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manias-wordcount · 1 year

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hello :) can you write a black butler oneshot w/ sebastian michaelis x fem reader?

reader is a succubus demon and she and seb are ex lovers of some sort then one day seb is surprised to see reader working as a servant in the manor. ciel accepted her without seb's knowledge but ciel also did not know about their history. seb is a bit skeptical of reader cause he does not know her motives so he acts a bit cold towards her but reader actually did it just cause missed seb (but not that she'll admit it cause she is too proud for that. also maybe seb feels the same who knows lol) reader is the teasing and provocative type if thats ok. pls ignore this request if ever its complicated to understand, i just based this on some random imagination i had hehe. anyway thank you :>

What You Couldn't Do (Sebastian Michaelis x Reader)

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼!! 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗱 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝘀𝗮𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗹

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

The door to the kitchen shuts behind you with no fanfare. That is to say, there’s no light-hearted, half-shouted greeting from one of the other quirky members of staff. Nor was there a harsh, barked order from the young master of the household. There wasn’t even a small, near silent yet warm grunt of acknowledgment from your favorite tea-sipping house steward.

So naturally…

“Oh, Sebastian!”

…you knew who it was…

“To what to owe the pleasure of this-”

…and all that it entailed.

In an instant, you find yourself cutting off your own words with the swiftest of tongues. You suppose it truly is the smartest choice. You had only been working at the Phantomhive Manor for a mere couple of days. You were still in all sense of the word. You didn’t yet have the young master’s good favor. Nor did you think you could ever be on the receiving end of any sort of sympathy from a boy such as him. So it’s only right you learn your place and you learn it well. Because while such a feeling make be odd and discomforting, you imagine it’s still better than the feeling of the knife being held between Sebastian’s gloved hand plunge itself into your throat.

“What is your aim.” His low murmur comes from behind as he traps your body from behind between himself and the counter. Despite his words, you know to take everything as a demand rather than a question purely based on the dull pressure of the boning knife pressed lightly against your jugular. That, among other things of course. “Why are you here.”

You pursue your lips, fully aware of the way his eyes would follow your every action through your faint reflection in the mirror. His voice is as cold as you remember it to be. Unfeeling and so very cruel. The unspoken threat to you is loud and clear. His utter disdain for you? Even louder and even clearer. Yet, you find that it’s terribly hard to hide your excitement. The arm that crosses over your chest to hold the knife to your throat brings up so many memories. The way his body presses and molds into yours reminds you so much of the past. When the two of you weren’t so-called co-workers serving under the most irritating of charges. When the two of you weren’t so-called enemies who spent your days and nights, far, far apart. When the two of you weren’t anything to each other.

But when the two of you were lovers.

“Knife play, Sebastian? That’s a new one…” And fueled by those resurfaced memories, you respond to him. It’s obvious in the way that his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits through the window’s reflection, you know you’re not exactly giving him what he wants. But you hope- no, you don’t hope, you know- he’ll play along with your typical game. Just for a little longer. Just one last time. “You certainly seem like a much different man than from what I remember…I wonder how that little brat managed to whip you into-!”

Once again, you found yourself cutting your words short in favor of a long life. Your murmured words were meant to be heard. Meant to rock the boat. Meant to get yourself in trouble. They always were. But you know when enough is enough. Even when your entire life is about toeing the line and saying the things that men and women wish they could say- you when it’s not your turn to speak. At least, not your turn for the moment.

Though you can’t help but feel pleasantly surprised now that the threat you’re faced with is being phrased a little differently than before. No, the knife is not being pressed further into your skin. It still sits where it was originally- relaxed in a comfortable grip as it delivers the lightest of kisses against your skin. Rather, it’s Sebastian himself who has changed. It seemed that with your bold words, he was no longer content with just trapping you with weight. The arm that had now snaked against your lower waist and was holding onto your hip with a vice-like grip tells you as if the action was words itself.

“I won’t ask you again.” He bites out behind you in a harsh whisper and it’s almost shameful how your body instantly reacts to the feeling of his breath just dancing over your ear. “Why have you followed me here.”

The way you just shivered at his words? The way you just gasped at his tone? You’re worse than you thought. God, what are you doing? Chasing a man like you weren’t the one who should be chased in the first place? All while trying to play coy as if you weren’t practically shaking with excitement at the thought of seeing him again. All while trying to play powerful as if the first thing you wanted to do when you saw him after all this time was to get on your knees and listen to his every command.

You’re not going to last like this. You’re not, you’re not, you’re not. So with one last selfish act for yourself, you decide that you won’t That you had come all this way. That you had pulled all these strings to get here. And the very least you could do for yourself after all this time running and running and running after a man you know doesn’t deserve you was to be kind to yourself. That’s all you could do. Be kind to yourself. Because if not today? Because if not now? Then when?

“I missed you…Sebastian.”

As if you could ever be kind to yourself at all…

“What…” For once, he sounded stunned. This great and powerful demon that you knew so well sounded like he was taken by surprise. But even then, you couldn’t enjoy the feeling. Even then you couldn't look in the eyes- even as he released you from his hold and stepped away. You couldn’t. Not with your heart beating so fast you could have sworn you were alive in this moment. Not with your throat shaking so much you could have sworn that you were truly the blushing virgin you tried to appear as. “No. No, that cannot be true.”

Not with the way he denies you after all this time.

“Oh, but it is, Sebastian. Even after all this time…” You murmur softly, a sad smile crossing taking over your beautiful face. Words left unsaid. Memories left on repeat. And heartbreak that begins to take shape. You couldn’t look him in the eyes now that your life has been spared. You couldn’t look him in the eyes now that the two of you are no longer close. You couldn’t look him in the eyes when you feel like this. “Even after all this time, I…I continue to miss you.”

And you certainly couldn’t look him in the eyes right now.

Because how could you stand to see such a handsome face through the blurry mess of tears?

You just couldn’t.

#sebastian x reader #sebastian michaelis x reader #sebastian black butler #sebastian michaelis #black butler x reader #black butler fanfic #black butler fanfiction #black butler #kuroshitsuji x reader #kuroshitsuji fanfiction #kuroshitsuji fanfic #kuroshitsuji #x reader #xreader #fanfic #fanfiction

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wolfiesmoon · 2 months

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About the languages in TWST

Since i'm a bit of a language nerd, i like to think about the languages in TWST and who would speak which one in my spare time instead of being normal. I didn't do a whole bunch of research for this one and am mostly pulling things out of my brain so by all means let me know if I made a mistake anywhere or missed something.

(This is why you'll get a rare theory post from me about this instead of my usual fics 🤭)

It's shown that some real languages exist in TWST canon like french (spoken by Rook) and by the fact that Yuu can communicate with the characters just fine even tho they're in a different world, implying the language they speak is known to us.

Which brings me to my first point, the language everyone collectively speaks in NRC (and other big gatherings of mixed cultures) is english. Much like the real world, english is considered the "universal language" in TWST and is the one most people learn as their second language in schools. The game is in japanese so the japanese players can understand it, obviously, but they do imply that a japan-esque country exists through the new years events so I would say they speak japanese exclusively there and english in general.

And yes, this does mean I think some characters have accents when speaking english.

There's also other languages that are implied by the fact that Ruggie learned 10 languages just to negotiate with people in them, though it isn't known if they're real languages or fictional ones. Point is, there's at least ten.

Now, to the fun part. I based a lot of my HCS on existing Disney movie native language videos and theories but some are just my own personal thoughts hehe

Riddle, Trey, Chenya and Ace all speak british english. This one's pretty simple, Alice in wonderland takes place in England so that makes the choice obvious.

Cater is from the Shaftlands and his family did move around a lot when he was a kid so giving him an exact language is sorta hard because the Shaftlands are so varied in culture (and language too, by that logic). But for simplicity I'll just say he knows some other european languages aside from English. For this same reason I don't really think he has an accent.

Leona's mother tongue is Zulu since the Lion King was dubbed in Zulu, making it the first african language to get a full-feature dub made for it (aside from egyptian arabic). That wasn't exactly relevant but I just wanted to mention it. But since he's a prince and has access to a lot of education from an early age, he learned other languages as a child including English, which is why he doesn't have an accent.

Ruggie also speaks Zulu, but considering the thing I mentioned earlier, I think he also speaks other african languages like Xhosa or Swahili or Fulani as well as some non-african languages to some degree. I do think he speaks English with an accent, since he speaks differently to the other characters even in the japanese dub. (I know it was most likely done to make him sound more hyena-like i guess but let me have my moment!!)

Jack speaks German since he comes from the same neighborhood as Vil (I'll elaborate more in Vil's part). I do like to think he has a slight accent though hehe.

For Jade, Floyd and Azul I had a bit of trouble deciding on what language to assign them (by that I mean I'm still undecided), but maybe I would assign them a more northern language since they come from a northern part of the coral sea??? then again languages on the surface might not have a bearing on languages in the sea, especially since humans and merfolk couldn't interact well throughout history...

Kalim and Jamil are both obvious, they speak Arabic. Not much to say here haha.

Vil speaks German since Snow White takes place in Germany AND his surname is German. He doesn't have much of an accent if any at all because he learned english early on to be able to film movies in english for a wider global appeal.

Now for Epel I could really have fun. I know saying this kinda retcons the fact that his dialect is in the same language as the one everyone speaks (so English), but I believe he speaks in Plattdeutsch or Low German which can be quite difficult to understand when spoken in it's true form. He could speak a totally different dialect of a different language but I went w German because of continuity and also I feel like it'd make for a funnier dynamic with Vil. Defo has a bit of an accent.

Neige is a native french speaker simply going off his french name, though I do think he knows how to speak german as well (mostly because I want my "snow white takes place in germany" copium for Neige). I don't think it's been confirmed where Neige is from tho.

Now for Rook, since he was born in Sunset Savana, he also speaks Zulu as his first language. He's a mysterious fellow and all and could have learned french for a different motive, but I have a far more interesting HC. Since he's Neige's biggest fanboy, he learned french because Neige speaks it and he associates Neige with beauty. (and also haven't we all tried learning korean for our kpop bias at some point???)

Idia and Ortho are another obvious one, the language being Greek. Hercules takes place in Greece, obviously, and the Island of Woe still has some Greek architecture so I'd assume the language stayed too. Idia doesn't have much of an accent because being chronically online gives u exposure to so much english you don't retain an accent (assuming he's been on the internet since he was a little boy). Ortho? Maybe? Idia could have removed an accent on purpose when making a voicebox for Ortho or he could have kept it in for accuracy sake.

Malleus and the Diasomnia gang are another hard one to place. Sleeping Beauty takes place in France, but somehow saying they speak french feels wrong. I feel like they speak some fantasy language that doesn't exist. I would say give them the language where fae originate in folklore if I had to give them a real language but SOOOO many different folklores have them that it'd be hard to pick one.

Rollo speaks French, really obvious.

Let me know about your opinions and thoughts on this and help me figure out what to do with Octavinelle and Diasomnia since i am LOST on them 😭

#˗ˏˋ ★ ꕤ 「Wolfie’s posts」 ꕤ ★ ˎˊ˗#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #heartslabyul #savanaclaw #octavinelle #scarabia #ignyhide #diasomnia #pomefiore #twst headcanons #twst hcs #twisted wonderland hcs

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myunghology · 2 years

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Leo Tsukinaga and Mika Kagehira being whipped for their s/o, Thank you!

࿐ leo and mika being whipped for their s/o !!

— ✦ gn! reader. fluff . [ a/n ; id be whipped too if i were them ]

— ✦ tsukinaga leo

when is he not.. there's no passing day when he's not whipped for you, hands down. he almost immediately gets up from the floor and stops writing (almost impossible!?) just to hug you in front of the knights. i just know tsukasa is questioning his life choices. “let's go runaway” — leo, probably, at 3:27am. “leo, it's 3am. stop messaging me and go to bed” — [name] 3:30am.

his day isn't complete without seeing you, just by seeing you he claims that he has inspiration flowing to his mind, you can't tell if he's insane, or he's just madly in love. genuinely asking, what're you doing to him? he even admits it before you two are even dating, the things i'd do to be bold like that.

“are you seriously that in love?” — izumi, 5:23pm. “and if i was” — leo, 12:57am. gets defensive when it comes to you, he's pretty possessive as well, have you seen him threaten to bite people..? maybe even actually bite them. but!!! he isn't that possessive to the point that he won't let you have any other friends besides him and knights.

but besides that, it's pretty obvious he's totallyyy whipped for you ever since your first meeting with him. he was the first one who approached you because you've caught his eye, that's pretty rare. especially when he's composing. maaaybe it's something called, “love at first sight.”

— ✦ kagehira mika

when you both first met, he was already anxious, to him, you looked pretty superior, he's scared of you justtt a bit, but also the other reason why he was super anxious was because heeeeeeeee was slightly blushingggg. shu and ritsu definitely noticed. 1000%. ritsu pushed him into trying to talk to you, best wingman (real!!!)

“go mika go!!” — ritsu. a while later... “mika?? what's the matter??” — [name] “..,just high fever :')” — mika. ritsu tried. but after a lot of tries, you were the one who made the first move HAHAH. arashi also heard, “so, are you together with [name] now?” — arashi. “LOL that's what she said” — ritsu

“they said i was their type, and i like it when they type..” — mika, maybe. “?? THEY SAID WHAT” — ritsu and arashi. he's pretty much the oblivious type, you can't tell me other wise.

once you two started dating— he's still pretty flustered once you hit any affection his way, the only thing thats changed is that he's definitely more whipped for you, maybe if you squint you can see hearts in his eyes..? he's like a veryyy cute lovesick puppy <3

but he doesss actually make moves, he's slowly becoming bold.. character development i would love to see, you are one lucky producer, you know? your boyfriend is pretty lucky too hehe

©miihai

#miihai works #enstars x reader #ensemble stars x reader #mika kagehira x reader #leo tsukinaga x reader #tsukinaga leo x reader #kagehira mika x reader

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ahoyimlosingmymind · 1 month

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You dislike Sophie? Any particular reason?

This is all my opinion, I'm not even concrete in it ngl, there's just lil things that irk me about her character. I also haven't read the books in a fatty minute, so maybe I'm just delulu. its also 2am so hehe

Similar to how I feel about Keefe, it really comes down to execution of her character for me. I don't have as in depth thoughts on her as I do about Keefe's character, but anyway-

I really really loved her in books 1-5. <- I just think this was the golden age for the books in general but I digress. She was very moral, sweet, and logical. She rushed into danger and questioned things, which landed her in hot crap sometimes. But there was always a REAL motive behind her desire to not listen to the authority figures. She was really relatable in the way she wasn't totally over-powered, still trying to find her footing in this new world etc

But then, at some point, I'm not really sure WHEN it happened, Shannon decided that every single one of her female characters needed to be a girl-boss. No exceptions. And this was when I noticed the shift in Sophie's character. She lost her distinction a bit imo. you could easily interchange any of her 'Girl power'-esque lines with any other girl in the series and I wouldn't blink. That's how little her 'confident character development' sticks out to me. Because it comes off as FORCED.

here's the thing. Sophie already was a girl boss character. It was obvious. From book 1, she was brave and selfless and moral and strong... I love her for that.

The issue is that the narrative became aware of it too. And started TELLING us instead of letting her actions speak for themselves.

This telling was greatly reinforced by characters like Ro who always has to comment on being bad ass. And like- Linh losing some of her original softness for the sake of being 'powerful' and I AM ALL FOR empowering stories and characters- but when they lose the original aspects of their personality for the sake of it?? That's not growth, it's erasure. Confidence and softness aren't mutually exclusive. And when Linh was first introduced, that was one of the shining aspects of her personality. But now, There's so little distinction between a lot of the girl characters now for this reason. They serve as a comment on society, they're vessels to embed a message into. And they lose their individualism within that. BC THE MESSAGE WAS ALREADY THERE. IT DIDN'T NEED TO BE EXPLICITLY STATED EVERY OTHER PAGE. *cough* sorry.

And sadly, Sophie's character got lost in the sauce with it for me. (And it does not help that the side cast of characters is so vast they kinda blend together as well)

What really got me though, was when she started making weird choices that felt like forced edginess. Like burning down the storehouse. She's done some crazy stuff in the past, but I was always on her side. but this time??? no.

THERE WAS VALUABLE STUFF IN THERE. That was pure shock value. Because wdym we've been scrambling for answers for the past several books, and when Sophie stumbles upon a storehouse stock full of Neverseen stuff she just... burns it to the ground?? Like wasn't Gisela's Arche-something in there?

Sophie had no issue letting Alvar go for some info in regards to Keefe, but then she get's his mom's book of plans and BURNS IT???

And I get her thought process behind it was "The Neverseen has taken everything from me, so I'm going to take something from them. I'm tired of always sitting back and just reacting and never being proactive." I GET THAT. But burning the storehouse was SO not the moment lmao. She's also traumatized and the Neverseen is very triggering for her obviously, which means she doesn't always have the clearest thoughts in regards to it. But BOI-

I might just be an asshole. Idek.

I made a previous post talking about how unfair she was to Fitz when they were dating. It's buried in my blog somewhere. But she was not a saint in that situation (neither was he.) but just like Keefe, the narrative doesn't hold her nearly as accountable as it does when it comes to basically everyone else.

I don't hate her at all, but yeah idek. I'm tired lol

#Shannon is also propping her up into leadership roles #and while it is cool to see a character forced into a position that does not come naturally to them #anytime Sophie starts bossing everyone around it just comes off as posturing #and maybe it's SUPPOSED to??#if it's supposed to #I can respect that immensely as a character choice #however you have lines from Keefe like “You're so cute when you're being all leaderly”#which leads me to believe Shannon wants me to think she's actually a natural born leader #but it's always been obvious to me that Sophie is a lot more reserved. She can lead a moral charge and all #and advocate for a cause. those are her character strengths #but she 100% works better when she's bouncing ideas off of other characters and not being 100% in charge #but that's just my opinion #kotlc #sophie foster crit

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linagram · 4 months

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[meet the guard!] guard 003: kuroki hinode

(this was supposed to be posted yesterday but.. i forgor...)

HE'S FINALLY HERE!!! THE THIRD GUARD!!! AND ALSO RIKU'S BIG BROTHER!! LET'S GO!!!

he gets not one but two drawings bc he's a very special little boy (and also bc i feel bad for him since he got introduced late for obvious story purposes but like.. i really need to make more content for him..)

(also fun fact: the first drawing actually was done in july and the second one just a few days ago.. i can actually see some differences in my art style hehe..)

another note is that when i started to work on hinode's character, my first thought was that i kinda wanted to create another physically disabled guard character (since i think eiji can count as the first one because kei's treatment of him had not the best impact on his body), it just sounded like a neat concept! but i also didn't want to make him.. how do i explain.. too sympathetic, maybe? too squishy? what really annoys me as someone who is physically disabled is that characters like that are often used to make people feel bad for them and don't really have any personality OR they turn out to be the bad guys who only pretended to be disabled for pity points. so instead i've tried to make hinode's problems realistic and a lot of it comes from my own experiences, but i still wanted to make him morally gray and kinda.. you know.. kinda suspicious. (you're more than allowed to joke about punching him or putting him in a blender and all that)

General info.

Name: Kuroki Hinode (黒木日出) (his last name means "black" and "tree" and his first name means "sun, day" and "exit, leave". yes, hinode's name has kanji for "day" and riku's name has kanji for "evening".. the parallels <3...)

Age: 22 y/o

Gender: Male

Status: Guard 003

Birthday: January 28 (Aquarius)

Blood type: AB

Height: 179 cm

Occupation: Unemployed

Personality: Hinode isn't as outgoing as his brother, but he still enjoys talking to others, learning more about them and just spending time with other people. However, he's used to being alone, so he won't complain if it's not possible for him to talk to anyone at the moment. It actually might be better for him, since he gets tired quite easily because of his poor health and can't be active for too long. He feels sleepy most of the time, so please don't judge him for suddenly dozing off in the middle of the conversation, even if it's very important. He's not as passionate about justice as the other guards and mostly just wants to do his own thing, not caring about morals too much, but still having enough common sense to punish those who deserve it (in his opinion). He dislikes the physical kind of punishments because he believes that they're too "basic", since pain can easily scare anyone and there's nothing special about it. It's also possible that he doesn't like them because of his own experience with chronic pain, but to be honest, Hinode is lying when he says that he doesn't like to see people in pain. Yes, he believes that pain is the worst thing that could happen to anyone, even worse than death. But also, as someone who has no choice but to spend most of his days in pain.. Maybe he does want to see the prisoners feel the same way as he does. Maybe just a little bit. He still prefers the psychological punishments, finding them more "effective" and "suitable".. mostly because he's too weak to punish anyone physically.

MV info.

His Milgram cover: Him and T1 Naomi are twinning and he'd cover Weakness! The lyrics remind me a lot of him and I think with an instrumental like that it'd be appropriate for Riku's brother to cover it.

His DECO*27 cover: Harinezumi. The lyrics remind me a lot of him in general, him trying to keep up with everyone even though his condition doesn't allow him and him feeling like a burden to others, especially his family, but also being jealous of Riku for being so popular, talented and living his best life (at least it seems so on the outside) ("I can still keep going! Jealousy, what a trifling thing", "Don't you sometimes feel a little dizzy? I'm sighing because I'm tired of my heart pounding", "People know their true forms after being broken and crushed") and also the song describes his dysfunctional relationship with Riku really well as two brothers who are both jealous of each other and who both want something the other has (Riku has friends, popularity, the time and energy to make music, meanwhile Hinode has the family's attention, others helping him and people not judging him for spending the whole day in bed) but who also still love each other and genuinely wish their life could go differently ("I'll embrace you, we won't be parted", "Don't be prickly with me, each time we touch, I throb. If I prick you, you might hate me, well, there's no way that will happen!.. At least, I think", "I'm an attention seeker! I want to be spoiled! I want to melt even more for you!") And also considering that one of them is extremely suicidal and the other one is afraid that his life won't be that long.. ("In the blink of an eye, which of us will die?")

His Non-DECO*27 cover: Waltz by Nashimoto-P. I imagine Hinode having this very soft and quiet voice that almost sounds like a whisper and I feel like it would fit the way Miku is tuned very well! Also the lyrics sound so much like him trying to cope with his condition, his relationship with Riku, other problems and slowly going insane in the process. ("Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I ask what day is it today, regrettably thinking today will be a good time", "I don't know what's fun, but as I run out of things to do, I will accompany you", "My EKG is a straight line, I wonder how many decades ago") Some lyrics, especially the chorus remind me of the way he acts as a guard too. ("Stop trying to give up, the world is connected. Dance, smile, while you're being controlled. In the beginning, in the end, the details are non-existent. Don't resist, accept it, everything is connected") Also, Riku's T3 song is supposed to be by Nashimoto-P too, so :} They're matching!

His T3 Voice Trailer Voicelines:

"Ah, greetings, prisoners. Um, I apologize for such a late introduction, haha.. My name is Kuroki Hinode and I am the third guard of this prison. Nice to meet you. Starting from today, I'll be replacing Sanada Eiji-san as he's recovering. I hope we all get along. I'm really not the best person for this job, so I apologize if I end up falling asleep in the middle of the interrogation, haha.."

".. What was I supposed to do? I can't even get out of bed right now. If he wants to be saved, then I'm not the one who he should ask for help."

Trivia:

His eyes may not look like it because of the lighting on the first picture, but his eye color is supposed to be gray, meanwhile Riku's eye color is more of a mix of light green and gray.

Hinode's natural hair color is light brown, but a few days before Riku committed his crime, Riku suggested that he dyes Hinode's hair, hoping to make him feel at least a little better. They went with the brightest colors Riku had just for fun and it really did make Hinode smile and he was happy to spend time with his brother like that. In season 2, Riku dyed his hair the same way and noticed the colors only when it was too late, so it's possible that he missed his brother and did that subconsciously. It should be noted, however, that Riku's T2 hair is light green on the left and red on the right, meanwhile Hinode's hair is light green on the right and his hair is more pink rather than red on the left. Hinode also has a double ahoge just like his little brother and same goes for their little sisters. It's something they all share :)

He started putting his hair in a bun since he arrived because he found working with his hair down uncomfortable. Miki helps him with it now.

Hinode's illnesses aren't deadly, but a lot of them are chronic and dealing with them made Hinode a little bit paranoid and he has a lot of health-related anxiety. His condition is supposed to be mostly up to interpretation, but I can say for sure that he has anemia, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia.

He's the tallest out of all the guards (and that also makes Eiji the shortest). He's also the oldest one.

It's hard for him to walk because of how tired he feels most of the time, so he asked Miki if it's okay to hold her hand when they walk together. After a lot of internal screaming because of Hinode being so cute, Miki agreed.

His room has everything he needs and he can see the whole prison on multiple screens, watch the interrogation recordings, adjust the brightness of the screens and the room temperature and whoever kidnapped him also somehow learned about all the medications he has to take. He was creeped out by first, but then went "Oh, it's kinda nice actually :)"

Speaking of him arriving to Milgram, he was kidnapped while he was asleep. So before Jackalope brought him his guard uniform, Hinode spent all his time wearing pajamas. He still thinks they're more comfortable than his uniform. (another fun fact is that the first "concept art" of him had him in his pajamas sjskkssl)

He's probably the best character to ask for medical help at the moment, since he does know a lot about things like that, but whether he's able to actually help someone depends on how he's feeling at the moment and what his relationship with that person is like.

Hinode actually used to play the guitar before his health started to get worse and after he realized he doesn't have the energy to play anymore, he gave it to Riku. Riku still uses his brother's guitar and not counting the ones he got in Milgram, he refuses to get a new one. It also has a bunch of silly drawings on it made by Riku himself, Hinode and their little sisters.

#.. yes my hair is also green and pink rn.#IT WAS A COINCIDENCE OKAY. I CAME UP WITH HIS DESIGN THIS SUMMER #AND I WANTED MY HAIR TO BE MORE TEAL AT FIRST BUT THEN MY HAIRDRESSER SUGGESTED THIS COMBINATION AND. YEAH #also just know that when kei and eiko see him for the first time they immediately start flirting with him in their t3 lines #shun it's okay sHUN PUT THE GUN DOWN.#(he doesn't actually get a gun in season 3 though.. at least not right now)#❤️‍🩹guard 003: kuroki hinode❤️‍🩹#milgram #milgram oc #milgram project #ocgram

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satsuha · 5 months

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4, 5, 15, 17 and 19 for temehika? :D

4. In a relationship one always loves the other more. Who is that person?

oh god i was a bit afraid of receiving this one because i have trouble deciding... i think they're both the kind of people who love very deeply because there aren't a lot of people in their lives that they've truly connected to, probably moreso in hikari's case because it doesn't seem like he was able to tell anyone about his shadow. i'm inclined to say hikari because i think he'd fall harder as someone who's less experienced and mature but temenos has a really heavy(?) kind of love i think. so the answer is yes

5. What do they like to do in their free time?

i think temenos enjoys reading and maybe a little baking/cooking on the side since he seems to have a bit of a sweet tooth... i think it matches well with the fact that he spends time with kids in flamechurch too hehe. hikari also enjoys reading but i think for less recreational purposes... he's always spending his time on self-improvement, like training or studying

15. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

temenos trying to carry that barrel of water during the final chapter to impress hikari smh (joking but also.. maybe not) hikari... whatever he does as a catboy that makes it really obvious that he likes temenos: napping on top of his clothes, purring when he's near him.... you'll never take these hunter hcs away from me

17. What do they get up to on a night out?

harassing innocent bystanders for intel uhh i like to imagine them trying new foods... i don't think either of them are huge gourmands but both have been more restricted in their eating choice throughout their lives (fun fact: a note on the "night side" illustration for the OST cover where temenos is offering castti grilled fish says "even though he's a priest, eating fish is ok?" which makes me wonder if he was meant to be vegetarian or at least pescatarian) so thinking about them spending their nights during travels trying out new dishes is nice

19. How they make up after a big fight?

i feel like both would be quick to apologize because they're more likely to blame themselves than the other lol.. so it becomes more of an issue of consoling the other that their thoughts or concerns were valid. but hikari tends to be more direct with his words while temenos is more vague about it

tysm for the ask!

#answered #starkittnd93 #temehika

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crtter · 1 year

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has anyone ever figured out why they used that theme song for osokun 88? its probably one of my fav anime ops but the lyrics are so out of left field lol. is it iyami singing about his own father? is it supposed to be the sextuplets' view of matsuzo??? i just need to know who is the father that's the best in all of japan...

Hehe, I don’t think anyone has, no. But yeah, it’s quite an choice for a theme song! My guess is that it’s indeed about Matsuzō, since you can hear it sometimes when his job and daily commute are referenced in the show, as well as part of its lyrics being the name of a Matsuzō-centric episode (he even sings a bit of it in it!)

But as to why a song about Matsuzō was chosen as opposed to, say, something that’d fit Iyami or Chibita or the sextuplets better, I have no idea! My best guesses are either that 80s Osomatsu-kun was initially meant to focus more on the Matsuno parents and somewhere along the developing process became mostly about Iyami and Chibita instead or that it’s a reference to something in particular that’s not super obvious to a non-Japanese viewer. Maybe a reference to Shomin-geki, since Osomatsu-kun is also a product of the Shōwa era?

#answers #execmalfunction #Osomatsu kun #80s -kun

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ericsonclan · 1 year

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Hey guys! Remember me? xD

Yeaaah, I was a little busy, school, drawing, work, life in general, but I played TWDG again with my lil' sister and got some questions, I'd like to ask you. If you still take requests, maybe you do a christmas break or something similar ^^

Sooooo, the questioooons:

-My sister and I argued a lot about that fight Clem had with Marlon. We like it, it's just a bit short in our opinion, but my sister always complains about how fast Clem can beat Marlon, like he's some pushover compared to other enemies we encounter in the game (or games in general). And in my opinion, he's got a little handicap there, being at the edge of a real breakdown, a physical breakdown too. It's not really animated, but winning a duel with shaking hands is, eh... hard xD Anyway, my question is, do you think, Marlon would be able to beat Clem in a real fight, when he's got his head in the game? He took to kicks from her straight to the guts and didn't faint immediately, for which I'm blaming the adrenaline, but it's still a little impressive, didn't expect that from him, hehe

-What do you think the Ericson Kid's favorite meals were, before they had to rely on a little bit of soup? Imagine Omar having a real kitchen in there, man....

-Welllll, who do you think would be the most motivated for Christmas? My personal guess is Louis, but also secretly Violet, because maybe she just doesn't want to show how much she really loves the affection they all give each other then...

-When you look at the Ericson Kids, which music genre pops up in your mind? For real, I got a whole part of my Drawing Music Album for each of my favorites, if I don't listen to that while drawing them, I won't ever get it right xD Drew Marlon and AJ the other day and my god, I never listend to Metal for such a long time. That's six hours straight, Sabaton, Metallica, Man 'o War, Metal Covers....

-Rather an awkward question, but my sister wanted me to ask, so here it is - You think there's anyone who doesn't like hot chocolate? Almost all of them are kids, sooo... there's not much chance, but my sister said she can't see Aasim drink hot chocolate for some reason, weird, I know xD

Alright, that's it from me for now!

Wish you all the best and happy holidays! Stay safe!

Our requests are always open and we're happy to answer more questions.

For the first question Marlon vs Clem who would win in a fight: We think that Clementine would still win. We think that Marlon would put up a pretty decent fight but since Clementine has had to experience more life or death situations and has gotten into more fights so she has the skills needed to win.

Oh man Omar with a real kitchen then the Ericson kids would really be having feasts every day.

Let's see favorite meals or food...

Clementine: She loves pancakes specifically chocolate chip pancakes. She could eat those all day every day

Louis: Those PB & J's uncrustables. Definitely not what people would think is rich people food and isn't but Louis loved to buy some and stealthily eating them in his room

AJ: Ants on a log, that snack with celery that has peanut butter and raisins on them

Violet: Chicken nuggets but that's the obvious choice given you can hear about it in the game so we're also gonna add Craft Mac and Cheese. It was one of her comfort foods growing up

Marlon: Meatloaf, specifically his mom's meatloaf. He'd claim it was the best meal in the world and he would be lying if he said he didn't miss it when he got sent to Ericson

Brody: Fruit salad it's something fresh and sweet and she liked switching the fruits ever now and again when it was made

Mitch: Burgers. He loves them especially bacon burgers. He'd punch someone in the face for a bacon burger

Willy: Applesauce he loved it before the apocalypse happened and he was dancing on the picnic tables when he learned that they could use the apples from the apple tree they had to make some for everyone. He also liked those beef sticks that you can get at the checkout at grocery stores he'd scarf those up like there's no tomorrow

Tenn: Peanut butter, banana and honey sandwiches that was his go to and he could eat them for the rest of his life

Omar: Brussel sprouts with candied bacon. His grandma had a great recipe for them and he always wishes that he could make them again some day

Sophie: Grilled cheese sandwiches. Damn she loved that food and she had suggest at one point that they make the trek out to the nearest town in hopes of finding ingredients for it

Minnie: Not a meal but she loves gummy worms and would always be snacking on them while she worked on her music

Ruby: BBQ and all the fixin's. Ribs, brisket, pulled pork she loves it all

Aasim: Lamb vindaloo it was something that he grew up on and his mom always made so it has a special place in his heart

Who's motivated the most for Christmas: Louis for sure he only keeps track of days so he knows when holidays, birthdays and anniversaries are. Ruby absolutely loves decorating and loves all that Christmas time symbolizes. Brody is in a similar vein with that and finds wintertime magical. Violet also really loves Christmas even if she couldn't do much to celebrate it growing up. She'd mainly spend the day with her grandparents and mom and had a small celebration. So she was surprised when Louis brought up the idea that they should celebrate Christmas even after the world had ended but she was glad that he did.

Okay music genres. I don't know if we have specific ones for all the Ericson kids so we might just add a few here for what we associate them with

Marlon: Classic Rock: Queen, The Who, The Doors music like that. To us he just gives those vibes

Louis: Classical music and really soft and cheesy love songs

Ruby: Country Music

Violet: Not a genre but usually quiet or somber music

This is an interesting question I'd say most of all the kids like or love hot chocolate. We agree that Aasim wouldn't be the biggest fan of it but he'd probably drink it around Ruby since she loves it.

Thanks for the ask and we hope you had a safe and fun holiday!

#twdg #twdg clementine #twdg louis #twdg aj #twdg marlon #twdg violet #twdg mitch #twdg brody #twdg willy #twdg tenn #twdg omar #twdg sophie #twdg minnie #twdg ruby #twdg aasim #rusim #asks

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lyranova · 1 year

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Ship your moots and assign them a trope

Hiya anon, and Of course, and Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays~! It was a bit difficult and I took the cowards way out and chose everyones blorbo’s 😔 but I had fun choosing which tropes I think they would all fit 😁! I apologize if I forgot any of my mutuals, I tried to remember and list you all but I know sometimes things fall through the cracks, but I still love you all 🥺💕!

@thoughtfullyrainynightmare : Fuegoleon, I know it’s the obvious choice but really I can’t see you with anyone else 😆 (maybe Nozel 🤔?). As for which trope you two would fit, I think it would be forbidden/star crossed lovers or “the last to know” (I almost went with “Oblivious to love” but I think last to know is fun too!) 😁!

@eme-eleff : I was torn on who to choose for you, because I can just imagine all the people it could be but I finally settled on Gray from Fairy Tail hehe 😁! As far as tropes for you I can easily imagine it being “Oblivious to Love” and “Emotional scars”!

@loosesodamarble : Like marilú I had a tough time choosing, but I finally settled on Morgen 🥰! Maybe because the ending could either be sad and tragic, or we could use fanfic to “fix it” and keep him alive 😆. As far as tropes, it’s for sure “friends to lovers” and possibly “secret admirer” where Morgen’s had a crush on you for a while but was too nervous to say anything 🤔?

@delirious-donna : I ship you with Nanami! It could be because I see him a lot when I go to your blog, or if it’s because I can just imagine you softening up those rough edges he has tbh it’s probably both hehe 😆! As far as tropes I can totally see “Office Romance” and “Lovers in Denial” 😁!

@simpingforthisonedeer : I ship you with Julius! I can just see you two being the smartest, sassiest, and amazing power couple in Clover 😁! As far as tropes I can see it being a mixture of “Star Crossed Lovers” and “Dark Secret” (*cough* Lucius 👀 *cough*)

@hybridanafrost : I ship you with Magna! I can just see you being his biggest cheerleader and helping him gain confidence in himself, and I can see him doing the same for you 😁! As far as tropes it’d be “Good Girl, Bad Boy.” and “Everyone Can See It” 🤔?

@darkcloakedinfinitevoid : I ship you with Zora! Like I said with Donna and Camy I can see you smoothing out his rough edges and I can also see you encouraging him when he needs it most (and vice versa)! As far as tropes I can see it being “Opposites Attract” and “Lovers in Denial” 😆!

@talpup : I ship you with Yami! I was debating on whether to pick him or Aizawa but decided on the former since I felt that his personality suited you better since he isn’t always serious and has a fun side 😁! As far as tropes I see it being “Beauty and the Beast” and “Oblivious to Love” 🥰!

@bowandcurtsey : I ship you with Sukuna! It’s probably because I’ve seen him on your blog a lot and know that he’s one of your blorbo’s, but I also think you could show him that humans aren’t as “weak” as he thinks and warm his cold heart a bit 🥰! As for tropes it’s for sure “Beauty and the Beast” and “Opposites Attract”!

@acacia-may : I ship you with Finral! Like I mentioned above I can see you encouraging him when he needs it, also helping him out when he’s stressed, and trying to help him break his “curse” 😆! As far as tropes I can see it being “Friends to Lovers” and “Second Chance Romance”.

@firefutte : I ship you with Langris! Like I mentioned before you’d probably smooth out his rough edges, and I can totally see you scolding him when he does something wrong, and I can see you trying to help him mend his relationship with Finral 🥰! As far as tropes I can see it being “Loveable Rogue” and “Royal/Noble” 😁!

@clovertitan : I ship you with Levi! Like before you’d soften him, but I also can see you teasing him since it’s so easy to do, and I think you’d be a good support for him when he needs it and he would do the same 🥰! As far as tropes it’d be “Men in Uniform” and “Belated love epiphany”!

#asks #anon 🌟#shipping my moots

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daz4i · 7 months

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if you'd like, list one strength of bsd that you see, and one flaw! and when i say that, i mean that in a literary sense. not "this is something i liked" or "this is something i didn't like" but something that works really well in bsd and something that does not work well in bsd.

(for example, "character designs are unique and recognizable" and "unreliable tone sometimes undermines dramatic moments") ((also SO sorry if i come off like a school-teacher, i'm just very interested in literary appraisals of bsd)

I ACTUALLY HAVE ANSWERS TO THAT LOCKED AND LOADED!

strength: this might be more of my own personal taste tho it IS a literary tool i think; i love how it initially builds up your expectations by making the characters fit very common anime tropes (mostly shonen ones), but as time goes on you start noticing more and more how they subvert these! (I'd also argue the story itself does it. it starts out mostly silly and fun and then boom 3 teenagers get shot up in an alley)

imo it's less about twists and more about adding depth to these characters, bc it's not that the core qualities of the initial trope are gone. you're just adding things that would normally contradict them (for example, atsushi being bitter and sassy and violent despite having shonen protag qualities like determination and the ability to inspire others, or kunikida hating authority and breaking rules despite being the uptight and serious type etc). I'm actually planning to possibly write smth abt that more in depth soon bc i find it fascinating hehe :3

also! I'd say bsd strikes the balance between humor and drama really really well :) at least the manga does hehe. example i can think of is how fyozai in meursault always do some funny thing right before they get down to mind games (or doing the egg and salt thing right before nikolai gets them out of their cells hehe). or how aya and bram's moments cut the tension of this arc for a few minutes, giving you a moment to breathe and laugh for a bit. it makes the pain and tension that come later more impactful imo :)

flaw: oh my god ok this one bothered me from the start. it feels more obvious in the anime than the manga, idk why (maybe bc things genuinely need more explaining in the manga bc the medium makes things less clear?), but. characters explaining things out loud unnecessarily

example that's currently fresh in my mind is mushitaro explaining the jailbreak plan to atsushi and kyouka AFTER they do it, which??!! yeah they were there !!! you don't need to tell kyouka that demon snow lured the soldiers into the wrong safe she's the one who made her do it!!!!!!

the only times i can excuse this is atsushi and akutagawa having dramatic shonen-esque battles like the one on the boat. this just makes them fun. but when it comes to the mystery aspects of the series, i feel like you can definitely find a better way to do it. in the example i gave, they could've waited a bit to explain it, then have ango ask how they did it once they all reach anne's room, bc he was the one bamboozled by it after all, so it makes sense (i assume in the manga it would've caused too long of a wait to reveal the answer which would frustrate readers but. reading the story as a whole, or seeing it in the anime in one episode, it is really glaring)

sometimes there isn't much of a choice but then i would honestly prefer to just hear the character explain it in internal dialogue than say it to a character who already knows it. like this also feels forced but significantly less so imo, and at the end of the day these things DO need to be explained to the audience so. finding a better way to deliver should be smth you put effort into i think

. ok i had that rant ready for literally 10 months now so I'm glad i let it out hehe. this aspect can really take me out of the story 😭 luckily it happens a bit less lately i think? or maybe I'm just more used to it lol. but still thank you for giving me the opportunity to let all this out :P🖤

#you're not coming off as school-teachery btw dw! this is a good question and i love discussions like this!!!! ^_^

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sk3tch404 · 1 year

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Lmao np <33 I always enjoy drawing Yandere's as pathetic lil meow meows hehe (funfact: I actually drew Rory first but after I finished his lineart I was like, wait shit I don't have a full color reference- and then I hyperfocused on drawing jay instead lol)

Also, you 🤝 me: jayce + jack o' lanterns = stonks ✅ ✅ ✅

Also also, ngl if Darling were self-aware she'd def hate me, because I always try to speedrun the Bad ending first lmaooo

Also^3, every time I hear baggy pants, I can't help but remember the boys I went to school with a few years ago, who wore the most ugly, most a t r o c i o u s pairs of baggy pants I have ever seen 💀💀

For Reference: https://imgur.com/a/fZsHsF7

This is what I'm talking about^^ like pls,, just sTO P-

About the blue reference, the paragraph I meant was the one about how I only liked EJ so much because of his BLUE mask 😔 young me truly set the bar too low (maybe it's because of him that I'm attracted to most fictional mad scientists/doctors with no morals now, damn this bastard 😒)

Oh, and the OG mikey myers Movie is the 1978 one! ^^

And finally about the Christian Gang /hj (every holiday Yandere of yours has/used to have strong Christian influences but these three are still considered extra Christian to me so I'm just gonna start calling em that lolololol)

Gonna be honest, when you revealed that one of them was gonna be Christmas, I immediately headcanoned him as just some guy in Christmas elf costume- thank god that's not the case though (I say, even though I know damn well that I'm still gonna draw him in that costume the nanosecond you drop a ref for him, because he's a lil skrimblo who needs to get a reality check via me shitposting him into humility)

Also ofc the twins are ginger 😒🙄 /derogatory /j okay but fr, whenever I see a fictional ginger online I'm like ....Ed Sheeran??? 😱😱 (coughcoughchildecough)

-Ren'py anon

OKAY OKAY I'LL DROP A SMIDGE OF RORY SPRITES SO U CAN COLOR IT BBG

He only wears shades outside lol

HEHEHE YES JACK O'LANTERN STONKS GO UP IN THE BRAIN CELL ACTIVITY

Eh, I mean, its always fun to get the bad ending first though. Just to see then get all angry and violent 😍 good shit tbh

MC would def hate you, but I feel like it would take a bit to get the bad bad ending yk? I don't have the obvious, good/neutral/bad choices most of the time (although there are some choices that will obviously lead to negative consequences lol)

JAYCE ONLY WEARS THE ONES IN STYLE RN NOT THOSE LMAOOOO

Though they can look good if done right, those boys at school were definitely not doing it right 💀

Now I understand the blue reference! Ugh how did I MISS IT SO BAD 😭 gosh you were going crazy abt him and the color blueeeeee

I understand how that all kick started ur obsession with fucked up men. We are one in the same 😎

Hehehe thank you for the confirmation! I will be watching Myers stand there menacingly as I look up fics of him 😍

It's so funny that you call them the Christan gang, but it's not gonna have all the significant original values and whatnot. It's just a global holiday thingy that everybody does regardless of religious background (Though I'm glad you still see their origins and acknowledge their important purpose to many other people!)

GOD HELP WHY? I ONLY WATCHED LIKE 10 MINUTES IF THAT ELF MOVIE WHEN I WAS IN 6TH GRADE DURING LUNCH? WHY WERE THEY PLAYING IT DURING LUNCH YOU ASK? BC OF CHRISTMAS OR SMTH IDK, BUT IT WAS OKAY IG

It would be very funny to see him as an elf that works at the mall as a side 😇 He needs it anyway

Regarding the Twin's, THEY HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE MAKE GINGER JOKES, SO BAD. THE MINUTE SOMEONE SAYS ANYTHING ABT ED SHEERAN AROUND THEM, THEY EITHER ZIP OUT OF THERE OR FIGHT. NO IN BETWEEN.

Typical gingers 🙄 so sensitive dude

Childe is one of the only gingers I can tolerate. If these two didnt have a life and played Genshin, they would favor Childe so much.

#renpy anon #sorry this took ao long to answer #rory flynn

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aureuscanidae · 1 month

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hii omg i just sent u an ask (if ur readings r open) but my connection just went boop so i’m retyping the question and sending it 😅 if it’s duplicate i’m sorry! (i did add some extra info to this one!)

could i pls know the characteristics of my first/next romantic partner? i’ve also never dated anyone so i’m curious hehe.. just anything about them that comes up like appearance, personality, general vibe! for reference i am attracted to women (and am a woman!) tysm 🫶🫶

-P🫧 taurus moon

HELL YEAH!!! consider this an act of mlm/wlw solidarity (i myself am a gay man). i hope you enjoy your reading ★

(disclaimer: please only take these readings with a grain of salt and do not substitute it for professional help. energies constantly change and the future is not set in stone. whatever choice you make moving forward is completely up to you <3)

what does your next romantic partner look like?

i'm getting that she's taller than average, and that she has sort of a lithe yet muscular build. you know korra from avatar? yeah she's kind of built like that. she maybe even looks like her too, like she may have an olive skintone, with dark hair. you'd look at this person and think "man. she could carry me" which i think is hilarious, by the way. she looks very strong if you're into that, kind of butch. she may have long hair, that she likes wear down. i'm also getting a lot of the color red, maybe she looks good in red or it's her favorite color. i'm also getting that she may have this intense gaze, like having a staring contest with a hawk??? i don't know why my intuition worded it like that, but it's very piercing. i'm hearing that there's a chance she wears glasses because she has some sort of nearsightedness or farsightedness? she also may like to swim, or is generally very athletic.

what is your next romantic partner's personality?

this girl does not play when it comes to romance. when she's locked in with someone, she is LOCKED IN. she's insanely loyal and devoted to her partners, always working hard to keep them happy and the relationship going steady. she is not looking for anything but something serious, and if that's something you're not ready for, you're going to have to communicate this with her. she's been through a lot too, and she's had to do a lot of work to get to where she is today. this makes her so different from so many other people, her presence and energy is like a jolt of lightning in the most unexpected of places. she's very mysterious, and it intimidates a lot of people at first glance. she might be alternative, or punk. she's definitely a strong leader type of person, her very presence just commands respect and order. she might be a very quiet extrovert.

what is your next partner's general vibe?

she's very inspiring, very firey and bold. her entire energy is like a chili pepper or some burning embers. there's some very obvious passion and courage within her, even if she may be a bit quiet at first. she's got a strong will to her, i'm hearing that she might be an aquarius or have some aquarius placements even. maybe she likes listening to rage against the machine because i keep hearing "killing in the name" play in my head while i'm doing this. she's very out there, and she knows what she wants. she's not above taking chances and risks to get it either. she's always on the go, ready for whatever life throws at her, which is extremely admirable. people are easily charmed by her creativity and grace and are in awe of her energy, bravery and creativity, and i think that you won't be an exception. she also might be pansexual.

what is your next partner's first impression of you?

right off the bat i heard that when she sees you at first, she sees someone she would love to be friends with. don't worry, some romantic connections come from friendships, this one might be one of those cases. she might see you as someone hardworking and gives everything to whatever you're doing. maybe when you first meet each other (assuming you haven't met this person yet) you're in the middle of doing something you're extremely good at or one of your hobbies you've already mastered and she's over there somewhere watching you like that one scene in camp rock ("she's really good!"). you might be just her type, honestly. you might be just as hardworking and diligent as she is and she's gonna think that she's met her match!

messages from your next partner

LITERALLY IMMEDIATELY I HEARD "we are meant to be together." WHICH IS INSANE BECAUSE THE TWO OF CUPS CAME OUT IN THIS READING? THE LOVERS CARD CAME OUT DURING THIS READING? WHAT ARE THE ODDS? THE TWO OF YOU GUYS ARE DEFINITELY GOING TO MAKE IT INTO THE LONG TERM, WHAT? THIS IS A WIN FOR ALL SAPPHICS EVERYWHERE! shock aside, your next partner's telling me to tell you to trust your intuition and your feelings. believe that she is coming to you soon. again, reiterating that the two of you are literally meant to be together in this lifetime. your union will be very powerful, and it's a romance that you definitely deserve. remain kind and supportive to other people as it's something that she thinks is a super important and nice quality that you have. "i love you, my anchor. keep holding on." just heard that in my mind, aww, she thinks you're her anchor, and an anchor for everyone else too. this is too sweet, omg....

astrological energies

the following signs may appear in either your birth chart or theirs: cancer, gemini, sagittarius, virgo, pisces, aries, libra

#tarot #tarot community #tarotblr #tarot reading #tarot deck #tarot reader #tarot witch #tarot requests #free tarot readings #free tarot #psychic #intuition #aureuscanidae

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everythingsinred · 1 year

Text

Let’s Talk About NatsuMikan: Mikan (pt. 1)

Hey there, everyone. You might remember that more than a year ago I had posted Gakuen Alice essays about NatsuMikan related to both the anime and Natsume’s manga perspective. The Natsume one in particular was met with a surprising amount of feedback (for a fandom as small as ours). People told me my essay inspired them to reread the manga and helped them better understand Natsume’s character. I was also able to share some great music. So back by popular demand is ME! Talking for an agonizingly long time about a ship from a manga series that ended a decade ago! In excruciating detail!!!

This essay is even longer than Natsume’s because Mikan is the main character and this manga is about her, and also because I don’t have a life.

Less triggering material than in Natsume’s essay at first, but it’ll get dark pretty quick because... That’s how GA is. Hehe. Be warned.

Next ->

It’s time for the long-awaited final part of my three-part NatsuMikan analysis! Finally we can crack into Mikan, the surprisingly more elusive half of this pairing. The first part detailed their relationship in the anime. The second and third parts are about manga!NatsuMikan. It had to be split into two parts because I wanted to discuss each character’s individual journey of falling in love and I didn’t want it to be confusing. I started with Natsume because it was the easier one and I figured it would be shorter. Mikan would be a bit more challenging because she’s naive, sometimes even to her own feelings, and frequently misunderstands Natsume.

From her point of view, Natsume is a wishy-washy mess. He’s confusing, conflicting, overwhelming. It takes her a while to fully understand him and even longer to realize her feelings.

Here’s a disclaimer right at the start so I don’t have to address it later: I only ship Mikan romantically with Natsume. I’m not a multishipper and don’t really care much for the love triangle in the manga to begin with (I’m bored with the premise that “everyone is in love with Mikan!”; it’s honestly tiresome). Because of that, I won’t be discussing romance with other characters unless it’s to discuss her agency and choice. I could explain why I only ship her with Natsume, but maybe that will become evident in this essay. To be clear, this is just my personal opinion. I’m not saying other ships are good or bad; they’re just not for me and I won’t be discussing them here, to their benefit OR detriment. It’s just not relevant.

To be honest, this was the analysis I’d wanted to do from the beginning. I’ve been rereading Gakuen Alice over and over again for twelve years now. Each time I read it, I discover something new: whether it’s a funny easter egg or a panel I hadn’t paid much attention to before, there’s always something that had escaped my notice. No matter how many times I reread, there’s always something to discover. It’s why I never want to speak with full authority on anything. I could have always missed something, or misinterpreted something, or been left oblivious to something because of low-quality scans.

One aspect of the manga that I only started focusing on relatively recently--surprisingly--is Mikan’s feelings for Natsume. When it comes to their relationship, Natsume’s half is more outwardly romantic (to us). He’s so goddamn obvious it’s impossible not to notice his affections. He’s the one smiling sweetly (and we discussed that his smiles are rare currency) at her, sacrificing things for her, going out of his way to protect her. He’s so glaringly apparent about his feelings that it’s difficult to imagine how Mikan could remain oblivious to them for so long. Moreover, because of how obvious and obnoxious Natsume is about his feelings, Mikan’s side of things is easily lost in the mix. How and why she starts falling in love with Natsume doesn’t seem as central, or even important. What matters is that they end up together. It makes sense then that Natsume would be the focus on NatsuMikan shipping. He just makes it too easy.

A few years ago, when I was about seventeen… so like seven years ago, my focus on my reread was on Mikan. How did she feel? How come she chose Natsume over her other options? What is it about her, and what is it about him, and what is it about them that leads to her loving him so much? Ever since that reread, my understanding about NatsuMikan has shifted and deepened. Mikan’s perspective in this relationship is what I’ve been preoccupied with for years and hopefully writing this essay will bring even more new details to my attention.

Mikan’s love for Natsume is about discovery, understanding, maturation, forgiveness, comfort, negativity, and agency. Natsume never “plays the game,” he never fights for her affections. He never intends on being with Mikan. She falls in love with him on accident and by choice and against his will and despite his every flaw.

Again, just like with Natsume, before we start discussing how she falls in love with this boy, let’s explore a little about Mikan and what makes her the person she is. As per my last essay, we will talk about the individual outside of the pairing because it’s important to understand the characters on their own if we’re going to properly analyze how they work together.

Mikan

She is the most Babey character of All Time.

Sakura Mikan is a fifth-grader from the countryside. She lives a pleasant rural life with her grandpa. It’s not explored right away but we know that she never knew her parents and assumes that they are both dead. It’s a source of sadness for her for sure, but Mikan doesn’t start the story off as a traumatized and melancholy character (she’s not Natsume).

She’s pretty simple, because she’s a child and she’s the one character in the main four who actually acts like one. She’s upbeat, optimistic, naive, sporty, and uninterested in academics. She misunderstands things, is quick to emotion, and is “stupid,” causing her to be frequently confused and also to move on from conflict pretty easily. She smiles all the time because she doesn’t have much reason not to. Life for Mikan is, for the most part, fun and delightful, like it should be for every kid.

The tumultuous first few months of her birth that she spent on the run with her mother probably had some sort of effect, of course. My sister Zoe knows more about psychology but she’s told me that everything that happens in your life, even in infancy, has an effect, even if you don’t remember it. What exactly that effect might be in Mikan I couldn’t say, so I can’t say for sure that Mikan doesn’t know what suffering is at the start, or that she has no problems at all.

When it comes to her guardianship, we can see right off the bat that Jii-chan probably rubbed off on her a lot. He’s also quick to emotion, with a quick temper but a mostly sweet disposition, just like her. She has a lot in common with him and throughout the manga, she thinks back on his teachings and he’s her one constant wish from the beginning: to see him again. (We’ll get more into that later, of course.)

There’s an omake after Chapter 100 (and just like Natsume’s essay, this will be ordered chronologically, not by the order or events in the manga) that recounts a scene from Mikan’s childhood, when she’s five years old at a lantern festival with her Jii-chan. The festival is about honoring dead ancestors, and intuitive Mikan figures out that she’s meant to be honoring her own deceased parents, even though her grandfather skirts the topic. She somehow ends up on a test of courage, having volunteered to collect party favor bags for her friends, even though she’s usually quite scared of ghosts and her grandpa told her tests of courage were disrespectful.

Nobody does “volunteering for stuff I don’t wanna do” quite like she does...

If we imagine this to be a foundation-building moment for Mikan, we can use it to learn a lot about her. For one, we can see that she values her grandpa’s words. He told her tests of courage were “impudent” and she trusts that he’s right. She doesn’t want to rebel against his word. Next, we can see that she is kind. Even though she knows what her Jii-chan thinks, she’s willing to make an exception so that her friends can get their goody bags. She wants a treat for herself too of course, but there’s a reason why she volunteers instead of pressuring another girl to go. Then we can see that Mikan is cocky. She insists that she’s not scared even though she looks nervous. She puts airs on like this sometimes, as if she believes in the phrase “fake it ‘til you make it.” And finally, we know that, despite her fear, she wants to not be scared because she is sure that her parents are among the ghosts out tonight. We can see that there’s a connection she wants to make, and that’s one more reason why she might have decided to do the test of courage.

She is immediately abandoned by the other kids who are too scared to continue. She’s left to her own devices and she almost starts to freak out until she consoles herself, telling herself that she’s not scared of ghosts. She collects the bags for the kids and thinks back on what her Jii-chan told her. She then even calls out for the ghosts, for her parents. She stays out for a while until Jii-chan finally finds her in tears. He misunderstands that she must have been scared, but the truth is Mikan was moved in a way she can’t explain.

Come, come, Ghost.

This moment captured in the omake is important because we can see that Mikan, even as a child, does have some depth to her. She’s not all naivete and cheer. She has a yearning for the “ghosts” she can’t reach, for the parents she never had. She loves her Jii-chan and never complains about not having parents, but she obviously feels the lack. It’s also important because throughout the manga she can “feel” her father’s presence, even if she’s unsure what it really is. His spirit stays with her, even if she never really knew him. That tie will stay and play a huge role later in the story, as Mikan is very much her father’s daughter.

This being said, she’s still certainly the most childish and happy and innocent of the characters at the manga’s start. Natsume is a mess of abuse and trauma, and has been for his whole life, as previously discussed ad nauseam. Ruka grew up in what is practically solitary confinement, stuck in his loneliness and desperately wanting a friend, only to end up feeling like a burden on the only friend he’s ever had. Even Hotaru, who has successfully evaded the Academy’s capture for many years, has lived her childhood more or less on the run, and wondering about her mysterious missing older brother.

In comparison, Mikan doesn’t linger very much on her concerns. She’s more or less just a happy little girl. This distinction is important, because Mikan goes through extreme character development over the course of the story, and not necessarily in a good way. She goes through intense trauma and suffering and despite it all she only internalizes it in a self-damaging way.

Then there is Mikan’s friendship with Hotaru, which begins when they are in the third grade and the enigmatic and cold Hotaru moves into Mikan’s little village. Interestingly, Mikan is actually put off by Hotaru at first because she doesn’t like girls that stand out more than her. Mikan is a bit shallow and very interested in being liked.

Such a childish concern, to dislike someone because they're more interesting.

It’s only when Hotaru approaches her and suggests they could win a beauty contest together that Mikan changes her mind about her. Again--she’s shallow, incredibly moved by the comment on her own cuteness. Naturally, the fact that the contest requires a group submission means Hotaru needed to find someone in her class willing to join with her. It could just be that Hotaru thought Mikan would be easy to win over, before they really got to know each other. Either way, it worked, and they won the contest.

Once Mikan changes her mind about Hotaru, she completely switches gears. She goes from resenting Hotaru’s charm to obsessing over her. Hotaru goes from being an annoying new girl to the best friend in the whole world, practically within seconds, and I think I can explain the change.

Mikan is, like I said, shallow. That’s to be expected because she’s just a kid. Kids have different priorities than adults. Mikan likes being liked, likes standing out. Hotaru starts their friendship by acknowledging that Mikan stands out in her own way and compliments her. They are both cute. It doesn’t need to be a source of contention: they can compete together. She essentially rules herself out as a rival and instead establishes herself as an ally. That’s really complex language for what is probably not at all conscious on either of their parts, because they’re just kids, but that’s what happens.

(It’s also an interesting subversion of girls being rivals for popularity or attention. Mikan initially resents Hotaru for this, but instead they end up being best friends, sharing attention. Feminism and all that, destroying unnecessary female rivalry.)

Additionally, Hotaru withholds affection. Aside from this first interaction, Hotaru distances herself. She is hesitant to give compliments and hugs. (It’s interesting to compare Natsume and Hotaru in this way, because although they both come off as cold, for Natsume it’s clear that he’s acting this way against his will, when he is really much softer than he seems; Hotaru is just naturally closed off and slower to affection than other people.)

As a result of this coldness, Mikan needs to work for the affection. She feels she is the one who loves more. Although that seems to be the case, Mikan also refuses to put up with Hotaru’s rude quips and cold attitude. She rebuffs her--often with physical violence--but she never wins.

It's not exactly like Mikan tolerates Hotaru's treatment--she definitely fights back.

Higuchi Tachibana makes jokes about Mikan being masochistic. How else do you explain her connection to both Hotaru and Natsume, who are cold and even mean to her, if only on the surface? She is mistreated by both of them: bullied, teased mercilessly, and not given the validation she seems to endlessly crave. She must enjoy the suffering! But I think there’s more to it. Mikan even says it herself: she sees the softness and kindness that Hotaru won’t show. She understands Hotaru. She may complain about the lack of attention, but ultimately she understands that Hotaru shows her fondness in a unique way.

And this is the most important thing to know about Mikan before we start the meat of the essay: she has the potential for incredible emotional intelligence.

Mikan is definitely more brawn than brain. She’s not smart, not in regards to book smarts or street smarts. She’s cute, but many characters describe her as plain and unassuming (though it’s funny to talk about things like that in a manga where most characters’ faces look identical). She’s certainly not a stunning beauty like Hotaru or Nobara are. She’s emotional and has a quick temper. She’s loud and brash and annoying and immature and doesn’t always take things seriously.

The thing that sets Mikan apart (though I would argue none of the above traits are bad) is her emotional intelligence, particularly her intuition. Mikan has a deep understanding that all people are different and sees an inherent value in each person. She is deeply empathetic and seeks connections with people. This understanding allows her to make connections that other people don’t, leading to her being able to deduce things from implicit or entirely unsaid scenarios. She understands a few profound concepts that her classmates don’t fully grasp, and I think her optimistic and childish viewpoint helps her understand the world in a way her jaded and cynical peers might not consider.

Of course, sometimes her hasty emotional reactions overshadow this emotional intelligence, but what matters is that the skills are there. Throughout the manga, Mikan helps other people hone this skill, and that’s crucial to why she ends up being so magnetic to so many characters.

Now that we’ve summarized Mikan’s character by the story’s start, we can formally begin the essay. Again, just like I said with Natsume, we will explore her character both independently and as part of a ship. I will explore her relationships with other characters (just like I explored Natsume’s other relationships), because it helps to flesh the NatsuMikan out. If it takes a bit to get super shippy, that’s just because this relationship begins with them as enemies. Thank you for your patience.

Chapter One

Mikan’s story--and ours--starts with a dilemma: her weirdo friend Hotaru has turned out to be a genius “Alice” and is now going to a new school, and only let her know at the very last minute!

In the anime, this opening sequence takes place in the heat of summer, amidst Mikan’s passionate petition to keep their school open. I explained in my anime essay that I think that accounts for a general difference between the two from the get-go, that the anime was bound to stay on the childish side of things while the manga dared to go darker.

But regardless of why the anime chose to start in a warmer season, the more pressing issue is why the manga begins in the cold. My literature degree pays off, it seems, because each season has almost universal symbolism. The year as a whole commonly represents a human lifespan, but more than that it can symbolize personal evolution and change, as well as common themes.

Spring is the season of renewal and rebirth, of fresh starts and joy. Summer is symbolic of love, passion, and liberty, of exploration and burgeoning adulthood. Autumn represents change, reflection, slow maturation and eventual harvest, and even loss, just like plants begin to die before winter. And finally winter represents sorrow, struggle, and of course death. These will all be relevant in the future so keep note of them! Mikan is our main character and this is her story of her gradual evolution and maturation, and the changing seasons fit her development quite well.

Loss. Sorrow. A childhood friend moving away forever.

That’s why the story starts in winter: this is the hardest thing Mikan has had to go through so far in her life. We meet her at the height of her sadness, at a low point. This is the figurative winter of her friendship with Hotaru. Because even though Hotaru attempts to comfort her with promises of letters and occasional visits, Mikan knows that they will lose touch. She parts with Hotaru in tears, upset and distraught, accusing Hotaru of taking her for granted and not caring about her.

Though we later learn that Hotaru went through her own ordeal when she first came to the Academy, her letters blocked by strict censors and regulations, from Mikan’s perspective, Hotaru simply didn’t care enough to keep in touch. The one letter she gets comes in the summer--which you will remember represents exploration and freedom and those themes are the main focus here--and Hotaru dismissively shakes off the idea of a vacation visit because of the hot weather. While Mikan has been writing every other day, Hotaru has sent one letter (successfully) in six months.

For Mikan, this is what she expects because at this stage her low emotional point freezes her typical tendency to try and understand the situation from Hotaru’s point of view. She knows that Hotaru doesn’t show her love outwardly, but has--in her despair--forgotten that she shows it in other, subtler ways.

After complaining and whining at school, Mikan is given a time-out from class and overhears a conversation between students about that school Hotaru was transferred to. The Alice school protects its geniuses, keeping them locked up in a prison and refusing them contact with the outside world. She learns from the gossip that Hotaru’s family had been avoiding the scouts for years, successfully, until now, when Hotaru learned that the government gives you money for attending.

Mikan is obviously devastated that Hotaru willingly transferred to a school where she knew they’d never see each other again ‘til graduation, just for the sake of money. She feels cheated, sold out, and lied to. Interestingly, none of her classmates seem to offer her any solace. She spitefully claims she’ll make lots of new friends, and it does feel as if it had just been the two of them against the world before.

"I'll make other friends," instead of "I have other friends."

I’m about to speculate with my own thoughts here, and it’s fine if anybody disagrees because this is all basically a headcanon, but I don’t think Mikan had any close friends other than Hotaru before attending the academy. Mikan has always liked being liked, and she can talk and play with pretty much anybody because of her outgoing and bold personality, but I think Hotaru was her first real friend, the first time she felt a real worthwhile connection to somebody. That’s part of the reason she clings so desperately to her. She has other girls to hang out with, even with Hotaru gone, but she seems lonelier than ever, and she never mentions any of her old classmates once she transfers. Hotaru isn’t just her best friend, but her only real friend. But at the academy she makes plenty of friends, strong and meaningful connections with people other than Hotaru. This is a point I’ll dig into more deeply later on, but I wanted to introduce it here because I think it makes her missing Hotaru all the sadder: she lost not just her best friend, but her only friend.

In any case, the lonely and miserable Mikan is wallowing in self-pity until she overhears one more conversation, between the school principal and Hotaru’s mother. She learns here that Hotaru gave all the money from the transfer to the school.

I get why the anime made Mikan protest the school's closing, but the manga makes this so much more about Hotaru this way.

The anime has Mikan protesting to keep the school open. When Hotaru gives the money to keep it open, it’s a gift to Mikan because Mikan cares so much.

Here, Mikan is oblivious to the school’s financial situation. Hotaru gives the money because she cares so much. This is the place where she met her best friend, after all, and it housed many memories that she doesn’t want to see destroyed. More than that: she did such a selfless thing without saying anything about it, because Hotaru isn’t the type of person to advertise any of her actions, even the noble ones.

Hotaru’s mother explains that Hotaru had moved around a lot in her childhood and gone to many schools. But this was the first time she liked a place, where she finally found a friend.

Mikan is finally making the connection: Hotaru left because she was ready, because she’d finally found a place where she could make happy memories, and because she wanted to save that place, as a way to show her appreciation to the people she cared about, especially Mikan. And she left without notice because she would rather piss Mikan off so she would forget her, than to have her sad and missing her.

We get a very important flashback here, one of the most character-defining moments for Mikan. Mikan brags that Hotaru is her best friend, but when she asks Hotaru, she just says she’s her own best friend. Mikan cries about it, hurt that Hotaru doesn’t value her as a best friend. Hotaru is unmoved by Mikan’s tears, claiming that she is 30% uglier when she cries, but also telling her that she much prefers when Mikan smiles, because it helps her forget her own troubles.

This is Hotaru trying to give a compliment. "I don't hate when you smile." LMAO.

Mikan looks back on this moment a lot, and the meaning behind Hotaru’s words devolves and warps into something very dangerous.

When Hotaru meets Mikan, Mikan is an innocent and joyful girl. She has a carefree life and she smiles because of it. Hotaru is comforted by this, by the innocence and joy that Mikan conveys. It’s comforting to see the bright side of life constantly shining out of one person, who couldn’t see the darkness even if she tried. As Mikan grows and changes and her life stops being so carefree, she still carries Hotaru’s wishes for her to smile with her, and that will cause some trouble ahead (EVEN IF THE MANGA DISAGREES WITH ME).

In any case, Mikan becomes spiteful again, because Hotaru underestimated her loyalty. Hotaru thought it was possible for Mikan to forget her. Additionally, she feels guilty because she was also cruel to Hotaru, at their parting and in all her letters, only griping about Hotaru instead of being a good friend. She didn’t look deeper at Hotaru’s side of things because she didn’t want to. But now that she knows, she wants to start their friendship over, even if it is from afar.

She steals Jii-chan's money and travels all the way to Tokyo so that she can sneak into the academy and find Hotaru again.

Even within just the first chapter, Mikan undergoes character development. She goes from the loss of winter to the determined liberty of summer, and she’s going to begin a journey on her own all for the sake of her friend.

She has the wish of becoming like Hotaru, of being able and willing to sacrifice herself for the people precious to her. She runs away, but the thing is that she’s sacrificing Jii-chan’s money and concern. Her journey to see Hotaru is moving, but it’s more brash than anything. That sentiment she has, of equating sacrifice with strength and love, is one she has in common with Natsume. It’s a dangerous sentiment and will cause both of them a world of pain, but for now, Mikan is just a naive little girl in Tokyo.

But what exactly are you sacrificing here, Mikan?

She’s immediately overwhelmed and spends all the stolen money on presents for herself and Hotaru. She gets dropped off at Alice Academy, an enormous research institute that seems to go on for miles. Even though she’s intimidated, she refuses to give up and starts advocating loudly for herself to enter the school. After being tricked by some predators and then saved by Narumi (exhibit A of Mikan not being able to look after herself in this first arc), he introduces her to the concept of alices, because it seems she has one. To him, a familiar one.

And even though he knows Yuka would definitely not want Mikan attending, he tells her he can help her enter. He’s doing this for a selfish reason, because he wants to draw his long lost unrequited love back.

But Mikan doesn’t know about any of that. Narumi’s about to tell her what his alice is when there’s a huge explosion at the gate and Mikan is blown away by the blast.

Narumi then introduces her to Hyuuga Natsume, the prodigy of the elementary division, with the fire alice, who was just trying to escape the school.

Mikan first sees Natsume in the smoke of the explosion he caused, shrouded in shadow and with his face covered by a black cat mask. He’s a mystery, almost representative of the mysterious school she’s about to enter. The thing is he’s trying to leave and she’s trying to get in.

He tries to jump and Narumi stops him, hitting him with the bean whip, and Mikan is horrified. She can see him with his mask off now, already battered from Narumi’s whip.

I analyzed this picture TWICE and tumblr erased it both times so third time's the charm I hope. ANYWAY, Mikan has already had reaction panels to Natsume: to his explosion, to his presence on the gate with the mask, to Narumi hitting him. This is a new reaction: her reaction to his unmasked face. She looks so OwO about it (in my opinion). Mikan is easily enthralled by pretty faces after all, and Natsume canonically has a pretty face! Read into that what you will.

Natsume falls inelegantly and painfully to the ground and Narumi makes a snippy little comment about ruining his cute face but Mikan is still in shock. She immediately approaches Natsume to see if he’s okay. Mikan is kind, and Narumi just hurt somebody! Their very first interaction is a kind one, only because of Mikan’s first instincts to check on him.

Narumi stomps on Natsume’s hand to stop him from using his alice. It’s too late, he’s been caught, it’s all over now. If Natsume tries to use his alice, he’ll just get hit with Narumi’s. Natsume hardly says anything except to call Narumi a pervert and then he’s hit with the pheromone alice through a kiss on the cheek anyway (which is hardly fair because Natsume didn’t use his alice again!) and he falls unconscious.

Mikan watches this all go down, overwhelmed, confused, and understandably frightened. She follows Narumi at his prompting, Natsume slung over his shoulder, but she’s obviously stunned. So much has happened in a short time, so even though she’s finally passing through the gates, one step closer to seeing her best friend again, she’s still spooked. What kind of school is this, where kids in masks try to run away by setting off explosions, where they get whipped and smooched against their will? It’s definitely not the best first impression. Just a bit ago, Mikan wanted nothing more than to get inside the gates, but now that she’s actually getting what she wanted, it feels less than pleasant.

This first encounter is representative of Mikan’s entire relationship with Natsume: he’s a boy who just doesn’t make any damn sense.

Chapter Two

Because of everything Mikan went through in chapter one, she is understandably anxious about finally entering Alice Academy after all this time. Narumi leaves her alone in a huge fancy room with Natsume out cold on the sofa. He tells her he’ll be reporting what has happened to the principal and explains nothing further.

If there's one consistent string in Mikan's feelings towards Natsume, it's curiosity. He's impossible to figure out.

She sits alone and stares at Natsume’s mysterious mask, confused about everything that took place, particularly with the unconscious boy. She wonders how she could possibly trust Narumi after he hit and sexually harassed a student and these thoughts cause her to freak out until Misaki-sensei bursts in on accident. He ends up forced into the position to help Mikan make sense of everything.

He reassures her about Narumi and tells her about his alice, which makes her think she’s living in a comic book all of a sudden. Mikan gets very excited but moves on easily to the next topic: Natsume’s mask.

I talked about my point of view on the mask in the last essay, on how marking and physically abusing “problem” children instead of trying to guide them and help them deal with their powers is just not productive or helpful at all. Misaki-sensei is a teacher at the academy though and he’s been living in that kind of environment for his whole life. He is used to this school, where teachers hurt kids for acting out of line. That’s just the culture, and when you’re always surrounded by something you don’t always question it. Really, nobody in the manga really questions it.

It’s also important that the manga is mostly from Mikan’s POV. She’s easily reassured by Misaki’s explanations because she’s a naive child and she takes him for a trustworthy adult. Mikan’s trust gets challenged a lot, but she tends to dole it out without much hesitation. Childish Mikan seeing this weird and unsettling world is what makes the manga so lighthearted at first. Any other perspective would be far darker, but for her, she’s in a fun adventure story!

Misaki tells Mikan that black cats are bad luck. After all, he points out, if Natsume really put his mind to it, he could probably overpower the mask.

Why did the anime change Misaki to Jii-chan for the sake of warning her to stay away from black cats? I’m not sure. Mikan values Jii-chan’s word, as we discussed. If he says something is right or wrong, she tends to take him seriously and she thinks of him often when making decisions. The thing is, Mikan doesn’t stay away from Natsume. They begin the story hating each other, sure, but distance isn’t something Mikan preoccupies herself with. I think Misaki being the person who warns her is more realistic. He introduces her to Natsume, establishing him as no good, somebody to stay away from. His word weighs less than Jii-chan’s. It’s a warning, and Mikan does take it seriously since there’s so many things wrong with Natsume, but it’s not enough to really make her stay away.

He then runs off too, because of a message that someone is breaking into the greenhouse. If Natsume wakes up, she has to press an emergency button.

I hate that superstition because I love cats but it's interesting that GA (and Mikan, particularly) resist it too. Though maybe Natsume would agree with Misaki-sensei that he's bad luck.

Misaki (and later Iinchou) is pretty much the only person who has actually talked to her about alices so far. He answered her questions to the best of his ability and tried to explain how things work here, but she’s still confused. She’s still new. And she’ll be confused for the rest of the manga because everyone lies to her and keeps secrets from her, leaving her in the dark and sometimes even unprepared. This is just a little taste of what’s to come.

Mikan is now alone again, with a boy who’s apparently so dangerous that he’d be considered a threat as soon as he opens his eyes. She’s freaked out again, because this guy is dangerous and she’s supposed to avoid black cats. But she decides to squeeze his nose and test him. When he doesn’t immediately wake up, she quickly calms down and moves onto her biggest priority: that she’ll be seeing Hotaru soon. (She easily forgets her troubles.)

But Natsume does wake up, and the first thing he does is attack Mikan and demand to know her identity, as if it matters at all. Mikan is so scared--no doubt in part because of what Misaki told her about him, but also because he has a hand on her throat and is threatening to set her hair on fire--she can’t even speak, shocked into silence. Mikan has never been in a situation like this, being attacked by a complete stranger for seemingly no reason. It might just be the scariest moment of her life (so far), so it makes sense that she is rendered mute momentarily.

Misaki-sensei is initially proven right, and only gradually proven wrong. Gakuen Alice as a story seems to be against the idea that a first impression could be accurate.

They’re only interrupted briefly when yet another mysterious boy crashes through the window. Natsume calls him Ruka and then Mikan is the subject of discussion again, the weird girl who won’t say who she is. But really, they’re the weird ones! What kind of a person attacks someone just for being in the same room? What kind of person flies in through a closed window? Poor Mikan is an outcast to the outcasts. And they both take off as soon as Narumi and Misaki burst into the room.

This day has been a mess so far! To think that she only just got here!

We have the inciting incident out of the way now. We are now eons away from the first kind interaction between them outside the gates (Mikan introducing herself) and now they’re enemies (Natsume introducing himself).

It’s bizarre to imagine that Mikan will one day change her mind about Natsume, that she will end up understanding him and even more that he will understand her, that they will both change in huge ways because of each other.

But for now, that’s not a possibility. Mikan hates that guy.

She is inconsolable for a moment, sobbing in despair.

The only thing that comforts her is Narumi handing her a new uniform to change into. She cheers up easily after that, wiping her tears and rejoicing over her new enrollment… even though it is tentative. She needs to pass a test in order to formally enroll: to be accepted as a classmate by her new class, Class B. That seems simple enough a task for outgoing and sociable Mikan. She can get along with almost anybody!

And then all the planets align because the Class B representatives come in--and one of them is Hotaru! A reunion hug seems inevitable but Hotaru voices disgust at Mikan’s crying--she’s uglier than the Mikan she remembers.

So Mikan wipes her face and forces her mouth into a smile, telling us that she wants to be a person who Hotaru can always count on to be smiling, no matter what (not good!).

This is a sweet scene, a dangerous lifestyle.

Hotaru and Mikan are ten years old, so they obviously have a limited view of what’s healthy. It’s comforting to see somebody always smiling, always upbeat and positive, so that no matter how poorly you feel, you can always count on seeing somebody who sees the silver lining. But Mikan is a person, and she can’t always feel happy. So what Mikan takes from that dilemma isn’t that she shouldn’t always have to smile: it’s that she should smile, even when she’s emotional, sad, angry, anything. She’ll have a complex about this for the rest of the manga, unfortunately. (I think Hotaru wishes for Mikan to be the kind of person who can always see the bright side, rather than a person who has to pretend to see the bright side, but Mikan will quickly run into situations that are dark and hopeless, so she smiles even when she can’t see the bright side.)

The manga doesn’t seem to view this as a problem, instead thinking it noble to put other people’s comfort above your own feelings.

But I think it’s a problem and I’ll be discussing it as a problem throughout this essay.

Anyway, Hotaru is touched that Mikan came all this way to see her, and invites Mikan to hug her. It’s sweet that Hotaru lets Mikan cling to her until they finally enter the classroom. It’s proof that Hotaru isn’t entirely nonchalant and apathetic: she missed Mikan too, even though her one letter might not have shown that. Hotaru only shows affection on certain occasions, when she feels it’s warranted. This reunion is an example of that.

Mikan is not as confident anymore once she gets a good look at the class though, because every single person in front of her is a freak.

I love how Narumi just drops her off and leaves as if he's not Class B's homeroom teacher. He's like "I'm a teacher here ♥ and I hate teaching! ♥"

Conclusion

Mikan has entered Alice Academy and met Natsume, though he failed to make a good impression. In the next segment, he'll make sure she thinks he's even worse (though she'll never stop being curious).

I HATE TUMBLR. I was ready to publish this more than an hour ago but Tumblr refused to save my draft properly (I have all my text in separate documents but I have to put in each pic separately and I add captions only in the formatting/editing phase so I lost content.) I would add more but I'm really exhausted and this essay is already too long anyway. I'll try to fit in all of the Northern Woods arc in the next part. Stay tuned for tomorrow!

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