#the show's whole thing is that women basically THROW themselves on him lol so he never really pursues anyone he mostly goes along | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wigglebox · 3 years

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saw an annoying take on twitter so instead of doing my school assignment i’m going to vent

i’m very happy they waited until the very end to tell us, unequivocally, that destiel was basically real. Notice how I said unequivocally but then ‘basically’, which would contradict each other — but I say “basically” because Dean never got to speak on it. But at least one half did.

For those of you who followed me for a while, you know I was always Destiel positive, but I also never wanted a declaration of feelings until the end. I had guessed a few times, or hoped, or prayed, that if it were to happen then it would be at the end.

the twitter take i saw was a screenshot of a former TVD writer saying it was a cowardly moment to put it at the end of the show.

This is why I get annoyed when people who don’t watch SPN or had written for it actually try to give their opinions.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course but this one has the same air as all the other non-spn watching or engaging-with people who tried to have hot takes on 15x18, 19, and 20.

This person obviously hasn’t seen the few instances in the last year where Misha pretty much said that this was a hard hard thing they fought for and even just 5 years ago probably couldn’t have happened.

This person was a writer for TVD and a former showrunner for Roswell NM on the CW — I’m saddened by the fact that they are seemingly not taking into account the reasons as to why 1) this happened at the end and 2) why it couldn’t be followed up. TVD started three years after SPN did, so this person should understand how homophobic TV can still be. This was all on the CW.

but anyway —

The reason why I was happy they waited until the very end was because this show was full of enough drama, enough hardships, enough everything without the need to throw this relationship into the mix.

By this, I mean they, Dean and Cas, really had to figure themselves out before any real exchanging of feelings could happen. Cas’s whole confession was also him telling Dean he changed because of Dean etc etc learned to love because of him etc etc. They needed character growth. Dean had some in season 15 too, but they prevented him from making that final jump — because again — homophobia.

I’m not one to believe in a lot of CW conspiracies anymore, I did at first because I had nothing else to believe in but now I really only believe in this one: They did not want Dean Winchester to vocally state his queerness.

The writers and those involved with the show got by with what they could — there’s a difference between queerbaiting and queercoding. The show queercoded and tried to push through that final barrier but in the end, only one got through — and it was their third lead, “non human” character. And if that was a struggle getting it done, then you can imagine the struggle when it comes from your white male lead you’ve had since 2005 who has fans from right-leaning other white males to queer women and enbys.

But the reason why I wanted them to wait until the end, barring any CW interference, was because, again, they had to figure out who they are. Dean had to start to get a handle on his anger issues [though he was still scared by the end] and Cas had to go through and figure out who he was as a being.

This show is dramatic, emotional, and stressful for its characters. No romantic relationship lasted very long. I usually hate it when pairings get together so early in the show because then all that i’m going to be subjected to is relationship angst. For the most part. Boy Meets World? The epic highs and lows of the Cory and Topanga relationship but it was set in a sitcom world so even the dramatic bits like Cory cheating on Topanga I knew would get worked out. But Shawn and Angela never did and I’m still sad about that lol.

But The West Wing? Josh and Donna finally got together halfway through the final season though it was a ramp up since season 1. Because that show is stressful and dramatic, I was grateful that by the time they got together, Josh was on this new journey being involved with the Santos campaign, and Donna seemingly found herself as well with the help of Josh [and Josh helped find himself as well and admit he missed Donna etc etc]

On SPN — the bad guys already used Dean and Cas in a sense against each other. Him or us. Your boyfriend first. Attatched at the... everything. Villains would use Cas’s closeness with the Winchesters against him and them. I didn’t want that to be even worse with a romantic relationship. We’d spend every season with a problem happening and to me, it would have clouded their relationship for me and I feared I would have ended the show thinking maybe they shouldn’t be together.

But by waiting until the very end, if the show ended correctly, it would have launched us into a sandbox world where we the fans could dream up of endless scenarios and events for them, good and bad, and we could control them. It would leave us off with the show ending, but this overwhelming sense of happiness that their relationship was finally realized on equal ground with them and we last see the characters excited and interested in figuring everything out.

So when this writer says that waiting until the end of the series was ‘cowardly’, i get it, i totally do, I get where they’re coming from — however to me, I don’t need 12 seasons of this relationship to be QUEEEERRRR REEPPPPPPPPP because I would rather see them develop around each other, see their feelings grow for each other, and then end on a happy note — rather than have them rush getting together, and then have their relationship be put through the meat grinder.

But Jen! (you may ask) They DIDN’T end happy together! (if you don’t believe they’re all in heaven like me).

Yes well — that’s where we get to the Dean problem. Cas’s moment was just fine — however they needed a few more episodes to button it up and have Cas get rescued and then Dean also be able to complete this emotional character arc with Cas. But he didn’t get to do that, and again, I’m going to blame the CW on that. I’m not blaming Dabb, I’m not blaming Bobo, I’m not blaming anyone but the CW and maybe a little bit of Singer.

It’s why I am trying to manifest hard, every day, a continuation effort by jackles or someone for 6-8 additional episodes to sew it all up.

So yeah anyway thanks for reading this rant — I haven’t done this in a while. I just don’t like it when people who don’t watch the show, didn’t really see the full 15x18 episode, etc etc, try to act all knowledgeable about it and then try to give a take like this.

#salt #1518 #spn #destiel #long post

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crescentsteel · 3 years

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Keeping a Secret - Prologue

plot: ehehe lemme leave this blank for now as this is only a prologue genre: fluff, crack, slow burn, eventual smut, sexual tension, angst at some point wc: 2.7k

[a/n]

I am reeling just from finishing this one because Tsukki is my boy (Kuroo ily too i swear)

Who writes 2.7k words of prologue? lol me

I’ll set up the masterlist when I’m done with the 1st Chapter.

Thank you so much @oii-sugasan and @haikyuu-is-for-lovers for the betaread! :)

Let me know if you wanna be tagged

Chapter 1 || masterlist

You aren’t just annoying. You��re a fucking menace. Every time he goes to the gym, your presence is like a plague. You're just a manager, but sometimes he thinks that you think you’re the assistant coach. There’s nothing he’d love more than to shower you with the nastiest, most off-handed comments, just to shut you up and wipe the cheery grin that taunts him every time he sees you.

Seriously, you’re all over the place -- you talk to all members of the team as if you’re a player yourself, you nag everyone to take care of themselves outside training like you’re their older sister, you hand out self-gathered information on upcoming matches as soon as matchups are announced, you scamper around the gym tossing balls, assembling the net, doing whatever the hell you can get your hands on, all the while wearing those stupid shorts that distract the majority of the team, especially the new members.

As his eyes follow you, you suddenly turn around to face him, breaking him from his reverie. Even when you’re halfway across the gymnasium, he can see the sharp playfulness that you always exude whenever you talk to him.

“Tsukishima!” You wave at him with that disgustingly sweet grin. “If you’re done staring at my sexy back, you can start your blocking drills, okay?!” you shout with a voice loud enough for everyone else in the gym to hear. Tsukishima feels multiple sets of eyes glance towards his direction and he ‘tsks’ in annoyance under his breath.

He immediately walks away. He refuses to hear more of the unnecessary and untrue prattles directed at him by you.

He hears footsteps follow him. Judging from its pace and heavy strides, he already knows its Kogane without even looking

“Oi, Tsukki. Do you like our manager?”

He doesn’t understand why Kogane is whispering when you’re half a court away from them. More than that, he doesn’t understand why Kogane assumes he likes you. For one, you were wrong: he wasn’t even staring at you. He was staring randomly at nothing while thinking about how irritating you are and you just happened to be at his line of sight.

“I don’t see anything to like about her,” he replies passively.

“What? Why? She’s super helpful -- and pretty too.” Kogane, just like the rest of the team, believes so. Even Kyoutani is fond of you because of that one time you received his spike on full force. You rolled on your back from the sheer power of it but you were able to receive it perfectly, making the whole team go wild when you did, with him as the only exception as he found it inane.

“If you think so, go confess or something then.”

“You know we can’t!” Pink stains begin to surface on his teammate’s cheeks, obviously infatuated with you. Then again, this is not new to him. It was a basic reaction from anyone whose dick is more functional than their brain. Maybe it’s because you’re the only female so close to everyone else. Honestly, he really doesn’t know. But one thing’s for sure. Kogane has 0 chances with you, and neither does every player of Sendai Frogs.

He remembers the conceitedness you displayed even in your first year as a manager. You two became part of the team almost at the same time. He was two months in when the former manager introduced you to the team. As she finished introducing you, you whispered to her to add something. It went something like ‘oh, umm. y/n-chan also said that no one from the team can’t date her.’ Even the former manager looked at you weirdly but you were just there beaming as you bowed to everybody.

They thought it was a joke, but when you became a full-pledged manager in less than six months, you announced it yourself.

‘I know I’m kind of cute, but I won’t ever consider dating anyone from the team. Okay?’

You announce it with a sickening smile every time there are new members, reminding everyone else that you’re untouchable.

It’s fucking atrocious, to him at least. Unlike the other players from his team, he’s not shallow enough to fancy you just because you’re not disgusting to look at, or that you did your managerial duties so exceedingly well.

He grits his teeth. He hates it. How can someone so chaotic as you be so effective in managing the team. What grinds him even more is that you go to the same university he does, and even there, your presence stinks. He once had a class with you only to find out that you’re not as dumb as you make yourself out to be.

It’s infuriating. He can’t wait for the day you mess up -- only then would he finally get the chance to diss you. He’ll turn that shit-eating smile of yours upside down.

Man, nothing boosts your mood better than bugging Tsukishima. When you felt his sinister stare boring at your back earlier, you just couldn’t waste the opportunity to say something about it. He just ignored you, but the scowl on his face was enough response to satisfy you.

The truth is, you have nothing against Tsukishima. Yeah, he has a sharp tongue and a vile attitude, but hey, he’s a good team player. He doesn’t speak much, but he gets shit done in matches. Despite his foul personality, he’s actually manageable: he listens to you and he rarely shows up late. He’s not particularly motivating to look at, but he still does what’s asked of him. For some reason that you don’t know, he still hasn’t spat out his usual, rancid remarks towards you. You know he’s itching to, and honestly, you’re kind of curious of what he’ll throw your way.

Still, for the last three years he kept his mouth shut even though he looks at you like you’re the most unpleasant being he’s ever laid eyes on.

“Y/n!”

You jog towards the team coach, Coach Mira. “Yes, Coach?”

“Do you like Tsukishima?” she asks curiously. The question is funny to you but you hold back the laughter and smile instead.

You like Coach Mira a lot. She’s more like an older sister than a coach to you. You’re free to share a few laughs with her, and she values your input to the team. Maybe it’s because you’re both women drowned in a sea of male athletes that you sort of have that innate connection.

“No, Coach. Why?”

“Cause you pay attention to him the most.”

“I don’t see what’s to like about him,” you veer your gaze towards his direction, watching his scowling face as he walks away, Koganegawa following closely behind him. You can’t hear them, but the sight is already amusing as it is. “I just like putting him in place whenever he’s being extra nasty,” you add.

“If you say so, y/n. Honestly, I don’t really care if you go out with one of them.”

You wave your hand back and forth like you’re swatting a fly. “No way, Coach. They’re like little boys I’m taking care of.”

She sweeps her gaze behind you, scanning all the players present in the court. “Can’t say they feel the same way though.” Then she looks at the same person you’re looking at. “Well, maybe except for Tsukishima.”

“That’s why I like messing around with him the most,” you admit with mirth as you watch Tsukishima get away from Kogane.

Everyone in the gymnasium is staring as they enter the arena. If there’s one thing opposing teams remember about the Sendai Frogs, it’s their female tandem of a stone-cold coach and a ‘hot,’ bubbly manager who walk side by side in front of the whole team, not the players.

It’s not really an issue for Tsukishima. He doesn’t really care. Shimizu had the same reputation back in high school. But you? You’re not Shimizu. You aren’t even close.

And you, being the chaotic mess that you are, you milked the attention. Whenever someone blatantly gapes at you, you’d wave at them. You’d even entertain those who openly flirted with you. In retrospect, he should find it despicable. Rather finds it entertaining. So does the rest of the team.

When the Sendai Frogs reach their spot, a guy wearing a Tamaden Elephants jersey approaches you shamelessly. A brave (maybe a little bit foolish) act, considering you’re with the whole team.

“Hi!”

You turn around and greet him just as enthusiastically, maybe even more.

“I just want to say, great game from last season, he says as he scratches the back of his head.

Liar.

If the guy really wants to acknowledge the team’s play from last season, he’d approach one of the players. He also wouldn’t have that stupid blush on his awe-struck face.

“Thank you! Great game indeed,” you return the compliment.

As soon as the guy starts fidgeting, Tsukishima can already guess what comes next: it’s either a date or your number.

“If you don’t mind, can I get your number?”

Tsukishima sneers at how predictable the scene is, and he can’t wait to see what comes next.

You beam at the guy. “Sure! It’s number 1.”

He still smiles even though he’s obviously dumb-founded. “Sorry, what?”

“My number, right? It’s 1. Cause we’re number 1 in the district,” You say with that fake innocence that isn’t really fooling anyone.

“...Uhh.”

“Go Sendai Frogs!” You cheer out of the blue and as if an automated response, the rest of the team, even Tsukishima (though lifelessly), answers.

“Sendai Frogs fight!”

The loud baritone of deep male voices drew the attention of other people in the area, brightening your face up even more as you focus on the guy in front of you again. He looks scandalized by what just happened.

“How about you? What’s your number?” you ask, pushing the guy to a mental corner as Tsukishima and his team glares at him while waiting for how he’ll answer. An embarrassed blush replaces the previously infatuated one as he realizes that he shouldn’t have made the mistake of hitting on you.

“I-I’m not really sure,” his voice loses any shred of confidence it once had.

“Oh. That’s too bad,” you feign sympathy.

“Yeah.” The guy looks down. “Guess I’ll see you around,” he adds before retreating defeatedly.

“Bye! Nice to meet you,” you wave cordially. ‘Whoever you are, newbie elephant,’ you say to yourself as you watch the unfamiliar member of the Elephants go back to his team, a team you wiped the floor with last season.

Until now, you don’t understand why people still even bother. You welcomed the flirtations, but never really went out with anybody. You’re not really opposed to getting in a relationship, but like -- Gooood! They’re all so uninteresting. Rejecting them is more fun than the mere prospect of dating them.

You feel a familiar touch on your shoulder.

“Good job boosting the team morale,” Coach Mari says in a volume that only you can hear as she pats you.

“Thanks, Coach!” You grin at her praise.

You turn around to check your players and your eyes instantly land on Tsukishima who had just put on his white headphones and began scrolling at his phone. Around him, everyone else has already started stretching.

You bounce your way to him, knowing that you’d instantly get his attention even without saying anything. But even with you ogling when you stopped in front of him, he still doesn’t budge.

“Tsukishima.”

No response.

‘Heh,’ you snicker internally. He never fails to amuse you when he tries to ignore you.

“Tsu~ ki~ shi~ ma~” You bob your head sideways, popping at the opposing sides of his phone so he’ll notice you.

You don’t miss the minute twitch of his eyes as he drags his phone closer to him in an attempt to shut you out.

Tsk tsk. He should know better by now that you're not the type to back away.

You go beside him instead, tiptoeing so you can see what he’s so busy looking at. As soon as your arms touch his, he puts down his phone and irritatedly removes his headphones.

He’s shooting daggers at you, making you giddy with excitement as he looks like he’s about to say something you. You hold his gaze with a raised eyebrow and subtle smirk that you couldn’t suppress. Did he get fed up already? Is he finally going to say something?

‘Do it. Do it. Do it,’ you chant in your head.

He takes in a painful deep breath instead. “What?” The single word contains so much disdain that you want to cackle so bad.

“Shouldn’t you be stretching?” you query.

“In a bit.”

You leisurely shake your head with disapproval. “I know you’re a lazy ass fucker sometimes,” you begin. “But you always help us win. You’re our meanest, tallest, best blocker.” Your gaze drops down to his ankles and travels up.

“So,” you continue, dropping your voice amusedly, “stretch those gorgeous, God-given, legs you have.” Your eyes linger on his thighs before landing up to his face to smile sweetly at him. “Will you?”

This is one of the moments you’re pretty sure he won’t dare talk back at you. Why? Because you’re one hundred percent right, and he knows that too.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t hate it.

He glares at you for one second and walks towards the rest of the team to join them.

Playing at the professional level, he always considers one match to be a big win already, even if it’s just the first match of the regular rounds. Ever since he became a starter for Sendai Frogs, he was not allowed to slack off even for one rally. He could take the lecture if it’s from Coach, but he couldn’t stomach it if it’s from you.

Even before the match started, you were already on his grill, pestering him just because he wasn’t warming up yet. He was pissed the whole game and put extra effort than usual to make sure that you won’t have anything to say after.

“Um, excuse me.” A girl from Red Rabbits blocks him on his way to the restroom. “Tsukishima, right?”

He can tell that she is trying her best to look nonchalant, but the familiar tint on her face is telling.

Tsukishima had never understood girls who approach him for anything remotely romantic. Does he look like he’s interested? It’s not that he’s not open to the idea of dating, but he finds it unpleasant when people go after him because they like how he plays. Worse, for some obtuse reason like him being ‘cute.’

“Yes. Why?”

She smiles at him bashfully with her arms crossed behind her. “I’m also a middle blocker. I was really inspired with how you read block so well. If it’s okay with you, can you teach me how you do it?”

Why would he do that? He’s already a senior college student who’s also a professional athlete. He has no reason to go out of his way to teach someone read blocking. Especially someone who’s already supposed to know it since (as she claims) she’s also a middle blocker. Judging from where they currently are, someone from Division 1 no less.

“Sorry. I’m really busy,” he says bluntly.

“Oh, okay. Sorry for bothering you.” She bows then takes off immediately.

He watches as the girl from Red Rabbits scampers off as quickly as humanly possible. Did she really think he’d agree to it?

He is too occupied to notice the faint sound of footsteps behind him, and only when you speak does he notice your presence.

“Aww, poor girl going out of her way to ask you out.”

He groans. Why are you even here? You’re supposed to be checking on the team since their match just ended.

You fall into step beside him as he brushes your comment off and continues heading for the rest rooms.

“I didn’t ask her to,” he calmly responds despite your irksome presence.

“How are you going to get a girlfriend like that?” you ask exaggeratedly as if not getting in a relationship will lead to his ruin.

“I don’t need one.”

You gasp. “Damn, Tsukishima. Men your age are all about raging hormones. Where do you put all that raging testosterone?”

He purses his lips in a corner, his jaw tensing at your remark. Men his age? You talk as if you’re older when you’re in the same year he is.

Also, what the fuck?

Now you’re nagging about his personal life too? You’re already aggravating as the team manager. Now you’re even sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.

His blatant irritation must have shown in his face because you suddenly let out a giggle. “My bad, my bad. Don’t look so scary. Geez. Where you get action is none of my business. I just followed you to let you know that we’re leaving in twenty minutes.”

You turn around, about to go back but stop before you make the first step. “Oh, and we have a meeting later. I did the stat sheets of the game and gave it to the coach already. Great blocking, Tsukishima!” You pat his shoulder twice with a proud smile, then saunter off back to the arena.

Damn it. If only you aren’t so good at being a manager, he would actually be able to dislike you to the fullest. Not only that, he wouldn’t feel that silly, tiny contentment he felt upon hearing you.

Chapter 1 || masterlist

Taglist:(those crossed out can’t be tagged)

@ameliaxo @suikrem @akaashisslave @tsumurai @babythotshq

#tsukishima x reader #tsukishima x you #tsukishima fluff #tsukishima crack #haikyuu x reader #tsukishima angst #tsukisima series #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu crack

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skipps-writes-for-gojo-satoru · 3 years

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Someone made an incredible animation of the scene in hidden inventory where Gojo gets screamed at by teen girls fawning over him, and it's beautiful ✨

https://youtu.be/5l9_O51-YYs

Also, it highlights my previous point that when Gojo's confronted by women flirting with him, he doesn't really do... Anything. He's just chill about it. And the little °^° face he makes and the little confused "hm?" from the manga panel in the beginning could indicate that Gojo might not be hit on by girls as often as we think- Jujutsu sorcerers are busy and have even their time off interrupted on the regular. Other than being mildly amused, we don't see Gojo actively bask or pursue attention from women (other than Utahime ofc, which could be because she's as straight-laced as Nanami).

The little content smile he gives at the end basically says it all: Gojo enjoys the attention, but most likely isn't interested in pursuing anything more than that, including sexual relations (with more reasons from my previous posts).

I could see Gojo being the type to allow himself to appreciate just a bit of affection from random women he encounters on missions and then casually walking off with a lazy wave of his hand- just like he did with Miwa.

The man's on a mission (literally) with the goal to change the world. Virgin Gojo is very possible seeing how unaffected he is by women throwing themselves at him- or at least, he allows himself a moment to enjoy the attention but is quick to dismiss the thought from his mind to focus on his duty.

Honestly, non virgin Gojo is still possible, but unless we see Gojo actually show interest or actively flirt with someone (which seems unlikely), we may never know. To me, analyzing Gojo with his interactions with other characters (not his antics) makes me think it's more likely Gojo is a virgin than not, simply bc the argument for Gojo being a non virgin is his looks and immaturity (or his act of immaturity, we know Gojo thinks in a much more complex way than he lets on) which I'd argue is not an accurate description of his character, because that's only a part of it, and is in fact only what Gojo shows on the surface. And there's plenty of reasons why his lifestyle would make such getaways difficult. Also, Gojo's lack of enthusiasm for it. Gojo allows girls to fawn over him, but he hardly stokes the fire more than just taking off his glasses when they asked him to.

If Gojo was more like Osamu Dazai from Bungou Stray Dogs who flirts with every women he sees, I would have an easier time believing he would not be a virgin, but his lifestyle, behavior, and even his Six Eyes and his goal makes me think he wouldn't choose to constantly go on small getaways like that. Personally, I'd say Gojo spends more of his time plotting and maximizing his efforts on recreating Jujutsu Society.

Really, when Gege said he couldn't see Gojo being faithful to a woman could be because he's already committed to his job. Not because he's out womanizing, but even because the type of woman he'd commit to is so rare. And even if he did find a woman he'd commit to, being the ENTP he is means he's incapable of immediately recognizing and acting on his emotions- not because he doesn't have them, but because they're not really his forté. He'd rather rationalize his behavior than attempt to understand his own feelings. It'll take time and patience, but Gojo committing is still a possibility.

Honestly, I'd like to hear why people would think Gojo's a cheater/womanizer to begin with? Besides him teasing Utahime, Gojo's been pretty respectful to Shoko and Mei Mei. He even complimented and recognized Mei Mei's strength as a sorcerer. He didn't flirt once with the hoard of girls fawning over him. In fact, he was quick to focus on his mission despite the attention. I don't think Gojo's ever even teased Shoko about anything (other than commenting on her terrible way of explaining things, which is more of a fact than teasing). Though, correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, I haven't mentioned Riko much in previous posts and idrk why lol. But while Gojo is dominated by logical thinking, he's emotionally inept enough to notice Riko's mood. He may seem cold in how he comforted her by saying he'd leave her behind, but it's more of his ENTP personality that has him expressing his emotions in a more objective manner- even if it hurts, it's the truth, and that's fine isn't it? (Typical ENTP way of thinking).

Also slight tangent I read that one long meta about Gojo's interaction with Riko someone linked, and I'm completely appalled that they would think Gojo is only "pretending" to have emotions, "mimicking" them even! That he's incapable of truly feeling when in fact it's inherently characteristic of any ENTP to express themselves in a way that, to others, would be considered "cold" and unempathetic. It just goes to show just how misunderstood ENTPs are. They only make up 3% of the world so are often confused for socios/narcs/psychos which is understandable-

But I wanna make one thing clear: all sociopaths could be considered ENTPs. But not all ENTPs are sociopaths. (Switch Socio with psycho/narc/etc and it still works). Why?

Purpose.

Arrogance, boastfulness, unrefined emotional sensitivity, recklessness, impulsiveness- all of those fall below the importance of Purpose. Regardless of how Gojo "acts," it's been expressed time and time again- Gojo acts for the sake of the next generation. Sociopaths/Antisocial Personality Disorder/Psychopaths have one most common defining starting point: "it all starts with cruelty to animals and lack of response to their own actions, or actions of other people."

Let's make it more simple: regardless of whatever end of the spectrum sociopathy can be- high functioning, low functioning- antisocial personality disorder, in it's most simple terms, along with psychopathy and narcissism, condensed into one common trait is very clear: Their actions, while easily blendible into society, are for the sole purpose of pleasuring themselves.

Why don't people notice those with these disorders? Because their *behavior* is so similar to not just the typical ENTP, but also the ISTP AND ESTP. They can easily be mistaken for common members of society, but again: their sole purpose is the pursuit of pleasure themselves, while acting with complete disregard for the consequences of not just their own actions but others'. Staying in one job for extended periods of time is especially rare for a sociopath in particular, and this is one very clear difference between Gojo and a sociopath.

Gojo is willing to spend the rest of his life as a Jujutsu Sorcerer for the sake of others. This sentence alone defies any inclination that he could be a sociopath regardless of any other symptoms commonly associated with sociopathy, such as emotional insensitivity, hostility, risk taking behavior, lack of restraint, and impulsivity- there's a reason such people blend in with society, and that's because such symptoms are common with *any* person, regardless of personality type. Other than with the higher ups, Gojo hardly shows the anger, irritability, or general discontent that a sociopath is most commonly is associated with as their established mood - and even if he did, would being easily irritatable while in the position of the Strongest, the one who carries the burden of establishing a new future of Jujutsu Society on his shoulders alone be so unrealistic? That is why Purpose is so important.

If Gojo truly was a Sociopath, he would have dipped long before Jujutsu Kaisen had even started.

And I apologize for yet another tangent! Someone said Gojo sees his students as weapons or tools to be used in furthering his agenda. While that is not necessarily untrue, the implication is hardly close to reality. Like someone else commented, Gojo goes far and beyond for his students. While he is undoubtedly lacking in his ability to show affection in the most traditional of ways, it's clear that Gojo cares for his students-and others- deeply, whether that be when he went to see Yuta on his business trip to ensure Yuji would be safely taken care of in his absence, when he goes out of his way to personally supervise his students, when he willingly spends a whole day with Nanami just to ask him to mentor Yuji for him (in the Light Novel) regardless of Nanami's disdain, when he turned his Infinity off to allow Yaga to punish him (Gege made it clear in the manga that Gojo had done so to be a good role model for his students and that he recognizes his behavior deserves punishment), and when Gojo commented that he didn't want to think any of his students would be the traitor. Gojo does not express himself as most people do- he's only one of the most misunderstood personality types (on record, along with a few other personalites if you've researched them) and to say people have misinterpreted his character is much more plausible when even in real life, people who behave like Gojo are statistically reported to be misapprehended more often than more populated personality types. When inspected closely, there are so many ways Gojo himself expresses his care for other people, only hidden thinly behind the surface of his lofty attitude and uncaring demeanor. It only takes a few looks at his behavior, not his mouth, to recognize how much he goes out of his way for his students, doing he things that don't necessarily help further his agenda simply because he wants to, not because he has to. Changing the world isn't even something the average person would strive to do, yet Gojo makes it his life goal to accomplish. How could a heartless, emotion mimicking person possibly endure the strife necessary to accomplish such a task? It's appalling.

Gojo is more charitable than most people on the earth, simply because of the perseverance and diligence he takes to withstand the stress and hardships of Jujutsu Society for others. Remember that he chose to become the Strongest, it didn't happen overnight, and in becoming the Strongest, he carries the heaviest burden.

That's without mentioning that even though Gojo is the Strongest, and while to most he seems to proudly state so, it's clear that despite Gojo's antics, he recognizes his weaknesses as a sorcerer and is able to rely on others to make up for them. He had asked Nanami to mentor Yuji because he acknowledged his own flaws as a teacher and that Nanami would have a better capacity than him in that area (in Light Novel). He travelled to see Yuta to ask him to care for Yuji in case something happened to him- and Gojo knows that it's possible that he could be defeated somehow, someway. He's not so deluded to think he's untouchable, even despite his playfulnesses. He is always thinking ahead, calculating his next move while understanding his own shortcomings, acting prudently to ensure a better future.

He is a much deeper and complex character if one only takes the time to look past his antics and analyze his behavior- Something many people in real life seem to miss, and that is the true reason why Gojo struggles to commit.

Sorry for the long tangent and repetitiveness in the beginning lol! Back to the main issue!

Tl;dr there's more evidence of Gojo being a virgin who's more focused on work than pleasure. There's plenty of handsome men who don't seek out sex for reprieve but seek mental stimulation instead for relief. It's totally normal. Gojo could even spend his free time playing video games. He did admit to spending long hours beating 99 years of Momotarou Dentetsu to Geto. He's a gamer, and we know how gamers are commonly known for being virgins lol. Gojo could even be asexual for all we know. He could even be demisexual- someone who doesn't pursue sexual pleasure unless he's made an emotional connection with then. He doesn't necessarily have to even be straight or bi. Therefore, Gojo is very likely to be 28 year old virgin, and there's nothing wrong or strange about that.

Sources: ENTP articles, statistics on mbti rarity, other mbti articles, some quick Google searches, articles on sociopathy, psychopathy, narcissism, and antisocial disorders, etc, the manga, light novels, other metas in threads I remember reading, the anime, graphic organizers

Thanks for reading! 🙏

- 🤔

AHHHH CAN I JUST SAY THE ANIMATION IS DAMN GOOD 🔥🔥🔥 this scene in the manga is absolutely iconic prepare yourselves for season 2 😤 I literally had to stop the video and stare at him...I think one of the reasons Gojo behaved that way is becuz during childhood he probably didn't go out and be around people hence his confused reaction with the screaming teens. I mean everyone enjoys being complimented and getting attention from time to time and gojo is not an exception to this. Yes I definitely agree that when Gege said that he probably meant he's too busy for a relationship. The way it was translated made alot of people confused hence the player/cheater gojo was born. But then also the remember the comment he made when Gojo won the popularity poll? "Pick Nanami instead" ahhh hilarious

MY GAWD 🤔 ANON CAN I JUST SAY THAT YOU'RE AMAZING?! You explained in a way that easy to understand and you made statements backing it up with evidence. I learned from your ask than I ever did in university 😂 wow its truly fascinating though I never knew much personality types especially ENTPs I DON'T BELIEVE FOR ONE SEC GOJO IS A SOCIOPATH OR PSYCHOPATH fight me if you do. Exactly exactly just as anon said "He is a much deeper and complex character if one only takes the time to look past his antics and analyze his behavior." I COULDN'T AGREE MORE 😤 thank you so much for once again educating the community I'm a fan of you 🤔 anon ❤

#gojo discussions #virgin or not?#gojou satoru #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen gojo #jjk gojo #gojo satoru #skipps chat

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nickysescapism · 3 years

Text

here my thought on Fate real quick:

Things that did not piss me off:

Bloom being extra spicy really mega ultra special² (by now I’m not even surprised anymore)

Silva

the short time we spent with Marco

That one good-looking specialist girl that got killed off pretty quickly (you will be missed)

Terra’s dad

Bloom being the only one with an american accent (because british accents are supperior and also it shows that Bloom does not “fit in”)

Sam aka another white boy (but my feelings towards him were neutral so yeah)

Things that did piss me off:

the blatant whitewashing

unnecessary pop culture references (we get it you watched HP and make IG stories)

pls stop butchering the four houses like that if you can’t get your facts straight

the constant fatphobia

Riven’s obvious biphobia and everyone just accepting it

the 'blond mean girl' trope because what would we do without it

the victim (Dane) falling for the bully (Riven) for no apparent reason

“I hAvE A cOuSin NaMeD FlOrA”

the only black woc being the “mom of the group” because we haven’t seen this stereotype for a hot sec

the boring and repetitive sequences of the specialists training with wooden sticks like children in elementary school

“We DoN’t HaVe WiNgS aNymOrE”

Bloom being super selfish and everyone risking their lives for her constantly because they all love her anyway

the line “you full-creeped on my insta last night and I haven’t told anyone” exists non ironically (Riverdale called they want their awful-cringy-lines back)

"Riv"

fetishizing bi people (because bi’s can only ewist on Netflix if they are doing threesomes because that’s what being bi is all about apparently)

using the word mansplaining in the first episode TWICE in the span of a few minutes and not even using it right

the only healthy relationship (Musa and Sam) is so freaking boring that one had to make up a non existing drama to make it less boring

the unburned slaughtering like 10 specialist who are pros and do this job for years but two first-year fairies were able to get away without a scratch

the non existing friendship between the winx's and therefore it makes no sense that they still keep hanging out with each other

the erasure of our queen tecna!!

all the good specialist were erased too (like Timmy and Brandon)

the outfits making them look like grown ass moms and not like teenagers

the cast looking like they are more likely to be in college than in high school

Beatrix (besides everything she isn’t even a good villain, she is the worst secret “villain” i’ve ever seen like she is like a freaking elefant in mouse town)

and now Alfea basically is Hogwarts 2.0 but a cheaper version of it

changing Musa's powers because we need element powers for some freaking reason and not even doing anything with her powers for like 90% of the show

everything looking so dark and greasy and boring and basically not like Magix or anything magical at all

Stella (she is basically Diaspro but so much worse)

the lowkey abusive relationship between the adoptive parents (mom) and Bloom just to never mention it again

Aisha having no backstory and telling EVERYONE constantly that she swims but we never get scenes of her outside of her "parenting Bloom" sidequests

Terra saying that she misses Stella because she insulted her and was mean to her, because fat girls need this constant body shaming amiright?

they really tried making Stella bullying Terra ✨their thing✨

Aisha struggling with her powers is suddenly not important anymore when it’s inconvenient

the girls hate each other for like 80% of the show and suddenly they have a deep bonding

Musa being useless and stating the obvious and only being there for obvious exposition

"You are sad, aren’t you?"

“Yes, how do you know that? Is it because I’m crying my eyes out right now?”

“No, dummy. I’m a mind fairy. I can feel what you feel.”

the whole changeling plot

erasing the Trix and compromizing them into one character, but then give Beatrix two side kicks so they are basically a group of three again ???

they made it even more straight than the OG

the Sky/Stella/Bloom love triangle because we needed that one

the adults being stupid af

Vanessa apparently almost dying in the fire and having third degree burns but only at places that can be covered by clothes easily (and also they do not look like third dagree burns at all)

Bloom ready to kill her “parents” because they took away her door

“BuTt StUfF” another great literal masterpiece from our all-time favorite Riv

Stella is not only not part of the group for like 75% of the time, the others also don’t like her at all and therefore you don’t care about her problems at all

the teachers being unecessary mean to their students like “oh you just learned to control your powers, well damn you still suck hope you get better soon lol that looks so bad try harder”

Aisha being the only one who has no love interest

^same as Terra who is pining after a dude that doesn’t like her that way

Bloom always playing the victim and always acting like no one suffers as much as she does

using pop music that doesn’t fit the tone of the scene at all (and also ruining one of my fav songs)

Alfea basically turning into every garbage teenage high school Netflix ever had

Everyone acting as if Beatrix is super smart and a good spy even tho she sucks at it without end (why would you try to get as much attention as possible?? and kill your accomplice???)

no other planets but realms and still here everyone knows that California is part of America because americans aren’t full of themselves at all. Just replace California and America with anything else. :)

“You aren’t from Solaria, are you? Where are you from?”

“I’m from California Fer Island.”

“Uh...is that..part of...?”

“America Everix, obviously????”

they tried desperately to be woke by throwing stuff around like “don’t be sexist” and “don’t come at me with this feminist bs” like good job...to the white old dudes who completely missed the entire point of feminism and sexism - performantive feminism if you will - always SAYING the most basic feminist (women can be strong too) stuff but not DOING it

fire is somehow effective against BURNED creatures (e.g. throwing water filled balloons at a mermaids)

all telling and no showing (expositions + no flashbacks = BORING)

Sky being so obessed with Bloom that he doesn’t care that she drugged him at one point

Dane’s character doing a 180 out of nowhere for plot convenience

Stella being a threat to other students but no one seems to care

the good ol’ the bad guys aren’t really bad but in the end turns out they are and the good guys were the good guys all along plot twist that we have seen a million times on netflix alone

Sky not having trust issues after Bloom spiked the water bottle and just accepting that she felt the need to drug him

Sky having daddy issues and that being treated as his main character trait

using phones all the time but when it’s important suddenly no one got a phone with them

beatrix drags a random “bad boy” into her evil plan because that was ever a good thing to do but kills her only partner that already had the trust of FaRa

Sky still persuing Bloom even tho he knows that Stella could blind Bloom because she can’t control her powers and even threatens to do so - again no one saw a problem with that??

Bloom being one of the worst liars out there but Aisha is like “wow, you are a great liar” like no bitch you literally had to help her five seconds ago

Stella blinding her best friend being one of the most underwhelming plots I have ever seen (I mean how can a show fuck it up so bad that a literal girl blinding her best friend doesn’t interest me?)

no one can have an interesting storyline because there is the slight chance that they could outshine the real star (bloom)

^therefore most sideplots are super shallow or just boring

#fate winx saga #can you tell that i didn't like the show?#what can i say no matter how good it is i will never accept the blatant whitewashing and neither should you #if you say that it's a good show if you leave out that it is related to the winx club shut up it's still whitewashing k #anti fate the winx saga

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ato-matsuri · 3 years

Text

On Agartha

Been a while since I’ve written a long text post, most of all one about Fate. It honestly inspires a lot of rambling in me, after all. But I don’t think, this time, it’s due to its good writing, the emotions it makes me feel, or anything good. This, my friend, is about Agartha. I should probably prelude that this contains a metric shit ton of Agartha spoilers. If you haven’t seen Agartha, and you’re actually wanting to see the story -- scroll past. But, having played through Agartha completely and rested on the story for a bit, I think I want to repeat what everyone else has for ages lol.

Agartha, on paper, is incredible. A subterranean world built off fantastical story off fantastical story, made by a woman known for her ability to weave story after story, within stories, on the fly, and from a database of every possible Arabian Nights tale. Where the fear Scheherazade has due to Shahryar's endless abuse and fearmongering has stretched even to men as a whole due to literal years of having to survive Shahryar. Where the only leaders were queens, where the only rebellion force was a man so horrifically corrupt that he'd easily fall for the tricks she played. Her intent -- to reveal magecraft forever, removing any power magecraft has, saving her from ever having to fight and face kings -- and die -- ever again. That... sounds pretty good when I describe it that way, huh? Now if only it were executed with any modicum of sense.

From the beginning, Agartha's writing struck me as remarkably odd. It was like I was watching someone desperately try to emulate Nasu's writing style -- but had absolutely no idea what made Nasu's writing so good. Its exposition dumps, rather than being interesting, ended up being thoroughly boring -- as they focused on the mundane, like the fact that moss glows to light up the landscape -- instead of the magical implications of a world like Agartha even existing to begin with. Albeit, with the mystery of Agartha at that time, we can safely assume that there wasn't much to focus on, but then why spend so damned long talking about this stuff?

The worldbuilding, while passable, feels fairly flawed in execution. The idea of a world made the way Agartha was could've made for some interesting commentary about the way men treated (and still do treat) women in modern society, but Agartha not only misses the point, but tumbles head-over-ass into the uncanny valley and makes the whole thing sound like a continent-wide BDSM session. There's barely any actual subtle or well-done symbolism to showcase misogyny in this way -- and while hyperbole can serve a good point at times, the hyperbole combined with the strangely sexual writing of these segments makes it feel less like commentary and more like a badly-done doujin.

For example -- El Dorado was as simple as it gets. Men are slaves/breeding machines/whatever. The whole 'breeding machine' thing is played off extensively, even with Penth -- a minor at this stage, mind you -- comments on using the protagonists as such breeding machines. I'll come back to this later, because this serves as another point.

Ys was a fucking cool concept -- a world ruled entirely by rampant consumerism and chaos. Men, in this world, are still second-class citizens, pretty much the playthings of the women around them. I say that Ys is the best kingdom comparatively, as it was at least more bearable than its other kingdoms, but it still felt weirdly sexual in its writing tone. Of course, following tone, Dahut (who I'll get back to later) smashes men constantly, and is very keen on fucking Guda as well, following a trend. It's played for comedy, mostly, but it's still uncomfortable as all hell. Even so, I note it's more bearable because it's a very slightly more subtle take on the whole 'misogyny' allegory -- these people are using men for basically whatever they want, and tossing them away after. I'd compare it to a few true crime cases of people who murdered, or assaulted women for no good reason at all, purely out of a want that was either denied (for good reason), or that the want itself was to inflict harm. While the allegory still does feel unintentional here, it's at least slightly less unintentional. It was probably mostly just by accident due to Agartha's generally uncomfortable writing style, but the allegory here feels a little more potent when it's not so blatantly a BDSM fic.

I hate the Nightless City, despite it again being a cool concept. A 'utopia' where speaking out at all means death -- where men are in concept free citizens, but in practice fall victim to the law if they look at someone funny. Again, in concept, great allegory. The law does not treat men and women the same -- and while it differs depending on the case which is preferred, the vast majority of the time, women are pretty much shafted by the legal system (see Brock Turner), especially in very conservative areas. Cases can be made for both genders being shafted, of course -- but for the purpose of this allegory, picking out the prejudices of the legal system against gender is a fair critique. But, like everything else Agartha does, these neat ideas fall flat in practice.

They barely touch at all on the allegory, and nobody seems to even realize it in the cast, making me further believe the allegories aren't intentional at all. In due fact, it's as if the writer didn't even realize that this could be read as an allegory. The men's plights make some sense, as they were yoinked out of nowhere into a world that hates them. But the Servants and Guda don't think about it at all past the 'wow men are slaves that sucks' -- barely even considering that this could be an allegory the world's creator made due to their own horrific circumstances. They do point this out, but to my knowledge, it's very late -- when Scheherazade's called on her bluff, only then is it ever mentioned, and only in passing at that. If anything, the fact they point this out so close to the ending makes the ending itself that much more insulting. But before I get to the ending, I think there's something else about Agartha that sets the scene for just how awful it is -- and that's the way the characters are written, and the dialogue that comes of it. For this, I'll split it up into the characters who portray this the most. I'll even describe their personalities in Agartha's context.

Guda: Crouching pervert, hidden Mash stan. A few non-sequiturs of Guda complimenting Mash despite the mood being completely broken by it. Guda's incapable of taking a situation seriously in Agartha, even when the world's basically due to be changed forever. They keep cracking jokes, creeping on Astolfo/d'Eon, and other such things even when people are literally dying all around him. For that matter, I clearly recall the scene where -- for no real reason -- Guda just changes gears with Mash in tow, and starts trying to decipher d'Eon's gender. There's absolutely no real context to this, nor any reason for Guda to do this. Further noted is the fact Guda has worked with d'Eon before, and should've probably realized d'Eon's situation by this point. The Nasuverse has always been a bit, er, behind on gender norms and such, but it's so prevalent in any scene with d'Eon it hurts -- especially in that particular scene.

Astolfo: Oddly enough, the most tolerable person here (sans one other person). Agartha's refusal to take itself seriously works remarkably well for Astolfo. And while Astolfo isn't exactly written well here either, the fact that Astolfo's always been a bit loopy makes them seem, well, more in character. They're responsible for some of the funnier moments in Agartha, with their input composing approximately 3/4 of the, like, seven or eight funny moments in Agartha proper. Even so, Astolfo's appearance sometimes hurts Agartha as much as they help it, probably since Astolfo is a bit of the reason Agartha won't take itself seriously.

d'Eon: Deserved fucking better. The previously mentioned scene was the worst offender by far in my eyes, with it coming out of fucking nowhere. d'Eon's paired with Astolfo as a buddy and fighting partner, which itself could've made for good material -- instead, d'Eon is constantly dragged into Astolfo's fanservice-y gimmicks, and d'Eon themselves are pretty often creeped on by Guda. I'd go out on a limb to say that d'Eon's implied dislike of gendered clothing (see the maid outfit) made their scenes wearing such outfits far more uncomfortable, especially with how distinctly sexual the Agartha humour is. I just hated it.

Columbus: I can't fucking believe I'm saying this, but Columbus was the funniest character in Agartha. And I don't even think that was intentional. Something about how unabashedly horrible he was caught me completely off guard -- I thought he'd end up sort of like Napoleon at a glance, someone whose Spirit Origin was completely changed due to Europe's collective worship of the dude -- but holy FUCK was I wrong. Something about the hilariously cursed faces Columbus pulls, combined with his loud-and-proud irredeemable evilness, made him a blast to watch -- and an even bigger blast to beat the shit out of. His, uh, toothy grin still cracks me up even a few weeks after playing it.

Penthesilea: One of a very large amount of people who really deserved better. She barely ever shows up -- and when she does, she voices her desire to turn Guda and co. into a breeding machine/slave (recall she's like. 16?), and pretty much throws the whole 'reasonable-ish zerk' thing out the window instantly, because Agartha decided to forego decent writing in favour of 'funny berserker hates achilles haha brrrrrr,' therefore losing pretty much all the characterization they could've given her. The lack of 'alternate views' that show her in greater detail make this far worse, which I'll go into later.

Dahut: God, wasted potential out the asshole! A woman who made an entire world that fucked around and needlessly consumed stuff, she's the epitome of such a belief. But that's all she is. I'd be able to forgive this awful writing if Scheherazade, who 'implanted' Drake onto Dahut, was a bad writer -- but she's fucking Scheherazade! Dahut's a completely flat character, who constantly tries to bed (and kill) Guda, and generally likes the idea of needless consumption. That's literally it. Again, could be explained if Dahut had difficulty keeping control of Drake's body and conscience -- but this isn't explored either! She's just a walking, talking missed opportunity.

Wu: God, look at her design. Do I even need to say more?! She falls under the same problem that the other rulers do -- shallow characterization, no opportunities to flesh them out, etc.

Scheherazade: She could've been so fucking amazing. Scheherazade's story is one ripe with interpretations the Fate series so loves to utilize -- and on paper, her character is amazing. It'd only be natural for someone like Schez to be this deeply traumatized after so many days on death's door -- not many could really get through that okay. The incredible storyteller who fears death, kings, and unconsciously, men as a whole -- creating Agartha as a subtle way of ensuring none of them harm her while she prepares her ultimate plan of revealing magecraft to the entire world. However, as with the other Agartha characters, she becomes cripplingly one-note. Bringing her fear of death above all else, she comes off as an unreasonable asshole, constantly freaking out about death and preserving exclusively herself to a fault. While one could argue it's partially due to a Pillar's influence, Phenex doesn't seem to have a hold on her at all -- it's a basic alliance, and nothing more, as the ending shows us. It just leaves her as a one-note death avoider, with no other character traits at all. I'd go into further detail, but I'm saving that for later.

Fergus: God fucking damnit, man. A literal child version of Fergus, who the entire cast constantly expects to sexually harass every woman in sight. He's a one-note flanderization of Fergus, just without the one character trait Agartha gave Fergus. It just makes him... boring, a character whose only character trait is his refusal to hit a woman. Like... Come on. The fact the entire team is so sure this literal child will start trying to hit on women is just uncomfortable to witness, and the fact he slowly starts gaining these traits feels less like him 'meeting his fate' as Fergus, and more like Agartha wants an excuse to sexually harass more of the cast.

The Fucking Ending I'm giving this its own category, because of just how much of a punch to the face it was. In short -- the plan to reveal magecraft is revealed, more jokes are made, bla bla bla. Agartha can't keep a serious mood at all. ...But the final few scenes take it to a whole other extreme.

Wu Zetian comes out of nowhere despite being squashed by Megalos earlier, stuffing Phenex into a pit of her weird water shit, placing Phenex in a state of 'life and death.' Child Fergus then sac's his own Spirit Origin to summon Fergus inside himself(???), thus gaining the power of Caladbolg to weaken Phenex enough for the player to destroy. ...However, Child Fergus just summoned Fergus inside his own body. So, what happens when you put Agartha!Fergus, a one-note sexual harasser, into the body of a child? You get the final scene of Agartha. For some reason, I guess you need more help from others to take out Phenex. To this end, Fergus decides to convince Schez to join their side. I'd like you to recall that FGO!Scheherazade is implied to have the trauma of Shahryar's abuse, sexual and physical, burned into her memory -- not just the whole death thing. In every form of the story, Shahryar abuses her in such a fashion almost nightly. It's to the point where Schez' first line of defence, and much of her skills, are as much oriented around storytelling as they are charm and seduction (moreso the former than the latter, albeit), because her defence mechanism was that as much as it was storytelling, to keep her abuser happy. This is a part of why Agartha is the way it is -- to keep such men away from her. Hell, there's not a single King in sight, save technically Fergus, and Chaldea's d'Eon and Astolfo. Fergus knows this. Hell, he heard this being called out. He's well aware how terrified she is. So, what does he do?

SEXUALLY HARASS HER. He claims she has to live to have kids. That men and women have to live to have kids. He claims that she should live, because he'd smash her. ...Now, that's insulting enough -- moreso, that it's played dead serious. Nobody even as much as calls him on such a shitty persuasion tactic, and nobody even mentions how awful it is to sexually harass a woman who'd been sexually assaulted at best for the better part of almost three straight years. AND IT. FUCKING. WORKS.

SCHEHERAZADE. IS IMPLIED. TO BE INTO IT.

And because of this, she's swayed to join the heroes and seal Phenex away for good -- giggling about how Fergus' worldview was partially correct even as she fades away. The epilogue features Fergus, sexually harassing Scheherazade ON SIGHT -- calling out 'tits on my 12:00' or whatever, as Scheherazade darts off. However, Schez isn't avoiding him due to trauma. She's avoiding it because, while she's into it, she doesn't want to 'die' so fast. This fucking ending highlights among the biggest issues with this damned Singularity. Even Blavatsky coming out of fucking nowhere to Deus Ex Machina a grail and help into Guda's hands -- despite seemingly being slaughtered by Columbus in a (admittedly a bit funny) way to get the base of the Resistance -- means nothing to me compared to the blatant slaughter of two characters at once. Fergus is a total horndog even outside of Agartha's reach, but he even notes he respects his partners' consent, and doesn't overstep his bounds if he makes them uncomfortable. Scheherazade isn't exactly trusting in the slightest, least of all in Agartha - she barely even begins trusting Guda due to Guda treating her with actual respect. Even then, she isn't actively prostrating herself for Guda in that sense, very likely due to the fact that's more of a defence mechanism to her rather than something she'd enjoy, due to extreme trauma. Albeit, Fate writing does leave the possibility in the air for Guda specifically, but that's very likely just due to Guda being Guda and being careful to treat her properly and help her than anything else (and also the whole 'self insert harem' thing, I guess, but that's a hell of a lot easier to ignore esp in contrast to Agartha) And yet, we see that epilogue, that butchers both of them in one fell swoop so badly that I almost ended up hating both of them. Agartha's biggest problem is that it tried to be deep and intriguing, while having the writing quality of the goddamned Valentine's events. It picked all the right characters to have an incredibly intriguing storyline, and fell flat because the author decided that playing sexual harassment, d'Eon's everything, and even the most serious scenes for comedy was more important than telling a story even half as meaningful as the chapters before it. Lo and behold -- to my knowledge, Minase wrote it. Of course he did. He chose the best, the most interesting characters he could find, and made them so fucking one-note that the story lost all its charm in moments. He chose to emulate Nasu without understanding what made Nasu's writing so good. He chose to make Agartha a laugh fest despite simultaneously trying to make it 'deep.' He chose to fall head-over-ass over a possibly interesting allegory into misogyny and fall right into sexualizing it to the point of feeling like a femdom BDSM fic. And go figure the only character he did decently was Christopher fucking Columbus. I have a hatred for Agartha I can't reasonably place anywhere else. Prillya was just as shitty, but I ignored it, because Prillya itself wasn't great, so of course the crossover sucks too. Valentine's events written by him weren't great, but whatever, it's a Valentine's event. Septem, written by someone else, was similarly not great. But it wasn't insulting. It simply wasn't great, and had a lot of wasted potential. But its ending wasn't out of character to the point of being insulting. Its story didn't make incredible mythological and historical figures too infuriating to like anymore. It didn't almost ruin entire Fate characters for me. Not the way Agartha did. I should probably contextualize that Scheherazade is among my favourite mythological figures. I introduced myself to her through Magi (lmao) due to further research into the base stories -- as well as a favourite Magic: The Gathering card, Shahrazad, which forced you to play a game within your game, like how Arabian Nights featured stories within stories.

Even in Fate outside of Agartha, I liked her. Her design didn't make much sense to me considering her character, but whatever, I didn't need to think too hard of it. It's just a design, and despite my hatred of Penth's design, I still love Penth as a character, so I can handle Schez. But Agartha painted her in such a way that all the subtlety and interesting parts of Schez went completely out the window. No longer was there any hidden references to the aftereffects of her life beyond 'i dun wan die,' and there was hardly an ounce of sympathy or kindness in her bones at all. While her being an anti-hero made some sense, especially as she was only a normal person with far above-average storytelling prowess, there was a point when she stopped being a 'good, but terrified person' and started being a complete asshole. And Agartha was that time. If it weren't for her Interlude, which redeemed her considerably, and Ooku, which did wonders for her character despite being written by Minase (as I believe Nasu was overseeing him at that point), I very likely would've never gone for her at all, despite my love of the myth. In Conclusion This rant is just to say that Agartha is bad. Horrific. Insulting, even. At every step where it could've been good, it tumbled head-over-ass into the most insulting, uncomfortable shit you could imagine. It failed to take itself seriously, and paced itself like a comedy event, but simultaneously acted as if it expected its audience to take it seriously. Like a clown brigade deciding to take on Les Mis, it loses all of its punch when every few lines is interrupted by a jab at Fergus, sexual harassment, or something that comes close to being cool before suddenly turning into a badly-timed joke, or suddenly becoming laden with dialogue so sexual it feels straight out of a porno. It's aggravating, awful, and with only brief reprieves of bareable comedy in between long, long lengths of hellish text and awful characterization. The only good part was the gameplay -- which, laden with interesting mechanics not seen elsewhere, was legitimately fun. My take? Avoid all Agartha cutscenes and plot, and just play the gameplay. The gameplay's fun, and if enjoyed on its own, would probably make for a far better experience than observing the story surrounding it. But good gameplay doesn't make up for a horrible story, especially in a game where plot is as important as it is in F/GO. Agartha's a pile of shit in my eyes, but that's ultimately only my opinion, and nothing more. If others have an opinion counter to mine, that's completely fine -- and don't let this analysis ruin your fun with Agartha if you enjoyed its plot. To be frank, I'd be happy if you enjoyed it where I could not. And if you think my takes are misinformed, or if I missed a spot (or overreacted to a spot), that's what the reblogs and comments are for! I'm definitely not the kind of dude who has the final say in matters like this -- this is only what I picked up. Thank you for reading!

#fate grand order #fate #f/go #fate/grand order #mash kyrielight #agartha #agartha fgo #tldr i hated it lol #agartha spoilers #rape tw #rape cw

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chalkrevelations · 3 years

Text

Episode 31 of Word of Honor, and in many ways OH MY GOD YES, but also, no, show, wtf?

As in, wt actual f is going on? Literally, what is happening?

(Spoilers, so scroll away and come back later, if you need to.)

So, first thing’s first: I feel like this one may end up a bit short, because a lot of it is likely to be just a bunch of keysmash flailing? (EDIT: No, I just came back up here to the top from the bottom, because this is NOT AT ALL any shorter than usual.) I’ll attempt a bit more than exclamation points and worry over whether my poor heart is able to take this, but we’ll see how it goes, because the first thing I’m going to do is say I knew it! and I told you so! I knew you weren’t planning to die, Zhou Zishu. I did call you a liar after Ep 30, and I was right. I mean, what’s the point of having the terrifying master of the Ghost Valley as your boyfriend husband if he’s not going to rescue you after you’ve been kidnapped for attempted ravishment by the evil prince? And get you the best wedding present ever, i.e., a bunch of new disciples? Omg, Zhou Zishu’s face when Wen Kexing finally calls himself a disciple of Four Seasons Manor! (I think he’s so overwhelmed, he doesn’t even realize when WKX calls him “shixiong” a minute before that!) Wen Kexing’s tiny pained smile that he just can’t seem to help when ZZS lays his hand on WKX’s head! That long shuddering breath ZZS lets out, and the way his shoulders just drop, like he’s finally let go of a huge weight! (The worry this brings me, because there are five and a half episodes left, my dude, and your husband is a troublemaker, and I would not be getting complacent, if I was you.) The fact that WKX has knelt to ZZS and called him zongzhu in front of the Ghost Valley contingent – there’s gotta be some political implications to that. Horseback riding! The way WKX keeps holding (up) ZZS! Lol at WKX being all, you all can leave now, we can take our honeymoon alone from here! ZZS knew he would come (I told you so)! Their smiles! Their soft little faces! (Merciless killers! How so fucking adorable?) The hairpin! MARRIED, Y’ALL. Censorship? I don’t know her. ANYWAY, that’s all just a bunch of flailing reaction to the first almost 20 minutes of emoporn. Also, Zhang Zhehan, you should not do suffering so pretty. It makes me feel like a bad person for still enjoying your face so much when your character is in so much physical and emotional distress.

Secondly, show. We need to talk. You should not be this opaque. I’m trying to piece together everything that’s happened in (vaguely) chronological order:

Sometime before dying (before breaking his heart meridians?), Han Ying tells Wen Kexing about the Four Seasons Remnants back with Prince Jin. All of Ep 30 happens, with Zhou Zishu and Xie Wang both making a mess of Awful Prince’s/Yifu’s plans. Xie Wang, the rest of the Scorpions, and the Ghost Valley team retreat back to a lair. Which lair? Who knows, at this point. Cao Weining talks to Fan Shishu. (He explicitly tells this to A-Xiang.) But does he also confront Mo Huaiyang? Because I feel like it must be significant that we get the same turn of phrase to describe Zhao Jing’s relationship with Xie Wang – asking a tiger for its skin – from Mo Huaiyang to Fan Shishu, and then attributed to Cao Weining when A-Xiang quotes it to WKX in the same ep. The show even emphasizes this for us to catch by drawing attention to A-Xiang’s use of it via her struggle to remember the idiom properly. (A. This episode’s convo between Mo Huaiyang and Fan Shishu, which is when we see Mo Huaiyang actually use the idiom, happens AFTER Cao Weining and Gu Xiang leave Gentle Wind Sword Sect. I went back and checked, and it is Mo Huaiyang who uses it, not Fan Shishu. B. In this same convo, Fan Shishu says he still needs to explain all this to the disciples somehow, so C. Was there a prior, unseen convo between just Cao Weining and Mo Huaiyang in which Mo Huaiyang practiced his excuses on poor, hapless Cao Weining first?)

Anyway, Cao Weining then goes to A-Xiang, who’s lit. and fig. in the dark at this point, in her rustic cabin outside the gated community. I notice Cinnamon Roll already has his bag packed. He is done. He lays out the current political web, and A-Xiang seems pretty sure of Liu Qianqiao’s ultimate loyalty to WKX. This is probably important in what happens next. Gu Xiang and Cao Weining decide to run away and elope but then … get captured and taken to the lair. On purpose? A-Xiang did see Liu Qianqiao with Xie Wang in the Secret Cave, standing shoulder to shoulder with Du Pusa as an apparent top-tier henchwoman, and she probably expects to be protected, but this seems like a pretty big gamble. I suppose you don’t survive the Ghost Valley without learning to take some risks. A-Xiang then leads Xie Wang and the Ghost Valley contingent to WKX (at burned-down Four Seasons Manor?) to, she says, let WKX take down Xie Wang. She notes Xie Wang’s use of some potion to control everyone – I assume the Drug Man potion, and I assume the monthly antidote is what’s keeping everyone in the Ghost Valley from going full Drug Man?

WKX and Xie Wang confer in secret. Probably about how much they both hate Awful Yifu. I mean, I assume Xie’er still hates Awful Yifu at this point, but who knows what tomorrow will bring? Probably a key point here: WKX is hiding whatever this was about from his husband. My dude, why are you still like this? I guess that explains the pained cast to that tiny little smile earlier. WKX then takes some of the Ghost Valley contingent and coordinates with the Four Seasons Remnants back in Prince Jin’s territory to rescue ZZS. Husband safely rescued, WKX now heads back to Ghost Valley, to … abdicate? He promises A-Xiang he’s going to come back safely, and my dude, I’m trying to believe you. I really am. I’m trying to have as much faith in you planning to be back all along as I had in ZZS not planning to die in Jin Palace all along, but here’s a key difference: HE LET YOU IN ON HIS PLAN. Which you were a key part of. I find your secrecy, by contrast, concerning.

Other things:

Love the little moment between Gu Xiang and Liu Qianqiao and Luo Fumeng when Beauty Ghost and Tragicomic Ghost turn to Xie Wang in righteous indignation and want to know what the fuck he thinks he’s doing to their little girl. Compare the reaction of these two moms to Happy Ghost being all, “Nope, this is a complete and total in with Wen Kexing right here in a pretty pink dress.” The show continues to draw a fairly bright line between the characterization of the women in the Department of the Unfaithful - who are terrorizing certain people, true, but also watching out for each other after ending up down on their luck – and the general run of men in Ghost Valley, who are basically rotten sociopaths straight out of Batman’s rogues gallery and will sell you out in a minute for their own gain. Yes, this has been made fairly explicit in Wen Kexing’s and A-Xiang’s commentary in past eps and later in this ep about trying to get the Department of the Unfaithful out of the line of fire while not caring if the jianghu burns down the rest of Ghost Valley, but this isn’t just favoritism or a whim, just some fond memories of Luo Fumeng being kind to them a couple of times in the past. I think there’s some commentary here on the kind of men who are so far gone they find themselves outside the bounds of “civilized” society and the kind of women who do – how much easier and quicker it is for a woman, that it could be any woman in the wrong circumstances, and how much further gone a man has to be than a woman to be considered a “devil.” We’ve seen these supportive interpersonal relationships among the women since Gu Xiang “adopted” her two girls in the first handful of episodes and told off Lovelace with the threat of Tragicomic Ghost – and the show is continuing to show it, not just tell it. It’s one of the things I’ve found frustrating about Wen Kexing a couple of times in past eps, when he’s trying to get A-Xiang’s two girls, or other women from the Department, to just leave and go do something else – I feel like even though WKX realizes their circumstances and their personalities are different from the rest of his Top Ten Devils, he’s not fully comprehending that they literally have nowhere else to go, that if they had any other options, they wouldn’t have ended up there in the first place. He called the two girls “puppies” when he talked about A-Xiang having to take care of them, but as Ghost Valley master, who’s enforced the independence of and protections for the Department of the Unfaithful, he’s walking away from his own basketful of puppies. Not to mention, this is one of the vanishingly small places in this particular version of the jianghu that we’ve seen women have any autonomy and power. I … think there may have been a few young female cultivators in Yueyang Sect, but while I’d have to go back and watch to be sure, I remember the Hero’s Conference being a whole bunch of men throwing their … weight around. Anyway, I also love that it looks like A-Xiang tries to kick Happy Ghost in the shin, because of course she does.

Visually, they had a cool thing going on there with the Tian Chuang behind WKX falling in concert with WKX lowering his fan, but they didn’t quite coordinate it enough, and then they cut away too soon. Bah. It was set up to be a very cool visual, if only they had committed to it. Meanwhile Duan Pengju, this asshole, omg. He’s trying to pull off the Collar of Evil and is not succeeding. Srsly, his Collar of Evil is droopy. It doesn’t stop him from monologuing like he’s the actual villain and not some sad-sack lackey. You showed the correct amount of amused disdain during your interaction, but I can’t believe you left him alive at the end of it, Wen Kexing.

I wasn’t really feeling Jing Beiyuan and Wu Xi up until this ep when Jing Beiyuan was teasing A-Xiang about her lack of shame over running away with her lover. OK, fine, you can stay, Qi Ye. Also, wow. Speaking of lack of shame, I can’t believe you just accused your husband of bride kidnapping right in front of everyone’s salads, because that is totally what just happened there.

So the band is (almost all) back together, minus Chengling, who has definitely found out in the worst possible way that one of his dads is the terrifying master of the Ghost Valley that massacred his family and sect. So, this should go well.

Lol at Xie’er lounging in Wen Kexing’s Ghost Valley master seat like some kind of consort. He’s already got a husband, Xie’er. One that would not be happy with a concubine running around, I think. I do wonder what the full scope of their plan/understanding is, bubbling away under this stare-down.

A note – WKX’s hair is styled differently in this ep in the Ghost Valley master scenes than it has been before. Previously, those side bangs were further forward and a little bit chunkier, which, I think, narrowed his face and also helped emphasize the wild-eyed look. They’re wispier and back further, now, which I think softens his face, even when he’s trying to look imposing. Makes him look more, dare I say, human.

And now, I’m going to go have a few Han Ying/Bi Xingming thoughts, actually. God, those months after ZZS left, can you imagine what that was like for them? Han Ying having watched those nails placed in Bi Xingming’s shifu in the first ep, and then having to turn around and go to Bi Xingming and tell him that ZZS was gone, with the seven nails in him? Both of them trying to hold the Four Seasons Remnants together – and then Ying-ge comes back one day and says he’s found ZZS? Mutual aid and comfort, my dudes. Also some projection. I’m just sayin’. Meet me, I guess - this kind of sideline action and extremely rare pair thing is how I tend to roll.

#zhou zishu #wen kexing #gu xiang #cao weining #liu qianqiao #luo fumeng #xie wang #jing beiyuan #wu xi #zhang chengling #han ying #bi xingming #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

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ray-jaykub · 3 years

Note

#68 This isn’t what it looks like with Mikey cause honestly it’s too perfect lol

I think I may combust like why was this so hard to figure out? I literally got the idea laying in bed tryin to sleep like oh my god I may never take drabble requests again i still have one other one. Anyway this is short but I hope its funny because it did not exactly turn out to be that way really😬 --- No gif bc i am just too tired to deal with the gif search just to put the same old shit on here 🧡🧡🧡🧡 The thoughts started comin after one fateful night. Mikey had made the mistake of walkin in through the window without tapping. And seeing how it went straight into your room he was instantly pushed out. But in that moment he caught sight of your ass. Barely peeking out from the bottom of your big t-shirt and as Mikey tries to stop himself from falling off the fire-scape he can't help but recall the soft pink fabric. So much so that he kept thinking about them the rest of the night, unfocused on his games or the fact he burnt dinner (which never happened). Even as he went to bed The mikester was left with contemplation. Now when asked Mikey would lay claim to bein a boobs kinda guy but he knew how to appreciate a great ass. What he loved even more though were the great lengths a person would go to have nice underwear. From all different kinds, like fancy lingerie to basic white cotton, depending on what kind a person buys really says what kinda personality they got. It showed their inner selves in a whole new light and the scale of innocence people truly fake. He had seen videos of men who wore women's underwear and how it gave them a different type of confidence they never had. Mikey secretly read about the small articles in magazines about how people felt knowing they had their own dirty secret to themselves in public like it was a one-up on the people of New York. Now, he knew it was wrong, but he really wanted to see what secrets you were hiding... --- Whenever you guys saw eachother again he expected you to bash him but instead you waved it off, which he was grateful for. What was bad though is that no matter how he looked at you all that came into his head were what kinda underwear you got on. What secrets you hid from the rest of your friends that made you seem to shine in the dark lights of the sewers and bounce around in your shorts without a care as Raph's music played through the station. It seemed he had been staring at you rather too intensely because Lee had grabbed his shoulder and when he looked up he groaned. He knew that look. "Something wrong Michelangelo?" He shrugged his older brother's hand off his shoulder and tried to play it off as being non chalant. "Pfft, no, why would you think somethins wrong?" Mikey's eyes went straight back to you but he shook his head, "What? Can't a guy admire?" Leo stares long and hard before heaving a sigh. "Just know you can talk to me anytime" before the little brother brother could throw a snarky remark Leo's halfway across the room towards the dojo and he's left with himself again. All it takes is a laugh from you to have his attention focused on you again.

---

Michelangelo didn't quite understand why he did some of the things he did. Like why he continued to drink from the jug, or flirt with you and April (raph just says that's how he talks to new people), or why he touched Don's shit even after being thrown in the hashi for it. He didn't understand why he cried watching Homeward bound, or why he was creeping into your room just as the sun was setting and risking bein seen.

Your home was empty and all the lights were off. No buzz of life emitted from the place and Mikey thanked his lucky stars you were working late. Because what he was about to do was something his father would keel over and die from if he even caught a whiff of this. Something that wpuld have his brother's shaking their heads in dissappintment.

God he hopes there's no such thing as turtle hell

Your dresser drawers are a smooth oak, cluttered with knick-knacks and pictures. Mikey's hand goes to reach for the top drawer's handle but he stops, hesitant. What would you think if he had stolen something of yours? His green hand almost drops but then a second voice spoke up in his head

His conscience

'You're a ninja! You move with the night and yet you're scared you'll be caught with a pair of panties?'

'Yeah but Y/n is one of my best friends! How would ypu feel if you caught her?'

'Hot and bothered'

While metally arguing with himself Mikey had managed to open the drawer and spot the same pair he had seen before. But during his internal fight between wrong and justification the terrapin had not heard the keys jingle in the door or the sound of your tired feet coming towards the bedroom. Amd before anyone could say 'cowabunga' the door opened and shined light onto him. You gasped as he whipped his head towards you and saw your shocked face. His brain couldn't think quick enough and before he coukd clamp his mouth shut a feeble excuse slipped

"This isn't what this looks like!"

Oh surely he's fucked

#Tmnt #Ray writes #Michelangelo #Mikey #Drabble request #Teenage mutant ninja turtles #Tmnt x reader #Teenage mutant ninja turtles x reader

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tsumtsum-into-omiomi · 4 years

Text

CHAPTER TWO: HISTORY 101

warning(s): cursing

word count: 1.4k

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

AO3

"What if... I told you all that practitioners like us used to be able to roam the earth as we wished?" Atsumu starts, a smug look on his face as if he is about to reveal a huge secret. Osamu, who is sitting behind the class computer to control their slide show, rolls his eyes. He hates it when Atsumu presents because he tends to act overly dramatic.

"They're able to be found anywhere in Japan, and even though they're a minority, practitioners and non-practitioners lived in harmony together. They're accepted and even trusted to govern states alongside non-practitioners; taking on important roles as ministers and such. Sounds pretty sweet, right?"

Atsumu then pauses for a second to cue Osamu to move on to the next slide. The screen flickers, now projecting six pictures of professional looking men and women in suits with their names underneath, "these people are examples of distinguished figures who made sure our law and order were in place so that the peace between practitioners and non-practitioners was kept in check when they lived together. They drafted the constitution that we are still using to this day."

"This woman," Atsumu points to one of the pictures on his slide, "Ota Shiori, was the person who campaigned for the famous safety law to be sanctioned. It was designed to protect non-practitioners from unlawful usage of magic on them. She truly believed that, in no circumstances should they feel threatened by the power that they were not blessed with. And the practitioners were cautious about this matter. They made sure not to hurt anyone with their magic."

"However, circa 1850s, non-practitioners began a purging movement, fueled by a rising political party, called Chōwa, who wanted to be in power," Atsumu gestures to Osamu. He taps on the keyboard and the slide changes. There are pictures of protests and violent acts on the screen, assumed to be inflicted on practitioners. Low murmurs and soft gasps can be heard filling the lecture hall. There is tension in the air.

"To them," Atsumu continues, riding on the mood of the class and using a serious tone, "for as long as practitioners were living among non-practitioners, they would not be able to hold absolute administration because they thought we could topple them down with our magic anytime. That scared them a lot."

Osamu then stands up to continue where Atsumu left off, "the purge had forced magic practitioners to move and live in isolation, away from others, just to ensure their safety," but unlike Atsumu, his voice is indifferent. He has a mind map displayed and it shows a list of town names. "They began to find new lands to start fresh and due to their small numbers, the community was scattered all over the country. They built small towns where they could live amongst their own people and keep to themselves to stay out of trouble.”

Osamu points to the screen, “these are the magic towns established over the years that we know of, including ours; Taishi. It is the only town in Hyōgo which houses magic practitioners since the year 1957, a settlement where we can exercise spells freely and a place called home for us to live in peace. Fun fact; Tokyo is the only prefecture that has more than one magic town," Osamu appears dead panned, making it very hard for the audience to be convinced that it is, indeed, a fun fact.

He taps on the keyboard again. This time, the Hyōgo prefecture's map is presented beside a picture of three men in suits standing side by side.

"However, it is also important to note that there are people out there who do not share Chōwa's sentiment towards the magic community and are accepting of us," he informs, "our small town has its secret hold hidden by the cities of Tatsuno and Himeji. They envelop and give us the protection that we need from being exposed to the rest of the world. It's an agreement they made decades ago with us, even before the name Taishi came to exist, to repay the practitioners for helping them during the age of wars. These three men, Mori Daigo, Abe Genta and Ikeda Hide, were the leaders back then who came up with the peace treaty that is still in effect up until today."

"Here are some interesting facts on Taishi," Osamu skips to the following slide, "we have a population of around thirty thousand. Our school, Inarizaki, was founded by Abe Genta. The famous Kudo Street was named after Kudo Kazuki, the first practitioner who built our town. Kudo Street gains its popularity as a place to get magical supplies in the 70s..."

"Gosh, interesting facts?" you whisper to your friend beside you. The two of you are sitting at the far back of the hall, "his face doesn't reflect it at all. Appear a bit more enthusiastic, man."

Suna yawns, "as if he gives a shit."

"I'm hungry," you huff.

"If we hadn't joined this class for fun, we would already be eating right now," Suna side-eyes you.

"Hey, you also thought it's a fun idea to see the twins present!" you jeer back. "And in case you forgot, we can leave anytime. We're literally sitting beside the door."

"Nah, let's ask the presenters some mind-boggling questions while we're already here," Suna waves his hand lazily.

"See, isn't this a better way to spend our free period?" you smirk.

Suna grins back at you, "go do your work, Satan."

"Any questions?" Atsumu implores to the class. The two of you sit straight and draw your attention back to the front after realising that the presentation is over.

You see no hands raised. Nice, an impassive class; the perfect audience. You put your hand up, catching Atsumu's eyes. He points at you with a smile, "yes, at the back there?"

However, his smile vanishes instantly when you stand up, finally taking notice of you and Suna, who are intruding the class. He glares at you as a warning.

"I have some questions," you announce, ignoring the invisible daggers he's throwing at you, "aren't you two fifth year students? Why did you choose basic history to present on? Weren't there any other challenging topics that you could've tackled on?"

Atsumu seems like he's about to break the pen he's holding into half while Osamu scratches his temple with his middle finger, a quiet "fuck you" for you. You and Suna stifle some giggles at their reactions as you plop back into your seat.

The History teacher clears his throat, "answer the question, Miya. I was wondering the same thing too. I know I said you're free to choose what to present on, but isn't yours very... elementary? Even though this is an entry level History class, I expected more since you're seniors."

"Aw man," Suna chortles, "if they fail this class again... you're a part of the reason."

"Nah, Morita-sensei will let them pass this time," you respond, "I don't think he wants to see them again next year for the third time."

"Lol, imagine having to take an entry level History course three times in the span of six years at this school."

"Hm, maybe it's something only the twins can achieve."

"Look at him spewing bullshit," Suna snickers at Atsumu, who is trying to justify his and Osamu's presentation topic to his best ability.

"His expertise anyway," you scoff, not even paying attention to what Atsumu is saying.

Suna nods in agreement, “I feel bad but I’m really enjoying this.”

“They’re gonna be so pissed off,” you cackle.

"Any more questions?" Atsumu addresses the whole class.

"Oh shit, my turn," Suna raises a hand up.

"Don't let Morita-sensei see you or we'll get kicked out," you remind him in a low voice. Suna only stands up half of his height, hiding from Morita's view behind the rows of students sitting in front of him.

Once Atsumu catches his raised hand and makes eye contact with Suna, he mouthes a "fuck you" at him. Unfortunately, he doesn't really have a choice other than answering, "yes?"

"Do you know if the samurai practised magic?"

A snort escapes from you upon hearing Suna’s question. You then see a text come in from Osamu, who must’ve sent it from behind the computer while everyone was paying attention to Suna just now. It says "I'm gonna feed you two shit tomorrow". You almost lose it seeing how pressed Osamu is right now— it’s a rare sight. You reply with “sounds good 😋” to him and he sends a middle finger emoji back.

Ah, what better way to enjoy the trivial life as a student other than being a pain in your brothers’ asses?

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

AO3

Thank you for reading till the end!! World building is my passion LMAO jk it's super hard I love creating it but writing it?? Phew... Anyway, this is just to give context of the AU they're in!! Hope it gave you a good idea!

#Miya Atsumu #Miya Osamu #atsumu x reader #osamu x reader #suna x reader #haikyuu x reader #Inarizaki

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liztokitoki · 4 years

Text

Hey! I want to talk a moment about something. This is a character, so if you don't like this opinion, just ignore it!

Ok, I want to throw this note right away. I want to talk about Tinker. It's not a good thing about her, so you can ignore this.

My big point of view is this. I don't think Tinker has been planned as Eve.

And before you tell me that by her name she fits the mother, please stop. That is a poor excuse, and nothing elaborate.

So leaving the subject of the name aside, I go to the following.

A long time ago a mangaka said: Before creating a good character, create his story, his character, his weaknesses, his virtues. The approach you will have with the story and the other characters. When you have all that elaborated. Only there can you assign a gender. If this character will be male or female. "

Tanaka has given us sketches of the characters, which is admirable. We have the opportunity to see what other designs our favorite characters had. But with giving us these sketches, do you really believe that all the sketches were planned from the beginning of the story?

Tanaka changed designs over the course of the story. We are not blind. We have all seen the change of Illio, an example. Then we can say that Tanaka, as she advances or builds her story, is changing things.

And that's where I want to focus. Tinker was not planned. At least, not from the beginning. In fact, not even since the beginning of the story in C3. (As some people are saying)

Let's think for a moment. Since when did they tell us about her? Chapter 13. It was his first appearance. From the beginning the character was included as a secondary one. And it went on until the contract.

So tell me, where was she planned? From chapter 13? Or after her contract?

People say their name joins Wrath. Because supposedly it is virtue. But do you really think so?

The name does not make sense to me because of the following. Tanaka was able to create his name a day before, and you wouldn't realize it. And that's because they never gave us a name, it was always Tinker (or Yosetsu). Then the mangaka made a bad play. If the reason for never giving us a name was because she would be an eve, and Tanaka wanted to make a good impression. He did it wrong. Very very bad.

And do you know why? Because Tinker's story has no more than two chapters. If Tanaka planned to surprise us with this character, don't they think the approach they gave her is quite poor? You as Tinker fans, don't you feel disappointed because your supposed female character only had at most, five important chapters? (Remember character that appeared in chapter 13)

Your female character, planned from the beginning of the story, never went through training. He never crossed two lines of words with the other Eves, He was never interested in stopping Tsubaki (Think about that) Nor did he want to make an effort to stop Shuuhei. All that was planned from the beginning? So you tell me?

Tanaka spent five years planning that. It is wonderful! So long have his been planning to give us this surprise? It's great! (This is sarcasm)

Let's make a point of comparison. Tinker is the newest among the Eves.

Tinker has no idea how to fight. Otherwise he wouldn't have asked Wrath for a contract to stop a vampire.

But ironically she can drive a Lead.

He has a contract made just five minutes ago. Are you telling me that she trained since childhood to control a Lead? No! Not only that. She also knows how to use combined attacks with Wrath!

That's absurd. Misono, Mikuni, Licht, Mahiru, and even Nicco, have been living with their Servamp for more than a few months (some have spent years), and they all had to train. Mahiru is the protagonist, so Tanaka could show us with him, how he lives with your Servamp. With Mahiru we could see how difficult it is to manipulate the Servamp when it comes to fighting. Especially if the contract is recent.

Because it's not about making a contract and that's it, I have my biological weapon. No! Here the feelings and determination of Eve are combined.

Are you telling me that Izuna could do all that in a few minutes? That all that happened to her was planned from the beginning? Don't you think there is something strange here? You don't have to be very smart to realize that the Izuna character was manipulated. Yes. Manipulated. Because he danced with Inner Wrath and magically dominated the "Wrath." Here the power of the script needed her to be strong. That is character manipulation, or the well-known, Power up.

Now you tell me, she is strong and pretty. He managed to save his friend from revenge.

I think we were all surprised at how quickly the issue of Shuuhei and Shamrock was resolved. It was a revenge. There was so much hatred and resentment in Shuuhei's heart that it seemed a mockery what they did with him.

Izuna is an expert in stopping revenge. That showed us the chapter. Don't you think Tell me why she hasn't gone to stop Tsubaki? She knows that revenge is bad, so shouldn't she talk to Tsubaki? She works wonders! It is a goddess that stops everything! Izuna is the key to stop Tsubaki! (All this is sarcasm)

Are you telling me with your character planned from the beginning?

If from the beginning she was planned as Eve. Why did Tanaka fix Shuuhei's confrontation in just one chapter? We had more than 60 chapters with his revenge, and in the end everything ended just because Tinker fainted from the fight? Tanaka planned all that from the beginning?

I'm sorry if I'm tough on this issue, but I can't help laughing when people say "from the beginning it was planned as Eve, because her name fits with Wrath's"

You know, you can go to Wikipedia and look for the names and yes, you will get stories. But that does not justify that Tinker has been planned. A name says nothing if the story from the beginning did not give you a chance to progress as a character.

If you are going to talk to me about names that fit and have stories. Guys, there was another name before it matched Wrath's. And that was Tsurugi. Tsurugi's code name is Baldr, and in mythology, Baldr is Frigg's son. Do you know what that meant? Tanaka built the character of Tsurugi from the beginning, and throughout the course of C3 and with the end, they told us that Tsurugi what he needed most was a mother figure in his life.

(If I have to give a theory of characters that were planned from the beginning, it is certainly Tsurugi. In addition, we can even say that Tanaka is fond of these two. Tsurugi is one of his most popular characters, and for his birthday , he drew it even with Wrath. So you can't tell me they both have no connection.)

Izuna nobel means nothing. Because, as I said, Tanaka could create that name just when she drew the chapter. You imagine? Tanaka saying: I need a name that is related to Freya or Frigg, aah Idun! "And Ready, there you have your female character that was planned from the beginning. LOL

A curiosity that I found with his name, from the beginning on the Tanaka Strike web page, Tinker's name was set as "Yosetsu" There were people who thought that was his name, but then changed to Izuna.

How strange, right? Tanaka really planned it from the beginning?

I wanted to make this note because it seems absurd for people to say it was planned. The people who only watched the anime, the first thing they did was to ask themselves: “And the women?” Tanaka focused too much on the story of C3 and it seemed that it would never end.

The strongest theory was that they pressured Tanaka to create a female character. Whether her fans asked for it or the publishers. What we do know is that Tinker gained strength at a time where it was not needed.

We didn't need revenge and the whole story of Shuuhei will end in C3. And much less that it ended like this!! It makes Shuuhei look like a spoiled child. Just put yourself in his place. Someone murdered your father. That someone is a family friend! Would you forgive him? They took your father away when you were only 8 years old, they left you and your sister alone! And your mother was a widow! That leaves a scar too deep.

Tinker from the beginning, and if she really wanted to, she could help her friend.

Don't you realize that she hasn't done anything? He told the story of Shuuhei to Mahiru because she expected Mahi to do something. Then he asked Wrath for help fighting. She doesn't know how to fight? She doesn't know how to use her weapons? Don't you think it would have been more epic to see her use her own weapons and defend her friend? Instead of relying on a Servamp.

People who protect her just because she is the female Eve are wrong (ok, are they her tastes, but really?) A character is good when her story is good. When it is well designed. When it seems that mangaka really worked on the character.

But, Tinker looks like it was only created to satisfy fans. You have to accept that before being an eve, I didn't have a fan group. There were very few people who really noticed her. Her story is so basic that it leaves you wondering, what does she do there? She did not cause much impact. She is quite normal.

What makes her special is only because she is a woman. (Everyone defends her because she is the great female Eve of the group)

People forgot Ophelia? Ophelia is a great character. Her story was short but she did have a great impact, not only because she was a princess in a world at war, but because she did have a well-crafted story. She was the fundamental pillar in the madness that Lawless developed. Do you understand that She had a motive, a purpose to appear in the story.

Tinker, what was his motive? Save her friend? That sounds good, but was a contract necessary? Was it necessary to make Eve so forced into history? You can protect her, but ask yourself this; Would you love her if it wasn't an eve?

If Tanaka had made her alone, with her own hands, help her friend. Would you love her? For my part, I would say yes. Because she would be the first human (no contract. Without a servamp) who would face a vampire to protect her friend. That would have looked more natural. More fluid in the sleeve. Something more realistic. And definitely something epic ...

But instead, what did they do? They made her look like a true useless. He makes weapons and is not able to use them to protect his friend. (So, reallly?) He starts to cry in the middle of the disaster to beg a Servamp contract. And he's so selfish, he asked Wrath for help, leaving all the other characters aside. Recall that Mahiru was missing, and she knew, but did she care? No.( They were all facing Touma, and she just wanted to vent her own guilt. That seems stupid, and even more so if her can't do it without help.)

She is selfish because Wrath was locked in C3 for several days but Tinker never bothered to help her, or ask for help before. She only did it when she was more desperate and realized that she is insignificant. Because he never bothered to train to use his weapons. Because he never bothered to really help his friend. She let Shuuhei advance her revenge.

When you look at it from that point. Do you think that she really is her best friend? Someone who lets you lose yourself in madness is definitely not. And don't talk to me about the end, because that ending doesn't make any sense.

We all know that Tanaka got bored and gave him that hurried end. Shuuhei's revenge was able to postpone it for another arc. But seeing how Tanaka is carrying things, we already know it was impossible. Tanaka is not doing things right. We all realize that she is moving very fast in her sleeve. And that happens because it creates too many characters and everyone should get a story.

The only reason why Tinker is Eve is because the Fans wanted a woman, and because Wrath needed a name before losing the fight against Tsubaki. Which was disappointing.

So that's my point. A character that nobody talked about, not even mangaka, from one chapter to another becomes important. Does it make you think it was always planned? Or do you just defend it because there are no more women in the manga, and in today's world feminism is in fashion? (I don't want to get into controversy with this)

I said what I think because I feel and I think I have the right to say what I don't like about a character. In this fandom we cannot say "I hate Izuna, I hate Sakuya" because they immediately attack you with anonymous messages.

I said this because many people think alike but are afraid to speak it. I did not make this note to unleash hate, on the contrary, I said what many people think, is everything.

If my words bother you, it's because you know I'm really right. Which gives me a point for me. Yey~

#my note #Fandom Servamp #If you got here and support this opinion don't be afraid to share it.

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caughtinkorea · 5 years

Text

It Is What It Is

I’m almost home. I haven’t bought my ticket just yet, but believe me, I'm almost there. This last minute thing is the Naija in me lol.

I have been a whole lot happier lately. I’m more at peace with myself. I’ve been traveling a lot lately. Most recently I stopped by Okinawa for a few days. I wanted to try a different place in Japan I’d never been to and decided on a whim to go to Okinawa instead of Osaka. It’s beautiful btw. Humid... and expensive... but beautiful nonetheless.

I’ve had time to spread a little more of my good luck charm to my friends before I leave. Little Brother and his gf were up against a couple other potential tenant candidates for a place they wanted in Australia and they got it! He asked for help correcting a letter he wanted to send to the landlord to get it, and I helped him zhuzh it up a bit. He recently sent me a thank you message saying he got it. I’m super happy for him, and he seems to be adjusting well so far. ^^

I’ve managed to figure out why my dating life in Korea has been a mess. According to J my problem stems from the fact that I like overly attractive guys.

Now, I could take this a certain way and be offended by it, but I know that’s not what he alluded to. Every time I point out someone I’m attracted to in the building, he remarks back “oh, the good looking guy over there *typical look*. He knows my type even better than Jazz lol. So, rather I take this somewhat as a compliment because he sees I have a keen eye for the delectables. Unfortunately that often means they tend to be no good.*sigh* You know they got tons of girls throwing themselves at them, and we all know that story ugh. I mean, I like what I like. I can’t help it. And that often seems to be a decent chunk of the guys that like me too...well... in a very shallow depth. Do I find myself to be the most attractive women? Definitely not, but I won’t be listening to any guy that tells me otherwise. They already have enough input everywhere else. So as long as this is the case it seems I never really stood a chance lol. But I refuse to settle *coughs* like I’ve seen so many other foreign girls do here *coughs*. I stand by my motto. If I wouldn’t settle for you in the States, I’m not gonna do it here either.

In May I made a new friend. I’ll call him Bond. I knew I wasn’t looking to meet any serious potentials, so I’d long thrown that thought out the window. I’ve had a very weird and at many times very interesting life here in Korea, and it seems like it will be that way till the very end. I’ve met too many interesting characters to count. Anyway, why do I call him Bond? Well, he’s kind of like a secret agent. I’ll leave it at that. On paper, he’s pretty perfect. He’s tall, fit, educated, well traveled, has a good job(works for the government), polite, well-mannered, and has such an attractive British-ish accent. Is he physically attractive? I mean, I guess *rolls eyes*. He’s nothing special to me, but if he ever sees this he’d probably think I’m bitter for reasons. lol But he’s definitely cute in a big teddy-bear type of way. You know, equipped with jujitsu training, and probably knows 20 ways to disfigure a person... but that’s neither here nor there. Teddy-bear! *jazz hands*

So we’ve been keeping in touch since May. We decided to be friends, and he already knows I’m leaving very soon. We were supposed to meet before my trip to Thailand, but his work came up last minute. So that didn’t happen and my 2 week trip turned into 1 month. Oops! But we kept in touch throughout my time there. Fast forward to more recently and we finally got a chance to meet. I dressed very casually with my banged wig and he with his formal work suit. We had chicken and beer and honestly the date wasn’t anything special. He seemed tired from a long days work and maybe a little annoyed. I understand. I basically almost cancelled right before our meeting. Honestly I was a bit annoyed myself. He kept skipping over the question of what exit to meet at, and I felt he’d been acting different the last couple of days after I turned down his last minute request to meet close to where I was staying for chicken and beer since we were both apparently in the area. I had just come back from Okinawa that day and was busy preparing plans for a dress for my brother’s wedding and I just wasn’t feeling it. I was tired. So I declined. He was probably also annoyed at the fact that when we met up I let him know I’d been using a fake name previously. For safety reasons of course. He seemed to be a bit insulted by it, but shrugged it off. Guys just don’t understand. But it is what it is.

We still managed to meet for 3 hours then he payed for dinner and we said our goodbyes. Before the end, I managed to get out what he liked to do on his free time to let loose. He seemed to open up more. From what I gathered he seems very morally upright tho he does indulge in nights out. So that was good to know... I mean with his job and all, I’d definitely hope he’d be a good person.

So Saturday comes and we decide to meet to hangout in Itaewon. He usually likes going to one particular spot with his friends so I say I’ll meet him there. When I arrive I can’t seem to spot him anywhere which was odd since he’s really tall for a Korean. I’m going around back and forth to different spots. It’s super humid out and I’m getting hot and aggravated. We keep missing each others calls and messages. After about an hour of this telephone back and forth nonsense I’d decided I’d had enough and start walking back to my guesthouse to call it a night. He calls. I’m angry, but I answer the phone. He says he’s now at a kebab place eating with one of his friends. I tell him I’ll stop over real quick to say hi. Tho I was angry and didn’t want to do it, it’d be a waste of good makeup, outfit, and night. Someone is gonna see me damn it! I’m not letting all this go to waste!

I start walking toward the restaurant. I see him and he reaches for a hug but I stick my umbrella out. Uh uh! Not with the mess you put me through going around in all this sticky heat. We walk over to the restaurant. I greet his friend and we sit and talk while they eat. Before going in he told me his friend didn’t understand any English, but when I spoke to him he seemed to understand pretty much everything just fine. Even more than him. Bond was unexpectedly quiet throughout the convo. I just kept catching him staring at me in somewhat disbelief through my peripheral every now and again. I kept asking him what he was staring at like that, but he’d change the subject and never really give an answer. I bet the whole time he was thinking “Who the heck is this!? This ain’t the same girl I met the other night.” I did clean up a bit differently. This time wearing a dress and head equipped with a long bang-less wig. So I could see why he might have been confused lol. They finish eating and the plan was for them to head home, but Bond decides he’ll stay out longer with me. His friend catches a Taxi and we head to Thursday Party.

He offers to buy me a drink so we head toward the bar. We ended up doing this coupley thing all night where we’d act like we were gf & bf every time someone approached our space. Tho we clearly saw each other as just friends. I squeezed into the side corner next to him by the register and when he turned to order some guy came to approach me. When he turned back around he caught my eyes, and angled himself to make his presence known. I leaned in to whisper in his ear and dude got the point and dipped. I enjoyed his company throughout the night. He was very fun spirited and enjoyed dancing, so we did that all night long. His demeanor was a juxtaposition from the previous night we had met up. Before he came off very calm and reserved. I loved that his big self didn’t seem to care who was watching him or what anyone thought of him. He was just out to have fun.

We eventually moved over to his favorite spot and this is when I realized his popularity with the ladies. No wonder he liked it there. Since he had been buying everything I offered to pay for the next round of drinks. We head over to the bar and I ordered. A drunk Thai girl being escorted through the crowd by one of the security guards poked her face out and sent him kissy faces. I was like “what was that?” and he rolled his eyes and we laughed it off. A few moments later he spotted a Latina heading towards him and called it out to me. This girl kept hovering around him making it very apparent she was in for the kill. She was super thirsty, but I was rather amused. But at the same time, it opened my eyes to just how disrespectful some women can be. Like I was just standing there watching as she clearly didn’t care that he was obviously entertaining another woman. Maybe she didn’t see me as a threat, but for a moment I just stood there fascinated at the disrespect. Bond wasn’t showing her any interest, but she wasn’t about to leave anytime soon. The bartender hands me our drinks and I felt like being petty, so I graciously handed one to Bond, held mine in the other hand then gently caressed his head as I looked seductively in his eyes. She got the memo and bounced immediately. XD

He loved dancing in the middle of the floor so he pulled me along and we found a spot to dance. He had such a fun spirit about him and encouraged me to dance along with him which I obliged. Through out the night people would approach us asking if we were a couple and telling us how we looked good together. We’d laugh it off and tell them we were merely friends. Others would approach us individually to swoop us up and dance, but we’d always move towards each other and angle ourselves a certain way to signal we were each others company for the night. Guys who wanted to dance with me would be lead to him by my eyes then give him a thumbs up or tell him I was pretty and he was a lucky guy. Girls would approach him, sometimes even small groups, and try to dance up on him. He would always dance towards me and I’d make my move. It was always so funny.

At a point we adopted a cute little kgirl that approached me with compliments. Her English was limited, but she told me she loved my dimples. Bond thought she said pimples and was perplexed like “who compliments pimples? what a weird child” lmao. We danced together for a bit and she leaned over to ask Bond if I was his gf. I tried to pretend like I wasn’t even paying attention and just minding myself dancing even tho I was trying to be nosy and hear what his answer would be. I was just curious to hear what he’d say. Unfortunately I couldn’t but after telling her something that was inaudible she turns to look at me and gives me a cute cheeky grin. We all just continued dancing and we dubbed her our daughter for the night. She was precious. We headed over to the bar on the other side for another drink and I reached to get my card, but he stopped me, gave me a what are you doing?-insulted look and told me he would pay for it.

It’s not really a big deal but he was so manly about it in a way that you don’t typically see here so it was refreshing. I can just tell he’s the type that likes to pay for everything for his girl. Yasss king! XD

We head back to our spot on the dance floor and after some time we notice that our daughter isn’t there so we decide to go around and look for her and make sure she was okay since she was by herself. He is leading the way as I follow him through the crowd, but we momentarily get split for a few seconds, and I see this girl's hand reach out to grab him. She is just a split second too slow and barely missed grabbing him which was replaced by a bunch of air.

I am in awe of the attention this boy had been getting all night with the ladies. What is this?? The hunger games? It was fascinating. Honestly I didn’t get it. Was it because he was tall and imposing? Fascinating I say. Just fascinating.

We go back to our spot and she eventually shows up. We decide to call it a night soon after. He suggests we take a cab together and he’ll drop me off first since he believes we are headed the same direction. I let him know I’ve moved guesthouses and am now staying in Itaewon very close by. We stop for him to grab some water from the convenience store close by then finally start heading our separate ways. He gets a cab, we say our goodbyes, and he hops in. I start heading towards my guesthouse and a guy slowly riding by in a taxi sticks his head out and says “beautiful!”. I turn to the perpetrator and say “Thank-” ....

-_-

It’s Bond. He’s a whole mess! Go home Roger. XD The taxi speeds off.

I continue walking towards my guesthouse, turn into the empty side street and right as I’m about to approach the door some kboy sneaks up behind me and speaks to get my attention. I was momentarily startled because I had unusually been unaware and he hadn’t made his presence known. I ask what he wanted and he shyly says he had been following me and wanted to tell me how pretty I was. *facepalm* Why do guys not realize how creepy that is? He was harmless so I just tell him thank you and give him a smile. He asks if that was my boyfriend. “Huh? Who are you talking about?” The guy that was in the cab. “How long have you been following me?” Since y’all were at the convenience store. CHIIIILLLLEEEE!!! smh I saw him leave and knew he wasn’t your bf. So I got courage and wanted to tell you you are my ideal type and I just wanted to see if you’d grab some drinks with me and just talk. “Umm, where is there a place around here to drink?” He tells me that every place around here is closed so let’s grab some drinks in the store and go to a hotel and chat.

Kboys ladies and gentlemen! Kboys

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onwardintolight · 5 years

Text

In which Onward rereads the Thrawn Trilogy and writes a massive review (and some other related stuff)

Alright, so I know I said that the characterization vs. plot thing in new canon vs. Legends was a rant for another time, but I’ve been thinking about it nonstop since and I really need to get a few thoughts out, so I guess this is that time, lol.

I’ve recently been diving into some of the Legends books for the first time in years. Partly because I’ve started listening to audiobooks and can get a whole lot more reading done in a day than I was able to before, and partly... well, I’m just curious to revisit it. I read a number of books from the old EU as a kid, and I definitely had mixed feelings back then. On the one hand, I was delighted—more Star Wars! Yay! On the other hand are the mixed feelings, which have so faded from memory over time that all I can remember anymore is that I didn’t like how the books portrayed Leia.

So anyway, I’ve been curious to give some of them a shot again, and see what I think now (all except COPL. I’m never going back to that one). I started with two that have come on my radar through the Han x Leia fandom, Tatooine Ghost and Razor’s Edge. They were wonderful! I absolutely loved Tatooine Ghost, especially. Razor’s Edge was super fun and had some truly fantastic moments (including some unforgettable shippy ones), but it felt more plot-driven than I tend to prefer (give me ALL the deep character stuff!). Despite that, I still loved it. I already own Tatooine Ghost and I plan to get my own copy of Razor’s Edge, too.

Then I decided to revisit the Thrawn trilogy.

Oh boy.

Before I dive into that, though, I first want to say that I have many friends on here for whom the old EU is their Star Wars. I have the utmost admiration for you all, and I mean no disrespect. I support you in this being your Star Wars 100%. I’m not seeking to get into any big arguments or flame wars. In fact, I will put most of my ranting about Heir to the Empire et al under a cut, so please feel free not to engage if that sort of thing bothers you.

Honestly, I’m a big fan of focusing on positivity in fandom, of focusing on what I love and not harassing others who enjoy things I don’t. That being said, I do support a good critique. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not trying to force my views on anyone, but I can certainly express them in my own space and support other people’s right to express theirs in their space. What better space to do so than on my tumblr?

Before I go under the cut, I have one last question for my old EU stans. Based on my enjoyment of Tatooine Ghost and Razor’s Edge, and knowing I’m a particular sucker for character-driven stories, especially if they involve Leia and Han (and/or their ship), are there any other Legends books you’d recommend? Please let me know because I would love to discover more of that goodness!

Now, onto the Thrawn trilogy....

(It probably goes without saying, but major spoilers ahead)

Disclaimer: I’m sorry if I get some of the details wrong; I listened to the audiobooks and don’t have access to the books themselves right now so i’m writing out all these thoughts from memory

About Leia

So, it turns out that little me was right. Older me had the exact same reaction upon reading the Thrawn trilogy. What the heck did Zahn do to Leia? She seemed so diminished, shrinking. Hardly like Leia at all. If I had been reading a physical book, I would have been tempted to throw it numerous times.

First of all, she was set aside almost entirely for the first book. Despite the fact that the Empire was looking for Luke too, Luke got to be free and keep roaming the galaxy, doing his thing, and Leia was forced into hiding. If I remember right, it wasn’t really her choice (I believe it was Han who refused to take her no for an answer), nor did she argue it much. She just kind of followed the men in her life and let them do all the leading and galaxy-saving. Sounds a lot like Leia, right? *rolls eyes* Overall, she didn’t do much, and she didn’t have any part in the big climactic battle.

(On another note this reminds me a little of one of Zahn’s new canon books, Thrawn Alliances. SPOILER ALERT: at a key moment, Thrawn pleads with Padme to talk with Anakin and try to convince him not to do something really terrible and disastrous that probably will result in people dying, and Padme basically just sighs, throws up her hands and says something like “It’s no use. When he gets this way no one can convince him of anything” and I just want to SCREAM BECAUSE NO THAT’S NOT THE FREAKING PADME I KNOW AND SERIOUSLY???)

Anyway. *calms down*

In Dark Force Rising, Leia had a much more interesting plotline as she wins the allegience of the Noghri. I liked her better here, and she seemed a tiny bit more like the Leia I know. But it still just felt... lackluster.

In The Last Command, she’s once again pushed to the side thanks to the men in her life making the decisions in the name of protecting her. True, I understand that for the majority of these books, she’s been pregnant, and so it’s not just about protecting her, but about protecting the twins. But that didn’t stop her from doing what she felt she needed to in Dark Force Rising. And in this book, she’s already given birth. Winter’s there; she can take care of the twins (as she eventually does). When the heroes assemble and go to Wayland for the big climax of the trilogy, she’s convinced by the men to stay behind (*cue me throwing imaginary book across the room*). Honestly, it felt contrived for the sake of the plot (she has to be there for what happens next) and more than a little bit sexist.

She does eventually go, however, which made me want to cheer. I would have hated it way more if she hadn’t gotten to participate in the big last battle with C’baoth, particularly in light of the way the books had set her up as a Jedi-in-training (not very far along, but still). I was excited because surely this must mean she plays a big part in that, right?

...She does not. She basically shows up and then gets trapped, doing hardly anything. Plot-wise, she’s pretty much there to provide an extra lightsaber and moral support of the Force-user variety. I’m glad she got to be there, but... yeah, overall, I’m really not happy with how these books treated my favorite character, and one of the actual main characters of the OT. It kind of felt like she was replaced by Mara, tbh. Which leads me to...

About Mara

Mara, like Leia used to be, is a very angry person, and for good reason. But her anger came off in these books as rather petulant and irrational. Once again, it felt a bit sexist. I hope I’m wrong, but the trajectory seems to be a trope that Leia has already been subject to (in ROTJ, as much as I love that movie, and with the job finished in this trilogy): Soften the angry woman. Make her pleasant and pliable and a little bit subservient. Legends fans, PLEASE tell me this doesn’t happen to Mara. I hope she continues to be a sarcastic, independent woman who takes no sh*t. I hope she loses none of her power, even as she loves and marries Luke.

Mara had probably the biggest character arc of this entire trilogy. Unfortunately, that isn’t saying much. I really felt like her story had a lot of potential and could have been really compelling, but Zahn just doesn’t seem to know how to write characters with depth. In the end, her big moment of throwing off the Emperor’s power over her honestly just felt kind of contrived and shallow. Oh look, here’s a clone of Luke she can kill instead. That will magically make it all go away. Convenient.

I wanted to love her. I think I probably could love her, if I read good fanfic. The problem is that the source material leaves all depth to the imagination.

About Everything Else

I mentioned that Mara seems to have the biggest character arc, but that wasn’t saying much. I had a lot of trouble distinguishing any other character arcs at all. The characters all seemed to be caught up in this big plot, carried along with it and deposited victorious at the end, without any obvious growth or change (except, again, for Mara).

I suppose you could say that Luke learned to stand on his feet without the help of Ben’s Force ghost. But that was given such minor emphasis that I didn’t even think of it until this moment, weeks after finishing the book.

Aside from my rage at the misogyny, I think this gets to the heart of why I disliked these books. The motivations and emotional/personal journeys of the characters are of utmost importance to me. To me, they’re the whole point. When a book is all plot and little character, I just... don’t care. It doesn’t feel real or relevant. It doesn’t show me that I can slay dragons, too.

I know that theoretically, I could imagine those character journeys. I could fill in the blanks in my mind, or through fic. I have a big imagination; I’m really pretty good at such things.

But tbh, when it comes to these books, I don’t even want to. To me, the plot itself felt pretty lackluster. I keep using the word “contrived” but it fits so well. Things happened and decisions were made that didn’t make much sense, just so the plot could go the way Zahn wanted it to. Now of course the same argument could be made for new canon (particularly, imho, the ST movies), but at least with new canon, there’s a deliberate and largely persistent focus on character. (And less sexism.)

Other complaints:

- I got sick of C’baoth in the first book. His villainy was not the least bit fearful or intimidating. His nearly prevailing over the heroes at Wayland felt more accidental than anything.

- Don’t get me started on stupid Bel Iblis and his stupid hurt manly pride that the women in power have to coddle and bow down to before he will lift a finger to help during a genuine EMERGENCY when he was desperately NEEDED (*cue me throwing the imaginary book across the room yet again*) (I think Leia would have had a few more choice words for him than she did in this book. They instantly presented themselves to my mind, at least)

- I can understand why Thrawn was such a big deal when these books first came out, but I think Thrawn is kind of oversaturated these days, and tbh I’m kind of sick of him (I’m going to blame the more recent canon Thrawn trilogy for that). While I like a good Sherlock Holmes mystery, I’m not too big on admiring that sort of “man as a machine” type character. Rationality is not everything, not by a long shot. It is empty and, frankly, shortsighted on its own. The best part about Thrawn’s story in these books for me was seeing him make mistakes (actual mistakes! yay!) and meet his end, perhaps in part due to that over-reliance on rationality and arrogance in his own abilities.

A few things I did like:

- another main female character, yay! Two if you count Winter

- I thought Talon Karrde was an enjoyable character and I’d love to see more of him

- I remember loving the vornskrs as a kid and a little bit of that adoration returned when I read this, bringing with it all sorts of happy nostalgia

- some parts of the plot were fun and exciting, and I could understand why they might feel iconic and Star Wars-y to others

Overall, however, I think Thrawn as a character kind of represents these books as a whole. It’s all very cerebral and practical. There’s art but it only serves the purpose of the rational. To me, these books felt like they were all mind, no soul.

I know that those of you who hold these books dear may disagree, and that’s fine. Honestly, despite my serious problems with them, I don’t hate these books. I might even read them again someday, maybe. I may be convinced to appreciate them more once I read people’s headcanons and hear what people love about it. So with that said, what DO you love about it? Where do you see these books’ soul?

#I was going to tag this with the appropriate tags #but then I decided I'd rather not open myself up to the toxic variety of Legends fans #(of which I know you all are not but which do obviously exist out there)#anyway #it feels good to get all that off my chest #thoughts #Star Wars

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mst3kproject · 5 years

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802: The Leech Woman – Part III

I’ve devoted a review to the terrible characters in The Leech Woman and another to its nasty misogynistic ‘message’, what’s left? As it turns out, plenty. The next layer down in our Leech Woman Tira Misu of badness has several ingredients that just wouldn’t fit with the themes of either of the previous installments.

The script frequently feels a need to explain what’s happening on screen, which is sometimes helpful but equally often kind of insulting, since characters are telling us things we can clearly see for ourselves. A Nando dude has his face pushed into a pot of misty stuff and is then dragged stumbling over to the sacrificial block, and David declares “he’s drugged!” as if we wouldn’t be able to tell. Moments later, the man’s pineal gland is carved out – this does require some narration, since the visuals aren’t self-explanatory, but the “he’s adding the pineal hormone to the Naipi” a moment later really doesn’t need to be there.

The intense use of stock footage is also a form of this. We know that the characters are going to Africa, and we see them hiring a guide and tramping through a jungly-looking set, only to also be shown reams of animal stock footage that has basically nothing to do with the story. The only time it has any bearing on the plot is with the leopard that supposedly follows June. The rest is padding, there to emphasize (as Crow observes) that we are definitely in Africa, as if the audience couldn’t already tell.

A few bits in this part of the movie are shot outside, pretty clearly in California rather than anywhere near Africa. Others are obviously in ‘jungle’ studio sets, and you can really feel how closed-in and artificial these spaces are, especially when contrasted with the wide-open savannahs and broad skies in the stock footage. I guess I can say in the movie’s favour that it looks more jungle-ish than Jungle Moon Men did, but there are places in Canada that look more jungle-ish than that, so it’s not really saying very much.

The most egregious use of stock footage in The Leech Woman is in the Nando village, where we see some shots of people dancing in Real Africa before cutting back to extras in Hollywood Africa. The two sets of footage look nothing alike. The people in the documentary shots are dancing in a practiced, purposeful fashion. The ones in the stuff filmed for The Leech Woman are just kind of flailing and bouncing. The juxtaposition is kind of like splicing shots of trained ballroom dancers in with video of the junior prom and pretending it was all part of the same scene. This extends to the costumes, with the ‘real’ dancers wearing elaborate ceremonial beadwork and the actors in crummy kilts and geographically inappropriate tiger skins. The latter still look nothing like the shower curtain Malla’s wearing when she reappears. The only costume that had effort put into it is that ridiculous tusk headdress the high priest wears.

The Nando themselves are a plot device, rather than a people. They are Privy To Wisdom the White Man Hath Forgotten, but they’re also very much superstitious savages, with their regular human sacrifices and habit of killing anybody who tries to talk to them. None of them have lines and except for Malla and the high priest they are basically indistinguishable from each other – this keeps us from feeling sorry for them when their village gets blown up. The only ones we see up very close are Malla, whom we will soon learn is planning to kill the heroes, and the priest, whose face is hidden. They are dehumanized and, with their job of introducing June to the Cure for Old done, they are dismissed.

That would be pretty standard for a fifties jungle movie, but there’s one rather out-of-place bit that seems to be there just as gratuitous racism. When David goes back for the dynamite, under the pretense of giving Malla a necklace, one of his guards takes a moment to steal some of June’s other jewelry from the luggage. Why? What value does it have to these people who live in the middle of nowhere and don’t appear to trade with the outside world? The event never has any impact on the plot, even though June later uses jewelry to entice her victims… come to think of it, why did she have that stuff with her on a safari anyway? If this isn’t just a throwaway moment of lol, black people are thieves, it seems to just be a little reminder that the Nando cannot be trusted and that we shouldn’t worry about David blowing them up. Doesn’t quite work when he also steals their stuff on the way out, does it?

And of course, the ending sucks. Rather than facing any sort of consequences for her crimes, June simply throws herself out the window, leaving Sally dead in the closet and Neil and the police wondering what the hell just happened. The withered corpse we see under the window is obviously a mannequin, and doesn’t even look like June. And as with far too many movies of this vintage, there is no denouement. We don’t know if Neil ever understands that June and ‘Terri’ were the same person, or why Sally was killed. We don’t see him realize what he’s lost by allowing himself to be dragged around by the dick. The movie just ends. They couldn’t have spent two minutes on that instead of on random animal footage?

After going through all the many ways in which The Leech Woman is a terrible and frequently offensive movie, how it hates men, women, black people, white people, and anybody stupid enough to watch it, I guess it needs to be asked: why do I enjoy it so much? I think partly it is because it’s so non-denominationally misanthropic – it hates everybody, and while it saves special venom for unattractive women, nobody else comes off well, either. Another, as previously mentioned, is how it doesn’t bother to have any ‘good’ characters. The protagonist of the movie, as in the person through whose eyes we watch it and whose arc we follow, is June – and she’s an insane, selfish murderess!

I do tend to like movies that focus on a villain’s journey. There’s Lady Frankenstein, for example, in which Tanya Frankenstein carries the whole movie despite the fact that she’s evil to the core, and in the end is destroyed by her own creature as he realizes that he, like everything else around her, is just a tool she’s using to further her own sense of self-importance. There’s the similarly-titled Countess Dracula, which is what you might get if you imagine a version of The Leech Woman that actually tries to convince you Neil is the hero but still doesn’t have him actually do anything. And there are Hammer’s Frankenstein movies, which are all about Peter Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein with the inconsequential ‘heroes’ simply revolving around him.

Why are these characters so much more interesting than the heroes who are trying to defeat them? I think it has to do with the fact that these villains are proactive – they are taking steps to go out and get what they want. Victor Frankenstein wants to prove his latest theory, June wants to watch men fall at her feet when she smiles at them, and they both believe the means justify the ends. The ‘good guys’ of the movie, on the other hand, are merely reacting to the evil plot they’ve discovered. In light of that, it’s also interesting to ask why it’s so often women who take center stage in this kind of movie: as well as June, I’ve mentioned two examples in the previous paragraph, with Tanya Frankenstein and Countess Elizabeth. This is probably because women in movies of this era are not supposed to be proactive in getting what they want, or even to have wants at all besides to kiss the guy at the end.

This type of movie also suggests that evil, being intrinsically selfish, will ultimately destroy itself. The good characters, where they exist, are victims or completely irrelevant – the closest things The Leech Woman has to ‘good guys’ are Neil and the detective, the former being helplessly in June’s thrall and the latter not even showing up until the movie’s almost over and then having his job done for him by her suicide. Since these characters don’t try to do anything about their situations (Neil doesn’t even realize he’s in one), they’re not at all interesting, and the villains command the movie all the more. This would lead one to think that the ‘message’ of the movie is the same as the one I pulled out of Outlaw, that bad things will just go away if you wait long enough.

In some cases that’s probably true (it’s going to work for the Earth – us humans will kill ourselves off soon and the rest of the biosphere can get back to business), but The Leech Woman also serves to emphasize that letting evil destroy itself will cause far more damage than if somebody tackled the problem before it got that far. If Neil had actually cared that ‘Terri’ was destroying his relationship with Sally and tried to leave her, he might have saved himself a lot of trouble. In fact, what would have happened then? Would June have gone off to find another victim, or would she have become more aggressive in her pursuit of him in particular? Would he have maybe cottoned on to what was happening and come back to save her next boyfriend from suffering a terrible fate? Oh, hey, look – I just wrote a better movie in three sentences, again.

I think that’s about as much Leech Woman as I can take. See you next week – I don’t actually have that many more of these to do, do I? Thank you all for hanging in there with me. We’re on the home stretch now!

#mst3k #reviews #the leech woman #tw: suicide #boy are we in africa!#60s

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mizukiko-kun · 6 years

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The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency: a Detailed Summary

I hadn't been in this fandom for so long (to avoid spoilers because I was sure Dead Apple would get licensed in my country), then I came back to learn from @soukokucchi‘s post that the English-speaking side of the fandom still don't know what happened in this book. BUT LOOK:

It got translated into Thai back in January. I've read it, and I'm here to tell you everything!

Since there are so many pieces of important information in this book, I decided to forget the original order and break it into topics as follows:

Fukuzawa's background

Ranpo's background

Murder in a company president's office: how they met

Murder at the theatre: how they became a team

Fukuzawa's lies: the origin of Ranpo's (non-)ability

How the agency was founded

Bonus: that one time Kunikida tried (and failed and succeeded) to get revenge on Dazai

Disclaimer: this story came to you from Japanese to Thai to English so if you notice an error, please feel free to tell me.

Warning: very long blocks of spoilers for the whole book, under the cut!

Fukuzawa's background

At the start of the book, Fukuzawa, 30-ish, was working as a bodyguard. With excellent martial arts skills and a calm manner, he was considered the best bodyguard one could have. His only flaw was that he wouldn't team up with anyone, so he was always by himself. Remember how he’s called “Silver Wolf”? That's where it came from.

But it's not that he had been a bodyguard his whole life. In this book, Fukuzawa told Ranpo to try and see what he could deduce about him, so he did. At the teahouse, Fukuzawa's choice to sit with the wall on his right side meant he used to fight with a sword (because having the wall on his left would prevent him from quickly drawing it). At the theatre, his footsteps could barely be heard, and he closed one eye while entering a dark room so his sight could be adjusted quickly, something essential only for a surprise attack in a dark place. But he wasn't cautious with the police officers, so he couldn't have been involved with crime. Finally, Fukuzawa was definitely ashamed of his previous job because he didn't use his sword, his specialty, in his current job.

So, a job involving surprise sword attack that Fukuzawa was ashamed of despite not being related to crime, what job was it? Ranpo also made a deduction about this, and Fukuzawa himself confirmed everything later in the book, when he decided that the best way to deal with Ranpo's problem was to be honest (then proceeded to tell him the biggest lie in his life, lol).

Fukuzawa confessed that he went to a martial arts school under the government when he was young, then he became part of a group of top swordsmen who worked for the government, killing people who posed a threat to the peace of the country. He believed that his sword was meant to be used for the sake of the country, but soon enough found himself looking forward to the next mission. Afraid that he might have become thirsty for blood, Fukuzawa swore off his sword. He then changed his job and kept his past sealed away, until he met Ranpo.

Ranpo's background

As for Ranpo, his parents were apparently great detectives who recently died in an accident. His father was retired, but he used to be a highly respected police detective (even Fukuzawa recognised his name immediately), but Ranpo said that his mother, although only a housewife, always beat his father at his own job.

With both parents being geniuses, Ranpo didn't know that what he could do was special. His parents meant to keep it from him (and also keep him from the world outside) for his own safety until the right time, but they didn't live long enough, and Ranpo was left as a boy who didn't understand a thing about the world outside.

So Ranpo, 14 and already alone, started looking around for a job. He basically tried everything. His father once told him to go to the police academy in Yokohama if something happened, so he went there (and got fired because the rules were too much, and he dug out his dorm head's bad history with women after having a fight with him), then he went to the military school (got fired after uncovering a commander's misappropriation), a construction site (left because the structure of the company was too troublesome), and a post office (got fired for throwing away letters he knew were not important/wouldn't make the receivers happy). The next job he was going to get an interview for was where he met Fukuzawa.

Murder in a company president's office: how they met

Well, Fukuzawa's client was the president of the company where Ranpo was going to get a job. And she was killed. By who? Fukuzawa caught a skilled assassin at the crime scene, and that's about it.

Actually no, it was her secretary who killed her. The assassin was called there by the secretary (perhaps by saying he was going to hire him) so he could frame him and get away with the murder. Ranpo, who had nothing to do now that the president was dead, solved this.

As soon as the truth was revealed, the betrayed assassin got his revenge by killing the secretary. Fukuzawa realised that he was the rumoured red-haired assassin, said to always have an emotionless face and never miss with his guns as if he could see the future. A nightmare for a bodyguard like Fukuzawa.

You guessed it, that was Odasaku.

So the case was solved, the secretary was dead, Odasaku got sent to the police, now what? Fukuzawa was about to go his way when Ranpo reminded him that Fukuzawa promised him a meal after finishing the case, and Ranpo basically became Dazai's Atsushi to Fukuzawa. They went to a teahouse so Ranpo could have 9 bowls of zenzai (red bean soup with mochi), except Ranpo didn't eat the mochi, which deeply confused Fukuzawa.

There, Ranpo told Fukuzawa about himself and how he's now left alone. Fukuzawa realised that this boy was special yet unaware of the fact. But there was nothing a lone wolf like him could do, so he prepared to leave. Ranpo expected more, so Fukuzawa gave him his name card and offered to help for free if he got into danger, then left. Ranpo went to use a public phone in the tea house, and Fukuzawa's cell phone rang.

"Bodyguard-san, please help me. I have no job and I don't even know where to rest my head tonight. I'm about to die."

"...then I'll recommend a place to stay."

"Can't find a new job. I'm about to die."

"Then...follow me to my next client. I can't hire you, but my client is looking for new employees. I'll introduce you, alright?"

So while regretting this and drafting about 50 plans to leave Ranpo in his head, Fukuzawa took him to his next job, which is the main case in this novel.

Murder at the theatre: how they became a team

A theatre received a warning that an actor would be killed during a play, so Fukuzawa was hired to make sure it wouldn't happen. Although Fukuzawa kept an eye on everything, the lead actor, Murakami Tokio, got stabbed onstage with a sword that disappeared in a blink of an eye. A gentleman in the audience, wearing a business suit with a round hat and a cane, whom Fukuzawa noticed to have a gaze too sharp for a normal viewer, also disappeared immediately after. Ranpo, with a little help from the owner of the theatre, solved the case right on the stage with lights on and everything.

Cutting straight to the point, Murakami was his own murderer, his own fake murderer, to be exact. He set everything up so it looked like he got stabbed and died. For what? For the ultimate performance, because the guy believed that death was the only thing actors had never been able to truthfully portray. You know, an artist's spirit gone too far.

But that's not the end yet. Through the owner of the theatre, Ranpo told Fukuzawa that this case was made up of a bad crime and a great crime, which he compared to a shrimp and a tai fish: you could be satisfied with the shrimp, but in order to catch the fish, you had to use the shrimp. Ranpo went with a policeman called Mitamura, who offered to drive him to the police station, to catch the tai fish alone. Fukuzawa, having realised that Ranpo was going to become a famous detective for sure but that still wouldn't have anything to do with him, let him go, only to later find his own name card left to him with some bad handwriting on the back: Mitamura was the real culprit, and go get the cane.

Now remember the gentleman with the cane? It turned out that he was actually the main target in this case. Murakami wasn't the only one behind his own murder, there was also a scriptwriter who helped him, and this was his part of the plan that even Murakami didn’t know of. The gentleman was originally to be framed for killing Murakami then taken by Mitamura. But since Ranpo ruined that by showing the audience the gentleman unconscious and hidden on the inner part of the stage, Mitamura took Ranpo instead.

Mitamura introduced himself as part of an organisation called “V”, the same name signed on the warning that was sent to the theatre. Their goal was to annihilate all the ability users in Yokohama, even if they had to use the ability users themselves. And the gentleman, an ability user said to be extremely hard to catch, would somehow be very useful in this plan.

On the other side, Fukuzawa went to find the cane. There was a small space in the cane that could hide a document, which had already been taken by Mitamura (who later complained to Ranpo that it was a fake), but he noticed a second hiding spot. Kept in there was an electronic storage device, a special kind that was used by important ability users under the Witness Protection Program to exchange information.

Fukuzawa took it to the jail where Odasaku was held, to find out if he knew where Ranpo might have been taken. Odasaku recognised the name "V" immediately, but he didn't want to answer. His reason apparently hit Fukuzawa hard, and I think it's something worth mentioning, since this was even before Odasaku gave up killing.

"It's understandable to kill for money or because of hatred, but they kill for righteousness. I don't want to be involved, because once you use that as an excuse for killing, you'll end up being able to kill just anyone."

But Ranpo's safety came first at the moment. Fukuzawa offered to tell the police that the secretary's death was accidental, so Odasaku would only be held guilty of trespassing. Odasaku replied that he had never thought Fukuzawa would negotiate with a criminal, and Fukuzawa himself was surprised too. He also commented on how Ranpo was very lucky because Fukuzawa was willing to disregard his own policy for him. Having finally told Fukuzawa what he knew, Odasaku declined his help because honestly, he could have gotten out by himself if he wanted. His only request was for Fukuzawa to pressure the police into doing something with the terrible food there. When asked what he wanted to eat, he replied, "Curry."

So Fukuzawa went searching, and Ranpo would have been shot to death if he arrived even a slightest bit later. Fukuzawa literally slapped and shouted at Ranpo for risking his own life even though he was just a child. But after getting patted on the head because Fukuzawa couldn't think of anything else, Ranpo just clung onto him, crying and repeating over and over that he was sorry.

And the case ended there. With the scriptwriter, and then Mitamura in police custody, found killed in the same manner as Murakami’s fake murder (most likely to keep their mouths shut), all connections to V were cut. There was nothing they or the police could do, and only Murakami’s fake murder was in the newspapers the next morning.

Fukuzawa's lies: the origin of Ranpo's (non-)ability

This happened during Murakami's case, just before his fake murder. Take a look at the talk below:

"Why? I don't understand anything, I don't understand anyone! Why are adults like this, why is the society is like this?! No one has ever explained to me!"

"Enough! I'll tell you. I'll give you an answer you can accept, so just stop."

You see, Ranpo's problem was that he's a job that hadn't been finished. His parents had a careful plan to raise him up properly, but it was interrupted by their death. It's everywhere in the novel, and now he's yelling about it during the play, which was also about an ability user.

So what Fukuzawa was dealing with right here was simply a boy who didn't know what he needed in order to survive. He had to tell him something, anything that would help Ranpo acknowledge his own intelligence and understand the world. Struggling with his communication skills, Fukuzawa's glance fell on the play script Ranpo had in his hand, and he just went

"You are...an ability user."

"...what?"

Basically, Ranpo's strong belief about his ability came from a story this awkward uncle made up on the spot, and I can only tell you how hilarious this is when you're reading it.

"That ability allows you to see the truth with just one glance. It's in the play too, isn't it? There are people who possess special abilities, and those abilities don't always make them happy. The reason you have to suffer and see everyone else as monsters is because of your ability."

"...???"

"You have to control it. You are special because you have a special ability, and in order to prove that, I'll teach you how to control that ability. If you borrow power from an object, you'll be able to use your ability freely, and you'll have a way to control the ability that might make you suffer."

"...?? An object...which is...?"

"This"

"...What's that, glasses...?"

"It's an ornament I received from a descendant of a noble family in Kyoto. When you wear this, your ability will be free, and you'll see the truth in no time. On the other hand, you'll overlook everyone's ignorance when you're not wearing it. And I'll...give it to you."

"...Ah...but on matter how you look at it, it's a normal pair of glasses."

"For you who have just learned of special abilities, it's not unusual to think so."

(But that's just a pair of glasses that wouldn't sell, Fukuzawa got them from a shop near his house lol.)

Then he used some long-distance mental attack technique on Ranpo to make sure it's convincing as he was about to wear the glasses. Ranpo saw white and went unconscious for a while. When he woke up, Fukuzawa literally told him that the glasses had accepted him, like some freaking wise sage on a mountain. A bit more of "the best detective in the world" and "everyone's just stupid", and we have the genius detective Edogawa Ranpo, extremely happy and laughing, ready to solve a case.

"Since they're ignorant infants—I'll have to protect them!"

How the agency was founded

After that day (yep, everything above happened within a day), Ranpo became attached to Fukuzawa, like very attached. Fukuzawa didn't have the heart to make him leave, so he hired him to do miscellaneous work in exchange for clothes, food, and education. With Ranpo's deduction, they were able to prevent any harm that the clients needed to be protected from, and as a result, Fukuzawa came close to losing his job as a bodyguard.

But another kind of job also appeared. Ranpo started to get requests as a detective. And since Fukuzawa was the only person Ranpo ever listened to, the clients all offered to double the money for Fukuzawa to be with him. This went on for a year, and they became famous as the undefeatable duo.

And that's where the idea of the agency came from. After working with Ranpo, Fukuzawa realised that he still wanted to fight for justice in this world, and he wanted the fight to go on even after their deaths, so they needed to be more than just a duo, there needed to be more people.

So, where to start? Remember Dark Era, one needs to have the Abilities Business Permit before they can start any ability-related business, and Fukuzawa knew just who could help him get it. He took the cane to see the gentleman, now revealed to be Natsume Souseki.

Upon meeting him, Ranpo realised that Natsume had knew of the plan to capture him all along and asked why he still went with it. Natsume replied that it was because he owed Ranpo’s father a small favour, and Ranpo learned that his success was partly because of Natsume’s help.

Natsume-sensei asked Fukuzawa if he was sure about this decision, and the agency was founded.

Bonus: that one time Kunikida tried (and failed and succeeded) to get revenge on Dazai

Because honestly, any victory anyone ever has over Dazai deserves recognition.

(Like that time in 55 minutes when Atsushi managed to catch Dazai off-guard because the boy literally came from the freaking future lol.)

This story is actually the one that precedes Fukuzawa and Ranpo’s in the book, and took place just before chapter 2 in the manga (episode 2 in the anime), when Atsushi’s entrance exam was being planned out. Fed up with Dazai’s shit after working with him for 2 years, Kunikida came up with a big project to teach the trash some lesson.

The plan was to make Dazai take the biggest part in the preparation of the exam, so he could suffer what Kunikida had to all the time. Kunikida and the Tanizaki siblings, whom he had dragged into the plan, decided to achieve that by having everyone draw lots, and cheating at that.

They brought up an idea of using pieces from a newspaper from 2 months ago, each piece would show both the page numbers (there would be 2 numbers since they were on both sides) and the date (to prove that they were all from the same newspaper), and whoever got the lowest page numbers had to do the biggest part in the exam.

What everyone else didn't know was that they had also prepared a double-layered envelope. The combinations 5–6 and over would go in one layer, and the secret layer would contain 20 pre-made pieces with only the combinations 1–2 and 3–4 especially for Dazai, all from the same date as they had went out to get 11 copies of the same newspaper in advance. Tanizaki would pretend to ask for something to put the pieces in, and Naomi would suggest they use this envelope, saying she got it from her school.

Kunikida forced Dazai to draw first because he couldn't be trusted, and since Tanizaki was the one to (pretend to) make the pieces, he had to draw last. After everyone had drawn but before they started opening the pieces, Dazai proposed to use the fake time bomb he received from a woman as a prop so they could pretend there was a bomber in the office, with the least fortunate person taking the role of the bomber.

The result looked like this: Dazai got 3–4, Kunikida got 7–8, Yosano got 27–28, and Kenji got 33–34. Tanizaki, being the last one, was sure he wouldn’t lose.

But just before Tanizaki opened his piece, Dazai suggested the bomber have a hostage with him and asked Naomi to take the role. She looked over to her brother, then agreed. Tanizaki learned of his fate.

He got 1–2.

But how? Dazai got 3–4, which was according to the plan. Everyone after that got higher numbers, so anything couldn’t have gone wrong. Kunikida definitely wouldn’t ruin his own plan, and Tanizaki didn’t let it slip either. The answer was simple:

“Well, I just want to be the hostage...for big brother to tie up and threaten~.”

Tanizaki then found at the reception desk a drawing explaining where the bomber should hide. It was done by Ranpo, who had already left Yokohama and wouldn’t be back until after the day of the exam. Considering the situation, the drawing was definitely done before everyone drew lots. Tanizaki also suspected that Ranpo had already seen through everything beforehand and set his schedule this way to avoid it. He then wondered how Ranpo came to believe that his intelligence was a special ability.

Kunikida, Tanizaki, and Dazai went out to a pub later that night, with Kunikida offering to treat Tanizaki as a way make up for his suffering. They talked about the mystery of how the agency was founded (again, this topic had already been brought up earlier before the meeting).

When the waitress came to serve a dish, Dazai noted how it was unusual for the dish to be covered, then noticed a familiar face. He opened the lid to find a motion-sensor bomb with a note saying "I want you to look at only me", the same message he got with the fake time bomb from earlier.

Dazai turned to his sides for help, but Kunikida and Tanizaki were already gone.

And that’s it! That’s all that happened.

Congratulations if you have just finished the whole thing because damn, that was much longer than I expected.

If you guys still have questions about the stories in this book, you can send me an ask or leave them in the comment. I’ll be happy to answer!

And I’m once again back to the mess that is the university entrance season, urg.

#bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd #bsd spoilers #bsd novels #bsd light novels #look i did a thing

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serenagaywaterford · 5 years

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'#i am so upset at tht about this lol #(mostly cos yeah reality is that. but i'm watchign fiction dudes. gimme some character journeys. gimme development. gimme hope. #this flatline they have serena on just isn't good storytelling. straight up.)' -- i agree. & the idea i hate the most is that moss & the tht crew might have had a boner over whitford joining them & decided to give him what could have been serena's arc. the architect of the damn colonies can turn out decent but serena can't. GOT IT

“the architect of the damn colonies can turn out decent but serena can’t. GOT IT”

this is probably what drives me the most mad about the choices they made for characters in s3. lawrence literally–unequivocally and by his own admission as well as multiple other characters–created THE FUCKING COLONIES: prison labour camps where ONLY women go to suffer excruciating pain and rot from disease and DIE. he also, unarguably and explicitly, created THE ENTIRE ECONOMIC SYSTEM on which gilead relies on for its propagation and survival.

without HIM, gilead would NOT exist. and this isn’t a little thing. it’s like, it literally would have fallen apart without his massive contribution. (sure, maybe they would have found another genius economist with a penchant for brutal misogyny but as it stands, they didn’t have one. and HE STILL helps gilead survive.)

but uwu, he makes jokes and doesn’t do the ceremony and loves his wife so WHAT A GREAT GUY! LET’S GIVE HIM A RELUCTANT REDEMPTION ARC!!!!

i fucking loathe him. and he was shown multiple times even in s3 what he thinks of ALL women, and that isn’t fucking much. he’s gross. “i love my wife” YEAH sure buddy. fuck you. if you truly loved her, you wouldn’t have created an entire system where she gets fucked right over to the point she kills herself. cool beans, dude.

s3 was all about lawrence and june being reluctant allies and her working her dumbass moves on him, and that bullshit handholding at the funeral FOR THE WIFE THAT JUNE BASICALLY KILLED??? please just let me vomit in my mouth a bit.

he is not a good guy. he is not a nice guy. he does not like women. he does not care about them. he’s a pathetic little misogynist that she looks out for himself. but omg look how conflicted he is about the ceremony!!! UWU PRECIOUS BEAN, TOO PURE FOR THIS HORRIBLE WORLD!!

it’s like fandom/the showrunners are just salivating over male characters to woobiefy.

meanwhile MEANWHILE there’s a female character, the second most developed character on the entire show with the second most amount of screentime (prior to mid s3 anyway) and already a foil to june and “villain”esque character theoretically capable of change, but hey, no. let’s ignore the entire trajectory serena was on for the latter half of s2. let’s even ignore early s3 and all that set up. let’s just FUCKING FLATLINE her and make her 100% obsessed with a baby. it’s not like that storyline was already wrapped up in s2 and she’d moved on by early s3.

all so june could have some ~exciting plot of winning over lawrence and oooooh look it’s bradley whitford. what a great guy. he’s so funnieeeee and nice.

it really does feel like they aborted serena’s arc for the sake of inserting whitford into what should have been serena’s journey of gradually coming to terms with her involvement in gilead, her own overwhelming guilt about her involvement (which i would like to point out is LESS than lawrence’s contributions. just so we’re all on the same page). and i know miller has said he “doesn’t believe in redemption arcs” (bullshit. that’s pure bullshit. they exist whether you believe in them or not, for one thing.) but lawrence’s character has been doing EXACTLY that. and all the fandom is frothing about how amazing he is blah blah blah. fucking miss me with that. i will NEVER root for a man who has done that to women and is a KEY player in gilead. he didn’t just help invent it, he CURRENTLY still sustains it. he seemed to have little concern for ANYBODY even at the beginning of s3. yet still he’s a hero. (at least the character is like “oooh i’m not a hero” which kinda sounded totally insincere to me. the same way people throw pity parties for themselves.)

but god forbid a problematic female character portrayed by a fantastic (but lesser known) actress gets the same generosity. and what’s even crazier is that the audience was generally in favor and excited about serena joining june in the resistance prior to s3, and even in the beginning episodes of s3. based on social media anyway.

but no……….

i just….

it infuriates me how they chose to give what could have been a decent character arc for serena to lawrence instead (and to take that from yvonne and hand it over to whitford cos he’s just so great. rolling my eyes so hard.). and everyone is just like “yasss king! we love you!! what great guy for saving those kids!!! yay redemption for lawrence! i love brad whitford so amazing give him an emmy!!!”

i get they need to keep serena around and in some sort of conflict for june.

actually no. i don’t get it. i don’t think it’s necessary at this point to have a female adversary of that degree for june. i think she could easily be a complicated/conflicted ally, or at least not a direct enemy of june’s. the SYSTEM is evil enough and produces enough conflict on its own. june no longer needs the personification of it and neither do we. just… ugh. stagnating the MOST complex character on the show (fight me. serena as a character was more complex and dynamic than june.) for the sake of throwing her in some stupid sideplot that had nothing to do with the protagonist, and made her entire story arc stall into a dead stop was a dumbass fucking move. the whole fred thing dragged her the fuck down cos there was zero acknowledgement or exploration of the actual dynamic of the domestic abuse cycle which was PLAINLY visible in early s3. instead it was just NICHOLEEEEEE!!!!! GIVE ME BABBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MUST HAVE BABBY!!!!!!!!!! every single character motivation serena had in s3 was a fucking sexist trope about women and baby fever. (not that they wrote june much better but this rant is about the shit they pulled with serena.)

there is no depth to any conflict anymore. and what drives me even crazier is that the few scenes with june and serena are still 100 times more interesting because of the pre-existing chemistry and dynamic they still have. but instead we’ve just got the same fucking scene of june/lawrence over and over for 8 episodes. “ooh is he a friend or foe? oh i will manipulate him! he is an ally! oh maybe he’s a foe, or friend, or foe, or friend?! who cares!! look how he lubs childrens! uwu!!”

they seem absolutely intent on keeping serena a villain, to the point of total irrationality. and the only way to do that is strip her character of any nuance and give her a singular and stupid motivation and pair that with a really boring and flat subplot. cos, organically, the character WOULD develop and learn and change, but since they’re fucking obsessed with not giving her anything even resembling “redemption” for some bullshit reason, they’ve thrown her entire narrative arc under the bus and just left her there.

and people wonder why i have no interest in s4. it’s cos of this shit. why the fuck would i be interested in watching yet another season of serena doing fuck all? (ooh a trial? BORING and guaranteed to make no rational sense. back to gilead? what for?! they’re never going to let her change/grow anyway!)… and june being painted as some saint and saviour, despite being not that much better anymore. and Lawrence being lauded as a goddamn hero for doing the very fucking bare minimum for no real discernible reason we’ve seen other than june’s oh so amazing ~wiles. like please.

i can’t stand june anymore. i fucking loathe lawrence (to me, he’s just nick 2.0). i don’t care about fred. moira and emily who? and am butthurt about what they’ve done to serena’s character journey (and can’t see that changing if miller, moss, & co. are so itnent on keeping her “evil”). so s4 doesn’t seem that fun to me.

and the fact everyone seems to have a hard on for whitford, including cast and crew just makes me angry. sure, give this dude all the good shit. take it away from the amazing female actors and just give it to him. why not? THT is male-run anyway and IT SHOWS. he should have been a minor character, not the focus next to june. (don’t even get me started on how fiennes gets second billing in the credits before yvonne cos i am so livid every single time i see taht.)

whatever, THT. whatever. bye. ugh.

wow anyway that was a rant i didn’t expect to make. thanks anon for drawing that out. i think i’ve been sitting on it a while lol.

i have a lot of rage.

#the misogyny is wild #it's like fandom just replaced their desperation to woobiefy nick with lawrence instead #super that's awesome i'm glad that's how this show thinks it should tell a story about women's oppression #just ignore half the women and make them evil!!!#give none of them except the ''crazy'' one any sympathetic storyline #yeah cool #how feminist #Anonymous

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