#i have a feeling that a lot of the fandom is weighted towards the manga spoilers rather than the anime which is fair

[olvitier]

Sorry its so late buf i am in an Edling mood tonight and I will never stop thinking about the idea of how theyre the epitome of right person wrong time.

(obviously in a context of like fandom shenannigans where canon events arent 100% set in stone like edling arent canon but also idc !! they are to me! im ignoring it let me be insane) ANYWAY

Even if they wanted to be together post promised day Ling has all the responsibilities of Xing and his clan and Edward would never hold him back from that for a second. Im of the opinion that brotherhood Edward feels a lot of guilt for wanting love from the people around him particularly those he sees as good (winry, alphonse, etc) especially if hes done things hes perceived as hurting them (maes’ death, the transmutation, etc etc). Which is why I think Edward connects with Ling so well cayse he doesnt carry the weight of a lot if his past mistakes, and then when the stone happens its like goddamn it i roped this guy into my shit again. Like i dont know Edward doesnt really dedicate himself so fully to people outside of winry and ed a lot so its interesting like!!

He cares about a lot of people like the majority of the allied cast and we see him be openly affectionate towards Nina and Hughes pre their deaths but I think Ling is the only person hes ever decided to stick with WITHOUT alphonse? I may be wrong but the whole sure Ill stay with you and trust my brother and Winry to stay safe and follow you around the outskirts of the east for a week till the promised day to protect my new friend is so??? what?? huh???

But anyone my point is post promised day Edward cant really ever see a future with Ling because of all the responsibility Ling holds outside of him and its veyr tragic imo like especially because in a different scenario if Ling didnt have those responsibilities and Edward wasn’t so dedicated to the people around him to a fault of never thinking about his own desires I think they could have the possibility of a future.

Like I have read a lot of fanfiction abiut Ed traveling to Xing and living with him there but?? I realistically cant see him ever doing that just solely because Edward is not the type of person to settle down! like its my one and only criticism of the fma manga is that I cannot see Edward ever being satisfied with a simple life? Like even in Fma 03 which is my favourite interpretation of Edwards character once he gets stranded in our world he learns?? Rocket Science?? For the chance to get back to Amestris but he doesnt really seem to take that goal all that seriously especially considered Alfons ends up getting involved in a lot more aircraft projects than Edward like Edwsrd genuinely enjoys learning!!

Im pretty sure he was the one who dragged Alphonse into Hoenhiems office when they were kids after he left, probably to Al’s reluctance of if they were allowed in there, and started ripping through all of his old books just to learn. Edward never stops and it gets so bad that he never stops to even consider himself constantly worrying about getting his brother back or improving the states of others lives especially when! ya know! the whole country is at stake!!

So in a circumstance post promised day where Ed decides what he wants to do (my personal favourite interpretation is either an alchemical researcher outside of directly performing alchemy, ie revolutionizing the circle matrixes and discovering nee combinations or becoming a professor of some kind) I dont think he would give that up to settle again. And obviously Ling cant exactly up and leave being Emperor unless he decides he doesnt want to, im not the most knowledgable on Lings characterization so I wont speak there but!

They have so much fun together and compliment each other and genuinely care about each other so much but their happiness and fulfillment as people to themselves and others make it so its nearly impossible they would ever realistically end up together and its really doomed and tragic!! idk i think about it a lot.

#fma #edward elric #edling #fma thoughts #andrew be normal challenge it is NOT this deep this anime came out over a decade ago gay people arent real pre 2013 idk man im just insane #thought id share anyway please give me your thoughts fellow edling fans #specifically edling fans cause i dont wanna debate ship legitmacy #day speaks

[otakusheep15]

My (possibly controversial) Twisted Wonderland Opinions

I see a lot of these on TikTok and such, so I wanted to make my own. Remember that these are all my own personal opinions, and I do not claim that any of these are canon or factually correct. If you don't agree, that's fine, just remember to be respectful.

Just as a fair warning, most of this is me being pissed off at the fandom for how it treats certain characters/players, so if that might offend you, I'd suggest scrolling past this one.

The fandom as a whole really tends to mischaracterize Kalim and I'm pretty sick of it. He's actually a very intelligent character with a deep, tragic backstory. Kalim is not your "small cinnamon roll" or "precious baby," he is a teenage boy with serious mental issues. The only reason he is so kind and bubbly is because he wants people to like him. If people like him, they have less reason to try and kill him. That is why he tries to be so nice. It is for his own personal safety. It's the same reason as to why he tries to salvage his relationship with Jamil so hard. Yes, he does still care about Jamil, but Kalim is fully aware that Jamil is the most trustworthy person in his life, and without him, Kalim could be put in serious danger. Kalim is a good person, but he is also very selfish, and does things so that people will like him more, and I'm tired of the fandom pretending like he's some innocent cinnamon roll when he's much deeper than that.

The way this fandom treats male/non-binary players is honestly so horrible, especially when Yuuka was first introduced. I have seen countless posts of female players being rude and disrespectful towards non-female players simply because they were hoping for a non-female protagonist in the anime and mangas. It's annoying and disrespectful, and I wish we could all stop fighting and just enjoy the game without the negativity. Not every female player is like this, but I see it enough that it needs to be called out.

I need certain members of this fandom to realize that most of these boys are minors. The majority of the main cast are 16-17, and only a few of the students are 18+. It feels like so many people in this fandom forget how young some of these characters are, and it shows in the way said characters are treated. It feels especially weird when I see people in their 20s and up simping after the first years, who are all 16. I don't really mind people who age them up for things like fanfics, but it's still kind of creepy to see.

Rook has been such a creep in this game since he was introduced, and people still treat it like it's a non-issue. He has such a track record of stalking students, being weird or creepy towards them, and making unnecessary comments. There was even a side story where he body shamed Vil because he put on a little extra weight. This man is not a good man, and more people need to realize that his behaviors are not okay and they are not justified, especially when several other characters have mentioned how freaked out they are because of him.

Many of the characters in this game have severe levels of depression, but the fandom still shits on them despite this. Leona and Idia are two good examples of this. People are constantly hating on Leona because he's rude or lazy, but most of his personality shows clear signs of depression. It's canon that he was neglected for pretty much his whole life, and, after a while, he just gave up on trying since no one cared. This is clearly depression, and yet the fandom treats it like this was all his own choice, which is annoying. Same with Idia: he's very clearly depressed and still struggles with Ortho's death, yet the fandom continues to make fun of him and bully him for it, and it pisses me off. What makes it worse is that the same people idolize other characters like Cater, who also shows signs of depression. They love him and can clearly see his signs just fine, yet they choose to ignore it in other characters.

And that's all I have for now. If I think of any more, I'll either add to this one or make a part two, whichever I feel like in the moment. If you were offended by any of this, I apologize (but you're probably someone who needed to hear this anyways). If you disagree with any of this or want to share your own opinions, feel free to (politely) do so in the comments or tags, and I will gladly read them all. Any rude behavior will be deleted and blocked immediately, so don't try that shit with me.

#twisted wonderland #twst #kalim al asim #yuuka twst #jamil viper #twst first years #rook hunt #cater diamond #idia shroud #leona kingscholar #twst opinions #hot takes

[transhawks]

I thought you once said that you wanna know about Japanese MHA fandom meta discussion, so sorry for bad English beforehand. Regarding latest chapter, among some talk about Toga/Ochako fight and Hawks' battered stubborness condition, some portion of MHA japan fans talked about Pixie Bob and Tiger called each other by their real name instead of hero name. Those discussions (in twitter) pointed out that moment as emphasis of Ryuko and Yawara deep bond and portray how desperate and cornered they are in their situation. The "real name" talk also being pointed out more in Japanese MHA fandom, like when Jeanist called Edgeshot real name before he became Kacchan's heart. Maybe because Japan culture and perhaps Asian too is more reserved from using name instead of title (like to big bro, senior, fellow coworker, etc) than Western, so for us that moment is a big deal especially when it was used by adult heroes. This is a difference between 2 part of the same fandom that I found interesting. Also since for heroes in MHA real name is used at the most cornered and desperate moment, makes Hawks' situation that he abandoned his real name more horrible. Real name who is the sign of vulnerability and non professional bond is embarassing weakness for Hawks. Also when for other the real name was used when the caller feels the most concerned/cared toward the receiver, when Hawks was called by his real name in manga means something bad will happen to him, his wing got burned, his dad hit him, his mom ratted him out and use his name on goodby letter, Sad Man Parade came to Gunga and AFO called him Takami, I wish someday someone will call his real name with the feeling of utmost concern for him as person just like others.

お手を煩わせてすみません。あなたはいいなブログをお持ちで、私は大ファンです

This is really fascinating and thank you for this ask, as it gave me a lot of things to think on! Also please don't stress about your English; it means a lot to me you still sent an ask in! Like most English-readers, I absolutely glossed over the fact Pixie Bob and Tiger called each other their real names! It makes complete sense for this scene to have weight in Japan given the cultural context. Other cultures have similar things where full names are used only or names + patronymics. My mother has a story where she hung up on one of her mother's coworkers/friends because the friend, thinking it was my grandmother who picked up the phone, began the conversation with my grandmother's diminutive name (informal name) and with the informal "you" in our language (incredibly rude back in the 60s) and so my mom was so flustered she said the person got the wrong number and hung up. Directly addressing someone informally is fairly unusual in a lot of cultures, more so in Japanese. They used each other's first names, too, which is really familiar. You can tell the Pussycats have been childhood friends. I'm saving a lot of my thoughts on this for an essay on Toga and what I think she represents, but I was watching a series called "Cooking for the Makanai" and it really startled me how indirectly feelings were expressed even between two people who have a relationship, to the point where the cliche phrase of "The Moon is Beautiful", which was coined as a way to avoid saying "I like you", was still seen as incredibly strong. Graduation Day talks about this more, but I really find it fascinating that Japan places so much importance on directness and vulnerability in conversation. As an outsider, to me it seems like there's an effort made through the language to minimize risk and hurt feelings by "softening" and "not directing" the language.

Anyway, back to Hawks. Yes, and names are absolutely important to identity which is I think why Keigo's got so much trouble with this. His name is not his and also he doesn't associate it with good things in the first place. With regards to "Takami Keigo" Hawks is both fleeing the connections and memories that name comes with and also fleeing the vulnerability he'll have to accept by having a name and identity outside of Hawks. "Wing Hero Hawks" is a safety blanket at this point, a way to not take accountability for his own life and also question what in life he can and should change. I do wonder if we'll have him end the manga with accepting being called Keigo. Truthfully, I don't know. Part of me thinks he'll go look for his family after the war, but I don't know. If it happens, he'll definitely start using Keigo again. But to have someone call him Keigo and treat him like a person requires Keigo to believe he's worthy of that. At the moment he's not able to think like that.

Thank you for the ask again. I love hearing about what the Japanese fandom is discussing!

#asks #hawks

[rays-of-fire-and-ice]

BLEACH: The Thousand Year Blood War Ep 9 Reactions and Thoughts

Overall reaction:

I'm skipping episode 8, because when I sat down to write my thoughts about it, I realised I didn't have all that much to say about it. It's a good episode, but a low paced one that doesn't pack as many chapters into it compared to previous episodes. The main highlights from that one are all of Shinji's scenes, Grimmjow's return (and the fandom absolutely losing their minds over it, just some of the reaction had me rolling! XD)and the Zero Division making their first appearance.

For this week, OH MY!! It's another slow paced episode, but a lot happened. We've got BROTP goodness with Renji and Ichigo, Kyoraku stepping up, and of course the main event and one of the fights I have been most looking forward to seeing animate, Kenpachi vs Unohana!!

Highlights:

Renji and Ichigo journeying through the Royal palace - aka, the BROTP we didn't know we had all this time: we've got Renji insisting he can keep going, despite the fact he just barely managed to withstand a punch from Kirinji, then it's on to the food palace to eat up and recoup. It's here we get food critic Renji, a lot of goofy eating, and Ichigo worrying that what their doing is a waste and that they should be doing something else to train themselves for the upcoming battle; Renji points out that them recouping is part of the journey to becoming stronger, and it's here that we get a glimpse of the series' final chapters without realising it. And of course we got some of Renji and Ichigo's dorkiest face animated in all their colourful, moving glory!

It's moments like when you come back and read them that really hit you after reading the series' last chapters. I don't think I was the only one who didn't look too deeply into why Renji was accompanying Ichigo during his recovery in the Soul Palace. I thought at the time 'that's just Renji, he's stubborn and always rearing to go'. It's when you read that final chapter with him basically dragging Ichigo to the final fight that moments like this show he was always there to support Ichigo, to ensure he made it. This guy withstood a blow that breaks most Souls in half. he barely withstood it, still trembling afterwards, but his will to help Ichigo as he had once helped him reunite with Rukia was strong enough to help him withstand it. Then he's there to reassure Ichigo when he worries if what they're doing is a waste of time. He's a true friend, and seeing it all come together in that final chapter just puts moments like this in a new perspective for me.

Kyoraku becomes the next Captain-Commander: I didn't expect this scene to affect me as much as they did. While reading the manga, I didn't feel anything much towards them, just that 'Oh, I guess he's the new head captain now'. This time though, I felt a little sad. Maybe because of how the adaption has emphasised how devastating and bleak the situation is, I realised what Kyouraku was taking on. He has a lot of weight to take on his shoulders as just becoming the First Division captain, but to have that AND a war going on at the same time...damn.

Kenpachi vs Unohana: IT'S FINALLY HERE, AND IT COULDN'T BE BETTER! The moment this scene began I was on the edge of my seat. When Unohana turned with that infamous look on her face, I got chills. And the voice acting in the this moment from both Kenpachi and Unohana's respective voice actors, just incredible. And there was this moment:

I can't explain why this moment affected me. Maybe it's the inevitable doom of Unohana? The utter joy they're both experiencing? The sheer anticipation I had for the beginning of this fight? The in-FREAKING-credible music (more on that later) I don't know what it is, but I just LOVE this little moment in the scene. Part of me honestly expected the episode to end with the two them just clashing swords, and the rest of the fight would play out in the next episode. So, imagine my shock when it continued. I fell out of my chair I was that excited. GOD FREAKING DAMN, I LOVED IT! I love that they went for muted colours in this is scene (using black, white, and grays), because it not only helps the blood stand out, but also both characters' emotions. Unohana, despite looking like a stone-cold, calculated killer, is experiencing the greatest joy she's had in years, and Kenpachi, despite being a brute and being an overzealous fighter, expresses his admiration for Unohana and even sheds a tear while bleeding out. The lighting also worked SO WELL in this fight too, creating bright highlights and dark shadows and giving their swords glints that just show they are the main focus here, and also the main way these two are communicating with each other. Finally , is it just me or is the lighting different on both characters? I feel light it's harsh on Kenpachi, but it gleams on Unohana. And the music, THE FREAKING MUSIC! I know it goes without saying that BLEACH's music is always 10/10, but I can't even with the music used in this scene! It was so well synched up to the moment and just added to the epicness of the scene.

For next week, ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN! We're heading straight to the continuation of Kenpachi vs Unohana, including Unohana's bankai!! Please, please, PLEASE tell me we will be getting filler for this fight, I need to know and understand what Unohana's bankai does and just see these two fight more! I can't wait to see the conclusion on a few days!!

#bleach #yachiru unohana #kenpachi zaraki #ichigo kurosaki #renji abarai #shunsui kyoraku #brotp: I'll carry you #bleach episode reactions

[nerdysleepybunny]

hihi! could i get a norman x fem reader where the reader was also at lambda and got experimented on. she has powers like eleven from stranger things so she joins his little minerva squad because her powers are very useful for many of the things they do. manga universe preferred if you can! ty!

Cloud message from Bunny: I deeply apologize, but I’m afraid I haven’t read the manga yet! Though I’ll try my best to do what I can with what the anime shows us. Thank you for the request, I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: The Promised Neverland

Character(s): Norman

Reader: Female

TW: Mentions of murder

Style: Hcs

Summary: Norman meets a new friend from the Lambda Project, with some interesting abilities.

🩷☁️N E R D Y S L E E P Y B U N N Y☁️🩷

He first saw you through a window whilst walking down the halls. You were alone, with a row of small objects in front of you. You were glaring at the objects, and he stopped in his tracks. The demon and the worker watched as he walked up to the window, watching you with interest.

Your face finally relaxed after a few moments with nothing happening, and you squeezed your eyes shut, seeming to be thinking of something. Suddenly your eyes were wide open, face filled with rage. You stomped your foot and let out an angry shriek, and all the objects went flying in all directions. Norman was amazed.

“Who is she?” Norman asked, never letting his gaze leave you. “That’s subject (Y/N). She’s the newest member here.” “I’d like to meet with her.” The human hesitated, yet agreed. He made arrangements so the two could have free time together when Norman wasn’t doing tests.

Norman was sitting in his room, playing chess by himself, until the door to his room was burst open, and a guard was dragging you in by the arms. You were flailing and kicking, clearly trying to escape from the guard’s tight grip. He watched as you were shoved to the floor, and the door was slammed and locked shut.

You groaned and stood up, noticing the albino boy now in front of you. “Hello, my name is Norman.” You seemed to hesitate, feeling uneasy, shifting your weight from one side to the other and fiddling with your hands. “…….(Y/N).”

He smiled and extended his hand out to you, and you hesitantly shook it. “I heard you were new. How are you enjoying yourself here?” “…it’s fine I guess. They test my abilities a lot, then send me to my room for a bit before bringing me out for more tests. That’s all they’ve done the last few days.” “What are your abilities, if I may ask?” “Telekinesis. I can move things with my mind, and do some other stuff too.” “That’s cool!”

He walked back to his chess table and sat in his usual chair, offering you the seat across from his. Once you sat down, he reset the board, and made his first move. You glared at one of the pieces, and he watched as it slowly moved a space. After a few moves, he took note of the fact that the more you used your abilities the easier it got for you, each piece moving with less and less struggle. He eventually won, and you congratulated him. He shocked you when he praised you for getting so good at your abilities, yet you soon smiled and laughed, making a laugh erupt from the boy as well.

The guards were amazed at not only your friendship, but the progress you made with him. They decided to test you with Norman instead from now on, and were pleased as your skills improved much quicker. Norman was also pleased with the honor of being able to watch you grow and achieve more and more with each passing day.

He eventually let you in on his escape plan, knowing you could be of good assistance. You agreed to help, and just as he expected, you made the escape much easier than it would’ve been without you. You slammed demons through walls, sending them flying into different rooms. You killed guards with ease. You made any objects that would be of good use float right towards you, eventually earning you and Norman the keycard to a certain room, where you saved the “defects”, as they were called.

With the building in ruins and having everything you needed, all of you ran off together, ready to start planning for a new life without demons (that is, until Emma comes into play).

#bun writes #the promised neverland #tpn norman #lambda #tpn x reader #bun asks

[alienheartattack]

I'll always have a crapton of problems with the ending (esp as a rm shipper who also kept loving eren), but snk finally ending-ending got me in my feels regardless. So i just wanted to express some appreciation, not only for your beautiful fix-it fic (levi and his mom!! mikasa protecting armin!! queen ymir the wise!! ), but for all your rm works. for loving this ship and for sharing your talent with us. for still being here, despite it all. for your shitposts and regular posts. you're a real one, alien, a wonderful, generous writer and just overall so hugely inspiring. we've always been so lucky to have you. thank you so much!

Thank you, anon! This is probably the nicest message I've ever gotten. I really am in my feels about SNK ending for real, even though my feelings on the series are very mixed, being a part of this fandom has genuinely changed my life. I've made so many friends around the world, I've rediscovered my love for writing, I've created so many things and had so much fun being an unhinged fangirl with all of you. It's also wild to look back on the last 9 years, where I started at 27 and where I am now at 36, and how much I have developed as a person and as an artist thanks to the work I did for this fandom and the people I made that work for.

Even though the story of SNK was pretty disappointing in the end (and MAPPA is on my eternal shitlist for excluding basically every RM crumb), it was the journey and the people we spent it with that made it great. I could not have done what I did without your support and the support of everyone else in the ship, all the kudos, comments, likes, reblogs, and messages. I couldn't have chosen a better group of people to go insane over the Ackermans with.

I will say, having watched the last episode and having had a few hours to think about it, I do think it was a vast improvement over the manga and I see more of what Yams was trying to get at. I still disagree with a lot of the choices made and I think he told the story ineffectively because we needed to see the female characters interacting rather than Eren and Armin talking about it, and we needed to see more development of the character's emotions towards each other, especially with regard to the romantic aspects of the story. A lot of us got into SNK because there were non-sexualized female characters that were given weight and interesting storylines, and ultimately this was the downfall of the series because the narrative didn't give almost all of these women the attention they deserved, Mikasa in particular.

I hope people stick around even though the series is over, or maybe we'll find a new ship together. I highly recommend joining the Rivamika Discord if you haven't already for chaotic, delulu fun and a great group of people. RM has always been a space where we encouraged each other and held together because it's such a small ship, and I'm so happy that we managed to cultivate a ship with so many nice, kind people, with only a small handful of bad apples who largely stay out of the way of the people who are just here to have fun. I'm glad that I could contribute to that, and I hope that I was able to provide some excitement or relief or comfort to people who needed it, or who just wanted to read some Ackersmut. I hope all of you had as much fun as I did.

#rivamika #gush post #I LOVE YOU ALL

[aihoshiino]

your analysis are really interesting and are a joy to read! i wanted to ask about your thoughts on the tokyo blade arc of the manga because its really interesting and gives a lot of characters more depth

thank u so much anon! 🥺 I feel like I've said this in like every ask but it really does surprise and delight me how many people vibe with my longform takes on the series when the extent of my fandom engagement for the last few years has been talking about fate grand order in a group chat comprised of like 5 other gay people LMAO

That said, Tokyo Blade is... an arc I have mixed feelings on! It was, in fact, the arc I originally dropped the manga on back when I was first following it in 2020/2021 feeling it was poorly paced and that I wasn't able to get invested in the cast to the degree it wanted me to me. But upon revisiting the series and this arc in particular with fresh eyes, I think I was being pretty unfair to it - though I do stand by my feeling of the pacing being not the best at least when reading it week to week. It's one of those arcs that definitely works better when you can take it all in at once as opposed to having it doled out over what felt like an agonizingly slow 30+ weeks.

As for my current feelings... in isolation I think it's extremely strong and has some incredible moments that I am PUMPED for seeing animated in season 2 but the further we get away from it and see its long term effects on the cast (or I should say, the lack thereof) the more I feel like it ultimately adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

Not that it's a bad arc, mind! Like I said, it has some insanely strong individual moments and I think the character arcs it ends up serving are super interesting. Its commentary is compelling and I literally can't gush enough about the massive glowup Melt gets in this arc. Every time I have new friends get into the series and understandably react with derision towards him in Sweet Today I just sit there crying tears of blood like that's my fucking baby son you don't understand

I also just really appreciate that the arc is willing to slow down and just let us breathe in some of the emotional baggage the characters are all dealing with without needing to shackle it to Aqua's revenge quest. Even the side characters like the mangakas and the production staff feel like they have real, human lives beyond the ways they factor into the plot and again, it feels like there are real weight and stakes to ensuring the play's success beyond just whether or not it will help Aqua do a thing. So many people's careers (and by extension, their lives) are hanging in the balance and you feel the weight of that responsibility absolutely crushing everyone involved. It's great!

This is potentially a sillier point to add but can I also say that I really like how authentic Tokyo Blade feels as an in-universe piece of fiction LOL. Everything from the premise to the designs rings so fucking true to the exact sort of manga it's a pastiche of that I'm half expecting to hear about the Studio Bones Tokyo Blade anime adaptation announcement any day now because it feels so real to me.

On the less positive side, though... like I said, this arc is s l o w. I believe it's still Oshi no Ko's longest arc at three volumes's worth of chapters and change and it's such a change to the story's until-then relatively breezy pace that it can be really jarring when you go in not expecting it. Again, having the arc available in full to read as quick or slow as you like does a lot to alleviate this problem but if you aren't connecting with it, you're stuck with it for an incredibly long time. This also means that B-Komachi in general and Ruby in specific get completely side-lined for almost thirty entire chapters - Ruby basically vanishes during this entire arc and if you were invested in and excited about her as a character, it sucks to see her get so immediately and completely sidelined after what felt like a big triumphant step forward for her, which is a pattern that will unfortunately continue through the rest of the series.

And speaking of unfortunate patterns... Tokyo Blade is the arc where Akane starts taking steps towards becoming the version of herself I like the least lmao. I've said to friends elsewhere that short hair/LoveNow!Akane and long hair/post Tokyo Blade!Akane basically feel like completely different characters to me and while I really love and am invested in LoveNow!Akane, PTB!Akane is easily my least favourite member of the main cast for reasons that are not entirely her fault.

She doesn't quite achieve her final form in Tokyo Blade arc but the seeds of my worst future annoyances with her (lack of meaningful connection to the extended cast, largely just orbiting Aqua, the overly convenient nature of her deductions, etc) start to take root here. There are some teases of interesting ideas and I particularly enjoy the build up, development and reveal of the true nature of her rivalry with and animosity for Kana but I don't feel like these bear any long term fruit.

That's probably my biggest problem with Tokyo Blade - it feels like an arc that should massively advance the story and the arcs of all the characters associated with it. In some ways it does and we get some tasty crumbs about the central mystery but when you take a step back and really look, the broad strokes status quo of the plot and the character relationships really don't get much of a shakeup and even the things that do feel like they should lead to big changes (Akane figuring out Ai's secret, Aqua finding his half-brother, Kana getting her shine back and Akane's reaction) just kind of... don't? Or at least not in ways that are as impactful as they feel they should be.

Kana and Akane's rivalry is probably the worst example of this. It's built up across the whole arc to the point of their on-stage confrontation basically being the arc's climactic high point. Kana finally stepping into the spotlight again and outshining Akane so beautifully really feels like it should have served as a gigantic change to their dynamic but not only have they barely interacted in any meaningful capacity since it happened, but the times they have it's just been the same old shit of hostility and sniping at each other with the tiny flavour difference of "oh gosh, akane is just such a tsundere tee hee <3". It just doesn't feel like the meaningful, impactful change it should have been based on how hard the end of that arc made me FEEL it.

I've said elsewhere before that a lot of the characters feel sort of like they've been stuck in holding patterns since Tokyo Blade and I'm hoping that in the Movie arc, with the cast being crunched together into a single, extremely emotionally taxing and relevant project, it might shake a bit of life back into the proceedings, especially given that Aka has said that he thinks the manga's ending is probably within sight - though that could be anything from fifty to a hundred more chapters depending on what he's got planned so who knows how things might shake out.

I do ultimately feel more positively about the arc than negative, though! I feel like I rambled a lot more about the things I dislike here than the things I enjoyed but that's because I feel like the arc's strengths speak for themselves while the stuff I don't like as much needed a bit more explaining. At the end of the day, I think Tokyo Blade is a really solid arc that I'm beyond excited to see animated - it has one of my favourite scenes in the whole manga (given that I am an Ai enjoyer you can uh, probably guess which one it is) and I'm really hopeful that we might get a sneaky peek at a certain someone if season 2 ends at the point I suspect it might...

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers #sorry to akane enjoyers that i never have anything nice to say about her i promise i am not a hater lMDKFJSKDND

[miyalove]

bnha boys + realistic confessions!

⤷ part two here! 

⤷ loosely inspired by @luvbub​‘s how haikyuu boys goofed up their confession!

💥 bakugou— accidentally scares the shit out of you. 

by the tiny, tiny chance that bakugou actually does develop a crush on you. you wouldn’t even know it. he’d be so passive aggressive and angry towards you that you’d prolly think you just piss him off just like everyone else in 1-A so when he tells you that he wants to talk to you alone, you’re terrified. he’s grumbling, face morphed into a monster-like expression. he’s practically scolding you. backhand compliments galore. calls you an excessive amount of names after almost every statement. when you try to talk, he tells you to shut up, cue his hands clawing up and those tiny explosions plus him threatening to blast you into kingdom come. at this point you're holding back your cries of fear.

🐰 midoriya— stutters and blushes too damn much. 

he’s beyond nervous to confess but after coaxing from friends, he figured it’s now or never. the move (curtesy of uraraka) was to plan a hang out one day and miraculously be busy. alone and in his dorm room of all places, midoriya is beyond embarrassed about all the All Might merch staring the two of you down as you guys talk. words just don’t seem to connect in his head anymore. his lips quiver whenever he speaks, voice cracks, he’s shaking in fear? joy? you don’t know. when he finally decides to just go for it, it comes out as a jumble of incoherent noises you can’t even consider words. you’re left sitting there like 🙂 he's trying his best, okay? give the guy a break, please

❄️ todoroki— so emotionally detached, it’s not even funny. 

another guy the fandom simps for but, let’s be real, he’d prolly not care. if there’s a slightest chance that he does like you, like bakugou, you won’t even know. literally you thought he was angry at you when he tells you he wants to talk to you alone, your heart fluttered but also a heavy weight come upon you. everything was just so monotone. there was no huge speech or grand gesture of love, it was just plain. doesn’t really knows what he’s saying. there’s a lot of “i THINK i like you?” you honestly didn't even know if he was messing around with you or not because... it just felt so suffocating. was he confessing his love to you or was he describe his daily workout routine? you didn't know but you imagine they hold the same amount of excitement for him.

💪🏽 kirishima— poor baby doubts himself. 

as unmanly as it is, kirishima can be very insecure. he’ll admit that his self esteem issues have gotten way better since middle school but every once in a while his demeanor cracks. he doesn’t ask you to talk alone, instead mina prolly forces you two into a closet until kirishima spits it out. he’s red in the face, stuttering, voice cracking, avoiding eye contact and it’s absolutely adorable. he’s stumbling over his words, and then he reminds himself how pathetic this probably looks to you (you think he’s adorable actually) so he just stops talking and just yells. screams at you about his feelings. it’s weird. it’s awkward but it definitely gets the point across. you confess back and he’s instantly a changed man. ya’ll walk out the cloest holding hands and talking like you’ve been a couple for years. he’s the only one that actually gets the girl. good job, kirishima; 10/10.

⚡️ kaminari— way too confident.

homeboy came in with his guns blazing. denki practiced his lines in the mirror the night before, got a whole new outfit ready, and made sure to buy extra mints so his breath don’t stank. he got all hyped up only for him to completely blank when it came to it. says a planned pick up line, ends up butchering it, and now he’s standing there like 😀 while you're like... wait did he just indirectly call you ugly? once he realizes that he’s fucking up the special moment, he completely short circuits. literally glitches out right in front of you and jirou has to pull you away from the awkward moment (as she leaves, of course she makes fun of the blonde).

🗣 shinso— he doesn’t even confess.

goes to you when he’s frustrated or needs someone to confide in. whenever he wakes up, you're the first thing he thinks about. so he assumed with how close the two of you are, that you two were dating already. this damn boy just figured you felt the same way and went with it. you’re in his dorm room, head resting on his lap as he flips through the latest addition of a manga he really likes. ya’ll are just vibing when you bring it up. “toshi, what are we?” doesn’t even bat an eye when he responds, “what do you mean?” "are we dating, is what i mean.” “we’ve been dating for 5 months already, (y/n).” um excuse me, WHAT? 😀

⤷ request for bnha are open! don’t see your faves? request a part two! 

edit: no longer accepting requests for realistic reactions.

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha x reader #mha x reader #todoroki x reader #todoroki shoto #todoroki shouto #todoroki shoto x reader #katsuki bakugou #bakugou x reader #katsuki bakugo #bakugo x reader #shinso hitoshi #shinso x reader #kaminari denki #kaminari x reader #izuku midoriya #midoriya x reader #kaminari denki x reader #shinso hitoshi x reader #katsuki bakugou x reader #kirishima ejirou #kirishima x reader #kirishima ejiro x reader #mha headcanons #bnha headcanons #mha imagines #bnha imagines

[luckgods]

Why all the white guys in whump?

I got Inspired by a post asking that question, and here we are. Warning: long post ahead.

I think it’s due to a combination of factors, as things frequently are.

The preference for / prevalence of white male characters in fandom is well-known and has been examined pretty thoroughly by people already.

What’s worth noting for discussing this tendency in whump in particular is that the ‘whump fandom’ itself is not a ‘fandom’ in the traditional sense of being made of fans of one single source narrative (or source setting, like a particular comics fandom, or the Star Wars extended universe) with pre-existing characters. Although subsets of traditional fandoms certainly exist within the larger whump fandom, a lot of whump is based on original, ‘fan’-created characters.

So, given the tendency of ‘traditional’ fandoms to create stories disproportionately centered on white male characters due to the source material itself being centered on white male characters (and giving more narrative weight to them, characterizing them better, etc), if we say hypothetically that the whump fandom is split say 50/50 between ‘traditional’ fandom works and original whump works, you’d expect to see a higher number of works focused on white men than the demographics of the ‘traditional’ fandom’s source work would predict, but not as extreme of a divergence between the source material & the fanworks as the one you’d see if whump fandom were 100% based on popular media.

However, that doesn’t quite seem to be the case. Whump stories and art remain focused on overwhelmingly male and frequently white characters, which means that the tendency of the fandom to create stories disproportionately centered on white male characters cannot be ONLY explained by the source material itself being centered on white male characters (and giving more narrative weight to them, characterizing them better, etc).

And, having established the fact that whump writers & artists presumably have MORE control over the design of their characters than writers & artists in ‘traditional’ fandoms, we have to wonder why the proportions remain biased towards men, & white men in particular.

—

The race thing is pretty simple in my opinion. Mostly, it’s just another extension of the fanbase’s tendency to reflect the (predominantly US-American, on tumblr) culture it exists in, which means that, in a white-centric culture, people make artworks featuring white people.

There’s also the issue of artists being hesitant to write works that dwell heavily on violence towards people of color due to the (US-American) history of people of color being violently mistreated. I’ve actually seen a couple of posts arguing that white people SHOULDN’T write whump of nonwhite characters (particularly Black characters) because of the history of actual violence against Black bodies being used as entertainment, which means that fictional violence against Black people, written by white people, for a (presumed) white audience, still feels exploitative and demeaning.

I'm not going to get into all my thoughts on this discussion here but suffice to say that there's probably an impact on the demographics of whump works from authors of color who simply... don't want to see violence against people of color, even non-explicitly-racialized violence, and then another impact from white authors who choose not to write non-white characters either due to the reasons stated above, or simply due to their personal discomfort with how to go about writing non-white characters in a genre that is heavily focused on interpersonal violence.

Interestingly enough, there’s also a decent proportion of Japanese manga & anime being used as source material for whump, and manga-styled original works being created. The particular relationship between US-American and Japanese pop culture could take up a whole essay just by itself so I’ll just say, there’s a long history of US-Japanese cultural exchange which means that this tendency is also not all that surprising.

—

GENDER though. If someone had the time and the energy they could make a fucking CAREER out of examining gender in whump, gender dynamics in whump, and why there seems to be a fandom-wide preference for male whumpees that cannot be fully explained by the emphasis on male characters in the source text.

I have several different theories about factors which impact gender preference in whump, and anyone who has other theories (or disagrees with mine) is free to jump in and add on.

THEORY 1: AUTHOR GENDER AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
 Fandom in general is predominantly female, although these days it might be more accurate to say that fandom is predominantly composed of cis women and trans people of all genders. However, pretty much everyone who isn't a cis man has had to contend with the specter of gendered violence in their real personal life. Thus, if we posit whump (and fandom more generally) as a sort of escapist setup, it's not hard to see why whump authors & artists might willfully eschew writing female whumpees (especially in the case of inflicted whump), because (as in the discussion of people of color in whump above), even violence towards women that is explicitly non-gender-based may still hit too close to home for people whose lives have been saturated with the awareness of gender-based violence.

THEORY 2: SICK OF SEXY SUFFERING.
 Something of an addendum to theory 1, it's worth noting that depictions of female suffering in popular media are extremely gendered (in that they specifically reflect real-life gender-based violence, and that said real-life violence is almost exclusively referenced in relation to female characters) and frequently sexualized as well. There's only so many times you can see female characters having their clothes Strategically Ripped while they're held captive, being sexually menaced (overtly or implicitly) to demonstrate How Evil the villain is, or just getting outright sexually assaulted for the Drama of it all before it gets exhausting, especially when the narratives typically either brush any consequences under the rug, or dwell on them in a way that feels more voyeuristic and gratuitous than realistic and meaningful. All this may result in authors who, given the chance to write their own depictions of suffering, may decide simply to remove the possibility of gendered violence by removing the female gender.

THEORY 3: AUTHOR ATTRACTION. 
I'll admit that this one is more a matter of conjecture, as I haven't seen any good demographic breakdowns of attraction in general fandom or whump fandom. That said, my own experience talking to fellow whump fans does indicate that attraction to the characters (whether whumpers, or whumpees) is part of the draw of whump for some people. This one partially ties into theory 1 as well, in that people who are attracted to multiple genders may not derive the same enjoyment out of seeing a female character in a whumpy situation as they might seeing a male character in that situation, simply because of the experience of gendered violence in their lives.

THEORY 4: ACCEPTABLE TARGETS.
 The female history of fandom means that there's been a lot more discussion of the impacts of depicting pain & suffering (especially female suffering) for personal amusement. Thus, in some ways, you could say that there is a mild taboo on putting female characters through suffering if you can't "justify" it as meaningful to the narrative, not just titillating, which whump fandom rarely tries or requires anyone to do. This fan-cultural 'rule' may impact whump writers' and artists' decisions in choosing the gender of their characters.

THEORY 5: AN ALTERNATIVE TO MAINSTREAM MASCULINITY.
 Whump fandom may like whumping men because by and large, mainstream/pop culture doesn't let men be vulnerable, doesn't let them cry, doesn't let them have long-term health issues due to constantly getting beat up even when they really SHOULD, doesn't let them have mental health issues period. Female characters, as discussed in theory 2, get to ("get to") go through suffering and be affected by it (however poorly written those effects are), but typically, male characters' suffering is treated as a temporary problem, minimized, and sublimated into anger if at all possible. (For an example, see: every scene in a movie where something terrible happens and the male lead character screams instead of crying). So, as nature abhors a vacuum, whump fandom "over-produces" whump of men so as to fill in that gap in content.

THEORY 6: AMPLIFIED BIAS.
 While it's true that whump fandom doesn't have a source text, it's also true that whump fans frequently find their way into the fandom via other 'traditional' fandoms, and continue participating in 'traditional' fandoms as part of their whump fandom activity. Bias begets bias; fandom as a whole has a massive problem with focusing on white male characters, and fans who are used to the bias towards certain types of characters in derivative works absolutely reproduce that bias in their own original whump works.

—

I honestly think that there is greater bias in the whump fandom than anyone would like to admit. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems as though whump fans avoid introspection and discussion of the issue by bringing up the points I talked about in my previous theories, particularly discomfort with depictions of female suffering for amusement.

However, I think that, as artists, we owe it to ourselves and one another to engage in at least a small amount of self-interrogation over our preferences, and see what unconscious or unacknowledged biases we possess. It's a little absurd to argue that depictions of women as whumpees are universally too distressing to even discuss when a male character in the exact same position would be fine and even gratifying to the person making that argument; while obviously, people have a right to their own boundaries, those boundaries should not be used to shut down discussion of any topics, even sensitive ones.

Furthermore, engaging in personal reflection allows artists to make more deliberate (and meaningful) art. For people whose goal is simply to have fun, that may not seem all that appealing, but having greater understanding of one's own preferences can be very helpful towards deciding what works to create, what to focus on when creating, and what works to seek out.

—

GENDER ADDENDUM: NONBINARY CHARACTERS, NONBINARY AUTHORS. 
Of course, this whole discussion so far has been exclusively based on a male-female binary, which is reductive. (I will note, though, that many binary people do effectively sort all nonbinary people they know of into 'female-aligned' and 'male-aligned' categories and then proceed to treat the nonbinary people and characters they have categorized a 'female-aligned' the same way as they treat people & characters who are actually female, and ditto for 'male-aligned'. That tendency is very frustrating for me, as a nonbinary person whose gender has NOTHING to do with any part of the binary, and reveals that even 'progressive' fandom culture has quite a ways to go in its understanding of gender.)

Anyways, nonbinary characters in whump are still VERY rare and typically written by nonbinary authors. (I have no clue whether nonbinary whump fans have, as a demographic group, different gender preferences than binary fans, but I'd be interested in seeing that data.)

As noted above with female characters, it's similarly difficult to have a discussion about representation and treatment of nonbinary characters in whump fandom, and frankly in fandom in general. Frequently, people regard attempts to open discussions on difficult topics as a call for conflict. This defensive stance once again reveals the distaste for requests of meaningful self-examination that is so frequent in fandom spaces, and online more generally.

—

TL;DR: Whump is not immune to the same gender & racial biases that are prevalent in fandom and (US-American) culture. If you enjoy whump: ask yourself why you dislike the things you dislike— the answer may surprise you. If you create whump: ask yourself whose stories you tell, and what stories you refuse to tell— then ask yourself why.

#eposting #whumpinions #whump #whumpblr #whump community #essay #i wrote this so yall all have to read it lol #but seriously the next person who implies that a nonbinary person is just 'woman-lite' or 'man-lite' is going to Die By My Fucking Sword #mine

[elonaackerman]

Why the Ackertalk must happen: An analysis of Mikasa and Levi relationship.

1) Their meeting

So we all know Mikasa hated Levi in the first place, since he beat Eren violently during the trial. If Armin didn’t stop her, she probably would have attacked him. Instead, because of our favorite blondie holding her back, she just gave to her future captain a death glare. And what is so amazing is that he actually noticed it, and you can see how intrigued he was by Mikasa at that moment.

Since he is praised as humanity strongest, it surprises him that a cadet shows no fear looking at him like if she wanted to kill him and was sure to be capable to do it. And if it wasn’t already very obvious that Mikasa catched Levi’s mind, the name of the chapter finishes the job: « still can’t see » in English, and « made me o mirenai » in japanese. I think the English translation is not on point, because if you look at the french translation, it could be translated as: « an unbearable stare ». The meaning is completely different and gives a lot of weight to Mikasa’s look and how Levi felt about it. It places their interaction and meeting at the center of the chapter. It’s not something you do for characters who do not have a particular storyline together, especially when the main character’s fate is also part of the chapter.

2) The Female Titan

Here comes what is usually refereed as the key moment which started the rivamika ship: the rescue of Mikasa by Levi in the forest. First of all, Levi grabbed Mikasa’s waist, and we won’t lie, it was cute.

BUT what comes after this is even more interesting, because I think Levi recognized Mikasa since the start, even if he couldn’t remember where he saw her in the first place. If you look at his eyes, you can see how shocked he is to see Mikasa in such a situation: I think that’s the moment where Levi started to see himself in her, because she behaved exactly like him years ago when a titan took the lives of Isabel and Farlan: recklessly and with rage. Then, Mikasa acts very agressively towards Levi, and doesn’t show him the respect a cadet normally has for a superior.

That’s how Levi definitely recognizes her: the girl who seems to hate him and who is disrespectful towards the hierarchy is also the one who wanted to slap him at the trial despite him being the strongest human soldier. Levi redeems her, and looks at Mikasa very strangely, silently, his gaze lost in the vague: Mikasa seems to ask herself what he is doing and is shocked by his behavior, because he doesn’t stop staring at her but doesn’t say a word. I still ask myself what he was thinking in that moment. It’s a very mysterious scene. I mean, YES Levi always looks at Mikasa silently in a lot of panels (that’s also cool for the fandom, of course), but this time, Isayama focused several big panels on this single silent interaction, as if Levi was analysing Mikasa on such a deep way that it made her uncomfortable. And the way that he then stop the eye contact with a sort of frustration in the eyes is also very questionable. It intrigues me very much.

After that very tense moment, Levi explains his plan to Mikasa, and reminds her that she must obey to his orders. For the first time, Levi and Mikasa cooperate and show how deadly their Ackerman duo is. Also, Mikasa recognizes Levi strenght, saying the titan’s blood doesn’t even touch his skin since he is incredibly fast. She looked at him with a great attention, observed his technique and acknowledged him. When she fights Annie later in Sina, she will copy his famous « spinning » technique.

From that moment, Mikasa’s perception of Levi totally changed.

After slicing Annie, Levi also saved Mikasa again and broke his ankle. What a great episode to be a rivamika shipper.

3) Season 2: BLANK

I will go quickly on season 2: because of his injury, Levi can’t fight. Mikasa felt guilty for that. When Eren is kidnapped, she tells Armin she is not confident to take him back because this time, Levi isn’t with her. It shows how she values him but also how she likes to fight with him, since she feels stronger by his side. And that’s a great thing knowing that Mikasa said she was stronger than everyone else in the first episodes (and she was right). She finally found an equal.

4) Season 3: THE RIVAMIKA HOLY GRAAL

A] An incredible relationship evolution

So here comes my favorite season, not just for the rivamika, of course, but it’s still the one which provided us more and more moments between our two favorite Ackermans. This season shows Mikasa becoming Levi’s right arm, and not just on a fighting level. Especially in the manga, we can see how much Mikasa’s opinion is important for Levi, it doesn’t seem like she is one of his soldiers but his partner. Of course, Levi has always treated Mikasa in a special way, but it’s more obvious in season 3:

(Here is Levi adressing violently to Historia to make her understand something, and then Levi adressing himself to Eren also to make him realize something, but justifying his words to Mikasa: her opinion and her feelings matter for him. Nobody can denie he acts in an unique way towards this girl)

In a panel, Mikasa looks at Levi with a disappointed look because he said something about a plan implying Eren that didn’t please her. It seems like she is waiting for him to say something in answer to her reaction. Almost as if she felt sort of betrayed after them cooperating for so long. Does she think she has some power over him ?

Now, on Levi’s side: he knows that Mikasa will listen to him, because as she said it herself, she wants to follow her captain’s decisions. It’s very obvious in the anime when he stops her from running after Eren TWO TIMES !!

This season also shows Mikasa caring and sort of apologizing for Levi’s leg wound, which proves that she clearly doesn’t hate him anymore.

B] The Ackerman link

Now comes the very important part of the whole Ackerman plot. With Kenny being introduced, we learn that Ackermans are a bloodline that couldn’t be controlled by the Fritz king because of their ability to resist to memory manipulation: that’s why their clan was persecuted.

Levi soon finds out that he is an Ackerman, just like Mikasa, the gloomy girl he knows so well. And it’s a big deal, not just for the story, but for Levi himself. I am sure, as I already said, that he sees himself in Mikasa since the start: it seems like he doesn’t want her to make the same mistakes as he did. Like I showed it, he is very gentle with her, always checks if she is okay, calms her down everytime. Levi always felt a deep connection to her. Since he now knows that he is an Ackerman, he probably feels even more close and identical to her. However, he doesn’t tell Mikasa that they are part of the same bloodline.

However, he talks about their awakening with her, and everybody is surprised to hear their discussion. Mikasa is sharing her trauma, and she doesn’t seem to hesitate to do it: at this point of the story, she feels comfortable with Levi and she trusts him.

While they speak, it’s almost as if they forgot the others: they are looking at each other eye to eye, and their little talk is very mysterious and sort of intimate. At that moment, Levi established a link that cannot be cut. Mikasa and him are the last survivors of their clan, and they are mirrors, even if he is the only one to know it. (Well, Armin sort of noticed it too, immediately associating Mikasa and Levi in S1, and mistaking Levi and Mikasa the first time the group met the captain-chibi, but it was only about their fighting abilities, not abour their other similarities)

Guess what comes now: THE EPIC ACKERBOWL

So, if a lot of people think the ackerbowl wasted the relationship building of Levi and Mikasa, I think it just showed us how closer they grew during this season.

First of all, Mikasa doesn’t attack Levi because she wants to (as she did in season 1) but because she NEEDS to in order to save Armin. She isn’t happy to do that, and even says « please » to Levi when she could have just insult him or blame him like she used to do: they are not real ennemies, just two people in a great emotional distress wanting to save their closer friends.

It’s also impressive to see how dangerous Ackermans are: together, they are unstoppable, but as opponents, they are so equal that it is scary.

Another important thing: Levi isn’t mad as a normal person with a blade on his throat would be against Mikasa, he still tries to talk to her LIKE WOW that girl just attacked you but you still don’t hate her ? That’s because Levi cares for her, and that’s canon. The fact that she is an Ackerman probably leads him to be more attached to her. And of course, that’s an obvious parallel of his confrontation with Erwin in No regrets. Can we also say how sad and shocked Levi was when he saw Mikasa in tears ? He was really shaken by this sight.

5)Now, what about the Ackertalk ?

Like I said, Levi kept his Ackerman status and his link to Mikasa to himself. I think that, knowing how Mikasa is attached to her loved ones, to the ones she calls « family », he didn’t want to make her suffer by growing closer if he must die later, especially when he was only focused on killing Zeke.

But as the last two survivors of the Ackerman clan, Levi and Mikasa MUST talk about their legacy, their relationship and also their similarities. This post is nearly anime only but what I can tell you is that the Ackertalk still didn’t happen in the manga and probably won’t: that’s the biggest waste ever.

Mikasa and Levi are now both in difficult situations towards their Ackerbond with Eren and Erwin. Mikasa clearly needs Levi’s advices and support (I made another post about Levi’s character development, he is freeing himself alone from the ackerbond, and his ackerbond to Erwin was never toxic like Mikasa’s one to Eren was, in my opinion at least, so Mikasa needs him more than he needs her on the emotional/spirit level. On the fighting level however, Mikasa is now the one carrying him). Anyway, she needs to realize how powerful she actually is regarding how Eren treated her, because she lost her confidence in herself and in her autonomy (I don’t think Eren meant what he said, but still, Mikasa is now thinking she is some kind of slave and doesn’t go through any development). And Levi is the only one who can make her understand that. Because he is like her, and he knows it.

And should I talk about how the distance between Levi and Mikasa in the manga is unnatural ? They barely talk, and when they do it’s blank on Mikasa’s side. After 80 chapters she said, suprise guys: « captain »: THANKS ISAYAMA ! I am about to haunt your future onsen you damn yokai-_- Either he completely forgot about the Ackerman plot line, either something happened between Mikasa and Levi that we are not aware of, and which would be shown in the next chapters, what would explain the tension there is between them.

I hope this article pleased you, english is not my mother tongue so please pardon me if I made mistakes in my writing. It was very complex to sum up all the rivamika logic in one post, because there is always more to say about them. I hope that, even if they do not become a couple, they will grow closer and support each other as the amazing duo they should be. Shingeki is nearly finished, and I must say I am really happy that I’ve been part of the rivamika fandom since the start, even if haters were hard to take sometimes, this ship and this fandom are incredible and made me grow on many levels. Rivamika will always be great, canon or not, as long as we fuel it with our passion ❤️

#rivamika #ackerman clan #ackermans #snk #ackerman #levi x mikasa #mikasa #levi #aot #shingeki no kyojin #ackertalk

[just--another--daydreamer]

Childhood dreams

» Hitoshi Shinso x male reader

» Fandom: My hero academia » Summary: Shinso tries to reconnect with you after a fight » Warnings: Small Season 5/Manga spoilers! language, anxiety, overthinking » Words: 2.1k

You can find a link to my Masterlist and additional info in my bio and pinned post

“We are going to become heroes together.”

That is the pinkie promise Shinso has been holding onto this whole time. The promise that has inspired him, that has given him hope, that has made him want to do is very best. But in the end, it did not work out. 

Every single time Shinso watches you walk down the halls among other students of class 1-A, your voice saying those words to him echoes in his head. He keeps his distance, since he does not want you to catch him staring at you, not after all the things he said to you.

Becoming heroes together was his and your childhood dream. Growing up, he and you watched the heroes on TV together, talked about the news, imagined yourselves as a duo of great heroes. You were one of the only kids in Shinso’s class who never shied away from replying to Shinso and he admired that about you. And whenever another child told him he would make a better villain, you always stepped in and reassured him.

However, the dream died quickly – at least for Shinso. He knew that there was no way for him to pass the entrance exam for the hero course at UA, but you seemed to hold onto that dream still. Long story short, Shinso ended up failing where you succeeded, leading to the very first serious fight in your friendship, that was also the last one.

Shinso does not remember anything as clearly as the words he said to you that day. When you told him you were sorry that he did not pass the exam and expressed your genuine sadness over that fact, he snapped at you.

“I can’t believe that you held onto this naïve dream all this time, that’s childish,” he told you. “I don’t need you to pity me, I don’t need you to look down on me like all the others do.” He can remember calling you childish, blaming you for the quirk you were born with that will make you a great hero, telling you that your promise was the reason why he was feeling so disappointed in himself after failing.

He still feels awful about it and he does not blame you for not talking to him again after that.

Shinso sometimes finds himself pitying himself for losing you. When he watches you in the hallways, he can feel his heart ache. He lost his best friend, his future sidekick – or according to you – the hero he would be the sidekick of. He lost an important part of his life. And that hurts. He misses you, he misses the days the two of you spent together, the way his heartbeat picked up in pace when you were around him and the way you never failed to cheer him up. There are things he never told you and now he regrets it.

He does not know if he would ever tell you any of this and the only thing that he knows for sure is that he wants you back. Though he is not sure about how to achieve that.

“Shinso! Watch out!” The voice of his teacher pulls Shinso back into reality but the wake-up call comes too late and he finds himself falling to the ground, tangled up in his capture weapon and unsure if he still has all of his limbs attached in the right places. “Ouch!” Shinso groans as he tries to untangle himself.

Instead of helping him, Mister Aizawa starts to lecture him. Having heard the same bullshit about him being very far behind class 1-A and thus having to train even harder, needing to concentrate and so on and so forth, Shinso decides to not pay too much attention to that. It takes him a few more seconds to finally free himself but he remains sitting on the ground, rubbing his hurting back.

“You are more distracted than usual, did something happen?” Shinso is surprised that his teacher would ever ask him something like that. “It’s nothing,” he replies dryly but that does not seem to satisfy Mister Aizawa. “I can’t help you train when you keep getting distracted, that’s a waste of time. So either you talk about what’s up and we continue training after you’ve got your mind clear, or you go home right now.”

Shinso takes a second to consider his teacher’s words. His eyes fall onto the capture weapon in his hands, his key to becoming a hero. And he needs to take this chance. He cannot waste any more time with distractions and dwelling in memories. This is his chance. His chance to finally tell you that you will indeed become heroes together, maybe he will make up with you. The thought of approaching you to tell you this both scares and excites him.

“There’s this guy in your class,” he starts. “Y/N. We wanted to become heroes together, but it didn’t work out. Said some pretty awful stuff to him. I’ve been thinking about how to tell him that our dream will come true after all.” His mentor looks a little irritated at that “Well, you are not in the hero course just yet, so you should do your best. Now get up again.”

Shinso groans once again bug gets up anyway. His legs are shaking a little from how much he has been straining his muscles, but he tries to ignore that.

“I encourage you to talk to Y/N and sort things out,” Aizawa continues after a pause. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of person to hold grudges, so it should be fine after you apologize.” It is not a lot of reassurance, but it is more than Shinso would have ever expected from his mentor, so he appreciates it. “I’ll try to talk to him soon,” he agrees. His mentor nods. “Now enough chitchat, let’s get back to work.”

___

Shinso stretches his arms out above his head, his muscles ache, and his joints crack. Everything in his body screams for him to go to his dorm and sleep, but he still has something to do. He checks his phone for the time once again. It is almost seven in the evening, he is a little too early, since he stopped in front of the 1-A Alliance right after his training and he did not even bother to bring his bag into his own dorm. Shinso is surprised that you agreed to meet him after all this time, and he is both thankful and relieved that you seem to be open to hear him out. That is what he needs right now, after all.

Even though he is usually calm and collected, Shinso feels his anxiety being on the rise. His heart is beating way too fast and he feels uneasy. He quickly wipes his sweaty palms on his pants. A few deep breaths. One, two, three. His mind spins. Four, five, six. All of the words Shinso has thought of disappear. Seven, eight-

“Hey, Shinso!” You close the door of the 1-A building behind you. You avoid his eyes as you walk toward him, hands in your pockets, shoulders tense. The fact that you called him by his last name hurts but Shinso quickly shakes his head. This is not what he should be thinking about now. “H- hey,” he greets you, trying his best to sound calm. “Do you mind if we walk for a while?”

There is an uncomfortable silence between the two of you and all Shinso can hear are his own and your footsteps on the gravel. You eventually sit down on a bench, a lot of space between you. Shinso stares at his balled fists in his lap, knuckles white and fingernails digging into his palm, trying to sort out his thoughts.

“Why do you want to talk to me?” you question after a while. Shinso sighs deeply. The phrases he has thought of and practiced in the mirror are not coming to his mind again. “I wanted to apologize,” he starts hesitantly, “for what I said to you after the entrance exam.” The scene replays in his mind once again and he shakes his head to push the pictures away. “I was in the wrong and I hurt you. I know that I’m extremely late with my apology, but I was so ashamed of myself for saying those things to you.” In the corner of his eye, Shinso sees you listen to him carefully, a thoughtful look on your face. “I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just wanted to get this off my chest. I’m sorry, Y/N.” There is so much more he wants to say, he just needs to remember it. It seems like you notice that he is struggling for words, so you wait patiently. So, this is not going terribly, right?

“I saw you at the sports festival,” Shinso finally continues. “And I saw how much you have improved. You will be a great hero, Y/N. I’m happy for you. I’m so, so happy for you.” Was that alright? Shinso has no idea. He finally opens his fists and stretches out his fingers, knuckles regaining colour, but he is sure that his nails left marks on his palms. “What I said was horrible. I’d understand if you’d want me to get lost. I just want you to know that I’m sorry.”

“I-” you sound unsure of what to say. “You are right, what you said hurt me a lot, you have no idea how much. But I appreciate that you apologized, Shinso, even though it’s late. And I want to accept your apology.” An incredible weight falls from Shinso’s shoulders. He breathes out deeply and lets the rest of his muscles relax. For a moment, Shinso waits for you to say something else. He does not want to be the first one to speak, and it seems like you do not want to be that person either.

The silence grows more and more uncomfortable. Around you, it is getting colder by the minute and at some point, the lantern above the bench turns on, attracting insects to its cold, dim light. You shiver and stuff your hands in your pockets, Shinso does the same.

“So where do we go from here?” You eventually ask and cause Shinso’s heart to skip a beat. Does that mean you still want him in your life? Does that mean that he can stay friends with you? “That’s up to you,” he answers while suppressing his excitement. “Hm,” you make a thoughtful face. “I definitely don’t want you to ‘get lost’. I would like to try to become friends again. How does that sound?” The softness in your voice almost makes Shinso tear up. “Yeah, I’d love that.” Even with only the dim light from above Shinso can see you smile, and his heart skips a beat. Unable to contain himself from smiling, he quickly turns away.

“I have something else to tell you,” Shinso admits. He grabs is bag and rests it in his lap before opening it. Your curious eyes are watching his every move and cause Shinso’s hands to tremble a little as he pulls his capture weapon and mask out of the bag. “After the sports festival Mister Aizawa reached out to me,” he explains. “I’ll take an exam to determine if I’ll be allowed to switch to the hero course.” Shinso watches as your eyes widen. “We’ll become heroes together after all.”

“Oh Shinso!” You let out a joyful laugh. “That’s amazing! I’m so proud of you!” A warm feeling spreads through Shinso’s body at your words. He missed your laugh and now that he hears it, it is even more amazing and heart-warming than he remembered it to be. “Thank you.”

You sit there for a while until Shinso notices the time. “We should go back. I don’t want to get my ass beaten by Aizawa.” You agree and walk next to Shinso back to the dorms. The atmosphere is a lot lighter this time. Instead of keeping quiet, you talk about being heroes, about what both of you have been up to in the meantime, and about how you want to rebuild your relationship.

The dorms are in sight and you stop again. You hold out your hand and extent your pinkie. “Promise me to pass the exam? So that we can become heroes together?” Shinso does not need to think about that twice. He links his pinkie with yours, just like he did when you were kids. “I promise.”

#shinsou x reader #shinsou hitoshi x reader #shinsou x male reader #shinsou hitoshi x male reader #bnha x reader #bnha x male reader

[leonawriter]

Dear authors in fandoms writing trans/nonbinary characters (with a lean toward Japanese anime/manga fandoms):

-Characters do not have to be instant experts on what it means to be trans/nonbinary/genderqueer in any way. They can be clueless. They can be at a point in their life where they have no idea what’s up with them, and not have a name for it. they can look stuff up online, or read books, or talk to people. Characters can know as much as possible and be respectful and still be dumbass idiots or assholes in other areas, while other people can be completely ignorant but be very “they got the spirit, though.”

-Please, when writing characters who do know things, don’t make it into a lesson for the person reading. It’s entirely possible that they are already aware of all of this. If they do, they might just skim past. If the character is learning, then they’re learning for their own benefit, not that of the reader.

-Related to the previous two points - keep things in character. Just... look at how they are in the canon work, and no matter if they’re the person with the gender issues themself or a friend, try to make it sound like it’s all in their voice, words and phrases they would use, at all times. It’s very distracting and breaks immersion when a character suddenly starts sounding like a Tumblr post on Trans Issues And You.

-If a character knows the gender identity of another character who isn’t out yet, think about that dynamic. Do they trust each other? How well do they understand the issues here? Does the cis person (assuming they are cis) understand the weight of responsibility to abide by the wishes of the person who is trusting them? If they do out the other person, is it by accident, and if so, what kind of accident would seem believable, and would it be forgiven for, or not? Either way, why? Make sure it’s in character. 

There’s also the point of, sometimes people (and characters) can be assholes, and out people on purpose, which is not an accident, or just be plain thoughtless and neglect to think of the consequences of their actions while they think they’re being respectful, which... can also be a dick move. Question is, is that in character? Does it fit with the rest of how they appear in canon, or even how you write them?

-If your fic is set in another country - and this is usually Japan if it’s anime, but this also goes for anywhere really - please make yourself aware of the kinds of language THEY use. Does this country have a problem finding gender neutral pronouns? Are chairs forcibly gendered, or do they sit that one out? Do they use gender neutral pronouns by default? This is important, because it affects the way your characters interact with language, pronouns, and so on.

-Related to the previous point: If they’re speaking, say... Japanese, try to be aware that their pronouns aren’t “he/she/they” but translate closer to “that person” with added qualifiers if necessary. When was the last time you heard about a fandom having perhaps a name, maybe a face, and sometimes even they’re described in Japanese, but until an official release no one knew they were [insert gender here]? It happens a lot. Your Japanese nonbinary character would deal with different issues than an English speaking character.

Likewise, if you’re writing a trans Japanese character, the manner of speaking (and writing) will shift, if she’s trying to be more feminine, or he’s trying to be more masculine. It’s not just pronouns!

-Laws and legality change from country to country. This isn’t just about whether it’s legal to be trans or anything like that, but also how it would be legal, no matter what the current legal status is. For instance, Japan doesn’t have the birth certificate, but they do have the family registry. If you want to make things fit with the culture/setting, even basic research will do.

...A LOT of my irritations with a lot of fandom works are actually about how Westernised and West-centric they are. It’s understandable that an author will write in English and use English puns and so on, but if a fic is set in Japan, then Japan’s issues aren’t our issues, and writing them as if they are feels uncomfortable as a reader. 

tl;dr: Keep characters in character and don’t make them sound like they’re reading off a wiki page (unless that’s what they’re actually doing in the story), and be culturally aware and sensitive when writing about characters in countries you aren’t familiar with/haven’t grown up in.

......

...I almost forgot. One last one.

-Don’t equate a character being made trans/nonbinary/etc in your fic or headcanons as a “cool kids club” thing. As in, specifically, “Everyone in this fic is trans, except for [character], who I do not like.” That’s... that’s bad. Don’t.. don’t do that... 

Good people can be trans. Complete bastard assholes can also be trans. There is no morality line that says it’s a good or bad person kind of deal. Even if it’s just self-indulgent, be aware that this is the image you give off. If you’re publishing a thing even just to AO3, people are seeing it. Trans people are people. Good, bad, cool, completely uncool dorks, people with “no redeeming features” and people who’d be the fandom darling. 

A person you’d hate IRL is just as likely to be trans as a person you’d love.

#fandom stuff #trans stuff #writing tips #from a genderqueer author #after starting to write my own AU where a character is trans I started trying to read more trans fics #I am so tired #some are okay #some are... well #if I've got anything off base or wrong please say so #mostly I just want people to think before they write

[daeliariddle]

In defense of Petra Ral.

I open a thread about a character unfairly treated as "overrated" by much of the fandom. A thread dedicated to my favorite SNK character, despite the years she's been dead. So here I will talk about Petra Ral. Yup, the thread is on my twitter.

So look, I'm not discrediting either one or the other. In SNK's history, there are countless amazing characters, and very good female characters. With great weight in the plot.

Devoted mothers. Strong women equal to 100 soldiers. Warriors skilled in combat. Funny women and also stealth women. Military leaders. Women with political influence. Queens. Goddesses.

But why Petra? If she was just a member of Levi's Squad and she died fast and was even a tertiary character. Precisely for these reasons. Notice that I will not be specific on the subject of chronology.

----------------

Petra is presented to us as a competent soldier, and one even comes to think that she is the one who takes command if Levi is not present. But Levi also tend to entrust Petra with less heavy missions (assistance to injured colleagues or messenger).

We see that she is able to cry in front of her captain over the death of a companion (an important detail in Levi's personality) and how he seeks her words and she can offer him comfort.

Later on we know who they are: The Special Operations Squad, the Levi Squad. They were soldiers chosen by the "Humanity's Strongest Soldier", remember. They were elite soldiers.

Petra seems to be the kindest and most understanding towards Eren. And a detail that many forget is that it is she, Petra, the first person to give us a spoiler about Levi's life, and that despite knowing his past and history, she admires and respects him.

While they rest and Petra has a rapprochement with Levi, Eren transforms. In the manga and anime her face changes. In the manga she seems shocked and scared, in the anime her face is more of anger and fear, like that of the other boys.

Unlike Erd, Gunther, and Oulo, she is more concerned with her Captain's safety. And she's the only one who gets a more direct answer. Then we have Eren and Levi's conversation. That many seem to forget.

Levi mentions that his Squad learned the hard way to toughen up and make quick decisions. And the most immediate decision was to finish off Eren who had transformed his arm, but that they still felt bad for Eren.

It is Petra the spokeswoman for Levi's Squad (even though Erd is second in command) and she apologizes for Eren, and then she is the first to bite her hand (something very symbolic) and ask him to trust them.

Even when everyone obeyed Levi's orders and followed him, scared and worried because they were "their mission." Petra is almost a "voice of reason" to Eren, asking that he not transform, but rather trust them.

I love the scene where they say that Petra and Oulo cried and peed, that shows a lot of their evolution, from first-time recruits or elite soldiers. And the shame of both is very comical. Also the temperamental side of Petra and Oulo, when they talk about the intentions of Erwin's plan. Petra and Oulo's friendship is hilarious .I hate the cheap device of hating Petra for how she is with Oulo. Petra is also honest and direct with Oulo, and she may look annoyed (but let's imagine your friend insists that you are "their wife"). Besides, surely Petra misses the "real Oulo". 

And when Gunther's death comes, she and the others feel like they are falling apart inside. Nobody talks about how, despite losing Gunther, Levi's Squad, with almost no information about the Female Titan, they could stop her, nobody? They communicated themselves without speaking.

And even Petra confronts her by yelling at her, yelling that she had no honor. That scene is powerful (after Gunther's death). And it shows a lot the character of Petra as a soldier, proud to be one. The scene of his death (although I am fed up with the PetraxTree) is sad and even shocking.

Moving on to when they go back inside the walls, and the scene of Mr. Ral with the letter, it's incredibly sad. Seeing a loving and smiling father waiting for a daughter who will never return and with so many expectations placed on her Captain. It hurts a lot.

We know these scenes are filler, but I love it. It shows the importance of Petra to her companions and how she is willing to defend them, even hitting her friend for her beliefs. And the Hangefans still hate her, really?

And the scene of Levi seeing her corpse? That will hurt a thousand more years.

In conclusion: Petra for me was one of the few characters who have died, and shown so many facets. She feel balanced without falling into exaggeration. She is not a marysue nor is she a flat character. I love her voice and her design. And even her own song is precious.

A shame that the fandom hated her for being a woman on a ship with Levi, and when you still love her character, always jumps an annoying fan with "this character is better, did more things, she is dead. She is overrated."

When we learn to respect the likes of others, we will be a better fandom. Here we will always have Petra as our favorite girl, not just as Levi's pairing. She is much more than that. Although we already have more clear her feelings for Levi.

And if you say things like "Y'all only talk about Petra, what about the other members?" Well then, give importance to them! Make fanarts and fanfics, talk about them!!

Another thing that bothers me. LH who misinterpret this scene in their "favor", Petra jealous? seriously? She has a face of latent concern and sadness, why would she be jealous of Hange, who received some nasty words from Levi? And no, the "Levi and Hange get along like this" doesn't matter here.

Make fanarts and fanfics, talk about them. That Petra was the "face" of the OG Levi Squad is because Isayama emphasized her, and it's not our fans or Petra's fault. When we learn to respect the likes of others, we will be a better fandom. Here we will always have Petra as our favorite girl, not just as Levi's pairing. She is much more than that. Although we already have more clear her feelings for Levi.

#PetraRal #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot

[theflowercrowngirl]

Writers Month 2021 #16 - That must be it... (but I’ll ask her anyway)

Writers Month (August) 2021

Day #16

Word: Photo / Setting: College AU

Fandom: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun)

Characters: Nozaki, Sakura...

Pairings: Nozaki x Sakura

Warnings: None.

A/N: The other side (technically prequel) of “I’ll definitely tell him… (but not yet)”. It can be read without reading Sakura’s side-- but it’s recommended to read it  (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

Apparently, he carried her picture around all the time. Lots of pictures, actually. That was one of the first things that had catched his attention, when checking his cell phone for the first time, after losing his memory. But by the time he grabbed the cell phone, all of the important persons of his life (or at least the ones he could remember) had already left the room, and he couldn’t ask them.

Who was that girl? Her image seemed to spark something important in his memory, but, of course, he just quite couldn’t put his finger on it. Was she one of his models? Seemed like the most reasonable explanation; however, if that was the case, he sure must have used her for inspiration a lot, because she was everywhere.

Suddenly he had a flicker of memory, a fortuitous mental association, and he grabbed the manga volume from his backpack beside the hospital bed, and opened it just at the right page.

There she was. His heroine, the lovely, princess-looking Mamiko…

...who shared a tremendous resemblance to the girl from the photos.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so clear for everyone else, but he had the artistic eye, a well trained eye; also, if he had drawn it in the first place, wouldn’t it be logical for him to quickly recognise where the inspiration had come from?

He nodded to himself, until an idea popped into his mind, and he froze.

Why would he use just one girl in particular as a model? Did he just reuse the same face and body for everything…? Was there, somewhere in his stories, a Mamiko army...? An army made of Mamikos?

The idea seemed too surreal and complex even for him, and he pondered on it, frowning in concentration. He looked once again towards the manga, and his eyes remained focused on the pretty, girly ribbon. Then he opened his cell phone and-- yep, there it was again, except there were two instead of one. It was based on her, no doubt. The question was… why?

He mulled over the question, over and over, until his eyebrows started to hurt a little, with how much he was frowning.

It was when he sighed, and was just trying to relax his muscles when yet another idea crossed his mind, like a missile.

Of course.

His eyes went wide open, with this new-found information.

She was his girlfriend!

Everything made sense now, everything was clearer. The revelation felt as if a heavy weight lifted from his chest, and he could finally relax for real, plopping down against the bed.

He sent a glance at the picture on his cell phone one last time, a tiny smile on his lips, before putting away the manga, tucking it safely inside the backpack.

That solves everything, he thought, starting to feel the sleep luring him back. But, still…

He paused even inside his mind, thought swirling, with just a slight hint of uneasiness. I’ll ask her about it, when I see her. I suppose she’ll come to see me.

His mind drifted away, until the world disappeared. The next thing he knew was the delicate touch of a hand, softly holding his own. When he stirred, the other person let go of his hand immediately, and when he opened his eyes and sat straight, the girl from the photos was just barely one feet away; looking taken aback, flustered, her pretty hair tied in two pretty ribbons.

Staring at her intently, he felt like he knew her; like he truly, truly knew her. But still he couldn’t help but ask…

“Who are you?”

#WritersMonth2021 #writersmonth #day 16 #writersmonth2021 day 16 #gekkan shoujo nozaki kun #gekkan shoujo nozaki kun fanfiction #nozachiyo #nozaki x sakura #nozaki x sakura fanfic #montly girls nozaki kun fanfiction #amnesia #wrong conclusions #jumping to conclusions #nozaki is a dork

[skullmoss]

i’ve started to notice a pretty bad trend with popular beastars fans when it comes to reconciling their feelings towards haru as a female character in a shounen manga where the two male characters (legosi & louis) are the main focus of the series. 

fans, especially people on the OT3 (haru/legosi/louis) side of things fall into a very performative, very obvious trap with haru that’s kind of touched on in the first half of the manga-- where they put a heavily flawed, nuanced female character up on a pedestal in comparison to the male characters, and don’t touch on her personality flaws or missteps in the same way they allow themselves with legosi & louis. 

i know fandom on tumblr is less active, which is why i feel safer saying these things here vs twitter, where i see this happening on the english fandom side of fandom. there’s a growing and dismissive attitude towards characterizing haru in fanfic and fanart that puts her up on a pedestal in much the same way legosi does.

i’m just typing stream-of-consciousness, but it’s been rankling me the more and more i see it, the refusal to characterize haru as a flawed individual with just as many bad, negative traits and characteristics that legosi and louis have. being in quarantine for over a year and suffering from brainrot, i’m lacking the vocabulary i want to use in trying to explain this phenomenon in fandom, especially in OT3 F/M/M sides, where the male characters are talked about and characterized at great length, assessing their personality flaws and nuance, but shunting the female character aside as “perfect, flawless, amazing, wonderful, Can Do No Wrong” romanticization that actually veers on misogyny in the sense of not allowing yourself to look at a female character in the same critical way you would a male character because you feel like there’s a need to protect her image as opposed to looking at them in the same multi-faceted way you’d look at a male character.

while in the end, beastars as a manga does fail in giving haru the same amount of screentime and emotional weight as it does with legosi and louis, there is still substance to her character in every chapter that she’s in. substance that puts her on the same heavily flawed level as louis and legosi in the sense that she has flawed personality traits by way of being a person struggling to make heads or tails of her place in the world. she’s a more insular character compared to legosi and louis, where unlike them her issues are less actively shown through fight scenes or monologue, and more internalized and quiet, which is why i think people tend to gloss over her even if they like her, because she does still fit a very passive narrative thread because of her lot in life as both a woman but also a small herbivore.

i’ve no...succinct....conclusion to this?? i’m just noticing this trend and habit people are falling into with their fanfic and fanart and it’s been bothering me for awhile.

people, in over-performing their love and appreciation for a female character, wind up putting her on this pedestal which makes her out to be a flawless individual you cannot and do not want to critique in the same way that’s allowed and afforded to male characters, and that...is still a sexist habit people need to fall out of.

#beastars #haru #legosi #louis

[ryuichirou]

Hi, Ryu❤️ Hope u’r doing well❤️

Since u’r talking about ships lately, I’m really curious to hear your opinion about Aru//Ani, its execution, development and progression throughout the whole plot👀, if it’s not a problem and especially if u have the time to. Its shippers claim Isym has been doing a great build up since FT arc (???) and that, despite the lack of development onscreen, the dynamic makes sense (???) cause they “complete” each other and they learnt how to “love and respect” each other throughout the past 4 years (???!!!).

And... I don’t know, Ryu: I really tried to consider their pov, even reread the A/A interactions and look at the dynamic with shipping goggles on, but I really failed to see and understand what they claim. Actually, I keep seeing this dynamic as insulting not just for Armin and Annie’s characters in first place, but also for Eren, Mikasa, Hitch and Berthold. Moreover, it seems nothing but an addiction made out for fanservice, cause it serves absolutely nothing to the plot: if u cut their interactions post 131ch, the story wouldn’t change in the least. Also, their interactions weren’t even that romantic and weren’t focused at all about their supposed “crush” for each other. I personally believe Armin is using Annie as coping mechanism and/or just a mean to substitute Eren; whereas Annie is substituting Armin with her father, cause she feels adrift and desperate, and seeks for someone who cherishes her and appreciates her for the person she is no matter the harsh things she did in the past (I’m crying for Hitch in the mid time....). Other than that, I’m believing also in Berthold’s influence on Armin, cause it’s the only explanation for the sudden interest of boy towards girl, that happen to begin exactly after he ate Berthold: it can’t be just a coincidence imo.

So yeah, at the end of the day, I’m pretty sad cause I used to love both the characters and now I’m much conflicted atm, cause I see nothing but a huge derailment for both and a waste for Annie’s one, who’s developing literally over a love interest... And it’s a very huge pity to me.

Sorry for the big ask, lol... I have this weight on my chest and I confess it’s actually ruining my love for SnK: I feel like everything after 131ch started sucking pretty hard... Plus, the fandom became more toxic than ever😔😔😔

I was waiting for someone to ask me about them eventually, and honestly... Anon, you're such a big mood lol

You’ve guessed correctly: I don’t like AruAni. Not because we personally don’t ship it, but because it doesn’t make sense and (for now) it’s unclear what it the purpose of this storyline and if there’s even going to be a purpose. I don’t recommend anyone shipping them reading my reply.

Basically, Anon, you’ve described everything perfectly, so I’m just going to agree with all your points. I also don’t see a reason for Armin to have this type of love for Annie. I see a coping mechanism, I see something to escape to from the Eren problem, I can even see a self-punishment of sorts, but I don’t see that sweet crush we’re led to believe is there. See, Armin didn’t even know Annie that well. They talked like twice, and then the Female Titan thing happened, and then… he was talking to her for years, but he still never learnt anything about her. How can he love her if he doesn’t even know who the fuck Annie is? And yeah, it’s convenient Bertold timing, I wonder if it’s going to come up later.

We feel like it’s unfair to other characters. It’s also extremely unfair to Hitch that’s also been here for Annie for all those years but didn’t get the special treatment for some reason. Like... their reasoning would be pretty much the same, they could’ve made Hitch her love interest for all the same reasons.

It’s unfair to Annie herself, because, based on what we know about her, she’s drawn to stubborn idiots going against the flow. Because she herself could never do that. This is the point of her character: she could never stand against what people asked her to do, even when she knew it was useless or wrong. This is why Eren intrigues her, this is why Marlo intrigues her.

Of course I’m biased here, and don’t get me wrong: I don’t see EreAnnie becoming a canon thing either lol and I talked about how I don’t care about ships being canon in general a bunch of times already. I’m saying this as an example of a dynamic that actually... works for her type of character. But all the development Annie’s got was kickstarted by Eren being interested in her fighting style and being the first person who legitimately interested her on this island (and who was interested in her too to some extent, at least interested in something she was proud of and deeply loved). She also deeply appreciated it, they had funny dialogues together, and he was the first and only person she had flirted with, which is a huge step for a character as shy, distant and serious as Annie. Seeing her now blushing for Armin looks like a joke when you keep these things in mind. You can listen to his stories all you want, but it’s strictly one-sided. And, like I said, Hitch can also have the same chances with this type of logic. Their pie-eating scene has more chemistry than all AruAni moments.

The “good person/bad person” dialogue with Armin doesn’t feel like a development to me because they were just mirroring each other’s thoughts, so it’s like talking to yourself…

Ok, that was a little bit off topic lol. But yeah, this is why for now we think that either there will be a twist of sorts (i’ll take killing Armin as a twist) or the editor just made Isayama push this narrative, since Isayama doesn’t strike me as a type who likes romance that much or ships his own characters, plus he used romance for proving the cruel world motif so many times already. Or this is just exactly what it is, a last minute het romance, and we’ll end up sitting there like bitter losers being all upset, Anon haha

The fandom’s always going toxic and pretty feral as soon as het couples pop up, and in general huge fanbases mean nothing good unless you want that sweet clout to make money or get attention, so the only thing I can advice you is to distance yourself from them so that it won’t ruin your SnK experience even more. I don’t know you or your feelings, but I think you’re just upset about AruAni thing, this is why the manga sucks to you right now (well, you basically said it yourself, if I got you correctly). And that’s fine and we’re annoyed by this thing a lot too, so we can definitely understand this sentiment. Personally, we pretend like this bs romance never happened so it won’t ruin our experience, and we’ll see what to think about it when SnK is over. Like, what if it’s just a plot device and we get ourselves worried about nothing? I wanna believe that... :”)

And can I just… use this chance to say how frustrated I am that the majority of Annie content there is is either AruAni or BerAni (or the trio)? It’s like she isn’t important when she’s not in the context of those relationships… It upsets me a lot.

Let me just say this… Reiner had more development with Annie than Armin and Bertolt combined. There, I said it. And Reiner’s fucking gay.

Overall, we’ll see how everything plays out, and then you can come again to us and we’ll bitch together lol

#replies #annie leonhart #armin arlert