#of two episodes already and I know from the manga it’s only gonna get more heartbreaking THANKS SINBAD

[inkyminx]

If I had a nickel for every time I watched something and the first episode immediately made me start crying, I’d have three nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened three times.

#Adventure of Sinbad #Sinbad #Badr #Link Click #Cheng Xiaoshi #Lu Guang #Galaxy Railways #Wataru Yuuki #Manabu Yuuki #Mamoru Yuuki #this is fine I’m fine #I’m very late but I’m the newest simp for Sinbad don’t mind me #I was promised a fun adventure show that I could finally watch without balling my eyes out and in return I cried throughout the entirety- #of two episodes already and I know from the manga it’s only gonna get more heartbreaking THANKS SINBAD

[piracytheorist]

FINALLY

Thoughts on episode 2x01!

I'm so making a crack recap out of this. Idk if it's going to be this week, but I may have to skip all the other episodes up to this point XD

Ok for those of you who don't know, the bullet-in-butt date (which I can finally mention openly as it's not manga spoiler anymore!) was the only manga chapter that hadn't been adapted that I read from very early on, way before I decided to stay anime-only so I knew everything about it. So I expected the beginning. I actually like that we don't see Yor do her slaughter at that place. She's like a ghost, or a legend, as the short-lived survivor calls her.

Look at her! So cute, covered in the blood of her victims 😌

I do have to say, I was surprised by the amount of blood they showed. I think they actually put the violence up a notch in comparison to the previous season, bringing it much closer to the manga levels of violence.

It's also a bold choice to like, actually open the season with this. It's serious business and I appreciate that. I'm not too big on violence but I also don't like it when it's "purified" or whatever. We're watching a show where two of the main characters kill people left and right. Blood is a prerequisite at this point.

Anyway! GRANDE upgrade on the animation, oh my god! It's all in the little movements and additional "swerves" of the characters' forms. I don't have the time to make a gif now showing that but it's obvious they took the money they made the previous year and put a lot of it on animation budget! Love it!

Aaaaaaaand new music! Most of the new stuff is quirky and funny, perfect for Anya and Franky's shenanigans :D Looking forward to see what new pieces we'll get with this season!

I had some frail hope they would have titled the episode "Date with a Bullet in the Butt". Can you imagine. We were robbed. Robbed!

Ever since I read that chapter I went like, Yor says she treated the wound... does that mean she got the bullet out? Or is she actually walking with the bullet in her buttcheek all this time? I mean... it is called the "bullet-in-butt date" after all...

The way all of this could have been solved by Yor going like "I tripped down the stairs and fell on my butt and now it hurts to walk and sit". But then we wouldn't have this! It's the funny miscommunication that makes them, really <3

The way Anya worries about her! I felt a little sad for her because this is the first time she sees her mama so beaten down by a job, I think?

One of the ways you see the upgraded animation: the way Yor trembles as she straightens up after reassuring Anya, and then the dizzy walk to her room as she goes to rest. Awesome.

Yor just walks it off and Anya is like "Mama is actually immortal, wow" meanwhile Loid is losing his absolute shit

"WIFE IS SAD. THE WORLD IS ENDING. I SHOULDN'T HAVE ASKED HER TO GO GROCERY SHOPPING. I AM A HORRIBLE HUSBAND."

Oh, I adore the different colouring on the memory scene. I also love how the gossip trio just falls on Yor the moment she slips out that oh no they don't do all the conventional couple things!!

Dude is genuinely confused. BestTM SpyTM of WestalisTM, flabbergasted by a woman with social skills in the negatives.

It was eight in the morning. On a weekend. Yor was way too excited for the date she ran to get ready and they were out all day. My god. When am I gonna get my learning date with my emotionally constipated fake husbando

Twilight has a smug grin on his face as Franky accepts the cheque as payment to do chores. I love that addition!

As I love this

Franky grabbing Anya's hand and waving to them for her. They really knew how to handle an already funny chapter and use animation to add more humor to it!

Look at him, starting off so smug but then

He's truly an intelligence agent, trying to work with the information he has on hand. Since he doesn't have the information that Yor is injured, his plans are doomed to fail.

The way Franky is down with everything crazy Anya proposes. I love that duo.

I also liked the way they allowed Bond to sit this episode out, since that manga chapter takes place before the Doggy Crisis arc and Bond is not yet part of the family. I do have some thoughts about the timing of this episode but I'll get to that later.

And here we have the angst punch in the gut, as others talked about it, it's a point in Twilight's character to not see anything fun about the spy work that it's not even fun to play spy. Since one of the moments adding to that is an anime only scene (from the part where Anya makes secret codes) and the dialogue here is just slightly different from the same scene in the manga, it looks like it's a deliberate choice to make anime Loid more sensitive about this specific thing. Interesting!

I gotta say, it would be so easy to objectify Yor and her body with where her wound was. But even though they showed her in a pants-tight-enough-to-hurt-your-butt-wound situation, it was still pretty clear what the focus was. I really appreciate that.

Yor says no to the tight pants and Loid apologizes??? Why wasn't that in the translated version of the manga??

Like here especially, with the face they gave him and the way Eguchi delivered that line it was pretty clear that Yor's reaction made Loid feel like he crossed a line with what he told her. What happened in the manga translation???

VERY interesting picture choice for the movie poster! Ostania gots propaganda to do, after all!

I love how Anya fell asleep during the film while Franky cried his eyes out. Poor sap XD

And LMAO Anya seeing her parents leaving from the spa and trying to get Franky to move but he's too busy getting a massage! And then some added wackiness with Yor being so tense from her wound that she made a murder glare enough to scare a bear!

And Loid is still like DAFUQ AM I DOING WRONG

I like though, that he is not blaming Yor at all. He doesn't consider her irrational or ungrateful for the date, he just sees it as him not having done enough research... and in actual reality, he doesn't have all the data needed, specifically the whole "bullet-in-butt" thing. I'm sure he would have planned differently had he known that XD

Poor Franky XD at least he's finding ways to vent XD

The way they animated Yor's reluctance to sit was great, lol. I'm not sure it was clear she was "hover-sitting" but it was funny in any case.

I loved the tension when we saw the surviving Red Circus member! It was handled so well dropped right in the middle of a funny episode.

This had no right being this funny. But also. Anya is imagining a "default" kind of guy because even though she's reading the guy's mind she doesn't know how he looks like, so she's just making up a face to play out her imagination. Great detail from the manga already.

Anya imagines Loid saying he'll abandon her if he finds out about Yor being an assassin. That's another angsty punch in the gut but also for another post probably XD

The timing here feels a little weird. This chapter was supposedly long ago, when the family was still getting used to living together. Franky sees Anya worried and goes like "Even though they're a fake family, she worries so much?" and seeing that in the anime, practically two episodes before this one he went like "Hey do you love your dad and mom" and she said she does... idk maybe in the adaptation process some things could be left out so that they can make more sense.

How did neither Yor nor Loid suspect something wrong with the suddenly very thick and muddy cocktail she was offered?

Once again, upgraded animation as Yor drinks the pufferfish poison! I love it! Hopefully it'll keep being that good for the rest of the season :D

I remember the tension I felt when I first read the manga in that moment. I was like oh no! And then I was Anya

Gremlin Anya is back and I love it

Anya goes ahead and Home-Alones too close to the sun and fucking makes a bomb. That's a whole other level. You really don't want this girl turning evil, she'll take over the world XD

She should have seen her entrance as Thorn Princess' ally! She was epic!

There was some violence censorship there, as the bad guy in the manga is shown a little burned and bleeding after the explosion, but in the anime he's just... ruffled or whatever.

Idk they probably decided it would be too much to show that a child caused such violence XD

So does Loid go on thinking that Yor was in a super bad mood and then everything went away as soon as she downed a glass of cocktail? I also just realized she just went bottoms up on it, lol.

The episode was great and the date was funny and cute at the end. But.

GIVE ME BLUSHING LOID YOU COWARDS. SHOW ME THAT BLUSH. YOU GAVE US "HIS SMILE HIDES A HINT OF REAL EMOTION" YOU CAN AFFORD GIVING US A BLUSH. *screams* *eats drywall*

The date ends well and with fun! Then the monster wakes up again the next day.

Loid's got a lot to learn. Who knew humans can be complicated!

Overall, a great introduction to the second season! I'm happy we got the bullet-in-butt date and I'm so excited to venture into new stuff that I know next to nothing about :D

#Spy x Family #sxf reaction #maybe I'll start using this tag? #idk we'll see lol

[nozunhinged]

7 BL Newbie Moments of 2023 That Altered My Brain Chemistry

So I went through all my posts since the beginning of this journey and as much as I love dumping my insanity here without context or any punctuation, I feel that a lot of my fav moments deserve a bit more love and structure.

But first I need to put a bit of context so you won't be like "who the hell do they think they are" (aside from delusional I'm nothing, I promise) and my anxious overexplainer-heart is silenced.

My first BL TV show was Only Friends and only 5 months later I'm already throat deep into it (sorry). My watchlist is so endless that I sometimes (no, regularly) genuinely fear for my sanity. I'm still learning all the names and production houses but does that stop me from starting 10 other shows? NOPE.

I'm not new to queer fan spaces (avid manga reader since the yaoi days, my first ship was taito from digimon) but I am most definitely new to the brainrot levels these shows gave me.

And believe it or not, even though my shipper heart is over a decade old, I'm new to Tumblr and the fuel this platform added to the fire could burn down entire continents.

ANYWAYS if you're still here — please enjoy Noz's 100% self-indulgent moments!

1. The End And The Beginning - Only Friends

All I did was mindlessly scroll through the tumblr trends, no idea about how this website works, still sour and sad about the loss of my twitter bubble thanks to the elopocalypse—little did I know that fate would lead me to the wonderful world of BL shows! It was like this moment in isekai-esque movies where you get sucked into a world and you go WOOAAH once you arrive.

There was this show—on YouTube—100% unapolagetic about sex, relationships and queerness. Five minutes into the first episode, someone asks if they can bring their boyfriend to a hookup. This was ALL of my wildest dreams come true! Oh boy, was I naive.

I feel like Only Friends had me speedrun the whole BL industry. Branded pairs, production houses, fanservice, obsessive fans & haters, audience reactions influencing the storyline, EVERYTHING happened during Only Friends and I was just like "what the hell is going on here?" It was like the perfect case study for literally everything. Honestly I still don't really understand what's going on.

Unfortunately, this also led to the awful ending I erased from my brain and don't want to get into, I'm just gonna say Boston I will never forgive the writers for what they did to you. I dropped that show like a hot potato, filtered all possible tags and moved on — or so I thought.

I feel like I'm trying to recreate that first excitement when I discovered OF. But 20 shows later, I'm still not there. Does this make me sound like an addict? Yes, and this is why Only Friends EP 1 is my No. 1 moment that altered my brain chemistry.

2. The Boeing Incident - Only Friends

I talked about it just yesterday and I need to do it again because Boeing was the beginning of a thing that thought I'd never be capable of: lusting after real person TV characters. I talked about it in length here and here so the only thing I'm gonna add just for good measure is that I'd do anything, anything for a BostonBeoingNOZ threesome. Holy shit I'm cringing just writing this down but I need to get my point across.

3. Still Looking For That Kiss - Love in The Air

I know this is a general experience at this point but the chemistry between the couples in Love In The Air opened a whole knew world for me. I thought I knew chemistry but when I saw them, I realized I knew NOTHING.

It may sound weird but I'm still looking for that perfect kiss that's hitting all the right neurons in my brain. I have a hunch that one of these two pairs will deliver them one day, but until then I NEED to watch a million kisses for research.

This post by @talistheintrovert explains perfectly what I think about kissing in shows. Ji Chang Wook is still the blueprint for me.

But do I have a favorite BL kiss so far? Yes, yes I do. It's this ShinPeach beauty.

4. Main Lead Syndrome - Kiseki: Dear To Me

I am a second lead, side couple enby before I am human but I will defend these two until the end of time. My TL is flooded with Chen Yi, Ai Di, Nat and Louis while these two are over here falling in love over strawberry cake, cat analogies, failed cooking and all sorts of memory loss. Zongyi opened a fucking bakery for his babygirl and Zerui pretended to be a pretty dumdum to protect the love of his life.

I don't care how much you all love the two dumb (affectionately) gangsters, these two deserve the world, end of story. Also Kai Hsu and Taro Lin are bff's irl now, Taro said that Kai helped him get out of a very bad mental tate and I take that very personally.

5. The Fanservice is Fanservicing - Kiseki: Dear To Me

Speaking of Taro and Kai, the fact that I even know that they're bff's is another brainaltering moment that needs recognition because months later it led me to this TikTok of two actors I don't know of a show I don't watch, staring at them for ages and really considering watching it just because of it.

That is the power of fanservice my friends and I can put on my clownmask now because I avidly screamed left and right that fanservice should be forbidden when I learned about it. I blame Kiseki for that. But my point still stands, I hate actors doing stuff they're uncomfortable with. I just hope they're all friends and have fun and get that coin.

6. The One Just For Me - Playboyy

I've been lurking around Playboyy from the moment I found out they have the same writer as OF. And boy did it deliver so far! I already wrote a bunch here about which role Playboyy plays for me, but it's also a wonderful case study for my producer heart — watching the acting, directing, lighting, sets, props and storyline interact is fascinating.

People say the less you notice the better the show, which is correct, but I love all the flaws of this piece of media. IMHO it's the last puzzlepiece of the amazing, important social commentary the show delivers. All of the topics the couples represent need to get their very own show.

7. The Holy Grail - The Sign

Speaking of the less you notice — this is the sign for The Sign (again, sorry). There's a reason this show is loved and praised so widely because the production is on a whole other level. Adding the beautiful story on top of that, we have the potential for a holy grail here and I'm so in for the ride.

I keep saying I've entered the world of BL in it's absolute golden era. Never in a million years did I think I'd watch 5 shows simultaneosly but I love every single one of them so much I keep a whole spreadsheet on how I can be on time for every premiere every week alongside my work schedule.

Honorable mentions

KinnPorsche: VegasPete were my first dark, angsty, morally questionable couple ever (I'm a sissy okay)

Last Twilight: When I watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo, I cried several times about the wonderful media representation of disability. It means so much to me and Last Twilight is on par with that.

Bake Me Please: Thank you for giving me this beautiful kiss

Manner of Death: Thank you MaxTul for making gay makeouts fashionable

Bad Buddy: The one time I was glad I persisted so I could watch them most adorable phone scene on the planet

I Feel You Linger In The Air: It was too painful for me to finish but I loved the show with my whole heart and it deserves all the awards it got.

Kimi ni Todokanai: Japanese shows just hit different. I'll never get over the kissing Taiyaki.

The Novelist Series: THIS is how you kiss the one you're horny for my friends. Take notes directors.

Semantic Error: My fav webtoon -> Got Viki for the Series -> Found the BL corner of Viki -> Drew my attention to Tumblr -> This post.

Thank you for being the butterfly of my butterfly effect.

And thank YOU if you read until here! To a even more wonderful queer year 2024! I'm so ready for this ride.

#only friends the series #only friends #kiseki: dear to me #love in the air #love in the air the series #playboyy #playboyy the series #the sign #the sign the series #thai bl #japanese bl

[sblvrgg]

i'm so mad at gege after the last episode cause it made me start thinking about female characters in jjk so here i am.

(jjk anime and manga spoilers ahead)

nobara is such a great character, she looks like the usual "girl of the trio" for like the first two seconds you know her but she's so much more and SO BADLY USED IN THE PLOT EXACTLY LIKE SHOKO

everything about yuji/megumi/nobara is a sort of parallelism with satoru/suguru/shoko but it doesn't work out completely cause we know almost nothing about shoko and the little we do know it's mostly written in the extra volume about jjk characters and techniques, it's not like gege actually tells us more about her in the plot and he could have done that in the hidden inventory arc even if it was meant to be focused on satoru and suguru AND THIS MAKES ME FURIOUS

like okay you just want a female character with healing powers? great (not great, but let's not focus on this rn) BUT AT LEAST MAKE HER ACTUALLY HEAL SOMEONE???? I LOVE HER BUT SHE'S SO USELESS, EVERYONE DIES IN SHIBUYA AND SHE'S JUST THERE DOING NOTHING WITH YAGA BECAUSE SHE CAN HEAL BUT SHE CAN'T FIGHT??? HELLO???

in the hidden inventory arc she's not even involved in missions, we have more scenes of her in the opening/ending that in the actual episodes. i don't need to know her whole story but if you put her there as the only character (beside satoru and yuta) who can use reversed technique then MAKE HER ACTUALLY USE IT WHEN NEEDED

and no, i'm not talking about this just because i want our beloved satosugu back. as a suguru kinnie i'm 100% convinced that his death was the only right option for his character from the moment he left jujustu tech. i have some mixed feelings about gojo's death but just because i think gege could've handled it better, not because i absolutely need him back like some delulu maniacs in the fandom (no offense, i'm suffering with you all but some people are crazy). but in shibuya she could've been more useful, at least in helping the students.

nobara at least has a strong personality and a cool technique, she's not just another sakura or orihime (i hate orihime but sakura is great too ofc, i just mean that nobara unlike them isn't the girl put there just to heal her male companions and have a crush on one of them) or shoko herself (and thinking about it shoko is even more useless cause sakura and orihime at least help and heal their crush).

we know a lot about her past, i was crying like a baby watching her say goodbye to fumi and then... she dies, just like that. her goal isn't even that difficult to achieve, it's not some big dream like suguru's, it's something extremely personal and she's not gonna reach it cause gege killed her. i love nobara too but honestly she doesn't have that great development merely because she dies before she can actually become stronger. everytime she fights she gets severly wounded or is there to support others or she's the one who needs support. i feel like she doesn't have her big moment before dying (like maki does for example, i know she's not dead yet but i wouldn't be so mad if it happened cause she has a great development since jjk 0. i would cry like a baby again though, pls gege don't kill her i'm begging you).

and no, i don't think nobara's death is necessary for yuji or the plot in general either. yuji has already seen nanami die in front of him, sukuna has killed who knows how many people and he could do nothing about it, he was still mad at mahito for junpei so why kill nobara too?

gege doesn't even show her in the afterlife when gojo dies (and a delulu part of me hopes that's because she's still alive), like i know that in that airport there are people from his past and the focus is on them, his blue spring and whatever but damn she's one of his students too, he talks about megumi and the fact that he still had things to explain to him but he doesn't even mention her? (he doesn't mention yuji either okay i know, i would've liked that too but at least they have a cute moment before the fight against sukuna).

instead of focusing on those that should be the main female characters we have mei mei though. don't get me wrong, she's our mommy, i'm barking (respectfully) every time i see her on screen or in the manga but is all that screentime really necessary? do i really need to see her in bed with ui ui or walking like a runway model for minutes? mmmh i don't think so.

i don't know, maybe i'm the one missing something in this story, maybe i'm not getting it completely but still, as much as i love jjk i'm mad. i could go on for days about this and what's happened in the manga these last few months, but i'm gonna stop for today.

at this point i'm convinced that gege introduced too many characters and he can't handle them properly, unlike other mangakas like horikoshi who literally shows you the backstory of every single kid you see, even the one drawn in the corner of a panel in that one chapter that everyone forgot about (horikoshi has problems handling fem characters too, but this is a whole other problem and it's something that involves a lot of different animes/mangas).

that's it, going back at crying now, thinking about how my life could be way better if i put this same effort in my studies.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jujutsu kaisen spoilers #jjk2 #nobara kugisaki #jujutsu kaisen nobara #shoko ieiri #jujutsu kaisen shoko #maki zenin #mei mei #female characters #gege akutami #gege you have to pay for our therapy

[genericpuff]

I get asks like these a lot asking for my opinion about other webtoons outside of LO and Let's Play and ima be honest with y'all, if I haven't talked about it on this blog already, I probably don't read it. It's not for any lack of wanting to read comics, but it's sort of the nature of the beast - once you start making the medium you consume, you wind up with a lot less time to actually consume it. I don't keep up on nearly as many webtoons/webcomics as I used to, and it's partially because 1.) I'm too busy making them, 2.) the current oversaturation of the market means I'm not gonna really be compelled to try and read things unless it's something I'm really interested in, and 3.) I have ADHD so I already have a hard time starting new stories as it is, I often prefer just keeping up on comfort series that I know I like even if there are only a few of them LOL I know that means I'm likely missing out on a lot of great stories out there, but I can only keep up on so much stuff :')

Most of the comics I read nowadays aren't even on the WT app, it's stuff like Tale of Two Lovers, Alfie, Tamberlane, and Awkward Zombie. And whatever I DO read that's on the app, it's stuff that's being made by friends or stuff that fits a special interest that I've been following for a while. So webcomics like Time and Time Again, City of Blank, SHE MAKES HUNGRY, Growing Up Gerudo, Loving Reaper, and Zelda's Lullaby.

I'm frankly a bit old school so a lot of the stuff I read tends to be stuff that has its own independent site OR completely outside of the realm of webtoons and more into traditional publishing like manga.

That said, I do try to stay up to date on webtoons and newer series as much as I can as it's good for me to stay updated on what's going on in the industry and it means I'm exposing myself to new ideas and techniques, but I struggle with just picking up a webtoon and bingeing it for 10-20 episodes to see if I like it. So many of them now tend to just be the same thing with slightly different coats of paint. And I'm definitely not gonna pick up a webtoon just because people want my opinion of it, sorry but that's just not how this works LMAO Especially if it's a webtoon that people are expecting me to be critical of because it's written poorly, like why would I subject myself to reading something that I know right off the bat probably isn't gonna be enjoyable? Sure, if it's something REALLY bad I'll check them out to see what people are going off about or so I can form my own opinion, but I also don't want to be regularly subjecting myself to garbage that pisses me off when I could be reading stuff that brings me joy, I spend enough time being pissed off at LO and Let's Play as it is. I know, that's likely wild coming from me of all people, but I do like to enjoy things LOL It's not like I went into comics like LO and Let's Play hating them right off the bat, I actually used to really like those comics, until they either fell off or I spent more time reflecting on them and I realized how poorly written and drawn they were.

So no, sorry, but I don't have an opinion about webtoons like Unordinary or I Love Yoo or whatever have you and I can't guarantee I'll ever get around to reading them. If I do have an opinion about a webtoon, believe me, I'll post about them unprovoked, you won't need to ask me for them LMAO

#ama #anon ask me anything #anon ama #ask me anything

[svnaaaaaa]

Dreaming of you - Sano Manjiro 'Mikey' (AU)

pairing : mikey x fem reader

summary : based on my first story's 'dreaming of you'.

warning(s) : based on manga, spoilers from chapter 263, 264, 265, 266, 268, 275, 276, 277, 278 (i hope you guys finished reading the manga already), no related to the first and second part so can read on its own, angst, fighting scene

previous : part two

masterlist

author's note : i was watching 'the good bad mother' and idk what to say about it. i would to say thank you for enjoying this mini series of mine. actually i have no intention of continuing but seeing how many of you guys enjoyed the first part so i decided to make it parallel with the manga where i started with the first ever time leap by shinichiro then the death of shinichiro, time skip to kanto manji arc and now the ending. i also happened to watched the last episode of tokyo revengers so now i am bored so i decided to read the manga again and again until season three came out lol. so here's the last part of my 'my first story dedication' series because i love the band so much that i would hope that maybe one day my first story would make an ost for tokyo revengers eheh.

-

2003

i hate weak people. i love tough guys.

kenchin, baji, mitsuya, pahchin and kazutora. including me, the six strongest friends come together and formed tokyo manji gang. despite me suggesting tokyo manjiro gang, but the guys rejected the idea within seconds.

i like strong guys.

but that day...

2005

"watch over me, shin-nii."

i never anyone about this but i miss hoshiko. also because i feel bad for what i did to her. i loved her but i didn't know how to tell her. but it was too late. she already with shin-nii, watching over me.

and then i met these two people who'd change my fate.

kisaki tetta, with just strength isn't enough. what i need is darkness. the more i push it down, the more darkness overflows. i'll just give to my body and kill kazutora.

as i was about to swing my final punch, takemitchy stood in front of me. "takemitchy?" i muttered as takemitchy just smiled. "mikey-kun."

hanagaki takemichi, he wasn't the strongest one ever. but he stood up to me. even though he couldn't beat me, and easy to cry, before i could realized it and he's always there right in the middle.

takemitchy, why?

2007

"why are you getting up?" mikey asked, watching takemichi wobbling while getting up after mikey beaten him up. "do you think you can beat me? after i beaten you up into a pulp?" mikey asked as he just watching takemichi. spitting out blood, takemichi stabilized himself. "i made a promise to your future self." taking a step as the pain of his foot starting to take a toll on him. "to baji-kun." panting as he approaching to where mikey stood at. "and i promised draken-kun, that i cannot lose because," takemichi lunged himself to mikey, readying his punch. "the only one who can save you from the darkness is me!" shouting, takemichi launched himself before getting side-kicked by mikey, causing him to bounced back on his back.

"have you forgetten about hoshiko-san?" takemichi asked, making mikey halted his action of walking towards takemichi.

'mikey-kun!'

'here mikey-kun, your favourite one is the red bean paste right?'

as takemichi launches his way back to mikey once again, rage filled mikey's body. "don't you ever say her name!" mikey shouted and then he kicked takemichi right on his chest, causing takemichi to swayed back like before. "that's right, she would want me to save you too. like emma-chan." takemichi said again and with that, he was brutally kicked by mikey repeatedly where the other members of the two gangs couldn't even dare to interfere just like tenjiku-toman before.

looking back at takemichi, mikey stared at him like he was nothing, like worthless being. "you're seriously gonna die soon." mikey warned, wanting takemichi to stop. takemichi staggered on standing up, looking at mikey.

"come at me, mikey."

mikey feel the anger once again and jumped his way to kick takemichi. "why did you come back takemitchy? you've seen the video i left and i've promised to protect toman and hina-chan, didn't i?" mikey said. "i told you to forget about me!" mikey swung his fist and punches takemichi's face. "now everything i've done is useless."

takemichi stood up back to fight back and swung his fists towards mikey's way. "i came back because i knew what was wrapped yourself in. and i came back to save you." takemichi told him. "i've never known what a dark impulse is, from what waka said, the dark impulse was born out of love." mikey said, making takemichi confused even more. "that man turned back time to save me." mikey told takemichi, as takemichi just stared at him. with blank eyes, mikey stared back at takemichi.

"sano shinichiro is a time leaper."

-

"he gave the time leap power to some random kid." wakasa told them as he told back the story of what sano shinichiro told him before he died.

"after he gave you his power, days later he died." mikey continued while looking at takemichi. "this dark impulse's real identity was the curse from shinichiro killed the time leaper." mikey said as he placed his hand on his chest. "it affects those around me and, it's eating me alive." mikey said, looking at his chest where he could feel his heart beat racing.

takemichi slowly approching mikey. "you don't have to hold it in anymore." takemichi informed mikey, making mikey looking up at him. "i formed the second generation of toman to save you so release that dark impulse, mikey." takemichi said. mikey dropped his hand from his chest as he could feel something evil lurking out of him.

"whatever happens, it's on you."

with that, mikey didn't realize what happened next.

-

the fight goes on with mikey grabbing a katana from haruchiyo. and mikey wasn't even himself as smirk follows. the persona inside mikey wasn't even mikey at all. mikey swung the katana and cut a slit upon takemichi's right arm.

"don't you get it hanagaki? you can't break the curse!" haruchiyo shouted as mikey smirked. "they have been merged together that and everyone who are close to him ended up die!" haruchiyo continued.

"and everyone who tries to save him from thr darkness will ended up dying, you're gonna die hanagaki!"

with that, takemichi have been stabbed by mikey.

stoned, mikey has been pulled into a hug by takemichi with the katana buried in his body. "i'm not gonna lose, manjiro because i will shoulder this dark impulse." takemichi said to mikey's ear. "if you're gonna act stupid, i will take you down because you're my friend for life." takemichi continued and after that, blood coming out of his mouth which apparently he was stabbed by the chest.

"friend?" mikey mumbled to himself. within that, the darkness in him went gone and mikey realized the situation he's in. "takemitchy..." mikey looked at the person in his arms. "take my hand, you're the trigger mikey-kun." takemichi informed as he was shakingly grabbing mikey's hand. "what are you saying takemitchy?" mikey said slowly.

staggered, takemichi fall onto his knees. "oi, takemitchy!" mikey shouted, as everyone around were all stunned. "i..." takemichi said slowly, coughing out blood even more. "will go back to past, over and over..." takemichi continued saying throughout the blood. "that's enough takemitchy!" mikey warned. "so that i can smile with you, and everyone that we love and close to heart." takemichi said.

the light was dimmed. mikey felt no movement coming from takemichi as he lightly shaking takemichi's body. not moving or reacting, takemichi fell onto mikey's chest. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" falling onto his knees, takemichi fell onto his laps and mikey repeatedly shaking takemichi in order to wake him up. sobbing, mikey grabbed takemichi's hands. "i distanced myself so that none of this would happen! open your eyes, takemitchy!" mikey shouted as tears falling out of his eyes, not wanting to accept what it is happening right in front of him.

-

1998

hearing a banter, hoshiko shocked by the noise which soon followed by a punching sound. emma got up and left hoshiko in the living room to see the ruckus. hoshiko stood up as well and followed emma. "oi keisuke!" emma shouted as she placed her fists on her waist. "don't fight in front of other people's house!" emma pointed out and takemichi looked at emma. "emma-chan.." then he looked at the girl next to emma. "hoshiko-san.." hoshiko weirded out as she looked at takemichi. "do we know each other?" hoshiko questioned. "oi what is this ruckus all about?" a voice said walking towards where everyone is at. "oi keisuke, what's going on right in the morning huh?" it was shinichiro. "you're being too loud." shinichiro mumbled. "wait, who are you?" shinichiro asked takemichi, causing the kids there were looking at him as well.

takemichi felt awkward as he realized that he has time-leaped into time where everyone hasn't met him yet. "huh, who are you?" it was mikey. can't believe his eyes, takemichi's eyes got teared up. "mikey-kun.."

"you're, takemitchy? realized mikey, as he remembers those eyes. takemichi stared at mikey and he shocked by the nickname. 'how could he-'

"is it really you takemitchy?" mikey asked. "huh.." was all takemichi uttered out. "no way.."

"WE TIME-LEAPED TOGETHER!" and with that, the two of them went off running. "what's wrong with them?" shinichiro asked. "beats me." keisuke replied.

"mikey! don't forget to come back for dinner!" hoshiko reminded as she waved her arm.

2017

"will do!" mikey replied as takemichi stood in front of the sano residence, on his bike. mikey ride on the back as takemichi turned on his bike given by mikey as present during their youth. hoshiko stood in front of the sano residence gate, watching mikey and takemichi. "be safe okay, make sure everything is well prepared." hoshiko reminded, making both mikey and takemichi chuckled. "okay got it hoshiko-chan." takemichi replied. hoshiko smiled as she rubbing her pregnant stomach.

in 2005, mikey accepted hoshiko's confession as encouraged by emma one day while preparing chocolates for valentine's day. starting from there, even being the captain of toman, hoshiko accepted mikey for who he is and mikey for who she is. hoshiko became of the woman of toman and was well-protected by the members of toman as a sign of loyalty to the captain.

in 2008, shinichiro married to someone he met at his shop. he knew that was a love at first sight and the girl was also a motorbike enthusiast, same as him. also mikey and hoshiko graduated from high school. with support from her parents, hoshiko pursued her studies in collage in journalism so now hoshiko is a chief editor in one of biggest magazine company in tokyo.

married to mikey in 2015, both of them are now a proud parents-to-be. the baby will be due during autumn time. both of them are the current residence of sano residence with sano mansaku since both shinichiro and emma moved out right after getting married. nevertheless, both lived near so whenever there are family events, they won't missed it. shinichiro continued working in ss motors alongside with his wife as co-owner and emma as a housewife to draken, who works with mikey as his mechanic for top of manji, mikey's motorsport team as he is the racer for the team. as for izana, he continued living in yokohama as director of tenjiku, which he occasionally travelling but still based in yokohama.

life is nice when you are surrounded with good people.

july 11, 2017

the day has comes by and it is now takemichi and hinata's wedding day. the venue itself was extravagant. fillied with toman's former members, which all of them are really living the life.

hoshiko took a seat which has been assigned her name which with the rest of the sano family. mikey went to the groom's dressing room to congratulate takemichi himself. hoshiko already met with hinata with emma but left first since the pregnancy itself has been exhausting for hoshiko. "oh shiko-chan!" shinichiro's wife greeted as she took a seat next to hoshiko's left. "nee-san." hoshiko greeted back, bowing her head lightly. "where's mikey?" shinichiro asked as he took a seat next to his wife's left. "he's with the groom." hoshiko told him as he nodded his head. "ah."

"hello family." izana greeted as he took a seat next to shinichiro, shaking his hand. "how's business 'zana?" shinichiro asked and shinichiro's wife rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "men and business, am i right shiko-chan?" shinichiro's wife asked, making hoshiko chuckled. "yerp." hoshiko replied.

then mikey pop-ed out of nowhere and took a seat next to his wife's right, followed by emma and draken. everyone else also took their assignated seats and then the ceremony begins.

"groom takemichi, do you take hinata as your lawful wedded wife to cherish and promise to be faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?" the minister asked and as he finished asking, he looked at takemichi which makes mikey looked at his wife. realized that mikey turned his head, hoshiko looked at mikey, smiling lightly. "what is it?" hoshiko asked whispering. "i love you." mikey whispered back, making hoshiko blushed with the sudden confession.

the vow exchanged to hinata and mikey continued on looking at his wife. "you know you suppose to say it back right?" mikey whispered and hoshiko giggled as she detected an upset mikey. placing her hand on his left cheek, mikey leaned into it. "i love you too mikey, for as long as i shall live." hoshiko whispered back, reciting her vow from two years ago. smiling, mikey grabbed his wife's placed hand and kissed her palm. intertwined their hands together, mikey placed it on his left thigh, continued to watch the ceremony as both takemichi and hinata now exchange wedding rings.

"you may now kiss the bride." the minister announced and without a blink, both groom and bride kissed to seal the vow and everyone starting to cheer and clapping hands.

-

No matter what words I look for

"I love you" isn't enough

You’re the only, you’re the only, you’re the only one

I love you from the bottom of my heart

-

2005

one afternoon on monday where during recess time, hoshiko and mikey met at the rooftop of their school as promised between the two. "here, mikey-kun." hoshiko said as she held out a box towards his way, bowing her head 90 degrees. mikey looked at the box and then looked up at hoshiko. "what's this?" mikey asked but hoshiko keep on bowing. "please accept it." was all hoshiko said and then mikey opened it to reveal a box of things like chocolates, other sweets and a letter.

mikey took out the letter and read it instantly.

'dear mikey-kun, happy valentine's day. i hope you like the present that i gave to you. i just want to say this right but i am too nervous to say it in person so here's why the letter exists. i like you mikey-kun and i hope you would return the same feelings as well. hoshiko xx'

mikey looked at hoshiko as she was fidgetting with her fingers while looking at her shoes. smiling, mikey took hoshiko's hands into his. hoshiko looked up at him. seeing how mikey smiled at her, hoshiko's face becoming more redder than ever.

"hoshiko, i like you too."

the end ♡ thank you for enjoying this special series of mine!

#sano manjiro #manjiro sano #mikey sano #sano mikey manjiro #sano manjiro x reader #sano manjiro x y/n #sano mikey x reader #tokyo revengers sano manjiro #manjiro sano x reader #manjiro sano x y/n #manjiro sano x you #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader

[siooin]

My review on episode 5 + some comparisons with manga and ln1.

It's mainly about Souheki because if i don't talk about them every chance i get i will explode.

Start of the episode ,i love the idea of using the sound the Ramune bottle and marble to attract Atsushi's n audiences' attention.It's a shame that they didn't animate Kunikida's soft smile when Ranpo was being even more rude in the manga.

annnnnnd ofc he's gonna focus on the marble and leave Atsushi sitting there awkwardly. Ranpo autism moment.

Atsushi thought Ranpo can't do anything without an ability is funny.Atsushi sweetie that's some wild assumption for a guy you just met a few days ago.He really just saw Ranpo can't take the train and assumed the worst lol.

this scene is always interesting to me because this is the only time we saw Ranpo paying respect to the dead like this.Now i have a few guesses of the reason.

1.a simple one is that maybe he did this all the time,after all we only saw him solve crimes with real bodies like two times.in perfect crime arc they were on rush.

2.Ranpo actually said "oh it's a lady",so yeah maybe he only did that to certain people

3.it's the start of the series so eveything is still uncertain

I don't have anything to add here,i think we could all agree dazai being there wasn't a coincident.

Another thing i mourn not making into Anime is that Ranpo saying even Dazai is an enigma to him in manga.it adds more layer in their relationship.tbh it's a bit boring if Ranpo always knows what Dazai is up to.

Now it's cute seeing Dazai defending Ranpo like that because i dont think minoura would actually hit him or something,maybe Dazai just wants to stop the bickering.

I love Ranpo's motto "All's well that's well for me" because it just like him.It seem self-center at first, but if you know him a little better, you'll know it actually means as long as he's fine he can make sure everyone else is fine.It's not just the meaning,this is how everyone's impression of him at first vs when they get to know him.

this part annoyed me the most cause Dazai looks so fond in the manga ,but he looks passive and serious in anime.LIKE WTF WAS THAT???DAZAI NEVER LOOKED AT RANPO LIKE THAT>>this leads to my biggest complaint of this episode⬇

//spoil for light novel 1

it has been talked many times how messed up the azure messenger arc aka light novel 1 adaption is.But I want to add it was so poor that it has already affects this episode.In the manga, Dazai didn't explain how he knows Ranpo didn't have an ability to Atsushi.The explanation here is actually straight up pull up from ln1 what he told Kunikida after he first met Ranpo.BUT because Bones don't wanna properly adapt the novel, they have to stiffly add it here.So that's why Dazai seemed serious when testing Ranpo,they want to add the impression this is the first time he discover it.

Do you want to know another fucked up thing about this scene is?They phased it like Dazai never work with Ranpo , that they're unfamiliar with each other.But in reality, Dazai has saw Ranpo's "ability"the very first time they met.They have worked together so well that they received their own name "Souheki".Dazai admires Ranpo so much that he constantly compliment him.

End the post of my favorite shot of this episode<3 Look at my son having the best time in his life🤩🤩🤩good for him good for him.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #ranpo edogawa #dazai osamu #atsushi nakajima #souheki #bsdrewatch2023 #actually have a lot more to talk about but im busy now....... #i still stands by my theory of ranpo seeing Atsushi as a stray cat Dazai randomly bringing in #he didn't even try to start anyconversations with him #actually i want to put them under microscope to see how their relationship develops #will forever be pissed that they removed Souheki's first meeting #anyways shameless promote i actually made a mini analysis about it check my pin if you're interested

[beanghostprincess]

Why is shanks/buggy so underrated in this side of fandom? It’s much more loved in Japanese one, one of the most popular for shanks. I feel like this one prefers other mlm options for him and I don’t get it. It got better after OPLA I think but still. Sorry for my English!

Oh! This is actually such an interesting question. I was talking about this the other day and I came to a conclusion with my friend about this. Basically, there are a lot of things to take into consideration here. The screentime, the age of the characters, the chemistry, how they're perceived by the fandom and canonically, etc etc etc.

The first thing I thought about was the screentime, honestly. Shanks and Buggy grew up together and they have a deep bond, however, we've only seen that through flashbacks (one in quite literally episode 8 of the anime, another one in Wano that isn't even about them and they're just side characters in this flashback, and in chapter 1082 of the manga. But it's not even a proper flashback because we already saw that when Shanks talks to Whitebeard about Buggy, it's just Buggy's interpretation of it) and we only have like one scene of them together that isn't even two minutes long. So, quite obviously you'd think "well, the ship isn't as popular as other ships because they barely have any screentime" and I think it's correct but also not quite. And also, this would also have to apply to the Japanese fandom at the end of the day. Fandoms don't give a single fuck about screen time if the chemistry is right, really, but there's always this factor, y'know. Lawlu has less screentime than Zolu and yet it's more popular somehow because people absolutely love their dynamic. Then, if you stop to think about it, both Satosugu (Jjk) and Soukoku (Bsd) have the same dynamic and concept as Shuggy, but they're by far the most popular ships in their fandoms. They're basically the same ships but Jjk and Bsd give them proper development and story because they're shorter series. One Piece is a long show and we still have many things to see, even if we know it's gonna end soon, so I guess that we'll still have to wait to see more of Shuggy. Once we do, I'm sure it'll become more popular. Also, Shanks' personality is very diverse because he's all mysterious and all, so I kind of understand why people don't want to make content because they still don't have him figured out.

But then again, screen time isn't really the problem. It's just one of the factors. If they had more screen time, they'd be more popular for sure, yes, but it's not exactly what makes them less popular in this side of the fandom. Otherwise, it'd be equally as popular on the other sides too. The Japanese side of fandoms is different from this one and tbh they often don't take into consideration things like cancel culture and proship discourse or the standard beauty regarding age because they just post whatever they want and scroll past what they don't like (god I fucking wish we were like that because I am so done with these things). Besides, isn't Buggy like a very beloved character over there, aside from Oda's favorite? At least from what I've seen, they take his character way more seriously than this side of the fandom does, honestly. And it bothers me because he's such a complex and great character, and people never see it because they use him either for memes or to keep saying "omggg turns out the clown is hot!! Can you believe I want to fuck a clow-" yes, Samantha, we know you want to fuck the clown. It's not weird. It's not new. Do you even like the character, at least, or you're just using him to say how kinky and quirky you are? (And I don't even care about the sexualization of characters because, again, fictional characters are fictional characters and you don't have to take everything so seriously. I have tons of characters I don't like that much but only stan because I find them hot and that's alright. But damn, it bothers me sometimes).

Anyway, with this, I wanna say that there are other things to have in mind when talking about this.

Recently (I know it's not exactly new but in fandom years? Recently) there has been a huge thing surrounding the term "old men yaoi". People are so down bad for middle-aged men and they see two of them together and they instantly go "omg they're soo married" but that's- That's it? That's just it. They don't even ship them, they just find the concept of older men hot because "omg he's such a dilf" and they want to fuck both of them. But they never end up doing anything with it. They try to be so groundbreaking like "ohh I am SO woke by shipping these two old men! See? Breaking stereotypes!" because both irl and online, age has always been a very stigmatized thing. Apparently you can't be in a fandom if you're older than 25 because then you're weird, and if there's an actress older than 50 she's instantly useless for the industry.

What I want to say with this is that most people in the fandom are young. They're young and they like attractive, young, hot people and they don't want old, unconventionally attractive men. They don't want them unless it's to give a "hot take" and to be super progressive and woke. Do you know what they like? They like Dilfs. They like Shanks because he's conventionally attractive and good with kids and he's the standard for a Dilf. Because he's hot and mysterious but also silly and quirky and "he's almost forty that is so hot something something daddy kink". And they don't want to see him fucking someone his age because God forbid this man has a personality outside being a Dilf. Younger people in the fandom constantly read y/n fics regarding Shanks because they want him to fuck them and not Buggy. And they can't project in these old men, so they publicly say "oh, Shanks and Buggy are so married" because it's just a fact the fandom made clear, but they don't really like the content. Because liking Buggy sexually, apparently, is just so weird. Or as a character. Nobody wants to say their favorite character is the failguy clown. It's a hot take when you say that Buggy is hot because people keep being all weird about it when... Uh... He's- He's just a clown. Guys. It's not weird. Or bad. Who raised you to think that? God, I find Monet extremely hot and she's half-bird. Could we please normalize these things? They're fictional characters. And also, stop reducing Buggy to his jokes or the fact that he's a clown because his character is GREAT and complex and it just bothers me so much.

This makes me think about this whole "background couple" thing. Which are basically couples that are canon or that are so popular and obvious that people, instead of making content for them (because why would you make content for a canon couple?) just place them in the background instead. There are so many fanfics in which Shuggy is a background couple. Or studies in which, instead of analyzing them, they're used only for parallelisms. This happens with, idk, Saboala? Frobin? Yamace? People don't like couples that everybody agrees on. They don't like m/f ships because they can't be woke!!!!! And queer!!!! (when they easily could but whatever). They don't like ships that everybody likes because!!!!!! They're canon already and why would you write about them???? And so, Shuggy stays a bit more as a side couple instead. For being old and unconventionally unattractive and not having much screentime, but being extremely popular. Not in a "content" way, but in a "knowledge" way. Even the general audience thinks their bond is crucial to the story, c'mon.

One of the differences that this side of the fandom has with the Japanese one, as I mentioned before, is the cancel culture and proship discourse thing. They just don't have that concept. And that's perfect, honestly, I wish we could just scroll past what we don't like too and live peacefully because the discourse is getting tiring. And also you have to admit that, because of the anti propaganda going around, now fandoms have turned into the most puritan thing in the world. Beware! Sex! Age difference between fictional characters that have a consensual and healthy and mature relationship! Oh! God forbid teenagers have sex with people their age! Ohmygodjustshutup. And so, Shuggy isn't a problematic ship. Not even close. But inside the OP world, people do say they are brothers. They keep talking about each other like that, too. And I don't even think it's the typical "we say they're like brothers so you don't think they're gay because they're both guys and guys can't kiss" (I am having flashbacks from the IT fandom). They do have the same parents. Like- We all agree Shanks and Buggy were both raised by Roger and Rayleigh and they consider them, if not their dads, parental figures at least. Right? And you're aware that doesn't make it incest, right? Both things can coexist. Foster families are a thing. Lots of people who grew up together and consider the same people their parental figures end up dating because they don't see each other as siblings. Well, most people don't see it this way and hear the word "brother" and run from it like it's a fucking virus. The Japanese side of the fandom doesn't give a fuck because they're fictional and because they're y'know, not brothers? And even if they were, cancel culture and proship discourse is so fucking stupid to them because they follow the "don't like don't look" thing. But on this side of the fandom, a lot of people see them as brothers and the other half sees them as a divorced couple and apparently nobody knows how to fucking read this manga and have a proper fandom experience without jumping to each other's throats at the minimum disagreement.

So, to summarize: People on this side of the fandom don't like Shuggy THAT much and it isn't such a popular ship in comparison to the Japanese side, because young people don't like older men together, they don't focus on unconventionally attractive characters, are afraid of any little possibility of cancelation, and also, well, Shuggy doesn't have much screentime anyway so there's not much we can do with that.

#oh shit this is long #and i think i got a bit carried away #but yeah i am surprised the ship isn't more famous tbh #also have in mind that people read the manga but a huge side of the fandom are anime only and chapter 1082 is quite important for shuggy #and please PLEASE if you start discourse right now for the proship/anti thing i am going to jump off a bridge do not do that it's dumb #i got a bit angry at the end i am sorry #one piece #shuggy

[anti-dazai-blog]

y'know, it's kinda ridiculous that dazai eventually won without much difficulty. in recent chapters of the manga, we witnessed for the first time that dazai was struggling so hard, which showed him less omnipotent than he was, and more human at the same time. but it turns out that he was making a fool out of fyodor all along!!!! he lost to the power of alliance!!!! ...excuse me? then what was meursault arc all for?

i love bsd, but there are too many things that annoy me, and the flaws of the series are rarely talked about. so im reaaally happy to see you criticizing the series. i love your blog sm, please never stop posting!! 💕

YES EXACTLY!!

Dazai’s omniscience does NOT help humanize him. All that it does is give him more accountability in everything that happens. He doesn’t get the luxury of pleading ignorance because at this point, the story has made that no longer believable. 

No matter what, Dazai knows everything all the time, doesn’t make mistakes in his plans and strategies, and is capable of anything. If this is the case, which I said it was semi-jokingly in the early days of this blog, he really can be held accountable for pretty much anything and everything happening. Which I’d really rather wasn’t the case.

One of the main themes of bsd is humanity. No one’s special or perfect, everyone’s a human being trying their best to get by. The Meursault arc did a pretty decent job of humanizing both Dazai and Fyodor, two characters who were previously shown as (intellectually) flawless, by having them struggle in their battle of wits against each other. Having both of them mess up or miscalculate in some way made them seem like real people and not just two algorithms playing chess. 

Having Dazai reveal in this final episode that he knew everything all along, everything went according to his plan, and there was never any challenge to begin with entirely defeats the purpose of the arc. What are we supposed to take away from this? That Dazai automatically wins any fight because he’s Dazai? That removes all stakes. 

Why continue watching a show if you’ve already been told that one specific character will always win—and not only that, but it won’t even be a struggle for him to get there, because he knows everything about everything all the time. 

I really, really hope that this was an anime-only ending. Asagiri can still fix this. Admittedly, bungo stray dogs has always been character-focused rather than plot-focused, so while I trust Asagiri to handle the characters better than this, I’m not really sure what to expect plot-wise. But I’m gonna hope for the best.

#Anti dazai asks #I like teenage Dazai because he makes mistakes! he messes up! #Dazai didn’t know about arahabaki— Dazai didn’t know that Chuuya would choose not to kill N— Dazai didn’t know how to save Oda #Main manga Dazai knows the entire plot of the next ten arcs before they even begin #My guy. That’s not a human being. That’s someone who has access to the author’s brain and knows everything the author does just ‘cause. #Dazai skipped over breaking the forth wall and jumped straight to the fifth sixth seventh wall #However many walls it takes to enter the author of your story’s brain #Unless it’s revealed that Dazai has the book and learned about timelines or whatever happened in Beast #Idk I’ve never read Beast but if he’s gaining his omniscience now from the book that would at least be an explanation #not a fantastic one in my opinion but better than nothing #Bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #dazai

[isekai-crow]

2024 Winter Anime Lineup (Master Post?)

First post for a new blog where I'm going to try and record my opinions, break downs, comparisons, and various degrees of squees about anime!

The lineup for this year's Winter isn't as packed as the 2023 Fall season was, but that's always the case. It sure is still causing my To Watch List to keep getting longer... but more importantly because it's so lacking in big name shows one of my most anticipated shows gets to shine...

SOLO LEVELING

俺だけレベルアップな件

LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!

I'M SO EXCITED FOR MY SHADOW BOY TO FINALLY ARRIVE!!!

also, holy CRAP look at all this TRADITIONAL FANTASY!!! There is even a decent selection of non harem Isekai this round too! And a lot of awesome sequels/continuations!

Anyways, here's what's on my to watch list for this season! I'll be posting about them in their own or other threads as I figure out how I want to set this blog up. My reasons for WHY I'm watching what I'm watching

Definitely Will Watch!

Solo Leveling / 俺だけレベルアップな件

Apothecary Diaries /薬屋のひとりごと(Continued)

Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi) / ダンジョン飯

The Villains Day Off / 休日のわるものさん

Undead Unluck / アンデッドアンラック(Continued)

Fire Hunter (Hikari no Ou) 2nd Season / 火狩りの王

High Hopes / Might Drop / Taking My Time

Sasaki and Peeps / 佐々木とぴーちゃん

The Witch and the Beast / 魔女と野獣

Doctor Elise / 外科医エリゼ

Cherry Magic (THIS ENGLISH TITLE LMAO) / 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい (DEF WATCHING THIS ONE NOW)

Shangri-La Frontier / シャングリラフロンティア　(Continued)

Beyond Journey's End / 葬送のフリーレン (Continued)

Gonna Give Them A Few Episodes

Mashle Season 2

Fluffy Paradise / Isekai de Mofumofu Nadenade Suru Tame ni, Ganbattemasu (I'm doing my best in another world to pet fluffy creatures)

Ishura

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic / 治癒魔法の間違った使い方

Blue Exorcist / Ao no Exorcist (OUT OF LEFT FIELD THIS ONE)

Delusional Monthly Magazine / Gekkan Mousou Kagaku

This is already insanely long, so the second half of this essay about what I think is below ↓↓↓↓

DEFINITE WATCH LIST

SOLO LEVELING - I've been waiting for the solo leveling anime since BEFORE the anime was ever announced, re-reading the webcomic/manhwa multiple times and just HOPING someone would animate these gorgeous shadows. It is a very well done power fantasy with only squints of romance, and while I'm sad it's been localized to Japan (and all the fuckery that comes with of Korean erasure), I got to see the first two episodes at the World Premiere and I. Am. So. Hype.

APOTHECARY DIARIES existed completely outside of my head space, and my initial response at the premise was, Raven of the Inner Palace? I wasn't actually expecting much from it and then the first few episodes BLEW ME OUT OF THE WATER and now I'm obsessed.

DUNGEON MESHI is one of those manga I've heard about, but tried reading and it was too slow paced for me (I say, currently slogging through The Boat Arc (TM) of Hunter x Hunter), but the anime gives it life and I think I'll enjoy this alot. I love cooking anime and fantasy, so this will be fun!

KYUJITSU NO WARUMONOSAN is just straight up Crow Bait. That curly bowl cut, the gap moe of a villain who loves cute things, and voiced by fricken Shintarou Asanuma!!! (I know him as Samatoki from HypMic, other's will know him from the "Fucking Bullshit" song from Carole and Tuesday, and a host of other roles) Also, all the pretty sentei / power ranger boys!!! I'm so hype, in the most relaxed chill way for this.

UNDEAD UNLUCK is so weird in that it involves a lot of random sexualization, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable like Seven Deadly Sin's random gropping did, maybe because there is actual implied consent involved. Fuuko and Andy are Poly and I love them for it. And the world building is TOP NOTCH.

FIRE HUNTER - If you haven't seen season one, you are missing out. A darkly beautiful post-post apocolyptic alternate Japan-esque world, from the POV of a young girl, and a young genius boy having to let himself be manipulated by capitalism to survive, and gods? a magic system? but so soft that it's barely there even while being a full on fantasy story.

High Hopes or Taking My Time

SASAKI AND PEEPS- What a weird little show that has the weirdest combination of isekai, the most "this is fine." salaryman, and a fricken' CHUNIBYO BIRB. I've already watched the first episode and it feels like there are two magic systems going on and its a bit confusing, so we will see how this plays out!

WITCH AND BEAST - I keep wanting to call this Beauty and the Beast, because the beast is a rad bad ass looking lady, and the witch is certainly one of the most beautiful undertakers I've ever seen. I think he carries his boyfriend around in his coffin backpack, so I'm hype to see WTF is up with that >o>

DOCTOR ELISE - Why do manhwa I read keep randomly popping up as anime??? This is a vilainess turned good story, and supposedly the market is full of these, but none of them are the good ones I've read, so I did a double take of happiness when I saw this. THIS ONE IS GOOD. An spoiled princess gets killed, is reborn in Korea and becomes a doctor, only to be killed by Airplane-kun, and winds up back in her old body where she decides to become a doctor again! The prince is even not your typical icy asshole! (although maybe he is a little at the beginning..)

CHERRY MAGIC - THIS FRICKEN ENGLISH TITLE GOOD LORDS ABOVE. I'm dying. I'm also excited to see this one play out and I'll be hiding behind a pillow giggling like a mad lad while I do. It's been a while since there's been a good BL that's not SAD (looking at YOU Given and Banana Fish, but avoids eye contact with Sasaki and Miyano) so hopefully it doesn't dip into that territory. Going into this one mostly blind as to the premise apart from the obvious Gap-Moe with the love interest.

SHANGRI-LA - I started watching this on a whim as the Fall season started to wind down, and found it to be a good potato chip to have on in the background. I'll probably continue watching it, but not weekly.

FRIEREN - This is what I watch when Jujutsu Kaisen hurts too much to keep going. I'm only a few episodes in, so it'll be slow going, but I think it's about to pick up it's pacing a little where I'm at, and it'll be good comfort food to have.

MAYBES

Mashle Season 2 - The pacing was SUPER WEIRD in the first season that despite all of it's shitting on the properties of she-who-shall-not-be-named, the end of the season kind of fell flat. I wanted to like it more, so I'm hoping Season 2 does that for me.

Fluffy Paradise - I love isekais with an adult in a child's body pretending to be just super smart, and this doesn't feel like it's going to do that, but still looks cute none the less. I'll give it a few episodes, but will quickly drop it if my watch list is too long.

Ishura - Is this what life is like for D&D Characters when they hit level 20? I HOPE SO. I LOVED the Legend of Vox Machina, and hope this has the same sort of vibes, but I'm going in blind!

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - Love me some fucked up healing magic. Please DO NOT let this be ANYTHING like Redo Healer. I refuse to watch that even those FUCKED UP HEALING MAGIC IS FUN. But this. This I want to see. Please let this also not be a harem. I'm fine with ~vibes~ but please no actual harem that's not actually Poly.

Blue Exorcist - THIS IS TOTALLY OUT OF NOWHERE. HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?????? I remember the last season feeling like a disappointment? But can't remember why? Gonna see if this is worth re-watching the seasons from like... a decade ago.

Delusional Monthly Magazine - I watched the PV and had no fucking clue what was happening. Therefore, I will be watching a few episodes to sate my curiosity about WTF OR possibly just get myself even more confused and rage quit. lmao

I've watched the first few episodes of a couple of these, and will be watching a few more tomorrow, so Next Goal: Post a write up or three about what I think!

#anime #anime winter 2024 #apothecary diaries #solo leveling #sousou no frieren #undead unluck #cherry magic #sasaki and peeps #dungeon meshi #mr. villain's day off #mashle #kusuriya no hitorigoto #frieren #beyond journey's end #ore dake level up na ken #delicious in dungeon #masterpost

[sir-klauz]

So elated Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru/My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999/山田くんとLv999の恋をする is out, aired to the public in Spring of this year, 2023, through Madhouse studios, one of my favourites for a series.

I watched a few episodes before I decided to wait till it was mostly/totally released so I could sit and watch it in one stint. Yesterday I gave in hahaha.

I am most pleased. It’s the first anime released about a manga I’ve read since I returned to immersing myself into manga just over a year ago once again. I usually read a lot of not super popular mangas which never see the screens unfortunately despite being beautiful stories in the rough. As I thought, I’m very much enjoying it so far.

If you’re into anime, you’ve probably seen a fair few memes of Yamada already during the one scene he turns away from the computer. The most amusing one to me, was this one, as I’m also a big gamer of Genshin this was a funny joke between me and my partner.

I still can’t get over the scenario where he just starts totally choking on cup ramen in the manga, and I hope that doesn’t get forgetting. Because yeah, very relatable. Introvert gamer eating and choking on noodles, disaster. How he’s like socially I understand, I like the character, Akane is always very kinda despite some ways she gets treat and I think that’s quite brave but I wish she would stand up for herself more! The time with the fan incident was so sad, and such a real thing to be wary about even though she was set up. I cannot everr forgive that lil’ wet wipe Runa for doing that to her. She totally got my goat when that happened, idc. Her excuse is she’s younger and lonely and immature but.. that doesn’t cut it for me, there’s no excuse to do that but I’m glad she felt guilty and apologised as y’know, I thought she definitely never would when reading the manga.

Eita is so camp I love him, and when he goes angry face at Runa, we know shiz gonna go down as he’s usually like ^-^^^.

Let’s just say, Takezou, is, just, adorable. I’m very glad there’s representation for the older gaming community which very much exists, not only for the fact many avid gamers from when games started releasing still very much have been around this whole time since those days and have a lot of experience! Even if you can’t do big tournaments as easy the older you get, a lot of older gamers get ignored or forgetting and it’s associated with only being a young people thing.

Synopsis

After her boyfriend breaks up with her for another girl, college student Akane Kinoshita wrestles with a broken heart and the memories he left behind. Loading up Forest of Savior, the MMO they used to play together, she forms a plan to get back at her ex-boyfriend through an in-person event for the game. In the process, she runs into someone unexpected: Akito Yamada, a gaming legend who just happens to be her guildmate.

Desperate for support, Akane ropes the asocial Yamada into helping with her scheme and lending her a shoulder to cry on. The differences between Akane and Yamada soon become apparent as they spend time together, yet they cannot help but notice each other's inner qualities. As the two gain more experience with one another in and out of the game, their tentative acquaintance may level up in a way neither expects.

Producers: Aniplex, Movic, Tokyo MX, BS11, Egg Firm, Kadokawa, COMICSMART

Genre: Romance

Theme: Video Game

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

#yamada kun to lv999 no koi wo suru #loving yamada at lv999 #山田くんとLv999の恋をする #my love story with yamada kun at lv999 #akane kinoshita #yamada akito #akito yamada #kinoshita akane #anime spoilers #anime #anime and manga #anime blog #manga blog #manga review #anime review #anime reccomendations #manga reccs #manga reccomendation #anime release #anime recommendation #anime recap #manga recap #manga recommendations #josei manga #josei #josei anime #gaming manga #anime updates #anime releases #anime news

[mesmarique]

Yuri and Subtext in Spring 2023

Spring season is knocking at the door and the Yuri shipping in Spring 2023 will be unreal. I swear to Madoka.

There's at least two Yuris that are gonna hit us with full force, two at the very least subtext-heavy ones, and I'm sure the Uma Musume creators are gonna find a way to make it really gay in Road To The Top as well.

Here I list the shows (as far as I know, but in case there's gonna be last minute additions, I will edit this post accordingly) that are going to come out in April, as well as little side information, fun facts and my personal feelings about them:

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Season 2

This series is, like it says, a continuation of The Witch From Mercury which aired from October 2022 to January 2023, our protagonist is a shy girl from Mercury by the name of Suletta Mercury, who was thrown into a setting à la Revolutionary Girl Utena, with duels that determine who's going to marry President Delling's only daughter Miorine Rembran. I'm gonna keep the summary short here, because there's a lot of spoilers to beware of, but for the Yuri enthusiasts it's a show that should not be skipped over.

I personally really loved this show, it was very exciting to watch and the next cour promises a lot more than what we have already seen.

And the best thing is: You can watch all of it subbed on Youtube legally on the GundamInfo channel for free. The episodes are still being regionally unlocked, but a great portion of the world should be having standard access to most episodes by now, as well as the Prologue that is strongly recommended to watch before you get into the main series at all.

There is also a novel chapter set between the Prologue and Episode 1, which you're free to read anytime after watching the Prologue.

You are NOT required to have seen other Mobile Suit Gundam series' prior to this one, it's original and written by the author of the official Revolutionary Girl Utena novels (mind you, he is not the original creator of Utena!).

Season 2 is going to air from April 2023, every Sunday (presumably the first Sunday of the month, which is a 2nd. Oy, don't look at me like that, they did say it as cryptical as that! lmao). Edit #1: Set airing date is 9th of April!

Here you can watch an English subbed trailer for Season 1:

Edit #2: There is now a trailer for The Witch from Mercury Season 2 (it contains heavy spoilers for Season 1):

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story Season 2

This show is produced by Bandai, like the series above. The first season aired from April to June 2022. This one is honestly quite a messy but entertaining show, with quite a few genres mixed into it. The lead characters in this one are also girls and have a very soul-matey connection to one another (They legitimately can't stop thinking about one another for 5 seconds, there is also a noticeable attraction going on).

It's best described as a wlw soap opera with golf and other themes (to keep it spoiler free).

Fun fact, this series offers quite a few winks at Gundam fans and I would not be surprised, if somehow The Witch From Mercury and Birdie Wing were to collaborate in one way or another to promote the respectively other series during Spring season.

And even if you don't enjoy golf as a sport, you might still enjoy this series. I personally loved it even more as a casual binge, but that's to each their own.

Season 2 is going to air from 1st of April 2023. Edit #2: it's April 7th, my bad

Here is a PV for Birdie Wing: Golf Lesbians' Story Season 2:

Yuri Is My Job

I'm a huge fan of the manga and I can say for sure: YES, Yuri is indeed their job, but also part of their private lives.

It is personally one of the better Yuri dramas that I have encountered over the recent years and if I had to compare it to anything, then I'd say it's like Citrus, if you take away the SA, make it more manipulative instead, as well as diving deeper into the characters feelings, thoughts and struggles that come with those. I can't say for sure how much of its greatness there will be displayed in just one cour, but regardless of it, I'm excited to see the adaptation.

The general setting is the one of a café from an in-universe fictional German all-girls academy, with very sapphic display of affection among the waitresses as part of a roleplay.

Season 1 is going to air from 6th of April 2023.

Here is an English subbed trailer for the anime:

World Dai Star

There is a rising trend of Takarazuka Revue anime, but why would I complain?

For those who don't know: Takarazuka Revue is an all-female musical theatre group based in Takarazuka, Japan, that perform any kind of roles regardless of gender. Because of that the "genre"(if you can call it such) itself has very sapphic undertones. Directly or indirectly influenced by Takarazuka Revue have been Roses of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena, of which the former inspired Kageki Shoujo!! and the latter inspired The Witch From Mercury (so many crazy coincidences in the upcoming season, aren't there?) and Revue Starlight. To get back to this series:

It's not known a lot (or translated) what the story of World Dai Star is gonna be roughly about, but judging the media footage alone, its focus lies in the Takarazuka Revue performances and presumably to make it big in the world, if the title is anything to go by.

Season 1 is going to air from 9th of April 2023.

The most recent non-subbed PV for the show:

Uma Musume: Road To The Top

Uma Musume is back at it again, after two successful seasons, and other medias, here we have a brand new story that is gonna be directly released as an ONA (Original Net Animation), likely on this Youtube channel. It's not known how long it's gonna be, but its primary focus is a retelling of the late 90s/early 2000s era of Japanese horse racing with 3 new protagonists and I believe some reoccuring characters from either of the seasons before.

Uma Musume retells historical careers of Japanese race horses in a kemonomimi setting, and the passion of the work behind it is tangible. The emotions are captivating.

I had a hate-love relationship with Uma Musume Season 1, because it drifted away from the historical aspects here and there that it initially covered so greatly, but Season 2 reignited my love for it so strongly, that it became one of my favorite anime. A Season 3 is also in the works, which I'm excited for.

Now for the legitimacy of the Yuri in this one: No, it's not Yuri, but it offers enjoyable subtext. Season 2 is a great example for that. Uma Musume is about racing, which also leads to great rivalries. And we all know and love a good girls-rivalry story.

The ONA is going to release (whether one by one or fully remains to be seen, as its length is not known) from 16th of April 2023.

Non-subbed trailer for Uma Musume: Road To The Top (I'm already loving this animation, it's the same studio that produced Season 2 and it shows):

#also fun fact for the Uma Musume fans: #Rice Shower's and Mihono Bourbon's voice actresses make a comeback in World Dai Star as the red and blue lead characters's voices #i wonder if there is gonna be a twist to World Dai Star; but maybe I'm just projecting Revue Starlight into it #I would also love a genuinely theatre-focussed series that isn't all about symbolism necessarily #anyway #let the shipping begin #the witch from mercury #birdie wing #yuri is my job #world dai star #uma musume #uma musume road to the top #road to the top #yuri anime #i don't think i have to tag it since i believe all kinds of posts are automatically cropped until expanded these days but #long post #yuri recommendation #Youtube

[overthemoonx]

Seiya Vs. Mamoru: Whose Better For Sailor Moon?

⚠️SPOILER WARNING, ESPECIALLY FOR THE SAILOR STARS ARC⚠️

What do you guys think?

Personally, it goes both ways for me. In the manga, Mamo is literally Usagi’s soulmate. They are perfect for each other and have a chemistry that I don’t think the anime can portray. But, I was 100% rooting for her and Seiya in the anime. Hear me out.

In the manga, Mamoru is definitely made for Usagi. Their relationship is shown to be very passionate and has a lot of depth; especially in regards to their past life.

Plus, they grow together. The chemistry is definitely there and Mamoru is definitely not a bland dude. He’s a solid character with his own problems and personality. Sure, he’s pretty much Usagi’s Prince Charming, but he has moments where he’s snarky and playful, which add a whole lot flavor to a character who would be generic in any other series.

Not to mention they balance each-other out. And I mean A LOT.

Like you know that trope where one person is super dramatic and a crybaby and the other is level-headed and such? It’s literally that, and I’m living for it.

Mamoru is there for Usagi when she needs him, and not to mention she’s there when HE needs her the most too.

And I know a lot of people kinda bash on the fact that they “only love each-other because of their past lives together,” but this is not true in the slightest. In the manga, they definitely fell in love with each-other all over again. Even twelve-year old me was able to feel their love for each-other BEFORE they even thought about their past life together.

Believe in it or not, but they are definitely soulmates. In every lifetime, they were bound to find each-other and fall in love all over. Sure, call me a dramatic teenager n all, but I think it’s sweet.

On the other hand, Seiya takes the cake in the anime. But of course, that comes with a whole lot of my unpopular opinions.

To start off, I have to point out a main difference between the manga and the anime. In the manga, Seiya is simply a side character to add more fuel to the last arc of the story. Not much is explored in regards to their one-sided romance towards Usagi. But in the anime, there’s a literal season that spends nearly ALL of the episodes building up on the relationship between Usagi and Seiya. Not to mention, Mamoru was out of the picture during the Stars Arc, which left for A LOT of leeway when dealing with some romantic tension between the two…(Weither Usagi cheated or not is up to you, as that’s already the debate of the century)

So that DEFINITELY makes a difference in regards to this topic.

Seiya starts off as a cool and playful kind of character. Think of Mamoru, but without the roses, and a lot more immaturity. But Seiya’s immaturity is what adds to their charm, which I personally think added to the chemistry between Usagi and them.

Like are we NOT gonna talk about their amusement park hangout?

As the season progresses, their chemistry and interactions grew in size- something that DEFINITELY did not happen in the manga. And that’s not a bad thing whatsoever, as I love Seiya as a character, and it was amazing to get to know them more.

The relationship between the two is far from surface level, as things don’t always stay fluffy forever.

I think this is where the fandom has their opinions though. Like Seiya KNEW Usagi had a boyfriend. Doesn’t that make them a jerk?

And sure..I had some strong opinions towards this scene…

…but let’s face it. The two were just heartbroken sixteen-year olds.

Seiya didn’t know the extent of Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship. Seiya didn’t know that the two were literal intergalactic soulmates. AND HEAR ME OUT.

I read on a forum a few months back with a statement such as “Seiya thought that Mamoru was just a jerk guy who left to America and purposefully ditched Usagi.” People can have their feelings on that, but I think it’s true.

Think about it. If you met someone who told you their boyfriend left to America and never talked to them again, what would you think?

I’m not saying Seiya wasn’t wrong to hit on Usagi consistently. Even with the previous statement in mind, like at least give the person the ability to figure out their own problems first.

But if we separate that topic from the stand alone interactions they have (which I think the interactions and hitting on was added for drama fuel, as I don’t remember them doing that AT ALL in the manga), then their chemistry alone makes Seiya an amazing match for her. And if not, then they definitely should’ve stayed besties.

Like leaving Usagi forever to go back to their home planet? HEARTBREAKING.

And I think that’s where the whole soulmate thing I was talking about before gets sad. Because Usagi’s soulmate is Mamoru, and if that wasn’t the case (in the anime), her and Seiya could’ve had a chance.

But what are YOUR thoughts?

#sailor moon #seiya kou #mamoru chiba #tuxedo mask #gay sailors #sailor stars #discussion #anime #shipping dynamics #opinion #unpopular thoughts #unpopular opinion

[evilkitten3]

@blueper-saiyan

#Not sure if I’m allowed to pull out these tags as a separate reblog#but that is an interesting and fucked up theory I like it#and absolutely want to hear the long version#vegeta

you absolutely are as far as i'm concerned but since op's post was getting a bit long i'll respond here

dbz always reblog i have a theory that there's actually a reason for this it stems from my theory that vegeta's mom doesn't exist bc he's a clone of his dad basically it eventually become obvious that frieza was going to take whichever kid was heir to the throne so king vegeta (kv i guess) went ''aight we need a Super Baby (no tuffles allowed) and i'm the coolest guy on the planet. need a baby me'' so he gets a bunch of the buffest nerds imaginable (be real saiyan scientists like the job bc they get to fight physics) and start working kv: i need this kid to last as long as possible we're gonna need to buy some time scientists: got it boss *proceed to make the universe's most ridiculously hard to kill infant* how's this kv: excellent. frieza catch! frieza: oh this is adorable! i'm going to traumatize it =) <-an extremely brief summary of my hc

(^the tags in question)

ok so first there are a couple of things i need to get out of the way ahead of time– namely, i'm not the first person to come up with the vegeta-is-a-clone idea; the first person i saw with that idea was someone who wrote a fic i read a while back that i'm blanking on the name of at the moment, and while their version is massively different from mine, the core concept of clone!veggie is more or less the same

the second thing is that i get way too into world building sometimes and so a lot of pieces of my hcs get mixed up with one another and often don't fit in with established canon (which isn't like abnormal or anything but i want to clarify that i already know some of this doesn't perfectly slot up. in my defense the db timeline doesn't even match up with itself half the time)

the final thing is that while i've seen bits of the anime and the first handful of super episodes, i'm mostly a manga fan, so i view any non-manga parts of dragon ball as free real estate

buckle up, i was not kidding about the length (*immature snickering*)

SO.

first and foremost the relationship between the tuffles and the saiyans: the tuffles are described as being a peaceful yet technologically advanced race, but in my hc, they're a bit more complicated than that. for starters, i don't see how a supposedly peaceful race is going to have high-tech blasters, and while it's possible that they're for defensive purposes, it... really doesn't give off that vibe. also they were super into some fairly questionable science, some of which objectively involved human experimentation (or... humanoid experimentation, i guess)

jumping back to the future for a sec: gohan. gohan is a half-human, half-saiyan male hybrid, and while two separate species somehow producing a hybrid child isn't unheard of, male hybrids are almost always completely infertile. and yet, gohan grows up and has a kid (another explanation is gohan and videl are t4t, which i also love, but it doesn't really fit into this). so how are saiyans and humans not only capable of reproducing together, but capable of having children that can also reproduce? my theory here is that saiyans are genetically modified (early) humans– tuffles arrived on earth sometime prior to homo erectus finishing the jump to homo sapiens, grabbed a handful of various lab rats, and got to work.

this would also explain why saiyan tails look the way they do. to elaborate, here's a spider monkey skeleton:

notice how the tail is made up of more vertebrae that continue along the same curve as the rest of the spine. meanwhile, goku's tail looks like this:

it juts straight out, almost perpendicular to his spinal cord. to me, that does not look like how tails work– it looks grafted on. in the video game kakarot, bulma even makes goku a fake tail for him to fish with that he can just... stick right on there. i know dragon ball science is already broken af (someone please explain to me how dr briefs isn't basically a deity for inventing capsules), but if the tail is a genetic trait that didn't evolve naturally, it makes some sense (in the way anything in dragon ball makes sense, that is)

so– saiyans are a highly adaptable species that seem to be able to eat basically whatever, can both endure and dish out catastrophic amounts of damage, are biologically driven to fight to the point where it's hard to imagine how a society full of them could function at all, get stronger whenever they recover from being seriously injured, can transform into giant apes, and yet have a glaringly obvious weakness that can pretty much completely incapacitate them if you know about it? they seem designed for war, and not in the natural evolution-is-just-funny-like-that-sometimes way.

what we know about the tuffles sort of differs from source to source, but the most negative opinions come from the saiyans– according to vegeta, the tuffles basically treated them as slaves. which... yeah, that adds up, given everything.

anyway, here's where i divorce from canon entirely bc according to gt, king vegeta iii is the one who led the saiyans in the war against the tuffles, which raises... honestly so many questions. so i'm ignoring that; it was vegeta i and he was never officially king, but more on that later. i also need to note that the whole "saiyans lived on planet sadala, fucked it up, and moved to planet plant which later became planet vegeta" to my knowledge is not manga canon but since i like the general idea, i sorta moved it a bit.

in my version, the saiyans and the tuffles both lived on planet sadala, but the war between the two species got a little out of hand and the planet was kaputski (to be fair, if you suddenly got to turn into a giant ape and wreak havoc on the people who were possibly enslaving you, you might go a bit overboard too), so the saiyans stole all the tuffles' ships and gtfo'd (this is why everyone was so sure the tuffles were gone. bc typically blowing up someone's planet is a good way to get rid of all of them. at least in theory– i'm sure frieza can tell you all about how well it works in practice)

back to vegeta i– he wasn't a king, technically, but he was the saiyan who started, led, and according to all saiyan sources (which are biased but w/e) finished the revolt, and chose to die on the planet in an act of heroic sacrifice and/or symbolism and/or his daughter twisted a fact or two bc propaganda is a game we all can play, and the new planet they landed on was named after him. said daughter took the same name, declared the planet and the king to be one and the same, and set about conquering the shit out of it. so vegeta ii was technically the first king but if you asked her she was the second and also disrespecting her father and probably also about to be killed via spear (oh btw king vegeta ii is famed for her giant war spear which was very cool and intimidating and probably didn't see much use outside of ritual combat bc it's honestly more efficient to just blast people but all the statues and art and whatnot have her with it)

i'm going to take a minute to gloat about vegeta ii bc honestly she's one of my alltime favorite ocs that i've made, despite the fact that i don't intend to ever have her show up in anything (yass gurl haunt that narrative!!!) but basically she's a deeply respected figure in saiyan culture, although she died way before any of the saiyans still alive in dbz were born (except nappa), bc she... basically built saiyan culture from scratch. pretty much all the core beliefs the saiyans as a people had were from her very deliberately and surprisingly sneakily forcing them to be developed bc she was fully aware that the saiyans needed more than a love of battle to actually survive as a society independent of the tuffles. she basically had the whole thing set up and ready to last and become a proper empire but unfortunately the one kid that lived long enough to succeed her (by killing her in combat, obviously, and yes the others all tried and died– she's an important figure, not a nice one) ran face first into frieza and we all know how that went down

anyhow, vegeta ii's reign (which lasted a crazy long time bc she lived way longer than she should've and almost certainly used some kind of not-so-great method of living that long, but in her defense she needed to make sure at least one of her kids was cool enough to be in charge, so what's a few war crimes between monarchs) pretty much cemented all the saiyan pride and identity that vegeta iv is so fond of, and not just bc she was his grandma either.

the reason i have to get through all of that to explain my clone!vegeta theory is bc i need to explain why king vegeta iii became king in the first place– under vegeta ii's system, anyone could challenge for the throne at any time, regardless of who they were. her own children were expected - but not required - to do so, and if she died before an heir could kill her in glorious combat, the princes would become stewards and have the duty of finding the next king (who couldn't be one of them. fight and die for that shit like a real saiyan or no throne for you). however, there was actively incentive not to do that bc A) whoever's in charge has to actually be in charge and therefore gets to fight way less, and B) in order to become king you had to be ritually stripped of your identity as a person with the understanding that if you died during your challenge your name would be stricken from all records, none of your family or friends would ever acknowledge that you had ever existed, and you would simply cease to be (the afterlife doesn't follow these rules but most of the saiyans who are there still do, including the ones who by saiyan law no longer exist. say what you will about saiyans; they're a dedicated lot)

so anyway vegeta iii (before becoming vegeta iii – he had a different name bc names are super important in my version of saiyan culture but if i get into that here we will literally be here for the rest of the week - but i'll call him that for the sake of my sanity) is somewhat reluctant to challenge for the throne bc none of his siblings have managed it (not that they exist anymore whoops), but one of his colleagues/presumed ruling partner (not gonna get into saiyan relationships here either sorry) has been pushing him to do so for a while now

i think i've gone through a few names for vegeta's not-mom, but the most recent one is touga (from tougarashi, or capsicum annuum, and yes i was thinking of neon orange glimmer song by the mountain goats when i named her), so i'll call her that. touga is a pretty saiyan-y saiyan– she's violent, temperamental, proud, strong, and so forth, but another thing she is is deeply, deeply loyal to her people. she's also very aware of vegeta iii's weaknesses (such as "will probably care a little too much about kids if he has any" and "may make decisions based off of feelings instead of cold hard practical logic" and "seems likely to develop emotional attachments to family members"; you know, normal kingly failings) and has the lady macbeth-esque stainless steel go-fuck-yourself coldness to make up for her future husband's pathetic little morals or whatever

anyway, touga pushes vegeta iii to go for the throne bc holy shit his mom has been alive for way too long but also she has faith in hi or something and duty and whatever and dude do it if you ever want this saiyan tail, and eventually he caves and goes for it. he fights his mom, wins, gets a shiny new king name and is all set to run his kingdom. and then king cold shows up.

now in between killing his mom and our favorite chilly boys coming to town, vegeta iii and touga have had a kid, prince escallion (who is a girl ftr but i can't get into saiyan thoughts on sex/gender or the language or even escallion herself in this post bc we will never ever leave). escallion is pretty neat, just the strongest baby in history or whatever, but then post-cold arriving and politely yoinking the saiyans into his empire, rumors start spreading that frieza miiiiight be wanting a saiyan under his personal command. no prizes for guessing whose palace he's looking at for pickings. obviously the only prince they've got is not someone they can afford to lose, but they need a sure bet on super-infants and can't afford hoping for a genetic bingo, so vegeta iii assembles the universe's swole-est scientists and has them get started on making the Coolest Baby Ever (by cloning him, the king, bc he's the strongest but also bc frieza is an asshole and likes playing mind games with people so let's be real he's taking one of the king's kids no matter how tough they are)

so vegeta iv gets made (and named inappropriately but that's frieza's fault and a story for another time so ignore it for now) and eventually tarble is born and almost immediately sent off just in case frieza decides to be a bigger dick than usual (spoilers: frieza is going to decide to be an even bigger dick than that), and vegeta gets to spend the first few years of his life with his dad, big sis, and not-mom until he gets shipped off to go be a child soldier/slave/distraction, at which point frieza goes ahead and blows up the planet. there's more to it than just that, but i may actually want to write it out some day, so i'll keep the rest to myself for now.

#dbz #clone vegeta theory #dbz meta #dragon ball #dragon ball z #dbz headcanons #vegeta #vegeta iv #vegeta iii #king vegeta #long post #like super long #i said extremely brief and i meant it this is a long freakin' post #guest appearances by a monkey's skeleton and goku's ass #thanks for mooning the camera kiddo couldn't have done this without you #blueper-saiyan if you actually read all of this you may gain a powerup of some kind

[guiltymepleasures]

[Series Review] Trillion Game (2023)

8/10

Full disclosure. I saw so many clips of this that I decided to watch it. And yes, I decided to watch the live-action of My Happy Marriage because of those clips too.

I already saw it on Netflix and was curious but I didn't really want to add it to my long "to-watch" list. But here we are.

I only know two things when I decided to click on that first ep: one, that it was based on a manga and two, that the two actors from My Happy Marriage were here.

The premise was so preposterous you just know you're setting yourself up for yet another drama with impossible feats - and I wasn't wrong. There is no way their start-up company would rise up that quickly. But hey, I stayed for the cast.

Meguro Ren played one-half of the duo, the mastermind and master manipulator, Tennoji Haru, and he did it splendidly. I haven't read the manga so I couldn't really compare it but he gave off that conman street smarts with skills to the dot. He was awfully smiley here too so that was a bonus.

The other half, Taira Manabu, was played by Sano Hayato and though I enjoyed him being the kindhearted computer genius, I can't really say much more about his acting here. This is my first time seeing him and he was okay. He was painfully awkward as his character demanded him to be so there's that. We never really learned why Haru calls him Gaku. I thought we were gonna get a flashback. (Or maybe it was explained but it flew over my head.)

Completing the unlikely trio (from the OG duo) is the adorably cute Takahashi Rinrin played by Fukumoto Riko. I liked her character so much, especially her Torinrin AI ego. It was my first time seeing her in a drama as well and she kept reminding me of another actress. She was the moral compass the group badly needed (of course since Haru didn't have one and Gaku mostly followed Haru).

My favorite character (and actor) hands down was Kokuryu Kirika, played by Imada Mio. First of all, I never realized how deep (and sultry) her voice is. Or maybe she deliberately made it that way for her character, but I loved it. I love her in her boss bitch era. And her looks! Slay after slay! Okay, enough about her because I would be gushing.

The plot points of the drama were so outrageous (join a competition and blatantly cheat to win; make an AI online app but wait, it's not really AI and we will answer all inquiries real-time anywhere; make a game but not really, just say we're making it to get investors). It was a rollercoaster but it was enjoyable if you just go with the flow.

When I say, I stayed for the cast, I think you know which two I meant. I wanted to know what would happen to their characters but alas, this is not a romance manga and we only get a few sprinkles of interactions in each episode. And guess what, I ate those up. They make up 5 of the 8 points I gave tbh. I also liked the Gaku/Rinrin moments. I don't know if these (and the Haru/Kirika) interactions were in the manga or just additions in the series.

So yeah, they said "See you next game!" so I'm going to wait if that actually happens. I also want to know Haru's actual motivation because he clearly doesn't want a trillion dollars just for the heck of it.

#trillion game #meguro ren #imada mio #sano hayato #fukumoto riko #tennoji haur #gaku #taira manabu #kokuryu kirika #takahashi rinrin

[jumpscaregoose]

ok I'm finally doing it I'm finally drafting up this post. if you've spoken to me about shaman king literally ever or even followed this blog for more than two days you know this one

goose's Renmei Thoughts™ aka:

(thanks @gelatinous-jellyfish for making me this wonderful image a while back)

(quick explanation for everyone unaware, renmei is the canon relationship between iron maiden jeanne and tao ren from the sk sequels. I never explain this in the post but if you want to read it and don't know that's what this is. also I mention this takei guy a lot he's the mangaka)

so pov you're me circa feburary 2022, currently unaware of the kzb manga ending or sequels because you got into sk 6 months ago and the 2021 anime isn't over yet. you're innocently googling your girl jeanne for idk drawing references or whatever and BOOM autocomplete drops the most confusing spoiler of all time on you

that's how I remember finding out renmei exists, and at the time I'm pretty sure I was like "oh this must just be a popular het pairing from the Olden Days or something it'd be ridiculous if that was-" it was it was canon. cue a terrible amount of suffering april 21st 2022 when episode 52 of the new anime aired and it was what it is

of course I was upset but in an attempt to not be That One Annoying Fandom Person I sat down and thought about it and gave the concept the benefit of the doubt for a bit and now I have a pretty solid idea of how I feel about it. my renmei thesis is basically:

well that could have been a good idea but wow did takei completely fumble it

part a why it's not conceptually terrible: this one's really simple it's just that they're both similar characters. I'm anticipating you the reader have actually read/watched shaman king so I'm just gonna present you with the chart I made a few months back

murderous child -> oh shit -> what now it's quite similar

btw this file was named "the.png". that is such an unhelpful file name I had to DIG to find it. wtf past me

basically if it was actually written properly I think we could have gotten some cool things out of a romantic relationship between these two characters. however

part b: we didn't

my favourite way to describe renmei is that it just wasn't written. because it wasn't. across over 300 chapters of mainline and spinoff manga they have maybe four interactions, three of which were after they were already a couple (and the fourth one is that time she raised him from the dead and they didn't speak. does that really even count?). and those three actual interactions were flashbacks and not... actually important. I think one of them was just about cheese. as a reader your experience is

2 characters who never interacted -> literally what the fuck when did that happen -> she's DEAD???

when my friend was reading the manga I had to tell her to reread a scene because the panel where they explain it is such a blink-and-you-miss-it moment

literally the same pacing and payoff as CANON DESTIEL.

their entire actual relationship happens during the downtime between the main manga ending and the sequels beginning. and I'm going to bring osp into this because I think this graphic is helpful

(side note as I was scrolling through this trope talk I noticed a problem red brings up that does apply to the sk sequels but that's for another post...)

this is from the osp trope talk on sequels, and it shows the difference in Stuff Happening levels between plot time (red) and down time (grey). the issue with renmei is that it is an IMPORTANT PLOT EVENT (two characters with little interaction having an entire love story) that happens during DOWN TIME, when the audience only sees things through flashbacks in snippets. and it doesn't help that we never get any flashbacks to before the event happened, before they got together. it's jarring because the ENTIRE THING happens during down time. plot time 1 (the main manga) ends with no interactions between them, and ONE scene that's supposed to set ren up for getting Straight Married that in my opinion didn't work. because it is stupid. plot time 2 (every sequel manga) starts after jeanne's death. it's literally the inciting incident for red crimson. their entire 7+ year relationship is encapsulated in foggy down time, and we're expected to care.

and this especially doesn't work because we aren't set up to care. again, 1 interaction in the main manga, where they don't talk (but I will go to bat for the inherent intimacy of raising someone from the dead like we could have done something there). it's pretty clear to me from rereading the manga that takei didn't know these two would get together when he was writing it. that one scene I mentioned where he tries to set up ren getting Straight Married? if you've read it you know it's incredibly vague and with how takei wrote literally everything else it sure doesn't work as intended. or I'm too aromantic and yaoipilled to understand his literary genius idk. it's clear from some other missed opportunities that the jeanne part of the equation wasn't exactly planned from the beginning. which is even more insulting tbh

part c jeanne character assassination: out of the both of them jeanne really got the short end of the stick in terms of characterization in the sequels. I say this because I actually really like ren in the sequels I like the way takei took his character, so holy shit does sequels jeanne look even worse in comparison. the whole housewife thing is eeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh, not really a fan of that but I'm also not mad enough to comment. her death I do have some thoughts about. conceptually the beheading herself with shamash thing is BADASS AS HELL and I do like it conceptually, I also know like, the themes. yeah remember that time "atoning for your crimes with your death isn't the right thing to do" was an important part of the plot. TWICE. FUCK THAT I GUESS. there is some equivalent exchange bullshit happening with these two and the continuation of main manga themes and I want it to stop please

part d tao men: one thing I've thought about a lot is Why. why fumble this so badly. why do this at all. what do we get out of this. and the answer is an inciting incident and tao men. and the fumble bag continues because tao men deserved better this is a tao men appreciation account. we could have done some cool shit with his revenge thing but nope fuck that I guess. poor guy

part e contrast: so the sequel manga where renmei is most relevant is red crimson. I absolutely love red crimson I recommend it to everyone. and that's because of jun and pairon (and chapter 9 full transparency). jun and pairon in red crimson have one of the most beautiful relationships I've ever seen. they have an established dynamic and baggage to work through and that's what the manga focuses on. and it works it works really well. however this is also the Renmei Manga, and having most of that stuff right next to jun and pairon just makes it look worse

those are all my renmei thoughts I remembered while writing this post, I think that covers most of it but I may reblog this later with stuff I forgot

#shaman king #the way I will immediately drop everything and rant about them whenever I remember they exist #hi jeanne enjoyers this one's for you