#Tsuda Ken | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-bloody-sadist · 2 years

Text

Ten Characters, Ten Fandoms, Ten Tags (except it's one tag bc I hate mass tagging, makes it feel less special lol)

Thanks for tagging me @chouchinobake ! Part of the reason I stay on Tumblr is how different and I suppose intimate (?) it feels to be on here. The whump community in general is such a home to me, but the oddity of this platform gives me a chance to do different things that I'd never be able to do on my Twitter/Instagram.

In any case, it just looks like I'm supposed to list ten characters from different fandoms and why I like them, so here goes. I'm going to limit it to anime, since there are way too many in manga/live action, and, as an organized person, I must restrain myself:

Ash Lynx [Banana Fish]: I've seen basically every BL anime that exists, and yet out of all the boys I've loved from those (Mafuyu didn't make it to the list but he is ONE OF THEM), no one quite stands out to me the way that Ash does. He was such a fresh personality to get into, and I found myself fascinated by the complexities of his character. One thing about Banana Fish in general that I enjoyed was the lack of "need" for it to go through as a BL, if that makes sense. It was an action/gang drama first and a love story second. I am always most attached to characters that I feel like I could never accurately write if I tried, since it gives me great respect for the author. Ash being violent but not uncaring, angry at the world and yet still a victim to it, plagued by recurring trauma (the amount of predatory gay men in BF is absolutely insane btw LMAO I love that Dino has just stocked his gang with gay rapists 😂) and yet still a very dangerous character. It's a tragedy that it ended the way it did, but I guess that's part of why he sticks with me so much. Definitely #1 saddest of the stories I've loved.

The way he has such fondness for Eiji without the author feeling like they needed to actually put them in a confirmed relationship was just so natural to me. Of course, I needed fanfics to help my crumbling heart after the ending, way back when I first watched it, but I always valued that about Banana Fish. I just fucking wish Ash made it back to Eiji for a hug, dammit. The one thing I hated in the show was the lack of hurt/comfort balance. There was so little comfort that it felt like sometimes the emotional aspect was ignored in favor of the action, and that drove me batty. Regardless, one of the favorites for sure.

Xie Lian [Heaven's Official Blessing]: MY SWEET BABU. Holy fuck, I didn't know whether to list Mafuyu here or Xie, because they're both somewhat the same breed of SOFT, MUST PROTECT to me, but Xie won out, since I have to have at least one bandaged boy on the list in the absence of Dazai. Words cannot express the amount of sheer devotion I have to this CREATURE. This is one of those stand-out shows that became a comfort anime for me. The soft-voiced Chinese VAs for Xie and Hua Cheng cause physical reactions lmao. It's a rare softie romance for my favorites.

There are some characters that are so fucking precious to me that somehow my sadist nature drains away, and I actually do not want to see them hurt. This is one of the very, very few. Nobody touch Xie Lian. I will murder you.

Yozo Oba [No Longer Human]: Written by the one and only Dazai Osamu, there is no character I've ever read about that I relate to more than Yozo Oba. There was a fantastic anime adaptation that I recently stumbled across, which is where the above gif came from. It's called Blue Literature Series, and its biggest feature is NLH, but it features other famous Japanese writers' (from Bungo) stories as well. The anime adaptation gave me such a visceral perspective on Yozo after reading the novel, and I loved everything about the anime (besides the way they changed Yozo's "best friend" to a far better person than he was). In reference specifically to the character, though, Yozo is the ultimate depiction of the extreme fear of human beings and masked depression. I cried at so many moments from the book that hit right where I struggled in life, and I hardly ever reread things, but NLH was a major exception.

No lie, that shit had me saying "he's just like me fr!" 😀 lol... sorry

Kaneki Ken [Tokyo Ghoul]: Yeah yeah, I know. Everyone has talked about Kaneki. But he really is amazing. No matter how memed this poor man is, he remains among the top favorites, both in the depiction of his warring personalities as well as the monster vs. human. The entirety of TG is just GORGEOUS in its world building, character design, and fresh perspectives on the old cliche of half human, half devil. His character arc always gets me going. But he's been talked about enough; everyone knows about him. I don't need to say much except that MAN he truly WAS wayyyy better in the manga. I was stunned at the extreme difference, and I get it now - all those fans who were pissed at the show. That's why I always watch the anime before the manga. It just gets better that way.

Johan Liebert [Monster]: Besides the other antagonist you'll find a little further down in the list, this is my favorite anime villain of all time, I think. He's been hailed by many as one of the best, so I'm sure the subject is already worn out, but everything about this man had me crazy for him. His vicious backstory, his psychopathy, his incredible manipulation, and his treacherously low screen time. This is one of those characters where the lack of appearances in the show actually fueled my devotion, because the times when he did show up were absolutely BANGER, and his fucking presence is so intoxicating. He was fabulously animated too, and the whole show was such a good watch. The VA always has something to do with it for me, and Johan was no exception. (I watch everything in sub, just because the VAs are usually that gorgeous whispery-ear-fuck for mysterious characters like this 😂)

Sebastian Michaelis [Black Butler]: I mean come on, who wouldn't like Sebastian. Honestly, nothing much needs to be said. Ciel makes him that much better. Their tension and dynamics, and the way that their relationship was set up is just incredible. Can't be beat, really. I wish I could go back to the first time I saw BB and watch it all again, cuz fucking hell it was so good. I love the contradiction of Sebastian's devil hunger for human souls being conflicted - not by the fact that he has a human half, but by the fact that he's signed a deal with a human, and has grown some semblance of attachment to that human, and that's what keeps him unpredictable. Will he care for Ciel in the end and choose not to follow through or not? Idk, that was my favorite perspective of his character and the whole show.

Akihito Narihisago [ID: Invaded]: If you haven't seen this anime, you're missing out, firstly on one of my favorite VAs of all time 🥹 Kenjiro Tsuda, and secondly on a very emotional plot and story arc that I didn't expect for the genre of show that it was. Akihito is a detective in a virtual reality, trying to solve a murder. What I didn't expect was the constant appearances of a girl in this world that is Akihito's daughter, and how her face being on every victim made the case so incredibly personal that it was tear-jerking for me. Honestly, Tsuda's performance is probably the main reason why it hits so hard, but this poor man has to go through seeing his daughter's face on every mangled victim, watching her die over and over, and never being able to save her. And that's all he wants. He just wants to save her. I won't spoil any more, but good grief this one was a very unexpected favorite of mine.

Zero Kiryuu [Vampire Knight]: ☺️☺️☺️☺️ Whaaaaaaaaaat? He was my first whumpy boy *pinches cheeks*, my first anime love, *squish squish* baby's first anime! Back then when I was a lazy first-timer, I was watching in dub. By now I've gone back and re-watched in sub after realizing the great and powerful Miyano Mamoru was the voice of my vampire crush, but I am not complaining over the English VA, because Vic Mignogna is the only comparable voice to do any of Miyano's characters. Loved that man. Wish he was still around. In any case, Zero is the ultimate angsty vampire and nobody will ever replace him for me.

Yashiro [Saezuru wa Tori Habatakanai]: I...where do I even begin? T_T The sheer complexity of this man's personality makes him such an obsession to me. I would consume any and all media relating to him, no matter what it is. He's one of those characters that can endlessly be studied and picked apart. He has so much conflict, so many walls, so much pain. It's the ones who pretend they love self-destruction that really get to me. I love seeing Yashiro crumble because of Doumeki's insistent care, and words cannot express how many times I've watched the BLCD paired with the manga for the climactic first sex scene with Doumeki, and how emotional it was. It offered a whole new perspective in my opinion of how deep something as dismissed as erotica could go, and I strive for that same emotional and character depth in my own works because of it. The dynamics of this show in general provoked and inspired the story I'm writing of Ellum and Callyx, even if it existed long before I got into Saezuru. It helped me form it around what I learned from experiencing the manga and then the anime, and then the BLCD, and I can't fucking wait for the rest of this trilogy to come out so I can weep ffs.

Iason Mink [Ai no Kusabi]: Ah, the man who created Taushin. Lol, way back when Sadist was a baby whumper, this was one of the first yaoi I ever set eyes on. Though set in the weirdest and most repulsive world for erotica imo, the dynamics of Iason the Blondie and Riki his little brat Pet will remain one of my favorite power plays, and remains the standard for what I keep looking for in other stories. The anime remake was so unabashedly uncensored that it remains hard to find something that matches it, as far as non-con and punishment/pleasure based relationships go, and I wish it hadn't been cancelled cuz that was a fucking shame. Despite the plot being rather boring, the tension between these two makes up for it, and the constant rivalry of enemies who basically remain enemies and are only reluctant lovers when it comes to it makes it so intriguing. Iason is THE Master of all Masters in my opinion, and was voiced so perfectly in both anime versions - that velvety, stern voice omg - and Taushin was heavily influenced by him, as well as the classism of Gailda, coming from Ai no Kusabi's rankings of Blondies and Pets, which I thought made for an interesting world. If not for Ai no Kusabi, I don't think I'd ever have come up with the story of Dancing with Death, even though Taushin and Angel have a much different dynamic, since Angel is obedient and nothing like the hard-headed Riki. I still owe it to that anime.

Griffith [Berserk]: It's insane to me how long it took for me to finally watch Berserk, but for years all I saw was that ugly bastard with the name Guts in reference to the acclaimed manga and its disgustingly animated show. I never had an interest in reading the manga, so when I discovered the existence of Griffith through one of my friends who was urging me to read it, I realized that the story wasn't what I'd thought. Then, seeing the movies that existed with far better animation, I instantly got into it and was hooked. My gods, the character arc of this man. It remains one of my favorite tragedies, only outdone by Kaneki's. AND THE BEAUTY OF THIS BOY GOOD GRIEF LMAO it's so hilarious to me how pretty he is in a male-driven male-gaze manga, if you know what I mean. 😂 Like this story in general just stands out, and Griffith is the shining star. I got so attached to him, and to see him imprisoned and betrayed and just...JEEEEz. It hurt so much. And it felt so good to see him turn, no matter how horrifying. Still can't really put up with the infamous Casca/Griffith scene as it felt a little misplaced 😂

The Red King [K-Project series]: I feel like this anime is very under the radar, so allow me to introduce you to yet another badass man voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda. Everything about him is just...MUAH. He is a little elusive in the movies (there are several of them), so his screen time is criminally low for how obsessed I am with him, but when he's there he's THERE and is GLORIOUS. As the leader of a gang, in a world where each king rules a color and that color means their gangs have a certain ability - so for crimson there is fire, of course - he is the ultimate stern leader. They contrast this in the movies SO FANTASTICALLY by having this man taking care of a young girl, an adopted daughter of sorts, and showing off his soft spot for her and her alone. Oh my gods, I can't even begin. I just...I live for it. He is a kind leader, but the stoic and cold type, you know? One of my favorite personality types. He is easy to anger, but this girl that he protects adores him and he treats her like a little princess. I need to stop lol, I can't ramble too much, but I'll just say his rivalry with the Blue King, who used to be a good friend (enemies to lovers ship here I come) is heart-wrenching, and his eventual fate which I will not spoil absolutely destroyed me. The end.

I did 12, and I'm not sorry. I couldn't leave out The Red King or Griffith okay. I couldn't. I tried to not list the purely obvious ones, such as Bungo characters, Vanitas no Carte characters, or fandoms where I've made it quite clear how much I like certain people lmao. But they'd nevertheless be part of the list if it weren't limited to ten (COUGH 12), and I wanted to list characters that I had something particular to say about. A lot of them are made better by their counterpart or romantic interests in the show, such as Yashiro being perfectly matched with Doumeki, Zero being put to so much tension with Kaname, Johan being an incredible antagonist to Tenma, Iason showing off his power because of Riki's constant defiance, and The Red King having his soft spot with the little girl. And I mean, who would Griffith be without Guts?

I would list Gojo, but there's nothing to say about him that hasn't already been said, and that's just BARKBARKWOOFWOOFGGRRRR

Hope you enjoyed reading. And I hope you might've found some new anime because of it! K-Project seems lesser known, but my gods it's gorgeous, it's ship-city, and it's a fascinating plot heavily featuring on one of my favorite things: COLORS.

Thanks again for the tag 🖤 it's nice to be able to obsess over my favorites for a reason 😤

Tagging @lustfulcat ☺️☺️ if you feel like it, my sweet!

91 notes · View notes