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saionjeans · 5 months

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ok so. miki’s sunlit garden is the literal sunlit garden where he and kozue played piano together as children. it’s the defining version of this narrative device, and in a way, it’s the most straightforward. miki is leaving the garden and entering the world of teenagers. he is scared of growing up, and he misses the effortless, uncomplicated bond he shared with his sister when they were children, before being inculcated into a world of sexual power and abuse, before his parents divorced and his beautiful nuclear family was rent asunder by real-world complications. i genuinely think every 13-ish year old goes through this grief and a desire to hold onto the past, to remain in this perfect nostalgic bubble through which you view your childhood. it’s probably the most universal and identifiable instance of the motif of the sunlit garden.

then it gets more complicated. nanami’s sunlit garden is her memories of short-haired touga, of her big brother showing her his affection, making her feel special, worthy, and loved. but unlike miki, she doesn’t miss being a part of the ideal nuclear family. for one thing, both she and touga are adopted. of course, she doesn’t actually know that, but it nonetheless problematizes the bioessentialist logic upon which the nuclear family [abuse factory] structure is predicated. secondly, it’s clear that she was always the scapegoat to touga’s golden child. which is why it’s not that she loves her sibling as an extension of her childhood nostalgia, but that her entire value system fundamentally revolves around touga, because he was the only person in her formative years who ever showed her the slightest sliver of affection. and in all her memories of him, he has short hair (like dios, like miki), because subconsciously she doesn’t even want him to be her Prince, her patriarchal savior, she wanted him to be someone who loved her because she inherently deserves love. she does treat him like her prince in the present, but that’s only because it’s how her love for him must take form in ohtori. deep down, she doesn’t want a prince, a lover, or even a brother; she wants a friend who will love her for nothing. but she has no way of expressing that, not in a world that claims true friendship is for fools. so instead she values him for their biological ties, for his status as a kiryuu, for his patriarchal role as the eldest son in their perfect nuclear family. and she refuses to acknowledge how she demeans herself in the process of worshipping him, how she’ll drown herself and cook herself and cage herself, debase herself and dehumanize herself for his illusory love. and that is what the sunlit garden means to nanami.

as for saionji, the sunlit garden also constitutes his memories with touga, of a “before” that is much more definable in the sense that there is clearly a moment where it becomes “after.” one day they are riding their bike through the rain after kendo practice, and they decide to take shelter in a church. and saionji sees touga become someone he fears and also envies. someone who wields the power to project something eternal, to inspire, to save. and he exerts his power in a subtly violent way, by transgressing invisible boundaries. saionji cannot harness that power, so he attempts to exert it clumsily, through immediate, obvious, physical forms of violence. it never quite packs the same punch as touga’s manipulation, no matter how hard he tries. but what saionji really longs for is not to possess touga’s power, but to go back to the way things were before touga decided he wanted power. touga thinks true friendship is for fools, but like nanami, all saionji wants is to be touga’s true friend. and isn’t that just tragic?

of course, that’s not all saionji wants. but his desire is complicated by the fact that he clearly also resents the sexual acts he is being put through by touga, even if in other circumstances, it could be what he wanted. juri’s situation, her sunlit garden, is similar to saionji’s in this respect. all she wants is shiori, but she doesn’t want the shiori she is being presented with. she wants the shiori from an illusory idealized past in which they were true friends, before shiori betrayed her and revealed her ugly feelings in the process. like miki with kozue, nanami and saionji with touga, utena and anthy with dios, mikage with mamiya, juri is idealizing a version of the object of her affection who never really existed. shiori’s ugly feelings were always latent. unlike miki’s sunlit garden, nanami’s flashback to touga’s party and sea of photographs, or saionji’s memories of touga tenderly wrapping his hand, juri does not even have memories of shiori that are not defined by her betrayal. yes she has shiori reaching out, holding a rose, saying “believe in miracles and they will know your heart,” but it’s an obvious fiction. juri doesn’t know shiori at all, and the shiori juri knows is not the shiori she loves. the sunlit garden is always a garden of illusion.

utena’s sunlit garden, which opens many episodes, is perhaps the most obvious example of this fact. she completely rewrote her own formative memory to better suit the dominant patriarchal narratives she was forced to adopt all her life. and you can say that akio actively tampered with her memories, but functionally speaking, that’s the same thing. even more so than the others, her sunlit garden is a palimpsest; she idealizes a past and a prince that never actually existed. sure akio and anthy exist, but her “prince” is not either of them. the locus of her will to live, that eternal thing, is a fiction. but her desire to help others in need is genuine. and that is what differentiates utena’s sunlit garden first and foremost. it is not founded on a selfish desire to cling to a perfect past of illusion, but on the selfless desire to keep moving forward in hopes of a better future. they all want to hold onto something eternal, including utena in her desire to keep her parents with her, and all of those desires are perfectly understandable and eminently sympathetic, but utena is different because that day that akio showed her anthy’s suffering, utena’s desire shifted from a memory to a telos.

mikage’s sunlit garden thus becomes a cautionary tale to all the members of the student council who wish to live in a memory, perfectly suspended, pinned in place like a butterfly on display. just as a caterpillar must become a butterfly, a child must enter the world of adults. mamiya is beautiful because he has the luxury of dying young, of being immortalized on a carousel, of never losing his innocence. mikage is what happens to people who idealize eternity through escaping into nostalgia. the world keeps moving on without them, and they become ghosts, trapped in a past that no one can recall.

so what of akio? he uses people’s sunlit gardens against them, he manipulates time and memory, feeds off nostalgia and the grief of lost childhood. he cultivates his garden to resemble golden days, and as he invites you through his gates, ensnares you. so what does that mean, when his goal, too, is to achieve eternity? above all he wants to forge a sword that will break through the closed gates and reinstate his former glory. of anyone in ohtori, he is the one most deeply entrenched in his oh so cozy coffin. for all that he knows his promises to be illusory, he also clings to that logic, he also mourns dios. he longs for his golden days despite knowing that they’re untenable, despite being well aware of the toll it took on anthy. and even fully aware of the extent of his exploitation, of the fundamental illusion of eternity, he still attempts to attain it, he still instantiates himself in a cycle on the carousel, condemned to ghosthood, a butterfly pinned in place.

finally, we must look to the absent figure, the outlier. what, or rather who, is touga’s sunlit garden? the movie tells us it is utena, that he embodied the princely role in the truest sense and that this is his deepest aspiration. but i don’t know if that’s necessarily how i read him. anthy and touga are foils, two sides of the same coin. anthy doesn��t have a “sunlit garden” per se, because she has long given up on the idea of returning to a time when she loved dios, before the swords of hatred pierced her heart. but she has a literal sunlit garden, and her role is to tend the flowers in it and never leave. she has a literal coffin, guarded carefully in the chambers of her heart. anthy knows better than to cling to an idealized past, but still, she cannot find a way to move forward. so she gets stuck in a circular present, where both past and future are illusory concepts. it is not enough to simply know that the past is gone, one must also strive for a better future. it is why utena and anthy’s promise to drink tea and laugh together in ten years is just so powerful within ohtori’s timeless walls. i’d bet anything that touga also doesn’t have an idealized past. if, again, we use the movie to inform our understanding of him, he was always aware of the abuse that pervaded his world, he was never an innocent. but instead of desiring reform, like utena, of wanting to save those suffering, he wants to be the one inflicting that suffering as much as possible. to cope, he accepts his abuse as a necessary consequence of existence, and assumes that anyone capable of abusing him is simply more powerful, and thus deserves to exert their power over him, just as he deserves to exert his power over those less powerful than he is. so like anthy, he doesn’t have a sunlit garden, but he has a coffin, and a garden, and a carousel. and like anthy, he must choose for himself whether he wishes to remain a complicit victim, or to leave his cozy coffin and find a way to move forward. and that, only time can tell.

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baratiddyappreciator · 5 months

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Hanma Brother HCs

Because these two deserve to have a loving family member that is actually there for them.

They don't show open affection towards each-other in the usual way. If you asked a casual observer, they'd say that Jack actually hates Baki and that Baki is trying to make Jack lose his temper. Ask either of them if they hate each-other and they'll just look confused.

Baki likes to elbow Jack in the side or the hips a lot when he walks past him. They're finally close enough to play around like that, and Jack indulges him. He's even started reciprocating, usually swatting at Baki's shoulders or grabbing at his head to push him away.

Given the chance to spar, both of them would absolutely take it. It looks concerning until you realise that they're genuinely sparring and not actually fighting. Jack isn't biting Baki, and Baki isn't using any genuinely harmful techniques on Jack. They're just basically wrestling until they get bored or are satisfied with the encounter.

He'll never admit it, but Jack genuinely thinks his little brother is adorable. He's got a baby face, he's small, and Jack really just can't help it. He's given into the urge to just pick Baki up once before and hasn't done it since, because he knows he can't get away with it.

Jack has complete confidence in Baki's skills and his progression in the fighting world, he can see that his brother is rapidly improving and has so much potential, and he's genuinely proud of him and the fact that Baki's getting further than he has so far. It's good that at least one of them is finishing high school.

Baki, like everyone else, knows very little about Jack's life before he came to Japan, but he can tell that Jack's had a really rough life, just by looking at him (most people can, it's pretty obvious) but he had no idea how rough until he went to visit Jack in the hospital after his fight with Pickle and Jack had been sedated and tied down because he kept trying to leave.

It took him a while to finally get Kureha to tell him why Jack had to be sedated in the first place. Turns out that Jack has a serious mistrust of doctors, and considering his past, that's understandable.

Jack is very frugal, if he can save money, he will, but Baki grew up with his mom's money, and he still gets some from his inheritance, so he's not actually too worried about saving money, but he does appreciate doing so. Stick them in a supermarket together and Baki will learn the ways of a bargain hunter.

Baki has absolutely stolen Jack's clothes once or twice while he was fighting just to see if he can make his big brother laugh. It's a rare occurrence, since Jack is so stoic, and he hasn't managed it yet, but he has gotten a smile out of him!

They have the uncanny ability to just know what the other is thinking about by just looking at each-other. Is some new fighter talking a big game? Pay attention to the Hanma brothers, and you'll notice that they start side-eyeing each-other as things get more and more dramatic and out of hand. They're having a full-blown conversation without saying anything in the slightest, and nobody can really interpret it.

Both of them are very protective of Kozue. Is she there when a new group of fighters is in? They're both standing close to her, within arms reach, one in front, and one behind. If Baki isn't enough to deter the newcomers from being rude to Kozue, then Jack staring down at them certainly is.

Baki has actually brought Rumina (that kid he apparently hangs out with semi-regularly) to come meet Jack, because Rumina didn't believe that Baki had an older brother. Jack didn't really know how to react to being bragged about by Baki, but the kid was respectful enough.

Baki tries to get Jack to try new foods whenever he can, be it a snack that he brings to the arena, or if he runs into Jack outside of the ring. He'll drag his big brother to the nearest restaurant and sit him down to make him try something. Jack can eat just about anything without complaints, but he's got a love-hate relationship with seaweed. Healthy? Sure. But he doesn't like the texture or taste all that much.

#baki headcanons #baki son of ogre #baki the grappler #baki dou #grappler baki #jack hanma #baki hanma #brotherly love #brotherly affection #brotherhood #hanma brothers

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wise-rainfalls · 1 year

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It did strike me for the first time today that the way Mikage cultivates Black Rose duelists is a microcosm of what Akio's end goal is for Utena. This might be a rather obvious connection, but for some reason it escaped me.

The Black Rose arc is the first time the idea of a 'person' as a 'sword' instead of 'wielder of swords' is really introduced. Instead of being firmly the 'subject' of a duel, a possibility of a person becoming the 'object', the 'tool', or the 'substitution of power' opens up. In the same way the Black Rose duelists pull swords from the hearts of others and try to act with a power not their own, Akio is trying to regain a princeliness he no longer possesses through cultivating it in Utena.

It does become more and more striking how every system in Ohtori is simply a rehearsal for the grande finale of Akio's duel. Saionji and Touga's duels against Utena, as Akio's proteges and shadows, are almost blow-by-blow shadows in their own turn of Utena's final duel against Akio. The girl in the coffin, Utena's struggle between prince and princess, the prince-who-is-not-a-price, the falling castle - on a rewatch, all the elements are clear. If the first round of duels is a hint at what is going to happen, then the second round of duels introduces the why.

It also, in retrospect, goes a long way in showing just how impotent Akio is, as a character, in many ways. Fallen from being a prince, he grasps parasitically at power, treading the 'path that has been prepared' in endless circles. His gaze, like so many of the Black Rose duelists, is fixed firmly on the lost past. He becomes analogous to Tsuwabuki, endlessly recreating scenarios he himself doesn't participate in, unable to grow or mature. Kozue's line, 'Miki and I are the only ones in the world who deserve to exist', can easily be transplanted back into Akio's mouth (and Anthy's). He becomes like Shiori, taking pleasure out of hurting Anthy in reactionary defence against his own injured pride from being dependent on her. The difference, or course, and why Akio is worse than any of them, lies in the power he's accrued, the hurt he's caused, and just long he's been perpetuating the system of abuse.

#utena #own post

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exilley · 8 months

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i love kozue please talk to me about kozue

OMG YAY!! Alr. I have to pull up some of my notes from my last rewatch

So it actually took me quite a bit to really appreciate Miki and Kozue's character arcs because theirs is arguably the most subtle out of the the entire cast (which I understand may not be saying a whole lot, as Utena emphasizes a visual approach to storytelling, where everything is more or less completely out in the open for the viewer to relish-- it's just up to the audience to decide what those symbols mean). The thing that tripped me up about Kozue is that you can't really understand her until you've understood Miki, since her whole narrative niche hinges on her relationship with her brother, and of course given RGU's egalitarian disposition in regards to textual intent, however you've understood Miki will then inevitably color your perception of Kozue. That said! I don't think it's a completely one-sided dynamic, because of course Miki is impacted by Kozue's actions all the time. I just think there's a stricter analytical chronology to dissecting the twins, and that's a departure from the rest of the series' writing, and it makes them stand out a bit more.

Blue is assigned to three characters over the course of the series: Miki, Kozue, and then Ruka. Any thematic commonalities, though, appear to be entirely lacking at first glace; after all, all their personalities and archetypes are oppositional to each other. I definitely had a hard time figuring out this one, but I think my primary (and preliminary) conclusion as to their point of contention has to do with their status as accessory characters. Ruka appears with Juri as a masculine foil, Miki's own status as a member of the student council is consistently undermined by the greater authority of those around him, and Kozue attaches her social worth to her promiscuity. Of these three, Kozue exclusively is a woman, in addition to which she is in the transitional period of adolescence along with Miki, kind of representing an ambivalent force among Ohtori's constructs. She doesn't fully belong to any class of Ohtori's residents. Sure, she has a leaning, but it's just that-- a tendency set up to exacerbate extremity. It's also the binary complement to Miki's own nuances (here we can get into RGU's exploration of Childlike Purity but that deserves its own essay lol; the point I'm trying to get across is whatever Miki is, Kozue represents the other face of the coin).

The bulk of what I managed to gather from Kozue's character actually comes from her duel song, Utopian Paste Tense Incantation. The lyrics lay on really hard with nostalgic imagery and diction.

From this.

We can grasp the core tenant of her character motivation, that being that she's wanting to return to the past when she was figuratively and literally a child, presumably to before the incident with the failed piano recital (parallel that I haven't quite managed to place is the one related to sickness. Miki and Ruka both lost their metaphorical "other" because of illness. Hm). Here, the desire to return to the past is metaphorical in nature-- obviously she doesn't want to turn back time, she wants to replicate their past dynamic, reclaim her innocence, undo metamorphosis, reject the expectations of change the world demands of her.

**Note: The 7-5-3 referenced in some of the lyrics is referring to a Japanese rite of passage and annual festival celebrating the lives of children. Traditionally, girls aged 3 and 7, as well as 5 year old (occasionally 3 year old) boys undergo a ceremony that demarcates their transition into adolescence and womanhood/manhood. Here's the Wikipedia page on it if you're interested

But THIS. This is the catcher

There's a passing mention of an amusement park, which we come to associate with Akio.

The amusement park is the place where fantasies thrive. Its attractions are bound for the same path each and every time. There's no change at an amusement park, no revolution-- only the burden of comfort. And here is the fool who rides a carousel of violence round and round for eternity, the fallen prince. Kozue's own childhood with Miki was like this, and whether it's riding a merry-go-round or playing to his brother's naivete, she keeps herself going around in circles, chasing after a prince who always had his back to her.

Kozue's resentment is mutual- Miki does not approve of her sexual activity and projects his own ideal of the past onto Anthy- but it is not inhibiting. Rather, it is passive, and most of it manifests as self-hatred. She's manipulative, not in the way that she means to hurt Miki as a form of vengeance, but in the way that she advertises a very specific persona of herself to Miki. She's performing the role those around her demand from her (princess), to seek confirmation that somewhere in Miki is the brother who she believed was kind, gentle, and chivalrous. It's fear-- she's driven by the fear that Miki will completely reject her. She was abandoned once, after the recital, and she slipped out of one phase of her life into another. But surely, surely, Miki would still take her back, right? He hasn't changed like she did (or so, I suppose she believes). Her pursuit of an incestuous relationship is the apex of her complex-- it's unhealthy and mired in presumptions of intimacy that aren't conducive to her actually getting any closer to her brother. Similarly with the other sibling pairs, we see this type of sexual abuse used as a way to spotlight the harm that stems from endorsing the caricatures of masculinity and femininity that we're conditioned to view as desirable.

Kozue presses her own vision of the past onto Miki as much as he does to her. He's her "shining thing", her relic of nostalgic antiquity. And therein is their tragedy, wanting to move on in totally different ways, unable to see eye to eye, believing in a flawed history that was never there to begin with. Neither of them want to face the future and place blame on themselves for the loss of a memory that was never once genuine. They're birds who refuse to leave behind their nest, their birdcage. And I think the most fascinating element is the conclusion for Kozue's part of the story, in the scene at the end of Miki's Nest Box, where she finally calls out Miki for being a "coward" and walks away from him, leaving him to finish the nest box on his own. I interpreted that as being symbolic of her finally discarding her own preconceptions of Miki and coming to see him for who he is rather than merely as an extension of her personhood, disavowing the connotations of princeliness she'd come to expect from her brother. He cost them the duel and their attempt at reclaiming their past because of her intrusion on his idealistic fabrications, and seeing firsthand just how fragile his worldview was allowed her to break through her own.

There's so much I haven't addressed, but this is the gist of what I think she's all about? Do add more if you have any thoughts of your own! I will say. Common misconception for Kozue I see frequently is that she's actively aggressive towards Miki because she doesn't like him for reasons ranging from "she doesn't like being objectified by Miki" to "she's been irreversibly hurt emotionally by the incident with the recital" (and that Miki doesn't like Kozue because she simply doesn't fit into his own ideal of femininity). The objection here being the correlation of causality, as I don't necessarily think that Miki's objectification or even the recital are what *caused* Kozue to behave more coldly towards her brother. I hope my train of logic makes sense here because I tried my darndest to shoot down this specific misconception... uhmm. This took a long time to write LOL

#jin responds #Codeword: Revolution #rgu #sku #rgu analysis #sku analysis #kozue kaoru #kaoru kozue #this one deserves to be in main tags methinks

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poopyballz28 · 2 years

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Some Baki characters when you admit your romantic feelings and ask them out

Thought I should mention, not only do you like them, but they very much like you too.

Baki

• He'd be pretty shocked that you chose him out of all the boys/girls in the world. He doesn't particularly think he's the most attractive or charming person around. When he caught those feelings for you, he didn't expect for you to ever return them, but he accepted that reality.

• He'd have a goofy look on his face with his eyes kinda wide and his mouth drawn open.

• He'd be like "For real?! Me?!" out of pure shock. When you confirm that, yes, you truly do love him, he'll be really excited about it. He doesn't know why, or how, but you love him back. He's really excited.

• "Well...I like you too Y/N-san! You're going to be the first lover I'll ever have so don't expect me to know all about that dating stuff, ya know? Ahah..."

• He'll pause. "But...I'm happy you like me...just like how I've always liked you."

Jack

• When you said you had something to ask him, he was not expecting this at all.

• He's always pushed away that feeling of butterflies and happiness when he would be near you. He'd attempt to brush it off by training even harder. But even then, he wouldn't be able to get your smile off of his mind.

• He stands there, blankly gazing at you with those sharp eyes, staring holes into you.

• While it seems like he's just staring at you, he's actually lost in deep thought.

• He doesn't know whether he should accept or not, yeah, he does like you of course, he thinks, but you'll just get in the way of his training. He wants to say yes but his head is telling him no.

• The silence lasts for so long you assume he's just rejecting you. Until he lets out one "Sure."

• He convinces himself he's only going out with you to get stronger, not for any other reason at all. But deep inside where even he doesn't notice it, he wants to be around you more and see that smile of yours flash over and over again in front of him.

Kozue

• She'll be overjoyed. She doesn't consider herself as one very deserving of love and appreciation like that, but hearing you say you love her and want to go out with her boosts her spirits and makes her heart flutter in her chest.

• She's liked you for a long time, never being able to admit her true feelings out of embarrassment and the fear of you leaving her side.

• A huge blush will appear across her face and she stands there in shock, trying to take it in and handle her happiness.

• She'll slowly walk a few little steps towards you, fidgeting with her hands and looking as nervous as ever.

• Suddenly her face will scrunch up really cutely and she'll unexpectedly run up and hug you.

• "Oh Y/N...I really really love you too!"

• You both grip onto each other tightly as tears leave her eyes and drip onto your shirt. She's so happy she's found someone to love.

Katou

• He's in utter shock and denial.

• He would think about you while in his dirty apartment, laying in his bed. He'd try to get you to get off of his mind but he couldn't stop thinking of you. He'd attempt to drink the thought of you away to no avail.

• Although he would've never expected someone like you be in love with him of all people. He thinks he's a dense and arrogant karate loser so when you confess your feelings to him, and tell him that you truly love him, he's in absolute shock. He confusingly stares in silence for a while with his eyebrows knitted together.

• "How could they fall in love with a dirty fucking asshole like me?" He'll probably be thinking. He's very well aware he's just a dumpster fire dickhead fighter. But he doesn't care, nor does he have the willingness to change.

• He'll probably jokingly ask if you're sure you really like him, or if you're just misreading your feelings. But if you're confident, then he'll blush even harder than he already has been.

• His usually confident and silly aura drops, and he immediately switches into this nervous timid mode. He starts talking quietly and avoiding eye contact, with his face as red as a tomato.

• Inside, his stomach would feel full of butterflies, not just out of nervousness but out of joy. Deep inside he's happy you like him like he likes you.

• He'll timidly very subtly sneakily say yes. "I guess...maybe...we could, I don't know, hang out and...date...or whatever."

Katsumi

• His heart will be doing flips. He's incredibly joyful.

• He doesn't fall in love a crazy lot, but his love for you went past boundaries. You were all he could ever think about. He'd only ever want to hang out with you and listen to your voice.

• He noticed how that love he had for you distracted him from his intense training, he'd try to get you off his mind to no avail. He'll stay up in bed thinking about you and how much he wants to kiss you. Whenever he thinks of you he gets a silly smile on his face.

• He would get a little saddened though. Not having enough confidence to just go ahead and ask you out. He's a hopeless romantic, sighing at the moonlight (loser) But now, the day has finally come.

• The astonished look on his face quickly changes to a big warm smile.

• "I love you too Y/N! Lets go on tons of dates, alright?" He'll say with a big smile as he comes up and hugs you, pulling you up from off the ground.

• He wishes he could've just manned up and asked you out in a fancy or cute way, since it would've ended well anyway. Hes just a bit afraid of rejection though. But after your confession, he tries his upmost best to be the best boyfriend ever, not being afraid to tell you anything.

Retsu

• He was stunned when he heard your confession. It wasn't something he expected truly hear from you. He needs a second to collect his thoughts in the moment.

• He always contemplated asking you out to dinner or something, but always called it off last minute. He would train to try and get you off his mind, until he realized that even you were a road block in his training. He knows he is in love with you, but doesn't know if he has the ability to truly admit those feelings to you. He deals with the fact that he'll probably never tell you how he really feels.

• When you actually confessed though, he was incredibly surprised. Very quickly, a large blush formed on his stupefied face.

• "I would love...to be in a relationship with you Y/N. I would very much like that." He says as a small warm smile forms on his face.

• You both would enjoy the peaceful silence between you two, staring lovingly into each others eyes, feeling jovial for all of the new memories you will share with the other.

Hector

• Just like everyone else on this list, he is undoubtedly dumbfounded.

• He doesn't know a thing about love outside of media's interpretations of it. He starts to think about how dates work and how you even kiss correctly. But the one thing that really makes a blush spread across his face is the "I love you." you told him.

• He's never once been told those words. At least not that he can ever remember. Those words felt so good. And they felt even better coming out of your mouth.

• He's confused as to why you love someone such a him rather than someone who isn't a cold unloving murderer. He can't wrap his head around the fact you actually "love" and care about him.

• "I think...I am okay with that...being in a relationship with you." He says, looking off to the side, his eyelids gently hooding over his glistening, usually intimidating eyes.

• He struggles understanding what love even means or entails but if what he feels with you is "love" then he never wants to leave your side.

#baki headcanons #baki the grappler #baki hanma #baki son of ogre #baki dou #jack hanma #kozue matsumoto #katou kiyosumi #katsumi orochi #retsu kaioh #hector doyle #anime #manga

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ragecndybars · 11 months

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Top five poor little meow meows, any medium but limit it to one per series or you're just gonna talk about Akihiko five times

this ask is a landmine. and i'm about to step on it.

Anthy Himemiya. Hashtag Anthy Did Nothing Wrong. Everything she did is retroactively morally correct purely because it was her who did it. True, she has a bodycount of, at an absolute minimum, 100 students who burned to death + Mikage himself + Kanae, but have you considered: she is terminally in middle school. Using magic illusions and or hallucinations to drive Mikage to mass murder and eventual death? They hate to see a girlboss winning. That last episode and her whole, uh, thing with Utena? God forbid women do anything. The way she fucks with Nanami, too, simply because of the Recognition of the Self through the Other (derogatory). ALSO IS SHE MIKI AND KOZUE'S STEP MOTHER OR WAS THAT A METAPHOR. ANSWER ME IKUHARA. Not that it actually matters bc she was just having a category five girl moment. Get your princess witch dichotomy out of here she's my special little meow meow and she deserves to travel the world with Chuchu and Utena while Akio rots underground <3

Edelgard von Hresvelg. Sorry but nothing need be said here. Other ppl have said it all already. Black Eagles 4 Lyfe.

Chidori Yoshino. Yes, she was party to multiple murders. No, there was no real goal or justification beyond money. Yes, she was utterly indifferent to the blood on her hands. No, she never really changed her mind about that or ever came to understand why standing idly by and letting Takaya murder people who she helped track down was bad, nor did anyone ever really try to explain it to her. Yes, she kind of just said "whatever man" and went off to have her own character arc completely divorced from the murder. No, I do not care. She is my precious little angel she didn't deserve anything that happened to her she needs all the love and understanding in the world.

Clive Dove. MFW I'm traumatized and orphaned as a child and the man responsible not only faces no consequences but even becomes Prime Minister and so I build an entire fake future London underground beneath the real London and conspire with a man who created an actual real functional time machine to trick some people and kidnap the prime minister and smuggle him away and make a fake evil future version of the guy who comforted me after my parents died and then pose as the future version of his apprentice to get close to him and kidnap his daughter also at one point and really just let everything get out of hand up until the point I get caught and hop into an enormous mechanical fortress and pop out through the ground slash ceiling of my fake future london to start smashing the shit out of the real london all the while the woman who literally travelled through time is like damn i'm dying and now my bf and i cant even have a nice last date. Anyway Clive is peak and he should have faced zero consequences for this. But Bill Hawks needs to die ASAP.

Leonard Church. The misogynist of all time. He loved his wife who he constantly referred to as a horrid bitch so much. He loved his daughter who he neglected and emotionally abused by comparing her to the impossible standard of her dead mother soooo much. He loved himself so fucking little that he tortured himself to create an AI out of himself and then he tortured the AI to try to create a new version of his wife out of his own memories. The neglect and emotional abuse of his daughter is continuing in a big way throughout this tbh. Then he accidentally tortures his AI self too much to the point where AI him loses his memory and his fake-ass AI wife who despises him now for what he did has to kidnap him from himself and now he's just back to being a huge asshole who calls his wife a horrid bitch all the time. And then he can eventually develop a conscience and start to remember more and more (and cause irreversible trauma and brain damage to wash at one point in there oops) and then even though he still doesn't remember her, he can team up with his daughter to track down his original, human self to stop him from continuously committing war crimes and human rights violations in his efforts to resurrect his wife. and he can finally put his wife who he calls a bitch to rest. I'm not gonna say I love you... I'm gonna say... I forget you. I'm letting you go. And then he can die pathetically as a human while his better AI version sticks around with his daughter who he still doesn't really remember for a while until he eventually has to sacrifice himself as well. And ain't that just a bitch.

#ask #idk what to even tag this #thank you terri this unlocked mental illnesses previously unknown to even god in me #Revolutionary Girl Utena #RGU spoilers #Fire Emblem #Persona 3 #P3 spoilers #Professor Layton #PL3 spoilers #Red vs Blue #RvB spoilers

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estellamiraiauthor · 1 year

Text

The Stars May Rise and Fall: The Annotated Re-read (Chapter 17)

Welcome to part… 17 now? of my probably excessive annotation of my own book! Here, I wax nostalgic over now-defunct department stores, examine the importance of jewelry in this story, and can’t quite remember if I meant to make Kiyomi similar to Kozue from Maison Ikkoku or if she just turned out that way!

As always, spoilers (including spoilers for chapters beyond this one) under the cut!

So, date #2 with Kiyomi… I know a lot of readers don’t love this, and you know… you’re not supposed to. What Teru is doing here is pretty shitty. He knows he isn’t really interested in Kiyomi the way she’s interested in him, but he’s taking her out again anyway because he was too big of a wimp to say no… he doesn’t want to hurt her, and I don’t really think he sees how he’s hurting her MORE by letting her believe there’s something there. Can we forgive him a little for being young and inexperienced?

Last time, Teru kind of dressed up in visual kei-style clothes and Kiyomi wore clothes that were more mainstream popular. This time, Kiyomi is dressed head to toe in black, and Teru’s in jeans and a T-shirt. This is Kiyomi being a little naive, I think. Teru doesn’t really care how she dresses, or how Rei dresses, or really what any potential date wears. I think Kiyomi really thinks that if she spends the money and the effort to fit into his world, it will make Teru like her… this is (quite sadly and painfully) something I used to believe when I was maybe a little younger than Kiyomi, and while it’s not exactly her best trait… let’s give her a break for being a little naive too.

Teru’s also thinking about Rei, and about Yasu’s advice, from the beginning this time. Kiyomi is able to sympathize with him about skipping meals when you’re single and living alone, and when their waitress gets flustered on her first day, Kiyomi is kind… but instead of thinking that he ought to be attracted to her, Teru is now thinking that she deserves someone better than him.

Yes, he really needs to tell her that he only wants to be friends, but he doesn’t… the only thing close to that he manages to say is that if they go to Marui One, the unfortunately now-defunct visual/goth/punk/lolita department store, he can’t tell anyone there she’s his date, but only that she’s staff for the band (which they do need, now that they’re selling more stuff). This is sort of the first mention, I think, of the “all musicians must appear to be straight and single” rule that gets brought up a little more definitively later. A big part of the appeal for a lot of the fans of these bands is sort of being able to tell themselves they have a chance with the musicians, so while Teru is making a good point, he’s also not doing a very good job of making it clear to Kiyomi where he stands. He should be up front and tell her it’s NOT a date… but instead he just says they can’t SAY it is.

A couple of important things happen at the store… Kiyomi suggests buying a really revealing dress, and Teru is kind of uncomfortable with that (but again, definitely not communicating well). They go a a jewelry shop, and Kiyomi finds a necklace that she rightly thinks Teru would like.

I actually forgot to go into this earlier, but the jewelry that’s given as gifts throughout the book are one of my favorite little details. First, Kiyomi has Teru’s bracelet that he threw out into the crowd during the show she was watching. It wasn’t really an intentional gift, but she wears it again later, and I this scene, when she ultimately goes back and buys the necklace for him without his knowledge or permission, she says it’s “repayment” for the bracelet. Teru does aesthetically like her gift, but he decides against wearing it at their next show—he doesn’t want to give her OR Rei the idea that he is “hers”. And then when Rei gives him a necklace months and months later, that’s simple and beautiful and personalized rather than just bought on a whim, he wears it right away onstage, wanting to show the world that he does love Rei, even if he can’t be out publicly. While Kiyomi’s gift here isn’t really THOUGHTLESS—she does choose something that Teru likes—it’s also completely inappropriate cost-wise with where their relationship is at the moment and feels like almost a subconscious attempt to buy his love. I don’t think she means it like that, but her whole approach is just a little naive (this may or may not have been based on personal experience as well… I was a huge dork when I was Kiyomi’s age.)

So Kiyomi spends a ton of money on new clothes, and Teru feels a little bad that all he can do is carry her bags (she hasn’t actually purchased the necklace yet here, but Teru has decided that he CANT afford it), which isn’t really a new thing but again, just kind of feeling like things aren’t quite equal.

One of the sort of complaints I see about age gap romances is that things can “never be equal,” there’s “always a power imbalance”… but I really tried to make Teru and Rei… not equal in EVERYTHING of course, but equal partners overall. They both “take care of” each other in different ways. I mean, if you don’t like age gap couples don’t read this! Everyone’s welcome to have a preference, but while Teru initially feels a little self-conscious about how poor he is with Rei, I think he also does have a lot of power in the sense that he becomes the face of their music, and by the end has a successful career of his own. (And he certainly has the emotional power to absolutely SHATTER Rei, which he knows now, and definitely understands.) I don’t know that there’s really a power imbalance with Kiyomi, but there’s definitely less that he can do for her… and Teru’s love language is acts of service. He likes to be needed!

Another pretty significant thing happens when one of the shop clerks recognizes Teru from the band, showing that they’re starting to become popular, and the clerk’s mention of the upcoming single eventually (after Kiyomi goes back to buy that necklace) leads to them going to a CD shop to see the poster for the single on display.

Teru considers telling Kiyomi here that he can’t be with her—at least he’s admitting it to himself? But he doesn’t because he’s kind of a coward here… but when they go to the shop and see the poster, he whispers Rei’s name and Kiyomi hears him. She kind of teasingly asks if that’s his girlfriend (Rei is a unisex name), probably mostly hoping to hear him say he doesn’t have a girlfriend, but all Teru says is that Rei was “a musician he used to know”—assuming, still, even though it’s clearly breaking his heart, that they’re never going to see each other again.

In one of the very early drafts, Teru actually thought he SAW Rei on the street outside the store—not entirely implausible, if he’s working on getting the stores in the area to stock the CD—but when he runs outside whoever he saw is gone. I’m not really sure if I meant that to actually BE Rei, or if he just saw someone else dressed similarly or with similar colored hair, of if he was just imagining things, period.

It didn’t really matter, though, and I didn’t want it to seem like there was any possibility Rei was stalking him or anything… so I’m glad I changed it to just this whisper of a name that has Kiyomi wondering if she should be jealous.

I think I’ve mentioned somewhere before (probably on my deleted Twitter) that Kiyomi reminds me a lot of Kozue from Maison Ikkoku. I don’t actually remember if that was intentional or not, but they both have that kind of “borderline annoying but just because they’re young and inexperienced and are trying to be sweet” thing going on. (And Rei is so clearly Kyoko too… but I’m not really sure if any of that was intentional. I think at least some of Teru’s thoughts about Saki, about how he would forever be perfect, were at least somewhat inspired by the way Godai was jealous of Soichiro? Whether it was conscious or not though, there are definitely some similar (if slightly gender-bent) dynamics going on.)

I guess this is kind of a “down” chapter in that it’s kind of a lull in the action and that Teru’s guilt over his reaction to Rei really colors everything until they meet again, but I LOVE the nostalgia here. I’m so glad I worked Marui One into this, and even though it’s not the most fun day out from Teru’s point of view, it reminds me of some good times.

#The stars may rise and fall #Annotated #phantom retelling #gender bent #Nostalgia #possibly inspired by Maison Ikkoku?#Or maybe I just like very predictable tropes #The world may never know

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intotherumiverse · 3 years

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22. stuck together with midoriya 😁☝🏽

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ: this was supposed to be headcanons oh well. Hope you like it <3 ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: Izuku and (y/n) being simps ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ: female ɢᴇɴʀᴇ: fluff + troped

Izuku had never been one for "(Y/n) moments". The thought of having one was so lost to him, so incompressible that he dedicated journal's worth to deciphering the puzzling issue that was the "(Y/n) moment". That is why he found it ironic that he was in one himself after trying to decipher the moment. It was in a hero's mission when this particular moment happened. He was tasked to save people inside a building on the brink of collapse. With speed and elegance, he managed to save most of the people inside... All except you. The building showed signs of coming down and the count of letting anyone die on his account, and with that knowledge in his mind, he ran back to save you.

You were only a worker, someone of no importance to anyone besides you. That's why you thought as you ran through the slowly imploding building that you were to die here. It was such a fit for people like you, unknown to the world. The smoke was rising more quickly as chunks of the building starts falling. Strength was leaving you, as you become more and more sluggish.

"Hello! IS ANYONE THERE!" you heard a voice call down through the smoky haze of smoke. You thought no one was coming, no one was here to save you, but there was someone. The last thing that you thought before you passed out

When you come to the first thing you see is a pair of emrald green eyes staring at you in a concerning manner. Pulling yourself up a flash of pain through your right side, bright and hot.

"Hey hey hey... Are you okay?" the man helps you up, making sure no vital points are hurt.

Your head clears as toy sit up, taking in your surroundings. The dust seemed to settle, as you hear the sound of sirens echo all around you.

As your vision cleared, you realized what happed. The front of the building caved in. You were now stuck.

“They said they’ll have us out of here in a couple hours, no worries.”

“A couple of hours? How long has it been already?”

“Maybe 30 minutes, the shock must have took you out for longer than you expected,” the green-haired man beside you gave a soft smile and continued “Seeing that we”re going to be here a while, we should get to know each other. I’m Izuku Midoriya, Pro-Hero Deku! What’s you name?”

You had heard about the number one hero from the news, how he was always so kind to others even when they didn’t deserve it. Was that the kindness that saved you today?

“I’m (Y/n)” you say bluntly, ready to leave this hell hole. But the pro hero beside you would not let up. And for the next couple of hours the two of you sat and talked about everything and anything. And the more the two of you talked the closer you became.

He wasn’t like anyone you’ve ever met before. It was weirdly funny, being put at the forefront of death and coming out attracted to you’re savior. Wait was this Stockholm Syndrome? It felt like it.

Eventually, the two of you got out. And as you stumbled towards the light, the only thought running through your mind was

I want to see him again.

@lilsparkyswife @kouilla @mypimpademia @myhoodacademia @xetou @procrastination-lady @gamerslut0 @dukina @morosis-haze @kozu-zumi @solar3lunar @rosetheshapeshifter @childes-rainedrop @angiebug101 @melanin-baddie @ryuvanaka @asaincy @yuujisbby @fuckasslesbian @kunikida-kun @dragonsdreamoffire @minruko @katsumiiii @silkylious @koishiguro @katsupremacy @kazescartier @noirstoxin @royalelusts

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utenaposter · 3 years

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what do you think everyone (including Kozue and Shiori, they deserve some love) would be up to when they leave Othori? (love hearing your utena thoughts btw ^^)

im so glad u like hearing my thoughts i love receiving ur asks ;u;;!!!

anyways!

utena and anthy find each other after a few months, they cry and talk for an hour when they meet. they get a small apartment on the first floor and fill it with plants and flowers, a single rose blooms near a window, utena adds her own near it. anthy tries to get better at cooking but the only thing she learns how to make is pancakes, utena asks for them every day. anthy paints. she paints her dreams and memories, theres always a teacup in her paintings, or a stopwatch, or a bird, or an apple, or a car, never a rose. utena tends to the plants more than anthy does, she struggles at first but adjusts quickly and she likes seeing them grow new leaves or bloom. she becomes a photographer and takes pictures of every new thing she sees, though she takes more pictures of her and anthy than anything else. sometimes she practices swordfighting with chuchu, she buys him his own little sword, he wins every time.

nanami leaves ohtori first. she finds it hard to adjust to the outside world and has to go back to school (not ohtori). she realizes she loves learning and wonders why she ever had tsuwabuki doing everything for her. she goes on to become an architect and designs clothes in her free time. she never builds towers. when tsuwabuki leaves he studies architecture too at first, but nanami pushes him to do what he actually wants. he becomes a biologist, the cow is his favourite animal.

juri would keep fencing or maybe give fencing classes, she would live with shiori and theyd go birdwatching a lot, maybe have a few birds of their own, still feeling guilty for the bird that crashed into the window at ohtori. juri would never want a wedding but shiori pushes her into it. they invite everyone. touga doesnt come. juri gives her locket to shiori at the end of her vows, telling her that she doesnt need it anymore, shiori is right there infront of her and the pictures in her mind are always prettier than the one in the locket.

miki would probably go to juris fencing lessons, maybe help her out a bit, but i dont think he would continue playing piano professionally, maybe as a hobby or just at parties. kozue would get back into piano though, she'd go to mikis house on lazy afternoons and he would help her out with the parts she just cant get right. maybe theyd play concerts for their old friends. they never play the sunlit garden again.

saionji would pick up a lot of hobbies and drop most of them, hopping from one to the other. the ones he'd stick to most would be carving and painting, calming hobbies. he'd live alone in a house in the countryside, only sometimes going into the city to visit the others, but never staying too long for fear of overstaying his welcome. he'd raise chickens and grow vegetables in his backyard, maybe sometimes he would practice kendo, but it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

wakaba and tatsuya (the onion prince) get closer after getting out, they become good friends and visit utena and the others together, no one ever seems to remember his name. in her free time she becomes an author, shes not too popular but she doesnt mind. she writes for herself and sends all her books to utena and anthy for free even though anthy insists on buying the copies herself. wakaba goes to visit them almost every day, she helps them out with cooking and pulls them out of the house to go sightseeing and on picnics. she still doesnt understand why utena chose anthy over her, but she accepts it now.

touga gets out last. he lives on his own in the middle of a busy city so that nobody will ever recognize him. he finally cuts his hair and cries when he sees the strands in the sink. he bleaches it. sometimes he sees the others walking around but never says hi, he doesnt think he deserves to. one time he bumps into juri at the park and she tells him he looks familiar, he doesnt respond, just walks past. when she invites him to her wedding he comes but stands outside the venue and never goes inside. no one would want to see him. he and nanami exchange letters but he never goes to see her, he doesnt know if shes forgiven him. he becomes a foster parent to lots of kids and tries his best, he never wants what happened to him to happen to them. he adopts a green haired boy.

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spiribia · 3 years

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What’s going on w/ micky and his sister in rgu, what is up with this theme of incest or what you think they’re trying to do with that? I can get somewhere w/nanami and her relationship w/ redhead guy and anthy/akio and the parallels btwn those relationships but I cannot get the micky plotline at all

i probably dont have too much insight on this because i wasnt really focusing on this when i watched the show to be honest. dont quote me on this fact but i remember seeing in a youtube comments section a while ago something about a directors comment on how these characters are still young and not very experienced with the world or romantic love, so theyre clinging to whats familiar to them / more susceptible to getting it mixed up, especially under suggestion. i think a part of the overarching theme is dysfunctional idealism of a past childhood / anxiety of the unknown of growing up and losing parts of your childhood, ex. beginning to drift apart from the close bond you used to have with your sibling

have probably said this way too many times also but theres this underlying notion in rgu that family is this reliable source of love that does not have be earned or deserved, often just because of innate genetic tie - when utena asks anthy, “Do you think fathers and mothers always care about their children...?” anthy says “That’s probably due to genetics”. nanami is devastated to find that she might not be biologically related to touga. its partly that these characters are so unable to conceive of themselves as capable of earning being truly loved if it’s not something that is inevitably given to them like this. without touga, nanami thinks herself only “another fly in the swarm.” anthy thinks of herself - & has been guided to by akio - as so fundamentally broken and twisted that only akio could still know all of her and still love her, and not because she deserves it but because of that unconditional bond of relation that he uniquely shares with her.

in many ways including this, touga imitates akio in taking advantage of the uneven power dynamic in his sibling relationship and grooming nanami. its possible kozue (& possibly miki) could be mimicking what she sees in the world around her as well. theyre both young and their society conditions girls to believe they have one shining prince for them, and as a sort of compulsory heterosexuality she associates her strongest or at least most dependable feelings for a boy with her brother, and so mixes them up. like nanami and anthy, she also guards this love as something she’s afraid she’d never be able to have again if she lost it to something else.

#anon #ask to tag #incest tw

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yandere-writer-momo · 10 months

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baki yarems in royal au?? I personally think, yn would be a princess, katsumi as a prince. Maybe hector as her personal stylist? idk about the others tho... What do you think?

You are the fifth and only unmarried princess in your family. You are incredibly naïve and innocent of the world because you’ve been locked up for most of your life. So you don’t quite understand how dangerous words and actions are in society. Perhaps that’s why you caught so many troublesome men’s eyes?

Hector Doyle is your personal butler. He picks out the best outfits, and he always knows the juiciest gossip about your suitors. He is very good at protecting you, and he is still an assassin on the side. You two have been together since childhood and he knows everything about you… so why don’t you just accept his barely concealed feelings for you?

Hanayama Kaoru is a tyrant king from the north. He is a very cold and war hardened man. He has interest in you after you stood up to the other nobles who were slandering his name. How could a stranger have such kind words to say about him? Unless they had a crush on him… he’s the first to ask your father for your hand in marriage.

Matsumoto Kozue is your lady in waiting! She has known you since childhood and she is your best friend. She loves being able to be as close to you as possible. She knows her feelings for you are ‘wrong,’ but she just can’t help herself. After her engagement was broken off with her lover, you consoled her and she has been attached to ever since.

Orochi Katsumi is the crown prince of a neighboring country. He is a very beloved prince and revered for his kindness. He was shocked when you didn’t acknowledge him and instead chose to dance with your lady in waiting at the ball. You spent your time at the food table and joking with servants. He eavesdropped on your conversation and heard you asking about their children. He fell for you at first sight. He was second to ask your father for your hand and he wouldn’t take no for an answer! He believes you two are soulmates! (You haven’t even spoken to him).

Jack Hanma is your personal knight. He was a child born from conquest (he has no idea he’s half royalty) and abandoned in the streets to die, but you urged your father to take him in. You were his savior and for that, he would devote his life to you. Jack would protect you from anyone or anything. He’s working hard to earn a title so he can ask for you hand in marriage… if not, he will convince you to run away with him. Once he finds out he’s Half royalty, he fights to become a prince. He’d do anything to be with you… he wants to be with you

Baki Hanma is a Duke from the West. He is Kozue’s ex and he is known to be quite pretty. But he is extremely power hungry. You are the only one unfazed by his looks and his power. You don’t like him but he’s intrigued by you. You were once very kind to him in his youth (big sister energy) and he fell for you. You’re the reason why he broke off his engagement to Kozue. So why won’t you accept him?

Kaioh Retsu is a diplomat from the East. He is very kind and chivalrous. You were the only one who warmly greeted him in the castle and held conversation with him. The two of you share knowledge about each other’s cultures and you two drink tea together a lot. Retsu is actually a prince from a foreign country disguising himself as the diplomat. And you were the perfect candidate to unite your respective countries…

Shinogi Kureha is the high priest. His word is law. He might have even more power than your father, the king. So when he heard about his precious childhood friend being pursued by so many people, he immediately spread the word that you’re meant to be the saintess! He completely made it up but no one needed to know that… after all, who would question the word of the almighty? Didn’t Kureha deserve happiness after devoting so much of his life to a higher power already?

#baki hanma #baki the grappler #baki son of ogre #baki x reader #baki the grappler x reader #yandere baki #yandere #yandere imagine #yandere fic #female reader #baki hanma x reader #baki gaiden #Baki #baki headcanons #baki dou #grappler baki #baki au #baki fanfic #baki fanfiction

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princeoftheroses · 3 years

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Since you want asks, PLSSSE I want your Utena TH0ughts. WHAT is your favourite black rose episode? actually how do you feel about the black rose arc in GENERAL

black rose arc, black rose arc, oh black rose arc!!! by you adding how do i feel about the arc in general you are unleashed me to make a long post giving my very disorganized thoughts about this arc.

a couple of people call it a filler arc? i guess technically it is because it does not directly contribute to the main storyline and it wasn't in the manga and also the ending of the arc sort of makes it so the whole arc kind of didn't happen???

but also i think if a person labeled it as a filler arc they are kind of missing the point?? even if it doesn't contribute to the main plot (which it absolutely DOES but i'll get to that) it adds so much nuance to the characters of utena.

you get to see side characters and how they tick!! some of which like kozue and shiori become very important later as they become miki and ruka's rose brides in the akio arc! (side note : what was up with ruka he just kind of showed up and disappeared lmaooo)

also, it adds to akio! (tw warning for only the next paragraph, i'm talking about akio so you can except me talking about grooming and abuse)

not only is this where akio is introduced, but he is always so omnipresent. it was ... honestly really terrifying to see how chill he acts with utena here. of course the real grooming begins in the akio arc but you can see how he starts here. how he kind of builds himself as anthy's cool older brother that utena can trust and ask for advice for... but we the audience know that he CANNOT be trusted as even know we see him being shady af in the background. i really feel like if we skipped straight from the first arc to akio arc a lot of the creepiness of akio would not have been realized because of ... just how NORMAL he akio acts to utena. he's charming, he's smart, and he overall is somebody utena SHOULD be able to trust bc we should all be able to trust an immediate family member of a best friend , but of course the world doesn't really work that way. anyway akio tangent over because BOOOOOO akio (he honestly terrifies me so much because of how many predators like that exist and you can meet without realizing their intentions)

BACK TO BLACK ROSE ARC

one of the main reasons i feel like this isn't a filler arc, at least not in the traditional sense of the phrase, is because it builds a lot character relationships. something that i didn't like when i first watched revolutionary girl utena but now is one of my FAVORITE things is that for a while we don't really get a straight forward utena/anthy episode. because their relationship doesn't need to build in an episode, it just slowly builds over time. we just see these two causally existing and they just start to trust each other.

in the akio arc we get to see just how close utena/anthy have gotten over the series because of their late night conversations. like how if the black rose arc didn't exist akio wouldn't have been as impactful, if the black rose arc didn't exist it would feel more sudden how close utena/anthy have grown imo.

this arc adds a lot to the world as well. as long as the students stay inside of school they will not grow. dead people wander the halls thinking that they are still alive. these two facts contribute a lot to utena theorizing and analysis (mainly, the ideas that ohtori exists within a plain of frozen time literally because of anthy's magic and metaphorically because the cast is very cozy in their coffin) and i could not thank this arc for that enough. not only are these very cool ideas that may or may not have inspired elements in my own story (i can neither confirm or deny that one of my oc story is heavily inspired by utena) but they just add so many layers!

this arc also felt necessary because of the new duelists??? if we went straight from the first arc to the akio arc then it would've kinda gotten very tiring to see the student council constantly duel and lose to utena (with the exception of touga's sole victory to utena in the first arc before she duels him again and wins) but these new duelists possessed by the black rose are very interesting!

if i did have to make a compliant about this arc, though, i will say that at times the stories felt very disconnected to each other. while it was very funny for utena to not even know who keiko was when she dueled her, it would've been nice if sometimes the arc of the black rose duelist intertwined more with utena. as the arc goes on, the student council is on alert and is trying to figure out where the black rose is coming from, but they never really try to ask utena about it and utena never really tries to get involved? she just is chill until she gets the note to go to the duel arena to fight the black rose duelist. i don't really have a solution on how to fix this? maybe have the student council member that the black rose duelist takes the sword from be more involved? idk.

the villain of this arc mikage also really fascinates me??? i... really like him??? but not even as a villain ... i just really pity him. the realization he has in his duel with utena that everything he has been doing is for nothing because mamiya is already dead .. that always really hit me? the horror in his voice when he starts to recall the truth in his false memories.... for some reason, this is one of the most terrifying parts of the show for me. the realization that something you were doing, something you were doing that might've been awful but you were doing it because of somebody you care about deeply and love, it was all for nought. how much time he has wasted...

even before his duel with utena, there's this moment when after he got punched by utena he says something like "if she hadn't seen my duelist ring and challenged me to a duel, she could've killed me" or something like that, he's just so pathetic and i feel very bad for him but at the same time am too disconnected to him to truly feel empathy for him... that's some TOP TIER shit

overall, this part of the show is one of my favorites. the only part i like more is the last few episodes because it makes me very emotional.

NOW FOR THE SPECIFICS

favorite black rose duelist: honestly? wakaba. the girl deserves it this is stress relief for her. not only is this duel very emotional as i don't think we've ever seen utena refuse to duel somebody (at least not in the way that she does in this episode) but just the SHEER emotion.

i'm a real sucker for fighting the person you care about the most which is why the dark signer arc in yugioh 5ds is the best yugioh arc and this just really takes the cake in this arc. utena always shows concern for the black rose duelist because they are clearly people in pain who were not able to properly duel with their grief which let mikage manipulate them, but it's taken to a new level here.

the way that after the duel is completed, wakaba comes home to her empty dorm where saionji used to be but now isn't always gets me. she's just such a lonely girl and that's never really resolved for her. a lot of the other duelists have a optimist note to end on (kozue asking miki for a milkshake, shiori and juri saying hello to each other as they walk past, keiko being friends with nanami again, etc.) which is why the fact that wakaba is more alone now then she is ever... it is a feeling i can relate to an almost embarrassing amount.

favorite episode: COWBELL OF HAPPINESS, NANAMI TURNS INTO A COW-

ANTHY YOU GLORIOUS TROLL-

favorite episode that isn't cowbell of happiness: i'm very torn between the landscape scaped by kozue and thorns of death. shiori and kozue are both very interesting characters that i like a lot. but i'm going to go with thorns of death for now, as while i really like the landscape scaped by kozue, i think my preferred miki/kozue episode is their episode in the akio arc. meanwhile i like thorns of death way more than i liked whispers in the arc (mostly because i just do not really care that much for ruka, but azure paler than the sky was a banger and he was in that?) i just loved the feeling of seeing shiori the girl juri loves so much and juri's reaction to seeing her. the way my heart was wrenched when black rose shiori mocks juri... it really did hit different. but the hopeful ending did make me feel a lot better. i do like the way that juri out of all the student council members is the one closest to self actualization and this really sets that up even if there is still a bumpy road until then.

honorary mention: the boys of the black rose and kanae as a black rose duelist are both really great. i feel like if this wasn't the arc opener it would've had more room to stretch its legs and show how horrific it could've been. kanae is a girl i feel really bad about and similar to wakaba, i don't really think her episode was a very optimistic ending for her especially since akio probably killed her later in the show?

honestly the minute akip appeared on screen, engaged to a girl who HASN'T EVEN GRADUATED and is also emotionally manipulating her so much and having his little sister manipulate her too... throw the whole man away

tl;dr - the black rose arc is very good and i like it a lot, the ending of the arc really fucks me up, somebody give mikage & all the black rose duelists therapy, throw akio in the garbage, and this show probably exists in some sort of time loop / frozen time space as a metaphor for the whole coffin thing but you can probbaly find people smarter than me talking about that.

oh and go rewatch cowbell of happiness it's great

#this is what i do at 4 am #i started writing this at like 3 45 am and it is now 4 25 am :)#worth it #hope you like my shitty analysis and thoughts !!! i enjoyed writing it thoruugly #revolutionary girl utena #asks

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deerixiie · 3 years

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APPRECIATION POST!!

june 29th, or a little more that 6 months ago i posted my first fic. that was honestly the best decision of my life because tho tumblr is a hellsite it’s a hellsite that got me through a hellish year. i just want to come out and express my extreme gratitude for all of the people who have gotten me through 2020.

my followers. i remember when i first hit 100 and i was so excited bc 100 ppl in the world actually appreciated my writing enough to follow me...and then more of you guys started coming and sent sweet asks and suddenly i felt so loved 🥺 i didn’t expect to gain the following i did on this hellsite but i did and i love you guys so much :( thank u so much for being here through it all and making this year so much better!!

character anons/other anons; i know i don’t have much and not all of u are active but you!!! you guys are the bestest people on earth!!! shoyo, haji, yams, and all my noya anons,,, i love u guys sm. seeing you in my inbox made me so happy and i loved interacting w you 🥺💗 i hope you guys have an amazing new year and i hope you can talk more soon!! same goes for my other anons, 💜, 🍁, iara, and all the other anons that have send me asks, i love you guys so much!! getting anons and asks was something that made me feel so appreciated and important and seeing your asks always made my day!! ily guys <3

@sa-suga, @neonghxst, @sanso, @starrysamu, @stelleum, @myelocin, and a whole bunch of others writers; you are the most amazing people on the planet. writing on a site like this that gives little to no appreciation is so amazing of you :( your fics have made me smile, laugh, cry, and even grow as a person and i’m so grateful for that! bc of u i was able to distract myself from all the crappy things that happened this year. ily guys so much!

and now, my mutuals!!

@hajiimes; cola i will always always start with you. my closest friend, writing genius, someone i can bounce ideas off of, ask for help, watch movies with, voice call for hours with, and simp over characters with. getting close with you was one of the best things of this year and i really appreciate you for it. its really refreshing to have such a close friend i can really turn to and talk to about stuff that’s bothering me and i know i do it a lot and i’m a terrible friend sometimes but you’re always there for me :( and yeah we tease each other a lot and you’re honestly so annoying sometimes but yeah it’s fun and i love you so <3 STOP MAKING BREAKUP PLAYLISTS OKAY IM SORRY

@sugakuns + @suikazura + @kageyuji + @miyasangel + @giorvanna + @sophiawithstars + @hajiimes; i literally could not have gotten through 2020 without dinonet. it’s the first discord server and probably only discord server that i’ve really felt at home in because you all are so accepting and sweet. your support and love and kindness have gotten me past this year. i’ve been able to laugh and scream and vent and word vomit and be myself because of you all and i’m so appreciative of that. i cant wait for an entire new year with you all, ilysm!

@mehreya; you changed your url and i freaked tf out but ANYWAYS HEYYY~ rae i literally. i literally love you so much like. where would i be without you? you’re so welcoming and comforting and i love you so much :( if there’s anyone i’d share a deformed braincell with, it’s with you!! i feel like i can relate to you?? so much?? i literally keysmash in your inbox sending like 12 messages and i don’t have to worry about you getting upset because you do the same thing right back. we share really similar interests and you’re so compassionate and sweet and ugh i’m gna cry ily

@suikazura; bae i. how do i even say this. you’re literally the kindest, sexiest, funniest, loveliest person i’ve ever met. when i had a really bad day and broke down you were there to hype me up and tell me such wonderful things that i still think about all the time. you wrote a poem comparing me to the sun. ME?? THE SUN?? sui i don’t even know where to go with this ive never had someone do that for me and you doing that just makes me tear up and i’m tearing up writing this- and i love your humor so much despite the fact that it haunts me to this day and your art is so pretty and i could look at it for hours. like man i can’t believe someone like you exists i don’t deserve you at ALL. ilysm bubs

@cavalree; AZZIE WE HAVENT EVEN TALKED THAT MUCH BUT OUR CONVERSATION YESTERDAY WAS >>> THIS IS ME SAYING WE SHOULD TALK MORE WE HAVE A LOT IN COMMON

@fairyoomi + @luvromis + @rilacry; we’ve been moots for So Long but i have no idea what to talk about w u so i get intimidated and don’t talk :( ily guys so much though, you’re really sweet and kind and your humor is literally top tier. this is so weird to say but reading ur self-ship posts makes me so happy bc i feel like i can be open about my self-ship too,, it rlly comforts me and makes me feel loved hehe. i miss talking to u guys even though it was barely anything and i rlly hope 2021 is the year we get closer!!

@sophiashortcake + @star-puff + @kurooskult; we’ve recently become mutuals but i love your vibes!! i really hope i get to interact with you more next year so we can become closer <3

@bunx; BIG SIS!! literally i feel so bad for not talking to u because you’re literally the blueprint :( i just don’t know what to talk about and then get all freaked out XBSKSJD i’ve stared at your disc so many times debating what to say cbsjs but anyway thank you so much for being here from the beginning! i know for a fact ill wouldnt be where i am today w/out u 🥺 ilysm bubs

other moots that made this year so much more beautiful i want to get closer too!: @haikoo, @4fterh0urs, @run-004, @sugasugawarau, @s4ijoh, @gg9183, @baeshijima 🥺💗💗, @kozu-mei , @kaguol ily all so so much, you all are such amazing ppl and i hope we get to talk more!!

#important broadcasts #i love you all a lot #i don’t know where i’d be without your support and love #it’s been such a crazy year but it’s been so much better w u

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chocolatetakoyakis · 4 years

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Ok guys, I saw that there are not many Baki Headcanon or even Baki content on Tumblr compared to Kenyan ashura so let’s change it right now ❤️

⚫️ BAKI THE GRAPPLER HEADCANON - BAKI, JACK AND YUJIRO HANMA RELATION WITH ANOTHER HAMNA SIBLING ⚫️

You’re 20, so you’re Baki’s big sister and Jack little sister.

YUJIRO HANMA :

Well I don’t really know where I am going with this character.

I have two options for the most powerful beast of the world

First and the more compatible with his character : he doesn’t give a single fuck about you

You’re not a fighter or if you are, you’re absolutely not a danger for him so he is not gonna take care of you.

I can see him neglecting you because you’re a female and not caring about your safety. For him you’re a failure and it would not bother him if someone kill you since he is too lazy to do it himself.

He probably killed your mother for giving him a weak girl like you.

You would hate your father more than Baki and Jack for sure but a part of you would like to be loved by him.

Thanks to him you would also develop some Daddy issues and self hate probably.

In that case , you would be very close of Baki and Jack.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

My second option for him is very different since he is very unpredictable, I can also see him as a Huge doting father in his way of course

He would call you princess or my little star silly things like this. Would be proud of your intelligence and look and would shows off about his perfect daughter.

He would not train you like he did with Baki and absolutely don’t want you to become a fighter because he doesn’t want you to belongs to this world

Will spoil you like the favorite daughter you are

Will have you as an assistant for his meeting, tournament and all

You following him everywhere even training

You’ll be his personal assistant and inform him of what Baki and Jack are doing

Has a big trust in you and would rarely be angry at you

Is still very manipulative and Is probably acting that way because he wants to control your life and your futures lovers so you can give him strong grandchildren in the future.

In that case, you would always be with your father and like a cute little dog follows his master. Baki and Jack would be very angry at their father for manipulating you like this.

Bonus:

I think that the way he treats you will depend on how was your mother and why he had sex with her but to me both are possible

BAKI HANMA :

So you are 2 years older than Baki and his big sis.

He do not care if his father is neglecting you or spoiling you, HE JUST LOVES YOU

He is very attached to you and would love to see you more often

You’re probably half Japanese half foreigner

He would help you with Japanese like the good lil bro he is

Will introduce you to Retsu and Katsumi for suuuuure

Jealous of every man that threaten to take his sister away from him

Will fight for you

Loves cooking with you and making you visiting Tokyo

Is super exited about you meeting Kozue

At first she though that he is cheating on her but immediately calms down when you introduced yourself as his his sister

You two getting along very well and even going shopping together

Probably jogging together on the morning and eating breakfast at a cafe

Will train you at video games especially Tekken and Street fighter

You are also one of the reason he wants to Beat his father.

JACK HANMA :

Since he is 22, you’re 2 years younger than him

Like Baki he loves you however he would be a little bit more rude with you if you’re spoiled by Yujiro while him and Baki hates him

When he first heard of you he didn’t though he would become the adorable big brother he is now

You are just too cute he can’t help it.

You are even able to calm him when he is angry. Whenever he heard your voice or see your eyes crying, his fists stop.

You are not afraid of him since you know his soft spots very well

Him always want to have fancy dinner with you

Always angry when men flirt with you while he is here

His biggest fear is you being afaraid of him because of his strength.

You’re going to all his fights and cheer for him

You’re always present when he is at the hospital because of his steroids

Giving you very warn smile

Would never allow his father to touch you

You helping him with women. You want him to be happy because he deserves it

Him Making Baki jealous by saying he is your favorite brother

#baki #baki the grappler #baki hanma #yujiro hanma #jack hanma #bakiheadcanon #bakiimagine #bakifanfiction

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exilley · 5 months

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1, 12, 22, 24 for rgu?

the character everyone gets wrong Saionji, in the sense that no one lends his character any room to breathe. People have a very "my way or the highway" attitude about interpreting his character and how he develops and it does a disservice to their overall understanding of RGU's core themes. He is as much of a raging misogynist as Touga and hurts those around him in pursuit of the Bride's power. He is also someone who was coded into that niche of violence by being given a glimpse of "eternity". As well, he feels uncomfortable being forced to embody that role. And etc. He has more multitudes than the audience tends to give him credit for.

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them EASY. TSUWABUKI. His whole character is about the gendered and hierarchical socialization that young children experience in the process of being indoctrinated into indelible myths about the world around them. Aside from being intertwined with Nanami's character, the symbolism of him wielding two blades in the dueling arena, the way his Black Rose episode so poignantly illustrates the helplessness and frustration of being dismissed, ignored, and berated without being provided any explanations for the casual cruelty he witnesses is so satisfying to watch. Characters who are as young as Tsuwabuki are hardly ever written with such nuance and it's like a breath of fresh air every time he's on screen. I love him dearly and I love the conclusion for his overall arc, his relationship with Nanami having stabilized into something a lot healthier combined with the general ambiguity surrounding the show's final scenes... anyway. Long story short Tsuwabuki deserves more attention

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores The final scene of Miki's Next Box, particularly the part where Kozue looks over her shoulder to deliver that one-liner before the ending card concludes the episode. That really terse exchange between them is probably one of my favorite bits of dialogue in the whole of Utena, actually.

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse I can't think of any discourse that could happen *in* this fandom, at least, of the unhealthy moralizing variant. Most people are generally well-adjusted about the show and its writing. That being said, there is a minority demographic who apparently hate the franchise's guts because of some unconscionable depictions of India in the show (giving the dialogue its due; it is perhaps the series' weakest point). There is a slightly more vocal minority who don't like Utena just because they're annoyed with the fanbase and are tired of constantly being recommended the show. I don't have anything deeper to say about these topics other than people are free to think what they want about Utena and I don't have any say in what they do/don't engage with. I'd rather spend my time on people who do care about its merits and discuss it in good faith.

#jin responds #codeword: revolution #THIS WAS LONG SORRY !!

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