#exactly what he does to yoshida and the power he has over him

[sctoru]

His Jealous Girl

fandom: chainsaw man

characters in the story: yoshida, power, reze, aki, denji and mention of himeno

yoshida x fem!reader

genre: fluff(?) & romance, suggestive

warnings: swearings & kind of suggestive, yoshida is a red flag and a fucking jerk, power is alive here, denji and reze are a couple, reze teaching reader how to be a girlboss (YESSS!!), reader is down bad for yoshida and so does he, aki is alive, aki and himeno are a couple, lets pretend that aki and himeno are highschool students here

Life has been quite the joy and you can't complain much especially since you have the ladies' man in your grasp. Hirofumi Yoshida, the man of the school. Everyone wants him, everyone wants to get under his pants and the girls can't stop fawning over your popular boyfriend

You can't say it's easy to be his girlfriend, everyday something just gets you under your skin. Either the girls trying to seduce him, bringing him snacks, pretending to fall on him, asking him out even to the point they tried to break you two up! Its quite a task really. But out of all the women, you hated this one girl..she was the definition of 'try-hard-cunt' .

It all started with small gestures like passing him small paper during class, wrote letter to him, asking him to help her with some questions. It was fine but then it goes to another level where she would come over his house all of a sudden, holds his hand, seduce him, etc. Does she forget he have a girlfriend or is her cunt just desperate? you wonder to yourself.

You don't want to admit it to his face but you are super jealous. Yoshida probably noticed it but, he always smile and doesn't do much when she's too clingy to him!! the annoying part is, he would turn to you and give you a light smirk!!! what a tease.

Its Wednesday afternoon and you are heading your way too yoshida to give him the lunch you've made for him, all wrapped up nicely for him to open. Yoshida loves being on the rooftop so you guessed that he's on the rooftop, you ran up your way to the rooftop...feeling happy to see your boyfriend. As you were walking like an excited kid on the rooftop trying to find Yoshida, you see his body with a girl next to him who you guessed is 'that bitch'. Their bodies are so close to eachother! you were enraged but decided to take a deep breathe and walk your way to them

"Yoshida-kun, i was thinking of maybe going to the new cafe downtown! its-" the girl got cutted off by your scoff. "Yoshida, your lunch" you said with an annoyed tone, yoshida smiled when he sees you in that state. "Thank you, love" yoshida said as he gets his arm off from the girl forcefully making the girl frowned. "Oi, you're ruining the moment! are you done?!" she yelled, you rolled your eyes at her

"no, he's my boyfriend.. don't tell me what to do. If your cunt is wet, go and fuck yourself since all you do is rub your thighs together when you're with my boyfriend" you irritatedly said. "oh? are you jealous?" she said amused, "so? isn't it normal?" you scoffed. The girl gave an amused face, "me and yoshida are going to downtown after school..you can say goodbye to your boyfriend" she cockily said.

It angers you really, the fact that your boyfriend finds this amusing really is starting to tick you off. You just rolled your eyes and stomped off from the rooftop, feeling frustrated. You decided to just hang out with denji and power, your mood boosters. "is something ticking you off again?" denji asks while he took a bite of his bread

"let me guess, yoshida and that cunt again?" power rolled her eyes, you sighed. "really, you should do something..seduce him" power finally said it, before you could respond..there were footsteps coming over to the three of you. "ah, reze!" you waved at her which she gave a light smile and waved back. "this is a good timing, reze you should help y/n" power suggested, her arms are around your neck. "on what exactly?" she asked, her figure sitting next to denji

"yoshida and that girl is at it again" said denji who was already bored of the topic, reze could only sigh and wipes away the food crumbs on denji's mouth before she opens her mouth. "Do it my way, y/n" she said sternly, "your way?" you raised your eyebrow in confusion. "Attract him, seduce him, make yourself expensive. Act like you don't care, yoshida might find this amusing but not for long" said reze, "how?" you asked clearly defeated.

"use my sheer lace top thigh high stockings that are in my locker, you know my locker code" reze smirked, "reze why on earth would you bring that to school?" you asked in disbelief, reze and denji shared glances. "those two fuck everyday" power spouts at the two pretending to look offended, "seven hells you two" you sighed heavily. "lets not, you do what you have to do. Me, denji and power are going to head off!" reze shows a nervous smile before dragging power and denji out

So you did it, you unlocked reze's locker and grabbed the thigh high stockings. Thank god it was black colored, you started to wonder if you'd violate the school rules or not but this time you didnt care.

You went to the bathroom to change your lame looking school socks to a new one. You kinda liked how you looked in it, made you look confident. As you got out of the bathroom, a group of girls saw you and started whispering at eachother but again you didnt care. At a peaceful hallway, you saw yoshida talking with the girl..he didnt let the girl touch him though but still, it angers you so much. You walked faster, passing by them

Yoshida didn't miss to notice the stockings you wore, he gave a light smirk and bit his lip a little making the girl frown. "yoshidaaaa, are we going downtown today??" she whined, yoshida tsked in annoyance. "shut the fuck up" he hissed, his eyes still looking at your stockings that fit perfectly on your thighs before your figure disappeared to the library

"yoshidaa-" her whine got cutted off by his groan of annoyance, he didnt find this amusing nor entertaining anymore. He wanted her, his girlfriend, his girl. He pushed the girl away from his way to follow you to the library. The girl hissed loudly enough to make him chuckled lightly under his breath while walking away.

The library was empty maybe its because its almost class time, you picked out a book to erase your thoughts. You were having the time of your life finding some interesting romance books before you felt a pair of hands tugging your stockings, you smirked before turning around to see Yoshida.

"what brings you here?" you asked pretending to sound unamused. "you made me come here" he pins your body on the bookshelf, his chest was against yours. "and what does the mr popular guy want now? you have her" you scoffed at him, he lets out an amused chuckle. "i just wanted to play a teasing game with you but it is not amusing anymore" his face was so close to yours.

"even if we still played this game, i wouldn't go out with her to downtown, sweetheart" he whispered in a husky tone. "that doesn't justify your actions, yoshida" you hissed lightly. "but you couldn't resist me either could you?" he lightly chuckled at the thought making you wanna punch his face because he was fucking right. You purposely run your hand down to his tight pants making him look at you with hungry eyes

"then do it, own me, own my heart, my soul, make me yours fully, show everyone that im yours and you are mine, proof to me that your are not dating me for nothing" you whispered, your voice was desperate. "i'll make you mine fully, i'll make me yours fully, you own me y/n, make me yours, rule over me" his voice sounded genuine and desperate.

everything happened so fast, seconds later- both of your uniforms were on the floor.

The bell rang, you walked pass your class with a proud smile. The girls were looking at you in suspicion and some of them were shocked that your stockings were ripped. Your uniform was messy, your hair was too but what they miss out is that, you have the popular boy's cum in you and between your thighs, it was dripping.

You took your time to clean yourself in the bathroom, you also need to apologize to reze since the stockings are now ripped but you are sure she doesn't mind since she has a ton of it at her house.

"YOU WHAT?! HOLY FUCK, WHY DIDN'T YOU INVITE ME?!" power shouted in disbelief, "was he big?" denji asked out of curiousity. "he was enough to rip my vagina" you said with no shame in you anymore, aki spits out his drink. "all of you are gross" he hissed, "shut the fuck up..as if i didn't caught you fucking himeno at your class last week" power hissed. Aki continued to suck on his cigs, "this makes me horny not gonna lie maybe we should fuck eachother one day" denji suggested making aki and you choked on air.

"you are insufferable" aki's horrified look made power laugh, "its a good idea!" power smiled. "no please.." you shook your head in embarassment. Their conversation got interrupted by a girl's cry, their attention goes to the girl in front of them who was crying, they all smirked to see who it was.

"well would you look at that" aki chuckled. "what a puss" power hissed, "she got what she deserved" denji chuckled. You stood up and make your way to the girl, you pulled her hair making her groan in pain. "being a hoe really got you like this huh? he has no use for you anymore so, you can fuck off" you proudly say making her more annoyed then ever. "fuck you!!" she shouted making you laugh loudly and gave her a flying kiss before walking off.

It has been a month.

Its fucking great here, yoshida didn't gave other girls much attention. His attention was only you which made the girls more jealous and annoyed then ever.

The girl who was obsessed with yoshida got what she deserved, many teased her and she was a lonely person now since she was actually a shit person.

You and Yoshida don't always fuck though, you both love to cuddle when alone and go out on dates after school. He shows you affection when private!

author note: this story came out longer than expected 😂 but um anyways- i am down bad for yoshida so uh yeah, i am down to forgive any shit things he does! 🥰🥰

spoiler: i am doing sae itoshi next 😉

#csm #chainsaw man #csm x reader #chainsaw man x reader #yoshida x reader #hirofumi yoshida x reader

[fmet]

I think that chapter 133 was a very interesting one (even more interesting that 132, at least when it comes to character analysis) and demonstrates a lot about both Yoshida and Denji’s characters, their motivations, and how they have (or more specifically, have not) changed since their first meeting in 103 at the diner. There’s certainly some implications about public safety, the chainsaw church/society, and the anti-chainsaw organization, and how each will either hinder or encourage the march towards Nostradamus’s prophecy. A definitive theory on public safety’s role in Nostradamus however requires that what Yoshida truly wants and what relationship he has with public safety is understood and laid out. So I’ll try and start with that.

Yoshida has a lot of intrigue as a character, but this isn’t because he’s acted intentionally mysterious and shady for all of his chapters up to now. I think it’s exactly the opposite. Because even with his shadiness, what he wants and what’s holding him back from getting those things are very clear: he’s lonely, but socially inept, and wants to stop Nostradamus’ prophecy by spilling the least blood possible. Maybe he even wants to be Denji’s friend. This conflicts with what public safety have done so far, and he’s frustrated that his efforts to stop Nostradamus from actualizing aren’t being treated seriously (or are even being foiled). I know some fans are hesitant to jump to Yoshida having such innocent intentions when he’s already done and said a lot of dubious stuff but I really think that’s what he actually wants, and what Fujimoto will do with him.

Yoshida has been repeatedly established by other characters to be a prodigy in devil hunting, the youngest of his kind, even more skilled than Kishibe or Quanxi at that age, and renowned enough to even be hired by Makima herself. Having that level of power and devoting that amount of time to maiming both devils and human at such a young age would predictably inhibit an adolescent’s people skills as he grows into an adult. I think it would be weirder if he wasn’t socially stunted and lonely. The one person besides Denji he appears to speak in a friendlier way to is Kishibe, but an alcoholic devil hunter decades your senior who would prefer to kill devils over talking with you will not be a good conversation partner.

The dialogue he shares with Asa and Denji, also really lonely people, reaffirms this. Even if he has no desire to forge connections with them on the same level that Asa or Denji do with other people, he still has that in common with them. His dialogue is as commiserative, even longing, as it is manipulative.

Viewing his interactions with Denji, Kiga and Asa up to now through the lens that he’s a lonely, and consequently socially inept individual, changes the tone of them dramatically. He isn’t a mastermind villain who is effortlessly manipulating public safety into his palms, and he isn’t a sadistic gay guy that wants to torture Denji and ruin the family that Yoshida himself never had the opportunity to foster. He’s a teenager, the same age as the very people he’s “victimizing”, who doesn’t think students own phones while having one himself, and who likely does want to do his job as seamlessly as possible, with little way to do so when the focus of his job is protecting a devilman more difficult than even he is. Yoshida is a creep, he’s a weirdo, but he’s not the antagonist. I think claiming that is giving his character too much credit.

What he wants is to stop Denji from being Chainsaw Man, likely because Csm plays a major role in Nostradamus coming to fruition.

With this in mind, what Yoshida has done so far in the recent chapters could be seen as either him taking advantage of Public Safety’s/his Organization’s devil policy to hold Nayuta hostage and get Denji to retire, with 132 and 133 being the result of a project headed by him and him alone; him not being associated with public safety at all anymore, with his entire abduction intended to emulate and warn Denji about what public safety will do; or he’s simply following orders.

I prefer to believe an amalgamation of all of these. Him just following orders wouldn’t justify the emotional response he gave in 133, while him just trying to “emulate” or warn about public safety wouldn’t make sense in that public safety isn’t an organization that would easily let a high class devil hunter like Yoshida go. Yoshida has to be associated with public safety, and he has to be emotionally invested in Denji and Nayuta’s safety. He’s coming to Nayuta and Denji, likely as a sort of “Good Cop” character, to deliver public safety’s messages to them.

However, he’s probably also exaggerating greatly. I doubt public safety would immediately jump to killing conquest (a highly valuable member of their arsenal) just because Denji wants to keep being chainsaw man, like what Yoshida seems to be insisting, but he’s also very insistent on the fact that they will. Yoshida clearly differentiated himself from the rest of public safety, so I don’t think he agrees with these terms or what he believes public safety’s hidden intentions are. Maybe Yoshida’s jumped to the conclusion that killing Nayuta will allow for a chance to start over with grooming conquest, and that Public Safety would want to create another Makima in the case that Nostradamus comes to fruition? Because Makima wanted to kill the other horsemen in order to create a “perfect” world, an objective such as this could make sense. This, however, would mean public safety is willing to relinquish control AGAIN to another Makima, which also makes little sense to me. Yoshida being the only guy to outright insist that Denji stop being Chainsaw Man seems to indicate to me that Denji is not one of public safety’s top priorities at the moment.

So, public safety (or the organization that Yoshida is now a part of, if it’s not public safety) is ultimately OK with Denji continuing to be Chainsaw Man, with Yoshida dissenting heavily. This is in spite of the clear political and cultural turmoil his idolatry has caused across Japan and the world at large, and also in spite of the role that Yoshida seems to believe Chainsaw Man will play in Nostradamus. This nonchalance that public safety is giving out in response to Csm’s potential impact on the apocalypse seems very, very careless of them, and I don’t think it’s sincere. I also don’t think that Yoshida’s warnings to Denji about public safety are unfounded, at least in terms of Nayuta’s safety and Denji’s role in the apocalypse. Why they haven’t had anyone else besides Yoshida, this clearly incompetent teenager, come and lay this out for Denji, however, is above me. Maybe they’re prioritizing the political power they derive from Csm over what his existence does to Nostradamus’s prophecy. This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done something like that.

Speaking of the apocalypse, the public sector’s future plans for either hindering or encouraging Nostradamus’s prophecy can be seen in one particular panel of Yoshida. While a lot of his dialogue is either focused on human loneliness, connection, or the “keep Denji safe” mantra that’s been hammered into his brain by public safety or himself, there’s one conversation that seems to fall sideways against his typical characterization.

Yoshida asking this is indisputably weird. It conflicts with his previous sympathies about wanting Denji to quit being Chainsaw Man, it reveals he knows about Chainsaw’s ability to erase devils, not even known by Kishibe until recently, and the question in general is a jump from what they were previously talking about. It’s weird. We’re obviously supposed to be focusing on it.

I think anything referencing the 4 horsemen by either Kiga or Yoshida should be assumed to be related to Nostradamus, but in what way Yoshida’s request is related we have yet to see. Would CSM erasing death hold off the apocalypse because people can no longer die, or would it advance it because of the subsequent chaos and overpopulation? “Us” is likely referring to public safety, meaning that they still have usage for Csm even while Yoshida insists Denji should retire. And is Yoshida asking this in public safety’s interests, or in his own?

Yoshida’s dissension from Public Safety’s current trajectory on how to stop Nostradamus’s prophecy (yes Csm vs. no Csm), alongside Kiga appearing to act in an exactly opposite method in turn, indicates that even with the upcoming apocalypse being prophecized, neither parties have a definitive proven way of stopping it. This is sure to produce further conflict, and I’m anticipating whether my thoughts and theories on this chapter will be answered in the coming arcs. Whatever Fujimoto does, he’s sure to do so in a wonderfully Fujimoto-esque way.

#Yoshida Hirofumi #meta #csm #csm spoilers

[cringeisthemindkiller]

CSM part 2 finally has me hooked.

So mildly unpopular opinion, Part 2 of Chainsaw Man had felt like a letdown. I can't quite figure out why. I think its slower pacing is a part. I don't necessarily mean the lack of action but the shorter chapters really have made it hard for me in some aspects.

My biggest issue is the story. At this point in the manga I still really don't know exactly what this arc is about. The implication Is the four horsemen of the apocalypse that I get. But We've only seen 2 (Maybe 3 if Yoshida is Death but I find that unlikely) and they don't seem to be doing much of anything. It feels stagnant.

It's a shame because the characters are intriguing both new and old. Asa is a really interesting switch-up from Denji, Yoru is fun, Fami and Yoshida have a lot of mystery surrounding them and Yuko is an interesting plot point I'm curious to see develop later, and of course Nayuta is adorable and I can't wait to see more of her.

Yet for all these new exciting characters (yes technically Yoshida was in part 1 but he played such a minor role he is still a relatively new character in terms of how he is now actually a major player in the story) they feel almost stuck.

Yet with all that said the last few chapters have had me intrigued. Specifically, there is a scene with Denji and Asa in chapters 126 and 127 that really hooked me back in.

The falling devil attempts and ultimately fails to traumatize and stun Denji with memories of part 1. Later we have him save Asa and the conversation they have is very tender and sweet and a classic "life is worth living despite all the bad things" but the way it was written and a very specific line by Denji choked me up.

Denji doesn't sugarcoat how life can really beat up on you and will throw one terrible thing after another at you and doesn't let you catch a break ruining so much of what was good in life. Asa asks him how he got over that. Denji responds "I haven't." and that line broke me.

It's been said a lot before but I always appreciate when media makes a very good point to show trauma or mental illness doesn't "go away" you merely learn to live with it. Hearing Denji, the most optimistic naive guy there is recognize and understand that his suffering cant be suppressed or ignored is so beautiful.

Early part 1 Denji would have just ignored it and denied to himself and others that he was struggling. He simply didn't have the emotional maturity to contend with that. This is a moment of growth. In media where the protagonist has extraordinary abilities writers often just don't highlight lingering trauma as the character gets more powerful. A less manga would have just had Denji say "I got stronger" or "It's in the past now". Chainsaw man didn't and the way it's done is so well done.

This isn't a unique concept to Chainsaw Man but it's a very powerful theme to see a character as goofy and lighthearted as Denji deals with his baggage in a healthy and realistic way. This writing still gives me incredible hope despite part 2s slow start. I really want to see them slowly have Denji face down and properly confront his trauma. Everything in the manga had already shown Denji hadn't recovered, but when he said it himself I don't know. It hit differently.

I know for many this is elementary stuff in half-decent writing but when combined with the other stuff CSM does so well, this scene felt so rewarding

#anime #chainsaw man #chainsaw man part 2 #manga #music #tatsuki fujimoto #depression #character analysis #denji hayakawa #asa mitaka #aki hayawaka #power csm #power

[xchoco-mixturex]

Holy moly, choco thorws an arrival (duh) analisys?!

As always, spoilers from tenkuu shinpan arrive, up until chapter 71. Always, the japanese version, since I read it in japanese. Read with caution below. ALSO ITS VERY LONG. I apologize before hand! (and for my poor english)

Like seriously, i mean, it ,this is HUGE SPOILERS! if not spoilers from much of the plot until now.

(And before you ask, we are translating be god damn patient or we drop the project, k thanks nwn)

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Okay? okay!

I dont now how many chapters we have left but i hope im actually wrong in this one because it feels like too few has passed :c. But a climax happened ofc: Daisei is there, you know, the huge ass eye. Also, ORibe mentioned that Yuri in on her way on fusion the dimensions, i dont know if she means the OG high rise dimension with the ruined high rise dimension? OR back to the real world? I doubt it’s back to the real world, since they still need a God, and left the game on pause tecnically. As Yuri said, it was ‘their fault’. Of course, Yuri being the actual administrator knew Daisei could do ruckus since he is also trying to archieve god. 

Now, i think Daisei is doing that in that ruined world since the OG High Rise world its paused. There hasnt been more killings, and i am not sure if the god candidate needs to read the other 2 god codes. For the ones that have read at least one code are:

Yuri

Juo

Okihara

Yoshida

And the Judges duo aka Kuon and Sniper.

Of course, Yuri cannot be god since it breaks the administrator rule, Juo is dead (is he? DUUUN DUN!) Okihara was comatose the last time we saw him and the med staff was healing him, Yoshida its mentioned to be alive but MIA. (or at least mentioned, since Yuri told Rika if he sees yoshida to thank him)

That would leave our beloved Sniper being the one with that duty. And for the role he is taking in arrive, who he is a bit more predominant there, it could make sense. BUUUUT! The issue is the god damn God system. I do not quite remember if reading the other codes was necessary,since he and Kuon finished the trial and faceless-kun said “yeh go on!” Of course, the issue with that, is that turning into God needs energy, and in the OG high rise world there is none or not the enough level to turn him into that, EVEN WORST, it seems that, according for what we have been seeing here, is that the ‘Will’ and the fluctuations of that is the one that feeds the system (despair, hope, etc). And will usually manifests, in a soul. Who the heck is a soul of the main five? Kuon.

You think the god damn Sniper would literally say “oh yeh, lets get rid of her and we get all out of here”. Lets be freaking honest, that option was there long ago but he was the one, literally, HIMSELF, that told her that no matter what she wont disappear. So yes, sacrificing Kuon is out of the question. Actually, sacrificing any of his team members its our of the qustion, since he asked Rika that with Yuri’s condition as Admin, she was forced to stay there somehow, and Rika said he is staying, and so did Sniper. So yes, leaving someone behind its ALSO out of the question Now, with the appearance of Daisei, who....Wanted to be like Kuon in that ethereal form since, according to him, it gives him a sort of inmortality, also wants to be god. And apparently, after he killed himself but had the will to ‘keep on living’, he realized he could be god. Now, I dont quite know HOW Ruined High rise world came to happen, but somehow Daisei arrived there. According with that he started a new killing game, a killing game the OG gang wanted to end FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL. Of course Daisei did not wanted them to interfere, so he created a sort of barrier that doesn't let the old members of the game enter. Therefore, neither Yuri and co could chase him down with the manipulating the barrier powers. That’s UNTIL...Kuon came with an idea. Apparently for what Sniper told Juorika and co, Kuon, Yuri, And Hayami Shintaro created the cloud mechanism (the ones with Clouds with a WILL aka, clouds with souls). Since Yuri seems to be human and in a frontier, and I am guessing its to keep the plan going, she sent the other main 4 to blend to that place: Rika, Nise, Sniper, And Kuon. Each of them linked to an object with their souls within, and not necessarily a weapon.  How each person got linked to their cloud its ANOTHER THEME, specially with the new character seen: Senya’s alien. The alien seems to be related to the creation of the system, not giving exactly who he is, but he having some authority over the strings of destiny, since he saw senya being a ‘main protaginist’ and, therefore, thats the reason he linked Senya with Sniper’s rifle, and therefore, Sniper! Who is the alien and what exactly is his role, i do not know quite yet. I just know the systems apparently were created with humanity’s will, the issue is how? and why? was a group of persons will? Since it seemed to be related to the archival of god status,  keeping people away of feelings, actually turning them emotionless, and being the strongest. Was it high class ppl? governments?  we dont know yet. Now back to the actual pot, Daisei has showed up, and his abilities with his second stage masks he seems to create using old memories. Some data recollected from the old world, not necessarily being ppl of that world that are alive right now, but also dead people since he brought Maid mask back.   Also it seems people are and at the same time are not related to their original power. If they have an original power beforehand, its good, but Daisei can also provide them more power of needed, specially if they are second stage soldiers. For example, Rika and Kuon are one of the strongest characters of the manga, Rika being an Apostle and not having  a god code in his system, yet still paired with the strength of a god, and Kuon, right now, its awfully OP, being able to bring ppl back to like and/or healing him. But their clones, Juo(rika) and Zeon, are just first stage level, who are just created to bring up despair, and analyse about intruders, but not personally KILLING the intruders or the foreign objects. (they call object from the OG gang like that). Then again, them compared to their og versions, aren’t that strong. Are they the strongest of their category? Yes. Are they paired to their original versions? Hell no. But then we have second stage soldiers that are naturally strong (Mayuko and Archeangel aka Nise and great angels clones...Oh and X, who is Miiko’s clone). And Second stage ones that aren’t naturally strong, like Maid mask, who was just paired up in strength to a strong angel, but nothing else, and now its paired up to people like Oribe who has Rika as her cloud (then again, a strong cloud,b ut his power is reduced due noodle form),and Asuka, who has Great Angel’s rod. What will happen now? Well, many stuff. First of all I don’t want it to end yet, but here are my takes: Well, we know Senya is coming back after talking with his alien friend (?, so he may get Oribe out of that issue when she is being strangled. The world merging may happen sooner as expected. That could mean, maybe, just maybe, the physical interference of the OG gang, no longer as noodles, since their presence its related to how the barrier (that its in a constant purge between Yuri and Daisei) its weakened or not.  I wonder if Daisei might flee with that, give a fight, or send a stronger clone. Hmmm... On the other hand, if the gang presence its stronger now, either be cloud is stronger or them just yeeting themselves there, that means MORE INTERACTIONS! (andsniperdad--). I hope we see other ones besides the main five, while i love the main five, i also like the other characters a lot, also lets have in mind Shika needs to see Hayami. Another thing, yes, during this whole ordeal, the Judges were investigating about Daisei, and while they aren’t sure if they can replicate bodies like he does (Iiiishhhh...) well they know, or at least Kuon knows, how to regenerate/resurrect people, but that takes a lot of energy and the hurt/dying person to have a will to keep on living, and honestly, I am surprised she hasn’t fainted yet--! Would the dimension merging somehow return her body back? Eh, its free to dream. What i know its that if the dimensions are united, that means Yuri could travel from A to B and, therefore, meet Nise again! And the crew of course! (well, after she rests because that whole things takes a lot of energy.) I rather not have my hopes up because Tenkuu shinpan Arrive aint as merciful as the prequel. Because honestly, it made me cry like at least 8 times. And Miura is not afraid to hit us in the feels, either be good or bad. What shall Daisei do? Oribe will be okay? What about the Mayu-Mayu gang with Juo(rika) and Zeon vs Archangel?! Rika will do something as a cloud? Shika will shoot? How long will Kuon endure in Nanami’s body?! WHERE IS THE SNIPER NOODLE?! And most importantly, if we have seen clones about almost all the main gang, and even some extras...Does that mean we shall face a Sniper clone soon?! (I fanon-wise call him Deva)  And how will his personality be? Because we have seen all clones are lacking on most of emotions (unlesstheyaredefective) Because if he is like how me and my tumblr bestie have been theorizing...This will be bad. Thank you for reading my huge analysis! Take care!

#tenkuu shinpan arrive analysis #tenkuu shinpan arrive spoilers #TSA spoilers

[clownao]

the civil war kayano au is just *chef hand kiss* its so damn perfect and its exactly why i had issues with second season; the fact kayano was forgiven so easily with no consequences at all and the fact students wanted to kill korosensei because??? they will waste their assassination attempts?? so really THANK YOU for this i'd really like to hear more about your ideas for it, if u dont mind ofc 💕

Awww thank you so much!! <33 Ngl canon Civil War was weird and I still wish Kayano Civil War had happened in canon... it would deal with the consequences of Kayano’s arc without losing the edgy paintball aesthetic.

ALRIGHTY TODAY I’ll try to plan out the entire Civil War (!!). Recap of teams as follows:

Team Trust: Kataoka (leader), Sugino (second in command, offense), Kanzaki (strategist, offense), Nagisa (the trump card haha), Hara (makes traps), Itona (in charge of drones), Takebayashi (in charge of paint bombs), Terasaka (leader of Terasaka squad, tank #1, defense), Muramatsu (tank #2, defense), Kurahashi (offense), Yada (defense), Okajima (offense), and Sugaya (camouflage).

Team Distrust: Mimura (leader, intelligence gathering), Isogai (leader, defense), Karma (strategist, offense), Nakamura (strategist, second in command), Chiba (sniper), Hayami (sniper), Fuwa (spotter), Okano (offense), Kimura (offense), Maehara (does both offense and defense, sticks to Isogai), Yoshida (tank), Hazama (offense), Okuda (defense, makes traps).

Notes: Takebayashi follows the same strategy from the canon Civil War (quote: “I wanted to make a high sky paint bullet explode and paint the enemy’s team with a rain of ink”)

Okajima is actually rather physically strong so I think he would work well with Sugino.

After thinking for a bit, while I do understand Karma is good at utilizing his teammates’ strengths, I don’t think he’s exactly a good leader. He can’t really unite his team. He would be a very good strategist, and it’s best we leave the leadership to Isogai and Mimura.

About Isogai and Mimura: while Isogai is definitely the more charismatic one, in cases like this war which involves intensely personal matters, it’s Mimura who ends up uniting the class. No offense to Isogai but the others sort of see him as a cool and perfect ikemen, while they see Mimura as an ordinary person, and as a result they relate more to the “ordinary person”. And Isogai is absolutely delighted that Mimura’s discovering his potential as a leader. They sort of lead the team together with the help of Nakamura.

COURSE OF THE WAR

It starts off with a bang as Chiba immediately eliminates Takebayashi. I’m sorry dude, but Takebayashi’s bomb strategy is simply too OP. (Mimura has discovered Takebayashi’s location from earlier.) 

It is revealed that Takebayashi and Itona had actually collaborated and some of Takebayashi’s paint bombs are stored in Itona’s drones. The first bomb they drop doesn’t eliminate anyone because Mimura spots it and notifies everyone. 

Kanzaki eliminates Chiba like in the canon Civil War. A camouflaged Sugaya attempts to eliminate Mimura, but Mimura knows Sugaya’s tactics all too well and they fight. It’s sad and angsty. They spend some time praising each other’s skills in the war (camouflage and reconnaissance), and Mimura ends up eliminating Sugaya. 

Okano and Kurahashi have a “Hina-Hina” fight. Okano wins. Hara then traps Kimura and Okano with a net and eliminates them the same way she did in the canon Civil War.

Hara encounters her childhood friend Yoshida. Neither of them want to fight each other but they can’t just ignore their encounter, so after some minutes of half-assed, painful “combat” accompanied by them talking to each other while crying, Hayami mercifully ends the fight by sniping Hara from a distance.

Mimura’s position gets exposed and Okajima finds him. Angst happens and they duel in the river. Okajima wins.

Hazama follows a trail of water and end up finding Okajima (who is wet due to fighting with Mimura in the river). Hazama uses her creepy spider manoeuvre to take him by surprise and eliminate him.

Terasaka and Muramatsu encounter Yoshida and Hazama. It is once again painful and angsty. It ends up in Terasaka VS Hazama and Muramatsu VS Yoshida. Terasaka easily eliminates Hazama, and when Yoshida is about to be eliminated, Maehara swings in and uses his “bi blade” (haha, haha) to eliminate Muramatsu. Karma also shows up to eliminate Terasaka after a bit of shit talking. 

Itona sees Okuda and he chases after her, but she escapes. Immediately after this, Itona drops the second bomb. Maehara dramatically shields Isogai from the paint and saves him, but Maehara is eliminated.

Hayami think she’s spotted Itona, but it’s actually a decoy created by Sugaya (he has several of those laying around). Karma decides Itona is too dangerous and sets out to eliminate him. With Hayami and the others watching out for him, he succeeds.

Kataoka and Isogai duel each other as they discuss (read: yell out) their conflicting views of leadership and harmony (Kataoka believes they shouldn’t abandon anyone, Isogai believes class harmony should always come first). After a difficult battle, Kataoka eliminates Isogai. She helps him up and they acknowledge each other’s opinions on leadership.

Kataoka leads Sugino and Yada to fight Hayami and her spotter Fuwa. Hayami takes out Kataoka, Yada takes out Hayami (like in canon Civil War), Fuwa takes out Yada, Sugino takes out Fuwa. Everyone is eliminated except for Sugino. Nakamura and Yoshida, under Karma’s orders, go out to get the other team’s flag. Nagisa stalks them. 

Group 4 are the Last Few Kids Standing, so they meet and FIGHT. Nagisa is somewhere out there eliminating Yoshida and Nakamura, and once he’s done he rushes over to support Sugino and Kanzaki. Karma immediately goes for Sugino while Kanzaki goes for Okuda, who escapes. Karma and Sugino start yelling about friendship and stuff, Karma complains that Sugino is too saccharine and forgiving and that Sugino straight up ignores the harm Kayano has done, while Sugino yells at Karma and says he’s being selfish and a dick. Yay angst. Ultimately Karma eliminates Sugino.

What everyone’s been expecting is FINALLY here! Time for the Karma and Nagisa fight!! They start yelling, they maybe get three sentences out before Okuda suddenly pops out behind Nagisa and literally backstabs him.

“NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS LIKE TO BE BACKSTABBED!” she screeches.

Kanzaki pops out and swiftly eliminates Okuda. Okuda is very much in Pain after a) being betrayed by Kayano b) fighting her ex-bff Kanzaki c) being eliminated, so she loses it and cries. She begs Karma to win the fight for her. Kanzaki and Karma are both at a lost and step forward to comfort her, but before they can, other Team Distrust members comfort her and take her away from the battlefield. (Fun fact: Kayano has been crying for most of the Civil War.)

Kanzaki, powered with rage and love for Kayano, absolutely DESTROYS Karma. She wins, but it doesn’t feel like victory at all.

I have a lot more to say about this AU, but I’ll leave it here for today lol. Sorry if I accidentally left someone out ;-; it’s getting a little messy for me haha.

#assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #kayano kaede #3-e #too lazy to tag #kayano civil war #anon #ask box

[theuniverseisforgetting]

Anime Recommendation List

My Little Monster

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Episodes: 13 + OVA

Information: My Little Monster focuses on the relationship between Shizuku Mizutani, who has absolutely no interests except in studying and her plans for the future, and a boy named Haru Yoshida, who sits next to Shizuku in class but rarely attends school.

Devilman Crybaby

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Episodes: 10

Information: Akira's best friend tells him that ancient demons have returned to take back the world from humans and suggests that he unite with a demon. Akira successfully does that, transforming into Devilman, a being with a demon's powers but who retains the soul of a human. This sends Akira into a brutal, degenerate war against evil. With fear of demons gripping the world, humanity devolves into paranoia and violence and Akira sets out to save other demon-human hybrids like himself.

Yano Of The Dawn

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

Episodes: 24 + 3 OVA

Information: This story follows the redemption of Yona, the sole princess to the Kingdom of Kouka. Yona lives the carefree life of a princess in Hiryuu Castle, being sheltered by her pacifistic father, King Il, and protected by her bodyguard and childhood friend Hak.

Hyouka

Genre: Mystery, Slice of Life

Episodes: 22 + OVA

Information: At the request of his older sister, student Hotaro Oreki joins Kamiyama High School's Classic Literature Club to stop it from being abolished. They begin to solve various mysteries, both to help with their club and at Eru's requests.

Carole & Tuesday

Genre: Music

Episodes: 24

Information: Tuesday Simmons runs away from her affluent lifestyle as the daughter of a politician and makes her way to Alba City where she crosses paths with Carole Stanley and the two decide to team up as a singer-songwriter duo under the name Carole & Tuesday.

Golden Boy

Genre: Comedy

Episodes: 6

Information: Golden Boy depicts the life of Kintaro Oe, a free spirit, roaming Japan from town to town, job to job. During his travels, Kintaro meets several women whose lives he dramatically changes, despite poor first impressions.

Kill La Kill

Genre: Action, Comedy, Magical Girl

Episodes: 24

Information: follows vagrant schoolgirl Ryuko Matoi on her search for her father's killer, which brings her into violent conflict with Satsuki Kiryuin, the iron-willed student council president of Honnouji Academy, and her mother's fashion empire.

Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon

Genre: Fantasy

Episodes: 25 + 2OVA

Information: The story follows the exploits of Bell Cranel, a 14-year-old solo adventurer under the goddess Hestia. As the only member of the Hestia Familia, he works hard every day in the dungeon to make ends meet while seeking to improve himself.

No.6

Genre: Dystopia, Science Fiction

Episodes: 11

Information: Shion, a boy raised in the elite and privileged environment of his home, gives shelter to another boy, who only gives his name as "Nezumi" (or "Rat") on the former's twelfth birthday. What Shion soon discovers is how drastically life will change after meeting with the mysterious Nezumi, with whom he had shared one unforgettable, stormy night.

The Devil Is A Part Timer

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

Episodes: 13

Information: The story is about a demon king named Sadao Maou seeking to conquer the world of Ente Isla, but when confronted by the Hero Emilia, he is forced to retreat through a gate that transports him to modern day Tokyo, Japan. To survive and find a way to return to Ente Isla, Satan gains part-time employment at a fast food restaurant called MgRonald.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Genre: Apocalyptic, Mecha, Psychological Drama

Episodes: 26

Information: Evangelion is set fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm, particularly in the futuristic fortified city of Tokyo-3. The protagonist is Shinji, a teenage boy who was recruited by his father Gendo to the shadowy organization Nerv to pilot a giant bio-machine mecha called an "Evangelion" into combat with alien beings called "Angels".

Fooly Cooly

Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction

Episodes: 6

Information: A boy's humdrum life turns upside-down when he encounters a maniacal girl who causes strange things to grow out of his forehead and draws him into conflict with a mysterious, otherworldly organization.

My Hero Academia

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Superhero

Episodes: 88

Information: The story follows Izuku's entrance into U.A. High School, a school for training the next generation of superheroes. Izuku and his new friends try to balance their Hero training with ordinary school duties. However, the League of Villains, an evil organization established by All Might's archenemy All For One, has plans to destroy all Heroes and take control of society.

One Piece

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Episodes: 917

Information: The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the Grand Line in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as "One Piece" in order to become the next King of the Pirates.

Snow White With The Red Hair

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Episodes: 24 + OVA

Information: Shirayuki is a herbalist with red hair. However, her hair gets noticed by Prince Raj, who wishes for her to wed him. Refusing his orders, she escapes to the neighboring kingdom of Clarines, where she meets and befriends Prince Zen and his two aides Mitsuhide and Kiki, who turn her life around. Shirayuki passes an exam for a position to train in the palace as a herbalist.

Relife

Genre: High School Drama, Slice of Life, Romance

Episodes: 13 + 4 OVA

Information: One day, a mysterious man named Ryō Yoake offers 27-year-old Arata Kaizaki, who has been unemployed for several years, a job opportunity; but first, Kaizaki needs to become a tester for ReLife: a scientific experiment to make him appear 10 years younger and send him back to high school as a student.

Seven Deadly Sins

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Episodes: 24 + 2 OVA

Information: Follows the adventures of a princess in the Kingdom of Liones as she sets out to find the seven deadly knights to save her empire from their repression.

Terrorist In Resonance

Genre: Psychological, Thriller

Episodes: 11

Information: In an alternative iteration of the present, Tokyo has been hit by a terrorist attack that has devastated the city. The only evidence of the culprits is a cryptic video uploaded to the Internet, which sparks paranoia across Japan.

Parasyte

Genre: Body Horror, Horror, Science Fiction

Episodes: 24

Information: Teenager Shinichi Izumi is a high-school student who lives in a quiet Tokyo neighborhood with his parents. His life changes when wormlike creatures, called Parasites, appear on Earth, bent on taking over the brains of human hosts by entering their ears or noses.

Free!

Genre: Sports, Swimming

Episodes: 37 + 2 OVA

Information: Free is set in the town of Iwatobi, Japan. The story is centered on high school student Haruka Nanase, a gifted swimmer. After encountering his childhood rival, Rin Matsuoka from Samezuka Academy, he and his friends revitalize Iwatobi High School's swim team.

Yuri On Ice!!!

Genre: Sports, Figure Skating

Episodes: 12

Information: Yuri Katsuki makes his way to the Grand Prix ice skating competition as Japan’s top representative with his eyes on the prize. However, instead of celebrating, Yuri walks away defeated and ready to retire for good. But a run-in with champion Viktor Nikiforov and rising star Yuri Plisetsky ignites a new fire within him. With the two of them close by his side, Yuri will take to the ice once more.

Charlotte

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Supernatural

Episodes: 13

Information: In a very small number of young boys and girls, the onset of puberty brings with it special abilities beyond mortal ken. Yu Otosaka has one such ability and he uses his power to live a fairly normal, average school life. Suddenly in front of Yu a girl named Nao Tomori appeared and due to this chance meeting the fate of special power-users will be exposed.

Fruits Basket (2001)

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Episodes: 26

Information: The Sohma family has been cursed for generations. When a member of the clan is embraced by a person of the opposite sex, they transform into an animal from the Chinese Zodiac! After keeping their secret hidden for years, their unusual household is turned upside down when young Tohru stumbles into their life. She must promise to keep their secret as one of her own—or face the consequences!

Assassination Classroom

Genre: Action, Comedy, School, Sci-Fi, Offbeat

Episodes: 47

Information: A powerful creature claims that within a year, Earth will be destroyed by him, but he offers mankind a chance by becoming a homeroom teacher where he teaches his students about how to kill him. An assassination classroom begins!

Attack On Titan

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Episodes: 59

Information: After his hometown is destroyed and his mother is killed, young Eren Yeager vows to cleanse the earth of the giant humanoid Titans that have brought humanity to the brink of extinction.

Banana Fish

Genre:  Action, Drama, Mystery

Episodes:

Information: Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of "Papa" Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash's older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa's insatiably ambitious hands--and it's exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx's acquaintance

Junji Ito Collection

Genre: Horror

Episodes: 14

Information: A collection of animated horror stories based on the works of Japanese artist Junji Ito.

Bungo Stray Dogs

Genre: Action, Mystery, Supernatural

Episodes: 36 + OVA

Information: After young man Atsushi Nakajima saves a man from his wish of suicide, he and his friends join the "Arms Detective Company," a league of literary figures that also harness special powers.

Kamisama Kiss

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice Of Life, Kids

Episodes: 25

Information: Nanami Momozono is alone and homeless after her dad skips town to evade his gambling debts and the debt collectors kick her out of her apartment. So when a man she's just saved from a dog offers her his home, she jumps at the opportunity. But it turns out that his place is a shrine, and Nanami has unwittingly taken over his job as a local deity!

How NOT To Summon A Demon Lord

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

Episodes: 12

Information: Takuma Sakamoto is famously known as Diablo throughout the MMORPG Cross Reverie. And although he’s a magical prodigy in-game, in reality, he’s a total social outcast. One day, in his video game body, Takuma is summoned to another world by two girls seeking to control him.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun

Genre: Comedy, Supernatural, Romance

Episodes: 12

Information: It is said that "Hanako-san" lives in the girl's toilet on the 3rd floor in the old school building and will grant anyone a wish for a price. Yashiro Nene goes looking for "Hanako-san" in the hopes for a successful love encounter, but the one that she meets is completely different from what she imagined.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Genre: Action, Drama, Magical Girl, School

Episodes: 12

Information: In this world, there exists strange creatures who have the power to grant one wish to a chosen girl. However, in exchange, that girl must then become a magical girl and use her powers to fight against witches, evil creatures born from darkness that are responsible for murders and suicides. Madoka Kaname is one such candidate. Will she choose the path to become a magical girl? This is her story.

Stars Align

Genre: School, Sports

Episodes: 12

Information: The teen adolescence story revolves around the coming-of-age of boys in a junior high school's soft tennis club, which is on the verge of shutting down. Touma Shinjou asks Maki Katsuragi to join the team for his vaunted abilities, and mentions a summer competition. Katsuragi asks for money in return for joining the team.

Case File No 221: Kabukicho

Genre: Action, Mystery

Episodes: 24

Information: Shinjuku ward east side... The center of the street with most chaos, There's a Kabukicho full of neon lights. When the light is stronger, the shadow is deeper. The story begins when certain bizarre murder happens one night!

22/7

Genre: Drama, Slice Of Life

Episodes: 12

Information:

Miu Takigawa is a shy, introverted girl who one day receives an invitation from a talent agency. What doors might this invitation open for Miu?

The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat

Genre: Comedy, Harem, Romance, Super Power, School

Episodes: 12

Information: It is said that a stony cat standing in a hill can make our dream come true. Asking for their wishes, the protagonists come to a hill and ask for their wishes to the cat. Then, for some reason or other, a high school boy loses the face he wears in public and his nickname becomes a pervert prince. A cute girl is deprived of her true feelings... The cat makes mischief to their relationship better and worse. What will become of them?

Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

Genre: Comedy, Fan Service, Harem, School, Off Beat

Episodes: 12

Information: It's 16 years since the "Law for Public Order and Morals in Healthy Child-Raising" banned coarse language in the country. When Tanukichi Okuma enrolls in the country's leading elite public morals school he is soon "invited" (see - blackmailed) into the Anti-Societal Organization (SOX) by its founder, Ayame Kajo. As a result Tanukichi is forced into taking part in obscene acts of terrorism against the talented student council president (AKA - the girl he has a major crush on).

Haikyuu!!!

Genre: Sports, Volleyball, School, Comedy

Episodes: 85 + 4 OVA

Information: Inspired by a small-statured pro volleyball player, Hinata creates a volleyball team in his last year of middle school. Unfortunately the team is matched up against the "King of the Court" Tobio Kageyama's team in their first tournament and inevitably lose. After the crushing defeat, Hinata vows to surpass Kageyama after entering high school, Hinata joins the volleyball team only to find that Tobio has also joined.

The Promised Neverland

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery

Episodes: 12

Information:  Emma, Norman, and Ray are the three most brilliant children the Grace Field House has produced in decades. Unlike in a typical orphanage, they, and their fellow children, eat well and are given an intensive education. However, despite living in a peaceful environment with fun games and a caring mother, there's something not quite right. When six year old Connie is "adopted" by foster parents, she forgets her favorite stuffed rabbit, and Emma and Norman sneak out to return it to her. When they arrive at the scene, the two realize exactly why they had always been isolated from the outside world.

Gamers!

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Episodes: 12

Information:  Keita Amano is a lonely young man who loves video games; Karen Tendō is the beautiful president of the video game club; Chiaki Hoshinomori constantly fights with Keita; and Tasuku Uehara puts on a facade of being satisfied with his life in the real world, but he in truth loves video games.

Kiznaiver

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Psychological, Romance, Science Fiction

Episodes: 12

Information:  The fictional Japanese city named Sugomori City is built on reclaimed land. But as the years go by, the city's population is decreasing. One day, Sonosaki tells her classmate Katsuhira: "You have been selected to be a Kiznaiver." The Kizuna System, which allows Katsuhira to share his wounds, connects him to the classmates whose lives and personalities completely differ from his. The Kizuna System is an incomplete system for the implementation of world peace that connects people through wounds. All those who are connected to this system are called Kiznaivers. When one Kiznaiver is wounded, the system divides and transmits the wound among the other Kiznaivers.

#anime #anime recommendation #anime rec list #anime list #anime rec #anime review

[akechicrimes]

it does matter, actually, that goro akechi is a minor. not because this somehow exonerates him morally, or because this somehow makes him not responsible for his actions, but because persona 5 is invested in children as a source of hope for a better future. 

once i saw someone complain that people will defend akechi’s murders on the grounds that he’s a child/minor and how they felt that this doesnt excuse multiple counts of murder. and i was like, ok, well, im not sure anyone was excusing him, but alright, sure. and i’ve seen a few rebuttals to that, one of which is that shido and the other adults in akechi’s life had a responsibility to support akechi in such a way that it didn’t come to murder, and of course it’s on shido to just not be a massive dick who endorses fascism and murders in the first place. and i was like ok, well, this seems a little patronizing and dismissive of akechi’s agency and autonomy, but alright, sure.

in a very roundabout way of explaining my first two sentences, there’s one thing that bothers me lately, and it’s selim bradley from fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood. 

for those of us not familiar with fma:b, selim, or pride, is the oldest homunculus/artificial human in the show and the second-oldest villain, despite the fact that he looks about eight years old. of the seven homunculus named after deadly sins, selim/pride is the only one to survive the show--with an asterisk, which is that selim gets the “homunculus” part of him erased by the end of the show. with the “pride” aspect of him gone, selim is mortal, without any special powers, without memories of any of his amoral acts, and is generally just a happy, normal child.

which is a weird exception to fma:b’s general rule in which every other homunculus dies. even fan favorites like greed and envy don’t live, despite the fact that greed and envy are far more sympathetic as characters. selim kills multiple people on-screen, shows zero remorse whatsoever, and is an active helper in all the other mass-murders that the homunculi engineer. selim’s not an innocent in any way. also, he’s like, 200 years old? 300? he’s very old. biologically, mentally, emotionally, selim is not a child.

but fma:b goes out of its way to make sure that selim gets a second chance at a future, just because his body looks like a child’s. cut another way, he gets an exception from a large number of terrible crimes, up to an including participation in genocide, just because he looks like a child. 

fma:b reminded me that, outside of tumblr’s purity politics over children, and especially so in japan, children are socially constructed in a very specific way, beyond biological age and legal majority cutoffs. 

yes, biological age is a thing. yes, legal majority is a thing. i’m not saying that being a child isn’t a biological thing--it is, obviously. but what i’m saying is that there’s a difference between, say, the sex assigned to you at birth and your gender presentation, to use an analogy. there is a such thing as biological age, but the societal status of being a child of a related but separate thing. and this status of being considered a child is a societal construct.

the social construction goes like this, insofar as i’m aware: children should be good and silent and dutiful and work hard and go to school and listen to their elders, and their elders in turn should do everything they can to guide the children to the right path and build a good society for these children to inherit. (if we want more details on this, please see the entire history of filial piety in asia.)

so that’s a social contract right there baked into the social construct of childhood: children don’t have power, but adults have an obligation to make sure they don’t need power, and to make sure that the future and their children’s futures look bright. 

children represent the future, essentially. they’re the next generation. they’re simultaneously without legal rights as adults and in a very vulnerable position, for sure, but they’re also simultaneously considered the country’s most precious capital: quite literally the people who will inherit and lead the country next.

which, personally, i think puts a whole new spin on the phantom thieves in general. they’re not just kids who’re being rowdy or kids telling abusive shitty adults theyre being abusive and shitty--or, they’re kids doing those things, but they’re not just kids doing those things. they’re kids who’ve been specifically let down by adults who did not fulfill their social obligation to them. they’re kids who’ve been abandoned and neglected by the very adults who should have been paving the way forward for them, as society has asked those adults to do, because those adults have instead chosen to line their own pockets and cover their own asses. 

so the kids said: alright, well, then i’ll take power for myself, and i’ll make my own future. (which is where we get a lot of those promo slogans of “steal back your future” and junk like that.)

sae’s comments about how adults should do their part to fix the world for the kids is just a resolidifying of the way the world “should” work, and we could talk about her comments on the matter, but actually i wanna talk about yoshida.

i especially want to talk about yoshida because yoshida and shido are the two politicians we see the most of, and both of them spend a lot of time reciting political rhetoric to speak to the hearts of the general japanese populace. we all know the way that shido thinks of japan: a large vehicle that one person is in control of, and the masses just compose the throne upon which the ruler sits.

we also already know that yoshida’s a Real G, but it’s worth really close-reading some of his lines. he speaks a lot about apathy, the lack of caring for each other in society--a general willingness to disregard your fellow man, to not uphold one’s social obligation to each other. but he also talks a lot about the “youth”--which is not really uncommon for a politician, obviously, since politicians are always talking about “the children” and “the kids” and “the next generation” and “those damn millennials” and all that shit. 

yoshida instead gives us these fun lines:

A world where the young exist only to be exploited... is a world that must be changed!

And while our society appears to be prosperous, many of our young people are quietly suffering. They lack jobs, security, savings... The next generation will lead us into the future and yet they have no plan for how to arrive there.

Passing on the societal ills we have created to the next generation... is not right!

...the current administration refuses to discuss their plans for the future... Can we really accept such an utter lack of transparency?!

If you make a promise, you must keep it. If you make a mistake, you must atone for it. These are basic human principles that we have all learned from the youngest of ages... 

yoshida’s entire thing about how the adults have let the children down isn’t just him saying shit--he’s commenting directly on the fact that the social contract has been broken, and he’s putting the blame on the administration for not upholding their responsibility to secure a future for the children, especially since the children are the future of the country. 

this is partly why he doesn’t blame the phantom thieves for acting the way that they do; rather, he seems them as a logical reaction to the injustice that’s occurred as a result of the society that the adults have left for them:

I bet [the Phantom Thieves] are a group of young people. Young people who have experienced cruelty and injustice... They bravely face the societal ills that plague our world without thinking of the consequences.

(i think also in part he admires the fact that they’re anonymous and don’t benefit personally from their actions, which is exactly the opposite of what he did as a young politician. he also doesn’t throw the real embezzlement culprit under the bus to exonerate himself presumably for the same principle of desiring selfless public service instead of personal gain.)

in both the early parts of the s link and later on when yoshida starts talking with matsushita more extensively, akira’s important because he’s young--he represents the young demographic that yoshida and matsushita are discussing the future of. akira demonstrating support for yoshida in a public way means a lot because he’s a minor. matsushita asks akira for his opinions on the phantom thieves and other issues because akira is a minor. akira’s opinion is supposed to be heard and valued by adults, who should take his opinions into consideration and do their best to not let him down. 

this is tied into the general thread of yoshida being a person who was self-admittedly just as corrupt as everyone else, who was blinded by glamor and fame and money, who got caught up in political scandal. yoshida’s general acceptance of his mistakes as a human being and politician ties over to his general belief that it’s not that the youth are rebellious no-good teens, but that the youth have been let down by politicians like who he used to be. he blames himself, and because he is not too different from the rest of the older generation and politicians in general, he implicates a lot of the older generation and politicians as also blame-worthy.

his quest for redemption and atonement dovetails neatly with his views on the broken societal contract. taken together, yoshida’s s link implies to us the idea that the entire general older generation in japan more or less owes the children of japan a formal apology, and the older generation better get on their redemption arc and start being the vanguard of the change for children:

The reason [the Phantom Thieves are] causing a stir is because they are addressing the world’s problems. Setting aside whether their actions are right or wrong... there is one thing I can safely say about the Phantom Thieves. A belief with conviction... has the ability to move a person’s heart.

I’m sure you are all aware that I am “No-Good Tora,” the one accused of embezzlement. However, because I was accused like that, I was able to understand the suffering of the weak. Why am I in politics? In the past, it was merely for personal gain. But why do the Phantom Thieves continue to change hearts? I believe they do it for the world and its people. And in choosing to do justice for others, they had no choice but to disguise themselves. No matter what the world says, I fully support them. 

I’m just an average citizen. However, I will continue to voice my beliefs. I may not be able to become a Diet member this election... and I may not be able to effect change during my lifetime... but I’ve made my peace with that. I will be happy as long as I can be a meaningful stepping stone for the future of our youth!

okay. so that was a lot of close reading about yoshida. why did we do this exercise, tumblr user akechicrimes. 

there’s two takeaways from this. the first is the one that yoshida has already talked about extensively, which is that the phantom thieves are just but not because Fuck Cops and Fuck Capitalism and Fuck Anime Jeff Bezos. the phantom thieves are just because the people who are supposed to be upholding society aren’t doing their fucking jobs. the phantom thieves are specifically saying: we’ve been let down by society, so apparently we have to do everything our goddamn selves around here.

(which also ties in neatly to the general “fuck cops” vibe of persona 5 which, i would like to say, is very specifically “the cops are not doing their jobs.” the TV station scene where akira speaks back to akechi is, if i’m remembering this right, maybe the ONLY time we really hear “akira’s” opinion on the morality of his own activities, which is fascinating because he just does these things without ever justifying himself to the player--anyway, his three options are: (1) They’re justice itself, (2) They’re necessary, and (3) They do more than the cops. so akira can’t ever at any point say that the phantom thieves are bad, but his most interesting and detailed answer is to point out that the cops aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, so who can really blame the phantom thieves for doing what the cops aren’t?)

the second takeaway is that yes, goro akechi does get more leniency because he’s a minor. 

yes. seriously. this isn’t a matter of excusing what he did, or downplaying the fact that he committing murder. i’m not saying that he wasn’t old enough to make decisions (although i would never say that he was old enough to make decisions, because he was 14/15 when he got wrapped up in shido’s conspiracy). i’m also not saying that akechi, somehow for some reason, didn’t volunteer himself willingly, because all the evidence points to the fact that he did (although of course “free will” is also highly circumspect considering his living conditions at the time and the fact that shido makes it clear that he was able to manipulate akechi without ever infringing on akechi’s sense of autonomy). i’m not even saying that akechi was driven to the point of murder and had no other choice (although i think that might also be true as well).

what i am saying is that under the construction of childhood as japan’s future and japan’s hope, akechi is considered a valuable member of society, and is therefore worth saving.

or at least he should be.

akechi says that he’s an unwanted child, but “unwanted child,” according to yoshida’s rhetoric (and a lot of japan’s general rhetoric of children as hope for the future) is an oxymoron. (or at least it would be an oxymoron if japan weren’t so fucking hypocritical.) you can’t not want the future of the country. you can’t not want hope for a good future. the very idea that a child could be not wanted or not valuable doesn’t make any sense, because children are the future--in some ways, whether you like it or not, that child is going to inherit the earth when you’re dead.

the kind of person who’d not want those things is--well, shido. (this is why i used yoshida; yoshida and shido are two polar opposite politicians.) shido quite literally does not want a good future for anyone in the country and quite literally does not want akechi and quite literally does not see akechi, one of the very young-person citizens that shido is supposed to be serving, as useful or valuable in any way unless akechi is directly promoting shido’s fame and popularity. shido being akechi’s father is just a very neat and nice way of literalizing the ways that shido, as an adult, has let down akechi as a child--the ways that shido quite literally owed akechi something to make akechi’s life and future better, and instead did everything awful.

there should not ever be a thing like “unwanted child.” that in and of itself, from the start of akechi’s life, was nonsensical. and to the extent that shido being akechi’s father is allegorical of the ways that shido is a terrible patriarch for japan, i would say that akechi, as an unwanted foster child, is just another allegory for the ways that children nowadays are treated as misbehaving, lazy good-for-nothings who have to work themselves into the dirt to be given half the salary and half the praise. akechi, as an unwanted child, is just the personification and representative of an apparently unwanted generation. 

what i’m getting at is that akechi’s status as a minor (and yes he’s a minor even if he’s eighteen; age of majority in japan is twenty)--akechi’s status as a minor is a critical part of why akechi gets a shot at a redemption arc. so yes, actually, the other villains or palace-rulers don’t get redemption arcs because they are adults, who had a societal obligation to do better by their peers and by the children of japan. yes, actually, akechi’s informal “trial” in the hands of fandom is to be tried as a minor and not as an adult. yes, i know kamoshida didn’t kill anyone and akechi’s literal crimes are more morally repugnant, but yes, unfortunately, being a minor does actually exonerate him on the morality spectrum to a degree. 

being a child matters in the larger scheme of persona 5′s logic of who owes who, who’s responsible for who, and why we should not be apathetic. adults owe children a better future. adults have been letting children down. adults owe every single phantom thief, including akechi, an apology, a better future, and health and happiness; and they owe that to japan’s future not as a matter of exchange or morals, but simple social obligation. adults are supposed to take care of the kids--full stop. 

”okay but @ tumblr user akechicrimes?? akechi KILLED people.”

yeah, i know. i said “being a minor does actually exonerate him on the morality spectrum to a degree.” 

what degree? no idea. that’s up to you to decide. if you want to play in the black-grey-white morality scale that only goes two ways, you’re welcome to continue to ask “what degree.” we can argue that being a minor somehow reels akechi back from the “black” end of the spectrum into the “grey” or “white” parts. 

but (if i may be permitted to go completely off the shits into things that might make people pissed off at me for saying) i implore you to consider that this two-way scale of morality is not the line of thought that persona 5 is pursuing. 

this, again, ties back into the social construction of a child. i’ve said “a child is representative of the country’s future” so many times i think it’s lost meaning, so let me dice it a different way: a child is socially constructed as representative of potential and hope. a child is socially constructed as the capacity for things to get better. in persona terms, a child is the fool at the start of their journey, all futures contained in one present, a vast multitude of could-be’s. 

for a game very concerned with japan’s general societal ruin, children are not just in the position of having been let down by adults, but are--as the phantom thieves demonstrate--representative of better futures regardless of how terrible circumstances look in the current day. they are a source of believing one day this sad, depressing story might actually end with “and then they lived happily ever after.”

if i may go even more completely off the shits, take a look at this heckler from yoshida’s s link, which is the one that akira speaks back to in the middle of yoshida’s speech:

...I’ve been wrong this whole time. Even though someone has failed in the past, it doesn’t mean that person can’t try again.

this is to say, redemption arcs insofar as persona 5 (and also persona 5 royal, i think) is concerned is not a question of necessarily addressing the wrongs that have occurred. yoshida sets the bar pretty high in that yoshida does not ask for forgiveness for what he’s done, and instead simply accepts his actions and their consequences without attempting to lessen the blow. he embraces what he’s done in all its awfulness. 

but because akechi is a a minor, and because akechi as a minor is getting wrapped up in persona 5′s train of thought about kids as the hopeful futures of japan, akechi is at the very least owed a chance to do better. as a minor, japan is societally contracte to give him the space to have the potential to be better and do better. nobody is obligated to forgive him, and indeed neither royal nor akechi ever seem to entertain this as a valid possibility. forgive, forget, reconciliation, retribution, and resolution seem to be all off the table, as if the very idea would minimize haru or futaba’s losses. the very conceit of the dreamworld in P5R wants to shoot down the very idea that the past can ever, to any degree, be fixed, remedied, or even emotionally resolved. akechi will have always killed wakaba and okumura and this fact will always be awful--full stop.

nevertheless, despite the fact that the past cannot be changed, akechi is still a minor. rather than attempting to resolve the issues of the past, akechi is still owed the space to become a beacon of potential change for the better in the future--which is also known as hope. 

i’ve said this in other posts elsewhere, but persona games are like, obsessed with hope. they fucking adore that shit. why not? even in difficult times, even when things are terrible and you’re going through misery, if you at least have hope that one day things will be better, that life will change, that the new generation will step up to the plate and make the story have a happy ending, pain becomes easier to bear. and why not? persona games cover a breadth of difficult topics. 

especially in a game like P5, which talks at length about modern day japan’s ailments, what good is it if the player walks away with a defeatist attitude that the future will be terrible? 

if reality is malleable like morgana says, isn’t the first step to have hope that this is true?

this post has gone on a lot longer than i thought it would. but in any event. that’s why it is valid to say that akechi being a minor “exonerates” him to a degree. 

also selim bradley lives because fma:b concurs that children are a hope for a better future and fma:b is particularly invested in this line of thought because it’s a story about edward transitioning from a child to a young adult who is learning about the ways that the world works and is also still just childlike enough to propose that the world shouldn’t have to work in the bloody, awful way that it does. selim is representative that all children should be given as many chances as possible to do and be better because they are representative of potential. if that wasn’t clear. lmao.

#meta #mine

[yizukikhons]

TMA x Persona 5 crossover

I’m combining my newest obsession with one of my favorite games ‘cause I love playing the game “what characters from X series would belong to Y category from Y series”

So...

Persona 5, but all the characters belong to different entities from the Magnus Archives (Note: this’ll be based off of the original game, as I have not been able to afford the new release of Royal, and so have not played it yet.) Main Cast: Akira/Ren: Beholding. I debated for a long time about what to pick. What fit the protagonist better? Did his attempts to appear harmless mean he was better suited for the Spiral and it’s deceptions? Or does the fact that he’s a Wild Card able to mold himself into anything his friends needs align him with the Stranger? Or does his anger at unjust treatment give him the greatest connection to the Slaughter, or the Desolation? In the end I went with Beholding not only because that’s what I made the Velvet attendants, but because the Beholding also witnesses all the other entities. It has ties to all of them, even the Stranger which is it’s antithesis along with the Dark. It would make sense that he would have access, have KNOWLEDGE, of all the other entities under this power. Ryuji: The Vast. I almost gave him the Lonely, as after Kamoshida broke his leg he was isolated from his peers, but Ryuji doesn’t WANT to be alone. None of the other entities felt right. The Flesh is too literal, the Web requires more smarts than this boy has, the Corruption makes no sense and so on. I eventually went with the Vast because Ryuji always talks about freedom, and how running made all of his worries fade away, how it helped him connect to his other teammates. Avatars of the Vast have a very laid back look on life and are by far some of the most friendly you can run into, though it doesn’t make them any less dangerous.

Morgana: Beholding. I was originally thinking about whether to make him a Spiral creature or maybe the Stranger, but I realized that whatever Morgana was, then the other velvet room attendants would have to be it as well. And Igor’s JOB is to know things and help guide the player without actually interfering. He can’t belong to anything BUT the Beholding.

Ann: The Stranger: I wasn’t super sure about this one, as the Stranger relies heavily on deception-which Ann is NOT good at-but looking back at all the statements that involve it, it’s evident that it doesn’t try to be GOOD at deception either. How would you know something’s not right if the act was perfect? And as a model, Ann needs to be able to put on different attitudes in order to have presence.

Yusuke: The Spiral. I wasn’t sure which one to give to Yusuke originally. Again, the Lonely was my original thought, as his eccentricities make it hard for him to connect to other people, but being isolated is something that happens TO him, not something he pursues. Yusuke says that he wants to inspire people the way the Sayuri did for him, wants to show the world in new ways. And what better Entity/Patron to follow then the one that does exactly that? The spiral is about fooling the senses, making you see things that aren’t there or perceiving things in impossible ways. What better way is there to describe how art is supposed to make people feel?

Makoto: This girl belongs to the Hunt. You might think the Slaughter because of the rage she feels at being treated like a doormat but nope! That’s her sister. Her sense of justice makes her pursue her prey. She stalks Akira, set traps for him and the Phantom thieves. Not to mention that she wants to be a cop-which tend to lean towards the Hunt due to pursuing criminals. Futaba: Beholding all the way. This girl wants to Know everything, wants to Understand above all. While her vision might have been clouded by grief after her mother’s death, she still Knew they were lying to her and pursued the truth relentlessly.

Haru: Slaughter. I don’t think I have to explain this one do I? Girl canonically has sadistic tendencies, and while one COULD argue that Sadism fits the Desolation better, she doesn’t destroy for destruction’s sake. 

Akechi: Desolation. I was originally going to give this boy the Slaughter like Haru due to his anger, until I realized that the anger wasn’t the point. It was directed at Shido. At building him up as high as possible just to take it all away from him. That’s quintessential Desolation mentality. The Desolation is about loss more than fire, and Akechi is determined to make Shido lose EVERYTHING, and believes anything destroyed in that process will be worth it, just to see the expression on his father’s face as he pulls the rug out from under him.

Confidants:

Sadayo Kawakami: Victim of the Buried. Not just because of her debt, but also because of her guilt. The Buried can be metaphorical as well as physical, and Kawakami is an excellent example of that. Sae Nijima: Slaughter. Her anger and tendency to lash out at Makoto are what made me decide on this Entity. She isn’t an Avatar. Like Melanie, she was infected with it and was slowly becoming more and more angry and violent.

Sojiro Sakura: Hunt. He’s been out of the game for a while, so the instincts have largely gone away, but as Wakaba’s friend he learned a lot and that knowledge has helped him keep Futaba safe.

Munehisa Iwai: Slaughter. Former Yakuza? Of course it’s Slaughter; but taking in Kaoru and leaving his clan cut him off from the entity and nowadays he’s just a normal human.

Toranosuke Yoshida: Victim of the Lonely. Being evicted from congress isolated him and left everyone unwilling to listen to him. 

Ichiko Ohya: the Dark. It doesn’t fit perfectly. The Dark is about hiding information, not publishing it;  but in game her abilities allow you to move around undetected, and her articles help your reputation. I almost went with the Spiral considering how she deceives people, but the characters don’t all need to be Avatars who symbolize their patron. I see it more likely that Ohya is a victim of the Dark, as Shido’s organization is trying to keep her from the truth. 

Chihaya Mifune: Web. As a genuine fortune teller it only makes sense that she would be aligned with the Weavers.

Tae Takemi: The End. Enough said.

Shinya Oda: The Hunt. He’s always searching for weaknesses, whether that’s in his competitors or the enemies in game.

Hifumi Togo: The Web. Not only do her abilities allow you greater control over battes, but she’s also caught in the Web of her mother’s making when she’s trying to turn Hifumi into a model.

Yuki Mishima: The Corruption. Mishima uses his ‘position’ as the Phantom Thieves manager to try and gain others respect and take advantage of people. Corruption isn’t always about literal filth and decay, so I think this kind of moral Corruption would definitely put him under this Entities gaze.

Igor: Beholding. I explained this earlier in Morgana’s part, but Igor just fits the Beholding. He has knowledge that he shares with the player to aid in their journey, but he never interferes, never takes action.

Caroline: The Slaughter. I know I said that all the Velvet attendants would be beholding, but I thought that since the twins were two halves of one person, it would be interesting if their Patrons were different to reflect her broken nature. Justine: The End. I wanted to originally go for something different, like the Lonely or the Web. But Justine is a lot calmer than her sister, almost emotionless, and most of all she’s PATIENT, which is a trademark of the End. 

Lavenza: Beholding. As a Velvet attendant, she shares the same Patron as Igor.

Palace Rulers: Kamoshida: The Flesh. At first I didn’t know which Entity to give him. Should it be the Hunt, considering his lustful pursuit of the girls? Or maybe the Buried as he tries to pressure Ann into sleeping with him, using Shiho to keep her at his side. I eventually settled on the Flesh because even though Kamoshida was willing to do anything to get Ann as soon as possible and hurt Shiho when she turned him down in retaliation, the Hunt will never stop their pursuit because THAT’S THE FUN PART. There is no end for them. Kamoshida did want to catch Ann.

Madarame: The Spiral. I was originally going to go with the Lonely since he isolates his students, but other than that surface comparison, Madarame has no connection to the Lonely. He relied far more heavily on deceiving his students and tricking them into thinking that they owe him their artwork due to his mentoring them. 

Kaneshiro: The Corruption. I mean, he turns into a fly. What more is there to say, except that he possesses the same moral corruption that infects Mishima?

Okumura: The Buried. I originally went with the Flesh, but it felt far too literal. I eventually settled on the Buried as Okumura oppresses his workers and smothers them under exhaustion and debt to the company to keep them in line.

Shido: The Web. I thought about going with the Beholding as a sort of parallel to both the protagonist and Jonah Magnus from TMA, but Shido doesn’t want knowledge. He wants control, to exert his will on the masses, and that’s Web, not Beholding. Yaldabaoth: The Web. The ultimate expression of manipulation. Father of Puppets. 

#persona 5 #tma spoilers #the entities #tma #magnus archives #i spent way too long on this #and now I go to bed

[obscureobsidianreblogs]

X-Men Characters Ranking (I) The Worst

These characters aren’t what I would call the worst in the sense that I hate them and I don’t want to see them ever again, because I don’t dislike them as much as I hate how writers have treated them, many of them being basically anything other than plot devices and never having a chance to become better characters. I don’t think there’s no hope for them, only that I haven’t seen them getting chances to prove me there is.

Thunderbird/John Proudstar

This character is a joke in the worst sense of the word, basically being known as “Guy who died and unlike the rest didn’t come back”. It has reached a point Joanthan Hickman needed to create an explanation in-universe to why the hell this is the case!!! The fact all of this happens to the first native american member of the team is unfortunate. Thank God John’s own brother James, Forge and especially Danielle Moonstar came soon after to fix that.

Slipstream/Davis Cameron

I don’t want to sound mean, I really don’t want to, but I really, really, really don’t care about this character. How’s possible for a legend like Chris Claremont, who created so many memorable characters, create one so devoid of any interesting quality? If you want a X-Men male character who’s a surfer, just go with Havok in X-Men Evolution. Her sister Heather is a slightly better case, mostly thanks to the revelation that she’s actually part of Shi’ar royalty and we see her dealing with her body changing while she discovers her inheritance.

Joseph

Initially introduced as a possibly rejuvenated Magneto who decided to undo Magneto’s wrongdoings, what could have been the perfect opportunity to develop the character of Magneto was quickly wasted when writers at the time thought It would be more interesting to make him the third party in a love triangle involving Rogue and Remy. The revelation he was actually just Magneto’s clon and his death proved how much they regretted creating him.

Feral/Maria Callasantos

Maria’s backstory on paper could be a perfect way to create a compelling character: abused since her childhood, and killed her stepfather to protect her sister. Unfortunately Feral was created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, who were more interested in action and fights than in writing compelling characters, and in Maria’s case it really shows. Her perpetual hostility towards her teammates quickly made her unlikeable, and soon after she was written out of the team. But while characters like Shatterstar have become fan favorites thanks to the works of writers like Peter David Feral has remained a character no writer has bothered to do anything with her, except depower her after the House of M event to later made Sabretooth kill her.

Maggott/Japheth

None of the characters that joined the X-Men after the events in Operation Zero Tolerance became universal fan-favorites, but while Marrow and Cecilia Reyes have managed to still pop-up here and there occasionally, Maggott quickly became the fandom’s punching bag, being an usual entry in the “worst mutants/powers” lists and soon after his debut became killed. In a concentration camp, just so his death could be anymore fucked-up. Yikes.

Omega Sentinel/Karima Shapandar

The idea of a biosentinel who still retains her humanity and which she uses to fight against her programming to team-up with mutants and become their friend instead of hunting them down is pretty compelling. Despite that Karima has become a punchline for her tendency to be a character who tends to get possessed or brainwashed too much in a franchise and a genre where character being possessed or brainwashed has become commonplace. It seemed like that cycle was finally going to finish after Brian Wood decided to published an all female team on his X-Men run and decided to make Karima turned back into a human but stay with her mutant friends, but all of that got thrown away when Jonathan Hickman took over, make her a biosentinel again and because he really wants to push the narrative of us vs them he made her team-up with the evil human organization who wants to wipe out mutants, because he says so. Thanks Johnny.

Lifeguard/Heather Cameron

Like I already said above Heather is a slightly more interesting character than her brother Davis, especially after the reveal of her Shi’ar ancestry and her transformation to a much more alien appearance. Although I must admit I initially dislike the character for completely petty reasons. More specifically, the fact she was introduced and paired up with Neal Shaara when Psylocke’s death was still recent, because Neal was sentimentally involved with her at the time. Shipping tends to do those things.

Stacy X/Miranda Leevald

The accusation of female characters being created just to eye-candy is one that I think gets thrown around in excess lately, but in the case of Stacy X it’s pretty much the perfect textbook example. She’s introduced as a prostitute, wears revealing clothing, her powers cause orgasms, flirts with a lot of her male teammates, and let’s not forget that infamous time Chuck Austen thought it would be a good idea to write her saying she was going to watch porn after getting in an argument. Classy. The worst part is that her example was so obvious that she never became really popular among fans, and the writers quickly got rid of her in the most unceremonious way possible, depowering her in the aftermath of House of M, without bothering to even give her the opportunity to be a better character. However, I think there’s still hope for her. In the recent Domino Annual Gail Simone gave her a heartbreaking moment in which Miranda had the opportunity to express how she dealt with her power’s loss and how it affected her.

Sunfire/Shiro Yoshida

I really want to like Shiro, I really do, the issue where he was introduced is still one of my favorites from the Neal Adams and Roy Thomas run. But it’s so obvious writers don’t know what else to do with him except remind people that he doesn’t like teamwork over and over again, feeling like an excuse to include him as little as possible. Also this is a much more shallow reason to dislike him, but I really think he needs an urgent redesign to get rid of that horrible mask.

Thunderbird/Neal Shaara

His backstory, about discovering a new secret biosentinel program that took advantage of India’s most disadvantaged population while looking for his missing brother, is actually one of my favorites on any X-Men character, being emotionally compelling with some social critic sprinkled over it. Unfortunately once he joined the team the most he did was get romantically involved with female teammates, first with Psylocke, a reason I’m sure a lot of fans at the time hated him because she was with Archangel, although tbh it never bothered me that much, and then with Lifeguard. The fact that after Karima Shapandar, the character that got turned into a biosentinel while helping him look for his brother, joined the X-Men no one single writer bothered to make him meet her again despite it was confirmed he retained his powers after House of M shows how little interest writers were in him. Ouch.

Revanche/Kwannon

Although it seems like now with Fallen Angels and Hellions they are trying to make her a much more interesting character, there’s still the fact the character was created an introduced just to have a revealing twist about Psylocke’s body swap, and after the writers realised they didn’t know what to do with her and neither they wanted to fix that, they took the easy way and got rid of her making her contract the Legacy Virus so she could die and they could keep Psylocke being a sexy purple-haired ninja.

Vulcan/Gabriel Summers

I don’t think X-Men: Deadly Genesis is the unholy abomination many fans think it is, but even I admit they make Gabriel a character really hard to like. To begin with he’s supposed to be the third Summers brother, a mystery in the franchise that was introduced back in the 90s but that never got a satisfactory resolution, only a bunch of clues that lead nowhere and red herrings, in the main timeline at least, Claremont wrote in X-Men: The End the twist the third Summers brother was Remy all along. Anyways, so Gabriel is not only supposed to be the answer to a question fans didn’t care anymore at the time, but he was also part of a retcon, one related to a part as iconic to the X-Men cannon as it is the Giant Size X-Men published in 1975 and whose main point in the story was to show a dark secret Xavier hided to the rest of the X-Men (Still handled better than the bs Bendis wrote during the Original Sin event). But Gabriel, instead of first acting as confused as the rest of the X-Men team after they discover his existence, to later discover the truth of what happened, with him too enraged to listen to reasons and start to attack everyone wether what happened to him was their fault or not, Remender wrote Gabriel as a douchebag from the beginning, kidnapping Scott and Rachel and just being plain awful, especially to the one who was actually his niece. And then there’s the whole becoming the new Shi’ar emperor storyline that I couldn’t care less… Let’s see what Hickman does with him, although my hopes are not exactly high.

#x-men #x-men comics #marvel #marvel comics #x-men characters #mutants

[pekorosu]

no.6 novels thinky thoughts

--------

so… i ended up finishing all 9 vols in about a week haha.

my overall impression? it was… alright, i guess.

not that i didn’t enjoy it, in fact, the first half was great! by the time i reached the end though, i had mixed feelings. sat on it for a week or so but a lot of it remains a vague hhhmmmmmblah blob that i’m not done figuring out. 

i still wanna make a post as a form of closure for myself though, so i’m just gonna dump whatever comes to mind here. don’t mind me.

so... the ending. i guess it was supposed to be open-ended in a hopeful way, but it just came across as unsettling to me. the ~chosen one~ thing rubbed me the wrong way, because shion was entrusted with an enormous responsibility that no 16 year old should even be shouldering in the first place. (i mean yea okay he did willingly accept it, but still. why only him? why aren’t they all collectively responsible?) 

meanwhile the actual perpetrators get to escape all the consequences by just… dying. just like that. and the rest of them, especially the adults… they’re pretty much useless? even the ones that wanted to do something by staging a revolt ended up being unreliable either bc 1. they were drunk on revenge or 2. all that power was getting to their head. ironically, rou was like “it’s all on us, the adults” but in the end even he decided to just spend the rest of his life chilling out underground -_-

on top of that, shion had to let go of nezumi. idk about y’all but that ending, that “promise to meet again” kiss was like… i couldn’t help but wonder if nezumi only did that because shion was all “a world without you is meaningless” and he had to give him something to cling onto. followed by shion’s devoted “i’ll keep waiting” which… idk, something about it felt utterly depressing. to be fair, nezumi always keeps his promises and the epilogue was vaguely hopeful i guess, but it still didn’t give me the sense of closure that i needed. 

to clarify, i’m not saying it’s a bad ending. it’s realistic and the implication that there’s still a lot of work to be done is very much in line with the story’s themes. just that something about it didn’t work for me personally, plus the lead up to it felt rushed, so it left me feeling :/ when i was done.

the plot… well, it started out exciting but turned out to be rather anticlimactic? the shift from science to supernatural had a proper build up, but still felt like a letdown for some reason… 

i think... maybe it’s bc dystopian stories tend to culminate in a huge battle and stuff like that, while this one just… didn’t. there was no final showdown with the Big Bad. there was chaos, but it hadn’t descended into total devastation yet, with the ultimate message that maintaining peace is always more preferable in order to prevent any more senseless deaths. and i guess that threw me off a little? not in a bad way, it was just unexpected bc i’m so used to the whole “final boss” format.

speaking of which, the antagonists were very one-dimensional, and for dictators they were surprisingly… weak. i mean, i get that hubris was precisely the reason for their carelessness and subsequent destruction, but it felt too convenient, too simple.

and i was sorta expecting something more gruesome when they got to the top floor of the correctional facility. idk, i guess brains floating in tubes just couldn’t compare with that scene of them climbing a mountain of corpses+half-alive people, which i had the misfortune of reading right before dinner. that was straight up horror.

and for all its depiction of the horrors of a police state, of poverty, famine, genocide… i felt like it stopped short of something. this isn’t meant to be a proper critique ofc, just that i remember feeling like the writing came across as wishy-washy or superficial at times, even though i knew the author’s intention wasn’t to hand out answers, but to get the readers to think. something about the way it was handled left me feeling unsatisfied i guess. 

that said, there were stuff that i did like! eg. i liked how the story dealt with the “we’re all human beings” statement from shion. it started out as a simple, idealistic “all lives matter” kind of thing, only to be turned on its head when he comes face-to-face with the kind of atrocities no.6 has committed. then it becomes less about that and more “our shared humanity means that we too have the capability to become cruel and apathetic.” or at least, that was my takeaway. 

hmm… in hindsight, i think it does what it set out to do well enough. that is, to convey a certain message to a certain group of people (teenagers i guess. this is YA after all). to inspire them to think for themselves, to realise that apathy is dangerous and to take responsibility for their own learning, but also to know that doing the “right” thing is not just about good intentions; it is constant hard work but still important work... among others. all of which are solid themes and messages. god knows when i was younger and learning about all this for the first time, even the simplest things would leave me mindblown for days. if i’d read this back then i imagine it would’ve left a bigger impression too.

the main highlight for me though, was probably the character scenes. i was surprised to find out how introspective the story was, with the majority of it dedicated to the characters’ internal thoughts and conflicts. 

sadly though, the side charas’ POVs (like inukashi’s and karan’s) ended up becoming tediously repetitive and draggy despite starting out strong. and safu… poor safu, she pretty much got the shortest end of the shit stick being the Plot Device Damsel In Distress Who Is Eventually Fridged. i had higher hopes for her ):

as for the rest… i don’t really care about rikiga… and who else… oh right! small nezumi team! hamlet, cravat and tsukiyo. 10/10 love them, would never get tired of their cute little squeaks.

and the protags… shion started out kinda bland but ended up being the easiest to relate to haha. eg. his constant struggle to reconcile his personal ideals with practical reality. and it was interesting to see how he confronted and came to terms with some harsh truths. he always tries so hard. sometimes it hurt to read, but it made me want to root for him and in a way, it gave me strength too. 

also his apparent “lack of interest” in sex/women/etc... i know it’s generally played for laughs or to highlight his ~naivete~ or ~immaturity~, but whatever lol it’s something i can relate to it v strongly.

nezumi took a while for me to warm up to even when i understood why he is the way he is. the callousness, hostility, volatility… they’re all defense mechanisms rooted in his trauma, but still, knowing that didn’t make him any less irritating lol. he could be deeply hypocritical at times and his tendency to randomly explode at shion was grating. on the plus side, it’s always very satisfying whenever we do get a glimpse of his more vulnerable side.

them as a pair though… i’m not a huge fan of the “fate brought us together” trope so i was skeptical at first. nezumi being so prickly and moody at first didn’t help either, but shion. oh shion, he tried so hard to worm himself into nezumi’s heart, to prove himself worthy, that i couldn’t help but be charmed. to me, they started out more like “snarky senpai and curious kouhai” as opposed to “friends” or even “potential enemies” as nezumi liked to insist they were, which made for an amusing dynamic. 

and while they did grow on me over time, they don’t make me feel that INTENSE CHEST STABBING feeling that i get with other ships. idk why, i mean, their sarcastic exchanges were amusing, their brutally honest arguments were compelling, and the pining (which is my #1 weakness) was through the fucking roof with shion. but still, something was missing.

sidenote on something the author mentioned in the guidebook interview (my own rough t/l):

I like writing about relationships between people of the same sex, not just boys. When it comes to the opposite sex, the end result of being attracted to each other is always romantic love, or getting married…… To a certain extent, the “template” for that is already fixed, isn’t it? But when it comes to the same sex, there can exist a connection that can’t be expressed in the usual cliched words like friendship, camaraderie, love, hatred… I think there’s meaning in writing about relationships that can’t be clearly defined. What’s between Shion and Nezumi is a “one-of-a-kind connection” that’s born out of a certain situation, out of certain experiences that only they have gone through. I wanted to find out what exactly that connection is, which was why I wanted to try writing it. Of course, that “one-of-a-kind connection” would probably exist between people of the opposite sex as well. After all, the feelings that emerge from a chance meeting of two human beings can never be something that’s mass-produced. But still, I think the one thing that I really enjoy writing about has got to be the unique emotions that develop between people of the same sex.

i know she doesn’t mean anything negative here, but idk… it kinda reminds me of the way yoshida akimi discussed ash and eiji’s relationship in banana fish, and the way she discussed what she found so special about same-sex relationships that is lacking in m/f relationships. and something about it bugs me so much. i don’t even know why or how to explain it… 

it sounds like to them, there’s something fundamentally “different” about same-sex relationships. "different” doesn’t necessarily mean “bad” and in fact, it even sounds positive in this context because the implication is that that “difference” allows for more freedom and variety in relationship dynamics. but i guess, the closest thing that i can come up with is that it sounds… othering? i don’t know….......

speaking of which, i suppose shion/safu is a subversion of that typical m/f relationship. shion can never love her the way she wants him to, which is heartbreaking, but also refreshing in a way.

and you know what… it just occurred to me that maybe, maybe… it’s the same with shion and nezumi. and maybe that’s why something about them feels off to me. i mean, obviously the strength of their feelings for each other is indisputable, but idk if the essence of it is the same. 

shrugs. anyway, yeah.

the honest truth is that, while i enjoyed their interactions immensely, they just don’t ignite the same fire in me as all my other otps. that said, i still do have a lot of thoughts on them! maybe that’s a post for another day.

some other stray thoughts:

- was it ever explained how nezumi built his robo rats? or where tf he managed to gather so many gold coins? was this something the story just handwaved or did i just forget?

- nezumi wanting to leave on a journey at the end baffled me. even though him eventually leaving was foreshadowed a couple times, he never really struck me as a wanderer to begin with. but now that i think about it… i wonder if he’s leaving bc he wants to, or rather, needs to look out for any other remaining forests and natural environments. that’s what his people did, didn’t they? protect the forests. i wonder if he’s going to go look for others like himself. after all, he’s the only surviving indigenous person left in the area surrounding no.6, isn’t he? hmmm.

language-wise... this is my first proper japanese (light) novel so i’m feeling kinda accomplished rn! lol. it was surprisingly not as tough as i had expected. i think the most difficult part was actually reading the quotes at the beginning of each chapter bc it’s in a font that’s so hard to make out.

oh, and again, some parts felt really redundant. i kept wondering if it was a language thing or an author thing. either way, i felt like there were quite a few unnecessary rehashes that could’ve been omitted to improve the pacing. 

sequels, other adaptations...

i’ve not read “beyond” yet, which apparently has sequel-ish bits? i’ve ordered it, it’s on its way, but i have a feeling my impression won’t change that much even after i’ve read it. heck, it might get worse judging by all these lukewarm reviews. i’m definitely gonna see this through to the end, but i’m feeling kinda scared now lol.

i might check out the anime? based on the summaries on wiki, it sounds like quite a lot has been altered, but i’m still curious about the visuals. dunno if i’d wanna check out the manga. if it’s exactly the same as the novels or the anime then maybe not…

oh yeah, their anime/manga versions look quite different to how i imagined them! mine’s closer to the novel covers i guess. especially nezumi. i imagined him with short hair. maybe not all super saiyan like the one below, but yea.

lastly, i just had a good look at all the vol covers and i actually think they look pretty cool! i’m really glad i chose to get this version instead of the bunkobon. i mean, i don’t know if i will ever reread this again, but at least the covers are nice to look at haha.

#sotong txt #no.6 #long rambly post sorry #now im gonna go to sleep for 100 years...

[jane-argeiphontes]

SOMA: After the Launch Chapter Two “The Search for the Drone”

Chapter Two "The Search For the Drone"

Simon looked at his check-list:

Light Drone (at Tau?)

Omega Space Gun Climb (Do last)

Structure Gel Vile (Ross?)

Power Suit Room(Jin or Simon 2)

"Hey Catherine, what do-" he stopped himself. "What would Catherine do? What would she do? He sat down in the chair at Phi's control room; looking down at the Omnitool he could reminisce on the times she would tell him what to do and how to. He had to think like her, not try to match her in smarts or neurological sciency stuff, Simon used her logic.

Going through some old secretary room he found a board, some pins, and sticky notes. He wrote down his list and set it up alongside with dangers and other notes on what was also in the same places. Simon thought back to every conversation they had where Catherine was explaining.

You want to go upstairs to the comms center. It's the room with the domed ceiling.

Take a look at the engine room and see if you can figure it out. Maybe there's an override or something.

No, no, it's not like that. The A.I. isn't a persona, it doesn't feel or think like we do. It's more like...it's more like a cancer.

Take the stun baton from the box I opened and hunt down a robot with a working tool chip.

We don't have to worry though, because with the DUNBAT the ARK could have been in the Mariana Trench-it will hold for anything.

Ok, your new body most likely has senses similar to those you had as a human. And your mind, only knowing one way to perceive the world, superimposes that skill set on top of your new features.

Catherine always knew how to make things make...actual sense. Like the WAU not being as personified as her or him. And the ARK transfers...he just wanted to be out of this hell so bad he only half-listened to her, never trying to understand it completely until the end. Then she was gone and here he is now. What would Catherine say about this? Simon took a deep breath, closed his "eyes" and pictured everything. How this would go if she was here.

Simon rolled the board over so Catherine could see it from the monitor. "If we're going to get you a body this is what we'll need," he told her. "Think of it as my, happy birthday to you, I just don't know which to get first."

Catherine, if she could, would be smiling at this. "Simon, I told you that you didn't have to. I can do without a body." From her screen she saw him just staring at her, although he had a blacked out helmet she managed to see his face. She told him that perception was everything, and thanks to Dr. Munshi's records she saw what he looked like, so she saw the Simon Jarrett of Toronto that she heard so much about. If she was going to be stuck for all of eternity

down here, she better get to know her only companion.

"Nope. If we ever do try and leave this place and head back up, I don't think there's any terminals up there that work. I'm going to need you with me every moment."

"Aw, that's sweet of you. I'm sure that you'll regret it when I talk your ear off."

"We're friends. You can't ever do that."

Catherine was silent for a moment. He called her a friend. She never had any among Pathos-II, there was Strasky and Reed but they were probably being nice just to get on the ARK. Just when it was about the ARK or when people kept killing themselves over her project. Now here was Simon, not a scientist or anything but that Guy from Toronto, who called her a friend. If she could blush she would and her insides would butterfly.

"Friends forever."

"Always."

She took a look at the board, examining everything he had written down for each one. "The Omega Space gun would take too long to climb up and back down for, plus you would be carrying the Power Suit down with you and those aren't exactly light. Balance is key, it's like climbing a mountain except that the fall isn't quick. It's also more painful.

Tau's possibly has the other things on our list: the Power Suit Room, the Structure Gel, and the Cortex Chip if we're right in that it's even there. It's not without its risks. There's still Jin roaming around where we'd have to link it up and the process can draw attention. Finding the chip from the drone may have you crawl through the WAU infested parts of the place and most of the cameras are down.

Hmm…

Head to Tau, find that cortex chip, it's almost as important as the Power Suit but drones aren't easy to find down here, especially the ones we need. Find a room called "K-23", I think it was some kind of experimenting room or an infirmary. There should be a vent somewhere, crawl through that and begin your search there."

Simon smiled and shook his head. "Catherine," he spoke, softly and out of his comfort zone, "I...Catherine I…"

"Yes, Simon?"

He shot awake. "No time to waste. Tau, here I come." So he went out into the Abyss once more, retracing every step that led him from here back to Tau, although he had to do more work to reach the entrance. The area was dark, despite last he checked it was around 12 p.m. yet it did not show. He remembered the talk he and Catherine had on the long way down from the Power Climber. She told him about how should would go to the roof of where she lived to watch the world go by. When he heard that story, he didn't think that they were going to repeat it but in the back of his mind he had the thought of it in-case the ARK didn't work out. Here they are now.

Simon found the room that Catherine suggested when he thought about her, indeed there was a vent in this experimenting room. Inside the test chambers there was the Structure Gel leaking into the drain, there were dead fish reanimated by the WAU still flipping out. He wondered if the WAU reached the surface, what it would do with the bodies still there, with what's left of them. Could it still bring them back? Would it do that, finding a body and restoring its mind again? Catherine might have explained it to him how it does it but still, could it?

Climbing through the vent reminded him of Upsilon and Theta, a monster lurking below him. The Construct then Akers, and now Jin Yoshida. Often he would watch the infected Power Suit follow his echo, the tendrils twirling and shooting out when it believed to have found a poor soul. He must have been one of the last to go since the records he found didn't make any mention of his infection. One last desperate escape to the surface? To Omicron?

The vent was a straightforward, dropping down into a section he hadn't seen before. It must have been one of the rooms the WAU blockaded. It was full of Omnitools, tools, boxes and crates of supplies and other things Tau must have needed. Then there was a window showing another room. It was strange...the style and architecture was entirely different. It was almost not mechanical at all. In the center sat the Light Drone, Cortex Chip completely out in the open, almost illuminated. On the right of the window, there was a door of the same design. "Almost too easy."

How could it be a trap? The WAU doesn't have the power to make room sentient and kill him? Does it? He didn't want to waste anymore time debating and running the risks, everything would be worth it. So Simon went for it.

He carefully stepped inside the room, every step there was a CH followed by a VRIK when he took another step forward. The Light Drone looked over at him, staring directly at him. The vocal box spoke to him: 

T-t-trap...trap….TRAP...TRAP! GYAHHHHHHH!

The room began to close in until something wrapped itself around Simon's foot! He was flung up, his head struck the ceiling. His vision began to bug out, he could see the room start to break apart to reveal the jaw of a whale malformed by the WAU, with a burst of energy he charged, snatching the chip and making it back into the room as the Structure Gel began to fix the hole. With only a small foot of water leaked in, Simon set it on the table before resting against the wall, just taking a quick nap, he promises...

[ansatsu-database]

Korotan C Rough Summary/Synopsis (Part 4)

June 2016? My goodness, it’s been that long!? Sigh, my work life...

Previously on Korotan C: Princess Lea of Norgo Kingdom visits Kunugigaoka for a Debate Rally, but she's decided to sneak out of her hotel and into the city. Upon saving her from an assassination attempt, Class 3-E and Asano Gakushuu are now bodyguards on a mission to escort her to safety.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Spoilers beware, and remember, this is not intended to be a full word for word translation. This is only so that you have an idea of what is happening.

I have no guarantee that these are 100% accurate

Chapter 4

Taxi would be the quickest way to reach the embassy, but should their enemies discover them, it’ll become easy to mark and ambush. Thus, Karma suggests that they use methods that include crowds of people to make things harder for them.

They’ll use public transport whenever they can, and switch the mediums of travel too. From here, they can take the bus, then switch to train at the station. Of course, some of them have to stay with the princess.

Nakamura then suggests maybe it’ll help if the princess wears a different outfit. Like, she can put on a Kunugigaoka uniform, then someone else dresses in the princess’ outfit.

That idea will put the person dressed in the princess’ outfit in danger of being assassinate though. “Well, even if I say that, you’ll still do it anyway,” Karma quickly realises.

“Same hairstyle, same colour, isn’t that just right? Exactly like the princess who’s being marked! Incidentally, you better protect me, my meat shield!!” said Nakamura.

“Hey! How many times are you going to use me as a meat shield!?” retorted Terasaka.

After Nakamura and Lea swapped their clothing, Yoshida brings the princess a knit cap for her to completely hide her blonde hair.

“Class E keeps on demonstrating an unfathomable level of prowess, whether at the Athletic Festival or the 2nd Trimester Finals, just where did your strength came from?” questioned Asano.

“Well… it was probably… the result of us fighting to the death at the precipice that was Class E…” answered Isogai.

“Isogai-kun… is getting better and better at lying…” remarked Kayano (probably)

“Well… it’s not like he can say that it was all thanks to a Mach 20 superbeing,” replied Nagisa (probably)

Unbeknownst to everyone, someone is spying on them from the shadows.

“Everyone has matured well, getting more and more reliable. Should anything happen, Sensei will be there to help, so just go along with your own daring ideas!”

Suddenly, a dog barks from behind the octopus and he screams. Karma and Asano both heard him, to the former’s exasperation.

The students travel in 2 groups, with Lea grouped together with Asano, Nakamura, Karma and Terasaka. En route to the bus station, Lea gives the ambassador a call, telling him that everything’s fine, and she’s heading now to the embassy.

When the bus arrives, Karma and Asano boarded first to make sure passengers are OK, with Nakamura and Terasaka keep up their guard from behind.

Karma sits at a window seat closest to the emergency exit, with Lea next to him, and Asano standing next to her. Nakamura and Terasaka then sit to her front and rear, completing a cross-formation that defends Lea in the center for their travel.

But during the bus journey, Karma decides to lighten things up with small talk, to Asano’s chagrin.

“Hey, don’t you forget that we are supposed to be protecting the princess! Don’t relax your guard, we’re not here for sightseeing!”

“While keeping up your guard is important, it’s still a long way to the embassy, so there’s no way to maintain such a high tension for the whole trip.”

“It’s because you carry such optimism like so many others who’ve given up on hard work that you…”

“Besides, if you want to pursue perfection in being a bodyguard, then before the princess made her suggestion, you should’ve taken the first step, so being adaptable is another essential skill to have.”

“I don’t need you to teach me how to be a bodyguard! And on the social side of things, I have plenty of experience.”

--

Lea watches with amusement at the banter between the two.

She remarks that “Karma” is an odd name, is it common in Japan? He reckons he’s the only one in Japan to have it, it’s a name that his always-travelling parents with their strange tastes came up with.

Isn’t that lonely, what with his parents not being at home? He thinks he’s actually freer this way, as long as they don’t mind his business he’s got no objections. Lea feels envious at the relationship the Akabanes have.

Karma then brings her attention to Asano’s family. Normally, if you have the school’s board chairman for a father, then you would get all sorts of special treatment, and everything is fine and dandy, but not for Asano-kun. Never mind special treatment, the way he kept working hard to stay at the top is considered “that’s how it should be”, that’s just…

[“You know nothing! Can you cease with your blabbering! Since ancient times, the only ones who become rulers are the strong. That is my father’s compass of education, and one that I believe to be correct. I never yearned for any warmth between father and son, and I have no interest in discussing such relationships with someone who likes to gossip like Akabane. So whether it’s this guy, or my father, I will rule over you all, over all of humanity. That is my calling, and I take joy in living in this calling.”]

[“Pfft,”] blurted Nakamura. [“So cool, Asano-kun! But I think that’s just a load of hubris.”]

[“There’s no helping it if it’s seen as hubris, although, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to be undeterred by the gazes of others and stick to your beliefs. But if it were me, there’s no way I would ignore how others around me sees things, or the expectations from my parents or my citizens. I would stick with my beliefs while carrying all the pressure and responsibility, and I would hate to act like I’m losing to that pressure!”]

[“Indeed, running away is no good.”] (Don’t know who says this)

Seeing his retaliation, Lea lightly pats him on his upper arm.

[“Let’s not talk about this anymore, Gakushuu is too perfect, it’s boring.”]

[“Expectations from others is proof of your worth, and as for how this strength is to be used, it’s completely decided by me, by my freedom. I decide where my life leads to.”]

(He was so serious that Karma and Nakamura opted not to tease him here)

[“From now on, I shall etch your words into my heart.  I will believe in myself and do the things that I believe in, and I shall not falter and continue forward, no matter what those around me say. But conversely, please remain in contact with me as much as possible.”]

[“Then you had better keep up with my growth.”]

Seeing how the two have been using such tough language against one another, Karma can’t help but feel excited. [“My oh my~ Don’t you think those two suit each other a lot?”]

[“Can you not make such low-levelled jokes!?”] Asano angrily stares at Karma.

[“Aha, he’s angry now~ Asano-kun is so cute~!”] [“He does like the princess huh~!”]

Asano’s strong tone only got Karma and Nakamura more fired up.

[“When this is over, if you dare to spread this sort of rumour, I’ll use all the power in the school to massacre you!”]

[“So scary~”]

She may’ve been the butt of the joke, but Lea holds in her laughter and turns to the windows. The appearance of her excitedly gazing out at the scenery of the passing streets presents a temperament of both girlish innocence and royalty. Asano involuntarily looked at this from a side view, but when he suddenly sensed a devilish gaze coming from Karma, he hurriedly turned back towards the front.

“Hey! Can’t you all speak with some simpler English? I couldn’t hear a lick of it!” said Terasaka.

“Man, you just had to do it, breaking up this lovely atmosphere?!” retorted Nakamura, as the bus slowly approaches the train station.

--

Meanwhile, the second group had already taken another bus, arrived at the train station and got into formation. Some went to check the surroundings for any assassins that may be in hiding, while others remain nearby gathering intelligence on the situation.

In front of the station, Nagisa and Kayano are throwing out snacks to the pigeons nearby, with more and more gathering, and even landing on their heads and shoulders and pecking at the snacks in their hands. Isogai and Maehara, on guard nearby, wonder if they’re alright, but it’s part of Karma’s plan, what can they do?

The “escort” bus now arrives at the station. Maehara spotted that one of the people waiting in line to board is dressed in black and reading a newspaper. And as the passengers gradually exit the vehicle, he leaves the queue and approaches them.

Isogai can see that the man has something in his hand, probably a syringe. He calls out to Nagisa before the duo runs towards the bus.

“CLAP” With a sound from Nagisa’s hands, the pigeons all flew towards the airspace around the bus. The man in black was distracted for one moment, and when he looked back, he’s face to face with his target. Well, someone who was supposed to be his target, smiling.

“Eh??? Did you see the princess?” Seeing Nakamura’s grin, the assassin knows that he messed up, and Isogai takes this chance to bat away his syringe with a rolled-up notebook. Not giving him any leeway, from behind Nakamura, Asano sends a kick his way and knocks him out.

The assassin had two more accomplices, and after seeing his defeat, they retreated to their car. But when they opened the door, they saw that the wheels had all fallen down to the side of the road. Next thing they knew, they’re strapped to their seats with duct tape.

[“You are under arrest.”] Nearby the station was Korosensei, dressed in police uniform while chewing bubble gum and playing with the duct tape roll. Next to him is Yoshida with a wrench and Muramatsu with a carjack, snickering that the assassins were way too obvious with their black clothes, black car and bubbling bloodlust.

“Korosensei, did you come to help us?” asked Nagisa. Having heard from Karasuma and Kataoka, at first Korosensei wanted to bring the princess to a safe place at Mach speed. But since he’s not allowed to do that, he can only support the kids, ensuring that the princess makes it to the destination and that his students are safe as well.

By the way, he took the chance to clean away the pigeon feathers and droppings on Nagisa. “Wha? When did that happen!?”

As thanks, he gives the leftover snacks to a delighted Korosensei. In exchange, he gives his bubble gum to Nagisa before disappearing at Mach speed.

#ansatsu database #assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #Korotan #asano gakushuu #Shiota Nagisa #kayano kaede #akabane karma #Nakamura Rio #terasaka ryoma #Isogai Yuuma #Maehara Hiroto #yoshida taisei #Muramatsu Takuya #korosensei

[trendingnewsb]

Shadow of the Colossus Is Back, Remastered and Resplendent

Shadow of the Colossus is a simple story about a boy and his horse. It's a messy story, about hubris, and mortality, and the desperate greed of love that can cause us to do things we know full well will end in disaster. It is also, incontrovertibly, one of the most important videogames in the recent history of the medium.

Quiet and barren, the 2005 release offered a lesson in the importance of hidden dread and understated compassion. Like its predecessor, ICO, it carries a plain premise set in a scenic world, one that would be beautiful if it weren't so alien. A girl has died, a victim of a terrible ritual. In a forbidden wilderness, there is a divine being who can resurrect her. A boy, Wander, takes this girl he loves to the god Dormin, who promises to resurrect her for a price. There are 16 colossi roaming this land, says Dormin; if the boy kills them, the girl will live.

This week, more than a dozen years after the original, Shadow of the Colossus has been reintroduced, with all the bells and whistles of a modern remake—4K graphics, easter eggs, and optional 60 frames per second if it's running on PlayStation 4 Pro. Like any remake of a popular title, this one is controversial, and the choices made by Bluepoint Games in the process of "modernizing" the game deserve close scrutiny. And yet, while replaying this old classic in a new package, I find myself instead considering how appropriate, even poetic, it is to be retelling this particular story.

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Shadow of the Colossus tells of rituals, and does so ritualistically. Each of the 16 boss fights that form the corpus of the gameplay proceed begins with Wander awakening at Dormin's temple, and then using light from his sword to guide him to the beast. Then he must scale the creature, finding a way to reach its weak points by climbing up its body, stone to scale to fur. Then the creature dies, and Wander returns to the temple via the power of mysterious magic shadows. Then he goes, and he kills again.

This ritual goes on 16 times, with the solemnity of liturgy, a tragic heroic quest that slowly becomes so heavily choreographed that it begins to feel like myth. Every moment takes on a metaphorical significance, a comment on the barrenness of nature or the cost of naive hope. Wander's quest is a fool's errand, tilting at the fundamental forces of the world, but it's also beautiful one, set against a wide open expanse of empty plains and swamps and desert. The forbidden lands of Shadow of the Colossus are built to hold the colossi, nothing more, and invading it is cruel—but it's a sympathetic kind of cruelty. After all, what wouldn't you sacrifice for someone you love most?

As Shadow of the Colossus finds its way into telling a mythic story, its repetition lends itself to retelling. That's what happens to myths, after all; they're stories we tell again and again, repeating to ourselves for safety and instruction, for focus and respite. All good stories deserve to be retold. For those of us who have loved Shadow of the Colossus for the past 12 years, that retelling has been a consistent part of our love. I have been writing and rewriting the story of this game and my experience with it since long before I began actually writing about games.

All good stories deserve to be retold. For those of us who have loved Shadow of the Colossus for the past 12 years, that retelling has been a consistent part of our love.

The PlayStation 4 remake of Shadow of the Colossus, then, is another sort of retelling. Another voice, echoing an old story. The grandeur and mystic terror is there, as is the feeling of profound struggle. The controls have been refined somewhat, but not enough to render Wander or his horse fully tamed. This was an essential element of the original myth: that the characters on screen never reacted perfectly to your commands as a player. Wander's quest to tame the wild nature of the colossi, to scale and conquer them, is echoed by the player's struggle to guide Wander, to get his frail young body to grip when it's supposed to, to swing the sword at just the right angle, to run without tripping over his own feet.

Bluepoint's telling captures that. It also captures the sheer power of the colossi themselves, massive creatures that are as much architecture as they are wildlife. In high definition, their fur ripples as you climb it. You can see the terror and frustration in their limbs as they flail to remove you from their bodies. You can see their disquieting vulnerability as they die.

Other elements evade capture. The lighting is less washed out than the original, which removes something from the atmosphere. The PlayStation 2 version used light as an oppressive, almost tangible force; light solidified into a miasma, following you, blinding you, reminding player and Wander both of the cost of this quest. This new version lets a bit too much realism into a world of myth. This is unfortunate, and some adherents of the original will loathe this version for its liberties.

This is to be expected, though. That's how stories work; new tellings always lose some details along the way. But they gain details, too, and new versions of stories don't have to overwrite the old. The beauty of the new Shadow of the Colossus is not as replacement. It cannot and should not replace what came before. All it can offer is its own voice, to tell a story worth telling. It's a good one, one of the best our medium has. If you've never heard it, now's the time.

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Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/shadow-of-the-colossus-remastered-review/

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