#i refuse to accept shibuya arc

[juthemagicalclown]

nobara : why does he have a different jacket? it's prettier than ours. i want a white jacket too

yuta : hahaha i actually don't know if that's possible...

megumi : kugisaki, okkotsu-senpai is a special grade sorcerer and his power is incomparable to other students, that's why they gave him a different jacket to make him easy to tell apart from us

nobara : so what you're saying is they won't make a white jacket for me

megumi, surprised : i'm glad you understan-

nobara, to yuta : take that jacket off and give it to me loser or i'm gonna take it myself

literally everyone : ...

#nobara & yuta #nobara and yuta #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk incorrect quotes #incorrect quotes #nobara #nobara kugisaki #nobara jjk #yuta #yuta okkotsu #okkotsu yuta #yuta jjk #megumi #megumi fushiguro #megumi jjk #i refuse to accept shibuya arc

[c-nstantine]

OMG I read your recent nanami x black reader fic and it was SO GOOD🥺 after watching the latest jjk, I’m not okay😭our boy needs justice😭

Can Nanami and black reader have a good ending after the Shibuya arc I refuse to accept his fate 😭 it could be Nanami and black reader living in Malaysia on their beach house. And nanami reading his books while reader is pregnant and has children (as many as you want) they just living happy is what I need. Your such a great writer🥰 take your time

and on this episode of fix-it fiction

word count: 0.7k

It was always hard sleeping without him. It felt foreign to not have his strong arm slung across her waist and being pulled close. Her worrying about Kento kept her up at night and the sickness of her stomach definitely wasn't helping. She was planning on telling him when he came back but every hour that felt like less and less of a reality. However, hearing her bedroom door crack open in the late evening soothed all of her worries.

"You're back," She gushed, her eyes watering and her lover had only been standing in the doorway for a few seconds. He quickly made his way to the bed where she was lying and wrapped his arms around her neck. He took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of her favorite lotion before bed.

"Of course, I am," He could feel her tears slip onto his neck. She knew the risks of his job but it still didn't help when he was gone. Especially, after she was told what they were up against. She had complete faith in her man but the dangers of the world made it scary.

"I had a dream that you-" She could barely finish the words and just wanted to be closer to him.

"Shh, it's okay," He wanted to settle her emotions. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay but if he could get her to stop crying that would be enough for now.

"I have something to tell you," She pulled away from him ever so slightly. He hadn't noticed what she was wearing before but the soft pink silk nightie with spaghetti straps fell perfectly on her and matched her bonnet. He noticed just a small bump coming from her stomach before he left but he thought that maybe she had been stress eating again.

"What is it? What's wrong?" He said looking at her up and down. His hands rested on her cheeks as he looked for a physical ailment.

"We're gonna have a baby," She whispered as she took his hands from her to her stomach. A small smile grew on the blond man's lips.

"Yeah?" He whispered back.

"Yeah," She nodded with excitement. It's safe to say that Nanami Kento made some lifestyle changes after this moment.

- Nanami took a deep breath as he exited their beach house. He worked hard so that he could see this view. He made sure that his wife and child were safe. Walking along the beach, he found his wife on a lounge chair in the sand in a one-piece bathing suit that complimented her rich and dark skin. He placed a kiss on her forehead and stood next to her.

"How are you, my love?" He asked looking outward and seeing his daughter work diligently on her sandcastle. For a five-year-old with pigtails, she was very serious but she got it from her father. Her attitude came directly from her mother, and Nanami blamed the fact that Gojo annoyed her the entire pregnancy.

"Our daughter is a hard worker like her father," She said pulling her phone out of the beach bag to take a quick photo of their daughter's precious moment. The girl turned to wave and smile at her parents before continuing to shovel dirt into her bucket.

"But she's stubborn like her mother," He said without missing a beat.

"Haha," Y/N faked a laugh before handing her husband his sunscreen. As much as Nanami enjoyed the beach and the sun, he was prone to burning.

"Itadori is coming for a visit," He stated with a bit of pride in his chest. Yuuji had grown to see them as a second family and visited as much as he could.

"She adores him," Y/N stated adjusting her overly floppy hat and looking up at her husband.

"Maybe it's time we give her another sibling," Now that he had retired there was no reason for him not to have the family that he always wanted.

"Is that so?" She whispered.

"Mhm," He leaned down and kissed her. Kento also may or may not have asked Yuuji to babysit while he was here. Let's just say he was more than ready for another kid.

#x black!reader #black!reader #x black reader #black reader #nanami x black reader #nanami kento x reader #nanami x black!reader #nanami kento #jjk x black!reader #jjk x reader

[demodraws0606]

WxS THEORY : Rui is driving himself into a corner

Ok I needed to make a big rambly analysis post again because I just read this post that absolutely rotted my brain (pls check it out) -> https://www.tumblr.com/sankatsuka/741871319388389377?source=share

I kinda want to share my overall thoughts on how Rui is being written overall and what I think it could possibly lead to.

Introduction.

So okay... we can agree how colorpalet writes Rui is weird as shit right ?

Like, this is very obvious when you look at Rui's two most recent events Backlight and Curtain. Both of them actually end on cliffhangers, leaving things open ended with hints at future problems. In fact Curtain Call's consequences haven't been fully addressed yet as Rui still hasn't talk about Asahi to WxS and we know he's coming back.

However, it's not just that that could be pointed out as strange, in fact, in both of these events Rui fails.

In Curtain Call, he fails to understand his own feelings as he accepts to join Arcland.

In Backlight, he fails to understand how to fix the issue in the movie

Not only that but those events both show Rui isolating himself from WxS (with varying levels of severity) trying to figure out the problem and fix it. Often to the point where WxS get mildly concerned for him and want to help him (again with varying levels of severity).

Both of these events seem to show that Rui is stuck on something, there is a reason why he can't seem to solve the problems that he's facing weither major or minor.

So, clearly there is a reocurring problem right ? If Rui seemingly keeps on failing then colorpalet has to be setting up something.

With Curtain Call it seemed like what they were setting up was some kind of confrontation about the disbandement but Rui is weirdly set aside in the Emu's event. Which it doesn't feel like a mistake considering they chose to make it an Emu event instead of Rui on purpose when they couldn't have it be a Tsukasa focus.

In Happy End, Rui's communication with WxS is very limited. His feelings never get personally confronted as he mostly just attempts to try and fix the situation until he's met with rejection to which he just very much gives up. It's only when Emu's brothers offer an olive branch that Rui finally jumps at the opportunity to speak.

However, despite it being a hopeful step forward...it doesn't fix Rui's issues here. In fact he withdraws from even speaking about his situation with Asahi which for me is the baseline of Rui being honest with his feelings.

Sure, he does end up helping in Happy End and his feelings are reafirmed but...he also fails here. His first plan to keep them together fails because he didn't communicate with them, it's Emu's brother that truly end up coming up with a solution at the end.

So what is Rui's problem ? What is the red flag that colorpalet keeps waving ?

2. A concerning pattern

Post-Curtain Call helped highlight a very clear pattern with Rui.

It's a toxic mix between his abandonnement issues and self sacrificing nature.

Rui gets insecure a lot about how his potentialy missgivings could affect WxS, to the point where it's become a concerning pattern.

-Dazzling Light Event (and Nene Canary Event) : Rui gets insecure over not being able to be a suitable director for Tsukasa and hurting his acting in the process. This insecurity comes back again in Nene's fourth event in Rui's side card story.

-Shibuya fes with Mafurui : He almost hurts his fucking leg because he couldn't bear the idea that he could inconvenience WxS

-Disbandement Arc : He refused to talk to WxS about his feelings and still hasn't talked fully about them with Asahi. He literally isolated himself to make a plan to keep WxS together behind their back.

All of these show that Rui still has this fear that he could do something that would set him apart from WxS and that often influences his actions.

Rui's issue here is a lack of priority and a self sacrificial nature that borderlines on self destructive at some poiints. Everything he does is motivated in some sense by WxS.

Recently when he mentions his dreams and ambition like in Tsukasa's most recent event, he wants to make WxS shine. It's the subject of one of his early second art stickers.

"I'll bring out your strength"

Which... let's talk about Rui's dreams and amibitons.

3. Rui and his dream

A lot of people characterise Rui as extremely passionate which is true....or is it really ?

Okay here me out, I don't think we can deny he definitely has a lot of passion for what he does but we can't deny there is definitely something going on.

First of all, Rui is the only character where we don't really have an event of him trying to progress towards his dream, backlight is the first one and it shows him failing.

Second of all, Rui is the only one to have been ready to compromise his dream for WxS which has not been the case for anyone else in WxS. Sure Emu left Pheonix Wonderland, but she knows she'll come back eventually.

Which like leads me to this realisation with his second event specifically it's name, Revival My Dream.

The event where we see Rui at his happiest, fully comfortable in where he was compared to now.

His dreams has never just been to bring people smiles, what he always wanted was a way to connect with people with shows to have a group of friends that actually liked him and didn't reject him for being weird.

But he was bullied into accepting that he didn't actually care about other people, he rationalised that maybe accomplishing his dream alone would make him happy but his friends are part of his dream.

It's this conflict between his dream and his relationship with WxS that is fucking him up especially post-curtain call.

He has to support WxS, he has to be the reliable one, he has to figure out how they can still stay together...

But why ? Why does he put that responsibility in himself

Even then in the Backlight event he's so obsessed with finding the answer himself

Because he's still on that mindset, similar to wonder-halloween just a lot less severe. WxS saved him and they mean the world to him that he'll just allow to be trampled just to make them happy. In fact you see that with even more simpple fun moments with how he ate Touya's rancid cupcake just to make him happy, it's shown time and time again he will sacrifice his own needs for the needs of others to a dangerous point.

4. What it means for Rui's future

I think all these things will end up catching up to Rui

We saw this with Tsukasa, we saw his ups and downs of trying to improve and fight his insecurities led to him having a breakdown.

All these things just keep on building up and colorpalet is very unsubtle with how strange they are with his sad expressions in the tetrad 2dmv and his trained cards (which i can go deeper into).

This could go again in different ways but eventually WxS will have to confront him about it, finally make him communicate his feelings for once.

Again we still have Cyberpunk Deadboy and what it could signify for the future of Rui's arc which I already talked about

It's all just really strange and weird there are even stranger things that i could talk about but i'm eepy so i'll leave it at that lol

#wxs #pjsk #project sekai #wxs rui #rui kamishiro #wonderlandxshowtime #rui #pjsk analysis #pjsk theory #project sekai analysis #rui kamishiro analysis #project sekai colorful stage #puroseka

[duckiemimi]

Do you think that if geto came back again and as punishment he would stay alive but without his powers? Would he accept or would he refuse to live as a primate?

just a heads up! there’s mentions of suicide here!

i think you asked this twice, but i’ll answer the latest anon ask just in case you wanted to keep your identity private!

i’ve actually explored this idea in a fic of mine! but take it with a grain of salt because everything that happened within the plot of the fic was dependent on gojo’s survival and on geto losing his memories, and i don’t think gege will go that route if geto ever resurrects 😭

i think the idea of punishment or of punitive action hinges on how fast the jujutsu community is able to rebuild its governing body compared to how fast geto can escape from the area, or even from his own life. after all, to be able to even discuss geto’s situation collectively, the jujutsu community must firstly determine what to do about japan’s condition and the worldwide repercussions of kenjaku’s political play. i’ve touched on this a little in “punishment for a monster,” where the surviving group of sorcerers go on to create a worker’s alliance in the aftermath of everything, in which every major decision is decided through democracy during their monthly meetings. at this point of the canon story though, i’m not sure if gege’s even thought of what comes after the “win.”

i think it’s more likely that geto will “come back” and die again after. a good example of what i mean is toji in the shibuya arc.

similarly to toji, who was “there” but not quite there, i think geto would move (and perhaps even fight) with his own autonomy, but i think he’d immediately kill himself afterwards, if they don’t apprehend him first (considering he was one of their most wanted, and everybody is familiar with his face; in toji’s case, only a select number of people knew of who he was and he’d been off of jujutsu society’s radar for more than ten years at that point).

if gege follows the trajectory he set for himself earlier in the story, then i predict that geto will “come back” and fight (i’ve discussed the plausibility of him “repossessing” his body here), but right after a classic flashback, he’ll kill himself and his story will permanently end there. i also think that even without a governing body, this time, the surviving sorcerers will burn his body to avoid from history repeating itself yet again. generational trauma and moving past it (“second chances”) are definitely themes that i’ve noticed in jjk.

i’m not sure what gege’s planning, but i’m looking forward to more body-soul motifs!

#jjk #geto #geto suguru #jujutsu kaisen #asks

[alonelystargazer]

I started reading kagurabachi a couple of weeks ago and now I'm fully caught up with it and my general opinion so far is that it's actually pretty good!

the plot is perhaps a bit formulaic but still quite interesting (maybe I'm biased bc I love revenge stories) and it moves fairly quickly without leaving too much info behind, plus the action is so dynamic but easy to follow, and there are some legit super cool panels

SPOILER REVIEW BELOW

just a few of my favorite panels

(as you might be able to tell I love seeing the fishes teehee)

Quick summary of the plot: the MC is a young guy named Chihiro Rokuhira who's out for revenge after his father Kunishige, one of Japan's most famous swordsmiths, was killed 3 years before, and those same people, a group of evil sorcerers known as the ?, stole all 6 of his father's enchanted swords, but chihiro has a 7th special sword that his father kept secret from everyone but him.

Edit: this might be important for some people so I'll add that Chihiro is 18, since we saw him with his dad as a 14 going on 15 year old and the story fast forwards to more than 3 years later in the first chapter, which would make him 18

He's joined by his father's best friend, a sorcerer named Shiba who becomes his mentor and informant about the shady business going on in Tokyo, Azami who's another sorcerer and friend of his father's and Shiba, a little girl named Char who comes from a family that has the ability to regenerate their body parts and is being hunted for it, a young woman named Hinao who's a weapons dealer, and later on another young man named Hakuri who comes from a different sorcerer family but defected bc he's the only one who doesn't know sorcery (and was abused).

Personality wise, Chihiro is the more level-headed, serious, and reserved type but shows great care and sympathy for those who need help, for ex. when he helps out char from being hunted and experimented on, and when he traded his beloved sword for Hakuri. His father had a huge impact on his philosophy about life and weapons.

He does want revenge for his father's death, but his greatest motivation however is to prevent anyone from tarnishing his father's legacy which are his enchanted swords, bc kunishige made sure to let Chihiro know that his swords are weapons first and foremost, and when put in the wrong hands are destructive and lethal.

The power system is fairly simple, based in sorcery, which for Chihiro is channeled through his enchanted sword called Enten from which 3 different goldfish, each having their own ability, appear (and the goldfish are the same ones his father had before he died: a black goldfish, a red one, and a spotted one).

The enchanted swords that Kunishige made come from a rock (?) called datenseki, which we don't know much about yet.

And about the first antagonist we meet, Sojo. He's a weapons dealer in the black market and does other criminal activities. He also has one of the 6 enchanted swords that was stolen, this one called Cloud Gouger. To me, this fight is reminiscent to Yuji vs Mahito in the Shibuya arc of Jujutsu Kaisen, in the sense that Chihiro has to accept that despite what he personally believes about his father and his swords, Sojo also can have his own contradictory beliefs bc it's the person who wields the sword that gets to determine it's fate. Chapter 12: Tea I believe is pivotal in Chihiro's development and is one of the best chapters so far. I like the metaphor with Sojo offering Chihiro dango, which he refuses at the beginning (he says he doesn't like sweets) and by the end eats it, even if doesn't like it, because it reflects his acceptance with Sojo's philosophy about the blades.

The only thing I think might not to be everyone's taste is the art style, but if course art is subjective, although it does suffer a bit from same face syndrome at times.

But I think the art is unique with its use of shading and perspective, and there are some really cool character designs, plus something that stands out to me is that the fight choreography is made to be a spectacle.

As a long time shipper, I feel like I should address the shipping dynamics that I've seen, which there aren't too many yet, but I still wanna talk about. So the main ship I've seen is between Chihiro and Hakuri, which these panels I think are fueling the fire for it and I can totally see it and wanna see more from their budding friendship. What's the ship name btw? hakuhiro?

Besides that, I've also seen Shiba/Kunishige, and Sojo/Kunishige but that's definitely a one sided admiration on Sojo's part.

One criticism I've found is that there's a character named Daruma who is after Chihiro and Char and is originally depicted in a way, which to me, looks to be black characteristics, like the hair and facial features, but after Shiba convinced him to leave his life of crime behind, his look changes. For example, his hair becomes straight, so what's up with that? Now to be fair, since the manga is in grayscale, we don't know what his skin color is but he has no shading to skin which in my experience of reading manga means that a character is light skin.

Other than that, there's nothing else I can find fault in, so give it a read (there's 25 chapters so far!)

#bre's posts #kagurabachi

[itsashowtime]

What kind of personality does Toshi have and what backstory?

I am still in the process of fleshing out his story but! Here's what I have so far...

(Art by: Aixen )

Japanese Name: 時紫 雨花

Surname: Toshi 時紫 (violet hour)

First Name: Ukuwa (rain flower)

Alias: White Rabbit (By most), Eighty-Six (By Sho after they breakup) 

Birthday: June 8

Age: 19

Gender: Cis Male

Height: 190cm (6'2")

Noise Form: Jackalope Cantus

Trivia/facts:

I designed him next to Rindou so they looked super hot together but then Shou swiped him like the asshole he is - I have yet to play Neo so maybe UkuRin will be able to recover but rn the Shou living rent free in my brain doesn't seem to want to share

I made Ukuwa's motif Hydrangea after a trip to the Hydrangea Shrine.

He's extremely picky about food and drink tempretures, like, it has to be just right or he'll tear you a new one

Loves Chai flavour

Every barista's nightmare, he'll yell at you if you don't pay attention to his laundry list order

He fiddles with his ear piercings when he's nervous

He thumps his feet like a rabbit when he's pissed

The neediest fucking bottom

Personality

A hardworking, judgemental and esteemed horologist. Time means everything to Ukuwa and he always seems to be in a rush! He is nicknamed 'Shibuya's White Rabbit' since he is often spotted dashing around the streets mumbling about schedules.

Ukuwa is strict and harsh but especially towards himself. He hates relying on people and prefers to get things done on his own. He is extremely counter dependent. If absolutely necessary, he takes extreme care in picking who to have around. He mostly sees people as tools for his own convenience. He calls people 'cogs'.

He has a very good eye for art and is passionate about design. He doesn't get excited often but when it comes to art, that is the one time his eyes light up.

Ukuwa's character arc is about slowing down and embracing the moment, being able to acknowledge your progress, allowing yourself to accept help and allowing friendships with unconditional love to blossom.

Backstory

tldr; He is the CPTSD haver ever - Trigger warning for: child abuse, neglect, divorce

An only child who did not have his emotional needs met. Ukuwa was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father who was a electronics technician and a neglectful mother who was a highschool teacher. Both his parents had high expectations towards him right away. Failure to perform with the best outcome would result in: solitary confinement + hitting/whipping as punishment whether that be in school, house chores, or even going out. He has scars all over his hands as a result which is why he wears gloves all the time.

Ukuwa would be locked in an empty room after a rough beating to 'reflect on his actions' for hours, his only company being clocks. This is where his obsession with clocks started. Curious and bored, Ukuwa would start to disassemble clocks at a young age to figure out their workings. One could’ve gone insane, but Ukuwa was grateful that the clock would tell him when the pain was over and he could see the light again.

His parents divorced when he was in middle school, both of them getting newer partners with other children. This applied extra pressure onto him to perform well. Unfortunately, Ukuwa was often casted aside in favour of his step/half siblings. He is desperate to prove that he isn't a burden. In fact, that's a really big fear of his.

Ukuwa functions on guilt and shame. His fear of being a burden and a failure is what causes his workaholicism and lack of care towards himself. He pushes forward and only forward. He does not allow himself to rest. Time only moves forward, and so he wants to move only forward too.

This means that he's chronically counter dependent and refuses help when it is offered. He avoids connecting with people unless it's absolutely necessary and for business purposes. Because one less person to be around means one less person to be a burden and disappointment to.

Ukuwa saved up a lot as a child just to move out and to escape his family. Once he graduated from high school, he immediately moved out to Tokyo and has been living in a sharehouse.

He currently attends a college of jewelry in Shibuya, learning how to make clocks of all kinds. He is obsessed with Il Cavallo Del Re and dreams to design clothes and watches for them.

Now, I don't usually have my OCs getting TOO involved in canon but this is sort of an exception (though Ukuwa does not effect TWEWY mainplot) *puts hands together* So where does he fit into TWEWY? WELL-

One day, when he was rushing around mumbling about time and being late, he got caught up in a sinkhole and he dies. (Haha, ironic bc of his nickname which references the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland) He was already feeling terrible because his clock design didn't get included in this competition he had participated in.

But he lands himself in one of Minamimoto Shou's earlier Reaper Games. At this point, Shou hasn't discovered Taboo bullshittery. This game takes place a while before Neku comes along.

His entry fee was his concept of time. This means that he cannot even see the timer on his phone and can only recieve missions. Ukuwa is hyper vigilant (thanks cptsd). That means he's extra sensitive to light and sound. He has several clocks on him with different 'voices' that soothes him. Suddenly, he can't hear them anymore and that throws him off real bad.

He gets grabbed by a straight-for-pay lesbian hostess and party girl, Hana, admist the panic of Day 1. She grabs him because he looks 'reliable' and wealthy. (she was wrong. Ukuwa is gay and he only looks wealthy because the clothes he wears is what he designed and he's good with his hands)

Hana forms a pact with him, wanting to take advantage of him like she usually does with men because she treats them like wallets. Her entry fee was money, so she cannot spend money throughout the game and has to rely on stingy Ukuwa. Ukuwa has to rely on Hana to keep track of the time.

They start off pretty rocky at first because Ukuwa doesn't have patience for her antics and Hana gets frustrated by how Ukuwa is so careful with how he uses his money and how he doesn't seem to know how to have fun.

Ukuwa's pysch is cryokinesis. Because you know. Time has literally stopped for him. He can summon icicles and walls of ice. Hana has immense strength and smacks the shit out of noise with her purse. They become quite a good team throughout the week.

Ukuwa starts to enjoy the moment instead of trying to push forward and ignore his feelings, and Hana learns that partying and drinking won't solve all of her problems.

Tldr, he falls in love with Shou so hard and he already struggles with feelings of uselessness in the RG so he ends up becoming a reaper. Their relationship happens very quickly and it's veeeery toxic (but that's what makes it tasty)

If you wanna know the deets about UkuShou-

Ukuwa x Shou

Ukuwa is immediately intruged by Shou's trash heaps. The symbolism and the cynycism towards humans speaks out to him. It's the first time he really feels connection towards someone. The precision of the trash, how it's held up so sturdily and is obviously so deliberate is impressive to him. Hana tries to snag a piece of trash that looks useful as a weapon and Ukuwa yells at her and puts it back. He calls it an art installment.

He doesn't know that Shou is the artist behind the heaps. Not until the trash cat turns up anyways. He actually finds Shou insufferable and annoying at first. The yelling into the megaphone is pretty triggering to him and he doesn't hesitate to throw an icicle at Shou. When he finds out that Shou is the artist though, he can't help but grow more and more curious.

When Shou hears Ukuwa praising his art, he's pretty confused at first. He normally doesn't care if measly humans can't understand his art's brilliance and beauty, so hearing Ukuwa reading his piece like a book is different and a little unsettling. One part of him is happy? But the other part of him just doesn't want to admit that he's understood.

So throughout the week, he makes more unhinged art pieces and challenges Ukuwa to guess the symbolism and he denies how correct Ukuwa is every time. It's annoying how bright Ukuwa looks when he talks about his art. But it's also really endearing too.

Anyways, Shou grows curious about Ukuwa and it's a running theme that he tries to interrogate him in closed spaces like alleyways, the phonebooth of love (where they share their first kiss) and changing rooms. They bicker, argue, talk about art, the mission, etc.

Ukuwa is a stupid baby gay and he starts respecting Shou's art and he starts to understand and speak in maths lingo too. Shou is so fascinating and beautiful to him so he makes the extra effort to get to know him. He has the biggest crush and Hana notices too- Even trying to set them up in her own silly way.

I should prolly mention that I hc that Shou is colourblind and has protanomaly colour blindness (weak to red/green) and like.

Shou vision Ukuwa is vibrant and pretty it's insane.

I fully agree with Kiga's Shou HC and I think Shou had his art criticized in the past due to his questionable colour choices which lead to him making more sculpture stuff than paint. ANYWAYS-

Shou eventually accepts that he is understood by Ukuwa and by the time it's day 7, he realizes that actually, he kinda doesn't want Ukuwa to die in his hands- so he sends Ukuwa a booty call and they bang until day 8 and this marks the day that the Reapers Game ended with the most survivors

They are very horny and very obsessed with each other. Ukuwa drops everything for love. Unfortunately, Ukuwa is a needy bitch and he relies on Shou for his dopamine. Shou is a free spirit and he likes his space so the relationship falls apart after a few months.

Ukuwa is actually the one that dumps Shou because he was 'five minutes and twenty three seconds late to our date'.

This hurts Shou's pride a lot because how DARE he get dumped. But here's the thing- they keep banging anyways. They are like magnets. And Shou is SO smug about it too. Because Ukuwa is in denial about still having feelings but he keeps going back!

I have yet to play NEO but after Shou dies by jesus beams in TWEWY Ukuwa acts like a fucking widower and he has a relapse with his workaholicism. Kariya really helps him loosen up and enjoy the moment.

When Shou is revived in NEO, Ukuwa is like a sobbing mess. I imagine by then, Ukuwa has grown as a person more and he has learnt to give Shou space so they end back together but idk, I still need to play NEO bc there's that slim chance that Rindou can kiss Ukuwa instead but that's???? Basically the gist of it

#Toshi Ukuwa #I am so sorry #if this makes no sense i am ESL and kinda stupid #also #UkuShou is unhinged #It's toxic asf but I am eating this ship up #They are 2 crazy artists #I haven't even included my HCs of them as a couple bUT #kfjsfsgdgdg #TWEWY OC

[tempenensis]

Do you think Yuiji will feel guilty to rejoin Megumi?

He carried Sukuna inside him, which dangerous to Megumi.

Also he succsessfully added a new rule to assure Tsumiki survive, which mean he already kept his promise to Megumi to help him.

His last exchange with Higuruma was Higuruma saying "if I stay with you, I'll hate myself more. I'm not critisizing you tho"

Don't you think Yuuji gonna feel like he isn't needed anymore and isolate himself?

First thing first, Yuuji's guilt is not entirely focused to Megumi. His guilt is focused onto the innocent people that he had killed, be it on purpose (Junpei arc) or not (when Sukuna takes over in Shibuya). His guilt peaked at the end of Shibuya, which cause him to run away, refusing to come back to school and opting to go around Tokyo to exorcise curse spirit. But why he feels the necessity to exorcise them? No one tells him he has to and he can run away after all.

It's because he wants to atone for his sin. He exorcises the curse spirits out of his guilty feelings; doing good deeds because he want to "balance" the killing that he has done. It's a way to make himself feel better.

Yuuji did this until Yuuta and Megumi found him. And Yuuji only accepted to come back with them after Megumi said this

"Save me, Itadori."

Why this panel is significant for Yuuji is because Megumi offer to him a way to atone for his killing, a way to lesser his guilt, even if the feelings won't go away completely. It's like when he goes around Tokyo exorcising curse spirits even if noone tell him to, but way better since this is for Megumi and the people close to him.

Higuruma is the same as Yuuji; both shouldering the guilt coming from killing innocent people. Higuruma looking at Yuuji is like him looking to a mirror, reminding him constantly of the people that he had killed. Which is why he refuses to go with Yuuji, because noone want to be reminded of their sin constantly, 24/7

Yes, Yuuji tends to isolate himself, keeps his distance from people that he could hurt. But the thing is, Megumi keeps reaching out to him. He will reach out to Yuuji no matter what happens or what Yuuji had done. They are literally ride or die because Megumi refuses to leave him alone

#le-ask #jujutsu kaisen #itadori yuuji #fushiguro megumi #higuruma hiromi #jjk manga spoilers #itafushi #fushiita

[shondhamaloti]

meditations on gojo satoru, loss, and the living past

(n/b: this post will rely on scanlations for the volume zero prequel. image descriptions in alts.)

one of the earliest things we learn about satoru is how he processes loss — and what we learn is that he doesn't allow himself the opportunity. he's developed a range of mechanisms to deal with pain and loss, to varying degrees of adaptiveness. the events of volume zero and the gojo's past arc reveal that after their confrontation in shinjuku, satoru made little attempt to locate or intercept suguru. he left both of them and jujutsu society at large in an anticipatory limbo, preferring to skirt around the issue of suguru's defection and his own responsibility as suguru's executioner.

this is an avoidance strategy, and in other cases we find that not only does satoru avoid directly confronting pain and loss, but adopts a preventative and forward-thinking mindset, ensuring that there is little opportunity for it to recur. this is most prominent in his response to riko's death and his own near-death experience at toji's hands; satoru exerts himself to actualise his full capacity as a sorcerer and methodically eliminates any potential exceptions or loopholes that can be used to compromise him (and thereby endanger those in his care).

but i think avoidance and withdrawal from pain and loss also inform how his personal priorities evolve following the split of chapter 78. satoru embarks on a grand project that is at heart guided by the resolve to prevent another case like suguru's.

as an example we have this moment from volume zero: within mere moments of executing suguru, satoru has compartmentalised the experience of killing his best friend, suppressed it, and moved on to the more important task of checking in with his students, who have been through a harrowing ordeal and are physically and emotionally vulnerable. he packages away the reality of what has taken place mere moments ago — the death of his best friend at his own hands, the long-delayed death of satoru's youth — and (commendably) privileges his students' wellbeing, acting as a supportive grounding figure for yuta, remaining present for his closure with rika, ensuring that he does not succumb to self-blame, and affirming that he belongs at jujutsu tech.

(coming soon™ scans, 0.4.42; 0.4.44)

but a consequence of not processing his loss is that the past is preserved within satoru, carved out of continuity and frozen in hyper-real, living detail. i think of svetlana boym's essay "nostalgia and its discontents" (also mentioned here), in which she writes, "the nostalgic desires to turn history into private or collective mythology, to revisit time like space, refusing to surrender to the irreversibility of time that plagues the human condition. hence the past of nostalgia, to paraphrase william faulkner, is not even past. it could be merely better time, or slower time - time out of time".

to grieve is to accept that something has been lost, and to begin the process of memorialising, commemoration — but satoru, it appears, isn't willing to accept that, and so he does not allow himself to grieve. as a consequence we have these occurrences where he speaks and behaves as though he hasn't experienced loss, a sort of layering where past and present coexist, where a satoru from a better time speaks in the present or where the satoru of the present is living in a better time.

in one instance, he speaks of his deceased best friend in the present tense as still remaining "the only [best friend] i have". in shibuya, we see him revert from using the usual milder/semiformal first-person pronoun 'boku' to the more masculine/informal first-person pronoun 'ore' when speaking of how his eyes and soul perceive suguru (or kenjaku in his guise). as the gojo's past arc reveals to us, satoru was only in the habit of consistently using 'ore' before suguru's defection, and consistently using 'boku' proceeding from it. in this moment, facing kenjaku in shibuya, satoru is still haunting a life lived over a decade ago.

(coming soon™ scans, 0.4.46)

(viz, 8.66.9; 11.90.15)

subtextual evidence supports these isolated incidents. by the time suguru sets his plans for rika into motion in volume zero, around a decade has passed since his altercation with satoru in shinjuku, presumably with no contact between them. a span of time this long is plenty enough for someone's character to change beyond recognition, and as readers we do witness how dramatically suguru has changed in volume zero from who he was even at the early stages of his defection.

so satoru and suguru have been moulded by the vagaries of time, and they have not been communicating during this period — but satoru speaks to yaga with absolute certainty about suguru's residuals and tactical disposition. he makes the outrageous decision to send his students to obstruct suguru in tokyo, taking the risk of endangering even maki, based on a calculation of trust — a trust which has had no ongoing affirmation to still be surviving in the present. it's a trust that even suguru seems to have thought was buried with their youth.

whether satoru's intuition is accurate or not isn't my focus here. what i'm interested in is that satoru believes his knowledge of suguru as a person, from 9-10 years ago, is a reliable frame of reference for strategising against him during the hyakki yagyo. it's a happy coincidence that this works out for satoru (and happier for maki…), but under any other circumstances it would be absurd. what we are asked to believe is that satoru's knowledge of suguru and trust in him are so profound that they transcend time itself — that the nostalgic past, for satoru, coexists with the present.

(clockwise, from left to right: coming soon™ scans, 0.3.9; 0.3.21; 0.4.37)

so there are periods of his past that satoru doesn't recall in the retrospective, as memory, so much as he re-experiences them, in the present, as though there is some part of his past that occupies the present, some part of his mind that is always inhabiting another time. to me this is what satoru's montage through "three years of his blue spring/youth" amounts to. infamously in the shibuya arc we have the line, "although it was just an instant, for satoru gojo one minute had passed a long time ago...". the moment suguru/kenjaku is in his sight, satoru is reliving his past.

(viz, 11.90.3; 11.90.12)

since a straightforward numerical comparison is made between a minute and three years, and since we are told this in determinate terms ("it all came flowing into his brain", as opposed to "the memories from those three years..." or "those moments from his youth...") we can assume that yes, to the very minute, satoru is living through three whole years of his past. for a single glimpse to trigger such an overwhelming flow of information ('brain time') speaks to the mixed blessing of the six eyes, which when active captures every moment of satoru's perception in precise, graphic detail.

(viz 11.90.11; 11.90.10)

but memories fade, deteriorate and metamorphose with time and repeated recollection, because each act of remembrance is an act of reconstructing the past, of changing it ever so slightly. for satoru to be re-experiencing those three years in full, vivid detail here in shibuya, there has to have been a deliberate preservation, a refusal to touch or dwell on the past which has the effect of leaving that past untainted and still happening in the present. it is a sacralising act.

those three years have never really been over for satoru because he has not allowed them to pass; he has not given himself the passage of grieving. they are a fragment of time frozen in some secret space within his consciousness, suppressed but constantly refreshed along with the rest of his brain. he has kept them alive, so that nostalgia for satoru is not in the past but is in "better time", in "slower time" — a different, parallel, coexistent time, a time he can live again.

#gojo satoru #jujutsu kaisen #satosugu #annotations #notes: jujutsu kaisen #an entire other post could be written about how these habits & this experience of time corresponds to satoru's cursed technique #+ his motif of infinity & barriers/boundaries/distortion of space. not tonight however.

[linkspooky]

Megumi and Toji

Megumi knows almost nothing about his father, his early memories are of being abandoned. His only family is Tsumiki as far as he’s concerned. It’s clear he doesn’t regard himself as a Zenin, or Toji’s son. He doesn’t even recognize Toji when they meet again briefly. However, though Megumi’s not even aware of it there’s a lot of story parallels between father and son. Toji serves as a cautionary tale of what Megumi could become if he does not grow up and learn to handle his emotions properly. MORE UNDER THE CUT. 

1. Inherited Trauma 

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but the Zenin family definitely has issues. They exclude anything which does not fit their arbitrary standards as an outsider. We don’t really know Toji’s backstory. We don’t have to know either, it obviously doesn’t excuse his actions. However, we see the after-effects of him being thrown out and scapegoated by his own family by the time we see him in the hidden inventory arc. Not only that, but from the clan’s treatment of Maki, we can theorize a little ibt of what Toji has been through. 

Maki and Toji were both born without cursed energy and labeled as defective and wrong because of it. It’s clear both of them developed bad, hostile, even downright violent personalities in order to cope with a home environment that was constantly hostile to them. 

In Maki’s case, it’s not that Maki is a hateful person it’s that she’s conditioned not to accept any kind of love because she was never shown the unconditional love of a family she was owed. When Yuta tries to accept her, Maki rejects him because she doesn’t know what that feeling of acceptance and security is like if it’s unearned. She ties it to strength, she has to be stronger than the Zenin clan, she has to prove she’s better than them and that they were wrong about her in order to earn it. 

Maki is so busy trying to reject everything that the Zenin clan stands for, that she can’t really accept other people’s feelings at all positive or negative. She’s too busy thinking about herself, protecting about herself, trying not to hate herself that even the feelings of Mai who loves her, but in a more complicated way is something she can’t accept. She doesn’t want to think about mai’s feelings because she’s too busy with her own, Mai is an afterthought to her. 

Maki has a complicated way of dealing with the abuse of the Zenin family, and I assume Toji did too. The only difference is that Toji is an adult, whereas Maki is still an adolescent. Toji was set in his ways, Maki is still in the middle of changing. 

Toji is labeled as “the one who is left behind, the one who is free”, it’s very likely especially considering the way he treats Megumi and distances himself from anyone related to him, that Toji’s way of dealing with the Zenin family was to simply reject all of it. He couldn’t accept the hatred of his family, but at the same time he also couldn’t accept any kind of positive emotions too, like love between a father and son. It’s likely Toji can’t even accept the idea of having a family, or the unconditional love of a family because he’s never had it - not that any of that is Megumi’s fault.

 Toji grew up completely isolated from his own family until he was eventually thrown out, and he probably had no idea how to raise a family, but he turned around and inflicted those same circumstances on Megumi. Toji grows up alone, Toji makes Megumi grow up alone because he fails to provide for him as a father. 

Toji deliberately made a choice to throw out Megumi along with the rest of his family trauma, that’s his self reflection upon the moment of death. He wanted to throw away everything and live for hismelf, but he threw away Megumi too. 

However, from Meugmi’s perspective his father gave him the name ‘Megumi’ and left. Apparently Toji was around so little that Megumi doesn’t even recognize his face whent hey meet again as a teenager. He married Tusmiki’s mom, got a divorce, and presumably left Megumi there. 

Megumi grew up with no idea of what a family was, except for his step sister, and also completely isolated from others. He grew up with the same sense of isolation and distance from his family that Toji did, lacking totally in the unconditional love a child needs from his parents in order to grow up, because Toji was never even around for Megumi. Megumi just by default assumes that his father either didn’t love him, or just plain forgot about him. 

2. Like Father, Like Son.

However, despite the fact Toji wasn’t even around to raise his son, Megumi turned out a lot like Toji. There’s a lot of parallels between father and son, probably because as stated above Megumi grew up in isolated circumstances, completely cut off, never truly receiving the parental love or guidance that he needed to help him mature into a emotionally healthy adolescent able to process his feelings and handle them properly. 

Both Megumi and Toji respond to their emotional trauma in the same way, by suppressing themselves and all their feelings, and rejecting the feelings of everyone around him. Megumi isn’t even able to hear the news that his dad died, because he insists that already in first grade, he doesn’t care about his dad or even want him around. 

This is you know, a lie of course. Megumi’s a first grader. All children want a parent. It’s just, Megumi’s way of dealing with his feelings is to just pretend that they’re not there, to pretend he doesn’t care. A first grader is not really mature enough to think of his family situation in these terms, or cope with these feelings. Megumi is simply pretending to be mature as a way of pretending to deal with his hurt feelings. 

We as the audience know that Megumi is a deeply caring, and deeply feeling person. However, Megumi himself seesm to be in denial of this fact. 

Megumi’s response to all of thes icky gross feelings he has for people, soft feelings that makes him feel vulnerable because while Megumi cares deeply, circumstances have taught him that people do not care about him, or at least Toji didn’t care enough in Megumi’s eyes to stick around. Megumi’s response is the same as Toji’s, he shuts everyone out, he insists he doesn’t care about anyone. 

He can’t accept anyone’s feelings because he’s too busy rejecting everyone. He can’t even accept the positive feelings of familial love his sister has for him, he almost begrudges her for it. Tsumiki chose to see him as family, different from Toji who he feels didn’t choose him and Megumi just couldn’t realize that until it was too late. He’s so used to being abandoned and unchosen that he doesn’t know what familial love even looks like in Tsumiki. 

This is also something that Toji does to Megumi. It’s said in a bonus in volume 8 or volume 9 that after the death of Megumi’s mother, Toji insisted that he “stopped caring about everything.” We see this repeat when he’s about to sell Megumi to the Zenin clan. 

Toji insists he doesn’t care, while Megumi tries to creep back into his thoughts, and he keeps trying to help him in indirect ways. Toji wishing for a better future for his son than he had, while at the same time, selling him off for the money he plans to gamble away at the race track. Toji forgetting his son’s name, and then remembering it on the brink of death and asking his enemy to do something about it. These are all compeltely contradictory behaviors because Toji has no healthy, adult way of processing his emotions. 

He’s just used to pretending he doesn’t care about things, that even when he obviously does care it’s what he keeps falling back on. It’s the same as Megumi’s complex with saving people, he insists he hates people, that he doesn’t want to save them, and then he goes far out of his way to save people like Yuji. 

3. Growing Out of Your Father’s Shadow

They process emotions the same way, both insisting that they don’t care about anything around them, the only real difference is their priorities. Toji is a self centered person who prioritizes himself above all others. Megumi’s a self sacrificing person, he’s continually belittling himself for the sake of other people. Megumi belittles himself to the point where he insits he could never be strong enough to challenge Gojo. Being the strongest individual is just never his priority. 

Toji however is someone who climbed to the top of the Jujutsu World to try to prove he could become a better fighter than them without any cursed energy. Megumi is someone who ran away from the challenge of becoming stronger than Gojo, but Toji wanted to prove himself stronger than Gojo so badly he stayed and fought a fight he knew he couldn’t win. 

However, even though their priorities are total opposites, Toji prioritizing himself, and Megumi prioritizing other people above himself they both end up in the same place. They’re both incredibly self destructive people. Toji stayed and fought with Gojo, knowing that he would die. When Megumi is pushed to his limit in Shibuya, rather than try to run away he also sacrifices himself in order to summon Mahoraga in a suicidal move against his opponent. They are even paralleled in the way they’re drawn. 

I think the takeaway from all these connections set up between Toji and Megumi is that even though Megumi doesn’t know his father well he’s a lot like him. They both handle their emotions in the same way, insisting that they don’t care when they in fact care deeply. They both repress all of their emotions until they go crazy from it. 

Toji literally springs from Megumi’s shadow. The shadow is the symbol of repressed emotions. Emotions that people are conscious of, the ones they acknowledge are usually represented by light, deeper emotions, the ones they repress and refuse to acknowledge are then referred to as the shadow. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. The more Megumi pretends not to care about his father or his family situation, the deeper the shadow underneath his feet grows. 

Being underneath your father’s shadow is even a common phrase used to describe people who are unable to escape from their parents, and become their own person. There is a connection between Megumi and his father between Megumi and the Zenin, even if Megumi likes to pretend it’s not there, like when he denies any similarity between himself and Kamo Noritoshi.

 A lot of Megumi’s life is dictated by his family circumstances too, he’s just in denial about it. Kamo’s aware to sympathize with people because he’s far more aware fo himself and his family circumstances, Megumi denies sympathizing with other people, because he doesn’t have any sympathy for himself either. 

Zombie Megumi is colored in pure shadow. He’s even referred to as a manifestation of the repressed feelings of the Zenin clan. Those who are restrained by their connection to the Zenin clan, all look in awe at the one who broke free from the Zenin, and free from everything. 

Megumi exhibits the act same behavir as Toji. He suppresses himself, suppresses himself, and suprresses himself and then he just goes crazy. Megumi claims he’s not the strongest, he doesn’t care about being strong, but then he pulls moves like summoning the Mahoraga and Domain Expansion. Megumi just holds himself in until he violently lashes out on everything around him too, he’s hurt feelings waiting to explode. 

Which is why Megumi learning more about his father and the connection between them could be a good thing, not because Megumi necessarily owes Toji anything, but that he could learn from Toji’s mistakes. When Megumi sees his own unhealthy behavior exhibited in another, he can learn to accept the things that Toji could not accept. He could learn to accept connections like family, and friednship, before they become chains that hold him down too hard, until he breaks everything and himself trying to be free. Megumi dosen’t have to become the strongest like Gojo, he doesn’t have to surpass or fight against the Zenin clan. He doesn’t have to save everyone in the whole world like Yuji. The best thing for Megumi’s character development would be for him to learn to accept his own feelings and the feelings of others without going crazy. That’s a strength that neither Toji, nor Gojo could never find in themselves. 

#megumi fushiguro #fushiguro megumi #toji fushiguro #fushiguro toji #zenin toji #toji zenin #zenin family #zenin maki #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen meta #jujutsu kaisen theory

[ac-liveblogs]

NEO TWEWY, Secret Reports

I read the Secret Reports before collecting them. Oops. I wanted to know what was up before I forgot some of the details. Anyway, mad spoilers ahead.

anyway, here’s that josh thesis

Oh cool; Hanaekoma is still alive.

Yep; the Secret Reports immediately explain that Joshua had his hands tied and couldn't directly interfere with what the Angels were doing in Shibuya; he went about setting Rindo as his proxy AND sending Neku to Shinjuku so he could get the ball rolling on saving the city. This also recontextualises his "well, if you'd screwed up I guess I would've sorted things out!" comment - he wasn’t being lazy, it was that he was willing to directly disobey the Higher Plane by breaking the rules that he couldn’t interfere in order to save Shibuya. Kid’s come a long way. 

It's really funny that it turns out that Higher Plane are actually annoyed that Joshua didn't nuke Shibuya, and Josh had to spend the last three years preventing them from doing it for him. His willingness to defy the powers that be for the sake of Shibuya is becoming a recurring theme. Josh got out ahead squeaky clean again, though. Wonder if the Higher Plane will try to get him for angelic tax fraud, they're not having much luck with anything else...

Josh is shockingly unwilling to let people know he’s got... ugh, compassionate tendencies, though. The Reports say Josh sent Neku to Shinjuku to protect him, but Josh is fine with letting Neku think he did it to save his own skin, and despite the whimsical tone of Shoka’s resurrection it’s impossible to pretend he didn’t care about her or Rindo, or what they’ve been through. Between her and Rhyme, it’s hard to argue that he’s just doing all this for kicks. 

And despite Hanaekoma complaining about Josh's inaction, it seems he was content to wait for Neku to show up and help Rindo clean things up. Trust your partner indeed.

“Enjoy the present,” and “keep moving forward.” Perhaps by refusing to interfere, the Composer meant to convey to Shibuya the importance of accepting our circumstances and taking action yourself.

Because that ties directly into what Shibuya’s Game is all about; bettering yourself and growing as a person. And it’s pointed out that Shinjuku’s Game (and Composer) has no such philosophy (instead valuing sheer power over anything else), which tells us a lot about Joshua’s values - he’s an annoying god, but ultimately a caring one.

oh, and also;

His reason for appearing to Neku Sakuraba and the others as they connected to Shibuya’s Imagination was not to help them, but merely to stabilize Neku Sakuraba’s mind by reminding him he was there.

Josh. Dude. Go talk to your fucking friend!!! Apply your own philosophy to your damn self! Josh is apparently incapable of being emotionally honest in any way when it comes to Neku; he cares, but he really doesn’t seem to want to let Neku know it. Judging by Neku reciprocating Joshua’s ‘partner’, he has a pretty good idea of some of what Josh is trying to convey, though. In a hypothetical TWEWY 3 that puts more attention on Minamimoto’s bid for the Composer seat, this would probably be addressed. 

Which brings us to Hazuki. Joshua and Hanaekoma were both absolutely baffled by the fact he stepped in to help Shibuya, but Hanaekoma attributes it to Haz’ interest in Rindo, which inspired him to try and find worth in Shibuya after he already found Shinjuku lacking. Hazuki having already purified Shinjuku, like Joshua failed to do to Shibuya, tells me this; Hazuki is “Joshua” that had no “Neku” to change his mind. He’s what Joshua almost was and could’ve been, if not for Neku. 

Composers, man.  

The Game playing by Shinjuku’s rules - no entry fee designed for self reflection, might makes right - also goes a way to explaining Rindo, Fret and Nagi’s muted character arcs (and why Nagi barely seemed to have one). Due to the lack of fees, those three never had to critically examine why what they lost was so important to them in the first place, and never became aware of any flaws that needed changing - at least until the Final Day and Kanon’s Erasure. While that’s fascinating with regards to Josh & Haz’ characterisation, it’s still disappointing for those three.  

Reports explain Rindo's character trajectory far more coherently than the game did, so I can appreciate what was done there more since while I can see what was happening in retrospect, it was a little too subtle for me to pick up on the first runaround.  

I have finally determined what was causing the proxy’s Soul to stagnate: his fear of taking responsibility. When reliable allies such as Minamimoto, Daisukenojo Bito, and Neku Sakuraba appeared and took the reins, the relief of being freed from responsibility stilled the proxy’s mind.

I appreciate the clarity; Rindo makes a lot more sense, now.

Misc.: 

I was wondering who was acting as Conductor; seems Uzuki and then Shiba took that role. The spot is vacant again, though. It was never explained why the Ruinbringers were a thing, but now that it's been explained it makes perfect sense. God, politics!!

It is wild that some players were stuck in the game for at least 30 weeks. Sure puts Neku's 3 weeks into perspective, though I guess he did spent 3 years in Shinjuku...

Also, the confirmation that Minamimoto didn't intend to attack his old team and went berserk when he absorbed that Time Noise is really nice. Guess he actually did care! That's super cute, actually.

Confirmation that a proxy = an 'acting composer', i.e. one that acts in the composer's interests (whether they know it or not) is really interesting. Joshua jokingly suggesting Neku stay in the UG and claim the Composer title says one of two things;

1) He trusts Neku completely with Shibuya, and Neku is probably his preferred successor.

or

2) There's going to be a fucktonne of paperwork when all this is over and he doesn't want to do it.

By contrast, Neku turning it down means -

1) He trusts Joshua to continue looking out for Shibuya's wellbeing, and feels no need to intervene.

or

2) There's going to be a fucktonne of paperwork when all this is over and he doesn't want to do it.

#ac plays neo twewy #neo twewy spoilers

[jgnico]

Ah shit I accidentally unfollowed you :(

ANYWAYS

You mentioned Megumi dying right??

✨ ELABORATE PLEASE ✨

Because I think I came to that conclusion too a while ago but I've forgotten about it :'D (I think I did mention it in one of my predictions, I'll try to find it and let you know)

Have a nice day/night 💕

No worries! Glad to have you back 🥰

With Megumi, I'd say it's more of a gut feeling, but I did take a look at what dying for others vs being the only one left would do for each of Nobara, Yuuji, Megumi, and Gojo's character arcs.

In order of plausibility (for me) it would go Gojo, Megumi, Yuuji, then Nobara. But I do wanna break down my thoughts on why.

Only one of them dies:

Gojo -- This seems like a cliche when you think of his role as the strongest, but Gojo isn't at all the kind of person that's willing to sacrifice himself for others. (Think of Jogo saying that a thousand human lives are an acceptable loss for Gojo in Shibuya.) It would call back to his argument with Geto --that the strong are meant to protect-- while also giving us a situation for Gojo where he'd be out of options and seriously have to consider what he's willing to give up to for others.

Megumi -- For him it wouldn't be about subverting expectations, but rather reinforcing them. We've seen that Megumi is willing to sacrifice himself to win --in that way he's the opposite of Gojo-- and while I hope that he grows out of that mentality by the end of the story, I do think that it would come back if it meant protecting people he cares about. There's something heartbreaking about having a character finally learn to value their life and still choose to sacrifice it, not because it doesn't matter to them, but because their friends matter more.

Yuuji -- I don't see him dying at the end of story --especially if it's by execution-- as something that'd say anything significant for his character or to the audience. The only argument I have for this would be him dying on his own terms rather than as a consequence for Sukuna's crimes. But imagine getting all the way to the end of the story --following all of the characters through all of this-- only to have the outcome that we thought we'd get at the beginning of the story come true regardless.

Nobara -- No. Absolutely not. I refuse to elaborate on this.

Everyone but one of them dies:

Gojo -- This outcome for Gojo seems downright mean. Not only because it would completely destroy his dream of having the kids change jujutsu society, but because it would leave him completely alone again. He's back where he started, but with more to mourn this time. Still, it would bring back his theme of being powerless to do what he wants despite his strength.

Megumi -- I don't like this for him as much as I do the other option, but it does bring back the fact that the people that he loves always manage to leave him by himself. That and I could see an ending where Megumi doesn't sacrifice himself for others, but his friends --whichever ones are left-- choose to do so for him. I just... I don't see it happening in a way that would feel fulfilling for him or us.

Yuuji -- Can't die surrounded by loved ones if you have none left. 🥲 Then again I think I'd like getting to see Yuuji live and build a life for himself and fulfill his grandfather's wish in the end, even if it's not with the people that he originally wanted by his side.

Nobara -- Out of all of the first years, Nobara's the one that I think is mostly likely to choose to change jujutsu society once all of this is done. She's more removed from it than Gojo and Megumi thanks to her upbringing, she's incredibly stubborn, and I don't see her as the kind of person that would lose her friends and not do something about it. If she's the only one that makes it out --if she ends up with all the seats around her empty after painstakingly filling them with people she cares about-- then I don't see her handling it as passively as Gojo or Megumi or Yuuji would.

#this is all off the top of my head #so its probably not the best lol #jujutsu kaisen #jjk spoilers #gojo satoru #fushiguro megumi #itadori yuuji #kugisaki nobara #meta answers #11nolongerhuman #💙

[sage-nebula]

The World Ends With Three — Character Concept

Since it came out that the protagonists of the first two games are based on the “hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil”, many of us in the fandom have been speculating on the protagonist of the third game, and how they might fit into it with something that covers their eyes to complete the trinity. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, and so I went ahead and created a concept for a protagonist for a potential third game.

Meet Kyoko Kondo ( 近藤 恭子 Kondo Kyoko)

(Image created using this picrew, albeit with some color alterations in Pixlr.)

The kanji chosen for “Kyoko” mean “respectful; reverent” and “child”, while the kanji for Kondo mean “near; early; tantamount” and “wisteria”. So, respectful child of wisteria (flowers/trees). This name isn’t too obviously connected to music and sound, however, I was inspired to use the name Kyoko because of the Japanese word kyoku, which means “composition; piece of music; song.” Her family name, meanwhile, was borrowed from Kondo Koji, who is a music composer who composes music for video games. Given that Neku also shares his family name with a video game music composer (Sakuraba Motoi), I figured it was appropriate.

As for what her deal is . . .

Kyoko is a 19 year old former university student currently living in Shibuya, Japan. She’s a former university student because she recently dropped out due to struggling in her classes. See, Kyoko’s deal is that she doesn’t deal with problems or struggles; when something gets too hard, challenging, or stressful, she drops it and bails. Symbolically, she always wears rose-colored sunglasses, because she pretends like everything is fine and everything will work out while being willfully blind to any struggles or issues she has, choosing instead to pretend they don’t exist. Hence, see no evil. (Or in modern meme terms, “I pretend I do not see it.”) She has been able to get away with this because she has financially secure parents who are willingly to financially support her regardless of what she does, as well as a network of friends and online supporters that she can also go to for backup. So when the game starts, Kyoko is both out of school and out of work, living in an apartment paid for by her parents, basically coasting and surfing through life without any real ambition or desire to try to succeed on her own.

So obviously, when she’s killed and finds herself in the Reaper’s Game, she’s forced to come face to face with reality real quick . . . even though she still does her very best not to for a while. She’s stubborn, you see. She doesn’t want to accept hard realities, figures there has to be an easy way out. But her entry fee is her memory and ability to contact everyone who would have helped her in the past, as well as their memories of her, meaning that even if she could find some way to get in contact with them, she can’t. Meanwhile, other Players in the Game aren’t exactly going to be okay with her coasting through and not helping on missions or wanting to run from every single Noise fight, and the Reapers won’t take it easy on her, either. So while she at first refuses to believe she’s dead and has to play the Game, and then accepts that she’s dead but STILL doesn’t want to play, she eventually has to learn to face reality even when it’s unpleasant and actually put in effort to solve her struggles and pull her weight.

Design-wise, I picked clothes closest to Jupiter of the Monkey that I could, in terms of design and color. Her jacket would absolutely be Jupiter of the Monkey, as well as her pants and shoes; the undershirt might be Gatto Nero or Tigre Punks. 

Anyway, obviously it’s unrealistic that we could ever expect a female protagonist (much less one who is nearly an adult), but I had fun designing Kyoko anyway! She starts out stubborn, somewhat selfish, lazy, and unmotivated, but ends determined, generous, proactive, and motivated. It’d be a full character arc and one that I imagine would be nice to see play out, if only because it’s always nice to see characters who you want to get their shit together actually, you know, get it together.

#the world ends with you #neo: the world ends with you #character concept #kondo kyoko #twewy oc #Kyoko: [tries mission & doesn't know how to solve it immediately] ''Well that's all I've got lol I'm done'' #Kyoko's Partner: ??? ''are you fucking with me rn???'' #it'd be a wild time

[jujutsu-headcanons]

Do ya... do ya think Sukuna would like coffee? Also how do ya think he’d react to learning about the Moon Landing? I wanna know how he’d react to a lot of stuff tbh but those two things in particular have just latched onto my brain. I’m like, pretty sure he’d like coffee; he’d drink too much of it and get hyper even after being warned and then REFUSE to admit that the caffeine is affecting him. As for the moon I’m pretty sure that’s one of the few things that might shock him; “Humans did WHAT?!”

IM SORRY I HAVEN'T BEEN ACTIVE HERE

My computer/// bro/// I'm so frustrated at it///

But stuff like this I can answer no problem!!!

So when I was first reading through this, I kinda imagined Sukuna taking a swig of Megumi's black coffee and spitting it out everywhere. Ew do peasants drink this?? Unholy bean water?? As if he doesn't enjoy leaf water. Nobara takes major offence to this being an ice coffee queen so she doctors it up for him

60% creamer, 40% coffee

Oh my god Sukuna why are you crawling on the ceiLING

I get so conflicted when I'm making food hc for Sukuna bc I feel like he would yell at Yuji for putting anything unhealthy in their body, but also? Realistically he would become obsessed with foods he didn't have back then. It's literally Carry taking over Gumball's body from tawog

And he drinks way too much of it. He doesn't understand that the sociably acceptable amount is one, maybe two cups and not every time he drinks oh my god he's practically on vibrate and does not take criticism

The moon landing would AWE him. He would have such a childlike moment where he would just stand with his mouth wide while someone explains/shows him someone landed on the moon. He would probably think much higher of humans now tbh

Another thing I want to mention, just bc it's on the top of my head, is cameras. He knows what a camera is later in the Shibuya arc, but just imagine him learning about it the first time.

Yuji tells him to smile and Sukuna is like why the fuck would I do that? There's a flash, Sukuna comes out and acts feral bc he's bLIND, and he's destroying everything until Nobara explains she won't do it again. She hands him the phone and he goes "oh!!! The bright box!!! Oh wait that's me??? Why am I in the box-"

Oh god I just thought of an au where Yuji and Sukuna switch. Yuji being the 1000 y/o demon stuck in Sukuna's body. The first time he sees a tv he would he like help!!! People stuck in a box!!! We gotta get them out!!! And he WOULD attack the tv but what would happen if he accidentally hits the people inside oh god???

Wow the switch au is an au I wanna explore further but I'm rlly sleepy

#.ask #jjk #jjk spoilers #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen spoilers #jjk headcanons #jujutsu kaisen headcanons

[fonmythenmetz]

My atsuhina/msby-stan take for what happened after msby vs adlers match.

Hinata wanted to join Asas for the world championship, right.

Atsumu figured that Hinata’s ‘hunger’ was pushing him forward, to go further, to climb higher; he was frustrated and angry - same goes for Sakusa and Bokuto and the others, just maybe not as intense as in Atsumu’s case - (and he couldn’t really explain why, maybe because Hinata didn’t see them as good enough players? They all worked their hardest), so before Hinata’s departure he made another promise - something along “if you’re struggling to fight with the best and play with the best, then I’ll make this place the top of the world and you’ll come back”. That’s why his phrase in Olympic roster (2020) is “i will become number 1”. By the way, when the Japanese volleyball season started, jackals were absolute beasts (maybe they shared Atsumu’s feelings). In the olympic team interview (2021) Kageyama - who doesn’t even play in Japan anymore, he’s an international player now - says: “Results-wise, I’m still behind Atsumu-san”. Since there’re only 2 setters in the national team, there’s no one better then these two. So by 2021 Atsumu is #1 Japan setter.

Hinata is ready to go to Brazil for the second half of the season (2019/2020) with the best recommendations from Volleyball Association, but then pandemic happens.

I assume that japanese olympic team in haikyuu is formed according to generations (there was no one younger/older then them, only Hinata’s ‘generation’: previous third, second and first years), so the next olympic roster will consist of another generation; after 2021, coach Hibaridai and his colleagues saw no profit in investing in Hinata.

However, coach Foster and coach Banjou did not approve this, so they concluded a truce (for a short period of time! They’re rivals after all.

Spoiler: they grew fond of each other and want to be friends, but they’re both awkward, and coach Foster talks in his own language (a mix of English & kansai-ben & pantomime) which only msby can fully understand). Together they find a friend of a friend of the Asas’ head coach. Somehow with the help of google translate and Hinata they arrange a partnership programme between Black Jackals and Asas. Kuroo gets enthusiastic about it, so when the quarantine is over, msby flies for their first practice match with Asas São Paulo. It’s august 2020.

When they arrive, it’s late night; Atsumu locks himself in a hotel room, conflicted about how he feels - he can’t decide if he’s angry at Hinata for underestimating him and not acknowledging his life-long struggle, or happy that they will play the practice match together - well. He likes playing with Hinata. What’s wrong with that? It’s not like he missed him or anything. It’s about volleyball, alright?

Hinata has high school flashbacks; he remembers what Takeda-sensei said - “it is all about volleyball”, and he wonders where volleyball even ends. In Karasuno his closest friends were also his teammates, and all their activities were focused on volleyball. Karasuno - and rivalry with Kageyama - taught him to never look back, always look up and never slow down - because he had nothing but his jump and speed, and if he ever allowed a pause, he’d be defeated and left behind completely alone. Msby is the polar opposite of Karasuno. Sure, they stick to their diets; but on cheat days they are the main cheaters in the world and eat whatever gods send them. They are unorganized and every day with them is a blockbuster. They get into fights with neighbors’ dogs, they steal chopsticks from Osamu’s to build a miniature Skytree. They’re lazy and laid-back, they don’t do plans - it’s a principle. They have other jobs. But they’re passionate about volleyball, and when the moment comes, they always give their best shot. Hinata wonders if this, what he feels towards them, is solely about volleyball and great teamwork. Wait a minute. Maybe Karasuno was also not only for volleyball?..

Anyway, the more he thinks about this team, the more attached he feels, and it is suffocating.

He has to be free, he cannot allow to be restricted, or he’ll be left behind and forgotten. He knows that. Everybody said that - “you’re only good because of Kageyama”, “if not for your jump, you would never even sniff the ball”.

He doesn’t have to read the language of Atsumu-san’s tosses: this one is fast and close to the net - “smash them!”, a high one, drawing a beautiful arc - “play as you want”, tentative, with the warmth of his fingertips still on the leather - “let’s take it slow, their blockers are good...”, and that laser accurate, flash-fast, faster then ever - “go wild!” Everybody on the team can understand it - their ability to unite and read each other’s mind is almost paranormal, or animalistic, like they’re a pack of wolves communicating through scents and touches and small noises and grunts, on and off the court. Hinata wants them to win together, then go home and watch an episode of the Office, or do yoga, or play twister, or maybe even yoga twister (Omi-senpai always wins), then tuck his head under Inunaki-san’s elbow and beg him to caress his hair, almost feeling a pair of tall jackal’s ears atop of his own head, quivering from pleasure and support and acknowledgement, expressed in their unique inner fashion.

However, if he stays with msby, he won’t move forward. He’ll be overpowered and defeated, he’ll lose recommendations and his chance to play as many matches as he wants. Just like Karasuno, msby is a step in his development. When there’s a chance, he must go further.

So Hinata sits in the hotel lobby and thinks his strange thoughts, and there’s a delivery guy with a huge green bag waiting for someone. He’s in his early twenties and is stupidly tall, and judging by the sounds coming from his little tablet, he is watching a volleyball match. Hinata peeks at the screen and freezes: it’s a close-up of Omi-senpai. It’s a game that he doesn’t remember; well, after signing a contract with Asas he didn’t watch many of the Jackals’ games, focused more on South American League.

“Musubi Black Jackals”, - the guy explains, Japanese syllables clumsy on his tongue, noticing his awkward and almost starved glances. - “Antes do covid.”

Apparently, it’s Jackals’ last match before the quarantine. Hinata sits and silently watches. He is amazed to the core and maybe scared of them.

It’s almost five in the morning when Meian crawls out of his hotel room. There’s Oliver sprawled on the floor, futon miserably stuffed under his left knee, like a cloud that fails to cover Telamon’s body. He probably likes futons way too much for someone who can’t ask in Japanese where is the closest toilet. Meian sneaks into the street and looks for a vending machine. He remembers seeing one in the evening.

There it is. There’s also a man crouching before it, taking out his purchase. Meian politely stops several feet away and waits for his turn. The man does not move away. He looks like he’s fishing for something inside the vending machine. He’s rather tall and has an awful hairstyle.

The man looks at him, visibly irritated, and moves his hand. That is when Meian realises.

- Yer stuck? - he asks, then remembers that he is in damned Brazil where folk speaks damned Portuguese. The guy gives him a deadpan look. Meian looks up - there’s a beautiful can of cucumber flavored soda staring right at him, and he isn’t a quitter. Maybe Hirugami could quit here, but he’s a captain of Jackals and he gets his soda when he wants it. Fifteen minutes later he’s sweating like after a good game, having been waiving his hands and giving directions like a pro adjuster at Shibuya Crossing. The guy is free now. He pulls out a can of guarana drink and even smirks at him in a gesture of prickly gratitude, though it cannot fully hide the humiliation of being caught with your hand stuck in a vendine machine at five in the morning. Meian throws in money, watches his cucumber soda gracefully plop down, stuffs his arm in the drawer and tries to pull out. He’s stuck. The guy watches him from the side, leaning on the wall with his left shoulder, and Meian tries to act like he knows what he’s doing. Why hasn’t this bonehead left anyway?

After another fifteen minutes they’re both tired and both free. Meian clenches the can in his fist, refusing to look at the guy, but they simultaneously nod in a sense of solidarity before parting ways.

Later this day he wonders what kind of wicked fortune is that, standing in the centre of Asas’ main court and looking straight in the bonehead’s eyes. He’s introduced as the Asas’ captain.

Inunaki suspiciously glances at him.

- Have you two met before? - He asks with a hint of politeness, but there’s that ‘lie to me now and I’ll tell your pups that you drink cucumber soda at five in the morning” subtext. Kotarou, Omi-chan and Shouyo stand right here, so the threat is very much real.

- No, - he lies anyway, and everybody on the court knows he’s lying, including Inunaki, Kotarou, Omi-chan and Shouyo, and maybe even the Asas’ captain with his stupid blondie hairstyle.

- He drank cucumber soda at five in the morning, - Thomas says. Omi-Chan and Shouyo both snort, but Kotarou, the marvelous oldest pup, launches at him and whines: “Where did you get one??”

Asas’ players watch them from the sidelines. They’re already amazed and irritated, and Meian can’t wait for it.

Of course it doesn’t work as a one-time thing. Of course Shouyo is accepted. One day Meian walks in on Inunaki, Thomas and the Asas’ middle blockers singing Funky Town in their hotel room (outsiders are not allowed in hotel rooms. How did two guys over 6’5” even get here unnoticed?). When it’s time to leave, Asas’ captain - his name is Paulo, talk about coincidences - insults him in Portuguese for five minutes straight and tells him to get lost already.

- Let go of my sleeve then, - Meian says. Sometimes he thinks they have the same telepathy that Shouyo and Omi-chan share, because after two weeks of hunting for crabs and practicing volleyball and playing on the beach he can tell if Paulo talks shit about him. Apparently, it goes both ways.

- Release my jacket first, - Paulo says (Meian supposes he says it - he’s still not good at Portuguese, except maybe for curses). - Cucumber soda tastes like shit, - Paulo adds in a very very bad Japanese. Meian is nearly flustered, because the bonehead must have asked Jackals how to say that and then has been practicing. He grabs him in a headlock.

- Listen here, - he makes a serious face, - if Shouyo gets as much as a scratch, or complains about ya being an asshole, I personally come here to kick yer in the head. Understood?

There’s no point in worrying about Shouyo, though. He’s already made friends with everybody in Asas, especially with that tall libero boy who works in delivery. He stands there in the airport lobby with his new teammates, visibly forcing the corners of his mouth upwards. He’s clinging to Omi-chan’s sleeve like his life depends on it. Atsumu looks anywhere but at him.

- Atsumu-san, - Shouyo suddenly says, - I’m watching you. I won’t skip a single match, I promise.

Atsumu flinches and freezes in place.

- O-okay, - he declares, frowning.

- Watch us, - Bokuto corrects him, hugging his number one disciple one last time before the airport stuff snaps and shouts all of their names through speakers. That’s a brilliant departure show.

When Jackals win the championship, no one is surprised. Paulo has the decency to make an “omg, really?” face only because Meian can’t hit him through videochat. Asas are also terrifically strong. It’s late spring, Brasil Superliga is not over yet, so they fly to Rio, occupying Asas’ gym and playing on the beach and going to watch games for free. (When coach Foster and coach Preto finally met, they knocked over a trolley with suitcases running to hug each other like a pair of middle schoolers.) (So did Shouyo and the msby.)

Apparently Shouyo feels better now; he’s almost run out of sunscreen and worked on whatever complicated issues he had, so he’s ready to come back. Atsumu looks like he’s already won Olympics. So do Bokuto and Sakusa and the others, and maybe they missed him a little, or maybe they missed him very very fucking much.

One day (it’s a good day, it’s sunny and hot and there’s a wonderful fat thundercloud crawling at Copacabana from the seaside) a group of tall Spanish tourists occupy the beach courts. They argue and bicker and throw sand at each other. One of them accidentally catches a ball to the head (what the heck was he doing on this court anyway? Bokkun and Atsumu were in the middle of the game against Heitor and Carlos). Now they’re all arguing. They have no idea what the Spanish guys are saying because they don’t know Spanish, and still they somehow agree on a match. Atsumu hits five service aces, which is very sexy of him, and it seems that the Spanish setter (who hits four service aces) is not immune to a good server’s charm. After the match (Bokuatsu get 21 against 13, the Spanish wing spiker moved like a fish in the sand) he approaches the net, adjusting his flashy sunglasses, and tries to introduce himself in not-very-fluent Portuguese. His name is Oikawa and he is from Japan. Where are you guys from? - he asks. - Are you professionals or something?

This is how the whole Argentinian team Club Atletico (2020/2021 Argentinian championship silver medal - the year before covid they got first place) ends up in the Asas’ gym. Coach Blanco and coach Preto are old rivals, and they challenge each other to an arm wrestling competition, but then somebody jokes about holding hands (it was coach Foster) and they suggest volleyball instead. They schedule a practice match. It’d be impolite to leave msby outside of the party, so there’ll be three practice matches between Black Jackals (with Shouyo this time. Finally), Asas São Paulo and Club Atletico. All of them are high-ranked teams. It’d be so cool if they could get involved with each other more often, - someone says (it’s coach Foster). Nobody seems opposed to the idea, especially Shouyo, Sakusa, Bokuto, Atsumu, Oikawa and Oliver Barnes, who are already playing air hockey in the Argentinians’ hotel. How did they even get there? Anyways, Oliver wins and gets a huge hazelnut ice cream for his cheat day. In the evening, after defeating Heitor and Carlos (again) and losing to Santos and Fernandez (again), they shower in the beach stalls. The stalls don’t really have anything resembling doors, so one has to hold a big towel or something, guarding the way, while the other gets to shower. Shouyo asks Inunaki-san to hold a towel for him. “Sure”, - Inunaki-san says, and then catches Atsumu: “Sugar, could you please hold this? I want to help Adriah and Paulo with dinner”. Atsumu does not refuse - he’s not that busy and he has no idea who is inside the stall. After Inunaki-san leaves, he takes a glance over the towel.

Ten minutes later Oikawa approaches him with a huge alien-themed towel in hands.

- Are you okay? - He asks with uncharacteristic concern, because Atsumu looks like he has been simmered on the surface of this ugly beach shower stall, and - are those tears? So Oikawa calls out to whoever is showering there, assuming that Atsumu is just tired and maybe has got sunburn all over his body.

#black jackals #haikyuu!! #hinata shouyou #miya atsumu #atsuhina #msby black jackal #msby black jackals #sakusa kiyoomi #haikyuu spoilers #haikyuu 402 #bokuto kotaro #meian shūgo #inunaki shion #thomas adriah #tomas adriah #oliver barnes #samson foster #oikawa tooru

[bluerosesburnblue]

Nothing upsets me more than a legitimately good story being ruined by “extra” content. I’ve already complained at length about Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s story changes over the original games so now it’s The World Ends With You: Final Remix’s “A New Day’s” turn because CHRIST

I’m writing this as I come across points while watching a playthrough, so:

God, Coco is the single most insufferable being. “totez hilar” just dated this content so baaaad, and I’d even say it was dated language when Final Remix came out. No other character abuses modern slang as their entire character. Like, slang is used but not as a substitute for personality. Beat speaks in a very casual, urban style but it never ends up being detrimental to his character as a bit of a punk with a “perfect little sister” that he wasn’t as naturally smart as, so he just gave up on trying and ended up being a bit of an aggressive slacker. Heck, he tones it down a bit for emotional moments, too. Coco, though, comes across like her ultra-modern “cutesy” text message slang is supposed to be her personality, and even when it’s revealed that she’s the villain of the episode you just can’t take her seriously through the “like, ohmigosh, I can’t believe you’re ruining my plaaaaaans” bullshit. What does she have going for her if you rewrite all of her lines without that speaking style? She’s just a generic manipulative brat

Frankly I also just disagree with the entire premise of A New Day and the plot threads it sets up for a potential sequel, i.e. “having Neku and Beat run through a game again as a trap to get Neku into yet another game in a possible sequel.” TWEWY is a complete experience and had been for at least a decade. Literally every character had a complete arc. The worldbuilding was rich enough that they had more than enough to come up with a sequel set in the same world, but in an entirely different town with an entirely new cast and, heck, even entirely new rules for the Game that would’ve expanded upon the world of the games without taking away from the characters whose time in the Underground was already done

But, noooooooo, we’ve gotta bring Neku back. Can’t have a game without Neku they literally SAY THAT (”The Game, like, literally can’t go on without Neku.”). And let’s bring Minamimoto back, too, as a good guy! The fans loved him! This doesn’t come across as pandering at all!

Just... you have the girl with the red headphones designed! Make the sequel set in Shinjuku with her as the main character! (Hell, I don’t think I would have even minded Minamimoto coming back for that because there was enough leeway in the base TWEWY for him to have survived his encounter with Josh, just leave Neku out of it). This is the most infuriating part because it actually takes away from Neku’s story. The entire GAME was a test of character to see if even the worst, most closed off person could learn empathy and respect and Neku DID. And in return, that sparked a change in Josh. His story is done. Coco using Neku, though, has nothing to do with him as a character and everything to do with him being the face of the game and it shows

And why the hell is Neku so trusting of Coco anyway? I get that he opened up over the course of TWEWY, that was kind of the point. But you come back to life, everything’s fine, and then suddenly you’re in a death game again and so is one of your best friends, like, he should be WAY more concerned and suspicious. But one little Reaper gives him the sad eyes and he just caves instantly like “fine, come along.” Even when Neku grew to like some of the Reapers, like Uzuki and Kariya, it was still far more of a rival-like respect. He knew damn well that it was their job to see him gone and while he accepted their help when they gave it and helped them when their lives were in danger (possibly, up to player choice), they weren’t buddy-buddy with each other, knowing that as soon as the immediate danger to them had passed they’d be on opposite sides again. And these are the Reapers he’s closest to, even at the end of the game. And then all of a sudden Coco goes “but I’m a wittle wost baby weaper” and Neku’s response is, “well, shit, welcome to the team.” WHAT

I hate using the term “Mary Sue” but Coco is absolutely a Mary Sue in its original meaning. The plot bends over backwards to accommodate her at the expense of the main characters’ personalities or reason, all while giving her a clothing style incongruous with everyone else’s meant to stand out and make her look special and not having her face any repercussions for her actions (so far which is, again, another issue with the very premise of A New Day since that’s exactly how things will end off if TWEWY doesn’t get a sequel, the possibility of which is not a guarantee AT ALL)

Shiki and Rhyme start saying blatantly false things about themselves and handwaving it away with “ohhh, that must have been our new Entry Fee! Just the exact same ones as the first time again!” and only BEAT is suspicious and NEITHER OF THEM are suspicious of Coco, the only non-generic Reaper they’ve met so far. Christ, I appreciate Beat being attentive with matters of his sister because that’s in-character but NEKU was always the more paranoid AND observant one yet all he thinks about is “gee, I’m sure having weird visions today, huh?”

And then Coco starts BLATANTLY gaslighting them about Kariya and Uzuki’s personalities and they’re STILL not suspicious of her like ughhhhhhhhhhh. Nekuuuuuuu you LIVED THROUGH JOSH WEEK 2, you have BEEN IN A SITUATION where the mastermind partnered up with you to divert your suspicion and keep an eye on you how are you less suspicious of this brat than Beat is???

And why are none of the characters bringing up the fact that you have to be DEAD to be in the Game??? You all spent three weeks of hell to claw your way back to life, how are you not more upset about what seems like you all dying again, basically immediately after you just got brought back? And I know the Shiki and Rhyme in A New Day are illusions, but Neku and Beat AREN’T. Nobody even comments on the implication that they’re dead again and what that means!

I can’t believe they made new expressions for the fake Josh’s changed personality but still refuse to make anything for Shiki’s true appearance

Hell, there’s enough lore with Josh that you could make an entire prequel about him becoming the Composer instead of this mess and, you know, EXPAND on someone’s character and what led to him being so disillusioned with Shibuya as the Composer instead of employing the Happy Ending Rewrite on Neku and then gutting his personality to make Coco the focus. I’d LOVE a Josh prequel with competent writing. Kingdom Hearts made the Xehanort prequel and hooked me in a single chapter with expanded worldbuilding and interesting ties with Xehanort’s character to friends that humanize him, do the same for Yoshiya “Joshua” Kiryu!

Pfffffff hire me and let me make the dream TWEWY trilogy: Joshua prequel > TWEWY sans A New Day > sequel set in Shinjuku starring Red Headphones Girl with Occasional Josh and Hanekoma Interaction

It is so unnecessarily cruel to make Beat relive Rhyme’s erasure and subject Neku to believing that Shiki was erased as well, and yet they do NOTHING with it except have it be cheap tension for five minutes. The characters basically say “wow, I’m so sad!” and then IMMEDIATELY move on to “OMG is Neku seeing the fuuuuuture?” Your LITTLE SISTER and FIRST REAL FRIEND IN YEARS just seemingly died permanently! When Rhyme was erased the first time it took Neku one and a half in-game days to even talk about it because he was so upset, and from then on he was focused on avenging her/bringing her back. Shiki was his entry fee in Week 2 and that made him hyper paranoid the whole time! WHY ARE WE JUST GLOSSING OVER THIS especially since they made SUCH a big deal about how they just finally started believing that the fakes were real (after a whole TWO conversations)

And then at the end they say that they’re inside Coco’s Noise that is SO BIG that it has an ALTERNATE DIMENSION INSIDE IT and Hanekoma’s like “I’ve never met a Reaper POWERFUL enough to make a Noise like this. Wow, Coco, you’re so POWERFUL that even I, an Angel, am impressed!” This. Coming from the guy who specifically chose Minamimoto as his failsafe to kill the Composer should the Game go wrong because a Taboo Minamimoto, heavily refined using forbidden methods, would be strong enough to defeat THE COMPOSER. And he’s now going on about how Coco’s the strongest Reaper ever, basically admitting that she’s probably stronger than the Composer of Shibuya. SURE. BECAUSE COCO WASN’T BAD ENOUGH ALREADY SHE HAS TO BE THE STRONGEST REAPER EVER, TOO

And then it just ends with Josh and Hanekoma exposition dumping about how Shinjuku got erased as Noise entered the RG (WHAT?), Neku’s visions were probably caused by the red headphones girl who’s super special (who???), and Coco’s just so special powerful (why...), but it’s not their problem so fuck it. Oh, and also Josh doesn’t care about Neku anymore, despite that being the whole point of TWEWY. Yeah, the guy who flew off all upset when Hanekoma asked him if he wanted to hang out with his friends at the end of the game. Uh huh. Even if he’s lying, why even put that THERE instead of saving it for the sequel?

And then Coco just... revives Minamimoto. Even though, oh, right, the Taboo Refinery stuff was so precise that the only reason Minamimoto came back the first time was because Hanekoma, THE PRODUCER AND AN ANGEL, set it up for him. But I guess Coco’s just soooooo super powerful and knows FORBIDDEN HIGHER PLANE KNOWLEDGE and can just do whateeeeeever she wants. Not like Hanekoma was so paranoid about someone finding out what he did for Minamimoto that he went into hiding, certain that he’d be reported to the higher Angels and destroyed

A New Day is so painfully shallow from a writing experience. It’s a poor continuation off of the solid, complete TWEWY story experience that just doesn’t have a handle on Neku’s character, turning him into this bland vision machine with no emotional connection to anyone. The way that it expands the worldbuilding with “Inversion” does one thing that I HATE, which is taking an emotion-and-character driven story and turning it into a generic “end of the world” scenario, “raising the stakes” in a way that divorces it from what made it memorable in the first place. If Kitaniji directly effecting the RG during the main Game’s plot was the point where he crossed the line in-universe, then that loses its special nature and impact if you then go “oh, btw, Noise can destroy the RG city if you let them”

And then there’s the absolute black hole of a character that is Coco Atarashi. She wasn’t designed to fit into the world of the game, she was designed to stand out. On its own that’s not a bad thing, especially given the themes of the game that revolve around owning your true self and baring it to the world, but then you combine it with no personality beyond being a manipulative brat obsessed with the events of TWEWY, extremely lazy text message slang dressing up her dialogue to make it stand out, the way that Neku and Beat’s personalities change to accommodate her presence just to shoehorn her in and then have a cheap “omg she was bad” twist, and then dumping powers on par with Josh and Hanekoma on her and there is NO saving her character

The only good part of A New Day is “Wake Up.” And even then, there’s better TWEWY songs, I just like the vaguely Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance vibes it has in parts

#the world ends with you #the world ends with you spoilers #liz's shenanigans #the playthrough i was watching to refresh myself on twewy's story hit a new day and my blood pressure spiked instantly #i have never lost interest in a sequel quite as fast as i did this #i just... how do you fuck up this bad???

[the-stray-liger]

torn between screaming about the shibuya arc and just letting it happen

I refuse to accept or aknowledge the shibuya arc I violently oppose it's existence