive.  Isabel expresses agreement, and then says she knows the documents are important, but she also doesn’t want to get in the way of the SC and what they’re trying to do.  Now here’s where the conversation gets really important in, once more, understanding Levi’s psychology.

He and Furlan look over at her, and while Levi stays silent, Furlan gets annoyed, chastising Isabel for seeming to suddenly care about the other soldiers, accusing her of only caring because Hange’s cookies were good.  Furlan clearly doesn’t understand Isabel’s sentiments here, he doesn’t get why she suddenly seems concerned.  He’s still focused on their own goals, and that’s all that matters to him.  But Isabel begins to explain that it’s just that she’s starting to understand why the SC goes out beyond the walls, and likens it to how they felt living in the Underground, wanting to escape to the world above.  She’s saying she understands that sense of being trapped, of being imprisoned, and the longing for freedom.  And then she talks about seeing lots of her friends dying underground, while dreaming of making it “up there.”, and how seeing that made her feel like she HAD to get up there.  It’s like Isabel is saying here that her dream to make it to the surface was strengthened by the dreams of others who never got to realize it for themselves, and that she wanted to make it to the surface, more than anything, as a way of giving the dreams of those who had died without realizing them, meaning.  By making it to the surface FOR THEM.  She starts to try and explain what she means, saying ‘It’s…” before Levi suddenly speaks for the first time since her monologue, saying “It’s like leaving the walls behind to kill the Titans…”

This is such a huge moment. Because contrary to what I saw this one person claim once, Levi is acknowledging Isabel’s feelings, and expressing empathy with them.  He’s telling Isabel here that he understands what she means, because he feels it too. This desire to fight for freedom as a way to give meaning to the suffering of those who couldn’t escape their imprisonment.  Levi, rather than ignoring or blowing Isabel off here, is relating to her.  Her feelings are his own.  Isabel smiles dreamily and says “Yeah.” Because Levi put her thoughts into words.  She then keeps talking to Levi, starting to ramble about what she wants to do when they get to live in the Capital, how fun she thinks it would be to steal from all the “rich pigs” and use their money to buy useless junk, before she falls asleep.

Furlan then kind of bursts this bubble of reverie that Isabel and Levi have fallen into, and what he says here is, again, so important.  He says “I’ve got to revise our plan.  We’ll need to steal the documents before you and she start seriously talking about dedicating your hearts, or whatever.”  Furlan’s perceived how Levi’s own feelings are beginning to match up with Isabel’s, how he’s starting to feel drawn to and sympathetic towards the SC’s cause, and he’s worried, because that’s not what they’re supposed to be there for.  They’re supposed to be there to steal the documents so they can get a chance to live in the Capital.  This is Furlan’s dream, ultimately, and he doesn’t want to lose sight of it to some unrealistic ideal.  What’s so interesting here is the contrast between Levi and Furlan.  While Levi is so quiet and reserved and hard to read, he’s actually showing himself to be more of the dreamer of the two, while Furlan is much more practical and less prone to fanciful, ideal notions like helping people beyond their own means.  

We get one last shot of Levi gazing at Isable, thoughtfully.  He’s still thinking about her words.

Alright, then comes the next big scene, with all of them outside again, to try Erwin’s new formation.  We see, again, Levi’s gradually shifting opinion of Erwin already, when he remarks that Erwin’s idea is “brilliant”, once he sees how it works, expressing genuine admiration for it and Erwin’s mind.  Levi still hates Erwin, and want to kill him, but we already see this desire in him starting to crack and come apart, replaced by an almost astonished curiosity instead.  Like he isn’t sure what Erwin is, but he’s impressed, in spite of himself.  

Then the storm comes and everything starts to fall apart.

Another, massive and vital change here in the manga from the visual novel is Levi’s reaction to the sudden storm.  In the visual novel, Levi’s first and only response to it is that he can use it as cover to go after and kill Erwin, sparing no thought to the safety of his friends, or the other people in his squad.  It was another instance in which I thought Levi’s characterization in the novel was just horribly butchered, and so once again, I was so glad to see them correct it here.  Levi’s first response, after he, Furlan and Isabel start to lose contact with Flagon and the others, is to scream at his friends to not get separated.  He's only worried about them in this moment, and wants to make sure they don’t lose contact with each other.  He isn’t thinking at all about leaving them here yet.  Just this small addition completely changes Levi’s motivations and priorities, leading into the fateful choice, and it’s immeasurably better characterization for him then what was presented in the visual novel.  I’ll get more into it with the next chapter. So until then, thanks again for reading.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Winter 2020 Anime Overview: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

Ok, so let’s get this out of the way first, 1. I adore this story so much and 2. Toilet Bound Hanako-kun has a horrible, horrible English title that is not actually at all representative of the story’s content and I have no idea what happened when it came to the team choosing that name. To the average English-speaking viewer/reader, this name 100% implies gross stuff and bathroom humor, and there is none in this show. 

A Japanese reader on the other hand, would be more likely to recognize the name Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun as a spin on the classic ghost story “Hanako-san of the Toilet” only A BOY THIS TIME WHHHHA?” Basically, the story goes that a girl named Hanako in a red skirt haunts girls’ bathrooms in Japanese schools and if you knock on the third stall and call “Hanako-san” three times, she’ll appear. She might grant you a wish or pull you into Hell or something else, it varies.

(Her Wikipedia image, aww.)

Anyway, I dunno why the English title didn’t at least go with “Toilet Ghost Hanako-kun” or something that would have gotten the premise across even a  little better (HE NOT TECHNICALLY BOUND BY THE TOILET EVEN, HE CAN GO ANYWHERE IN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS THE BATHROOM IS JUST HIS HOME BASE), but our boy Hanako haunting the girl’s bathroom only leads to broad jokes about our heroine being tasked with cleaning the bathroom and “dude you really shouldn’t be in here” comments, it’s pretty incidental. 

Now that THAT’S out of the way, let’s talk about my LOVE FOR THIS STORY

Hanako-kun tells the story of a “regular” high school girl named Nene Yashiro, the mischievous and mysterious school ghost she befriends, and all the other weird monsters, exorcists, spirits and curses they encounter. It’s got a gorgeous, colorful bold aesthetic and art style that combines gothic and cute! It has a great mix of humor, intrigue, angst and fantasy action. basically if you love ghosts, monsters, Japanese mythology and legends, supernatural-human relationships, supernaturally fueled angst and drama, stories about trying to fix an unfair system the world has set up, wistful romance, a good shoujo manga with a Lot of Feelings (yes this is a shonen technically I’ll explain that later), weirdo dorks becoming friends AND MUCH MORE...this story will have something that will resonate with you. It’s got a lot going on, and it’s a ton of fun.

Hanako-kun is really one of those surprising stories that fits right into a hole in my story-loving heart I didn’t realize was still there, or that I’d actually been carrying since childhood. I love ghosts, see, and have since I was a kid!!! I knew this, but I kinda forgot how intensely I love them until this show reminded me again??? That’s because regular ghost stories/mysteries/whatever- I like them, but they don’t quite do it for me in the way more character-driven ones exploring the nature of being a ghost and humans and ghosts trying understand each other etc do. Stuff that really gets into the tragedy AND the fun fantasy aspect of ghosts, and plays the long game with it- and Hanako-kun scratches that itch perfectly.

Getting a little bit deeper into the premise of Hanako-kun, Nene is a very brave and sweet but not-all-that-bright girl (or, to put it more bluntly, she’s an idiot in the best way) who has a lot of romantic fantasies and insecurities and is VERY focused on them. After hearing a rumor at school that “Hanako-san of the bathroom” will grant wishes, she wishes to be able to confess to her crush and finds out its actually a weird ghost boy her age named Hanako haunting the bathroom! A lot of things happen, and she ends up cursed and bound to Hanako-kun, but also ends up slowly forming a friendship. 

Turns out Hanako is the ghost in charge of the “seven mysteries/wonders” aka seven powerful supernatural entities that haunt this school (he’s number seven). These apparitions only supposed to terrorize students a LITTLE, because apparitions need to have rumors spread about them to remain in the human world.

(‘HAVE YOU HEARD?’ Oh hey shadow girls from Utena see you’ve moved to a new school.)

The rumors also generally dictate how powerful and dangerous the apparitions actually are- but SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS is changing the rumors around the school and making the apparitions go berserk and actually harm humans. So Hanako needs a human assistant to change the rumors and help him calm and seal the apparitions! That’s where Nene comes in.

Hanako himself is a very fun character- he’s very chaotic and revels in his whole “ gremlin ghost” persona, and is upfront about being a bit of an asshole. BUT he also makes his kindness, often good intentions and the fact he’ll have his friends back when it counts obvious from the beginning. B U T! He’s also got darkness and hidden depths to explore, and a lot of his persona is affected and masks deeper issues! 

Our ghost boy is genuinely A TAD unstable deep down (as in he straight up has several untreated PTSD symptoms and that’s as disastrous as you’d expect) and packing some serious tragic backstory, as you might expect from a kid who died young and carries around a butcher’s knife, and it’s gonna come back to bite him and and all who care about him hard. 

 Especially when an overly enthusiastic exorcist named Kou Minamoto shows up! Kou is another one who’s very dumb and very good, a wannabe-shonen-protag with a heart of gold and strong sensitive, domestic side. He rounds out our main trio. Also he gets a tragic, emotionally intense relationship with yet another ghost boy that sings to my heart.

(Yes Hanako’s helping Nene to do the thing)

You may be able to tell, this story has INTENSE good-shoujo vibes despite technically being a shonen in a way that I love- it’s story very driven by big emotions, a variety of fucked up and tragically complex relationships, teen hormones running wild, etc, and it’s just delicious. 

Nene is the normal-person-audience-surrogate-girl in a way that is more common for a shoujo protag, and the way her emotional connections to everyone, her sweeping romantic fantasies and her interiority are consistently in focus when she’s there- yeah, she’s definitely a plucky shoujo protag, 100%. And I’m all about that!!!

 One thing I especially appreciate (though this comes across more strongly in the manga than the anime thanks to the anime rearranging things) is when Nene finds out about Hanako’s Heavy Baggage, she actually takes some time to herself to consider whether she can handle dealing with someone with these intense issues as a kid who’s never encountered stuff like this before- it’s not assumed by the story that the Sweet Girl is Obligated to help the Tragic Boy. I go into more detail about this part in this part here, but it’s that kind of attention to Nene’s needs that makes her role in the story work. Hanako and Nene and everyone’s struggles to get the hang of and properly navigate honest communication and mutual support in relationships are often really great and real-feeling

The story has a lot more things I love packed in to it- a dorky-but-still-deeply-unsettling villain gang who’s screwed up interactions are just as fun as our protagonists, yokai, A CURSED LIBRARY, some great ladies in addition to Nene, meditations on the nature of life, death, themes about fighting nihilism, and so on...I could seriously go on forever. It’s good stuff, and there’s lots of good weird supernaturals to meet.

The story’s also got tons of intrigue! The overarching plot and Hanako’s Mysterious Past is still in the process of unfolding, but it’s been great drama every step of the way! As mentioned before, the story also really relies on funny character dynamics, interaction and development to carry the whole thing and balance the drama.

The anime itself does have some pacing issues bc they crammed a lot into the first season and rearranged some stuff- an entire two chapter arc was skipped and was unlikely to be covered in the anime and some parts are noticeably rushed. I still really like the anime and it’s a solid adaptation. I love how much of the manga’s detailed aesthetic it managed to keep as well as the amazing voice acting and it made a few small but important additions. But there are some notable bumps- of course this just led me to go binge the manga (up to volume 12 is legally available digitally) and BOY DO I NOW LOVE THIS STORY EVEN MORE. 

Now obviously, just because it is Exactly My Shit in a lot of ways doesn’t mean Hanako-kun is the much quested for “unproblematic fave”, there’s several caveats you should probs be aware of- its shoujo vibes also mean some classic shoujo ~Problematic tropes~ and a couple shounen ones. 

THE LIST:

-Just as a general content overview thing: if this wasn’t clear the show deals heavily with death, body horror and other horror aspects. There’s heavily implied suicide and abuse and so on- as mentioned, the main character is traumatized and shows a lot of symptoms of PTSD, and Nene has to struggle to navigate her relationship with him because of this, as does Kou.

-Hanako himself has the whole ~loveable pervert~ and ~slightly possessive shoujo bad boy~ schtick going as part of his mischevious persona. In the anime so far, he never actually gropes or comments on not-in-his-naughty-mags-people’s breasts or anything of that level thankfully, but he’s very flirty, clingy, will loudly bring up porn, fond of the ol’ *says something that purposefully sounds sexually possessive* HAHAHA U THOUGHT I MEANT SOMETHING DIRTY RIGHT LOL ACTUALLY I DIDN’T.”

(My unnecessary ‘this part is kinda interesting!’ ramble: Nene always lists “sexual harassment” among Hanako’s flaws (she loves listing them), but doesn’t get visibly uncomfortable with his flirtiness or seem to mind it most times, which at least makes the whole thing more tolerable for me.

(since she doesn’t seem to mind that part and its clear he does it bc of actual affection for her, it’s actually p. cute how huggy he is.)

 The one time it does cross the line and genuinely upset her, it’s treated seriously, Hanako is genuinely regretful and apologizes. That’s one of my fave moments in the story and the way it’s handled is well done.

 This incident that he’s honestly pretty socially clueless as kid who died young and a lot of his bravado is to cover that up and keep people at a distance- this is a trope into itself that can use unpacking but I do at least appreciate that this is a considered character trait that’s part of his whole messed up package rather than something that thrown in there Just to Be a Fanservice Trope. (Especially since the manga confirms he never acted particularly pervy while alive, further cementing this is an affected persona). 

-There’s a running gag around Nene’s insecurity over her thick ‘daikon shaped’ ankles and boys treating her badly for it. 

One one hand, her body image issues are relatable, on the other, it feels cruel and annoying just how much the show finds ways to bring it up and humiliate her over and over again.

(My unnecessary “this is part is kinda interesting” ramble:The one thing i did realize that despite bringing it up constantly, we at least have no “i’m going to do this to lose weight” or “go on a diet” rhetoric,like this is just part of Nene’s body type and she knows she can’t change it? Which is kinda interesting. And I’ve spotted what might be foreshadowing something plot relevant’s going to happen with her ankles (I DON’T KNOW HOW, BUT GOD I PUT NOTHING PAST THIS STORY) so uh yeah??? either way it’s not good tho)

-”Obsessive and twisted love” is a running theme in this story, and while it’s generally acknowledged as unhealthy, it can be played for comedy in a way that could make viewers/readers uncomfortable. There’s a couple characters who’s entire thing so far is “obsessively in love with this one person” (and the one only focused on in the manga so far is one of the least interesting characters tbh ugh)

-The antagonist of the show is a member of a main character’s family, and the manner he acts towards pretty much everyone, including (and really especially) his family member,  verges on seductive. This is presented as deliberately unsettling and treated as a marker of how unstable and scary he is- and though the backstory between them hasn’t been fully delved into, it’s pretty much all but confirmed he abused this family member physically and emotionally.

-The story has like, A LOT of queer subtext and pretty-heavy queer coding for one character especially, but the few times queerness blatantly comes up in the story, it’s played as a joke in the “haha that’d be kinda weird” way (aside from the rando boys who have a crush on Teru, handled pretty neutrally). It’s not as malicious as a lot of animanga can get (ONE MANGA INCIDENT ASIDE), but it’s something to Be Aware Of, and it makes it clear we’re unlikely to see subtext rise to text and makes some moments feel baity.

-And probably more I might have missed! The manga also has Some Shit in addition all the Good Shit that hasn’t been adapted yet, an early arc has Hanako crossing a serious line etc. 

BUT despite how messy it is, I think it’s clear I have a lot of love for this story. In fact, I wouldn’t trade away a good chunk of its messiness (DEFINITELY SOME JUST NOT ALL), it kinda works for the characters and works in the “this story really feed my inner teen” way. Some of the trashy parts are exactly My Trash, basically. 

So, I knew I’d ramble on for a while when I talked about his show, but if you’ve read this far, thanks, and I hope that means you’re gonna check out and maybe enjoy this story, bc i need more people to join me in Hanako Hell.

[tainbocuailnge]

The fandom you're in looks really awesome, and the reason I followed you is it the cooler that comes with it, but I have no idea what it's about or what the actual game is? Is there a place I can go to kind of find out and maybe play myself? (You're so passionate about it that I'm starting to get really curious but google is my enemy)

I’m GUESSING you mean fate series cause that’s my number one thing I do not shut up about. it’s uhh kind of a spiraling mess of a series but most installments are standalone enough for it to not be a complete hell to get into, but also I’m glad you asked because getting in without help is definitely hell

fate started with the visual novel fate/stay night, written by kinoko nasu and released in 2004. as such that’s the best starting point in my opinion, because it features all the detailed worldbuilding groundwork that later installments kind of gloss over so it can be hard to go back to if you already know all that from other installments. the plot is that seven magi summon legendary heroes to fight for them in a ritual war, with the prize being the holy grail which can grant any wish. leading themes are what it means to be a hero and save someone, the way history repeats itself, and forming your own identity in the wake of trauma. it has three routes, the last of which especially has really heavy themes of physical emotional and sexual abuse so if you need detailed content warnings pm me and I’ll do my best

fsn has several releases, the original vn features infamously bad erotica but there’s a rerelease called fate/stay night [realta nua] which replaced those scenes with pg-15 content and also tightened the visuals up a bit. I’ve got downloads for both versions here. it’s like 80 hours of vn so that’s quite the investment but there’s also the anime fate/stay night [unlimited blade works] featuring the second route, and the third route is getting a series of movies the first of which is out too, called heaven’s feel - presage flower. fate route (the first route) sort of got an anime in 2006 and unlimited blade works a movie in 2010 but those are really really bad so look for the 2014 anime and 2017 movie. imo the ubw anime did a decent job and heaven’s feel is doing pretty good too so far so they’re good for seeing if you like what the series has to offer before you dive into a long ass vn.

the prequel to fate/stay night is fate/zero, a light novel series written by gen urobuchi in collaboration with nasu. as such it’s notably darker than the rest of the series but by nature of being a prequel it makes for an equally decent starting point as stay night, since both will spoil things for the other. fate/zero has an anime too. 

imo stay night and zero are the ‘standard’ fate installments, if someone says they like fate you can safely assume they’ve consumed at least one of those - is what I used to say but apparently it’s been so long that even this isn’t a reasonable assumption anymore. oh how times have changed. anyway please do start with zero or stay night cause like I said those are earlier installments so they’re at high risk of falling flat if you already know the deep lore from later stuff.

the biggest most booming fate installment is fate/grand order, a mobile game featuring characters from all other fates as well as a lot of newcomers. it’s pretty newbie friendly in terms of lore I think but you’ll get more out of it if you do know the background for all these characters since character development tends to carry over between installments. it’s infamously story heavy for a mobile game, especially in the later chapters when nasu got the hang of writing for mobage. the tone is also notably different from fsn and fz in that it’s more…. grandiose and theatrical, and obviously it waifs everyone up a bit so they can get you to spend money. still good tho. still love it. it’s got two anime specials, first order and moonlight lostroom, but first order makes no damn sense if you don’t know anything of stay night and lostroom takes place after the events of the first fgo arc. there’s anime projects of two of the chapters in progress too.

you thought that was all? you’re a fool this isn’t even half of it but I’ll briefly go over the rest under a cut cause those 3 are the big players.

carnival phantasm is a comedy OVA series featuring skits about several works from the same author. about half of it is about fate and the other about tsukihime, an earlier visual novel. watching order is after stay night. today’s menu for the emiya family is the canon domestic fsn au manga and anime where everyone’s just chilling eating dinner together instead of killing each other. 

fate/hollow ataraxia is another visual novel. it’s a direct sequel to fate/stay night and a personal favourite. it takes place half a year after stay night and features much of the same themes, but from a pair of characters who lost the war in fsn before it even started.

fate/apocrypha is another series of light novels. in terms of reading order i’d put it after stay night and zero. it features a cast twice as big as those two and basically approaches the same themes from a different angle. it’s got a finished anime and an ongoing manga but the anime kinda butchered pretty much everything about it. unfortunately one of the light novels is still not translated so the anime is still the most accessible way to get approximately the whole story. the manga IS very good though so once that’s finished I’d probably tell people to read that one if they want to apocrypha

fate/EXTRA is a psp game it’s like 10 bucks in the ps store iirc. for reading order I’d put it after stay night but not necessarily after zero. in this one the ritual for the holy grail is held in a simulation on the moon, which is a supercomputer, and it’s an organised tournament with 128 participants instead of a 7 man free for all. it’s about forging meaningful bonds in a system designed to drive people apart and finding the drive to keep going even if nothing is certain. the gameplay isn’t great but the story is $$$ it’s my other personal favourite. it’s sequel is called fate/EXTRA CCC, it’s on psp too but never got a western release, but there’s a translation of one route out there and some madmen are working on a translation patch that’ll be done in time for my grandchildren I hope. CCC is the wildest ride of my life i love it a lot but it’s very horny so not really for everyone. fate/extra CCC fox tail is a manga which follows an alternate CCC route and i hear it’s cool. the sequel to CCC is fate/EXTELLA which did come to the west and is on several platforms, and somewhere next year fate/EXTELLA link should get localised. extella is very rushed and mostly expands the extraverse world but if you can grab it on sale after you decided you like extra it’s not a bad buy just don’t pay full price. fate/EXTRA last encore is an anime which. sort of comes after extra? it’s very trippy arthouse bullshit and I ate that shit up but it’s definitely not for everyone. the last 3 episodes are missing on netflix so make sure you don’t miss those if you decide to watch.

fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ☆ ILLYA is a magical girl spinoff manga & anime which sounds great in theory until you see it’s mostly pedobait, but extremely unfortunately for us sometimes it does something legitimately cool so we all suffer. don’t get into prillya it’s bad for your health. 

fate/strange fake WAS an aprils fools story but this series has no limits so now it’s a full on light novel spinoff and also manga I think? I don’t keep up with it but it throws some wild ass lore our way sometimes. you’ll probably want to be up to date with apocrypha and everything before it before you try this one.

fate/prototype was just the original concept for fsn extrapolated a bit upon but again this series has no limits. prototype has an animated feature and some material books, and then the light novels fate/prototype fragments of blue and silver are the prequel to prototype, but it’s weird cause we never got a proper prototype so I don’t know what’s up with that. fate/labyrinth is a side story to fragments which I know even less about. I actually never see anyone talk about prototype so there’s probably no translations lol

lord el melloi II case files is even more light novels. I’m pretty sure you need to have gone over stay night, zero, hollow ataraxia, apocrypha, and strange fake before this one starts to make sense. there might be translations? i don’t know a fucking thing my guy

[sambart93]

2017.12.24 Bungou Stray Dogs Stage [Review]

Official Site here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Video Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4

CAST and CHARACTERS

Torigoe Yuuki as Nakajima Atsushi Tawada Hideya as Osamu Dazai Teruma as Kunikida Doppo Nagae Ryoki as Edogawa Ranpo Kuwano Kousuke as Tanzaki Junichiro Saito Akari as Tanzaki Naomi Hironouchi Hitoshi as Miyazawa Kenji Imamura Miho as Yosano Akiko Hashimoto Shohei as Akutagawa Ryunosuke Masaki Kohei as Kajii Motojiro Hirata Yuka as Higuchi Ichiyou Kuwae Sakina as Izumi Kyoka Ueda Keisuke as Nakahara Chuya Ensemble: Elizabeth Mari, Okamura Tatsuki, Obigane Ryouta, Jintoku, Suzuki Ryouhei, Funaki Atsushi, Kurihara Sayaka, Takei Mirano

NON-SPOILER REVIEW This is very faithful to the original anime and manga story, and I feel Hideya, Ueda and Teruma were the perfect casting for their characters, they did not disappoint. Nagae as Ranpo was also a surprise and it was interesting the different ways they had him woven into the stage and story. There was a lot of comedy in this and there's some moments that are exactly as you would want them to be, especially Dazai's idiot moments like trying to die in ridiculous places and ways, as well as his trolling of other people. The way they showed the powers was great along with the use of projection mapping. The best scenes were definitely Dazai and Nakahara's scenes together; they also got the biggest applause. The ending, where you should start clapping, is rather confusing to figure out because they don't bow when they start doing Character Credit Names and Powers, but now you know if you see it live. It's obvious they have intentions of continuing on this seies and I do think that'll happen. Personally there were a few things I wasn't happy with; the tiger fight scene wasn't very smooth or perfect and I think would be confusing to those who haven't seen the anime nor know the story. The one scene I was really excited to see wasn't up to my expectations. And finally, the ensemble were a big distraction for me because I felt the dancing they did was not needed for this stage, and looked rather odd; I strongly feel a normal ensemble cast would've been better and more apparent and fitting. BUT I think many fans and people will be able to thoroughly enjoy this show and see how much effort went into it and how great the casting-to-characters is and everything. Objective Rating: 8/10 Subjective Rating: 6/10

*

STORY

As mentioned above, the stage is very faithful to the original material. I haven't read the manga so I can only say the stage copies the first season of the anime faithfully. So if you want to know what happens or what to understand what the hell is going on before you see this stage, then I recommend you watch / read that.

THE POSITIVES

PART ONE

Part one was probably the strongest out of the two - although I think this is a habit of mine. I really struggle with stages that have a break in the middle; all my energy and excitement is usually used up in the first half and then during the break I get too chill and relaxed and I also somewhat zone out for the second half =/ I'll try and fix this!

I loved the opening for this stage because Nagae/Ranpo comes out from the right side door and comes down the aisle and approached someone saying 'you're in my seat... yes you are... oh you have a ticket with your seat? I don't have a ticket!' and then comes onto the stage and is almost like a narrator introducing the world and the stage. 

Nagae did such a great job with his adlibbing and natural comedy. This little shit, he always plays little shits, keeps growing on me every damn stage! But he's getting better and better every time too! I still can't get over how young he is because his confidence and acting on stage makes him appear so much older and more mature! Even though he does mess around and have fun. Nagae was a GREAT choice for Ranpo and he went way beyond what I was expecting him to do as the character! Which makes me sad, I loved him as Ranpo so much but, as we know, his participation in the first season of Bungo is so small! So I'm excited to see all the stage time and scenes he'll have in the next one!

And of course, as we all expected, Hideyan and Teruma as their characters are spot on and great! They were the best choices for those characters. 

Hideyan went way above and beyond my expectations for him as Dazai because he is just PERFECT as Dazai! You couldn't have asked for a better choice in casting. So many Dazai moments he was faithful to and did perfectly. The moment where he does the wavy arms to  Kunikida is in there. The while him trying to commit suicide with his legs sticking out of the big bin/can is in there. The classic where he tells Kunikida loads of stuff and then goes '...I'm lying' is in there. So many amazingly classic and memorable moments of Dazai were in this stage!

Torigoe used a LOT of energy in this stage so I could start to understand why he was cast as Atsushi instead of (what I wanted) UeChan. He never stops running around the stage or switching from yelling to turning to the audience and stuff. I am impressed at how much energy he had and could use!

This stage is very, very funny! We were laughing for a lot of this stage which keeps the nature of Bungou's anime/manga at heart which is great!

I giggled a few times at Kosuke because I couldn't imagine him as the sister-incest-relationship-character but I actually really liked his section of the stage too! He looked so much like he didn't want his sister all over him and his facial expressions were very funny.

PART TWO

I feel like 90% of the audience were there just for UeChan. Him, or a combination of him and Hideyan. Because at the end of UeChan and Hideyan’s final scene, they got a MASSIVE and the BIGGEST round of applause at the end. So much so that even though the lights went up to signal the start of the next scene, the audience CONTINUED clapping! The poor actors had to wait until we were down with our massive round of applause so they could start the next scene. I found it absolutely fascinating. 

The fight scene between UeChan and Hideyan was so good! I was so impressed with how HIGH UeChan can kick his legs and their movements matched very well; it was overall a solid and great fight scene.

Their entire two major scenes together was just perfect.

I really liked towards the end when Akutogawa and Atsushi were fighting and to show Akuto's power, Atsushi was physically wrapped in black cloth and it looked really good visually and worked really well with the scene and the intensity of it.

Masaki didn't disappoint me as Kajii! His scene is one of my favourite ones and he was crazy and did a very faithful job of the character! While the scene was somewhat ruined by the ensemble, his performance of the character was solid and enjoy his performance.

I remember really liking the subtle coughs and stuff Shohei did as Akutogawa but he was very much off to the side and just being like this looming and overwatching character in this first stage rather than being all that active. Only the final scene at the end is Akutogawa somewhat active in the play, so, just like UeChan, I have hopes that his stage time and activities will increase (just like they do in the anime) in the next stage. I did like that they did the flashback scene between him and Dazai and Hideyan looked for freaking good and badass in that flashback! Shohei did good as Akutogawa in his two major scenes (the flashback and the end scene) but I can't confidently say he was a good choice or he's a good Akutogawa until I see more.

After the first round of applause, Nagae came back on stage the second time and he said ‘Do you see this? *pointing to the 'THE END' sign on stage* It means we're done. Go home.... You know it’s Christmas…. what the HELL are you all doing here?! Out there is Yokohama, you can— oh whatever’ and we all died laughing and he walked off.

And finally, a random comment related to the goods; the photobook and pamphlet have absolutely stunning photos and shots in them. I’ll put them below.

THE NEGATIVES

In the non spoiler section I mentioned three negatives (but now in more detail):

- The tiger fight scene at the beginning of the stage wasn’t very smooth or perfect and would be confusing to non-Bungou fans or knowers. This mainly comes down to how bad the projection mapping of the tiger is. It's very jittery and doesn't really move around the stage smoothly and sometimes it didn't looked like Dazai's attacks were going in the directions of where the tiger was. 

- The one scene I was really excited to see, which is the scene when Atsuhi and Kyoka go on a date through Yokohama, really wasn’t up to my expectations at all. For those who have seen Honoo no Mirage, I was expecting something similar to that where they would put background and locations of Yokohama on the stage through projection mapping and we'd see Kyoka dragging and pulling Atsushi to all these places. But in reality we got a song and dance (see picture above) and the song was 50% in English (if I remember correctly) and it was just them dancing in the middle of the stage. There were no obvious Yokohama locations or Yokohama-esque things in the sequence at all and I was so super upset and disappointed with it. That was the one scene I was so looking forward to seeing and they, in my opinion, missed the opportunity and butchered it. 

- The ensemble were a big distraction for me. I felt the dancing they did was not needed nor really fitted for this stage, and looked rather odd and out of place. The actors would be in the center of the stage talking about something or being serious and then the dancers would come on doing these strange movements or were being passerby but would do it by dancing their way through the stage and to me it honestly looked ridiculous and distracting. Honestly, I strongly feel a normal ensemble cast where they just were normal people and normal passerby and did the normal helping out with the stunts and stuff would’ve been better and more apparent and fitting. Even now, weeks after watching this stage, feel like the ensemble looked bloody ridiculous and stupid. ALSO I watched KuroMyu AFTER this stage where they too had a dancing ensemble and it worked completely fine for that stage! I think it's because dancing ensembles definitely fit musicals and songs better than just a normal stage and that's where my problem with them in the Bungou stage lies. Seriously, I was so in love with the dancing ensemble for KuroMyu (review here).

Okay I'll try and tone the rest of the negatives down:

- There was no questionnaire with the stage. I opened my leaflets and checked their twitter and their official website but no paper questionnaire, no QR code or website link for a questionnaire which I think is super strange. I know most people were saying they wanted a questionnaire so they could complain about the lack of trading bromide stock but I always write a questionnaire, I always write what's good, what's bad (which would've just been the ensemble and the date scene) and I always write ' hey maybe try this' or 'I want to see this' or 'this particular actor was great, if you continue please keep them on' etc. so I felt somewhat naked without them supplying a questionnaire to us. I hope they often them at the Tokyo one or something and get a friend to write it for me xD

- They only did Daiza trolling Kunikida with the '...I'm lying' joke ONCE! I’m so upset! It’s like one of best comedy parts. It should've been done at least three times throughout the stage.

- Another personal gripe was my seat. I got my ticket in the very FIRST lottery of tickets and yet me seat ended up being 4th to back row on the 3RD FLOOR. And I know for a fact there were MANY seats empty on the first and second floor. So I was super pissed I got such a crappy seat to say I got my ticket so damn early into the ticket sales.

- It's not really a negative but more of a confusing moment: they don’t bow at the end to signify the end of the stage. They finish the final scene and then the ensemble come back on (just them) and go a sort of dance before going off and then the members come on one by one with their name and then their ability is shown on the stage walls. So we got about two cast members in before we all realised we should be clapping! It was really confusing and somewhat awkward. So now you know if you go!

- They didn't do any curtain call speeches at the end of the show. It was the final Yokohama show and you'd think, with the sotry being set in Yokohama, that they would do a speech at their FINAL YOKOHAMA SHOW. But no; poor Nagae had to come back on stage twice and be like 'thank you all for clapping and I know you're expecting speeches but we're only doing them at the final Tokyo Show. Everyone is already backstage and undressing out of their costumes. Sorry but the show is finished for today.'

- Final personal gripe; Not enough UeChan BUT again that's because he, just like Nagae's Ranpo, isn't really all that present in the first season of the anime. So he'll definitely get enough stage time in the next one!

*

GOODS

As mentioned above, the pamphlet and photobook is gorgeous and definitely worth the money!

*

Fin.