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makeste · 3 years

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BnHA Chapter 320: Deku vs. Class 1-A

Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Kacchan was all “fuck Deku and fuck his stupid goodbye letters, I need to speak to somebody in charge.” Endeavor was all “hello, I am Somebody In Charge.” Kacchan was all “listen up asshole, you need to let us go out and collect our wayward nerd because you stupidly left him alone with All Might and that’s a fast track to disaster right there.” Endeavor was all, “[self-incriminating silence].” Rat Principal was all, “okay sure, have fun kids.” Back in the present, class 1-A was all “hi Deku” and Deku was all “I’M FINE!!!!!” and Kacchan was all “THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU’D SAY YOU DUMB FUCKING NERD” and so the kids all got ready to fight, because OF COURSE they’re gonna fight. Sorry guys, but yeah it’s happening.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “what’s up Deku you look like a possessed Rorschach test, so anyway how are the new quirks coming along.” Deku is all “they’re coming along like THIS” and uses Smokescreen to try and get away. Kacchan is all “PHASE ONE COMMENCE”, and Kouda, Sero, Jirou, and Ojiro leap into the fray to shower Deku with heaps of love and violence, because this is a shounen manga and kicking someone’s ass while simultaneously proclaiming your undying admiration for them is just how it’s done in these parts. The KoudaSeroOJirou squad then passes the baton to Satou, Momo, Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Shouji, who are all “fuck this mask” and do a bunch of stuff to tear Deku’s mask off because they’re the real heroes. Shouto is all “LOOK AT THE LITTLE CRYBABY, THAT’S RIGHT, GO AHEAD AND FUCKING CRY and by the way let us share your burden please,” and once again I swear this is all very deeply moving and touching within the actual context. The chapter ends with Tsuyu being all “look at me. I’m the cliffhanger now,” and damn.

lol what

I don’t think anyone was expecting that. I mean, not that I’ve got anything against Tsuyu or anything. anyways it’s a very nice cover and I love the colors and I hope this means Tsuyu’s gonna do something badass

also, “Deku vs Class A” -- pretty much the expected title, but it’s still got me hyped nonetheless fuck yeah let’s go

IIDA ANGST

Iida Tenya really said “fuck the uniform code, we’re leaving the helmet at home today.” sorry kids, prim and proper C-3PO Comic Relief Iida has left the building. can I interest you in some Serious Iida

meanwhile Kacchan is all “sup Deku, I heard you got a few more quirks, and might I just add that you look like the Snyder Cut of Detective Pikachu”

“you look like a tarred and feathered squid” okay easy there Kacchan. I mean it’s all true of course, but still

“thank you all for coming” OH EXCUSE ME SON, WERE YOU PLANNING ON GOING SOMEWHERE. LET’S JUST SEE HOW THAT PLAYS OUT

yep and there’s Smokescreen, right on cue

okay Horikoshi, I leave it in your hands. hopefully you can come up with some more interesting combos than my dumbass predictions lol

LOL THIS ISN’T A COMBO AT ALL

“explosions solve everything” -- Horikoshi Kouhei, 2021. something something shockwave, something something handwave ta-da no more smoke. lol okay then

oh, ouch

he would know, wouldn’t he. nice application of one of your many hard-earned life lessons, Kacchan

by the way you guys, just as an experiment, I’m going to try to anticipate some of the discourse this week in the hopes of preemptively addressing it and thus saving myself some time later on lol. so here’s our first test run!

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “oh my god what a fucking hypocrite can you believe this fucking guy”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: it’s precisely because Kacchan has been in this exact situation himself that he’s able to recognize his past self in Deku now and call him out on it. just because it took him sixteen years to get it through his head that he can’t accomplish every single thing completely by himself doesn’t mean Deku has to go down that same path. so yeah, maybe it is a bit hypocritical, but if you insist that the only people qualified to call out stupid shit are people who have never done a single stupid thing in their own lives, then what you’re basically saying is that absolutely no one on earth is qualified lol. so yeah, I’d have to disagree

and one last unrelated note, I’m willing to bet the whole “you didn’t even say a word before you ran off” thing is possibly the first thing Kacchan’s said in this whole encounter that actually does stem from genuine hurt rather than his tough-love-harsh-truths strategy. I’M TAKING NOTES HERE HORIKOSHI. at this rate it’ll take twice as many chapters as DvK2 for them to hash out all the stuff between them, geez

anyway so I gotta say, so far Deku vs. Class A is looking an awful lot like a DvK3 wearing a hat, trenchcoat, and sunglasses lol

OH SHIT I TAKE IT BACK??

FUCK YEAH, YOU GO KOUDA. and I guess he ditched his mask as well! excellent

so far the strategy here seems to be “Kacchan says all the mean tough love shit while the rest of 1-A balances it out with warmth and kindness”, which actually works pretty well imo. Deku is one of those people that doesn’t usually need a Kacchan Translator anyway, but just in case, this is very efficient

mm but of course Deku is slingshotting himself away with Blackwhip. all right then, who’s up next!

FUCK YEAH

okay but seriously you guys, what is going on with Sero’s face in these last couple of chapters though, it’s really starting to unnerve me. is he trying to emulate Kacchan’s whole asymmetrical facial expressions thing?

in fact let me just quickly hit pause here because,

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “SERO IS TOGA??!”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: no

oh snap looks like Jirou’s getting in on the action too!

poor Jirou probably spent days racking her brain trying to think of something she could bond with Deku over. is Horikoshi doing these in reverse order of the kids who have had the most interaction with him? that would explain why poor Kouda didn’t get a flashback lol

omg. well that answers that

so by my count, Satou and Hagakure are the only ones remaining in this first tier of kids who Still Appreciate Midoriya even though they’ve barely ever spoken two words to him in their lives lol. so they’ll probably be next, and then we’ll get to the next tier of kids who are pretty good friends with him but not quite besties. and then we’ll move on to the IidaRokiRaka trio, and then lastly, to the boy who is in a tier all his own

BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

and by “sponsor” I mean the Dekuangst. just in case that wasn’t clear. indeed, many thanks to the Dekuangst for making this all possible

(ETA: okay so this whole “take me away” line seemed pretty weird to me, and sure enough it’s yet another one of those cases where only the verb is specified, and the object is left to the reader’s interpretation. so even though the translation says “take me away”, I’m pretty sure that what Deku’s actually saying is “take you away” -- as in, his loved ones will be taken away by AFO.

and that is literally the way he phrases it, though -- the verb used is “奪う” (ubau), meaning “to snatch away; to dispossess; to steal.” which, god, that hurts my whole goddamn heart though, because for him to say it like that?? not “AFO will kill you”, but “AFO will take you away from me.” he can’t have nice things anymore because of AFO. he can’t be around the people he loves because AFO will hurt them. he can’t have happiness because AFO will take it away from him. anyway so where the fuck is AFO right now, motherfucker I just want to talk.)

by the way can Ojiro just extend his tail to whatever fucking length he wants or what because it’s like twelve feet long in this panel lol

WOOO FUCK YEAH TOKOYAMI

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!! BUT WHERE’S YOUR FLASHBACK? YOU’VE HAD A BUNCH OF INTERACTIONS WITH HIM, THAT’S NOT FAIR

okay so now Satou’s stepping in which is back to my anticipated order, so maybe Toko will finish his little moment afterward

dskfjfkk

“REMEMBER THAT TIME DEKU BORROWED SATOU’S FOOD COLORING” Horikoshi says, sweating. “AND REMEMBER THAT TIME HE, UM, SMILED IN HAGAKURE’S GENERAL DIRECTION”

actually I am curious about what Hagakure’s part will be because, you know, the whole traitor thing lol

(ETA: funny how we just skipped right over it huh. can we get a traitor reveal countdown started here? definitely getting close to that time.)

whoa lol wtf

MOMO??? THIS HAS MOMO WRITTEN ALL OVER IT DAMMIT

-- SWEET MOTHER OF FUCK

“SORRY MIDORIYA-SAN, I LEFT MY FUCKING CHILL AT HOME IN THE LOCKER NEXT TO IIDA’S HELMET” holy shit lmao

and here I thought she’d get a flashback to her time on the Baku Rescue Squad or something. but nope, no flashbacks from Momo, only terrifying sci-fi torture devices

poor Dark Shadow is such a trooper omg

“why am I the only one who has to make prolonged contact with his smelly disgusting self” taking one for the team there DS

FUCK YEAH KAMINARI NO JUTSU

THE PRICKLY BASTARD WHISPERER STRIKES AGAIN!! don’t suppose you brought any clean clothes you could sneakily force him into huh Kami

okay here we go, so now Shouji and Tokoyami are joining forces

um excuse me this is fucking awesome

wonder how he’ll break free? don’t think he’ll reveal Fa Jin until the end of the chapter, so maybe Air Force or something? idk

TOKO GETS AN EXTENDED MOMENT BECAUSE HE IS A TIER TWO PATREON REWARD LEVEL FRIEND YAY

WHY IS MOMO MAKING THIS FACE LOL YOUR THING WAS WAY WORSE

and Shouji just casually hitting him with what is easily the best comment from anyone yet. too bad Deku’s just gonna ignore it. you deserve better Shouji

KAMINARI OMFG

it only just occurred to me that Kami is currently trapped inside Dark Shadow right along with him lmao omg. realest one in the entirety of BnHA, right here. we will never forget your sacrifice

aaaaaaand Deku’s yeeting himself

do you really hate the thought of taking a bath that much my dude

oh shit the mask!!

-- oh shit the feels

o(TヘTo)

fuck. and I mean, we knew he was crying, that was a done deal. but still, to see him in this much pain is just...

and the acknowledgement that he knows they’re worried about him, but that it doesn’t change his mind one bit. this, right here, is why they have to be a bit harsh with him, you guys. because they’re up against the full, unbridled stubbornness of Midoriya fucking Izuku, and if they don’t match that stubbornness with an equal stubbornness of their own, they basically don’t stand a chance

(ETA: quick note that there is apparently another mistranslation here -- rather than saying that his friends are oblivious to the danger, what Deku is actually saying is that none of his friends have activated his Danger Sense once throughout this entire fight. which I had been wondering about, and it turns out Horikoshi actually confirmed it. so basically none of the kids bears any ill intent toward him, and there’s literal proof right there.

incidentally, as @class1akids pointed out, this also casts an interesting light on this chapter in terms of who hasn’t fought Deku yet. not to play the Hagakure Traitor Music for the billionth time you guys, but I’M JUST SAYING lol.)

anyway, but the good news is that they all seem to understand that. and the even better news is that we have reached the tier 3 friends!!

“OR ELSE” lol, great to see Shouto wielding his friendship just as aggressively as Deku once did towards him. I do love a good role reversal

p.s., ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “why is Shouto being so cruel to Deku can’t he see how hard this is on him”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: this is a callback to the classic “even heroes cry when they have to” Shouto line from chapter 137. Shouto is clearly following Kacchan’s lead here and going for the more ruthless approach, knowing that the gentle approach isn’t getting through to him (if anything it’s only making him more stubborn as we saw on the previous page). basically it’s his way of pointing out that even heroes are still only human, and so is Deku last time he checked

ah okay, and there Tsuyu is at last

okay real talk, I get why Tsuyu is included in the tier 3 friends, because she was one of the first people to team up with Deku going all the way back to USJ. but that said, this probably would have had more impact if their most recent interaction hadn’t been like 150 chapters ago

but anyway though it’s still a good speech. maybe not quite a cliffhanger-level speech, but a good speech nonetheless. in a way though, I’m glad to see that Horikoshi seemingly didn’t give a fuck whether he ended this on an actual cliffhanger or not for once

and that “headed toward the climax” part has me excited too, ngl. because if we really are getting to the so-called climax this soon, that makes me even more certain that there is indeed a DvK3 in the forecast. so I presume that next week (or I guess two weeks from now) will be the tier 3s along with the remaining tier 2s like Kirishima and Aoyama

and then after that, well... [orange and green banners being hoisted] [sound of screeching airhorns and vuvuzelas in the distance] [sound of All Might approaching in his car which I didn’t notice until I looked back at this page a second time whoops] THE PROPHECY WILL NOT BE DENIED

#bnha 320 #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #asui tsuyu #tokoyami fumikage #kaminari denki #todoroki shouto #class 1-a #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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aforrestofstuff · 4 years

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Just wondering, what's OPM characters' favorite season or the kind of weather they enjoy the most? And why?

Thanks for your ask, anon! It’s been a hot minute since I did one of these. :] ❤️

Tornado of Terror: Stormy days or nights of any kind because she’s a bit of a workaholic and the rampant downpour gives her a good reason to stay inside and relax for once. She’s mildly scared of thunder so she likes to drown out the noise by blasting romcoms on her TV.

Silverfang: Hot, humid days because it eases his arthritis pain and the humidity makes for good character-building when training his disciples! Ain’t nothing like running laps on a hot day after rainfall; it’s guaranteed to make anyone wish they were dead.

Atomic Samurai: Windy days because, and he would never admit this, but the wind makes his hair look marvelous. He’ll only ever wear his hair down in public when there’s a breeze outside. Nobody has noticed he does this, everyone just thinks he picks random days to do it.

Child Emperor: Literally wtf is the outside world. I hc that he has some sort of white noise machine to emulate rainfall and other sounds of nature, because he’s always cooped up in the lab and if he didn’t hear a frog croak or a breeze rustle through the trees every once and a while, he would go absolutely insane. His favorite setting is a hot summer day by the beach, where he listens to the waves lap against the shore.

Metal Knight: same as Child Emperor except he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about going insane or not, so minus the sound machine. His favorite weather is probably violent storms because it’s the perfect brooding atmosphere and it makes him feel like a tacky-ass supervillain.

King: He’s not really an outdoorsy person so he doesn’t care too much about the weather, but he does like it overcast. Mainly because he doesn’t have to put so much effort into blocking out the sunlight so he can play videogames without that annoying glare on his TV screen.

Zombieman: I’ve said this in a previous hc, but his pale/blue-ish skin indicates that his blood flow is absolute ass, which means he’s got to get cold easily. He’s got to be cold all the time. Which I why I propose that his favorite weather is when it’s unbearably hot for the average person (around room temperature for him). He doesn’t even sweat under the heat, only when he exercises. So, while everyone seeks solace in indoor air conditioning and ice packets in 100-degree weather, he’ll be outside in a sweater saying “Hm, it’s a little chilly. Good for a jog.”

Drive Knight: Cold. Unbearably cold. The reason being that he has a lot of firepower, right? And I doubt he’s got a ton of wiggle room for any cooling mechanisms (it’s not like Drive Knight [Señor Robocop] is out here carrying a giant canister of water), so he mostly relies on the temperature of the air around him to cool down. When it’s super cold, he doesn’t have to worry about overheating. It’s not like he can really feel the temperature anyway, it’s strictly for practical purposes.

Pig God: Cold. Super duper cold the way Drive Knight likes it because my boy Pig God is perpetually on the brink of heat stroke 24/7. The reason: he is morbidly obese. Fat acts as insulation to keep heat inside our bodies, and he’s got so much of it that his body is always working overtime to make sure he doesn’t fucking die. So, on cold days, he likes to rest and give his body a break. Below zero like room temperature for him, because room temperature for the average person makes him feel as if he’s standing on the sun.

Superalloy Darkshine: Bright and sunny, baby! Perfect weather, not a single cloud in the sky and not a one raindrop. He’s super outdoorsy. He practically lives outside. His favorite activity is, of course, exercising, and he much prefers when the weather is nice so he can better focus on getting those gains.

Watchdog Man: He prefers the weather to be nice and warm with absolutely 0 wind and 0 rain. His suit soaks up liquid like a goddamned sponge and gets a hell of a lot heavier, so he absolutely HATES the rain for that reason. Wind messes up his “fur” and he ends up looking like a cumulonimbus cloud after a long day of patrol, so that’s out of the question as well.

Flashy Flash: Hail. His training regime is brutal and he prefers to do it whenever it hails, because he believes being battered by falling ice makes him grow stronger. A large portion of the scars on his body were caused by the golf ball-sized pebbles of hail that fell on one particular storm.

Genos: Bitter cold, same as Drive Knight and with a similar reason as well. I imagine Kuseno had mercy when programming how Genos’ cybernetic body would react to things like temperature and pain, so he doesn’t really mind the weather no matter it’s highs or lows. He likes the cold because, like I said previously with Señor Robocop, it aides his weaponry when cooling down and he doesn’t need to waste time worrying if he’s gonna overheat or not because he has faith that air around him will take care of it.

Metal Bat: Snow days! He and Zenko used to love to play together in the snow as kids and they still fucking do it every year because time is an illusion and fun is eternal. His favorite thing to do is build very gruesome and horrific snowmen. Like, snowmen without heads, snowmen that look like they’ve been run over, snowmen that have purposefully been built to look like they’re melting and they’re in pain. That sort of stuff. He and Zenko also have snowball fights (because of COURSE) and Badd has to try his best to not hurl the ball too hard and accidentally give her a concussion.

Tanktop Master: Same as Superalloy. He prefers the weather to be picturesque perfect. I hardcore hc that they’re workout buds and that they often go on outdoor rendezvous together, whatever that may be. His favorite thing to do (besides hanging out with the homies, obviously) is to go on long hikes. He’s actually a pretty big nature lover and WILL shed manly tears if he ever sees a deer. God forbid a baby one.

Puri-Puri Prisoner: Well, he doesn’t get as much outdoor time as he would like on account of being in literal prison and whatnot but he REALLY loves a very specific time of year just at the beginning of summer when all the bugs come out and the air is breezy but still warm. His loves to look at those bigass yellow butterflies and have picnics on the green tallgrass just before it’s been dried out by the summer heat. Oh yeah, and he’ll totally be doing this with his boyfriend. That’s the dream, baby.

Amai Mask: Clear nights just after rainfall. He loves the way streetlights reflect on the wet asphalt. This is also the weather he prefers to hold concerts in because the air is humid and cool and he doesn’t get as sweaty when he’s dancing or singing. The petrichor is nice too. If someone managed to bottle and sell it as perfume, he would be the first buyer.

Iaian: Overcast. When the sun is blocked out, he doesn’t have to worry too much about getting a heat stroke while wearing his armor during training. He also appreciates how dim it is. It’s easy for him to get lost in thought and he often finds himself standing still just to look up to at the clouds. He and Kama sometimes find shapes in them for fun between training sessions.

Okamaitachi: They really love quiet rainstorms. No thunder, no lightning, just the steady pattern of rainfall. This is the perfect time for them to relax, curl up with a good book, maybe knit a sweater, and just forget about everything that’s going on. They usually use this time to update their self care regime, like doing their hair or tidying up their nails. Overall, just a great time to chill out and keep up to date with loving themselves.

Bushidrill: He loves violent rainstorms. I hc that he’s had a pretty tumultuous life, so the havoc of loud thunder doesn’t faze him at all. He actually finds it quite nice. He’s the type of old guy that keeps a door open during rainfall just to let the smell in, or walk outside with no umbrella just for the fuck of it. He’s not terribly old, but he’s old enough to not give a rat’s ass about what other people (especially Kama or Iaian) think about his weird habits. He also likes all the nature that comes out after rainfall, too. Frogs and dragonflies are some of his favorite animals.

Fubuki: Barking hot. Unbearable. Like her sister, she’s a bit of a workaholic and finds it difficult to take a day off every once and while; but once that temperature hits the nineties? Oh shit. Fubuki Gang, pack your shit because it’s beach time baby. She absolutely LOVES the beach and actively anticipates the time of year when it becomes hot enough to bask in the sun. Going to the beach with her family was one of the few enjoyable things that came from her childhood, and she still finds comfort in it.

Saitama: He doesn’t really give too much of a shit about the weather as long as no roads are closed. The reason for this is: if there’s a sale, he wants to get there ASAFP. But, like I said, he really doesn’t give a shit either way because he can be both an outdoorsy and indoors kind of person without making any major changes to his life.

Mumen Rider: Sunny and clear! He loves to have picnics and watch the fluffy clouds! It’s also the perfect weather to go on long, recreational bike rides, which he almost never gets to do anymore. He’s also a bit of a nature lover and, like Tanktop Master, WILL cry if he sees a cute animal. Rainy and overcast days make him a little sad because he doesn’t like the gloomy feel, even if it is calming at times.

Sonic: Hail. Same as Flashy Flash, since they basically grew up on the same bullshit training regime together. The Ninja Village and everything connected to it is overall a total shitstorm, but he can’t argue with the results that made him a killer speed demon. So yeah, the breakneck training persists. And he does it while enduring the incessant pummeling of some fucking ice cubes falling from the sky. Like a weirdo.

Garou: Anything extreme. From blizzards to sandstorms, he’ll take it all, baby. Bang used to train him when the weather was especially bad to strengthen his spirit, and now that same violent weather has become sort of a comfort place. He things violent thunderstorms are calming and blizzards are like a warm blanket that take him back to the few rays of sunshine that came from his absolute clusterfuck of a childhood. He also likes to train during this sort of weather for the same reason Sonic and Flashy Flash like to train during hail: he believes it makes him stronger.

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icharchivist · 5 years

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Managed to get Chap 9 of FPvM, the chapter released last month and ma n

-Seeing Hifumi break down and cling to Doppo when the girls arrive is so goddamn heartbreaking. Seeing both Doppo and Jakurai trying to hold him to calm him down is giving me so much emotions, Hifumi is stealing the chapter for me.

-Ichijiku is a snacc

-The effect around the Mic concealers are so cool wtf??

-The whole scene with Juto coming to talk to Doppo has an amazing sense to it with Hifumi being clingy toward Doppo i’m living

-We also get the TDD reunion ofc and all that comes with it (i feel the manga added a Riou’s reaction to seeing the TDD though? I didnt remember him react but i should reread/relisten the drama track)

-Ramuda hug attacking every single of the TDD members but doing it in such an intimate YET threatening way toward Jakurai..... oof. But his hug is so tender toward Ichiro and Samatoki and i’m crying again.

-Jakurai and Ramuda’s fight is heartbreaking??? But i love how it differenciate their fighting style.

-Ramuda’s is raw, violent and uncontrolled. You can feel the fury of the way he attacks, and when Jakurai fights back Ramuda loses all sort of control. The raw fact Ramuda is like that around Jakurai is painful. When he attacks again after Jakurai’s attack, he seems so raw and desperate and angry. This is the most disturbing Ramuda has ever looked so far.

-Meanwhile Jakurai fighting style is much more concealed, calm, almost gentle despite the rudest of his words. At least in appearance he doesnt give the feeling of wanting to hurt his adversary as much as Ramuda does. Or, well, he does, it is in a very cold and calculated way, not going for a messy attack like Ramuda does but by going straight to the throat. He doesn’t give the impression he wants to hurt but he still is determined to do so.

-TBh that gives a good contrast with their backstories: Jakurai use a calm, cold, calculated and concealed way to hurt a bit like his assassin day would require, while Ramuda is all messy, violent, uncontroled which so far fits with how we’ve seen him fight (esp when he kills/tortures people in the TDD manga) - so i would argue it is like, things he picked up being the gov’s dog.

-Also you feel the history behind it man. I cant help but think about their TDD fight we see in the begining of the FPvM manga, bc there it was Jakurai doing the most damages and being the most violent/virulent. To see the shift around almost makes Jakurai seem more careful. Also his reactions to Ramuda’s attacks and the way he completely collaps... oof

-That too, the fact Jakurai COLLAPSE on hearing Ramuda’s attacks while Ramuda just goes completely unhingedly feral on Jakurai when Jakurai attacks again. As a way to react to the attack i find it very perticular? Jakurai reacts by vulnerability, Ramuda by losing himself. There could be a l o t to get away from it but i can’t lie i do like how it feeds my HCs there.

-Also boy seeing Hifumi and Doppo being completely horrified to see Jakurai collapse while Gentaro and Dice are staring in complete disbelief at their leader is freaking amazing. Like they established how terrifying Ramuda could be so well that the rookies who are not used to fight specifically and are curious (ish since Dice isn’t) about their relationship were all horrified.

-idk why i find it odd but when the mic concealers arrive, the focus is on Ramuda and Jakurai realizing their speakers are disappearing (normal) ... and Doppo and Dice?? Like there are two panels for each of them to react, and Hifumi and Gentaro are nowhere to be seen in them. It’s such an odd thing to me, why focus on them? At best Doppo is the one who ends up arguing in Jakurai’s defense afterward so i can see why, and not showing Hifumi makes sense since he reacts directly when the girls arrive in total different manner, but Dice??? the one who had no interest in the fight or its reasons, and who doesn’t bring it up afterward? Why did you focus on my boy??? I MEAN ME TOO I WANT TO ALWAYS FOCUS ON DICE BUt WHY. Meanwhile Gentaro gets no focus until he collectly talk about how the girls are coming in. Not really surprising per se and that keeps him detached/focusing on the gov incidentally, but i can’t understand the focus on Dice.

-Admire Him.

-They changed the setting for the FP conversation in the end and i looooove it but i also love how they put small details here and there like how Gentaro specifically shows still that he doesn’t trust Ramuda when Ramuda leaves to take the phonecall

-RAMUDA’S PHONECASE IS ADORABLE I WANT THE SAME

-The way they framed his conversation with Ichijiku in the end OOF. This is so ominous and it captures the feel of the drama track so well. But to see Ramuda’s face change this hardly in between each of what Ichijiku tells him is frightening. Like... it really feels like Ichijiku is probably saying very upsetting things one after the other to make his mask fall like that, esp since he catch it back last minute. And the reveal woaaahh. I’m kinda surprised about it in a way bc in the manga they revealed Ramuda connection with Ichijiku well in the first TDD chap yeah but also like, minimum 2 chapters ago in term of FPvM? Like there was a new, not-drama track adapted scene of Ramuda talking to Ichijiku about how it was “okay if FP lost the tournament as long as they went up to the semi finales” (which they did), so like by that point while in the tracks we didn’t know their connections, in the manga we definitly know. I love that they kept the gravity of the reveal from the drama track and it still works with how bad of an impact Ichijiku has on Ramuda for him to shift completely at every single of her sentences, and i guess it still works bc it tells you that in her intervention she was still keeping a hold on Ramuda somehow. It is just.. an interesting way it drifted from the original material.

-As usual the art from this chapter was absolutly outstanding. Maaaan for a chapter that just adapts Know Your Enemy FPvM i didn’t think it’d have much to discuss about, even the translating team just went “we can’t go in depth it’s just the drama track” but i find that the work in the details of the artworks to make the drama track come to life is absolutly fantastic.

Next chapter is out in 2 days and should adapt just a friend...... ✌ now THAT will be fun.

I hope i’ll manage to get my hand on the chapter quick though, i got chap 9 after a month so......... weep..... please gimme protective Dice early....

#ichablogging hpm manga

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emthinks · 7 years

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Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Before: Book #4 of the Throne of Glass six-book series. Now, I had already been forewarned (is it forewarned?) that this book was intense. Intensely fantastic. And I have heard the praise being sung from the towers and heavens above, so I thought I knew what I was prepared for. Boy, was I wrong.

After: I don’t. I can’t. I mustn’t. I. I. Well. Eventually, I will be coherent enough to write a semi-intelligent review. In the meantime, I will go scream some more into my pillow.

Okay. I’m good. I’m...I’m really good, actually. A lot better than I thought I would be, all things considered. <Deep breath> Shall we begin, then?

Rating: 9.9/10

An overview (of the plot):

Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck. We start off with a Dorian chapter. My heart’s already breaking.

Aelin (Aelin, Aelin, Aelin, yes we finally decided on a name) and Chaol meet up pretty early on. It’s not a pretty meeting. I thought they would at least be civil, cordial, if not friendly. No, they basically tore each other to shreds. Fucking Chaol is like “I know how to free magic but I won’t tell you nah nah nah nah nah” like some taunting schoolgirl and he calls Aelin a monster because he doesn’t know how to confront magic, because it’s an unknown variable that he can’t control. I agree with Aelin, Chaol: when you can pull your head out of your ass, then come talk to us.

We also meet Arobynn early on. And holy shit did I want to kill him. He was described as good-looking for a middle aged man, but he sounded like a complete ass to me. I mean, I haven’t read The Assassin’s Blade yet, so I don’t know the whole backstory and I wasn’t prepared for his assholery. But we make the deal with him anyways. Because we need his help.

Because, finally, finally, the moment we were all waiting for happens: the Aedion prison break. And it was as amazing as we all hoped it would be. It was absolutely, mind-shatteringly wonderful. Every single moment. I especially loved the bit when the roses all shattered and smoke erupted. See, the thing about this series is that, most of the time, we don’t know their plans. When we know a plan, we know it’s going to go wrong. But when we don’t know the plans…well, we don’t know when something is going wrong and when something is going right. So it was thrilling and it was horrible reading the whole Aedion prison break because I just wondered wtf was supposed to be happening. My favorite line during that scene, that I think summed up the whole situation pretty nicely was this: “Behind them, across the hall, the dancers shattered their roses on the floor, and Aedion grinned at his queen as the entire world went to hell.”

We also get a nice (depending on perspective, I guess) confrontation with Dorian. Aelin tries to kill him. (And it takes me until like five thousand chapters later do I realize that Aelin didn’t kill Dorian. Could she have? Does that mean he’s her mate?!) Nesryn stops her. They run.

Thankfully, we do the Aedion prison break pretty early on in the book, and so we get the (long awaited) Aedion/Aelin reunion and Aedion can help us with everything now. Yay!

Also early in the first third of the book, we meet up with Rowan?! Like, wtf. I thought we’d left him. Oh, no. He’s here. And wow, the tension between him and Aedion is through the fucking roof. Alpha males indeed.

Speaking of which, Aelin, you fucking idiot, I can’t believe you didn’t tell Aedion of the blood oath immediately after he mentioned it. I can’t believe. I mean, I don’t fault you for bonding with Rowan (not really), but come on that move was totally going to come back to bite you in the ass someday. And that someday came pretty soon, because Rowan then showed up and didn’t even blink as he revealed it.

Eventually though, they come to terms with it and it’s not as tense. Everyone is chill, Aedion and Rowan aren’t at each other’s throats constantly and Aelin and Aedion have reconnected. And then Rowan reveals why he’s here: Lorcan. Screw Lorcan. Lorcan, the king, the Valg, the key, Dorian, the clock tower. I agree with Aelin: can I just eat my sorrows away?

I’m not going to discuss that Arobynn dinner. Fuck Aelin and her inability to share us her plans so we don’t know if it’s going right or wrong. I’m so glad it was only a page later that she removed that damn ring.

God, I was so fucking worried for Lysandra and all repercussions of her killing Arobynn. God, I was so worried he’d woken up. Like, we end that chapter with Lysandra slitting his throat, but we don’t get full confirmation that he’s well and truly dead until later on, so I worried so hard that she had been caught.

When Aelin revealed her whole scheme: how she had switched out Arobynn’s will to fund Terrasen’s army. Rowan and Aedion had said that this side of her had scared them, but I only thought it was just Aelin being badass once again. So fucking badass. Like yes, of course, she was going to manipulate things to go her own way. She wore the mask that was Celaena Sardothien so damn well, I was impressed.

Jfc, almost forgot about Lorcan. I should’ve known. I should’ve known that Maeve wasn’t that sentimental and that ring had powers. I knew that they gave him the fake though, because as soon as they got the Amulet of Orynth and Aelin hid it and put a fake one out, I knew it would be used. A fake is always used.

Okay, I was so excited for them to finally act on that plan to destroy the stupid clock tower that ugh. I mean, I love Lysandra so I’m glad we went to save her, but jfc we were so close to blowing up that fucking clock tower and we had to wait more. Jfc. Thankfully, we get Lysandra out easy peasy lemon squeezy. The king is still in the carriage talking to the Blackbeak Matron and it’s time to leave…where’s Chaol?

The whole time, I was chanting, “he cannot be this stupid he cannot be this stupid he cannot be this stupid.” Oh he was definitely that stupid. And more. Chaol, the fucking idiot, runs after the king only to run into the wrong clearing and end up with the fucking witches, of all people. Jfc. I understand you’re kinda pissed at yourself and good on you for finally realizing you’d fled and left Dorian to defend himself that day but now is not the time! Why is your time always this shit? Yes, I understand it sucks to see Dorian like this, but now is not the time!

At least, we finally get to see the Manon and Aelin encounter. Now, we don’t get to see from Manon’s PoV, but I’m pretty sure Manon, feeling generous, starting to have feels, was actually going to let them go. And then stupid Aelin had to make that comment about Baba Yellowlegs. And that fight was epic. In the end, Aelin rescuhat tes her, so now Manon owes her a life debt. Damn, that’s gonna be a nice alliance some day.

Okay, so the plan is to have Aedion and Rowan walk in with the hellfire and send the whole clock tower into ruins. But now we know the plan. So what happens? The plan goes awry. Lorcan, we learn, didn’t actually kill the other seven Wyrdhounds, but instead had led them – led them all to Rowan’s scent. We’re fucked.

Meanwhile, I find it completely ridiculous and the dumbest move ever to walk in with the Captain of the Guard as Celaena Sardothien. There’s no way – no way – the king doesn’t know who you are at this point.

Also, can we discuss how dumb our protagonists are for a second: like, there’s a reason why none of your messages to your guards in the palace have gone through, Chaol. They’re all dead. It was obvious.

So they were walking into a trap. Good job.

Anyways, the fight goes down in two places. Lorcan shows up to help Aedion and Rowan and fucking Lysandra then charges in like a bamf and devours them all as a ghost leopard. Hell yeah, Lysandra. Go Lysandra go!

Meanwhile, above, Chaol decides to sacrifice himself to give Aelin a chance to free Dorian. Chaol fights the king. Aelin is chased by Valg prince/Dorian. She puts the ring on Dorian. Fuck yeah, we saved Dorian! And then their powers melded together and they blast the glass palace down to ruin and it was beautiful.

“She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph.”

Favorite moments

That random fluffy bit when Aelin gives Rowan a tour of the city. It was such a nice break between all the death and destruction and horrors

Speaking of which, when they talk about music and art and how it’s necessary for a culture to survive and I remembered Fione or whoever the dance instructor was and I just hope she can come back to Terrasen and bring art and music back at the end-end

When we find out that the stupid almond oil scent Arobynn forced Aelin to rub all over herself is not just coming from her, but from Rowan too. God, this guy. “Thank you for the oil. My skin was a little dry.” Like. Bruh. Mad respect.

That random brotherly moment when Rowan was like, “Thank you, Aedion” and Aedion was like, “anytime, brother”. They’re brothers from anotha motha

The whole fight with the king. It was just…it wasn’t a move-by-move replay, but a more artistic description of the magic swelling up and erupting and it just made it so much easier to visualize

That bit at the end where Aedion comes running in and is like “let’s go let’s go let’s go back homeeeeeee!” wanting to go back to Terrasen and Lysandra chases him out only for him to come back with a bucket of water. That was fun. And such a nice bit of fluff

When Dorian appoints Chaol Hand of the King because he’s like “if I have to be stuck being king, then you get to be stuck right next to me”

Most Heartbreaking/Heart-stopping Moments

I’m so conflicted. On the one hand, I’m glad we get Dorian PoVs at all, that we get to know he’s still there, somewhere, breathing, existing, even if the Valg has basically taken over all of him by now. On the other hand, the fact that we get to see internal suffering from Dorian like that. Dorian, who has never truly suffered, not like Aelin has. That hurts. Every damn time. I’m just glad they were so short

The ring and Arobynn. Fucking bastard. I’m glad he’s dead

That whole Arobynn dinner, but especially when Arobynn put that stupid ring on Aelin’s finger. I slammed the book shut and almost chucked it across the floor. Literally, that line: “he slid the Wyrdstone ring onto her finger”. And I was fucking gone.

Asterin’s backstory. That hurt. A lot

Aedion stepping up in front of Rowan to shield him from the Valg, to declare that they were truly brothers of the court

“This witch had been crafted from the darkness between the stars.”

The Characters (some old, some new):

Lysandra is probably my favorite new character we meet. Like, she and Aelin hated each other in the past, but now they’re bffs and all the guys are just so happy she has a female friend (Chaol especially, after Nehemia) and we learn Lysandra is far, far from being a wimpy little sidekick either. Like, she’s already risking so much to sneak information to Aelin under Arobynn’s very nose and then. And then Rowan just casually strolls up and is like “sup, shapeshifter”. Like we should already know that. Fucking Rowan and his fucking nose/enhanced smelling. But omg that explains so much and how she was able to keep on popping up in the apartment like that without them noticing. Shape-shifting just adds to Lysandra’s continuously growing list of why she’s such a bamf. And when she was the one to slit Arobynn’s throat? Prime.

Hey, we have our Katniss of the series: Nesryn Faliq. Yes, Nesryn uses a bow and that really helps cement the image, but even so, her cold demeanor really lends itself to Katniss’s personality.

Chaol. Why’s it always Chaol? Fucking Chaol wouldn’t tell Aelin how to bring magic back. Eventually, he starts to understand, but still. Why does it always take Chaol forever? Chaol’s paralyzed now. For a while, at least. I wonder how that’s going to affect his trip down to the Southern Continent and how that’s going to affect Dorian and whether or not he can actually be healed.

Evangeline. Now this girl is fucking eight (or something). A child. Yet she is so brave, risks herself to inform Aelin about Lysandra’s capture, knowing that Lysandra had risked herself to save her. I hope she has some badass powers too. She sounds like she’ll grow up just fine under Lysandra.

We also finally get some background on the other witches, besides Manon. We learn about Asterin’s backstory and how she fell in love with a human and she was pregnant, only to give birth to a stillborn. My heart ached for Asterin. Like, she was the only one who could really feel, and all she wanted to do was get Manon to see the light too.

Lorcan. I have no idea wtf to make of Lorcan. He hunts down Aelin and the others because he wants to find the Wyrdkeys too, but to destroy them, not to use them. He’s here apparently on some deranged mission in hopes to save Maeve from going crazy with power overload. And he tries to bargain with them. And then sends Aedion and Rowan to the sewers and their death…only to save them. Simply because Aedion is Gavriel’s son. I don’t get it. He doesn’t seem to care all that much about his blood brothers, yet this happens? Lorcan is a loose cannonball and I just wish, like Aelin wishes, that he can go to Morath and wreak enough havoc to maybe halt whatever progress is going on down there.

Speaking of that, can we discuss Aedion for a second here? Aedion is demi-Fae? I mean, I thought he only had the small drops of Fae blood passed through the Ashryver line, but nooooo, apparently he’s technically more than half because his father is fucking Gavriel and his mother had Fae blood already too. Well. An interesting development. But seriously? Wait, will we get a Gavriel/Aedion moment at some point too then? What will this do to our story? Also, Aedion is great, and I picture him as this golden-haired Herculean dude with big bulging muscles. But also, Aedion cannot bite his tongue. Like, that dinner with Arobynn where he didn’t know when to just let go was just. No. You are in enemy territory and you probably shouldn’t debate with Rowan right now.

Manon. You give a heartless witch a puppy and you crack her walls. You give that same witch a little sister, and it’s like a battering ram breaks through all her fucking defenses.

Okay. I admit: it’s taken me forever to realize that Elide is Marion’s daughter. And I’m pretty sure Marion mentioned in HoF “tell my Elide I love her” or something and we knew their last names. Wow, I’m slow. Anyways, I want to see Elide and all her witchly power and what she can do. I want to see her discover her inner Blackbeak because I know it’s in there and I know she will be fucking badass and she will fight right alongside her queen as one of her court. I know it.

Arobynn Hamel, nicely speaking, is an ass. A complete, and utter ass. From the moment we meet him, I’m on guard. He thinks he still possesses Aelin, that he can still control her, that she still falls for his words. And he wants her to rub his scent all over herself? God, I found that so fucking disgusting.

Kaltain really redeemed herself in this book. We learn that Kaltain has always had this fire magic inside her, and it’s manifested now as shadowfire and we learn that Kaltain, through whatever shadowfire powers she has, has managed to kill the demon that had enslaved her and is just biding her time. Like, she is willing to let people do whatever they want to her mortal shell for that once chance to ravage them. And damn, did she bide her time well. She takes down half of Morath with her as she goes down in flame and stone and bone.

The King of Adarlan is dead. Which. I had not thought they would kill the king because, well, we all thought (I thought, at least) that the king was our main antagonist. Apparently…not? Apparently, it’s fucking Perrington and the Valg king Erawan behind all this and they’re the real antagonists. And the king was…just a puppet? Do we even believe him? Should we even believe him? But it makes sense, his story, I suppose. That he tried to save Dorian, protect him, shield him by building those towers to cancel out all magic so the Valg won’t smell it out of him. But still. God, I don’t even know how to feel about him anymore. I mean, he’s a fucking idiot for having like opened the tomb in the first place, but in the end, he was just another pawn in the game.

“But perhaps the monsters needed to look out for each other every now and then.”

The Ships (and how they’ve been flipped upside down and inside out)

Chaolena (Chaol/Celaena): I think, finally, this ship has sunk. And while I admit that Celorian has holes (large, motherfucking ones), Chaolena is the Titanic by now. “What Chaol had done, whome he had chosen, had forever cleaved what was between them. It was the one thing she could not forget, could not forgive.” Also, even more damning: “her heart was healed – still fractured in spots, but healed – and he…he was not in it.”

Celorian (Dorian/Celaena): I have hope, still. Not much, but some. We’ve added more players, and more possibilities. But still. This ship hasn’t sunk. Not yet. We’re teetering on the edge though. I mean, Aelin and Dorian held hands and meld their magic to fight the king. Unfortunately, we have other contenders for both their hearts (see below).

Rowaelin (Rowan/Aelin): I have no idea where this ship is going. It sounds like they’re pretty invested already. However, they’re carradem or whatever the fuck parabatai is in Fae. So if – if – they do break it off…will that affect them? Also, the thing is – the thing is, Rowan had a mate. She’s dead. Lyra. Lyria? Something like that. Aelin hasn’t found her mate yet. Or maybe it’s Rowan. We’ve never really delved very deep into that mate issue. Can they have multiple mates? I suppose I’ll just have to read EoS to figure that one out.

Dorian/Manon: Manon was the name Dorian held onto, during that short minute when he had control of himself again. And then there was that weird bit where Manon landed Abraxos and waved and Dorian waved back. Is this going to be a thing?!

Chaol/Nysren: I do think these guys will go to the end. Because, like I mentioned above, I think the Chaolena ship is Titanic at this point.

Rowan/Aedion: Oh no. Not as romantic, but as the most stubborn, bullheaded brotp ever. They are ridiculous. I think Aelin hit the hammer on the nail when she said they were all alpha males. Because they were. I mean, just listen to this quote: “Fae warriors: invaluable in a fight – and raging pains in her ass at all other times.”

“She was fury, she was wrath, she was vengeance.”

Questions:

How the fuck did Kaltain end up with a Wyrdkey buried inside her?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m super glad she gave it to Elide and I hope she makes it to Terrasen safely and gets it to Aelin, but jfc. Like, was Kaltain just a vessel? A temporary holder for the key? Or did she somehow manage to steal it from the right under the duke’s nose? Damn, if it’s the latter, then I gotta give that girl some more credit man.

Then again, I’m not a huge fan of the Wyrdkeys anymore. The Amulet of Orynth didn’t sound too friendly in the short time Aelin wore it, as it pulsed against her. Sounded like a Horcrux to me.

How did Arobynn tip off the king about Lysandra? And Aelin (I’m assuming?)

Because Aelin destroyed his original will. Like, burned it? What other trigger did he have?

Wait. I just thought Aelin and Rowan could reach each other’s facial expressions really well. Do they actually have telepathy or something?

Because that bit at Arobynn’s dinner, where Rowan fucking bangs his knee on the table because Aelin is silently like “17-year-old Rowan wouldn’t know what to do with 17-year-old Celaena if he found out she doesn’t wear undergarments most of the time.” Like, there is no way you can communicate that through a few eyebrow raises and subtle muscle twitches.

What’s that tugging sensation or whatever the hell Aelin (and Manon) felt?

Like, there was some sort of connection between each other? It was a very brief mention, but it was there and I want to know what it is, because I’m hoping it’ll be a benefit for our gang, but one can only hope that’s the case with these series

More random one: How do you pronounce these names?

I mean, some of them we get. Chaol = Kale. And if you can’t pronounce Dorian, then. Well. But, like, Aelin. I always read it as Ay-lynn. Because Aedion was Ae-dee-uhn. But some say Eye-leen for Aelin. And Manon? She was always Man-uhn in my head, but apparently it’s actually pronounced Muh-non.

“She would find that love again – one day. And it would be deep and unrelenting and unexpected, the beginning and end and eternity, the kind that would change history, change the world.”

Predictions/hopes for the future:

I honestly don’t have many

Mostly because we have no idea what Terrasen is like

So we can’t predict much

I suppose…Aelin establishing her court? And her kingdom? How does one go about establishing a kingdom after it’s been razed to ruins?

Um…Dorian making friends! Besides Chaol! Because Chaol is gone

Speaking of which: Chaol getting healed. That would be nice

Befriending Manon! They really need to team up together

Because that shit Manon’s grandma and the duke are brewing is going to go down fast so they need to figure out how to stop it together

Speaking of which: that mirror-weapon shit that the Matron created to amplify shadowfire? Terrifying as hell. Like, it can just annihilate the whole world. That’s ridiculous.

We need to destroy that weapon. Can we do that please in EoS?

Elide being all witch-y and awesome

Speaking of which: magic is back again. Yay!

Magic should be hailed as awesome and useful and I want to see how we discover all its uses and all the poor, poor people who had to endure all the shit before get treated so much better

Also, I want an alliance with the Ashryvers in Wendlyn. I worry about Maeve

An alliance with the Southern Continent would be nice, too. After all, Aelin just declared Chaol ambassador for Terrasen and we really need some aid, especially if Eyllwe can’t help us

“They were infinite. They were the beginning and the ending: they were eternity.”

#emthinks #emthinks books #tog #throne of glass #queen of shadows

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