#toriko theory

[incorrect-toriko-quotes]

Have you ever wondered why Toriko characters have such weird names?

Well too bad! I did. And you're gonna read about it!

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR TORIKO UP TO THE END OF THE MANGA

Some background info you need...

The Toriko world uses a mix of Japanese and English. Like... a really striking mix. It's a Japanglish world, and that's especially true of names. Lots of characters with English names turned Japanese (like Tom or Tina), characters with word/either-or names (Sani/Sunny and Coco), characters with pure Japanese names (Ichiryuu, Jirou), and the occasional complete wildcard (Zebra).

I've mentioned it offhandedly, but I'm mixed Japanese/Canadian. Toriko uses a LOT of Japanglish, especially in the names of characters, so I like to think I've got a pretty good grasp of what's going on.

HOWEVER! You all need to get a crash-course in Japanese lettering really quickly. I promise I'll keep it short.

Japanese uses 3 writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana and Kanji are for Japanese-origin words (with Hiragana being an alphabet and Kanji being entire words and therefore a bit more meaningful), and Katakana being for loanwords (not just English-origin)

GOT IT? GOOD!

TORIKO & KOMATSU

Toriko (トリコ)

Toriko's name is written in Katakana, so we know it's a name originating outside of Japanese. In Japanese, the word 'toriko' means 'tri-coloured' (tri-co). NGL, this took me a while to realise because my whole life, I'd only ever used the word 'tri-co' to refer to calico cats.

Toriko (the character) has three appetite demons: Blue Demon, Ogre, and the other one. Blue Demon is, obviously, blue. Ogre is red. And the other one is white. Toriko is named 'tri-coloured' for his three appetite demons. This is also probably why Gourmet 134 misspells his name as 'Torico' on the cover.

Komatsu (小松)

This is almost hilarious. Komatsu is an incredibly common surname (yes, that's probably his surname and not his first name, but referring to people by surname is quite common in Japan). The Kanji for his name basically means 'small pine-tree'.

BUT! There's a weird niche of Japanese culinary knowledge that's probably lost on the Western viewers, that I'm here to share.

To make a LONG history short, there's an icon of New Years called the Three Friends of Winter (松竹梅). You may notice that first character is the same as the '-matsu' half of Komatsu's name. That's because the Three Friends are Pine-Tree (matsu), Bamboo (take), and Plum (ume).

Matsu. Take. Ume.

Komatsu. Ootake. Nakaume.

The Three Friends of Winter are more than just New Year decorations, though. They have culinary significance too.

The Three Friends are often used as a tier-ranking system, with Matsu being the best quality and Ume being the lowest quality. This can be (albeit somewhat archaically) used to describe ingredient/dish quality. That is to say, if you ordered a Matsu-quality dish, you'd be getting a dish made of higher-quality ingredients (and usually at a premium price) compared to Take or Ume.

Let's take a closer look at each of the three:

KOMATSU

Pine trees are evergreen and can survive some pretty tough conditions, and though exact translations vary, the Matsu generally symbolises strength and longevity in Japan. They're set up around doorways for New Years to welcome the New Year Kami into Shinto homes. Perhaps there's also some symbolism in Komatsu's persistence and strength, despite his apparent cowardice, or how he's "welcoming" new beginnings and good fortune into Toriko's life through his Food Luck.

OOTAKE

Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant in the world (and therefore a symbol of growth in Japan). And Take's character revolves around always aiming for the sky, always striving to be the best... even if he has to result to dishonest actions to achieve that. Perhaps a bit of symbolism there, too.

NAKAUME

Plum blossoms in the spring, often overshadowed by cherry. Ume often represents perseverance, spring (and rejuvenation, new life, etc). And let's be real, Nakaume goes through a lot.

So next time you remember those three little chefs and their World Chef Rankings... well... keep that in mind.

[incorrect-toriko-quotes]

Quite literally. Ironically, I think Shimabukuro uses "Eat or be eaten, there is no 'good/evil' when it comes to food" as being THE baseline philosophy that he establishes characters as being good or evil.

In BB Corn, Toriko tells Terry they have to look after themselves, and that it's "survival of the fittest". But it's not portrayed as "Toriko hates puppies", it's a "Toriko trusts Terry and doesn't want him getting hurt trying to save him".

Even though Match and the Mafia are sorta antiheroes, the reason we know Match is 'good' is because he doesn't believe in judging people as 'good/evil' if they're hungry, because it's an eat or be eaten world.

I'm sure other characters have said similar things but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

There it is, the basis of all philosophy in toriko

[anyacrypha]

The Otherside as an Ecological Interface

(originally posted on Bluesky so it's written in chunks)

The Otherside's been described as a communication interface before, but I also feel like it can be thought of as an ecological interface. Ecological interfaces are like estuaries, where different ecosystems meet - freshwater and seawater, in this case.

Ecological interfaces are hotbeds for evolution, since not only are there more chances for encounters with organisms from entirely different ecosystems, there's also a gradual change in environment - like the shift from salt water to sea water - that organisms get a chance to slowly get used to.

So organisms that previously could only live in one ecosystem could evolve to live in the other.

The Otherside, while maybe not intentionally, seems to be a de facto ecological interface. 4th Kinds are individual specimens with mutations that happened from contact with the interface.

We usually think of evolution as happening through mutations in reproduction, but there are also stuff like bacteria absorbing DNA from prey/environment and keeping it. Sorawo is an amoeba lol

Some mutations lead to bad ends, but some like SoraTori's do in fact let them survive better over there.

Maybe 4th Kinds are the next step in human evolution.

So if the our world is the river, and the Otherside is the estuary, then what's in the ocean? Who are that live in the ocean beyond?

What happens when a human evolved enough to live in that ocean?

There's already an element of the mutations making it harder to survive in the old environment, like the harm they bring to other humans, and how Toriko has to hide her hand all the time.

Personally I think (and hope) that the story is heading to a coexistence of being able to live back and forth in different places. Others have also pointed out that Otherside is a metaphor for escapism and how unhealthy it is, so to lose completely to escapism would be a bad end.

And personally to me it would be way too boring of an end where they completely move over beyond. Being able to have it both ways, being able to come back and enjoy life in the human world too, is the most interesting to me. And the end of V8 also points to that too, with how they can separate.

Part of why I bring up "boring" with regards to plot predictions is that I like what Sorawo said to Tsuji

T "You don't want to think that? Why not?" S "That'd be boring…"

Sorawo knows what's up

(A lot of this came back when I was writing my fic and had Kozakura take Kasumi to the Sunshine Aquarium in Ikebukuro (real place! Also where Tomori goes in Bang Dream It's MyGO!) and saw they had estuary displays lol

Nue are penguins 🐧)

[nozomitojoyuri]

edit -> original

[yuriskies]

The Inviting Hot Springs

"Too bad the evil mannequins robbed us of the big gay scene" - Mangadex commenter, on Otherside Picnic

I am going to start off with a wild claim here. File 14 (The Inviting Hot Springs) features a drunken romantic moment between Sorawo and Toriko in the onsen which is interrupted by the Otherside at the worst possible moment. They get chased by mannequins. Here's the wild claim: that mannequin chase *is* the big gay scene. It says more about Sorawo and the specialness of her relationship with Toriko than anything they said while giddily flirting in the onsen. This might simply be the stirrings of yuri lit brain, but let me explain (and hopefully acquit) myself here.

Early on in File 14, Sorawo poses a question to Kozakura: "Why is the Otherside targeting me?" The conversation drifts around to Kozakura theorizing that the Otherside is a mirror to one's attachments, and as an example, points out Sorawo's jealous anger towards Satsuki might have been the trigger for the Otherside to manifest her. "Anger is a form of continuous attachment," Kozakura tells her, before suggesting that Sorawo work on processing her past instead of trying to forget it.

Keep in mind, this is Kozakura theorizing, and there's no guarantee that she's correct. But using that theory as a framework, you begin to see a pattern to some of Sorawo's contact with the Otherside. Hasshaku-sama appears when Sorawo begins getting angry about Toriko's fixation on Satsuki. Sorawo gets drawn into the interstitial space while nervously considering how to reconcile after arguing with Toriko. Her ability to recognize her own body is destroyed by the Yamanoke, shortly after talking about her history with the cult and Toriko providing her a sense of belonging. The ghosts of her dad and grandma swoop in to tell her she's a destructive force, right after reaffirming her desire to be together with Toriko. You get the idea.

Desire is a form of continuous attachment.

Trauma is a form of continuous attachment.

The Otherside appears when Sorawo is confronted by emotions she is unable to process. She does not understand intimacy, because her family denied her the ability form intimate bonds. She does not understand how her past shapes how she reacts in the present, because she dissociates from/intentionally tries to forget it. The Otherside is brought close by Sorawo's terror of desire and intimacy, and the way it distorts reality is shaped by the landmines of her past trauma.

So circling back around to the mannequins- it's not surprising they appear the moment Toriko presents Sorawo with the idea of sexual desire being an aspect of their relationship. It is a splash of cold water, and immediately Sorawo is forced to think about both desire and trauma.

Sorawo's anger at Toriko's "cute boobs" comment is driven mostly her feeling of being *targeted* by Toriko's desire, with a lesser bit of jealousy at Toriko doing openly what she herself had desired to do to Toriko. I think it also touches on Sorawo's trauma and past victimization, because she immediately frames Toriko as an unwanted aggressor - she immediately loses all sense of her own agency, and instead begins imagining *how* Toriko was planning to have her way with her.

The choice of a mannequin has a couple of symbolic meanings. The first is in its function - a mannequin's primary reason for existence is aesthetics. It exists to show off what its user wants shown off. A mannequin functions as a reflection of Sorawo's intense shame at being ogled, Toriko is functionally looking at her as a frame on which a cute pair of boobs is being displayed.

The second symbolic reading is in how it contrasts Toriko from "everyone else". A mannequin is a generic, abstract human form, and the level of attention Sorawo usually pays to others would suggest they don't register as much more than mannequins. (The time-saving technique of drawing generic faceless crowds in the manga, intentionally or unintentionally, adds to this reading.) Toriko is "different", lifelike. Sorawo's familiarity provides an intimacy of detail the mannequins lack, and Toriko exists as something more than a series of snapshot-like rigid poses. Toriko occupies vastly more territory in Sorawo's brain than anyone else, and the mannequins reflect it.

The "big bad" is a male mannequin holding his arms up in a W-shape and dressed in a sweatshirt and brimmed hat. He chases the two. I would not be surprised if those details were trauma-related - the arm pose strikes me as a worship posture, and given Sorawo's history of living on the run from the cult, it probably reflects those experiences.

The way Sorawo and Toriko escape from the mannequins adds another layer to symbolism to the scene. The two encounter a party of male mannequins seated around a TV with a screen glowing Otherside Blue. The setting reflects people passively absorbing culture, they look but cannot interact. In contrast, interaction with screen culture is how Sorawo found an escape from family abuse - she did not passively read creepypasta threads, but participated in discussions, hunted them in person, and eventually met Toriko on the Otherside because of them. The screen is the gateway to the next stage of Sorawo's life. Escaping through it together is a reaffirmation of her bond with Toriko and the Otherside's role as connective tissue in their relationship.

So I'll fess up to perjuring myself at the start. The mannequins aren't really the big gay scene, Sorawo and Toriko having a drunk flirt is too adorable to assign that label to anything else in the chapter. But the mannequin chase *is* doing serious lifting with regards to Sorawo and her relationship with Toriko. It reinforces the specialness of their bond while hinting at deep-seated issues with intimacy. The mannequin scene didn't rob us of anything, it complemented what had already occurred.

(P.S. I also doubt it is a coincidence they woke up in bed beside Kozakura. She wants to be their anchor to the surface world, after all)

[rabbiteclair]

important Otherside Picnic theory: in file 19, Michiko talks about the night that Abarato disappeared, and mentions that they were going to watch the movie Stand By Me. if you assume that she was an impostor and following the same general behavior as other Otherside encounters, then this suggests one of a few options -

the film Stand By Me is connected with terror enough in human culture that it is a natural reference for the Otherside to draw upon

Sorawo or Toriko personally have such a strong emotional connection with the film Stand By Me that the Otherside pulled it from one of their heads

the entities beyond the Otherside are starting to understand humanity beyond a basic level, and one of their first real discoveries was the film Stand By Me

[rakubalka]

Midora got reincarnated as Skull De Mort

(Seeing as there isn't enough of toriko or midora(s everything ) I'm making an au)

After the events of the manga Midora got reincarnated into the khr world

Midora being an orphan in this life too , as a early teen or preteen(and I cannot express this enough he is very young ) decided to join a circus mainly because it looked interesting enough at the moment and he was in a fancy mood

Then he gets an invite from Chekerface and decides " why not ?" Resulting in him meeting the rest of the Arcobaleno (and him being unimpressed with them) . After the first meeting he started ditching the rest of the meet ups resulting in a growingly bizarre , unique and downright cartoony game of cat and mouse . Consisting of the Arcobaleno trying to catch Midora at last , only to always miss by the skin of their teeth . Even more comical by the fact that Midora will for years to come not know what flames are

That continued until it was time for the ritual at which point Chekerface just teleported him at the time he was needed , binding them all together . With all of it being the same as in canon except Midora rather than as baby/toddler got stuck as a teen(aka as the age he got the curse which is at maximum like 15 but everyone thinks he is 19 at youngest)

The rest of the Arcobaleno were outraged as to why he got to keep his adult form while they are babies even Lal didn't get spared while being the"defective" so why does he get to keep his body ? Verde then put out the theory that he might just have such a monstrous flame amount and/or purity that he is essentially overfeeding the pacifier , after all it will explain why he got chosen as the Cloud of the Arcobaleno despite being a civilian

While they are exchanging theories Midora is escaping the manor because he doesn't give a tomato what is happening , death retired him from world/planet saving bullshit the rest can deal whit it . He has fought God , he's had enough of being alive . Is he overfeeding this thing ? He doesn't know , maybe yes ? Does he give a tomato ? No .

And so he continues following his fancy and going whenever he likes and doing whatever he likes . Creating and destroying(most of the time by accidents) cults , famiglia , families , business, restaurants and etc . One of the more passionate cults even started famiglia or was it the famiglia starting a cult ? Either case they are at the moment both and are calling him their boss . What was their name again ? Car something . In either case they are surprisingly good at finding him . They even found him a pet octopus so that is nice .

Anyway one day while he was on a walk on this cozy little island called Japan he stumbled upon a kid getting bullied and while he might be apathetic towards humanity as a whole he isn't going to let a kid be bullied before him . So he stepped in . After scaring the bullies away the kid(who felt so much like his little Starjun when he was young) introduced himself as Tsuna , tried to give him one of his onigiri as thanks for the help . Midora of course tried to refuse gently as to not hurt the little child who reminds him of his son so much , the kid however like a little amber haired version of Komatsu , succeeded in making him eat (chefs and their charisma) .

And the onigiri was undeniably delicious so Midora asked who has made it , with Tsuna answering his Mama who is the best cook .

While Midora would like to form a combo with her he isn't going to force her into it even if this onigiri was more than he has eaten in quite a while so he will probably continue on his way walking with no end goal . But first before that he is going to escort this kid who reminds him of his own child so much to his home safely .

When he got him home his mother tried and succeeded in getting him to stay for dinner(again chefs and their charisma) . While eating he did learn a lot more of this family of two and he might have grown a little attached .

With him being attached he did stay in town a lot , he is still going on long walks but he always returns to this place that is slowly starting to become a home for him . With little Tsuna who reminds him of his Starjun , of the little chef with big heart Komatsu and sometimes of himself when times were sipmle before he lost the one most precious to him . The one who Nana reminds him of , the one who is always so gentle and patient yet protective in a way only a mother can be like Fronze like his mother . With these memories being here his stay in the little town became long and often . He also became such a frequent visitor of the Sawada household he practically lived with them , with a room for him , a toothbrush for him , plates and mugs for him and more . Odako even got an aquarium in his room .And if he gets to babysit Tsuna while Nana takes time for herself and her hobbies . Well he wants to replay her somehow even if it's not much as Tsuna is such a good child that he is a blessing to babysit , always so curious as to what is everything in the world and asking questions and if Midora doesn't know the answer they both try to find it which is one of Midora's favorite activities with Tsuna .

One day after Nana had won 3 place in a competition she took part in , Midora took her and Tsuna on a celebration in a sushi place he and Tsuna found on one of their walks around the neighborhood a while back . Nana did try to say she would be playing but Midora stopped her by saying that the one for who is the reason for celebrating shouldn't play and that it is his gift for her for getting 3 place . The chef was rather good as well , not as much as Nana , Komatsu , Starjun or Fronze but still good . Not to mention that he and Nana seem to be hitting it pretty good and his kid does get along with Tsuna better than most others , so he excused himself and Tsuna saying he will be watching the kids while those two have that going on . They were red faced after the comment for some reason .

After the dinner and when both Nana and Tsuna were asleep the sushi chef came and asked some really strange questions . It was an interesting night but it did result in Tsuna and Takeshi becoming friends playing almost daily with the exception being if one of them is sick . Nana and Tsuyoshi seem to be getting closer (she even searched how one can get divorced with a consistently missing spouse) , so good for them .

Tsuna and Takeshi also got themselves another friend a little boy whit tonfas who seems to very much like order (the three of them are adorable together , he has half an album already)

Tsuna sat himself on fire accidentally (and with orange one at that) making Midora , Takeshi , Kyoya and Tsuna panic , thankfulaly Tsuyoshi came almost immediately . After Tsuyoshi got them calmer he seated them along with Nana to explain The Seven Colored Flames to them . All of them were surprised other than Kyoya who apparently had his suspicions with his family or at least a "fake baby carnivore" relative of his

After the fiasco Tsuyoshi did ask Nana if she wanted to cut contact with him after he thought Tsuna how to control his flames . Nana refused to cut contact with Tsunayoshi saying that she is already surrounded with flame users other than him such as her son , Midora , Kyoya and even her ex-husband . Her ex-husband who is responsible for why so many years seem to just merge together , why she felt as if she wasn't even awake most of the time , why she felt like a puppet . And she has memories of shortly before what Lemitsu did , she remembers a person asking if Lemitsu is sure he wants her in his state and Lemitsu answered yes without hesitation . And even if spotty she remembers the last time Lemitsu was here with that man before Tsuna started to feel like herself not in control in his own body , before that man put COLDNESS in her child causing Tsuna to constantly feel cold even under dozens of tick blankets . She members it all , and she also remembers how Tsuyoshi immediately started running towards their sons and Kyoya and Midora as soon as he felt flames . How his immediate reaction was to first calm them down and after that immediately get her whit them to explain what is happening and offering to help her . Because while he and Lemitsu both might have been in the mafia they are two very different men .

Shortly after Nana's love confession, she and Tsuyoshi got married . They didn't have a ceremony but did make a little after marriage party consisting of themselves , Midora , Tsuna , Takeshi and little Kyoya . And that was what they wanted . Both she and Tsuna did change their last names to Yamamoto as she was raised in an orphanage so her last name wasn't from her family , and she also wants Tsuna not to look at Lemitsu and think they are the same just because they are both Sawada . Not to mention that his new brother is also a Yamamoto .

And so time passed with the married couple and the three kids (and they don't care what anyone says Kyoya is also one of theirs and his friend Kusakabe is also welcome) . Midora continues to have his long walks around the world but makes sure that his phone(which he got by Tsuyoshi's recommendation in the mafia) always has enough battery life to go for days of talking with his family no matter what . He is without knowing it the kids favorite adult however be it teaching them cooking, Takeshi that knife technique or even teaching them knocking . Almost every time they need an adult advice they go to him first

And tings were peaceful in Nanamori

Until the Sun Arcobaleno showed his face to try and make Tsuna a mafia hair and the dam broke unleashing level of weirdness only before seen in Midora

[molsno]

file 10: sannuki-san and karateka-san serves as one of the most important bridges in sorawo's character development in all of otherside picnic. it opens with toriko remarking how sorawo's hair has gotten longer, and suggesting that she should grow it out, and then ends with akari pointing out that if she did, she'd look quite a bit like satsuki. while this comment sparked numerous theories that satsuki was sorawo in the future, it actually serves as a warning to sorawo about what she could become.

there are actually several mentions of satsuki throughout file 10. in one of them, sorawo recounts that in subsequent visits to the otherside following the yamanoke incident, she was unnerved by satsuki's absence, even when she was looking for her. this apparition, which was haunting her while venturing through the otherside with toriko, was suddenly nowhere to be found. later, natsumi shares her impression of satsuki with sorawo, telling her she felt she was creepy, and thought she would take akari away from her. this further reinforced in sorawo's mind that satsuki was an apparent menace to others, not just her.

in being compared to satsuki in appearance, sorawo was forced to contend with the fact that she was capable of becoming someone like satsuki. she had seen satsuki's office, she knew multiple of satsuki's victims and wrongdoings, and she had been harmed by the woman multiple times. she knew for a fact that satsuki was the kind of person who only cared about her own goals, and was more than happy to use people for her own gain.

in file 10, sorawo calls akari by a generic nickname, karateka, which then gets used by sannuki kano. she recalls that she had been purposefully avoiding akari because she didn't want to be bothered, hence why she became worse at responding to her messages. she intentionally uses her eye to control akari to defeat sannuki kano without regard to the effect it has on her. in this chapter, sorawo demonstrates that she is very much capable of being a selfish person who disregards the feelings of others and using them for her own personal gain. when she's compared to satsuki due to the length of her hair, it's a wakeup call. she realizes that she seriously needs to consider her actions and think about the kind of person she wants to be.

ultimately, she makes her decision. in file 11, when satsuki grabs her by the hair and tries to pull her into the otherside, she uses her own knife to chop off her hair, signaling that she rejects satsuki, and that she's chosen to become a better person than her. that's why when we see the kind of person she's become by volume 7, someone who's chosen to take care of the girls satsuki took advantage of and left behind, it's such a satisfying resolution to her character arc. she couldn't have gotten there if she hadn't realized satsuki was the kind of person she was capable of becoming in the first place.

[1000sunnygo]

🦉👒The Influence of One Piece in The Promised Neverland (A very self-indulgent post)

The straw hats worn by the girls in The Promised Neverland ch. 47 color cover were a tribute to One piece's 20th anniversary. It has always been Shirai sensei's favorite tpn illustration ever since.

An entire generation in Japan grew up following One piece. Many of the young readers from late 1900s are now the newgen mangaka currently working in Shonen jump.

Kouhei Horikoshi as a high schooler (15yo) sent a one piece fanart to Oda in 2002. Twelve years later, he starts his own manga, now promoted by One piece author Eiichiro Oda himself.

One piece got Shirai into JUMP manga.

I started reading Jump Magazine for the first time when I was in Junior High. One Piece was the trigger that made me subscribe to it like a machine, and then I thought “other manga are fun too!”, and thus became addicted.

-Kaiu Shirai (2020), The Promised Neverland artbook.

Suguru Sugita, the person Shirai submitted his og manuscript to, was Toriko's editor in charge. The following year (2014), Sugita became One Piece's manga editor (later its media editor in 2017). Sugita retired from One piece altogether in 2019, while working as TPN editor from 2016 to 2020.

The Promised Neverland + former One Piece editor, Suguru Sugita. On the right is a doodle drawn by Eiichiro Oda sensei introducing him.

"O-Sugi. This is the media editor, Sugita. Well natured, romanticist. Throws in random onomatopoeia. So drippy from head to toe that the girls avoid him. Compliments juniors on an annoying level. Has a strange dream -> ("I'll get myself a Kansai-ben speaking gf within this year!") Has lots of friends, but daydreams too much so he might not be able to get hitched soon."

From TPN's pre-serialization stage to its final days, Sugita was closely involved with both One piece and The Promised Neverland. Regardless of the difference in genre, One piece's influence in TPN is evident, many of which were suggested by editor Sugita.

Following are a compilation of details discussed in the The Promised Neverland fanbook where the author-editor duo noted the influence of One Piece in its creation.

🦉 The food, the biology

(The Promised Neverland Search for Minerva + final arc spoilers)

In One Piece, the characters can obtain special powers by eating cursed fruits called Devil Fruits (Luffy's elasticity, for example). This served as a basis for The Promised Neverland's demon biology. During early stages of TPN first arc, there was no specific concept involving demon's diet (thus we hear two demons casually talking about eating cats). Post escape, editor Sugita suggested to add the concept of 'becoming what you eat', stated to be directly inspired by One Piece (fanbook ch. 2). It was decided that the demons in TPN would be heavily dependant on human meat to maintain their sentience.

One piece x Toriko official crossover spread, two manga in JUMP where food meant a lot more than simply filling your stomach.

"Food" both a narrative and thematic tool behind One Piece, so much so that a recently popular theory is that (avoid if you want) the protagonist's secret dream at the end of his journey is to throw a massive party that would connect different races together in a brotherly bond. Each arc ends with a scene of partying and singing, a musician was one of the first crewmate positions Luffy wanted to fill in his ship.

Yugo's refusal to eat and join the table subtly hinted his refusal to partake in such bonding. It's another detail pointed out in the fanbook (ch. 3). The food scenes in One Piece had not only inspired Shirai but also Haikyuu author, Furudate Haruichi (stated in Haikyuu databook).

🦉 Characters as Inspirations

[Romance Dawn + Goldy Pond spoiler] One piece character Helmeppo was the inspiration behind Goldy Pond demon, Luce. Helmeppo was one of the earliest characters introduced in One Piece (ch.3), a weak but spoiled child of a marine officer who'd exploit his father's influence to get about anything. Luce, the youngest hunter in Goldy Pond, was the son of Dozza. Helmeppo was redeemed eventually, unlike Luce.

[Shabondy Archipelago + TPN final arc spoiler] The World Nobles in One Piece are arrogant slave-owners hailed as gods on earth for their ancestry. Lord Pupo's flashy appearance and simple-mindedness were inspired by them.

[Dressrosa + TPN final arc spoiler] Bartolomeo, an in-series fan of the protagonists, was introduced in One Piece manga at the time of Sugita's debut as One piece editor in 2014 and instantly became popular. In The Promised Neverland, Lambda kids were supposed to obey Norman in a normal manner. But editor Sugita wanted to lighten up the mood and make them goofy fanboys, inspired by Bartolomeo's success.

[Arabasta spoiler] One piece's first major antagonist Crocodile served as a base for TPN characters, mainly antagonists:

When I was drawing dignified characters for TPN, Sugita-san gave me a piece of advice called the "Crocodile Line". Whether or not Crocodile from One Piece would say such a line would determine whether or not the character (I made) was dignified enough. It was a good method. I love Crocodile so there's that too.

-Shirai in The Promised Neverland fanbook (pg. 196)

(continues in reblog 👇)

[thefanficcorgi]

Welcome to my blog.

I’m an American that is very bored.

My Pronouns are mainly she/her

Feel free to call me C or any variation associated with my username.

I will be mainly posting

Polls

Ideas

Theory’s

Drawing’s ( if requested )

Maybe fanfics ( if requested)

Opinions on certain fandoms

Details I have noticed

Feel free to reply on any of my posts there is a very good chance I will reply almost instantly

As for what fandoms I like : jjba, Evillious chronicles, Pokémon, kny, ninjago, Naruto, danganronpa, inuyasha, Toriko, Vocaloid, and many more

The DNI criteria is the typical set of rules.

No homophobia

No racism

Don’t be mean or rude.

No sexism

And a good portion of other stuff associated with dni

I will not hesitate to block those who violate these rules.

[skye-huntress]

Otherside Picnic Volume 8 Thoughts - Part 4

File 25: Learn Your Lesson

That title could go either way, but personally I’m getting an ominous feeling from reading it.

1

So Sorawo’s theory is this mujina’s appearance is related to her Toriko dilemma. Odds are the Otherside itself is just reacting to her current mental state, but it is funny to think about an actual Othersider getting tired of Sorawo dragging shit out, so they start messing with her to give her that push to get on with it already.

When she decided not to talk to Kozakura, she was clearly making excuses. After dragging this out for so long, to the point that the Otherside is using it to mess with her, she definitely needs a lecture. With Akari however, she is probably on to something. She tracked her down to Kozakura’s and DS Research, she had contact with Satsuki and the Otherside multiple times, and she has been the victim of Sorawo’s eye a few times now. After all that, she’s probably still not nearly as unhinged as Sorawo, yet, but she’s definitely working her way there.

Sure, ask the mechanic who barely knows either of you and lives in fear that you’ll steal away her childhood friend that she’s in love with. What could go wrong?

Partway through the conversation, and this is more fun than I thought it would be.

Like how Natsumi had already assumed that not only was Sorawo a lesbian, but she was already dating or had dated Toriko.

We somehow went from talking about Sorawo’s girl problems, to talking about Natsumi’s girl problems.

That’s the second person to ask Sorawo whether she is ace or aro. I can certainly see her somewhere on the ace spectrum, but I don’t think she is completely aromantic. It probably has more to do with her walling off her heart after her family betrayed her.

I’m with Natsumi on this, you can’t just leave things as they are. If Toriko was really okay with that, she wouldn’t be pressing Sorawo for an answer, now.

Akari really came running. I give Natsumi good odds for a positive outcome if she confesses properly, and while she is sober.

“Maybe Akari knows and is enjoying watching Natsumi torture herself over her feelings… nah, she’s not that fucked up.” Wow, Sorawo, I know you’re a major cynic, but just wow.

It seems like she is a little closer to her answer. She was quick to voice her displeasure at the idea that Toriko could fall for someone else, and hopefully Natsumi has drilled into her that keeping things as is is not an option.

I’m guessing Akari isn’t just going to go on like it’s business as usual. The anti-social Sorawo, having drinks with Natsumi of all people. Akari is usually pretty good as sensing when something is up.

[incorrect-toriko-quotes]

Do you think the reason that Starjun mimics Midora's hair is similar to children imitating their dad ?

Welp. I ended up going WAY more into this than I thought while looking for image references for this so I'll give ya the TLDR of my original headcanon and if you (or anyone reading this) wants to crawl down the rabbit hole with me, feel free!

TLDR; I (originally) thought Starjun's hair was similar to Midora's out of respect/admiration/possible sucking-up. (Because Midora's self-centered, Starjun could've been copying to win brownie points like how Setsuno makes Toriko wear his hair like Jirou, or Starjun did it unconsciously because he wanted to be more like Midora). And you could attribute that to a father-son sort of thing (y'know, 'child see, child do'). If that's what you mean?

If you think it's more of a familial thing, I would say there's definitely some foreshadowing hidden in the hair symbolism. (Details/spoilers below the cut because while I was responding to this I dug myself down a helluva rabbit hole).

ALRIGHT BUCKLE UP BECAUSE MOD CHEF HAS REALISED SOMETHING TRULY AWFUL ONCE AGAIN

I'm gonna start by pointing out that in the Toriko universe, although genetics is kinda played with loosely, it's established that people will copy the hairstyles of their relatives more than their mentors/role models.

The easy thing to do would be to say "look at how none of the Kings have even remotely similar hair to Ichiryu", but we also have no reference for the Kings' predecessors (other than Toriko, but we'll unpack that later).

Instead, let's take a look at one of the only actual genetic relationships shown on screen: Jirou and Teppei.

We already know that Jirou and Teppei are biologically related, but more than that, we know that Jirou and Teppei went down completely different paths. Sure, Teppei clearly respects Jirou, but it's because Jirou took him Gourmet Hunting that Teppei decided not to become a Gourmet Hunter.

They went two completely different routes, Teppei not mimicking Jirou, and yet how do they style their hair?

The exact same way.

This is what I realised that sent me down the rabbit hole.

(Before anyone mentions it: Yes I know Acacia and Ichiryuu had similar hair but that was only temporary because Acacia had gotten a power-up. For the most part Acacia's hair was in that very, very long ponytail.)

We all know Toriko's family tree is a wreath. Let's take a look at Acacia's weird family, namely I want to look at Midora and Starjun, since that's what you're asking about.

Obviously pretty similar: They both have long, choppy black hair that sorta hangs in tendrils.

But you may notice something kinda interesting: Midora's hair has a much messier cut and some of it hangs into his face. It's not like the other disciples, but it's definitely familiar...

Hm... where have we seen a character with messy black hair that hangs into their face?

We know that Midora isn't Froese's biological son, but obviously there's some sort of parallel to be drawn here. And once you make that connection, it's easier to then realise how Starjun is part of this backwards family. Especially once you consider how Starjun's rank in Gourmet Corp is officially a 'Sous Chef'. And Froese was a chef.

And not just any chef! She could perform God Cooking. Let's take a look at what her God Cooking looks like...

Hmm... where else have we seen that?

HMM...

Maybe I'm cherry-picking for what I want to see, but doesn't Starjun's hair look a lot more like Froese's? Froese's hair is everywhere but it's got a flow, the ends are wavy, but smooth. Clumps flow in similar directions, and are generally pretty thick. Notice how Midora's hair has much finer clumps going in other directions? Even Starjun's face is shaded like Froese's. Perhaps there's an argument to be made that Midora's similarities to Froese are something of a red herring, with the real foreshadowing coming from Starjun? Maybe that Midora's design is almost a mockery of Froese's -- similar, but almost more tentacle-like, more visually threatening? Or perhaps that Midora's similarities are an attempt to copy her, but not getting it quite right?

Admittedly, it's more likely that Shimabu decided that "Evil Villains with Bug-Like or Tentacle-Like Motifs = Long Black Tentacle-Like Hair" was an easy design, but I would say it's not a stretch to assume he made Starjun's hair similar to Midora's in order to solidify that Starjun is the Important one with some sort of connection to Midora (especially since Starjun is the only non-bug-themed Sous Chef).

You can't ignore Occam's Razor. And the simplest explanation is that Shimabu drew inspiration from Dragon Ball and decided that more power = more hair. But where's the fun in that?

[incorrect-toriko-quotes]

I definitely agree with OP here. Obviously it's not 100% clear in canon how it works, but it's also worth looking at the context in the story.

I'm no expert, but it's pretty clear that Food Honour was broadly inspired by Buddhism as its practiced in Japan. (Yes, there's a lot of different sects of Buddhism around the world. But Food Honour's original kanji is written 食禅, literally 'Food Zen', so I'm gonna go out on a limb and presume it's mostly inspired by Zen Buddhism, with 'Top-Class Food Honour' being a metaphor for Satori, or Enlightenment). In Zen Buddhism, theoretically anyone can achieve Satori... but it requires a lot of concentration and spiritual guidance. Which sounds familiar.

But in order to achieve 'Top-Class Food Honour', Toriko and Komatsu have to undergo significant training that pushes them to their limits, and when Toriko literally dies, Master Chin straight up just assumes he 'couldn't do it'.

So I'd say it's probably that most people don't know about Food Honour. But theoretically, anybody could attempt it with or without Gourmet Cells (recall they didn't even know that Komatsu had Gourmet Cells / this possibly could've been before they'd settled into his body) since there's likely no rules saying who can't achieve Food Honour. But having Gourmet Cells would either significantly help (or, if you're like Toriko and starve to death in less than 24 hours, significantly hinder) considering that you could straight up just die if you 'couldn't do it'.

I wonder can the Average person go through food honor training?

This is an interesting question because I think you'd have to define average person, you know? Because if we're talking someone from our world unfortunately I must conclude that we are doomed to never achieve food nirvana. Like even if we had the food for it, how am I supposed to eat any sort of noodles with meter-long chopsticks?? (Pretty sure that's one of the things anyway)

But like in the Toriko universe, I think anyone has the potential to do it... I can't decide if having gourmet cells would make it harder or easier tbh. Because I feel like a lot of the test would be easier because of the skills the gourmet cells allow you (dexterity, power, etc), but there are also a lot that probably are made worse by having gourmet cells, specifically the ones about controlling your appetite. Like Toriko nearly dies during the training because gourmet cells will canonically eat you if you don't feed them enough good food.

So yeah I think in the Toriko universe, any random person could probably show up at the Chowlin temple and get trained in food honor. Like it would be hard for sure, but I guess people don't generally reach enlightenment easily

[floatingcatacombs]

On Reading Yuri with a Death Wish

12 Days of Aniblogging 2022, Day 1

This essay will discuss suicide.

Existentialism is the study of why you shouldn’t kill yourself. This is a noble pursuit, because I’m never sure what to do with the philosophers who commit suicide, if that act retroactively invalidates their theories or not. (Hegel, on the other hand, died sane but has driven more philosophers to madness than any other individual)

What I mean more specifically is that a lot of existentialist texts and theories are rooted in the anguish that humans alone face due to our consciousness. We’re talking depression, despair, and existential angst. In this way, existentialist writing serves as a therapy workbook, a reminder that individuals are wholly responsible for their own actions, which includes finding meaning, personal values, and contentedness. Of course, an absurdist would say that there’s no point to searching for any of that and only through giving up can we be free to truly live, but it’s all in the same spirit.

These deeply human themes lend themselves well to art, and anime is no exception. Unfortunately, most of these attempts are pretty trite. How often do you put on an show only for it to get fake-deep during the narrative climax by reciting a bunch of out-of-context philosophy? We can punch down at Death Note all day if we want, but there definitely is anime and manga out there that actually succeeds in weaving an existentialist core. Being who I am, I particularly care about the stuff that does it through the lens of yuri, and well.

Otherside Picnic is one of these works, if you ask me. One thing that reveals itself very quickly, especially if you’re reading the novels where Sorawo’s thoughts are on full display, is that our main character is downright suicidal. She’s rescued from an early watery grave by future love interest and partner-in-crime Toriko, who makes a quip about her looking like the drowned Ophelia. Sorawo is familiar with the Millais painting from reading a Wikipedia article, but not Hamlet itself, which serves as a great early example of her encyclopedic strengths and shortcomings, as well as the author's tendency to source from the internet. The two quickly become well-acquainted (partners-in-crime, even!) and set out to explore the mysterious Otherside they’ve independently stumbled upon, which is rife with monsters straight out of scary stories passed around on 2channel.

my eternal rival, Ms. Boston Dynamic, makes an appearance

Once the premise of a slowburn yuri like this is set up, the author usually throws an obstacle in the way of the relationship to prevent things from working out immediately. If said author is a hack, it’s a romantic rival, in the worst-case scenario a childhood friend. Sometimes it’s a miscommunication, where the girls treat the blossoming relationship differently and don’t realize they’re seeing past each other. Sometimes it’s life circumstances, like the girls going to different schools or having different social standings. And sometimes, it’s because one of the girls has something deeply wrong with her. Ideally both.

As it turns out, Toriko has just as much of a death wish as Sorawo. She hides it better at first, by being a manic pixie Canadian gun otaku dream girl, but the sheer desperation and denial present in her search for her old mentor quickly comes into focus. She’s lost someone close to her and is throwing herself into dangerous situations because it’s easier than facing her grief.

There’s a stretch of the series where Toriko and Sorawo are in a rocky patch over the exact issue of Toriko’s mentor Satsuki and whether seeking her out is worth it (with the undertone of Sorawo trying to figure out if Toriko actually likes her or is just using her to help find Satsuki). This manifests as the two of them throwing themselves into the Otherside again and again, with less, more quarrelsome recovery time between each stint. They start drinking more and more irresponsibly in their post-expedition celebratory dinners they start. All of this culminates in the Otherside starting to come to them instead of the other way around.

For all of creepypasta set-dressing, this is the one part of Otherside Picnic where there’s genuine terror and dread. If you don’t have enough anchors to the real world, you’ll lose yourself for good in there, as Sorawo gets warned a handful of times. Obviously this is meant to frame the Otherside in eldritch horror terms, but to me it brings it closer to representing suicidal ideation. Hell, a few times Sorawo finds herself drawn into Otherside specifically because of her harmful thoughts. When she’s mentally at her worst she keeps inadvertently ending up there – and the monsters are trying to get her to cross the point of no return. It’s barely even a metaphor at times.

So yeah. Can’t get away from the Otherside, can’t give in to it. Sorawo and Toriko are left to just…learn to live with it. After buying a tobacco harvester on a drunken bender (long story) the two of them start to chart out rudimentary roads, establish supply bases, and do plenty of small construction jobs to make the place just a bit less hostile. It’s all very Minecraft, which Sorawo just flat-out says at one point. This aspect of Otherside Picnic is definitely indulging Miyazawa’s hobbyist tendencies in the same way that all the creepypasta and gun otaku stuff is, but it also establishes a certain kind of coping. Though Sorawo and Toriko keep finding themselves in dangerous situations, the sense of dread never returns to the narrative in the way that it does in the early sections. These later volumes are definitely a bit less interesting, but you can only give your characters an absolute death wish for so long before it gets stale, and something of an iyashikei atmosphere emerges as a periodic counterbalance. Life must go on, even with the absurdity of SCP monsters hunting you and your kinda-girlfriend down.

shoutout to the offhand remarks these girls make to each other. the weirder they are, the more genuinely romantic

Have I mentioned how fun of a protagonist Sorawo is? She’s a subculture weirdo with a poster’s soul, she’s a walking encyclopedia of 2channel netlore, and her sense of reality is so distorted that she takes truly terrifying events at face value and gets lost in the details on regular human relationships. She’s something of an accidental lesbian chad, getting Toriko to go from leading her on to falling desperately in love with her without even really trying. She’s got unprocessed childhood trauma straight out of a ghost story, which gets weaponized to scary effect down the line. She makes the most baffling offhand remarks. And her dry wit is a perfect fit for the narrative, which, like I said earlier, is at its best in the novels where we get to spend more time in her headspace.

It's out of character for me, but I haven’t actually talked much about the yuri parts of this yuri manga. I’m save that for the second part of this writeup, alongside the elephant in the room: author Iori Miyazawa’s ‘yuri of absence' interview. I’ll wrap up my Otherside Picnic talk by saying that the anime adaptation is pretty terrible, failing to understand everything I’ve been talking about up until now by changing the pacing to that of an action series. The manga, on the other hand, is quite good, with some especially interesting panel composition during the more surreal moments. It’s worth a look, but you’re ultimately best off reading the original novels.

I want to bring up another philosophical yuri manga I read this year, Shimeji Simulation. It’s definitely on the absurdist side of things, but that doesn’t become apparent until you’re further in. What we get in the opening chapters is pure depression-core, exactly as expected for mangaka Tsukumizu, whose previous works include Girl’s Last Tour and the Touhou doujin Flan Wants to Die. Our protagonist is a driftless shut-in who hasn’t been to school in two years after something unspecified and traumatic happened to her in middle school. She scrapes together the will to go to school this year, and makes fast friends with a classmate who has a giant fried egg on her head. Fast girlfriends even, though it’s unclear what that really means for the two of them.

I’ve found that Shimeji Simulation is difficult to pitch, so I’m just going to write about my favorite character: Mogwa, the depressed art teacher. She moonlights as the club advisor and only active member of the “hole-digging club”, a club that…digs holes. When asked why, she starts waxing philosophically about the absurdity and futility of the act. With each following chapter she becomes further obsessed with hole topology. When Shimeji’s sister develops a boring machine, Mogwa falls into despair. Evidentially, her digging had become deeply important to her regardless of its uselessness, and a machine doing all the digging for her sapped all the joy out of it. She lets herself slip into the seemingly bottomless pit, only saved from her fate by someone with nigh omnipotence.

The thing I love the most about Mogwa is how she’s a clear manifestation of the Myth of Sisyphus. She condemns herself to a futile impossible task, and this ends up becoming the very thing keeping her going. Only through accepting absurdity can she be truly free, and the opposite when her self-made purpose is pulled up from under her.

Buried away in the depths of Dynasty-Scans is a prequel comic to Shimeji Simulation that shines a light on the whole comic, and why it’s so strange, contemplative, bleak, and snarky all at once. I’m not linking it because it’s pornographic and more than a bit questionable, but the gist is that in middle school, Shimeji’s only friend had sex with her and then inexplicably killed herself the night after. That’s it, end of one-shot. It’s a cruel joke. Even disconnected from the published manga itself, this suicide casts a very long shadow, making the whole of Shimeji Simulation a “well…now what?” affair.

It’s why the characters in this manga are so willing to invoke philosophy, and ultimately to take the plunge into total surrealness, irrevocably writing over their world to create a weirder one. This act is self-detournment and a fitting spin on Tsukumizu’s typical depressing yuri, the fantasy of a world which responds perfectly to our desires. It’s existence preceding essence made literal, an ultimate reminder that humans are responsible for their identities and must continue to live, so they have the freedom to keep making choices and acting upon the world.

possibly one of the best pages of manga out there, period

This was a difficult and disjointed article to write, and recent personal events have made it harder yet also more necessary to get out. Next time, I’m going to talk about Otherside Picnic again, but from a different perspective: yuri and the act of authorial self-abnegation. 

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 060

“You see, Kid Trunks, travel is a lot like a sword.  It cuts one way, but it also can cut the other way.  And if you’re not careful, you’ll drop your sword polish while you’re cleaning it, and ruin your best jacket.  Well, my best jacket.  You might have one in your own timeline, but it probably hasn’t been manufactured yet.”

“Um... all I wanted to know was why your hair is blue instead of lavender.”

So in this episode, Bulma has the time machine refueled and ready for the next trip to Future Trunks’ world.  Beerus, however, doesn’t see the point, since he believes that he already defeated Goku Black and Zamasu by destroying Zamasu in Episode 59.  

The current working theory is that the Zamasu of Age 779 was planning to kill Gowasu, steal his Time Ring, and use it to make two wishes on the Super Dragon Balls.  One wish would be for an indestructible body, while the other would be for Goku Black, the ultimate enforcer for his plan.  Then Zamasu would eventually make his way to the alternate timeline Earth where Future Trunks lives. 

But since Beerus destroyed Zamasu before he could do any of that, then the crisis should no longer exist, right?  Well, if that’s true, then Trunks should even be standing here, because if the crisis never occurred, he never would have traveled back in time to seek help in the first place.  And in that case, Beerus would have never had any reason to destroy Zamasu. 

We went through all of this in the Androids Saga in DBZ.  Trunks went back in time and made changes to history, but when he returned home, nothing had changed.  The changes only applied to the past world that he visited, which followed a different timeline than his own.  Beerus seems to grasp the logic of this, but he also seems to think that it works differently when he does it.  So he gets all fussy and angry, and Whis is about to take him home for a nap when Goku suggests that they get a good dinner before heading back to Trunks’ world.  Oh no, don’t show them eating again--

Fuuuuuuck.  You know, DBZ used to do like dozens of episodes without showing the entire main cast sitting down for a full-course meal.  It was like, they had more important things to do with the show’s runtime, like... I don’t know... advancing the plot.  Or... what was that other thing?  Oh, right.  Building atmosphere and tension. 

Not Dragon Ball Super, though.  No, if the characters don’t eat a meal together every two or three episodes, the audience might start to worry.  We don’t want Goku to get malnourished, do we?  I mean, they could just say he ate alone, off-screen, but how would we know for sure?

I’m not sure what to make of this trend, but I suspect it had something to do with that One-Piece/Toriko crossover that DBZ was included in.  From what I gather, all Toriko does is storylines about food and cooking and eating, and that seems close enough to the scope of One-Piece that it wouldn’t be awkward to just have them eat for a whole episode.   But Dragon Ball never really did this a whole lot.  There was a big party at the end of the Majin Buu Saga, and Mr. Satan held that party at his hotel in the Yo! Son Goku special from 2008, and Bulma’s birthday party in Battle of Gods, but those were clearly special occasions.  The last two were obviously meant to serve as big reunions for the characters long after their show ended. 

And yet, Dragon Ball Super seems determined to throw a big party or picnic every chance it gets.  According to the Dragon Ball Wiki, Res F, the Destroyer Invitational Tournament, and this saga all take place in the same year, Age 779. You’d think some of these characters would be partied out by now.

My theory right now is that this was something that happens a lot in One-Piece, or Toriko, or some other very popular shonen anime, and it became so ingrained in pop culture that it became a trope, and every other shonen anime started doing it too.  And then when Dragon Ball Super started, it was just second nature to slap a mealtime scene into as many episodes as possible. 

I’m not saying it’s bad.  If you write the stories with this in mind, you could use these scenes very effectively.  But Dragon Ball Super tends to use them for padding.  There’s exactly one plot point in this episode, and it’s Trunks going back to his own future to see if Goku Black is still there.  The trip takes like two seconds, but they filled out the other 21:58 by having them eat first and argue over what will happen on the time trip that Trunks has already decided to take. 

Also, they throw in some off-model Beerus, for your viewing displeasure.  For a dude who hates time travel, he sure looks like he went back to the 90′s for a double-wide DBZ-style neck.

Finally, Kid Trunks gets frustrated with this arguing in circles and he shouts “What are we doing?!” So Future Trunks has to explain the multiverse concept to him.

He uses 18 as a handy illustration, since Kid Trunks already knows her.  In the “main” timeline, 18 married Krillin and had a daughter with him, Marron.  In Future Trunks’ world, 18 terrorized the Earth for about twenty years.  Trunks went back in time to warn the Z-Figthers about her, and those changes eventually led to 18 turning good and marrying Krillin.  But none of that affected Trunks’ world, and he ultimately had to kill 18 to stop her. 

Of course, the more classic example is Goku, who died of the heart virus in one timeline, but Trunks gave him the medicine to save his life.  So in the “main” timeline, Goku’s still alive, but in Future Trunks’ world, Goku is still dead. Each time someone goes back in time and changes things, it creates a new timeline. 

Future Trunks’ argument, then is that the same thing probably happened when Beerus destroyed the Zamasu of Age 779.  He only knew to do that because of information he gained from when Goku Black followed Trunks from the future.  When that happened, the main timeline changed from what it had been, and a new timeline was created, one where the change had not occurred. 

I think what’s got Beerus flustered here is that he is right, but not entirely.  By destroying Zamasu, he ensured that this main timeline is safe from Zamasu, and he also ensured that there is a version of Future Trunks’ timeline that was spared the horrors of Goku Black. 

However, there should also be an additional timeline where he did not destroy Zamasu, and another additional Future Trunks’ timeline where Goku Black does all the stuff we saw in Episode 47, etc. 

Anyway, this entire conversation is pointless, because Trunks still has to go home, whether Beerus is right or not.  So after a billion years, he finally gets back in the time machine, along with Goku and Vegeta, who want to be there in case the bad guys are somehow still in play.  Also, Bulma wants to tag along because she’s always wanted to visit Trunks’ world, and if all goes well, Goku and Vegeta might need someone to help them fly the time machine back home.

Unfortunately, it’s a one-seater, so Bulma has to sit on Trunks’ shoulders. Also, Goku gets motion sickness when he rides this thing. 

Aaaaand it’s time for the #kisscourse.  So, from Mai’s perspective, this whole Saga probably hasn’t even lasted a full 24 hours, right?  Yet somehow she keeps getting attacked and nearly killed while Trunks is away.  In Episode 47 he thought she had died, and then he returns and she’s totally fine.  Then she sends him back in the time machine, and she’s fine in that episode, but now he returns and she took some sort of hit while doing something or other.  I’m pretty sure she was fine in the previous episode, though.

This time, Goku has the senzu beans with him, and he gives one to Trunks, who chews it up and spits it in her mouth with a kiss.  This is supposed to be romantic, but it’s actually really, really dumb.  I’m not a big fan of Future Mai, but I hate how they keep using her as a damsel for Trunks to worry about while he’s away from her.  She was fine before this, and now suddenly she’s so badly hurt that she can’t even swallow a senzu bean, but not so badly hurt that she bled out or anything.  Maybe Goku Black stabbed her with that energy blade of his.  You know, the one that doesn’t kill people?

Also, if anyone did manage to find something romantic in this scene, Goku spoils the moment by revealing he has no idea what kissing is, or why Vegeta would expect a married man to know what it is. 

This caused a lot of drama in the fandom in 2016, mostly because it added fuel to the fire of the ongoing argument about whether Goku has anything resembling human emotions.  Like, does he actually love his wife, the way a man loves a woman, or is he just a clueless dope who only lives with her because he doesn’t know what any of it means?  It’s not a Saiyan thing, since Vegeta seems to understand the societal norms, but for some reason Akira Toriyama will sometimes do interviews about shit like this, and fans will try to use it as ammo to tear down Goku.  A lot of fans held out hope that the subtitles were wrong somehow, and that the dub version or the manga version would clarify this bit, but instead they basically repeated the line, almost word-for-word. 

Now, I already went through all of this nonsense when it happened, but this was the episode where I realized once and for all that this show just sort of throws shit at the wall, and it’s not worth taking it too seriously.  There’s some bitter fuck out there who despises Gochi shippers and desperately wants everyone to think Goku is a manchild ignorant of even the most basic romantic gestures, so that those mean old fans will stop drawing pictures of Goku loving his wife, or Vegeta, or OC’s, or whoever, really.  Goku’s kind of a slut in fanart land. 

Anyway, some bitter fuck out there thinks that if they make an official anime episode that proves their point, everyone will just magically stop enjoying the thing this person hates, because anime episodes are legally binding contracts, and that’s a totally reasonable thing to believe.  Hey, here’s a scene from another anime episode:

So at best, the #kisscourse boils down to arguing over which animation cels are more true than others.  And since the Androids Saga rules ass and the Zamasu Saga sucks ass, I know which one I want in my personal canon.  Hint: It’s the one where Goku makes out with his wife so hard that Master Roshi is stunned into silence.

Anyway, the bad guys show up, and clearly nothing has changed about the timeline, so we’re basically right back where we were before.  The only difference is that Goku thinks he understands who and what Goku Black is, but Goku Black denies his theory.  He isn’t a copy created by the Super Dragon Balls.  Not at all.  His body is the real thing, inhabited by the mind of Zamasu.  How?  He used the Super Dragon Balls to wish for this, but the wish was to switch bodies with Goku. 

But how did he do all of that if Beerus destroyed him?  We’ll get to that next time, and I can promise it won’t be interesting at all.

[critical-doedecahedron]

I think Cryptids fall in line much better as the overseas equivalent of all the real life Japanese ghost stories they have to deal with in the novels than anything like the SCP foundation or horror icons do. And I think Cryptids also offer a lot more potential for the certain brand of horror that is found in UraPi.

Now I could write this myself, I certainly have a lot of ideas for it but at the same time I don't know if I could bring myself to. All the ideas about SoraTori dealing with other overseas horror Icons are funny and fun to think about but also I think in practice they would be nowhere near as compelling as what we actually have. I don't know if I were to personally attempt to deliver on this silly idea of "oh what if they had to deal with cryptids" I would certainly want to make it as close as I could to the tone and themes of the main work.

But that also leads me to think that like. If they ended up in the Otherside in another country would any creature they encounter actually change?? Obviously the environment would but all of the monsters they deal with are so closely tied to Sorawo with her knowledge contextualizing most of them. Now it could also be said that the Otherside just pulls from things that scare people across the country, that's something that could definitely be a possibility, if I remember correctly that's something discussed in the novels. But looking at all the files, especially as we get later in the novels, they all tie so closely to the development and healing of Sorawo (and Toriko) people much smarter than I have talked about that at great length and have much better fan theories and things to say about it.

But I just wonder... in the end what would them dealing with cryptids like Mothman or Bigfoot look like, how could those be used to keep the same themes and arcs from the books.

Anyways that was a long tangent on my silly idea, and I'm sure most of that didn't even make sense but I'm done now ^^

I've seen posts about Sorawo and Toriko dealing with the SCP foundation, freddy fazbear, other horror icons and stories and that's all well and good, but wheres the aus and fanfics about SoraTori ending up in the U.S. and having to deal with cryptids.

Let me see Toriko and Sorawo have to deal with Indrid Cold and Mothman