#manga panel analysis

[possamble]

do you have any particular thoughts regarding marcille being a half-elf? its interesting to me considering the fact that she seems self-conscious about being a half-elf, but denies it when its brought up

i remember marcille looking visibly uncomfortable over laios simply asking her how old she is, which i think the only reason she might feel nervous about this is because it might reveal her as a half-elf to him.

she's never corrected anybody whose called her an elf either.

never mind the circumstances of the reveal, in which thistle goes on about how half-elves are inferior and accusing her of wanting to become full blooded elf, she seemed particularly upset like he struck a nerve-

i wish the half-elf thing was built upon more. also, underrated marcille line:

okay so i revisited this sequence just to make sure I could back myself up and it's just... man. there's a lot going on.

the first reaction we get from Marcille is this huge panel that takes up half of the page

she is viscerally affected. flushing to the tips of her ears with the intensity of it. and we see it again, a few pages later

so it might seem like she's embarrassed about it and lying to herself, but... I really think it's just that Thistle is accidentally hitting sore spots. If you really look at what he says to get these reactions

"you'll live out your entire life [...] and die that way too"

"a hundred years from now, nobody will be there"

Hear me out. I think, if he stuck to harping on about her inferiority without bringing up how terrifyingly long-lived she is, she wouldn't have been as bothered. But right now, Thistle is accidentally hitting all the marks on Marcille's deepest fears-- and this is after the Winged Lion promised her that her dreams could come true in an extremely vulnerable moment, so it also hits her slightly guilty conscience as well.

I do truly believe that Marcille isn't bothered about being a half-elf the way that people assume she'd be bothered by it. To her, the biggest problem with being a half-elf is that it's isolating.

On one hand, it's not hard to imagine why she'd distance herself from elves in the west. A lot of them can clock her as a half-elf on sight, unlike other races, and therefore she's always branded with this weird stigma of being Othered -- I would even say that she considers herself lucky for being born outside of elven culture instead of having to grow up in it. I mean, just... look at the way elves talk about her.

Skipping past the uncomfortable implication of what 'not tolerating the existence' of half-elves would actually entail, this is incredibly fucking annoying. You can see why she wouldn't want to be around elves much. You see a lot of Marcille reacting badly here, but honestly, almost all of it can be attributed to her freaking out that her bluff completely failed. She's honestly more paying attention to Izutsumi's footsteps and trying to coordinate an opportunity to escape.

And in the end, you see her built-up frustration at being asked if she wants to be a full-blooded elf like 2-3 times in a row.

Yeah, yeah, "the lady doth protest too much," and all. But we know Marcille. We know that she's a lot more embarrassed and horrendously unconvincing when she's being prodded about something she's actually self-conscious about.

Moving onto the flipside of things, it might seem weird that she "pretends" to be a full elf around other races, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Again, people are weird about her being infertile or whatever, and a lots of them don't even know much about what sets half-elves apart from everyone else. I mean, look at how uncomfortable Laios is just asking her about it

and look at how exasperated and resigned she looks

And like... she's right. Where would that come up in normal conversation? Why would she go out of her way to tell them? She's functionally a normal elf to other races anyway -- got the ears, the abnormally long "childhood", and the huge mana capacity. Unless it's directly relevant or important for people to know, I don't think it's all that strange or indicative of insecurity that she prefers not to bother with it.

(This combined with her sense of being an "outsider" to elf culture also explains why she thinks elf superiority is embarrassing. She sees the way elves treat short-lived races from the "outsider" perspective nonetheless, and thinks it's obnoxious; especially more so because she usually has to play the elf around short-lived races and deal with the reputation of arrogance that elves have built up.)

The sad thing is, this all means that... she doesn't actually fit in anywhere. She doesn't like going out West much because of how elves treat her. But she's also an outsider in the continents she was born in, treated like this exotic long-lived alien choosing to live among short-lived races for some reason. She is always an outsider, the Other, no matter where she goes. Add in the fact that she'll live longer than literally anyone she knows, and it's honestly kind of heartbreaking.

And I think that's the crux of it. Marcille really doesn't act like she's at all self-conscious about being a half-elf because of any feelings of inferiority or being half-made or whatever. She considers herself a perfectly legitimate being and might even, in some ways, consider herself superior to normal elves because she's not blind with elf supremacy or whatever. (And whatever "elven biases" she displays, all of them are born more out of the fact that she's kind of bad at conceptualizing how other races age and mature compared to herself, not that she actually considers herself better or more mature simply for being an elf.)

I think that whatever self-consciousness Marcille has about being a half-elf is, instead, related to terror and loneliness. The reminder that it ensures she'll never truly belong anywhere for the rest of her very long life. The reminder that, in truth, even she's not actually sure how old she is by other races' standards (hence the discomfort when asked how old she is). She doesn't want to not be a half elf, or be a full elf or full tall-man-- in her ideal world, she's still a half-elf. She just gets to live out her life at the same pace with the people she loves and doesn't have to say goodbye again and again and again until she dies.

and one last very important panel, right after Mithrun tells her that all her desires would be devoured

In her ideal world, she's still a half-elf and reality magically starts marching at her pace. But failing that, the second best thing is that she's still a half-elf-- but one who is able to accept reality and let go of her fear.

(But the rest of the story pans out the way it does because, to Marcille, taking reality apart and reshaping it was less scary than simply and fully reconciling with it.)

#asks #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #marcille donato #manga panel analysis #this is probably riddled with typos sorry #readmore cut bc it got long lmao #i ended up babbling about it bc it's such an important character detail to me #bc like... wow. she's so normal about it. she's literally just chilling. #the only thing that really bothers her is the material reality of it and how people treat her #the stereotypes the stigma etc. etc. #otherwise it just.. #literally doesn't factor into her criteria for self-worth at all #the basic truth is that marcille likes herself on a fundamental level #she's not plagued by a deep and festering self-loathing the way a lot of characters in her archetype are #she likes herself and is proud of her successes and accomplishments #its just that shes terrified of failure and can have *episodes* of self-loathing when she fucks up #but who doesn't yknow #i know its a very slight nuance that makes very little difference in how her 'overachiever' problems manifest but its there #the sword of abandonment issues that hangs over her head has nothing to do with her self-worth or self-esteem or meeting her own standards #it has to do with the fear of not living up to *other* people's expectations and not being useful enough to be worth keeping around #she's good enough for herself but she's always so so so scared that she's not good enough for other people #i wont say much about what ryoko kui is saying using this as an allegory for real world racial biases but #dungeon meshi's treatment of marcille's relationship with her being half-elf is so incredibly important to me because it gets it so right. #a trauma about inferiority or being a half-being isn't inherent to the experience of being 'of two worlds' at all #that's something that's unfairly drilled into people by their environment #the *inherent* anguish is the loneliness. the constant longing. the fact that you are always homesick no matter where you are #always just a little bit of an outsider and never fully at home #and dungeon meshi gets that. #edit: cleaned it up a little

[exstasyplague]

geto shedding a tear after gojo tells him he wished he'd be there to cheer on him will never cease to break me.

after he got released from the prison realm, he instantly teleported where geto's body was.

just realising that back then, his gaze was so cold because he sought suguru in the crowd is..... GEGE WHEN I CATCH YOU GEGE

#jjk 236 #gojo satoru #jujutsu kaisen #geto suguru #jjk manga #jjk analysis #jjk #satosugu analysis #satosugu #geto x gojo #jjk spoilers #jjk manga spoilers #jjk panel analysis #jujutsu kaisen 236

[zuzu-draws]

So after the spoilers for Chap 257 dropped, I saw some tweets clarifying the meaning of the Kanji Sukuna used in the chapter when referring to his mother, and the overall reveals in the chapter got me thinking.

I’m making this post as a way of gathering my thoughts, personal speculations and where I think all of this connects to Sukuna’s character and the information Gege has given us over the years. Nothing I say is by any means new information, but like I said, I’m just collecting my thoughts here. By the way, just a warning, this post contains SPOILERS for the JJK Manga! If you don’t like that, please don’t read this!

Something I’ve noticed is that the theme of “Hunger” and symbolism of “Cooking/Food” is heavily referenced with Sukuna throughout the Manga. Gege in a previous Fanbook has disclosed Sukuna’s favorite Hobby to be “Eating”.

This theme is again very much ingrained within Sukuna’s cursed techniques and even his Domain Expansion, the “Malevolent Shrine”. With his two main techniques being “Dismantle” and “Cleave” are cutting-type attacks. He is also able to use a Flame-Arrow, and Fire is essential for making Food. The Shrine in his Domain Expansion literally has mouths on all sides, looking eager to chew down anything in-front of them!

This symbolism also heavily influences Sukuna’s own manner of speech, and the way he speaks to other characters in the series as well. With his post-fight chat with Jogo before his death, Sukuna mentions Jogo lacking the “Hunger” to take control of his desires, preventing him from reaching the heights of Gojo Satoru. Before the Start of their fight in Shinjuku, Sukuna called Gojo a “Nameless Fish on top of his cutting board”, and that he was going to start by “Peeling off the scales”(refering to Gojo’s infinity). There’s also further symbolism that supports this by analyzing the Kanji and meaning of Sukuna’s “Malevolent Shrine” but I’m not very educated on that so I won’t be opening that point here.

What all of this points to is that Eating and Food……is extremely important to Sukuna, to the point that it literally affects him in manners innumerable.

Eating is an instinct, a necessity for the survival of every single living being.

And In the face of extreme Hunger and starvation, even those with the strongest will could lose their Humanity and revert to the basic animalistic side of their existence. (The Heian Period also had a Famine, although I believe the timing to be a bit off, but do with this info as you see fit)

In JJK Chapter 257, it is revealed to us that Sukuna and his Twin were most likely starving in the womb of their starving mother.

On the brink of starvation, Sukuna had to consume his “other self”(his twin), so that he could survive.

Btw, this tweet and this thread gives additional characterisation to Sukuna:

Link to the original thread: Link.

More context (and reactions :P):

Link to original thread: Here

This reveals to us that indeed, Sukuna was born a twin. And as we all know, “Twins” are seen with extreme scrutiny in Jujutsu Society, they’re not well liked. This too in a period where Cursed Spirits and Jujutsu Sorcery was at its peak, it is not far-fetched to assume that his Mother may not have been treated very well by the people in her surroundings, especially as she bore twins.

When Kashimo asks if Sukuna was born the Strongest or if he made himself the Strongest, this is the response Sukuna gave to him:

When you think about it, how do you think the people around them would have reacted when the woman: who was supposed to birth two twins, gave birth to a single child instead? and that child had consumed his other twin in the womb itself?

No doubt people would’ve been horrified, disgusted and even revulsed. With the woman and her newborn child.

This would’ve led to their further ostracisation in the already very close-minded society. Unable to fend for herself and her newborn child, it must’ve been difficult for Sukuna’s mother to survive. I feel like somewhere along the line, Sukuna was left alone to fend for himself at an extremely young age. To protect himself from both Curses and Society alike.

This is why I believe Sukuna knows what true starvation, weakness and hunger feels like. Both in the emotional and literal sense. He was left without another person caring about him or his well-being, in a cut-throat period where it was “Fight or be killed”.

Powerful curses roamed all across Japan, nowhere was safe. Simply be strong, or you'll die. There's no room for weakness. And initially, a kid!Sukuna was weak, as anyone would be in the beginning when they're just starting out in this world. (and maybe, he didn't have much to eat, leading to long periods of starvation? :') )

I believe it is this debilitating hunger, and feeling of weakness that eventually led to Sukuna’s current Hedonistic mindset.

He’s essentially traumatised by it, and believes that it was his own weakness that led him to experience this sheer starvation. That he deserved to feel this way because he was weak then. Perhaps, the people around him were right, that as long as they have the power and strength to overcome anything, they’re free to do as they please; And there is nothing anyone else could do about it.

I feel like the irony here is that Sukuna himself, must’ve been a “weakling” before eventually rising the ranks to become History’s Strongest Sorcerer. This is also why he values Strength so much.

Ultimately, Sukuna has decided that there was nothing more important than being strong enough to fulfill your own desires. And “eating” is one of his most important desires. It’s his favourite thing to do, the one he derives the most pleasure out of. And like an animal, whose main focus is to consume, consume and consume. He too, simply consumes.

Most morals likely have no meaning to him. He doesn’t care who he hurts, what he does, as long as he’s able to get what he wants. And this isn’t limited to eating.

This is why people referring to Sukuna as a “Natural Disaster” is so befitting of him. Because Natural Disasters also don’t care about what or who they’re destroying, they just come and go, wreaking havoc appropriate for their nature and magnitude.

I believe Sukuna himself has said lines similar in nature, when talking to Kashimo:

Now I’m not sure how Sukuna perceives or even experiences this “Love”, because I think he has a rather very warped idea of it. I do think that this definition of love is similar to the one that Gojo also understands, but I don’t think he knows what “love” truly is. I’m not sure how I could comment on this, but I do think that Sukuna’s emotionally starved, whether he realises that or not.

Because, like Kashimo himself asked Sukuna “What is the point of dividing your soul into 20 different parts and then traversing across time if you’re satisfied with this?” we do not know the answer to that yet.

But many people have speculated that “Black Box” panels in JJK manga represent a curse (either self-inflicted or put by someone) on the speaker. Like, take a look over here where Sukuna reiterates the same dialogue, except it looks like he’s trying to reassure himself:

This once again shows that Sukuna has only ever strived for himself, in the same hedonistic fashion, to a very very extreme degree. It is possible that he's been lacking something, and he himself does not realise that he’s lacking it. Maybe it was this subconscious feeling, that led to Sukuna agreeing to Kenjaku’s plan of dividing his soul into 20 different parts, and to traverse across time as a Cursed Object.

Sukuna’s an incredibly complex character, and I’m excited to see where this goes. Gege has put extra care in the way he characterizes and depicts Sukuna, and again, I’m really sad that a lot of that characterization gets lost in translation. Still, I’m going to try my best to understand and get the most accurate feel of his character as I possibly can.

If you made it this far, Thank you for reading! And if you would like, please do leave a comment in the tags or replies because I would love to read what other people think of this and just Sukuna in general. I do not see a lot of people doing critical analysis of him, and a lot of his actions are seemingly swept under the rug. I don’t like that, so hopefully this contributes to people focusing more on Sukuna and his character. (/^v^)/ <3

#ryomen sukuna #jjk sukuna #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #sukuna #king of curses #heian era #character analysis #manga #jjk manga #jjk 257 #this is...so very long omg im sorry for my huge word vomit #like 1.4k works but i really did felt like i wanted to gather my scattered thoughts into one place and kind of make the connections #not sure if anyone is gonna read this but if they do #thanks for reading! be sure to let me know what u think! #i just love psycho-analysis of my fav characters and being able to really understand the essence of their characters #their emotions their motivations and to finally be able to do that with Sukuna and reading what everyone else have to say about it ahhh #im super excited! We're finally getting close to the Heian Backlore!! rejoice!! #my gut always did tell me he was a tragic character T_T and now we're finally getting the tid bits #also apologies for adding different panels #but i only added the translations i liked #i don't like J*hn W*rry's translation like yuck #so ima wait for Lightning's translation notes~ for further clarifications!

[loriache]

World Map Notes: the Elven Northern & Southern Central Continents

These nations are where all the elves in the story except Marcille and Thistle are from. This post collects all the information I could find about these two nations, and included a bit of analysis based on that information.

TL;DR (includes both fact and my speculation):

The Northern Central Continent is a feudal monarchy with a strong class system, as well as strict borders, & could probably be considered an ethnostate. It's deeply hierarchical, and the queen is a traditionalist - so it's probably very structurally biased against non-elves and half-elves.

Elves in the NCC practice cannibalism in some rural areas!

The Southern Central Continent is more diverse, with a large tallman population on its South Coast.

To elves, "Court Magicians" exclusively refer to those serving the elven queen - a prestigious role that seems likely to be only open to nobles.

The SCC may not be a monarchy, though it's not clear what kind of leadership or societal structure it does have.

The NCC will habitually take anyone involved in ancient magic as a criminal to prosecute on their terms, regardless of jurisdiction, but this depends on their political influence and ability to pressure local leaders to agree to extradite the criminal.

Elves VS Dwarves and Gnomes may have been at war around the time of the Golden Kingdom being sealed. This conflict also may be one of the factors pushing the kingdom to be sealed in the first place.

The "Central Region" might be the origin of the "Common Tongue" that our characters speak.

Northern Central Continent

The Adventurer's Bible | p. 132

For this place to have a high quality of life, and also a declining population - especially when it's so close to the Western Continent, which is stated to have poor quality of life - there must be strictly maintained borders and a strong anti-immigration policy. Based on the attitude of the elves, I wouldn't be surprised if it was very difficult to move there unless you are also an elf.

It could probably be considered an ethnostate - and while in these kinds of fantasy worlds, that's pretty common. Take Rivendell, or Moria, in LOTR - they take for granted that these kinds of different fantasy races will live in separate communities.

But that isn't actually realistic, and I think Kui has considered it as more of a politically established status quo rather than an obvious natural result of having magically distinct "races". Which, even in Dunmeshi, I think is a difficult and not-terribly-accurate way to represent politics - racism does not emerge from actual, physical differences between races, after all.

But Dunmeshi's presentation of this idea is interesting, because of the recognition that if there is an "elven nation" which prioritises the interests and rights of elves over other races, that is because there's a deliberate, concerted effort to keep it that way.

But there's a small section of the NCC with a high tallman population - I wonder what kind of community they have, and how they fit into the strict elven hierarchy?

The Adventurer's Bible | pp. 134 & 136

Kabru and Rin, and other kids like them, who are adopted or taken as adopted children(rarely - the way Milsiril treats Kabru is not perfect, but she's deliberately attempting to be better than other elves.... meaning other elves are usually worse)/pets/objects by elven nobles, as well as accomplished or notable individuals who earn the elves' favour/are "invited" to stay (such as they try with Laios at the end of the story) would be an exception.

Other long-lived races could probably (...?) visit, but given the historical conflict between elves, dwarves, and gnomes, I think they'd also be pretty hostile to many of them coming to live on the NCC, even if they see them as more like equals.

Social Structure & Nobility

The Northern Central Continent is an absolute monarchy under a 372 year old queen, Heimeya (IDK what the official romanisation of her name will be).

...With extended "nobility", which are the group that the canaries' guards draw from. We don't get much clarification of what sort of structure their nobility has, what titles there are, and where our characters who are nobles fall into it.

Pattadol (House of Vari), Mithrun (House of Kerensil), and Milsiril (House of Tol) are nobles.

Mithrun's noble house, Kerensil, is apparently a well-known family of investors! I wonder what sorts of businesses they invest in & what the elven economy is like?

Milsiril's house, on the other hand, is a well-known military family. I wonder if Kabru could claim the surname "of the House of Tol". He did go to family gatherings after all. But if he was comfortable doing so and it would be accepted, I would assume he'd have done so when introducing himself to the canaries.

Flamela is a distant relative of the queen, who has additional status due to exhibiting the genetic trait associated with their queens, extremely dark skin.

The queen is a "staunch traditionalist" who wouldn't even acknowledge a half-elf like Marcille. Nice! I really feel bad for Kabru and Rin growing up as tallmen in this sort of culture.

Court Magicians

While generally this is a term for any magic user who serves in a royal court, in the Northern Central Continent it seems to carry a lot of esteem; even just as the daughter of one, Pattadol assumes Marcille has the right to boss her around and to handle highly secret, highly illegal ancient magic secrets.

That makes sense, as in the society of the Northern Central Continent, you'd be directly serving the elven queen. But also, she has enough Court Magicians that Pattadol would not expect to know Marcille's mother's name, but few enough that it would be a big deal and Cithis would know about it if one had a half-elf child.

I don't think it's remotely unlikely based on that to assume that this role is only available to nobles.

A "Court Magician" who doesn't serve the NCC Queen isn't a "real" Court Magician in the eyes of NCC elves. Those short-lived monarchs would be happy just to have an elf around regardless of whether they were actually any good at magic.... according to Cithis.

Magic seems very important to the society of the NCC elves. The queen communicates with her subordinates via familar, and the birds we see surrounding her seem like they are some kind of magic - perhaps not familiars since we see her familiar, but some other kind of scrying?

Also, based on the fact Pattadol assumes a Court Magician would be serving the Queen of the NCC, we can theorise that perhaps whatever structure the SCC has, it isn't a monarchy....? Heimeya is "the queen of the elves", after all - that doesn't sound like there's another elven monarch competing for the title just next door.

Ordinary People

Apparently the NCC is a safe place and life is easy -- but given the strict class system, I kind of expect that varies a lot depending on the family you're born into.

The only elves we meet who are not nobles are the convicted criminal canaries, so it's hard to get a sense of what life is like for them from that. Cithis was apparently a wealthy fortune teller with "an intense jealousy for those born noble or wealthy." So I assume she was not born into comfort.

Apparently "There are also primitive villages deep in the woods and underground, and in some regions cannibalism is still practiced." Which is awesome. Based on her videogame elves art I think Kui's probably making a little nod to Divinity: Original Sin elves, who can absorb memories through eating the flesh of others. Elves in dungeon meshi don't have this trait, but I wonder if there is a magical ritual or some kind of cultural practice with a similar intention.

Cuisine

Marcille's mother didn't think much of the elven cuisine.

Liricmumwarel is fancy candy given out by the elven queen the shape of which conveys blessings.

Elf Cake is a crumbly dry cake that Kabru and Thistle don't think much of. I've heard someone discuss what it's likely to be made of, but I am afraid I don't recall.

Southern Central Continent

The Adventurer's Bible | p. 132

It seems like the Southern Central Continent gets a lot more immigration and has a more diverse population, especially along the south coast (near the Western Continent). That south coast has a high tallman population.

Fleki and Lycion are from the Southern Central Continent. Fleki got into ancient magic for the money, so you can assume there's probably class disparity there too; things are noted by Kui to be more "disorganised" than the NCC. Not a bad thing at all - the NCC is definitely too "organised" in my books. But that does potentially also mean there's less, e.g., bureaucracy, central organisation, less of a social safety net. But then again, in the NCC I doubt that whatever "safety net" there is, is available to everyone.

We can't extrapolate much from Fleki & Lycion's personalities, because they clearly aren't in the most stable societal position, and I get the sense that they're the countercultural type - they probably don't represent the type of person typical to the SCC. Also, our NCC characters are all either nobles or used to navigating high society (Cithis, Kabru to an extent) so they aren't exactly a typical "ordinary NCC person" as a basis for comparison either. However, there's less of a "strict set of social rules" type of feel to the SCC characters, fitting with my suggestion that the SCC may not be a society with a strong feudal element.

Geopolitics & Conflict

The fact that, despite their being from the SCC, Fleki and Lycion are in the Canaries, who work directly under the NCC's Queen, implies that the the NCC feel entitled to process and prosecute people who commit ancient magic-related crimes regardless of any notion of "jurisdiction". This is backed up by the way that they were going to take Marcille - but that is something that the governor of the Island had to give permission for, which Laios is able to withdraw. So I assume that the NCC elves apply pressure on various world leaders to extradite criminals involved in ancient magic.

The SCC would cooperate with this, since they're allies, even if they don't have a great relationship (according to the World Guide).

The NCC are also clearly able to take half-foots without trouble, as we see by Chilchuck saying he's known half-foots who got involved with "black magic" (ancient magic) and were disappeared by the elves. But I doubt gnomes or dwarves are giving people up easily - though that probably doesn't go for dwarves like Senshi and Namari, without strong community ties.

Long before the current times, elves fought dwarves & gnomes. There might have been more than one of these conflicts...? While long ago, this war isn't "ancient" (like the ancients who sealed the demon into dungeons, before their world was mostly destroyed by it).

Thistle, Delgal, and the Golden Kingdom were (I believe) caught up in one of these conflicts, which used Melini as a staging ground - thus why Thistle was pushed to seal the entire kingdom in the dungeon.

To do this, Thistle unseals a dungeon created by the "ancient people". These could be the "ancients" who created the dungeons, before the apocalypse. Or they could be another, still extinct, society.

Regardless, at least one of these conflicts seems to have taken place after the golden kingdom was sealed - so, within the last 1000 years.

Though, this could refer to a different, more localised conflict between the Golden Kingdom and their dwarven neighbours.

The order of events is that the Golden Kingdom was sealed (1000 years ago or so) > Dwarves took over > Elves stole the land from the Dwarves ("long ago" by the Island Lord, a tallman's, standards) > Elves gave the land to a local lord, who was either an ancestor of the Island Lord, or the Island Lord himself. The Island Lord is himself a descendant of the lord who poisoned Delgal's father, as is noted in the World Guide. However, it isn't impossible for there to be large gaps of time between these events, which could put the elf / dwarf wars at a more recent date.

The fact we know that the elves stole the land from the dwarves, and then granted it to a political actor who was relevant during the events of the Golden Kingdom flashbacks we see suggests to me that the events were roughly contemporaneous. If they were, that puts at least one of these conflicts at roughly 1000 years ago.

So, the elf/dwarf & gnome conflict is "long ago" by short-lived standards, but would be considered "modern" by the long-lived races, if you ask me. At least, the equivalent of the World Wars for us - recent history, even if we weren't alive.

I'm guessing the "Elf King" from the below panel in fact was a word that's more gender-neutral in Japanese, since the "Western Elves" definitely have a queen.

Language

When Kabru says the "Central region" I expect he means the region where the NCC and SCC is.

The fact that he observes that the lack of any accent means he's from the Central Region is really interesting. It could mean two things;

either they switched to speaking in the language spoken on those continents, which Kabru would naturally know, having grown up there. It's 100 percent possible, but I think this would be noted in the story.

or, the language that gets called "the common tongue", the one that all our principle characters speak for most of the story, originated from the elves in the Central Continent. Or at least it's the same one that the elves use, and their political influence is great enough that their accent gets to be considered not an accent at all. The fact they were "granting" land in this area to tall-man lords suggests a large enough historical influence in the area that this is quite plausible to me.

Mithrun absolutely does have an accent - nobody speaks without an accent. His accent is just politically and socioculturally normalised to the point of being considered the "default/proper" way to speak - like received pronounciation in English.

The common tongue isn't ubiquitous everywhere - not just Kuro, but Kiki and Kaka are also noted to be studying the common tongue. The Tansus were born on the Eastern Continent, so probably gnome communities there speak their own language - Kiki and Kaka grew up primarily surrounded by gnomes after all.

It's also quite likely that Kabru, specifically, because of where he grew up, would consider Mithrun's way of talking to be the default "not an accent" accent. His adoptive mother surely has the same upper-class NCC accent. I expect that other characters might experience it as more "marked".

This isn't a world where everyone speaks the same language everywhere; the common tongue is called that, but there are many different languages. Kabru and Chilchuck are two characters who are adept with many of them - Kabru speaks the language of the kobold, and probably lots more. Chilchuck works as an interpreter as part of his union stuff - I can tell you from experience that that's a hugely valuable skillset in that context, as many of the people who most need union representation are people who don't speak the dominant language, or at least not fluently.

If you got all the way to the end of this post.... thank you for reading, I love you. Check out my other World Map Notes under that tag on my blog; I've made a few so far and there will almost certainly be more. Next I'm thinking the dwarven nations...? But I could be persuaded if someone had a preference.

Also, anyone got any speculation on what, exactly, is the previous time that Heimeya ate a person/monster/chimera that this panel implies:

We really don't have anything to go on whatsoever, but I think it's a fun tidbit.

#og post #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #dungeon meshi meta #dunmeshi #dungeon meshi analysis #delicious in dungeon spoilers #dunmeshi spoilers #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi meta #the canaries #milsiril #mithrun #kabru of utaya #i feel sooooooo sane to have made this. but it has some super interesting details imo #colour coding only on the TLDR just cause I dont want ppl to take my theories as fact #character info I drop without a panel comes from the world bible #world map notes

[strawhatyami]

Trafalgar Law being a little shit in order of appearances.

(Pre-Timeskip manga edition)

#trafalgar law #trafalgar d water law #one piece #One piece manga #One piece manga spoilers #surgeon of death #eustass kid #Pre-Timeskip law was such a vibe i miss him #Going through the manga to take screenshots for an upcoming rant/analysis thing i'm doing on this anime #and the urge to save every panel that this man appears in is just overwhelming let me tell you

[easy-revenge]

its been over 2 years since i read volume 9 of chainsaw man and it still apparently has the power to make me sob uncontrollably when i think about it so im going to talk a bit about aki and denji being shown as children during the snowball fight and why it's currently making me wanna rip my hair out :)

aki is already gone during this scene for all intents and purposes, having very little comprehension of the events his body is in and just waiting to be set free. his mind reverting back to the moment he lost his family is not surprising, since that's when his life permanently changed trajectory.

he's not to blame for being stuck in this moment, as it would make sense for any kid his age. however, he didn't put himself on the path towards revenge, which inevitably made him unable to let go. that was makima. she took him by the hand and gave him this "purpose", something she very well knew he was never going to achieve anyway. she trapped him in this predicament and made sure he stayed there till there were no options left for him.

to the very end, aki's life was never his own, but planned for him. aki never left that snowy forest. he wasn't allowed to.

as a result, the essence of aki that remained within the gun fiend after his death materialized as the last genuine version of aki that ever was. a kid playing in front of his house.

moving over to denji, who is the one that got me crying today. his appearance as a child in aki's mind is partly to parallel the bond they shared and the bond between aki and his little brother, whom he lost that day. of course. however i think there's a lot of significance to this choice for denji's character as well.

denji grew up remote and very disconnected from society. he never got the chance to learn how to navigate his feelings and relationships with other people. he had to figure it all out as he went, first with pochita, whom he got attached to and later with aki and power. even with makima.

makima was the first person to ever give him attention and affection, to give him the things he always wanted, but she never treated him like a person. she never helped him get any closer to learning how to be one. he was used, much like aki was, and was given a purpose that was never going to be for his own benefit.

as a result, denji took a while to go through the motions of being surrounded by humans and being taught by them. the first time we saw him face the concept of loss was with pochita, an event that didn't really give him much in terms of experience considering all the implications and how suddenly it changed his life. in its nature, it wasn't a type of loss he would've been able to navigate as a human.

im not going to go into the situation with his father since we saw very explicitly how incapable he was to handle it to the point of blocking it out and having it haunt him till the end of part one. he surely didn't get much data out of that experience either, or the abuse he went through before it.

the first real time he got to see loss occur very close to him was himeno's death. he had no emotional reaction to it, which confused him since he was able to observe its effect on aki and other people around him. he questioned his own humanity for the first time and it upset him, if only momentarily. it gave him a hint of perspective.

sadly, he was going to find out what loss meant the hard way.

with makima still treating him like an animal and the circumstances forcing him to still rely on his instincts, denji's emotional maturity wasn't really prioritized. he did inevitably grow closer to aki and power, without necessarily being able to recognize those feelings for what they were. again he just had to go through the motions.

fast forward to the gun devil arc. he's told by makima on the phone to not think, to just fight aki without thinking about it. we see the progress that's been made in how clearly unable denji is to follow that order, aki being the closest thing to family he's ever had by this point.

he fights his best friend, not even thinking about himself, but of how aki would feel if he were conscious of how much destruction he was causing. still up to this point, denji doesn't know that he loves aki. it hasn't computed to him as a piece of info, only as an experience.

him being shown as a child in the snow, a contrast to the violent reality that his body is in, has as much significance as it does for aki.

denji never really grew up, he never got past his father's death or anything that happened to him before and after that. he was kept from it by his life and makima herself, once again. his ineptitude was weaponized and he was nowhere near being aware of it. he was also stuck.

in that scene, denji experiences real loss. he loses someone he loves and someone who loves him back. someone who thought himself unable to do so but was the first to love him like a human.

he was just a kid, losing his family by his own hand again, only this time he had been loved.

it's highlighted in the next chapter, where he appears unable to grieve and looks kind of numb instead. then we have the ice cream scene, where he thinks the words for the first time and throws up immediately.

his confusion after it happens, him being unable to fathom why his body would have such a reaction, breaks my heart almost more than the entirety of the snowball fight itself, from denji's pov.

im not going to talk about what happens directly after that and its implications bc im gonna end up talking forever, but his behavior throughout the next chapters very much shows how out of his depth he is when it comes to loss and grief and how lost and helpless he is in makima's hands.

my point is, both aki and denji were used, weaponised and kept from growing up while also having to deal with the world and its cruelty at the same time. even the closeness they achieved was planned and used against them both. this is only one of many angles of the snowball fight scene that can be looked at and interpreted in different ways. but it was the one that made me ugly cry today :)

#oof #this was inspired by a tiktok i saw with panels from that scene #and i went from fine to snot running down my face in the span of a singular minute #:))) #chainsaw man #aki hayakawa #chainsaw man denji #denji #hayakawa family #csm #chainsaw man manga #chainsaw man manga spoilers #chainsaw man analysis #makima

[fourshords]

FOUR SWORDS JP MANGA BREAKDOWN 1/???

VIZ permanently has infected how this manga is interpreted in canonical discussion in so many ways.

Today i'll talk about when they made the translation error where vio says "shadow wasnt really evil" because in japanese he says

"shadow did all these evil things because, he wanted us to look behind and see him"

(the usage of reflect/look behind is so artistic to me btw cause. Shadow. Yknow)

also the bottom bubble says

"He really was lonely, that guy"

NOT whatever Viz put in, with the whole "he wants us to be Our Family" this misinterprets/twists shadow's original character quite a bit

also Shadow says to Vio after betrayal says

"you're worse than an evil person!!" (or more directly, "worse than a bad person, you are!!!) ((yoda ass))

and not .... whatever Viz put in there (best translation i can give)

VIZ also is just terribly translated and inserted a lot of weird "family friendly american lessons" (EX: He wanted us to be our Family) where there were not any, and took out a lot of meaning and characterization behind certain scenarios, (especially for blue) but thats another discussion...

#shosh #anyway. sorry this may break like a majority of this fandom's fav panels #but uhhh sorry...its literally JUST VIZ. #four swords manga #four swords + #vio #shadow #vio link #shadow link #i'm being really ballsy putting those tags in LOL #analysis #jp translation #four swords adventures

[kookoofufu]

I love that what makes characters respected and honorable in One Piece isn't what side they're on but whether they have an ideology they wholeheartedly believe in and fight for, even if it's considered impossible or doesn't make sense to other people.

This is established right at the beginning with Luffy's dream to be king of the pirates and Zoro's dream to be the world's greatest swordsman. Their refusal to back down is honorable because they're 100% committed, even if it means dying.

This also applies to Sanji's refusal to hurt women. To many readers it's a dumb standard since he won't fight certain battles, even if it puts him and his friends in danger, but it's what he truly believes and his commitment to his principles is respected. This is what makes him asking Robin for help in Wano so powerful— he's relying on his friends without feeling like a burden, even though his principles can be inconvenient for them.

This extends beyond the Straw Hats, of course. We respect Koby and Garp even though they're part of the Marines because of their commitment to justice, to the point where we forgive Garp for not saving Ace. We see his internal conflict and understand the choice he makes, even if we don't agree with him.

Bellamy is my favorite tragic example of this. Bellamy defends Doflamingo even after being betrayed, refuses to back down, fights Luffy even though he doesn't have to, and we still root for him. Bellamy was so adamant about not believing in dreams, so committing himself to an impossible ideal is admirable and significant character development, even if he makes the wrong choice.

More recently, Buggy wanting to be King of the Pirates makes him 100x more endearing—he's defying two former warlords to commit to his impossible dream because its what he truly wants. He isn't going to succeed, even Buggy probably knows he doesn't stand a chance against Shanks and Luffy, but he's going for it anyway which is HUGE since he's spent his whole life as a coward.

Not to mention characters like Gin, Katakuri, King, etc, who are all likeable antogonists because they're honorable.

And this is what makes Akainu a great villain. We all hate that mf but he truly believes in his idea of absolute justice. I think the biggest difference in why we like other characters and hate Akainu for having the same ideological commitment is that his first instinct isn’t being willing to die but willing to kill, and that makes him incredibly dangerous.

#one piece #manga panel #op spoilers #op meta #one piece meta #one piece analysis #idk what to tag this #write up #Bellamy

[threeclockkeeperlovereal]

Amane knew his time was short.

its referred to as the big clock, just like the clock keeper rumor.

it's said how it's been frozen for a very long time

Hanako can't remember, but my theory is that he knew his time would be cut short. he seems very resentful and lonely, Tsukasa and him have their differences, that seem unfixable.

this may be because he knows there a demon inside or there's something more that happened. but I believe he's trying to fix the clock, to change time all together

you may change the schools time as you will if it's in your possession. but the clock isn't moving? yes, if you can make it move it's yours to command. so Amane's goal was to have it move so he can change time, or maybe he didn't even know about this? well, it's highly possible he did, Tsukasa may have told him all about the supernatural, and so Amane would know. because of the red house demon now coexisting with Tsukasa he may think this has changed him too much, I do believe that the red house demon took part of Tsukasa's heart in payment, and Amane wants to turn time back to "fix" Tsukasa, he may have forgotten because, humans forget about the supernatural gradually, Amane is already a special case, so it may be possible that this happened or it's a blocked out memory done by "God" it may also be due to trauma.

well, anyways

you need the clock keepers permission, or else it's death for you. with the current plot Natsuhiko's goal is to use the clock, it's only now because the auditorium is only ever open once a year. so the clock keepers are only accessible once a year.

so Natsuhiko will recruit Akane, to gain a clock keepers permission to touch the clock

or else he wouldn't be able to

#i got the manga panels! so here's the theory! #jshk #tbhk #jshk manga #tbhk manga #tbhk spoilers #jshk spoilers #jibaku shonen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #akane aoi #aoi akane #tbhk mirai #tbhk kako #tbhk clock keeper arc #the three clock keepers #tbhk no 1 #tbhk clock keepers #tbhk theory #jshk theory #tbhk analysis #jshk analysis #tbhk 101 #hyuuga natsuhiko #natsuhiko hyuuga #amane yugi #yugi amane

[bsdtual]

These panels actually hit me like a truck. Even "Hikaru" noticed that Yoshiki still has feelings for Hikaru. Yoshiki never talked abt that with anyone bc he knows no one would truly understands and he also knows that Hikaru didn't like him back

He keeps "Hikaru" around with the hope that it'd make it hurt less, but seeing someone with Hikaru's appearance every day and knowing it's not him anymore just make the pain worse

Even if he doesn't understands feelings very well, "Hikaru" loves Yoshiki, he took this feeling from Hikaru and is dealing with it in a totally different way, but Yoshiki doesn't allows himself to love back bc he knows this ISN'T the Hikaru he loved

I love the way this manga talks abt grief and one sided love using horror and supernatural stuff

#i'm sorry if i couldn't make myself clear on some topics #english is not my first language #but i needed to rant abt this manga and those two #someone pay my therapy #the summer hikaru died #hikaru ga shinda natsu #hikaru #yoshiki #manga panels #manga analysis #rant post #mari.txt

[mishy-mashy]

Just wanna say this: the High-End Hood should've been Shinomori's corpse.

Yes, it's confirmed Hood is some random fighter from the underground, but it just makes more sense if it were Shinomori at the base?? At the least, I think it'd be verrry fascinating

Although it might be a bit cliche, like if Kudo were Bakugo's ancestor, but it'd be a nice piece of trivia. It wouldn't have to be said outright. Like AFO losing Yoichi's hand cuz of All Might.

Endeavor just fights and kills Shinomori, a cute hermit that gave the rest of his life because of OFA, and Bruce's trust in him over said Factor. Even using his turn to build up strength, Shinomori was looking forward to the future too

A parallel of wanting to be the strongest is drawn between Shinomori and Endeavor. Even after death, the duty of OFA haunts even a corpse.

For why it makes sense if Hood were Shinomori;

Shinomori and Hood wear the same kind of pants (Hood's is ripped, but he's a Nomu and corpse, so it makes sense). It even ends just below the knee. A colored version because I don't want to open the anime;

Shinomori's desire to avoid the strongest (AFO) could've been tweaked by Garaki to look for the strongest instead

Hood looking for the strongest person (hero) could even be Shinomori's desire to give OFA to someone strong enough to protect and grow the Factor. As a hero, someone trustworthy

My [OFA Users are High-Ends theory post] for why Shinomori would be a good base for a High-End

AFO didn't know his face, so the High-End could've been named Hood to keep up themes. That AFO didn't know his face, and even now, he has a "hood"; Hood's face isn't visible beyond glowing features at first

Endeavor burned Hood and said to rest. This could've been Shinomori getting his cremation, and that Shinomori could relax (about OFA)

Endeavor said Hood is possibly Endeavor from the past or the future. In the past, Shinomori wanted to grow his strength for the Factor, so technically, Shinomori wanted to be the strongest. The strongest he could be, at least

The fact we know Shinomori underwent an autopsy, and that Garaki works in morgues to harvest corpses

The knowledge that multiple Quirks kills the normal (not-AFO) person is found in Shinomori. Finding this out, this could've been the reason Garaki and AFO specifically use corpses for Nomus. That way, there's no life force to drain, and technically no drawbacks to the wielder

Garaki was alive during Shinomori's time. Considering these panels,

This happens chronologically. AFO knew Bruce only had leftover embers (he could tell the same with All Might), which is why he looks so dismissive of his corpse. He's just wondering where Yoichi could be now.

AFO met Garaki after he killed Bruce. With all his followers and the way AFO is sitting, he's likely in search of Yoichi in Shinomori. But he never sees or meets the wielder. Thus the way he has his head down, as if upset and ignoring the insignificant crowds

That's why, when he finds Banjo, he's smiling. Yoichi is right in front of him again, after 18+ years of nothing.

Garaki was probably alive for all the OFA users. He's already looking middle-aged when he first meets AFO, and his Ability is just longer life. So he looks younger than he actually is anyway.

Since AFO faced all the previous OFA Users (sans Shinomori), AFO had access to their bodies when they died. Meanwhile, Shinomori ends up in the morgue anyway, likely by Banjo.

AFO shredded Yoichi's body apart, so there's no corpse left. He killed Kudo, Bruce, Banjo, En, and Nana; but not Shinomori, who died of old age, or All Might or Midoriya, because they're still alive.

He has access to the corpses of the previous holders he killed himself, and left relatively intact. And Banjo may as well have given him Shinomori's corpse to figure out what killed a relatively-young, healthy man.

With access to those corpses, AFO and Garaki could've preserved the corpses of OFA Users to make High-Ends

(Maybe see this post where I elaborate why OFA users make great bases for High-Ends)

#this post is again based off of my tags on another post #namely my [OFA users can be the base for High-Ends theory] post #my points are based off of when i watched the anime so manga translations wont be a perfect match #i dont wanna go to the anime cuz its problematic but also. its a fight. thats a lot of panels to track #meanwhile i have manga here thats static and not as hard to access #FOR A MANGA WITH SO MUCH SUBTLE DETAILS PEOPLE SHOULD THINK MORE ABOUT THEM #YES ITS A SHOUNEN BUT MAN. ITS REALLY SMART. #small details really show that thought was put into it yknow #bnha #spoilers #hikage shinomori #mha #ofa #afo #one for all #all for one #garaki kyudai #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bruce #kudo #banjo daigoro #nana shimura #en tayutai #yoichi shigaraki #hood #nomu #analysis #maybe? i thought about this so maybe its considered that

[rash0mon]

reason of living: akutagawa ryūnosuke

debatably, bungou stray dogs is easily the most existentialist anime out there, as the main premise of existentialism (in a rough sense) - that reason of living is something individual to man, is an underlying compartment of the series, making it as awe-inspiring as it is. each character is seen to either have, or be striving towards finding their distinct reason for living. now, i wanted to retrospect a bit into akutagawa's character and how his reason affected him, his actions, morals - as well as how it possibly shifted (especially in recent chapters of the manga and anime episodes). keep in mind that at i am just laying down my opinion and observations of akutagawa`s character - some things may be fairly obvious, some uncertain or not matching your opinion, which is why i leave space for conclusion, theory, discussion.

pre-mafia

generally, we know little about akutagawa`s life before the mafia, other than small snippets shown throughout the main manga as well as in beast (although beast is an AU, it can still effectively aid in understanding his character in the canon universe). as akutagawa's companions were annihilated, it seemed that he had no reason to live. where, as we all probably know, this soon happened afterwards. from then on, everything changed.

mafia

after that night in the forest, akutagawa's life completely shifted - or moreso, he got a new life. his whole new reason of living being - pleasing dazai, getting validation from the person who gave his life a new meaning. exploring the relationship and dynamic between these two is a whole another post, which is why i shall keep it short. now, i would like to note that even if akutagawa has an unhealthy attachment to dazai, and is being emotionally manipulated by him - he is very much sensible of it. in fact, akutagawa is remarkably self-aware and perceptive, especially of the people around him, just more subtly, through his cold layer of stoicism. he is not the cold-blooded murderer with no sense of morality that many like to paint him as. yes, he is intently focused on achieving dazai's approval, pursuing that ideal in a way familiar to himself. he knows that it is not what is considered "right" by general moral rules, but he does not do much about it, as his reason of living would then diminish. dazai leaves him with a looming sense of inferiority, as he feels he is worthless no matter what he does, unless he is to achieve dazai's attention and approval. this sense of inferiority haunts him, and guides his recklesness and death-or-glory actions.

he sees the ethical issues in his own actions, and he knows there is a better life for him. he just doesn't pursue it. this is also portrayed well in his relationship with kyouka, which could have been yet another repetition of the abuse cycle started by mori and continued by dazai - but it was not, as kyouka found the world of light. he is even happy for her, as we can see. this is one of the few snippets where we can see his sensibility when it comes to others. when he stated "i knew a man with the same eyes as yours", referring to himself, in a way, he sees that he also could`ve found the world of light. but at that point, it seemed to be too late... or at least that is what he thought.

akutagawa doesn't hate atsushi. he sees him as a reflection of himself, himself if he had a different reason of living, if he met dazai a bit later, if he pursued the world of light. he is jealous of him in a sense, yes, but he does not blame him for the fact that he didn't get dazai's approval as many like to speculate. atsushi is the first person who challenges akutagawa's "way", philosophy of living. as he sees himself in him, he fulfills their promise of not killing anyone for 6 months... perhaps because of a faint hope for the world of light? he holds onto this even as a vampire, which shows his pure determination. and it makes me think, that he did not go and protect atsushi only because of dazai, as often speculated, due to the points stated beforehand. as dazai stated: “Akutagawa—he’s like a sword without a sheath.” Dazai grinned from ear to ear. “He’ll surely become the Mafia’s strongest skill user in the not-so-distant future, but for now he needs someone who can teach him how to put that sword away.”

perhaps, atsushi is that person for him rather than dazai.

chapter 88 and vampirism

as stated beforehand, akutagawa obviously does not go to save atsushi only due to his wish to be approved by dazai. there is something deeper underlying, and we have seen numerous times before that akutagawa genuinely cares about, and admires atsushi in the same way he admires and is happy for kyouka - although he would not admit it explicitly, of course. akutagawa fights fukuchi alongside atsushi, leaving himself in a completely vulnerable state, in a simple wish as to redeem, or prove himself in a way. to fulfill his meaning. he is in a special rush to do so even so because of his lung disease, which has a severe impact on the intensity and ruthlesness of his actions throughout entirety of the series. he lays his life down, but he does not go down without a fight. he stays true to his purpose...until his last moments.

at his last moment, in the given panel, however, something changes. we see a different vision of akutagawa. as he lets go of his coat, and is able to manifest his ability without it, i would say that his reason shifted. he states "i don't need words, but only actions", which is the most important sentence in understanding his character and development if you ask me. words being dazai`s words of approval, which he lets go of, like the coat he gave him. a new reason emerges, "actions". he does not need dazai anymore. he only needs himself, raw. this is further emphasized as his coat is lost in the sea by atsushi, who he gave it to. there is no reason to hold on to the past anymore... as a new era emerges.

a new era where akutagawa is not alive, apparently. he is a vampire. however, we can still see that he holds on to some of principles that caused him to change in the first place, such as not killing aya, and keeping the promise he and atsushi made. even when not concious of his actions and controlled by fukuchi, he still holds on to it. which leads me to believe, that there is truly hope for him. atsushi shares the same line of thought... as his perception of akutagawa gradually shifts to a positive one, which is why he wants him to snap out of his vampirism. atsushi understands akutagawa to the core, as they are two sides of the same coin. which is why he hopes for him. if possible, i wish for him to let go of the vampire curse and continue on developing his new reason of living... his new life. we can only long for that at this moment.

we have seen the gradual evolution of akutagawa's character throughout the series in terms of seeking his reason of living - something that is central to each character in bungou stray dogs. which leads me to end this post with what dazai stated to kyouka, which quite well describes his, and all of the other characters ordeals in striving to find a reason to live:

Your anguish isn’t yours alone. What should one do, when what they want to be isn’t what they’re best at? Everyone fights, searching for the correct way to live their lives. What do they seek by fighting? How ought they live? No one can say. All we have is the right to waver. Like stray dogs that have hit rock bottom.

#akutagawa ryuunosuke #bsd akutagawa #bungou stray dogs #bsd analysis #dazai osamu #atsushi nakajima #shin soukoku #kyouka izumi #rashomon #bsd #bsd manga #literary stray dogs #anime #anime and manga #manga panel #manga #character analysis #port mafia #existentialism #anime post #akuatsu #bungo stray dogs akutagawa #bsd beast #dark era bsd #bsd quote #dark era dazai #bungou gay dogs #akutagawa x atsushi #sskk #bsd sskk

[exstasyplague]

GOJO WON'T DIE ㅡ JJK Chapter 236 Analysis

!SPOILERS AHEAD!

hi guys. it's your favourite overthinker again. after a few hours of hardcore coping, i calmed down amd re-read the chapter.

i am not saying this is certain but gege's writing is never unintentional so... let's get started!

first of all, from the get-go we are met with the symbolism of lotus flowers.

lotuses rise from the mud without stains. they represent purity, strength and rebirth.

after the (soul wrenching, tear jerker, mentally draining) conversation he had with suguru, nanami and haibara, he bids them farewell, taking a different path.

ㅡ"move north, if you are looking for a new side of yourself or move south if you want to stay who you are." (nanami speaking about death)

gojo has always been the strongest; a bit of a thrill seeker, taking things for granted, fooling around with his enemies etc. without being the strongest he wasn't... anything, that's how the world shaped him. geto pointed the same issue out when asking —'are you the strongest because you're gojo satoru? or are you gojo satoru because you're the strongest?'

it's time gojo will finally figure this out.

you might say: "but plague, that's just metaphors, give me some SOLID evidence, NOW!"

RCT comes from the brain.

gojo went from this expression

to this smile when sukuna was praising him.

yuta and shoko can do RCT on others, gojo can maintain himself (barely) alive. kashimo jumping sukuna will be a good enough distraction for them to finally set foot on the battle ground and help him.

also, the editor's note at the end says: "run, quickly, to death's pace." so. pfft. what else should i add, really?

kashimo, i may have hated you a bit for being overhyped yet you are fulfilling your role magnificently.

i can confidently say this is not a cope. so have some faith.

#jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #geto suguru #jjk manga #ryoumen sukuna #jjk analysis #jjk 236 #jjk spoilers #jjk leaks #jujutsu kaisen manga #jjk manga spoilers #manga panel #jjk panel analysis #jujutsu kaisen panel #sukuna vs gojo #jujutsu gojo #jjk gojo

[alevens]

hey so the order in which the strawhats disappeared was really fucked up right???

i mean, Kizaru was already targeting Zoro because he was more hurt than the rest, so they were already escaping from a fucking admiral and his men, and then Kuma was in front of them, the real Kuma appears out of nowhere, the moment we see him we forget momentarily about Kizaru- because there's this moment between Zoro and Kuma where they talk about what happened in Thriller Bark,

"Roronoa... so you were alive",

"all thanks to you benevolence"

and the next thing we know, is that Zoro's fucking gone

so onto what i wanted to yap about, the order in which they disappear:

everyone was worried about the current situation, but the top priority while they were escaping was Zoro- Zoro, who couldn't move- Zoro, who Kizaru wanted dead first- Zoro, who wanted to be left behind so the rest could escape, Zoro, who knows what the warlord in front of him is capable of-

Zoro, the first ever member of the crew.

everyone see this and it's worse than actually witnessing his death, because he's just gone and they have no idea where he is. and no matter how much they want to do something, Luffy orders them to keep running, that they will find a way to rescue Zoro once they're all safe,

but Kuma's too fast and he's right next to Usopp, Sanji and Brook, he tries to buy some time for Sanji and Usopp,

but it's in vain

and then Brook's next, he's the second one to get taken away, the last member to have joined them

(and not only the fact that he's their newest member, but the fact that it's made a point he's been trying his hardest to fit in and be helpful I'm SICK)

Sanji could have been next, but in trying to protect Usopp what he ends up accomplishing is that their sniper gets taken away next, the fact that Usopp's third makes me go absolutely batshit crazy with the way they frame it too

he's so so scared, how could he not be?? and it's not the same fear he usually feels while on their adventure, it's pure desperation- there's no one to help him and he can't fight- he can't get away and-

and then he's gone

Sanji instead of running, he charges, angry at Kuma and at himself (oh the way he was gripping his hair because he couldn't do anything to save Zoro and Brook) at this point it's obvious what the outcome will be, that's why Luffy specifically yells at him to run

but he doesn't, and then he's gone too.

(Usopp being third is fucked up mostly because Sanji's the fourth one, and they make it a point to show him trying to rescue Usopp. a less powerful member dissapears right in front of one of the most powerful of them, and then Sanji, who can hold his ground as much as Zoro and Luffy can, disappears)

in the blink of an eye, half of Luffy's crew isn't there

Luffy's full on crying at this point, everything's happening too fast, and why is Kuma even doing this in the first place? he has to do something before they take the rest of his crew- because he made it obvious that this isn't something the world government ordered him to do, so they're facing two enemies at once, a warlord and an admiral,

Luffy goes gear two, and when Kuma sees this, he goes to where Franky and Nami are- Luffy tries to strike an attack (and the fact that this could be where he sends him away but chooses not to Oh my fucking god) but Kuma easily stops him, and right there he touches Franky (he's the fifth one and it's too crazy just how he goes group for group, not only the order in which they disappear one by one) with Luffy right there, he's right there watching directly when it happens.

and then there's Nami. with them i think it the contrary of what happened with Usopp and Sanji, here, Nami's the one left alone, they take Franky first, who had tried to defend them both

oh this goddamn scene I SWEAR- it's incredibly painful to watch, at this point there are only four strawhats still standing, but there's no hope left, they can only keep trying but it's obvious that they're just acting on instinct, that's why Nami asks for help, because she knows there's nothing else to do- she tries to reach out for Luffy, her captain, the way Luffy had been so close to both Franky and Nami when Kuma touched them? horribly well done

Luffy's literally begging that Kuma leaves them alone but then he goes to where Chopper is, and Chopper- ughhhhh, the fact he used a form he couldn't even control just to try to save his friends, THE FACT that Kuma touches him when he's like that- the doctor of the strawhats, he's seventh one to disappear, and he couldn't even process it, Chopper didn't even know most of his crew was gone (if he hadn't been transformed, i'm sure he would have reached out too, just like Nami and Robin)

the last one is Robin, Robin being the last one killed me, the "demon child" that had found her places in the world, who wants to live, live with her crew, the ones that showed her she's worth fighting the entire world for- she calls for Luffy, and then- (Luffy running and shouting at Robin to get away, he's not fast enough and when he reaches Kuma he's already touched Robin FUCK-)

then Luffy's the only one there, Luffy being the last one is cruel having him watch his entire crew vanish in front of him was torture, and we're just left with him and his pain, Luffy has cried before, but not like this, not as he beats himself up for not being able to save his friends.

and it ends with this:

#one piece #straw hat crew #straw hat pirates #monkey d. luffy #sabaody #one piece analysis #kinda??? #i'm just yapping honestly #i'm not entirely sure if it's coherent enough honestly #but i NEEDED to get this out of my system #this entire episode was so so good #the montage? killed me #Luffy crying? KILLED ME #everything killed me #i said dissapear so much it doesn't even feel like a real word anymore lmao #al watching that one pirate show #yes i'm talking about the anime but used a panel from the manga #it looks cool as heck so i used it instead of an screenshot from the show

[greatwyrmgold]

OnK Chapter 137

Oh shit, the cameras were still rolling? I thought Ruby's outburst was just her venting.

Okay, from an thematic and emotional perspective, I get what's going on here. Gotanda had an epiphany about the real Ai Hoshino from watching her daughter's ad-lib or venting or whatever it was, and he wants to change the movie to reflect that reality.

But from a filmmaking perspective, can't you just shoot the scene again and remind Ruby to stay on-script? Surely their schedule isn't so tight that they can't do another take. Or just cut the bit where Ruby/Ai says "I hate everyone, screw them all, what did I do wrong?" off the end of the scene.

It seemed like the conversation was over and Ruby was walking off-set, so you probably wouldn't lose anything. Unless Ruby was supposed to say a different line, but since she was walking away, it wouldn't be hard to dub in audio from a different take.

And while "Ai wasn't a perfect idol, she's a normal girl who the adults around her forced into the mold of a perfect idol" is probably accurate, I find it weird that characters are coming to conclusions about Ai's true nature after watching Ruby's acting. After all—

—yeah, what she said. Ruby isn't Ai, and she never will be. That's good! (I'm glad that Ruby will keep trying to be friends with Kana no matter how this movie goes.) However, having Ruby literally say that she's not like her mom, in key ways relevant to the scene she was just acting in, when those scenes were used as insight fuel for accurate-sounding insights about her mom's true nature...there's tension there.

For Gotanda's logic to be valid, Ruby's acting would need to in some way reflect Ai's true self. But at the same time, Ruby herself insists that she doesn't reflect Ai's true self. And while it's not impossible for Gotanda's conclusion to be accurate even if it's based on erroneous logic, Ruby undermining that logic within half a dozen pages of explaining his conclusion feels pointed. The proximity of those two related things feels significant, like one is supposed to make us question the other.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

On an unrelated note.

Selling "the genius child actor who can cry in 10 seconds" as a genius actor? Seems pretty straightforward.

#oshi no ko #manga #ai hoshino #ruby hoshino #media analysis #random thoughts #manga panels

[komabaichirouu]

listen i know arakawa vehemently refused the idea of introducing a love triangle/a love rival in silver spoon

but heres the thing

she already did

her name is ayame minamikujou

she is introduced as mikage's childhood friend. shes loud and condescending and annoying. but most importantly she is viscerally jealous of hachiken's spot in ezo ag because it means he gets to go to school with mikage.

she believes he took the place that belongs to her. she treats him poorly. refuses to remember his name and picks whatever number comes to her mind instead. to a point that becomes ridiculous. like what the fuck is this

she shows zero respect towards him but she. compliments mikage a lot? under the guise of being a rival of course but like we know how gay rivalries tend to be. she shows a lot of faith in mikage's abilities and pushes her to be better. she's even the whole reason mikage becomes less nervous and competes as well as she did.

i dont have the panels but did i mention that she founded an equestrian club at her school and is its only member? going through all that trouble just to see mikage in competitions? probably getting hounded by faculty to get more members or to give it up? all that for a girl? interesting. very interesting

anyways the day hachiken collapses she drops by to be a general nuisance, but when aki asks for her help, she calls her dad to bring her horse with zero hesitation

the second she hears aki intends to go to college, she decides she wants to go too (once again under the guise of "competition", which is fooling absolutely nobody by now)

when she fails and shingo pushes her to try again, she complains that it means she would be aki's junior.

what this means :

a- confirmation that just like many other things literally her only motivation is to be with aki

b- as pointed out by hachiken, she fully believes that aki will get in through her recommendation

when aki's recommendation is accepted she brags about knowing aki had it in her all along. and like, she's right. she believed in mikage the whole time (even though she shows it in her weird ojou-sama ways)

bonus: she hates men

the entire thing is hilarious in and of itself (imo she is THE funniest character) but what makes it funnier is the idea that arakawa didnt put in a love rival at the request of her editor, just to write a character that is essentially a mockery of the idea.

even funnier than that is the fact that hachiken was sitting there, worrying sick about the possibility of aki and komaba being together because of a few misunderstandings, when this girl is essentially claiming that she will steal his gf whenever she's on the page

ok ive spoken my truth time to hide away for a few more months

#silver spoon #gin no saji #silver spoon spoilers #silver spoon manga #ayame minamikujou #aki mikage #hiromu arakawa #character analysis #queer coding #im supposed to be making a video but all i could think about was her #responding to this ask about komaba made me realize that i dont think ive spoken about ayame very much on this blog #shes one of my favorite characters and silver spoon would not be the same without her #i aspire to be this much of a menace #sometimes i wonder if my thoughts on queer coding in silver spoon arent plain delusions or headcanons taken too far #but like when i see this panel of her complaining that aki got tricked by a man im like. yeah. thats a lesbian #alternatively : narcissistic personality disorder and aki is her favorite person but thats a post for another year