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a-student-out-of-time · 1 year

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@danganronpasurvivoraskblog did their own take on this and tagged me, so here's my thoughts!

I was just perusing Tumblr one day, say SDRA2 in my recommended and looked it up on TV Tropes. It was pretty interesting-sounding, so I looked into it. Not much else to say, really : P

DRA. While SDRA2 is more visually-pleasing, I think DRA has a better and more well-crafted story overall.

Faves: DRA Chapter 4 and SDRA2 Chapter 5. Least Faves: Chapter 3 for both of them.

I have a lot of great things to say about the usage of both Akane Taira and Utsuro, and their implementation in the game...but I feel like I have to give Mikado credit for actually being a villainous force throughout all of SDRA2. We got to know him as a villain and thus all that characterization wasn't crammed into a single trial.

It's a toss up between Maku and Emma, because I feel like the two of them really had a lot of personal history that you got to see in their FTEs. Maku clearly regretted his actions, and Emma tormenting him with puns was pretty funny. The Void Theater segments honestly made me want to include them in my own story, given that there was a lot of history between the Voids we didn't get to see.

Yoruko. She really deserved a break after all that.

Faves: Kanata & Akane for DRA; Hibiki, Shinji, Setsuka, Yoruko & Sora in SDRA2. Least faves: Mitch and Tsurugi for DRA; Syboi and Iroha for SDRA2

A LOT. Frankly, the entire Another series barely utilizes anyone's actual ultimate talents, and instead relies on character quirks you'll probably forget about or actual literal luck.

Iroha. She doesn't do anything to improve anybody's situation; not the main group, not the Voids, barely even her own most of the time. She's borderline useless at the best of times, and at her worst, she's selfish, bratty, petulant, brainless and just a detriment. She doesn't change, adapt, contribute or even make for a particularly interesting character, so what was the point of her inclusion, much less her survival?

Kanata. There's so much more that could've been done with her character beyond just making her the pure angel who apparently had to die horribly so we would feel bad.

Anyone who's followed me for long enough knows my answer is going to be Hibiki. Nobody got screwed over as badly as she did. Say what you will about Yuki being reduced to a brain in a jar, at least he actually survived.

Once again, Hibiki, hands down. Her survival would've been so much more meaningful and interesting, and could've contributed so much to the story and themes, as well as the conflicts both Yuki and Sora were facing.

I don't really care about the executions, but I guess Syobai's would be interesting to see. It's pretty fitting for him.

Kinji's. It was a nice mix of thematically appropriate but also completely bizarre, as we expect from DR.

Not to steal an idea from WeebyNewz, but I think DRA's first chapter would've been a lot more interesting if Kiyoka was the one who killed Mitch while trying to protect Akane.

Faves: DRA Chapter 6 and SDRA2 Chapter 1. Least Faves: DRA Chapter 1 and SDRA2 Chapter 3.

Plot twist that got me: That Mikado actually got away with murder in Chapter 5, and nobody, not even Iroha, even realized until it was too late. She genuinely thought that she was the one who poisoned Teruya, but she got played just as hard. He was this close to winning and it was actually on his own merits. Least favorite plot twist: The reveal that Kizuna was actually fake and she was just looking for a chance to kill someone. I hate the way LINUJ talks about her as the most hateable character in the game, and he clearly wanted the audience to feel that way, yet went out of his way to give her some genuinely interesting and sympathetic qualities. That whole bit doesn't feel like she's revealing her true colors, but that her personality suddenly shifted for the sake of making her an antagonist. Her death was also needlessly prolonged and cruel.

Even if they didn't act like it in the game, the Voids did have a genuine level of camaraderie and friendship that was lost when Mikado took over and convinced them they had to set up this Killing Game. When Iroha said she wanted to use the bathroom after trial 4, she was really looking for a place to cry, knowing her only friends were all gone.

SDRA2, while I don't hate it, it has some of the weakest writing I've ever seen for a fangan. The game is so focused on self-indulgence and callbacks to DRA that it doesn't communicate its theme in any clear manner. It also has this pervasively cynical, jaded view of its cast where barely any of them grow or change at all. And as I always like to bring up, you can skip Chapter 3 and miss nothing important to the overarching story, Chapter 4 was a mess that derailed the narrative and Chapter 6 is one exposition dump after another. It's a messy story that clearly needed more planning.

Point 19 having been said, I really liked the scene in Chapter 5 where Sora and Yoruko finally have a heart-to-heart about Sora's fears about her identity. It was such a cathartic and emotional moment after so many chapters of garbage and mediocrity, not to mention bitterness and anger on Yoruko's part. I wanted more moments like these, where characters genuinely talk.

//So there we go, my 20 points for the Another series. Some of these are new, others are things I'll probably never shut up about : P

@despair-to-future-arcs @thenewfuture @askthedespairkids @a-tale-never-told @tired-writer-in-progress @spyrkle4 Do you guys wanna give this a go? I'd love to hear your thoughts if you wish to share

#mod talks #a student out of time #Instagram

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chaosxcrushed · 3 years

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Yuki is an interesting antagonist in yhs (imo), so time to rant about her because wow

She was born into the Yakuza and her father makes her do some 'work', which explains her violence tendencies. Sure, she's also a little crazy but it doesn't look like she was raised with correct morals. She's the underboss of the Japanese Mafia, who will finish off her targets and willingly dispose of whoever's a threat to her. This applies to a lot of characters and deaths

On the early episodes of yhs, she took Taurtis' liking of Jane too seriously and killed her off. I'm assuming she decided to frame Gareth after noticing that her classmates had a suspicion of him, ultimately leading to his death.

Her reason for killing Salex is obvious, she was dating Taurtis, her crush in the early episodes. Though the thing is between Salex and her, it looks like she got her dad-Karu- to stalk her until she can finally kill her off. Salex's diary did mention that a weird man with brown hair was following her around, leading Sam and Taurtis to think he's who killed her, but in the last episode it's revealed that Yuki actually ran her over. Talk about taking matters into your own hands though, yeesh. She also framed Chan, taking advantage of how gullible the two are.

Lastly, after hearing about her dad's death, she immediately went down hunting the other 2 people that killed him, Grian and Paul. She willingly let Sam off the loose since they were "dating" at the time and used him to bring Grian to her. She was sadly able to decapitate Paul, but Grian lived after they outnumbered Yuki, leading to her own demise. Youch.

She's one of the yandere types in the series. Overly obssessive, not afraid to harm others, can and will use crude ways to get what she wants, etc (like making her dad threaten Sam to date her on the Halloween eps). But I think her being a yandere made a lot sense - again, it doesn't look like she has any remorse, felt sorry for other's losses unless it's her own, and isn't just straight up violent for no reason. Yuki has somewhat of a job to take out people who doesn't pay the Yakuza, which explains why she uses extreme methods to get what she wants.

And on the outside, she doesn't even seem that crazy, not until the later episodes. She's deemed as one of the Cool Kids and even sits at the cool kid table most times, and when she's not, she's at the back of the cafeteria on her phone. She expresses that she's into anime and social media, and spends her time with her friends, especially Sookie and Soul since they share a house. It all seems like relatively normal teenager behavior until she starts killing more people or is triggered. With Salex gone, she's actively sniffing Taurtis' hair (which no one but Sam notices, though he does that too) and was ecstatic when he asked her out to prom. Anyone would be happy if their crush did that, but Sam started hitting on her too for competition and she agreed on him 3rd wheeling or so.

When both of her prom dates dumped her, she got REAL mad and began freaking out, even going as far as to hunt them down at Sookie's after-prom-party.

In conclusion I am rambling too much, but geez her character is just so. Interesting? Makes sense? I have no idea how to piece my words. But what I do know is that Yuki's actions weren't just out of the blue like Sam, though she does develop crushes fast. Again, with how and where she was raised, it makes sense for her to be violent and have death involved, and since her father seems to approve of her doings that just encourages her further.

She doesn't seem to have remorse, nor wants to be caught red handed, which is probably why she only gets closer to Taurtis when a threat was eliminated. She isn't afraid to threaten anyone, given how she pulled a knife out on Rowan, but stopped after hearing he'd explode. Yuki's not just crazy or violent out of the blue, she has a reason to be, though that doesn't excuse her actions.

ps. she's probably one of my favorite characters. She's smart and covers up her crimes, but then again, karma reached her in the end and she died. BUT WHAT IF SHE DIDN'T???? I'm writing a fic about that hehe.

#yandere high school #yhs yuki #character rambles #yuki is probably my favorite antagonist #long post #i spent like an hour writing this #also english isnt my native so sorry if there were mistakes there #im not tagging the other characters this is a yuki rant #i guess

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lollreagan · 2 years

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a fruits basket review: (s1-3 finished)

so this one surprising took me a while to complete. and usually i’m the type of person that lovessss a good romantic story and will binge it all in one go, but this one was difficult for me.

There were too many plot and filler episodes mixed between each other. this is probably what made the show hard for me to keep watching. especially season 1 and 2 were drawn out pretty long. i even told my sister that I though all of the major arcs could have been done in a 13 episode season instead, like how seaosn 3 was done. the pacing was perfect for season 3. season 1 and 2, not so much.

petition to have added more depth to the haru+rene story arch!!!!! i’m sorry to all of the kyo+tohru fans out there, but they were my favorite ship of the whole show. and i feel like once rene was released from the hospital, her and haru were basically forgotten. i would have liked to have known more about them, and not only that, but gotten to see their relationship blossom + fan service moments ofc. i really just wanted to see more of them, but didn’t.

why did momigi grow up. there was really no explanation except for the characters blatantly saying every 5 seconds “wow he really grew.” okay. but why?? i really didn’t understand the point except to maybe show that he could have a crush on tohru, which was only addressed in 3 episodes and then totally forgotten about. wish we could have seen how momigi felt that tohru and kyo ended up growing old together, but i guess i’ll have to make it up for myself.

tohru’s character development. oh my god this one pissed me off so much. yes, sweet little tohru. except that’s exactly why i hated her. i hated that they made her a literal mary sue. her only flaws were that she loved people unconditionally? cmon now. justice for tohru. they made everything that was dark about her mom or dad, and not really about her. she didn’t really start to change until middle of season 3, at the LITERAL END OF THE SHOW.

akito’s character. her character development was SOMETHING FINALLY DONE RIGHT. i hated her so much. i hated how she got away with the abuse and the trauma she caused all of the zodiac members. but this is what made her so powerful. she was finally something right in the story that made me want to keep watching. and she finally had an epiphany when she was talking to tohru that literally led her to free all of the zodiacs from their curses. talk about development. i just really hated how she ended up with shigure at the end of the show, but it was fitting for her. me hating her, with her being the antagonist of the show, is evidence that she was a well-written character.

my favorite characters:

haru

kyo

yuki

rene

the vice president!!! ( sorry i forgot his name)!

hatori

tohru

machi

overall, the pacing was a huge factor for me. it would be much higher on my list if it weren’t so slow at points. i literally took a 2 month hiatus between season 1 and 2 because it was just so hard to continue watching at the lack of character growth and the slow slow pace of the show. overall, 7/10

#fruits basket #fruit basket #tohru honda #miss honda #tohru fruits basket #kyo soma #yuki soma #haru soma #kyo x tohru #Kyou Soma #kyo x reader #yuki x reader #yuki x machi

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ghostietea · 4 years

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On Tohru and Akito: a long overdue analysis

As some may know, Tohru Honda and Akito Sohma from the manga Fruits Basket are pretty much my all time favorite protagonist/antagonist pair. They just work incredibly well as thematic pieces and driving forces of the story in relation to eachother. And beyond even the surface level they have a rich and layered goldmine of parallels that make them fascinating to think about. While it may make many a newbie raise an eyebrow, I think this is a fact that is to some level pretty widely acknowledged in the fandom proper. However, there is another level of their relationship that is often mostly left out of analytical conversations about them and their parallels: their eventual friendship. Something which, partly due to screentime, is often somewhat simplified down and misinterpreted. Which I think is a shame because, when you look at it, their eleventh hour friendship is deeply interwoven with their parallels and the very thematics and ending of the story. So then, what’s really going on with the girls that stand as part of the thematic core of Furuba? Beyond (most of, true analytical objectivity is impossible in interpretation) my personal sentimental feelings, let’s talk Akito and Tohru: their parallels, relationship, and role in the story overal. Read more present, this is going to be a long one but I hope you stick around 😊

One facet of Akito and Tohru’s role in relationship to eachother that I think is both interesting and imperative to understanding their purpose is their nature as eachother’s foils, especially their parallels. See, the two girls are both opposite and the same. Takaya sets them up as foils before we even properly meet Akito, as you can see in these panels:

However, their foil relationship becomes a lot more intriguing once their similarities become more apparent later in the story. Just think about it: two girls with boy’s names whose fathers died when they were young, leaving them alone with their mothers, who both developed behavior that, according to the environment that they grew up in, would keep them from being abandoned. Akito, coming from the cultish Sohma clan where she was treated as a God to the point that she thinks she can do no wrong and has tied all of her self worth to the role, plays the part of a male ruler who must uphold tradition and keep the zodiac with her by any means. Akito is terrified of being abandoned, especially since she has no idea how to have relationships outside of the context of the bond, only exacerbated by the fact that Ren, one of the only people that openly questions her role, has constantly told her that she’s useless and will be abandoned. This is something that informs all of her (many, terrible) decisions and leads her to try desperately to keep the curse together, something which puts her in direct conflict with Tohru, who actually wants the curse broken in part so that she won’t be abandoned. Tohru may not be as obvious with her abandonment issues as miss screeches-at-people-not-to-leave-her, but they still inform a good deal of her character. Like Akito, she develops behavior around the time of her father’s passing to try to keep herself from being abandoned, mirroring her father’s proper speech because she was worried that she was losing Kyoko. But, as she grew older in her much warmer environment, Tohru turned to kindness instead of fear to capture others, maintaining a facade of extreme positivity, politeness, and determination so as to not bother anyone. And, while she hides it, Tohru just gets worse after losing her mother. She becomes dedicated to preserving her feelings about her mother as is, refusing to move on much as Akito also refuses to move on from the curse and what her father wanted. Then comes the beach house reveal, where Tohru learns that Akito plans to take away her new family, even locking up the one most precious to her. Tohru tells herself that she’s going to break the curse for the freedom of the zodiac and cat, but she is also, in a way, doing it to keep herself from being abandoned. Later this feeling changes to become more focused on preventing the loss of Kyo himself, something which Tohru doesn’t want to admit. Tohru is a truly good and kind person and does want to help, yes, but also some part of her is doing this to keep the ones she loves by her side, understandably as she is a teen that recently lost the person she revolved her whole life around. But it comes to a point that you have to realize: Akito and Tohru are both motivated by the same thing, they just present it in wildly different ways. I don’t think that I have to explain how exactly their behavior foils eachother, the more worldly and modern Tohru acting on radical kindness and acceptance and thinking she deserves nothing while the sheltered, traditional Akito uses manipulation and fear to get what she thinks she is entitled to. It’s very apparent, but just gets even spicier in the context of how similar they are. Another parallel is in Tohru’s mom picture vs Akito’s father box, both relics of their dead and favorite parent that they are extremely protective of and treat almost like it is their deceased parent. Early in the series Tohru is seen carrying around a photo of her mom which she talks to, something which seems pretty harmless, until we consider how terrified she is every time she thinks she’s lost it, even going as far as to refer to it as if it were her mother. Notably, it barely shows up in the second half of the series, as she reluctantly drifts away from her mom and towards Kyo. In this later part of the series, we are introduced to Akito’s box, which she (semi, it’s complicated) thinks contains her father’s soul. Akito’s box is shown in a much darker light, from how the reveal of what it us to her is framed to how cruelly she reacts when it’s being stolen. Akito’s box is to Tohru’s photo what their owners narratively are to eachother: a dark mirror.

Ok, and now for the reason that I think it was important to bring all these parallels up first: because as you cannot understand Tohru and Akito as enemies without understanding their differences, you cannot understand them as friends without knowing their similarities. While it is easy to write off Tohru reaching out to Akito as just another case of Tohru being Tohru, that does a disservice to the full picture. I’ve seen around in the fandom that a good deal of people seem to think Tohru trying to befriend her is just Tohru being overly kind and forgiving, and this is something I think ties back a bit to some early fandom misconceptions about Tohru. Bear with me for a second, this is going to be a bit of a tangent but it ties back. It’s died down some now, but in the early Furuba fandom it was very common to just think of Tohru as a pretty flat nice girl doormat character, which besides misogyny is probably partially the fault of the 01 anime, which cuts off before we get to see more of Tohru’s insecurities and tones down what we do see (also, in the case of the relationship I’m talking about, 01 ads in that God awful end confrontation that I despise for being everything that I’m about to argue the ACTUAL confrontation that I like is not). Manga Tohru is a very subtle character, she hides a lot of her feelings behind a perpetually happy front which doesn’t start to let slip until later. And, since it’s later on in the manga which went unadapted for years and is mixed in with a bunch of crazy stuff, I think Tohru’s quiet development is often somewhat overlooked. For example, early series Tohru is very well known for the speeches she gives to the zodiac when she first meets them, speeches that, importantly, always tie back to things that her mom said. Tohru’s worldview back then revolved completely around Kyoko, so it’s probably a bit of a thing that in the later story, when Tohru draws ever nearer to the realization that she must move on, she does not give her mom speeches anymore? As opposed to the early story, when it was pretty much back to back character intros, in the late story Tohru notably only gets to befriend two new Sohmas: Isuzu and Akito. Notably, she doesn’t quote her mom either time, these are both people that she can relate to on some of her more hidden issues, and she shows a more personal side of her emotions in her turning point confrontations with them than she did earlier. It is especially important to realize that, in her confrontation on the cliff, Tohru is deciding that she is willing to go against her mom. Early series Tohru was a front anyways, and is a different Tohru from the one that finally gets through to Akito. I was using it as an example, but the evolution of Tohru’s befriending confrontations will be important later. Furthermore, there is the perception of Tohru as a doormat. Listen, Tohru may be very kind and polite, but one of her defining characteristics is being very determined and strong willed when need be. This is something that is especially relevant to her interactions with Akito. From the first meeting outside the school, Tohru knows to be wary of Akito and even breaks politeness and shoves her when she senses that Akito is making Yuki uncomfortable. This sets up immediately that Tohru can and will stand up to Akito. This is driven in even farther at the beach house, when Tohru, after again physically getting between Akito and a zodiac, decides that she will directly go against all of the Sohma family’s centuries of tradition and Akito herself to break the curse. There’s even a cute moment when, upon remembering Akito telling her not to, Tohru just decides to meddle even harder. Tohru, while polite about it, does not like Akito and puts herself in direct opposition to her. Tohru does not originally want to be Akito’s friend, or to have anything to do with her. The cliff scene is not just Tohru befriending someone because she just is over forgiving and loves everyone (an argument can be made that she still goes to easy on Akito, but it’s in line with how the narrative treats her too so that’s another conversation), there was a specific reason both that she chose to try to get through to Akito and that it actually worked. Up until their big confrontation, Tohru still thinks of Akito as a threat, and while she has gotten more information that shakes up her view of Akito, she still doesn’t understand her well enough to see her as much more than an obstacle. Then Akito barges into her yard when she’s just been rejected, crying and confessing how terrified she is of being abandoned, of things changing, and Tohru just goes still, eyes wide in shock. And she realizes: her and Akito have been afraid of the same thing the whole time. This is when Tohru decides to try to reach out to her. Because Tohru, on a deep level, sees Akito because of their similarities. She calls Akito out on her insecurities, and Akito reacts badly, accusing Tohru of being “dirty” and trying to condescend. Tohru partially rebukes this, not trying to hold herself above Akito as pure and righteous, but instead confessing her own fears of abandonment and change in an attempt to empathize with Akito.

At this part of the story, Tohru is fully coming into the realization that, in order to live her life, she needs to stop clinging to this idea of an “unchanging” relationship with her mom, something that scares her quite a bit. She realizes that, while she saw the flaws in Akito’s “eternity” and tried to destroy it, she had not been as perceptive with herself, clinging to that same notion. Tohru is an incredibly repressed character, especially in regards to emotions she thinks of as “dirty,” and she is showing a remarkable amount of vulnerability in this scene. Another thing to note about Tohru is that she, in her immense repression, will often process her own issues through other people. We see this throughout the story, from her showing grief over her mom by crying for Momiji and his mom to her projecting her fear of losing Kyo onto Kureno and Arisa. So then, it’s quite something to consider that the last Sohma she befriends is the one most emblematic of the issues she keeps locked up tightest? That as she’s speaking to her she’s deciding to move forward from her own fears? In a way, could accepting Akito be a symbol of Tohru accepting what she thinks are the darker parts of herself? Akito is also coming to a realization about moving on, acknowledging that the zodiac curse is coming to an end and that everything she believes is a lie, and she is absolutely distraught about it. But Tohru, in a way that nobody else does, understands Akito, and wants Akito to be her friend. Not out of pity or reverence, but a desire for solidarity. And this is the very reason why Tohru was actually able to get through to Akito. As we see with Kureno before he gets stabbed and Momiji at the beach house and when his curse breaks, it’s not like people haven’t kindly tried to get through to her before.

Of course, the reason it worked for Tohru can also be partially chalked up to the fact that Akito herself has come a long ways in personal realizations to the point that there’s just some things she can’t deny anymore, but that’s not all. Akito tends to react very negatively to what she sees as condescension, she thinks people want to try to pick her apart and see how she ticks just so they can look down on her, so they can see her as lesser. She thinks Tohru is trying to condescend too at first, especially since she perceives Tohru as this holier than thou saint wannabe. Fascinatingly, Akito’s view of Tohru is incredibly similar to that early fandom idea of Tohru as an angelic mary sue, and she hates her for it. She thinks that Tohru is trying to be like this and is seen as such, and that she (Akito) is the only who can see that Tohru is wrong somehow.

But Tohru rejects this notion of a pure her that both the fandom and her early self tried to project, presenting herself as flawed and human and purposefully trying to not put herself on a pedestal above Akito. She makes it very clear that she’s not trying to condescend, she is the same way (well, sorta) and she gets it. Notably, after this point Akito doesn’t accuse her of looking down on her, instead freaking out temporarily because of how much Tohru called her out before venting about her fears to her. And, while, partially due to outside circumstances, it does take Akito a bit longer to accept her offer of friendship, she legitimately manages to get through to her very soon after this point. If Tohru had tried one of her early series mom speeches on Akito, or just tried to blindly accept her without understanding, it would not have worked. Akito would have just written it off or reacted badly and left it there. But because Tohru tried to befriend Akito out of understanding as an equal it actually worked. You can’t separate Akito and Tohru’s parallels and their eventual friendship because one aspect is integral to the other.

A connected aspect of their relationship that I see talked of very little but is actually a pretty strong undercurrent is that of equality and power. To explain this, we have to look at Akito for a bit. Throughout her life, pretty much everyone around Akito has either put her on a pedestal or looked down on her. This is something that not only greatly damaged the way she thinks of herself and others, but has given her an intensely hierarchical view of relationships. We even see this notion clearly take form for her in the black paint scene, where she decides that Yuki, who she’d previously seen as the same as her, has to be lesser or else she will become useless. From the moment Akito was born she was “God,” an existence above everyone else. Even her own father only seems to give her affection for being God, and when he dies and she takes his place as the head of the family she is just elevated even farther at an extremely young age. The only people (she thinks) she’s close to are the zodiac, and the curse itself puts an inherent power dynamic into that relationship that can only be overcome with its undoing. Akito clings to her power, to her rank in the hierarchy, all the while the very thing she desperately upholds has made her the real outsider. Akito, who does everything in the name of belonging, was always alone from the start. As Tohru points out, as long as she is above the group she cannot be a part of it.

Simultaneously, and almost contradictory to the pedestalization and power dynamic aspect, Akito is extensively coddled and pitied. A lot of the older adults around her treat her almost like a crotchety, spoiled child. A child who is coddled to the point of never being given any reprimand or instruction on just how to behave like a functional human being until things have gone far too far. Then you have cases like Kureno, who seems to still see Akito like a kid, pretty much just coddles her as a job, and only stays because he pities her. This leads to a strange dual sided dynamic in multiple cases, where Akito is seen as someone’s better and has more power but is also being looked down upon in a way too. Akito has never in her life been seen and treated as an equal, so it’s pretty important when it is made clear that Tohru tries to befriend her as an equal. After all this time, Tohru, an outsider that is not under Akito’s control, who can hold her ground in a challenge against her, is finally the one to meet her on the same level. There’s this page that I adore that symbolizes this idea really nicely. It opens on a panel of Akito sitting a distance away from the zodiac who are all having fun together, a motif we’ve already seen a few times, but this time Tohru sits down right next to her.

This page comes at a critical moment, when Tohru is offering her hand in friendship to Tohru, it’s Akito realization of what Tohru is trying to do. Later on, we get Akito narrating what this page was showing, which I think I just need to put in:

We also see a bit of their conversation after they reunite in the hospital later, where Tohru again denies that she is better than Akito. Now, I think both the Tokyopop and Yen Press translations of this scene are a bit weird, the Tokyopop version uses the word “pretty” (confusing) while the Yen Press uses “kind” (don’t think that’s the best word). However one time I saw like a Malaysian english release in the half price books that used “pretty on the inside” and I like that best so I’ll just pretend that’s it.

I think this scene is interesting because it could seem like they’re just talking about morality but that’s not it. This is, once again, Tohru pretty explicitly trying to stop the creation of any sort of hierarchy between her and Akito. It’s not about right or wrong, Tohru know very well that Akito’s done things wrong and actively worked to stop her, it’s about not wanting them to be put on some sort of different rank based on morality and Tohru understanding Akito enough to empathize with the fact that (wrong or no) Akito was really hurt by Tohru and they won’t get anywhere if they don’t acknowledge that. Furthermore, I’ve already talked a bit about it already, but I think the way that Tohru asserts that she gets what Akito’s feeling and thinks she herself is “dirty” during their confrontation is relevant here too. She is, again, presenting herself as someone on the same level who understands Akito and is not being nice out of pity. This then leads to the page I talked about before which is again, Akito realizing this! This is a huge moment for her, someone who has had all of her relationships messed up by inequality and has no idea how to have a normal relationship, who is having a breakdown because she thinks that because of this it’s too late for anyone to love her, to have someone who understands her and wants to meet her on the same level. Even if she tries to deny it and shift blame, at this point Akito has realized that the zodiac bond is not what she thought and that she has been acting horribly. The groundwork is already there for Akito to have a change of heart, especially considering that a lot of her horribleness stems from legitimate extreme ignorance and her obsession with the bond so once she’s snapped out of that… The main thing that’s holding her back past that is that she’s panicking and cannot see a way forward. So then when there’s someone who actually gets where she’s coming from instead of just tolerating her and is offering her the sort of friendship that she’s never gotten to have of course she’d go for it! Tohru Honda has proven Akito wrong in ever way and, in the end, she even proves her wrong on her greatest fear: that she can only be wanted because she’s God. Because of Akito’s specific issues, nothing could have been more powerful for her than someone coming to her as an equal. Again, the piece about why Tohru could get through to her. It just wouldn’t be the same if Tohru didn’t have a reason to want Akito around or if she somehow saw Akito as below her, the very core of their relationship is the destruction of hierarchies. From the beginning Tohru has been trying to destroy the hierarchy of the zodiac, and when it comes down to it she does not take Akito’s spot at the top, but decides to stand beside her and the zodiac instead. Early in the series we see Akito trying to have some power over Tohru through fear, but when the time comes and Akito is pretty much defeated Tohru does not take power as the victor, hoping that Akito joins her instead of being somehow defeated. And at the end of it all this works, and Akito dissolves the zodiac and with it most of her power and her godhood of her own accord.

Despite their relative lack of page time, Tohru and Akito’s relationship has always been something that I come back to. Sure, a lot of that is just sentiment as they meant a lot to me when I was younger, but I think there’s something there. They work amazingly as protagonist and antagonist, contrasting nicely and working as symbols of both sides of the thematic conflict. There’s a palpable tension to their early interactions that makes you both scared and interested to see what happens when these two inevitably have to go head to head. But then, as the story goes on, it seems more and more like they are a tragedy, so similar yet on different sides of the story, fated to have one of them stuck with an unhappy ending brought on by the other.

But, even as dark as it gets, that wouldn’t really be Fruits Basket, would it? In the end, Tohru and Akito’s similarities win out, not their differences. I think it would have been so easy to just make this a story where the sweet heroine “saves” the villain just because, but that is so blatantly not what’s going on. Tohru simply sees herself in Akito, she’s not trying to somehow fix her and nor should she have to, she just wants to be her friend. And then the two manage to overcome their driving fear of moving on, forging new bonds and inspired by their interaction with the other. It’s not like Tohru somehow fixes Akito’s problems, Akito has to do things herself and in fact independence is a big theme of her endgame arc. Tohru simply offered her friendship, and that was enough. There’s a distinction to be made between how Tohru inspires Akito and Tohru somehow “saving” her, because Akito very much has to learn to save herself in the end after a lifetime of pushing her issues onto others. And, as a side note, all this is sort of why it bugs me when people act like Tohru would be like a mom to Akito. First off, Tohru shouldn’t have to be the mom to everyone. And, kind as she is, Tohru is also not a Kureno, she sees and interacts with Akito in a completely different way and their relationships with Akito are one of the big points were Tohru and Kureno differ. Second off, Akito has spent her life coddled and clinging onto anything that she can hold onto as a resemblance of parental affection to a toxic degree. Part of her arc is that she needs to grow out of this, become more independent, and have more balanced relationships. Akito at this point does not want or need to make a mommy figure out of one of her peers, and doing so may in fact be regressive. Sure, she will definitely need a level of guidance going forward, but it would be more beneficial for her to learn from example and under more of a friendly, balanced context coming from multiple people, not one person holding her hand. For all the reasons I’ve gone over in this entire post, I think it is much more meaningful for Akito to have Tohru as what she was canonically presented as in text: someone who sees her as an equal. The whole point of their relationship is, again, the defiance of hierarchies, something which I think is often sorely overlooked even though it is very openly there in text. And that, in part, is why I think their relationship is so powerful to me. Beyond hero and villain, right or wrong, or any story roles, it’s about two girls finding solidarity and friendship on a very personal, human level. This is Akito for the first time being seen not as this distant, untouchable male deity or some pitiful being, but as a flawed, hurt human girl who is nonetheless capable of change and being loved. This is Tohru coming out of hiding, presenting her flawed, terrified human self to someone she saw as an enemy. Fruits basket is, in part, a story about friendship and defeating systems of power and abuse. Even in a messy third act that muddles its themes at times by weighing character endings too heavily on het romantic love, especially in regards to the women (Hello Rin, Machi, Uo, ect.), Tohru and Akito stand out as a friendship that is given a huge amount of narrative weight. It just feels nice that, in a story that often focused on the power of relationships between women only to ditch all that and focus primarily on their relationships with men, these two girls are one of the driving forces of the endgame. The curse didn’t get broken by romantic love, but by the friendships everyone made along the way, including Tohru and Akito. Tohru has gotten it to this point, and now Akito just needs to bring it to a close and finally end things. At the very beggining, before this all started, all the cat wanted was for the God was to move forward and live as a person among the humans, and, finally, a long time later that wish was granted. The tale of the zodiac gets its happy ending not by a villain being defeated, but by the power of friendship and solidarity between women.

#fruits basket #akito sohma #tohru honda #fruits basket spoilers #meta

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carneflower13 · 2 years

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A4, A6, B4, B5, C1, C14, F5, F10 for the yakuza ask game :)

let's fucking gooooooooo

A4: Favorite Antagonist(s)?: Hmmmmmmm...I really, really do appreciate Sagawa as a villain. You never really seem to know what exactly is going on in his head...he's just so casual about everything he does and that makes him terrifying. He’s absolutely a shitty person but he’s probably the most well-written Yakuza villain I’ve seen so far so I have a great deal of appreciation for him. I also like Nishiki as a villain too, but that's largely because I liked him as a good guy first. The scene where he slicks his hair back with blood has got to be in my top 10 favorite Yakuza scenes (so far). Does Nishitani count as an antagonist? Because he's a super fun character and I adore his relationship with Majima. It really is a shame they kill him off so quickly after you meet him. :(

A6: Favorite side character(s)?: Assuming “side characters” means “non-villain characters who aren’t playable,” I like Tachibana, Makoto, Haruka, Reina, Nishida, Yuki, Lee, and Kashiwagi.

B4: Who would you like to post more about but you don’t? Why don’t you?: Probably Tachibana? Idk. He’s a very cool character and I love him a lot, but there isn’t usually a ton of content of him in the fandom. I also don’t really know what to really say about him that hasn’t been said a million times already. I usually just endlessly rotate him in my mind.

B5: Which character do you think you would bump heads with most if you knew them in real life?: Hm. It’s probably a cheap answer, but probably any of the antagonists. Also, maybe Kazama? I love and appreciate Nishiki more than he ever did, so we’d probably argue about how useful he is.

C1: What was the most infuriating moment?: Probably watching Nishiki have to put up with everyone treating him like absolute shit in Kiwami. Honestly, I can’t even blame him for going apeshit because of all that. He didn’t even do anything wrong before he became evil...he just wanted to be a good patriarch! He just wanted to save his sister! But I’ll never understand why no one even gave him a real chance after Kiryu went to jail. At least all his suffering leads up to that amazing “Nishiki covered in blood” scene I mentioned earlier. ALSO. When Kuze’s henchman dude (I forget his name and I’m not gonna bother to look it up because he’s annoying as hell) gets mad at Tachibana and kills him. Fuck that dude!!

C14: What dynamic would you like to see more of?: I really wish we would’ve gotten more interaction between Majima and Nishitani. The scenes we did get are great, but I wanted to see them being besties! They should’ve gone to save Makoto together! There should’ve been an option for you to take Nishitani to karaoke and disco with you! Nishitani probably would still have to die at some point since it factors into Majima’s character development, but I firmly believe that they killed such an interesting and fun character off a little too early. Also, I think we should’ve seen Majima and Nishiki interacting at least once in Kiwami. Idk.... I think there’s potential there.

F5: What would the first five pictures in your camera roll be of?: God....I don’t know lol. I don’t even really take a lot of pictures of stuff in real life lmao. I’m definitely getting a picture of the Sotenbori crab though.

F10: Who would be your kyodai?: I want to say Majima, but honestly I don’t know if he’d like me that much in real life ;w; Maybe Nishiki? Sorry Kiryu.... I’m stealing your kyodai lol. Nishiki (at least pre-Kiwami Nishiki) is such a bro. I’d be very grateful to have someone like him as my kyodai, and I think we’d get along quite well! :)

#jess speaks #answered asks #yakuza #thanks for sending these!!

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captainkurosolaire · 3 years

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Things I Like RP Partners to Know

I like to be called: Captain, Kuro, Zach, Degenerate, w/e. I'm typically not nerved by really anything, mostly chill. (Went in-depth and tagged below cut)

One thing you should know about me: I really just write for passion anymore, I don't care about this whole Post+ stuff, it won't play a factor in me. Tumblr has really everything that allows me to write and further myself. However, it ever goes away, even if becomes Myspace 2.0, I'll probably still maintain writing here off and on in spurts. --Now if they shut-down, I might convert over somewhere that's identical, cause Twitter couldn't handle my girth. I'm mildly autistic and suffer from a few other conflicting health aliments, writing is my obsessiveness and remedy. Used to be gaming, but I became less of a gamer, and replaced it more for writing cause It's a place where I can contain and throw all my thought's to usage. My mind overlaps with so much thing's at once, I get side-tracked, misplacement, my concentration shifts horribly, before I know it, I haven't slept for twenty-four hours or more. Lot of stuff is just me being redundant by fault. Or I become overwhelmed with a story ideas, that impulsively takes me, but majority of my best thing's are sudden. Not the one's that are ever planned. But I don't live to make excuses never care to be defined, by one thing, or person. I don't aim to attain much of anything in life but be a better me, until my end. And by analyzing your mind, you can do or achieve a lot I've discovered. So I repetitively no matter what jog down my WIP's and unleash, or my errors, I put them all on badges displays, then I go back and repeat until I show progress. That's how I have to learn. But passion is a candle, so when it burn's out I lose a lot of what I learned, it's natural after that to be discouraged, but instead, for me, that gets me going again. Cause mean's I can come at thing's with a whole new mental perspective and different flow, then compare, and again, adapt and improve. One thing you should know about RPing with my character(s): Everything is a factor and story with me. Losses, they matter. My character originally was highly killable almost every session, but advanced due to the actions of others, because of them, he found the value of his own life, and that's how I like to do my characters. Even the win's my character gets from stories, will most likely have a 'bad ending' occasionally or result into something new sprouting from it eventually, however that doesn't define at-all how permanently it effects them. But seasonally they go through their struggle. Life for real, is up and down's, these are the component's I factor in. Realistically, sure we fall. We never truly decline unless we allow it. Our character's philosophies, their mental judgement, dislikes, etc, all these thing's become ingrained they decide how much they want too fight and live, they step to improve or sometimes stumble under roadblocks, but not truly devolve. So the more people he interacts with or meets and encounters in RP, they are factors, they're meaningful to meet again, or live, their short teachings are insightful. No matter how small or large or incomplete stories went or passed-by. I created a character who was filled in by others initially. Even one-shot smuts, they're important experiences. Lot more to appreciate when your character learns on their own how to surpass their weaknesses and suffering organically. Still do RP with others but typically I do collaborations, or pre-established or short things, or Discord, one-shot in-game stuff, screenshot things that can convey RP. Want to build this Crew as their own functioning characters, not so much minor throwaways, but shippable, and highly in-depth. Essentially building an optional anime for my partner's, one-day. Long-term with me right now just isn't something I'd ever ask or expect from me. I'm too jumbled and a mess. But it's not a never, I do have two people who are among all my stuff and involved. I'd include anyone in my stories too if they wanted partaken. First language: Gibberish / English. Age range: under 13 | 14–17 | 18–22 | 23–25 | 26–29 | 30+ | 40+ | 70+ Am I okay with NSFW?: yes |

no | some nsfw I came solely off that, my reputation, was known as 'That ERP guy' on Balmung OG day's, I'm one of the degen's from that era. But character's evolve and adapt as do their people, they become more, but maintain their origins to degree. Those perspective's and things learned from NSFW are very paramount to a lot of SFW too. My favorite/most common thing to RP is: angst | fluff | smut | crack | action | plots | AUs are fine | Violence | Darker themes | I dunno. * I'm pretty open-ended in all things. It's all fascinating for me to attempt at improving. Reason finally pulled the trigger and made a diverse Crew for Captain was give off different interactions and also more reason's to write beyond my usual trends. I'll tackle eventually every genre... now doesn't mean I'll excel in those fields more than my specialties, but I'll do it. Canon Character RP Friendly?: yes | no | depends * I stick with the sandbox but I'll stretch out all the space and limits of it. Building skyscrapers and UFO's with that sand, just happens that this Universe has magic, science, alchemy, holograms, all-around unlimited absurd possibilities, more than even D&D, which makes this game the best to RP within. When comes to interacting with anything Canon base, It'll always dwarf me though. Most likely I'll write my own legit WoL's, thinking of making an 'antagonist' one, but more 'protagonist too' (maybe hunk viera male?) I like making construed lines between characters, that's really complex, it's avidly up to a reader to decide who's in the right or wrong or if they're rooting for the villain or good-guy. I see most lore characters as Celebrities which my character would be rightfully cultured in, and they're untouchable, least for my characters. To me the source of what, who, or with you're writing is what determines a lot. But yeah RPing with anything Canon related, I switch to being a just minor gnat. And there's going to be a lot of consequences, that come if there's anything that does effect something that matters in the Universe. Just cause my pirate is causing havoc and having fun for now, doesn't mean law's don't catch-up or something else doesn't. Cause and effect always. RP blog: does contain ooc posts | doesn’t contain ooc posts | occasionally contains ooc* I would do more OOC if did asks, or inbox related things and was wanted, but outside occasional updates, I stick to my role. That's just write stories and screenshots and practice everything. I'm thankful for anyone who does enjoy anything I share or supports me, It's what brings me back faster and I do always think of you too when I want to get better, it's uplifting and inspiring, alongside boosting. If I do bring any motivation to anything, I do. Then that's the best payment I could get. I like seeing others thrive, or soar higher than me, and unleash their creativity. Tagged by:@spotofmummery (Thank ye my treasured friend!) Tagging anyone/everyone: @roguestly @scholarlybreadbun @under-the-blood-moonlight @lettersnorth @violet-warder @lukawarrioroflight @eligos-venator @corpse-dancer @silvernsteel @silvertail-ffxiv @roxinova @lavender-hemlock @fracturedfantasia @zhauric @fair-fae @avwalya @yuki-yukichan @crow-iv @cadrenebula @spellsandtales @casualcatte @seascrapes @mishivymendi @thorcat @aqueerfishtheyis @ljoturyalre @seabound-dragoon @scornedjustice @laylahcousland @layla-grey @moonstruck-ffxiv @snow-covered-moon (Apologies if missed anyone. If there's more who'd like to be tagged again on all these type of things, let me know.)

#Thanks for the tag!#answered #memes answered #mun picture just optional you can use muse btw #I just haven't gone inform in longtime #Or done these #Prompts

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kulemii · 3 years

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hullo! for the rgg questions, may i ask for A13, B4, C6, D9 and F10? sorry if that's too many!!

Not at all!

A.13) Favorite minigame(s)?

Too damn many lol. Everyone's just like, 'well ya can't go wrong with karaoke' and while I agee, I've gotta admit that I really only enjoyed karaoke in y0. I don't maybe because of the Majima and Nishiki? Maybe because of the UI? Idk, all I know is y0 is the only game where I couldn't get enough of it.

All time fave though? The fucking cabaret minigames in y0 and kiwami 2. Amazing gameplay! The music???? I wannnaaaa be your girlll oohoooooo. Or, WHERE IS MYYY LOVE!!!! I CANNOT FIND TI!!!!!! BOPS! BOPS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER! The girls??!?!?!?! Every single one of them??? I fell in love! LOVED THEM! My favorite girls were from y0 tho- Ai, Yuki, Saki, Hibiki. BUT KANA IS MY FUCKING WIFE!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved her so much! I was happy to see her in the next game. Despite the retcon.

The disco minigames were a blast a well! I sucked at them but they were a good time. Love to break away from all the bloodshed and tears to go bust a groove in my local Maharaja. Fantastic fun.

Dance battles in Y5?!?!??!? THE MUSIC????!??!??!? BOPS!!!!! BOPS ALL AROUND!!!!!! Wildly entertaining!

The taxi shit was fun too and hell, I even enjoyed hunting in Saejima's part. And I know a bunch of folks aren't gonna like this one but I really liked the Live Chatting in y6. It gave me some good laughs and I liked seeing Kiryu perving out on the internet lol. Fucking sue me, idc.

B.4) Who would you like to post more about but you don’t? Why don’t you?

Majima, most definitely! I don't because I think, I've said this somewhere here before, I feel like Majima tags are oversaturated to a degree. I know the word 'oversaturated' has a seeming negative connotation but I don't necessarily mean that in an insulting way. I just feel like, everything that can be said about Majima has been said to death and no one needs my input at this point.

C.6) If you could revive any deceased character, who would it be and why?

Nishiki. Nishiki's story began in a time where the writers felt the only way to end an antagonist's story was to kill them off and I don't think that was necessary. They're fucking yakuza- send their asses to jail sometimes! Shit. Granted, Yakuza 1 didn't have a very in depth version of Nishiki. When I met Nishiki, I was playing y0, so seeing the way his relationship with Kiryu slowly crumbled killed me and so did seeing him crumble. I would have loved for him to have survived and then get to have a redemption arc. Hell, Kiryu accepted Hamazaki- I'm sure he could do the same for his childhood friend and sworn brother.

D.9) Any hot takes? (Something that might not win ya any new friends)

Answered here, my friend! Warning, it's extra spicy.

F.10) Who would be your kyodai?

Omg, I think hate this question and I'm the bitch that came up with it lol. Um, probably Nishiki. (aww shit, here we go again) I would have loved to have been the support system he needed while Kiryu was away. I really think that with the right support, the right guidance and acceptance, Nishiki's story would have turned out different. And for the better. And I don't mean this in a shippy way either. The poor guy was just a lost punk that wanted to be seen beyond his brother's shadow. I'd give my right tit, to have been that for him (no smushing, i promise).

#rgg ask game

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ineedglasses · 4 years

Text

VK Character Analysis: Shizuka Hiou

Once in high school, an old friend who also read VK asked me who my favorite character was, and when I said Shizuka, she was shocked. Now her favorite was Zero, and she thought I hated Zero since I liked Shizuka, his enemy.

That is not true, I don’t hate Zero. For some reason, some Zero fans seem to think anyone that likes Shizuka hates Zero. There is NO correlation between liking Shizuka and hating Zero. Some people love them both, while some people hate them both.

Anyway, my friend seemed appalled when I told her my fav character and she asked me why. At that age I wasn’t the most articulate or the most patient, so I simply told her, “just because.” So, now that I have free time and because her question had bothered me for a while, I decided I should write down my thoughts on why I love Shizuka.

XXX

First of all, Shizuka was NOT actually insane.

Medically speaking, “insanity” is associated with conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. There is no indication in the manga or anime that she exhibited any signs or symptoms of those diseases, such as hallucinations or delusions.

The regular definition of insane is to exhibit a severely disordered state of mind or to be affected with mental illness. Even by this definition, Shizuka was not insane.

She was aware of her actions and of what is right and what is wrong. The only time she can be considered “insane” is right after her lover was killed, when she was so overcome by grief and anger she could not think straight and focused on revenge without stopping to think who the real enemy was (cough, Rido). And in that state of severe emotional turmoil she went after the Kiryuus. But I do not think that can be considered true insanity, because it was a onetime occurrence.

Shizuka knows that she was wrong to kill the Kiryuus, because they were simply following orders and doing their job, and also because the real mastermind behind her lover’s death was Rido. She even acknowledges that her actions in regard to the Kiryuu parents and Zero were “sinful”, whereas a truly crazy person probably is unable or unwilling to admit that. If anyone were actually insane in VK, it would probably be Rido.

XXX

Secondly, she did NOT attack the Kiryuus out of a random whim or desire to do evil things.

All readers should already know this, since Hino explicitly states that Shizuka was motivated by revenge. Shizuka ONLY went after the Kiryuus because they wronged her first.

They killed her ex-human, the only person she ever loved. Hunters are only supposed to kill crazed level E’s and vampires that have harmed humans, but her lover was none of that. He should not have been killed by those standards.

But the Kiryuus were simply following orders without question, and killed someone they shouldn’t have, and thus they were killed in return.

For hunters, being killed by vampires seeking revenge is not a shocking end. Even Zero’s mom mentioned that, when they were packing, saying they should move soon so vampires do not find out where they lived. People who kill tend to get killed too, that’s just the reality of that sort of life. Zero’s parents were not normal, innocent civilians, they were people that killed vampires for a living. Thus, I don’t think Shizuka killing them is so shocking and unforgivable. I can understand why she attacked the Kiryuus, although it is still wrong (because hate breeds more hate, and the idea of an eye for an eye is not good).

What was truly unforgivable was that Shizuka turned Zero into a vampire, to hurt his parents as much as she can. This is where she went too far in her vengeance because children are innocent, it was only the parents that should be punished. And yes, I acknowledge that these actions are bad, even if I am her fan, I am not blind to her flaws.

Anyway, Shizuka would never have bothered crossing paths with the Kiryuus if they had never killed her lover.

XXX

Thirdly, although she was an antagonist in the story, she had her own moral code. She was not evil, and rather more of a neutral grey, and I appreciate characters like that.

She wasn’t like Rido, who used even his own son as a tool, and who did not care for anyone. Shizuka cared for Ichiru, despite the fact that he was her enemy’s son. She felt a sort of kinship with him because they were both alone and had nowhere to go. She gave him her own blood and flesh and refused to turn him the whole time they were together, even when she was dying, because she knew he would have been in more danger if he was a vampire instead.

Ichiru understood that she genuinely cared for him, because even when he was dying, he asked Zero to not hate her, even if Zero can’t forgive her.

Shizuka also kept her promise to Maria and gave the sickly girl her blood to make her better (in comparison, Rido just took over Senri’s body without asking for permission or giving him anything in return).

And thus Shizuka is a sympathetic villain, and Hino points that out in the interlude chapter where Ichiru comments how Shizuka was “beautiful even as she was dying”, in contrast to Rido, who Kaname once referred to as “the dregs of an ugly obsession.”

Even Kaname felt sympathy for her, because when he killed her, he didn’t just let her drop to the floor but caught her and laid her down carefully on the floor. He also assured her that he would not let her life be wasted, and that he would definitely end Rido.

XXX

And finally, she was a very tragic character, a victim of circumstances herself.

(This is her history, taken straight from her character profile in the official fan guide)

Shizuka was locked up in a cage as soon as she was born, because apparently some members of the Hio clan had also gone berserk before.

(On a side note, I doubt the Hious had a genetic defect leading to mental illness, it was probably a circumstantial thing, like how Rido most likely started off sane but life took directions that pushed him off the edge towards the end. After all, they are purebloods and their genes are supposed to be flawless. And Rido…I have so many thoughts about that dude, but I will save them for another post.)

Hino never stated how old Shizuka was, but since we know that Rido, Haruka, and Juri are “over 3000” according to the guidebook, she is probably around that age. If we treat the Fleeting Dreams novel as canon, then Shizuka is probably even younger than Juri, because Rido mentions that Shizuka was still “a tiny child” when his parents kept Juri away from him and engaged him to Shizuka instead. So, I assume that Shizuka spent almost 3000 years, her whole life, locked up in a cage with barely any company, except maybe the occasional visitor (like how child Kaname visited her once).

3000 years is a long, long time. To put it into perspective, the USA as a country is roughly 250 years old. So she was locked in a cage, all by herself for the timespan it would take 12 USAs to rise and fall. It is really a wonder how she did not actually go crazy and end up more damaged than she was!

Besides the tragedy of having her freedom taken away, no one loved or cared about her, something mentioned by both Maria and the guidebook. Shizuka herself commented that she was envious of Yuki, who had been cherished, unlike her.

(A bit of a tangent, but I am quite curious what happened to Shizuka’s parents. Why did they just let her be locked up? It is very irresponsible to bring a child into the world if you aren’t going to bother taking care of it. And it seemed she had family members because Kaname later on killed the head of the Hio clan. IDK what her familial relationship with that particular Hio man was, but she seemed to have been neglected by her own clan.)

Anyway, everyone probably treated her warily, like a bomb that might explode at any time. She was basically an outcast. Take for example how Aidou says it is unlucky to even mention her.

If there was someone besides her dead lover, Ichiru, and Maria, who did not treat her with suspicion or fear, it was probably Rido, and he certainly did not treat her well either. Ichiru mentions that Rido was the one who imprisoned her and changed the hunter list. Based on that, I assume Rido directly ordered her locked up, or used his influence with the Senate to have them lock her up. Either way, the dude had something to do with it.

Besides locking her up, Rido most likely treated her poorly, him being the way he is. His main issue with her is that she refused to become obedient like Senri’s mom. And IDK about the rest of you, but whenever a man says he wants to make a woman “obedient”, I get bad vibes. He probably did some shady and questionable things in his attempts to make her docile.

If Shizuka had been engaged to someone else other than Rido, someone more normal, like Isaya, her life would probably have been more bearable. Although Rido did not want her because he was unhealthily obsessed with Juri, he had to ruin Shizuka’s life and happiness instead of just letting her be. He did that out of some petty reasoning, basically “If I can’t be happy, you can’t be happy either”. His decision to put her lover on the execution list led to many tragedies.

This man is really the root of all evil in VK, LOL.

XXX

Finally, after all those centuries of loneliness, Shizuka met someone who treated her well, for the first time. Thus, her attachment to her ex-human lover was extremely strong, and it made sense why she could not move on, why she was so consumed by revenge. Unlike normal people who can find solace being comforted by friends and family, she doesn’t have that kind of support. And furthermore, she is a pureblood, all of whom have been shown to form extremely strong attachments to the ones they love, and have trouble moving on.

And regarding her lover, we can’t even be sure if he loved her back. Shizuka said that he most likely never forgave her until the end for turning him, and that he never yielded to her, but went with her when she proposed running away together because remaining with her was his only option. Honestly, her lover didn’t seem too happy being with her, or if he did care for her, their relationship was still strained and angsty, not the simple, lovey-dovey relationship Haruka and Juri had.

Overall, her romance was ill-fated, they simply would have never worked out because they were supposed to be predator and prey. I have a feeling that even if the Kiryuus hadn’t been assigned to kill him, she and her ex-human would not have had a happy ending regardless.

Anyway, after Shizuka lost him, she also lost her will to live. She only hung on to life out of the desire to kill Rido, but she wasn’t even seriously trying. Her biggest desire was to die, and we can see that in how she didn’t bother resisting when Kaname killed her. When she laid on the floor dying, she looked the most peaceful she had ever been. Later on, Maria (mistakenly thinking it was Zero who killed her) also commented that Shizuka probably wanted Zero to kill her. Sara also said Shizuka lost her will to live and mentioned how she doesn’t want to become like her.

Finally, Shizuka was definitely tragic, because even Kaname who killed her pitied her, commenting: “It’s sad isn’t it? I wonder if anyone truly understood her.”

I love this character partly because I feel so bad for her. While Zero suffered early on, he eventually got to marry the girl he loved and had a daughter with her. Kaname also got to be with Yuki, had a daughter with her and got to meet both daughters and experience being with family when he was revived. But Shizuka…her whole life was a tragedy, and the only time she was happy was that brief period when she was with her lover. However, the time she spend with him was a tiny drop, almost nothing compared to how long her life was overall.

A lot of characters in VK had sadness in their lives, but her life struck me as the worst. If I had to pick someone to be in VK, it would definitely not be her.

IMO, her life was screwed the moment she got engaged to Rido. Even though she wasn’t crazy, she was still locked up and treated like she was. Her circumstances/fate pushed her to make the choices she did and end up a villain. If fate had been kinder to her, she would not have become a villain at all.

Other reasons I love her are because of how beautiful and elegant she is, how she has an air of mystery and sadness, and how her story just interested me the most.

And I get that other people still hate/dislike her regardless of everything I mentioned, and that is alright. This is not meant to convince people to like her, but to explain why I personally love her. So don’t come at me trying to tell me why she is evil and I should be ashamed for liking her okay? (ง'̀-'́)ง

So! If you ever read this long post, Hazel, now you know why she is my favorite character.ヽ(ಠ_ಠ)ノ

#Vampire Knight #Shizuka Hio #shizuka hiou #zero kiryu #Kaname Kuran #Rido Kuran

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ravenwolfie97 · 4 years

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2020 Art Summary

Yep, it’s 2021 already. 2020 is finally over. It felt like it lasted forever, and it felt like the end would never come, but here we are. Crazy how the time flew by.

I felt like I didn’t get much art done this year because of Current World Event, but I made a lot more than I thought I did. Even some of my new favorite pieces came out of this year, so I think that’s worth celebrating and looking back upon!

I was insanely productive during the first month of 2020, and looking back I was surprised at all the stuff I did, but then I remembered that that winter season was actually one of the best times of my life! I started being more socially involved, and I think my newfound drive at the time translated into all the art I pumped out this month. This is just a small fraction of what I made in January, but I only have so much space. Quite a few complex pieces in both style exploration and polishing my own style.

Apparently February was a rather intimate month. Things began to slow down in terms of my own art here, with me spending more time in social settings and school work ramping up, I didn’t have as much time to coop up in my room to draw. I did wanna do something for a friend’s Valentine’s Day OC art challenge, so I drew my lovey-dovey couple from Dance of 1000 Words havin’ a dance. Nothing actually came of that challenge, but it was fun to do regardless.

One of the things I was most proud of in the winter season was making more friends, and one of the closest friends I made was completely coincidental. I met a person named Kiri on the bus one night I decided to volunteer somewhere by myself, and we ended up chatting and getting along. They quickly told me their tumblr username, and I shot them a message immediately after they left. A couple days later, we met up for brunch, and we started becoming really close friends and creative partners!

Not much else happened in March cuz that’s when Current World Event started becoming an issue, but Kiri and I still kept in close touch and we randomly started developing a concept for a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Galar Edition. These are a handful of characters we thought up, with Skipper the Scorbunny and Dross the Dreepy as the main characters, Morgrem as the main antagonist, and some shopkeepers such as those of the Greedent Bank and the Indeedee General Store. This was also my first time drawing all of these Galar Pokemon (except Scorbunny, but I also made Skipper a bit more unique than a regular Scorbunny).

Lots of events happened this month. First of all, Steven Universe Future ended, one of my favorite and most influential shows was no longer continuing. I had to do something as tribute, both as a send-off to one of the greatest cartoons in the world and as a cathartic release for my feelings towards it.

A while later, I got the opportunity to start playing an MMO in beta called Fer.al, by the same people who made Animal Jam, which coincidentally I had also beta tested for back in the day. I ended up getting really attached to my first character, a Senri I named Sasha, and though I’ve made more characters than them since, they’re still my absolute favorite. Though I haven’t touched the game in a few months, I was really engrossed for a long time and enjoyed playing through the beta and early access phases.

At the end of the month, some friends of mine invited to a roleplay group with some mutuals, and we all played characters in a crime syndicate. Just a bunch of ragtag thieves and criminals who ended up together in order to protect an artifact called the Crown of Thieves, which was essentially a flag to be taken by other groups to prove that they are the best thieves in the land. My character was based heavily on my sona (if it wasn’t obvious) and was also influenced by Cloud Strife, since the FFVII Remake had just come out and I was super into watching the cutscenes at the time. My character’s (code)name is Valkyrie, and they are a mercenary, going between multiple different employers to carry out whatever duties they need to do. They have a more complicated backstory, but presently they were recently hired by recommendation of their friend Shark (played by @shmoots-universe who is also My friend now ily maya) who works with a group called the Court Cards who are currently in possession of the Crown of Thieves. Valk never really had a place to call home, but staying with this group of people had to be the closest they could get to that feeling. They still sleep with a knife under their pillow because of trust issue but that’s okay.

Okay, so technically these examples started in April, but I continued making content with them in May, and the month was just pretty void of art in general, so here I am addressing them.

There were two main things I worked on this month: a Steven Universe AU of my own and the whole #sixfanarts thing that kicked off around then. Let’s start with the fanart bits. I did two and a half of them (six in April and nine in May), and it was so much fun to be able to draw stuff I don’t normally do! My personal favorites are shown here: Blake Belladonna from RWBY, Roll from Megaman, Yuki Konno from Sword Art Online, and Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The other thing I’d been planning for a while was a Steven Universe AU, probably to cope with the show being over but also because I was inspired by a lot of those SU AU artists I started following at the time. I won’t share the details here because it’s gonna have its own blog at some point, but the example I’ve shown here is of a comic I made loosely in order to introduce a divergence in the plot of the story as well as introduce a character unique to my AU. It was a lot of fun figuring out how to draw the characters and get a feel for the style.

As the year progressed, my amount of art I made per month began to dwindle, this time mostly because school was kicking my ass especially hard with finals. However, I took what time I had to get some backburner pieces finished, like the Tigerlily picture which I sketched out a couple months back, and the Gunvolt picture which I started working on SIX YEARS AGO. I don’t quite know why I got the urge to work on it again after so long, but it was nice to finally realize. The other drawing for DOTS was done in the dead of night but I was really happy with how it came out.

Despite only having two summer classes left of school, this month was really rough because they demanded a lot of my time and attention. I did not have the gumption to do anything digital, so I stuck to my sketchbook to get out what I felt like getting out.

My friends and I did a stream of the game Helltaker, and I really enjoyed the concept, so in following my friends I made my own Helltaker demon OC named Raksha the Ravenous Demon (it’s a pun but also got mythical insp). I also got super into Hazbin Hotel at this point, mostly because the Addict music video dropped and I couldn’t get enough of it, so I doodled Angel Dust cuz I felt like it. The other drawing I did was actually a free commission I gave a friend of mine as a prize for a trivia game show I ran back in June. He along with a couple other friends got some free drawings from me for getting the top three scores, and this one in particular was fun because of how interesting it was. He wanted me to draw a video game reviewer called the Irate Gamer from a specific moment, and I decided to go ham and just make it as dramatic as possible.

University classes finally wrapped up and right after that I was in the process of moving out of my apartment and getting adjusted to living with my parents again. I did a couple of agg.io drawing sessions with my friends from the Court Cards group as well as a new Dungeons and Dragons homebrew group I had joined. I drew some more of Valkyrie and came up with a design for my DND character Qakuqtuq (or Kai for short). He is monkey grandpa and I love him.

My main focus was on finishing a polished piece for my friend Cake, whose birthday was in the upcoming month. I wanted it to be as amazing as possible, so I put a lot of time into getting more detailed and making them look good. In addition to that, I did a few TOME doodles just for fun. The creature on the bottom was for this month’s art challenge on my Discord server where we made original TOMERPG monsters, and I created Hundylow, a Crystal-element monster based on the Grindylow from English folklore.

This month was a lot more productive than the past few had been. I tried to do a 31-day art challenge called Creatober but failed to get past the third prompt because I was still swamped with other work. I’m still happy with what little I did, including the piece with my characters Kyle and Guarudan from DSWD.

I don’t remember how, but I also suddenly rediscovered an old Flipnote Hatena series called Tales of LostClan, a Warriors fan series that I would say was the most obscure thing I’ve ever been super invested in. It was what got me into the actual Warriors books, and I liked it so much I redrew the animations into a comic... twice. Didn’t get nearly as far the second time but clearly my love for this little fanfiction had not waned after nearly a decade. I felt like drawing a book cover/movie poster for the series, just to get it out there and see how much I’ve improved over all that time.

Also I felt like making a vampiresona just before Halloween because I never dress up for Halloween in art (or real life anymore, for that matter), and I wanted to do something like that for once. It was short-lived but I really liked the design!

The focus of this month was definitely on Pokemon stuff. As per usual I contributed to the current Gotta Draw ‘Em All collab, and I was tasked to draw Regieleki. It was really fun to figure out how to make it stand out and look like it was made of electricity.

I also committed a lot of my spare time to my Fakemon Gym Leaders, as I had been working on bringing them to life in the past year or so now. As of this post, I’ve finished rendering their full body poses and gym badges, but I’m still working on completing all eight VS portraits, the first half of which are shown here.

I... didn’t draw anything this month, actually. What I’m showing here was worked on in the last few days but has actually been in progress for a couple of months, and I just finished it earlier today, in 2021. But I needed to show something off, and it’s also about time I mentioned it.

Back in October, I kept seeing people rave about this game called Genshin Impact, and I was interested but not so much as to start playing it... until my friends started playing and I was like “fuck it, let’s download it”. Since that day, I have been super immersed and in love with this game, to the point I came up with my own canon based on my gameplay experiences. This also included the creation of an original player character: Astra, the non-binary Traveller. And now, I’ve finally drawn them and brought them to life.

It has been one hell of a year. I had some of the highest highs and lowest lows in 2020, lots of changes, and I have now officially moved onto the next chapter of my life now that my time at university is finally over. I’m very excited for what 2021 has to offer, and I’m going to go forward with great ambition.

#my art stuff #art summary #this is always a joy to do every year and i'm glad to keep up the tradition for the sixth year in a row #this year was super good for this as well just to look back on what i was actually able to accomplish #long post #tome #hazbin hotel

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kamikui · 4 years

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Onmyoji Movie

HI so I watched the Onmyoji Movie based off of the game last night and . . . . that sure was something!

In all honesty despite the weird path they decided to take, I actually enjoyed the movie. The music and detail in the scenery was amazing, I LOVED the costuming for a lot of the background characters esp in the Demon Realm, and a lot of the easter eggs that were hidden were nice.

BUT. but. As someone heavily invested in the lore of the game (especially concerning Ibaraki) how they decided to deal with the movie was like. really confusing. It genuinely felt as if NE gave the directors a cast of characters and let them do what they wanted from there w/o any prior knowledge of the game.

(spoilers down below)

Before I really pry into that though, I’ll kinda note some of the characters.

Seimei/Qingming was actually my favorite. I think this is sort of an unpopular opinion right now, but his characterization was so nice even if it sorta leans into the basic drama hero type personality. In the game Seimei is supposed to be you/the player, and not everyone is going to have the same interpretation of him-- and that’s what the movie felt like, a different interpretation. I will say I didn’t really like them making him related to their version of Orochi. I believe the snakes name was Xiangliu? I can’t remember, but I didn’t see the reason in that.

If anything, keeping him a fox and having a version of Tamamo no Mae popping up to offer advice to help with the situation would’ve been nicer, and that’d keep more of Seimei’s backstory kept in tact-- because asides from him becoming an Onmyoji apprentice at a young age we literally do not know shit about him. And legit I wouldn’t necessarily mind bc it’s a movie, you’re not going to get everyone’s backstory within 2 hrs, but we can’t really get attached to him.

Yao Bikuni/Baini was. Hm. I like her as a character in the movie, but I don’t like where she’s placed as a character in the movie. She’s a Seer? in the game and tbh it should’ve stayed that way, like I honestly can’t see her willingly working for one clan. “But how would she--” In game she is also influenced by Seimei pretty heavily, as in the in game chapters she believed he would be able to kill her. Up until she got manipulated by Orochi, she stuck to his side. With the Stone plot in the movie, if it put him in danger she would be there in order to try and help him, OR, try and pull him to join Orochi if they went that route. And they KINDA tried to hint at it when Seimei “died” with Orochi using her image, but like. come on man. Let Yao be evil for a little bit.

That being said I didn’t like the Master & Shikigami bit with those two, or the implied romance they tried to pull with them. Canonically Seimei legit brushes her off and when shes like “ohhh you’ll kill me right” hes like “lol sure” and thats IT. Literally any form of romance that’s tried at Seimei he brushes it off. he’s not into it he’s an amnesiac.

The “Oh if you become my shikigami you won’t become evil” thing was :/ to me as well because again, canonically, even though Seimei is being taunted he can contain the Kitsune part pretty well even when he wasn’t aware he was kitsune. Like I think the part as a kid was a good bit to add since it’s when he’s first being exposed to Onmyoji type stuff, but like. idk idk I couldn’t vibe with that power dynamic while they were trying to hint romance.

Continuing on with Hiromasa/Yuan Boya and Kagura/Shenle, again considering this is a movie, I’m somewhat content with their characters.

I really liked how energetic this Kagura was, and given they weren’t able to do her actual backstory, I liked the one she was given. Her introduction in the movie was really great too-- and compared to Hiromasa I felt they gave her a little more attention? Which like fine, but not so good for Hiro.

They didn’t even. Discuss his archery skills at any point which was disappointing. The most plot relevance he (and honestly Kagura too) had was finding Seimei while trying to arrest him but that’s it. And yes they showed some of his skill while he was fighting Kamaitachi, but that’s the extent of it. AGAIN i’ll consider the fact this was a movie and they didn’t have enough time to fit EVERYTHING in, but since they gave Yao and Seimei so much attention you would think they’d be able to spare some for the other two protagonists in the game.

Before I leave those two tho I’m still trying to figure out what the fuck happened in the end. Like did hiromasa get promoted in some form? was he given credit for what happened between the demon realm? Why did he separate from Kagura since they got close during the movie? I guess like bc work duties but still. I have no idea tho like i was sitting there not processing a single thing. Regardless I did like Hiro and Kags acting like siblings despite in this canon them not being related (at least it’s never clarified).

Ok so before I dive into the whole mess that is the Cimu/”Ibaraki” character, stuff on side characters.

While I didn’t like the outfits for Sakura(? Momo? Both of them?) or Chocho, I liked the roles that they held as sort of trainers for the rest of Seimeis shikigami. In fact I liked the whole courtyard ordeal in general. I have my own worldbuilding thing that has a similar theme so seeing it being used canonically was pretty nice. I do wish we could’ve seen more SSRs or even SRs though. Like, why couldn’t Aoandon be hanging out in the courtyard to give gossip to Hiro & Kagura? Yamakaze or Shishio hanging out in the forest, or like. bruh even Jikikaeru as the boss in the Showdown considering he runs that in game.

I did like the fish man! I really did, but literally everything about him could’ve been Jikikaeru, I don’t think it’s that hard to make a frog man.

Also as mentioned previously it would’ve been nice to see Tamamo make an appearance considering he makes random ones every now and then. The Mujou Brothers could’ve helped the shikigami when they were escaping Seimeis courtyard, Shiranui could’ve been an entertainer while they were traveling through the demon realm, HAKU??? couldve been one of Seimeis shiki?? literally anyone. They have all these misc characters in the background but barely any of them resemble in game characters.

GOD EVEN KOSODENOTE COULDVE BEEN THERE . . . . at the scene where Kagura was messing with jewelry and clothing . . . Koso couldve been the seller. Aobozu could’ve worked at the shrine . . . . I just. Man.

ANYWAYS . . . pulling from that and going into whatever the hell Cimu is. god.

So according to casting, Cimu is supposed to be Ibaraki. But the thing is. There’s only like. 3-4 Elements about Ibaraki that goes into him. Everything else is Shuten which i honestly find pretty funny?? Take away the homophobic jokes and combine the gay coded character into his love interest. Which I mean that’s better than making them brothers but at what cost.

anyways. Cimu previously being an onmyoji but turning evil -> shuten previously being a monk and turning evil. The design of the hand that Cimu uses as transportation -> SP Shutens design where he sits on two hands. Red hair -> shuten. The horns, eye color (minus scleras), arm getting chopped off, and his ambition to grow stronger are really the only parts of Ibaraki that’s in the character-- and even then you could say Shuten has a similar ambition of growing stronger. It’s just so scuffed.

ALSO IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. literally it doesn’t make sense when you look at the characters.

Why couldn’t they just stick with Kuro Seimei considering the fact that this Ibaraki works with Ootengus and Yuki Onna/The Snow Queen? They could’ve given Seimei a twin brother to work off of this. But like if they really wanted to keep Ibaraki and Shuten, they could’ve made it that Shuten was being manipulated by Orochi and Ibaraki was serving him, because there’s a LOT of shit you could do just with Shuten by himself. Legit no reason to combine the two since they’re BOTH heavily marketed characters.

Legit like, Shuten being controlled, given Ibaraki’s loyalty to Shuten he would most likely follow him no matter what, and even like. Have a form of Momiji to kind of help out-- probably at a heavy expense of Shuten doing something for her, but still. like i LOVED the snow queen, I loved this interpretation of yuki so I wouldn’t want to get rid of her, but they shouldve went with Seimei 2 instead of “ibaraki”. It’s just so much and it doesn’t make sense.

Now orochi himself and how that was handled was like. Okay I guess. If anyone was being talked to through their head at the time it should’ve been Yao Bikuni considering she allies with him in canon at one point. but like whatever. I did think the end was neat where Seimei forced him into becoming his shikigami, like I liked that whole process. Otherwise all antagonists were pretty underwhelming.

I also was not fond of the ending where like Seimei just turns away at the broken bridge. Like does this mean the Demon realm is completely cut off now? just fix the bridge. Also does Seimei just fuck off?? I know theres a scene where he’s standing on the roof but. i dont know.

Regardless the movie was great, I had fun watching it. When ibaraki came in I accidentally paused the movie a couple of times while spamming screenshots. Even tho hes like kinda ugly but that’s ok. There WERE some angles where he was hot as hell but otherwise they did his actor so dirty. The horns were just. God I won’t delve into that bc this post is long as hell BUT. BUT. THE MOVIE WAS GOOD. just not if ure into the lore for the game LMAO.

Ok that’s it for now bye

#Onmyoji #this is so long and probably incomprehensible but these r my thots #tbh i cant wait for the drama that's coming too they teased it but w like. actual outfits from the game #it was seimei and momiji so i think its following in game chapters #i wonder how they'll end it tho since those chapters arent finished(?)

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rosys-fans-fics · 4 years

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Going Against Nature - Part 4

Her first class was literature, which was usually one of (y/n)’s favorite classes but sadly the class had been reading a historical romance novel about the struggles of an Omega. The romance was cute, (y/n) definitely liked the writing style and the romance was sweet, but it held many troublesome ideas. The main romance antagonist was a Beta, not just a Beta, but some of the worst stereotypes of Betas. She was slutty, covered herself in Omega scent perfume, and was trying to keep the Omega and Alpha apart. Not only was the book a terrible attack on Betas, but it had caused her classmates to start bullying her.

‘Whatever,’ (y/n) thought, ‘I can handle one class.’ She pulled out her notebook, pencils, and the book and began compiling a few quotes to use in her final paper.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp touch around her neck and before she knew it, (y/n) lurched forward away from the hands and covered her neck. Her mind started racing to horrific places. Was someone going to bite her? Or were they going to choke her.

A harsh laugh broke her chain of thought, “I can’t believe it! Betas are so jumpy. That’s not good for hanging out with an alpha.” The hand and voice belonged to a male classmate, probably an Omega. He wore a shit eating grin like seeing (y/n) in pain was the funniest thing ever.

(y/n) kept her head lowered and hands wrapped securely around her neck. Her adrenaline was pumping and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She couldn’t focus on the boy, rather she started to take slow breaths to avoid a panic attack.

“Hey are you going to talk or what, Beta?” the omega reached out to touch her again.

(y/n) swatted his hand away, “Step. Off” she said between deep breaths.

He held up his hands in defense, “Wow, guess you can’t take a joke.” some classmates around them chuckled.

The classroom calmed down once the teacher walked in. Just three hours before lunch, far too long.

(y/n)’s eyes were focused on the classroom’s clock. The seconds slowed down the closer they got to 11 am. She started to put away her stuff as quietly as possible to not alert the teacher. A second before the bell rang, (y/n) grabbed her bag and stood up. The teacher was going to say something but the bell cut her off along with every other student standing up.

(Y/n) weaved between the students filling the desk row and rushed out into the hall. She speed walked to class 2-5 and stood by the door waiting for Iwaizumi to exit his class.

Yuki came out first and smiled at (y/n), “Hey, are you waiting for me or you new alpha?” Yuki bumped shoulders with (y/n) and stood behind her, placing her arm on her shoulder.

“Pth, as if I’d ever wait outside your class just for you,” (y/n) pushed Yuki away with her hip, smiling playfully.

Yuki grabbed her side and bent over in fake pain, “why are you so mean?”

“Hey, you ready for lunch?” Both girls turned to see Iwaizumi standing at the door holding his wrapped lunch box.

(y/n)’s face broke into a big grin once she was him, she slipped her arm around his, “Yep! Just catching up with Yuki.”

Iwaizumi leaned down a bit to smile at her, before obviously sniffing the air, His eyes widened a bit before looking back over at Yuki. (y/n) followed his gaze and gave her a questioning look. Yuki did a weird shrug while looking at Iwaizumi. (y/n) looked back at Iwaizumi, “Okay no weird Alpha stuff.”

Yuki immediately broke out in laughter while Iwaizumi started to flush. He muttered out a quiet sorry while Yuki continued to cackle while trying to apologize. (y/n) took Iwaizumi’s hand and walked away, saying see you later to Yuki who was still laughing. The two walked in silence as she pulled Iwaizumi behind her while she weaved around students in the hallway.

Once the two got outside, (y/n) looked behind herself at him, still pulling him to their spot near the gym. “Okay what was going on between you and Yuki?”

Iwaizumi took some time to respond, “Did something happen in your class?”

The two stopped at their spot, (y/n) turned around fully to face him, “I asked first so you answer first.”

Iwaizumi looked a little ticked before taking a deep breath, “You have a bad scent on you.” (y/n) raised her eyebrow at him, crossing her arms. “It’s a scent that comes out when Alphas and Omegas bully someone.”

(y/n) uncrossed her arms and looked down at the grown, “So you can smell when someone bullies me?”

Iwaizumi nodded, “Do you want to talk about it?”

She looked at him, he looked cute in his plaid pants and short sleeve button up, “ya, let's talk about it.” She sat down and patted the ground next to her.

Iwaizumi sat down next to her and opened up his lunch box. It was a tin one with a design of godzilla on it. He reached into it and took out a cookie and passed it over to her. “You talk and I’ll listen.”

(y/n) took the cookie from his hand, “Thankyou, so after you dropped me off at my class, one of the Omega boys scared me and tried to provoke me about hanging out with you.”

Iwaizumi scooted close enough for their shoulders to touch, “I’m sorry for causing that, do you want me to have a word with him?”

(y/n) looked up at him and smiled, “It’s not your fault, Omegas have issues with Alphas being around Betas. It’s like I’m stepping on their property and taking their things.” (y/n) took a bite of the cookie, “you don’t have to, I’d rather not cause more issues.”

“I think I know something that could help-”

“If you’re going to beat him up, then no.” (y/n) interrupted him.

Iwaizumi shook his head, “Nothing like that, you wouldn’t even notice it.”

(y/n) cocked an eyebrow at him, “Is it some weird alpha thing?”

“No. Well maybe a little for a Beta, but not super weird? I could scent you, it lets others know that you’re under my protection.”

(y/n) looked at him skeptically, “Isn't scenting like super sexual?”

Iwaizumi’s face broke out in a blush, “Well ya but it’s also used between friends and family, it’s super calming for people. The scent I’d be using would be more of a friendship protective thing rather than a sexual partner signafier. Does that make sense?”

“So it’s like telling people you’ll beat them up if they touch me?”

He gave her a big grin, “Exactly that. So would you like to try it?”

(y/n) turned back to her meal, pulling out her apple slices and handed Iwaizumi a few, “I’d like that,” She turned to give Iwaizumi a sharp look, “but if you make it a sexual scent, Yuki will know and will definitely kick your butt.”

The two broke out into a fit of giggles. “Don’t worry, I’ll save that for the future.”

(y/n)’s face heated up at his comment, “Smooth.”

“So,” he placed his hand on her shoulder, “can I scent you?”

Her voice felt lost at how confident he was and all she could do was nod at him.

Iwaizumi carded his left hand through her hair and used his right to pull her closer. He looked her straight in her eyes and said, “Tell me if you want to stop at any point.” His eyes trailed down to the left side of her neck and he leaned in. Iwaizumi touched their cheeks together, she could feel the heat radiating off of him, and he nudged her head slightly, giving him better access to her neck. His right hand left her shoulder, sliding down to (y/n)’s waist to pull their bodies flushed together. (y/n) shivered at his warm breath hitting her neck, Iwaizumi instintally tensed up and stopped moving, “are you okay?”

(y/n) took a few deep breaths before wrapping her arms around his waist, “yes.”

Iwaizumi leaned into her embrace, running his fingers through her hair to cradle her head, “good.” He touched his forehead to her neck, breathing deeply while concentrating. (y/n) remembered reading that it took some concentration to deliberately produce a certain scent. Iwaizumi lifted his head from her neck, he seemed calmer and more focused on his goal. He leaned forward more, tilting his head to allow their necks to touch. Even without smelling the scent, (y/n) felt overcome with the intimacy of the situation. She unwrapped her hands from around his neck and brought them up to comb Iwaizumi’s hair and hold his head. (y/n) leaned into Iwaizumi’s nuzzling and let out a soft hum. He gripped her waist and pulled her closer to him. His breathing quickened and he let out a breathy groan. Before he could continue, Iwaizumi pulled away, placing his hands back on her shoulders. He sniffed the air and smiled at her.

“There, now no one will pick a fight with you,” Iwaizumi smirked at her. Even with how confident he looked, his face was still flushed and his breathing quite noticeable.

(y/n)’s own face was deep crimson at how intimate getting scenting was. “That was hot.”

Iwaizumi chuckled, “It can get intimate really quickly, I’m glad you like it though.”

The school bell rang in the distance, signalling that lunch would end soon. The two packed up their lunches. Iwaizumi offered (y/n) his hand, “would you like me to walk you to class again?”

(y/n) laced her fingers with his, “Gladly.”

The two headed back into the school, (y/n) being ready to go to class without getting bullied.

After school, (y/n) and Yuki met up on the way to the girl’s club room. Once Yuki got close enough, she sniffed (y/n) then smiled widely, “Now I know why Iwaizumi was so nervous! The man scented you, that's so sweet!”

“Hey Yuki, what does his scent smell like?”

Yuki leaned back into (y/n)’s personal space, taking a long sniff, “Kind of like pumpkin and cinnamon, but not really clear? It's hard to describe scents.”

(y/n) unlocked the club room for the two to get ready, “That sounds nice. I like it.” (y/n) smiled to herself, wanting to know clearly how iwaizumi made her smell.

The four first years came rushing into the club room, excited for the last practice of the week. Akane and two of the other first years stopped, Akane was the first to speak, “The boy’s ace scented you captain?” She seemed super excited at this new revelation.

The one first year who didn’t stop asked, “How can you tell?”

Akane turned to her, “She smells just like him! This is so cool!! Are we going to practice with the boys now that you two are dating?” Akane kept jumping up and down with excitement.

(y/n) pulled back a bit from the intense energy of Akane, “We aren't dating yet, just feeling things out. Also no practice games yet, we’ll be playing some 3 on 3 for practice.”

Once the club room calmed down, the girls got changed and went to the gym. They played a 3 v. 3 game for five sets. After the game, the girls spent time stretching before the first years went home. (y/n) and Yuki stayed a little longer until Iwaizumi showed up, once he did Yuki headed out.

Iwaizumi walked up to (y/n), “hey.”

“Hey.” (y/n) held her hands behind her back, “So will you help me with blocking or scent me more?”

Iwaizumi blushed but still had a haughty smirk, “I can do both if you want.”

“I’d like that.”

#haikyuu #haikyuu iwaizumi #iwaizumi #iwaizumi x y/n #alpha!iwaizumi #iwaizumi x reader #hajime iwaizumi #hajime iwaizume x reader #beta!reader #beta!y/n #omegaverse

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shinahbee · 4 years

Text

October Favorites 2020!

Hello!

i'm going to start bringing these favorites of the month from my deviantart to here on tumblr. Hopefully you will find something good out of the things that I have been liking recently, please leave in the comments anything that you have been liking this month ( books, manga, anime, tv shows...etc) I have been a little uninspired for a while, but I'm still working on a few new digital art pieces as well as continuing my painting hobby, so there's a lot of content on the way!

okay so on to the things that I've been liking this month.

So if you've seen my latest digital art " who's baby is it?" I have been delving into web toons which I have not read other than mo dao zu shi since I watched the anime and It just suddenly stopped after season 2. I thought reading the web toon would answer some of those questions i had. It lead me to reading a bunch of webtoons all in the shounen ai category for some reason...lol. and I've been really liking some of the stories, Until this point web toons never really interested me since I've been reading manga since I was younger , so i've been used to just seeing the black and white pages of art, since web toons have coloured pages, it makes me appreciate the effort they used to colour every panel, so a lot of work went into these so i appreciate it for what it is even if the story inst great.

let me preface by saying that even though i'm delving into BL, i've been exposed to yaoi ever since I was in high school by one of my best friends, she lent me her favorite anime which was " gravitation" and all remember was wanting a man that was like yuki...lol. don't we all?

since then I have been reading some yaoi manga...only ones that are NOT predicated on sexual violence and abuse, which I know is prevalent in this category, I just don't like it and the message it sends, so i avoid that all together.

unless of course it has a particular message it wants to convey, not glorifying it. if that makes sense.

okay so here are my recommendations, i'll give a very brief summary of each of them

Manga/Manhwa:

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Who's baby is it?

- “a man named yi yun wanted to be an actor and is part of an acting company for several years and still was not successful, apparently it was because he was born with really bad luck, so to change his life perspective he decided that he wanted to be a surrogate father and donate his sperm to a surrogate mother in order to have a child that is his blood. So he and his child were living happily together through yi yuns work periods and suddenly there is a man that claims he is the child's actual blood related father and wanted to take the child into his custody.”

please read the summary I have in my fan art, I've wrote my thoughts on this manhwa.

To be or not to be

- “A company president diagnosed with cancer and died has been transmigrated into his favorite novel, where he was reborn as the antagonistic emperor that the main character defeats in the end, on top of which the main lead is currently the captive of said emperor, so in order to survive he will do anything to protect the protagonist and make sure he stays alive inside the novels universe.”

oh to be or not to be that is the question...lol. it really is. currently is is one of my favorites, I like how modern day people can look at the acts of history and modify certain things so that it would less likey repeat itself for the worse, we need this sort of mentality at this moment...

Social temperature

- “Song Yuan is indifferent when dealing with people he is an elite student at T- university as a science major, one day his friend started to question his sexuality and set him up with a month trial dating app as a joke, as soon as he went to delete the app on his phone, he was suddenly matched with a boy named "Mu", who turns out to be his classmate/ rival in his science program, his named is Xaio Mu , he is an exchange student abroad and got into this elite science program, hoping to meet new friends he approached song yuan and proceed to converse with him only to be ridiculed by him saying that he wears too much perfume and it made him sick so then he became the class social outcast.But after using the app to converse with "Mu"...song yuan became curious as to what he is actually like...using the fake name and bio of " Andrew " they start to get to know each other more.”

omg , this is triggering for me, since Mu is basically me a few years ago when I was also in a medical science program minus the talking on tinder thing lol, I felt as though everyone in that program was in it for themselves and I didn't not like the how people think they are entitled to everything...that's why i'm not in it no more.lol. there are a few plot holes in the story that I don't really get but other than that I really like this story I read the chapters that are out so far like 3 times cause I'm waiting for the rest to be translated. I also actually read the Novel by the same author of the manhua called " social outcast" so if you just want to read it in text format please read that novel instead, I like the novel up to a point and then it didn't really make sense after wards..lol.

so i can't say that i recommended it completely. Also Mu's character design I really like, thus i'm going to make a fan art of him soon...omg he's so beautiful, i'm in love lol.

Salad Days ( tang liu zang)

- “This is the story between a young innocent ballet boy and a passionate, determined boxing boy. The two met at the children’s palace, and since then, they have grown up together supporting each other. May there be hardships, may there be obstacles, yet they never stopped pursuing their dreams. The beauty of the salad days is the sweat from the hard work and the bonding of friendship. Although they have completely different paths set up for them, what never changes is their beautiful friendship.”

wow this story so far is really beautiful, I was in ballet for 3 years so it was slightly relatable to me, I feel like the over all message is that people sacrifice a lot for their dreams and if you are very passionate about it, there's no on that can really stop you, the only one that can stop you is you. I can't wait to see this story progress further

K-dramas:

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it okay to not be okay - this probably has been mentioned as everyone's favorite, but rightfully so, I really like ko mun young's character as a person who seems like an assertive and powerful woman, but is suffering from a social disorder. and how moon gang tae has to not only deal with mental patients at his job but also his older brother being autistic, he himself is suffering from mental illness. this drama is something not a lot of dramas portray in dealing with mental illness and how the patients/ loved ones are feeling when watching them go through it all. I liked the story and the message and it made me cry in every episode, so fair warning...have tissues beside you as you watch.

itaewon class- I was not going to watch this because of the mixed reviews but I did any ways, and it was really good, a really good depiction of how money and power isn't the end all be all , and being happy is really the best revenge you can get, it also addresses racism and prejudice on one character and sexism on a trans-gendered woman. I also think this is a story that protrays something that really hasn't been exposed to in k-dramas specifically. It depends on your morals and what you understand so far in your life wether you would like this drama or not, so i understand the mixed reviews that it gets, but for me it was a really good story.

Anime/ TV shows:

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I don't have any anime recommendations this month mainly cause I have not been watching any, but there are some that i might watch soon so I will list those below, let mew know if any of you have seen them and should I be watching them.

- Nobelese

-yasha hime ( inuyasha new series)

-Haikyuu new season

-heavens official blessing ( same author of mo dao zushi) - just started watching

-scum bag saving system- just started watching

Music :

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so I have just been listening to a lot of OSTs,

I really recommend the itaewon class soundtrack, all the songs are so good!

my favorite on is " crush- No words "

also my friend has been sending me NCT and super M practice videos so I've been listening to their music as well, please listen to make a wish by NCT U, it has been stuck in my head and I cant get it out...lol.

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that's all for this October faves summary. please comment below if anything interested you for the month of October, I would also like to read your recommendations as well, please also take care of yourselves especially now with all that's escalating in the world.

take care!

sheena

#monthly favorites #anime and manga #journal #manhwa #october favorites #drama favs #kdrama #manga favorites #whos baby is it #salad days #social temperature #to be or not to be

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