#tournament arcs are hit or miss usually but I really really love this one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

godofsexdrugsandrocknroll · 3 years

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Jaune’s Father: “Walk the walk Jaune and talking the talk will come natural”

Jaune: *Stunned by Pyrrha kissing him*

Pyrrha: *About to shove Jaune in the rocket locker*

Jaune: *Feels Pyrrha’s hands on his chest, misinterprets and shoves his tongue down Pyrrha’s throat*

Pyrrha: *Eyes open in shock* MMMMPPPHHH!!!!! *Flustered by her naughtiest dreams coming true*

Jaune: *Enjoying the kiss, grabs and squeezes Pyrrha’s asscheeks*

Pyrrha: *Squeals, tries to push Jaune off*

Jaune: *Thinking Pyrrha’s about to push him into the locker and run off to die, panics*

Pyrrha: *Pyrrha’s brain shuts down as Jaune’s thigh rubs against her core, loses the ability to stand upright*

Jaune: *Spins, pushes a dazed Pyrrha in the locker and sets it off*

Pyrrha: *Already three hundred feet from Jaune* W-what, no! No! NOOOO!!! *Incredibly angry* Gosh flipping darnit girl, you l-let him get you all riled up and now he’s going to get himself killed!

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Jaune: *In an elevator* This is officially the stupidest idea you’ve ever had! Even worse than the stuff with Cardin, worse than the Deathstalker, worse than the time you took the blame for Coral breaking the window and somehow, someway, worse than the time you let Saphron put you in a dress, do your makeup and practice kissing a ‘girl’!

Elevator: *Shakes ominously*

Jaune: *Pale* I mean you just had your first real kiss with a girl, you felt her ass up and holy gods does Pyrrha have a nice, tight, big one, you’re still hard as diamonds and instead of running from the school that literally had a hole burnt through it by some kind of fucking firebreathing Grimm abomination, you go in! *Elevator goes into freefall*

Elevator: *Jaune’s screams replace screeching metal, crashes*

Jaune: *Climbs out, unharmed but aura has shattered* There’s got to be a limit, Jaune! Sure I turned Pyrrha to putty in my hands but that should not translate into running headfirst into certain death! Stupid Dad and his stupid advice! *Is hit in the head by a cane* Fucking ow! What the shit!?

*Witnesses Ozpin firing a gout of emerald fire that clashes with two huge streams of fire from the hot Haven girls hands*

Jaune: Oh what the fuck. And here I thought walking the walk was gonna be cool. Stupid Pyrrha. *Ducks underneath a scintillating jade orb thrown by Ozpin which vaporizes the elevator leaving nothing behind, in a falsetto* ‘Oh I’ll just kiss him and he’ll be so surprised and then I’ll shove him in a locker and go do something that’ll probably get myself killed. Teehee!’ *Breathes out* Not that I’m doing any better. The hot but apparently crazy Haven chick can fucking fly and - is that a tornado, ohhhh I’m gonna die - and Ozpin’s...

*Sees Amber*

Jaune: Is going to go to prison because this is a sex dungeon. Okay, Okay, you’re cool. Sure it was unanimously decided Pyrrha was going into the singles portion of the tournament and you nearly broke your neck twice getting down here, but something tells me sad Pyrrha has something to do with this. *Pauses* Which makes me wanna punch Ozpin, but question the pedo headmaster after you help!

*Sees Ozpin get a glass spear through the left lung*

Jaune: *Quickly* Or not. Okay, she’s monologuing, that’s good. Sneak, sneak, sneak-sneak-sneak. Blah, blah, magic? Really lady? Add delusional on top of crazy. Just get in closer, give her a nice kick to the ass and Ozpin will use his weird green themed semblance to obliterate her. *Hears Pyrrha mentioned* Ignore the urge to kick the dying sicko in the nuts, just focus on hurting the crazy chick who was apparently gonna kill my sorta-kinda-maybe girlfriend. Just nice, slowly, easily, quietleee-- *trips over his shoelace* --EEEEEEYYYOOOOPPPP!!!

Cinder: *Coughs wetly, stares at the sword sticking through her chest* H-how...?

*Cinder falls on top of Ozpin, her body crushed between the Headmasters and the shellshocked Jaune’s*

Ozpin: *Confused and dying* Mr. Arc?

Jaune: *High pitched* IswearIonlymeanttokickherintheasssoyoucouldfinishhereoff!

Ozpin: *Coughs* I believe you. Unfortunately it was not to be. You pierced her straight through the heart.

Jaune: I didn’t mean to?

Ozpin: And in doing so you’ve saved miss Nikos from a terribly cruel fate.

Jaune: Oh. That’s good. I’m pretty sure that if she hadn’t tried to shove me in that stupid rocket locker there’s at least a 50% chance Pyrrha would’ve jumped my bones, Grimm invasion or not.

Ozpin: *Groans in dismay* Only to quite possibly doom yourself to one.

Jaune: *Suddenly at full attention* You say what now?

Ozpin: You’ve stabbed me as well. *Sees Jaune about to speak* You’ve stabbed my other lung, young man.

Jaune: I-I’m sorry?

Ozpin: Not yet you aren’t. Usually when I reincarnate it’s some unlucky, random bastard. But you’ve imprinted on me.

Jaune: What.

Ozpin: I’m an immortal wizard who, when he dies, his soul and consciousness along with all his memories are transferred into a new man’s preexisting body.

Jaune: *Panicking* I don’t want you in my head, headmaster! On the off chance you’re not just a nasty pedophile, I really don’t want you in my head! I don’t think you wanna be there either! *Ozpin doesn’t respond* Professor? *Still nothing* Headmaster! *Ozpin is dead, Jaune* Ozpin you old fuck, don’t you dare, I don’t wanna hear your voice when I’m deep dicking my hot redheaded partner!

Ozpin: *Body explodes into green motes of light which Jaune inhales*

Jaune: AAAHHH, I DON’T CONSET, I DON’T CONSENT!

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Pyrrha: *Bringing dat ass back, clapping his groin* Oh Jaune, oh gods yes I love it, I love your cock so-s-s-so much! *Twists and twirls her booty on his cock* Oh f-fuck, I’m gonna cum agaaaaaiiinn!!

Jaune: *Going hard, closing in*

Pyrrha: Oh yes, please, harder, I’m gonna cum all over that delicious Arc meat again and o-o-oh shit, fuck yes Jaune, fill your slutty Nikos bitch up with your hot jizz!

Ozpin: *Mentally* She’d be cumming harder if you did what I suggested.

Jaune: *Mentally, trying to focus on Pyrrha’s voice and the image of her* Shut up. This is me time you parasite and I don’t care how long you’ve lived, I don’t need advice from the guy who’s ex is out to end the world.

Ozpin: *Mentally* I’m just saying, miss Nikos is a natural born sub. Placing your foot on her head and giving her what I’m telling you she absolutely wants by degrading her, lambasting her the way she does herself and I guarantee you the rewards will be worth it. I know you’ve been eying her anus for quite some time now, give her what she wants--

Jaune: *Mentally, pushes in deeper which makes Pyrrha wail* I knew I couldn’t trust you to shut up! ‘Oh no, the time you spend with miss Nikos will be your own, I’m just an old soul here to help you fight my batshit crazy ex’ and now you’re trying to live vicariously through me! *Eyes widen as Pyrrha spreads her cheeks, lying facefirst on the bed and moaning*

Ozpin: *Mentally, smugly* Oh of course. You certainly don’t want advice from a man who has slept with literally thousands of women. She’s cumming, by the way.

Pyrrha: Ooooohhhh gods, yesyesyesyesyesyesyes I’m fucking cummiiiiiinnnngggg!!!!!!!!! Fuck, fuck, fuuuu~uuuck you’re so fucking gooooood!!!!!

Jaune: *Cumming his brains out*

Ozpin: *Mentally* Good to see you plan on following my advice next round, Jaune. If you feel like paying me back, you could always just tell Pyrrha that you’ve gone through my memories and developed a taste for hardcore, mistress of pain BDSM.

Jaune: *Mentally, lying on Pyrrha’s pronebone body, still inside as they both recover* This is all Dad’s fault. No amount of badass magic is worth this.

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I wanted one of these to have the advice backfire while still working and while I thought about it being an eventual Raven Jaune’s Father, I realized Pyrrha offered the best opportunity ever in the form of Ozpin, the unwanted and overly friendly brain ghost.

Hopefully any hardcore Arkos fans reading this don’t mind this one being the lewder, screwier one.

#rwby #jaune arc #pyrrha nikos #arkos #jaune x pyrrha #rwby vol 3 #au #pyrrha lives #headmaster ozpin #this is what happens when you let a drunk type #what's crack-a-lackin'#shitpost #Jaune's Father AU

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

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The Voyage So Far: Dressrosa (Part One)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

fujitora’s introduction is so memorable. we don’t even know he’s an admiral until a little while after this, but the way he’s introduced makes him both immediately intriguing and tentatively likable, and also shows he’s terrifyingly powerful. similar to wano, dressrosa is a very twisty arc with a lot of hidden identities and things and people that are not what they seem, and fujitora’s introduction establishes that right off the bat.

it’s no secret i really like law, and i think his relationships and dynamics with the strawhats are some of the reasons why. it’s very good. the way he usually interacts with them (read: suffering) contrasts against the very real respect and faith he develops for them, and for luffy in particular. he refuses to call luffy his subordinate, here, even though it would be basically a get-out-of-jail free card when it comes to dealing with fujitora, and it comes up again more than once later in this arc too (though never to the strawhats themselves).

genuinely the tournament subplot is one of my favorite parts of this entire arc, especially because it happens while the action in the rest of dressrosa is mostly still setting up. it’s so fun to watch luffy go completely ham with minimal consequences, especially because we know more or less from the beginning that he’s not really likely to face a challenge from anyone here.

it allows the supporting cast to be built out as a pretty entertaining group in their own right, too, especially bartolomeo and cavendish, and sets up most of the future grand fleet without being too obvious about it.

i may as well say now, because i’m sure i’ll be talking about it a lot: kyros is one of my favorite one piece parents, and his and rebecca’s relationship hits me in the fucking chest. i’m consistently upset that they got so much stolen from them, and very very glad that they got the happy ending they dearly deserved.

i really like rebecca. and i like her story, too. i know there are people who want her to be more of a fighter, more violent, but i think that’s missing the point. rebecca is someone who has been victimized and commodified and put on display to die in front of a country that hates her again and again and again, and she still stays gentle and good, and i think that makes her one of the strongest characters in this arc.

obviously in isolation ‘damsel in distress’ is not really a good trope (and i’ve complained about it before with regards to tashigi in punk hazard), but i also don’t think it’s really at play here. rebecca is someone who deserves to finally lay down her sword and rest and be happy and safe, and her father deserves the chance to give her the protection he hasn’t been able to.

i really like when oda does things like this with paneling, i think it’s tremendously cool. there’s some similar examples with law’s powers in this arc and punk hazard as well, and it’s cool as hell every time.

this is one of my favorite panels in all of dressrosa.

kyros has a line a lot later on about ‘restoring the true dressrosa,’ and that’s what this scene makes me think of. this is the true dressrosa- the broken and forgotten and lost, down in the darkness beneath the city. and no matter what he may think of himself, riku is still their king.

this panel also reminds me of the similar scene in udon in wano, where the prisoners kneel before momonosuke. which is, incidentally, another favorite of mine. i really like whenever one piece deals in themes of loyalty, i feel like it always hits very hard.

[spoilers for recent wano chapters]

i think some parts of dressrosa line up very nicely with the recent reveal in wano that law’s new goal is uncovering the mystery of the will of d. it’s something that feels very natural and fitting for him, and i think this is one of the reasons why.

of the Ds we’ve seen, law is the only one who’s been really shown to be actively aware of the name and the weight it holds (and thus, the only one to bother to keep it secret), and he even weaponizes it against doflamingo throughout dressrosa in order to throw him off balance, and succeeds. it feels like a very natural progression from that awareness to trying to understand its mystery, at least to me.

barto is a great character because he’s introduced as being a completely unlikable shithead, and like, that’s not inaccurate, he totally is, but he also somehow winds up being likable anyways. part of that is his idolization of the strawhats (because, let’s be real, all of us can relate), but part of it is also that he’s kind of honorable in his own way, and i think him saving bellamy from dellinger despite having no stake in the situation just because they fought together is probably the best example of that.

i really like how the sabo reveal is handled. all the focus is placed on luffy and his reaction, and then we get our actual introduction to sabo as an adult slowly over the course of the next few chapters in how he acts and interacts with other characters throughout the tournament, culminating in his proper introduction after it’s over.

the actual explanation of what happened to him, how he survived and the entirety of his reunion with luffy is saved for the end of the arc, and i think it’s good that it happens there, in a quiet time after the dust is settled, rather than being smacked in the middle of the rising action.

of all the many many devil fruits that have appeared in one piece, i think sugar’s is the scariest, and also one of the ones i’ve probably thought the most about, if only in terms of its sheer inherent horror. the moment her spell is broken is, in my opinion, one of the most satisfying in the entire story. doflamingo’s hold over the entire country snaps, just like that.

the entire sequence of dressrosa’s great panic is one of my favorites in the whole series. i’m a really big fan of moments where the tides are all at once turned, and this is so very much one of those- sugar is knocked out; all the toys revert to human all at once, including kyros, who promptly decapitates (unfortunately not the real) doflamingo; sabo wins the tournament, eats the mera mera no mi, and obliterates the colosseum; and usopp becomes god.

it’s really really good.

even though this is a fake doflamingo it is very satisfying to see him get wrecked, and even though i love the outcome of the luffy and law versus mingo and trebol fight i do think kyros deserved to decapitate the real thing also.

usopp’s role and development in dressrosa is really great. it’s the most focus he’s gotten since water seven/enies lobby, and it comes at a time right when he’d been in the background for a rather long time. in dressrosa, he gets to be a proper hero- he indisputably saves the entire day not once but twice, and even doflamingo recognizes him as by far the biggest wrench in his plans- and more importantly, he gets to do it for the first time as himself, instead of having to hide behind a mask, as he did at both thriller bark and enies lobby.

the way a lot of the fight panels with doflamingo specifically are drawn is very cool, i think. there’s a real sense of speed and danger to a lot of them, which makes sense, as doflamingo is a very dangerous opponent fully capable of slicing off limbs and heads with ease if his enemies make a wrong move, something both the characters and the audience are fully aware of by this point.

to be continued in the next post with the rest of dressrosa!

#the voyage so far #one piece #opmeta #arc: dressrosa #long post #not japanese

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wesavegotham · 3 years

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So don’t hate me but I’m kinda liking damian’s animated versions better than his comic one I really like his comic one but after all the shit happening where he has been nerfed nonstop getting beat by Thomas Wayne Batman, the teen titans red hood (although Jason attacked from behind like a bitch) and now flatline beating him. Not to mention Bruce not being a father and Damian now Being blamed for everything when they all have no room to talk. God I was satisfied when his old team died in future.

This is going to be a really long post, my apologies in advance.

I absolutely get where you’re coming from. I personally still like comic Damian more because I feel like there is more nuance and layers to him compared to the animated universe Damian, but that is simply the fault of the limited time they could spent on him in the movies.

Movie!Damian certainly wins more fights than comic!Damian and was never regressed in any way that is comparable to the shitshow that was Teen Titans (2016).

You’re adressing a problem I have with comic!Damian too right now, a problem that I’ve already talked about with some people here on tumblr in private. Which is that for all the talk about what Damian can do the comics have rarely shown all those skills Damian should have being used in the actual story in recent years and that is frustrating. I find Damian’s arrogance interesting as long as I feel like he can at least back it up in some way, but in recent time he comes off as just an idiot because he has done almost nothing but fail and lose and the writers still have him act like he’s the greatest. But it doesn’t feel like he can back up his confidence anymore. At all.

If I had to name a skill that differentiates Damian from the other Robins right now then I could only list his skill to hide from Batman and that is a skill he only has for plot convenience. We don’t see him do anything to cover his tracks, we are only told that he somehow did it. And I’m pretty sure that the second this skill stops being convenient for the story it will vanish once again. It will probably end like it did with Jon, where Damian somehow hid so well that Jon said they would never find him in Teen Titans, when they wanted an excuse for Jon to not get involved with his friend’s fall into darkness, but now that DC wanted them to interact again all of that is forgotten and Jon has no problems finding Damian.

Damian is not the most social Robin, nor the most intelligent one and considering how he seemed to lose against everything and everyone in recent years I can’t say with a straight face that he’s the best at fighting or the most skilled. And that IS a problem. Damian will never be known for his social skills or his detective skills, those niches are already taken by Dick and Tim, but in theory he should be a great fighter or a highly skilled person. Damian has sacrificed his entire life for training, both in the league of assassins and during his time with the batfamily. But if Damian sucks at fighting (as in: he loses a lot more than he wins) and his skills play no significant role in advancing the plot, then what is the point of his character? Great, he’s good at drawing and likes manga now, but how will that help with a fighting tournament? Or with solving the mystery behind the league of lazarus? A protagonist is usually supposed to be able to change the situation he is in, that is why he’s the protagonist and not someone else. So what makes Damian so unique that only he can solve the situation he finds himself in during Robin and not someone like Conner Hawke? Or what makes him unique in the batfamily? I hope Robin adresses that soon.

Of course now one could say “He still has an unique position as Bruce’s biological child”, but that also was completely irrelevant in recent years. For all the moments since the start of Rebirth that had batfam-fans complaining that Damian was favored by DC because of his status as the only biological child of Bruce, there were actually very few interactions between the two. Stuff like Bruce talking about Damian or saying that he loves him was primarily found in scenes in which Damian was not present. Or it came way too late, like in Teen Titans (and Bruce refusing to hit Damian in the face because he is his child sets such a low bar, I refuse to acknowledge that as a sign of love)

If you look at how Bruce actually treats Damian or describes him then there is little love there. He ignored his 13th birthday, did nothing when Damian left him after the events of Justice League: No Justice, it had no impact on the Batman books at all, Bruce only called Damian for missions like two times, once in City of Bane (which was just so shitty, as I already explained in a previous post) and a second time in Detective Comics #1017 (He sent Damian to find a missing kid in a snow storm, while he dealt with something else), refused to comfort him at Alfred’s wake and when Bruce reflects on what happened in Teen Titans he blames most of it on Damian’s personality, both in Detective Comics #1030 and in Robin #1, and both times there is nobody questioning Bruce’s asessment. He really doesn’t have anything nice to say about Damian and apparently we are not supposed to disagree with him. So in summary: Damian seems to have no skills that make him indispensable for the batfamily, Bruce seems to have a very low opinion of Damian’s character and now that they have decided to give us Bruce searching for Damian the only reason for that seems to be that Bruce suddenly feels responsible for his child, even though that should have already been the case when Damian seperated from him in 2018 or at least directly after the second Teen Titans annual.

Even the kinda nice things Bruce says about Damian in Robin #1 can be called into question if you think about them. He says he has no doubt that Damian can take care of himself...and then we see Damian getting his heart ripped out at the end of the very same issue. Of course we know that Damian’s story doesn’t end there, so I won’t judge this too harshly yet, but to me this didn’t come off as Damian being able to take care of himself.

And I get letting Damian lose at the start of the tournament to establish Flatline as a threat and to make it clear that this tournament is not a game. I also get that Damian’s fight against King Snake was supposed to make sure that we still think of Damian as competent even though he loses later on. But at least for me, winning against King Snake was not cool or badass enough to make up for the fact that Damian was easily killed, in front of everyone, by a literal nobody like Flatline. King Snake is an old, blind guy, that didn’t show up in any DC comic I read since I started in 2018 and that was apparently beaten by Tim in his solo comic when he was 14 back in the 90s. Sorry, but that just isn’t impressive enough for me, especially since I’ve seen Damian lose so much in recent years. It doesn’t establish Flatline as a badass, it just makes me think that Damian is not that great of a fighter and shouldn’t be in this tournament.

I have some more thoughts on the tournament that make me wish that the arc will start being less about winning the tournament itself and more about something like taking down the league of lazarus soon (mainly the fact that a fight about being the best fighter is useless if the big guns are not taking part, the fact that you can only win by killing your oponent, which should be a problem for Damian and how nothing we know about the rewards for winning, becoming part of the league of lazarus und apparently immortality, is desirable for Damian), but this answer is already too long.

I’m going to be honest an admit that I did not like the ending of Robin #1 at all and that I hope that Williamson will show Damian being competent really soon because I’m not here for another pointless arc about Damian learning humility. I want to see Damian win for once, you know, like other protagonist usually do at the end of an arc and if Damian can’t even win or tell us what’s going on with him from his point of view in a book about him then I’m probably going to feel very disappointed by this book.

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ugokuna · 4 years

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whispers in the dark

han daewi x reader

warnings: fluff and angst (i honestly don’t know at this point, like it’s kinda sad but at the same time it’s not.. once you decide to read it you’ll understand), time skip (the characters are aged up a bit after goh tournament), spoilers??? but not really so don’t worry (as someone who’s caught up with the tgoh ik some readers are still pretty new to the tgoh so i didn’t write anything that would give away anything --maybe some verrrry subtle stuff --that i won’t give away-- if you’ve read up to the final arc, bc other than that my lips are sealed shut)

synopsis: all those nights when your boyfriend would come home late, he thinks you’re sound asleep as he spills every word about his day and love for you. until one night, when he says something that makes you come clean about what you’ve been up to.

No matter how many times you’ve done this --pretending to be sleep just to hear Daewi spill his honest feelings on the table in the dark-- it was always a challenge to keep your breathing even, your lips from smiling, your eyes from opening.

Of course, you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel guilty. No, you felt so, so, so guilty that it made you want to come clean about everything. In all the years you’ve known your boyfriend, there was one thing you knew exceptionally well: he never really talks about his feeling or emotions.

Sure, if he was feeling sentimental he always told you one of two things: “I missed you” or “I love you.” He never really said those two things in one sentence, surprisingly. Or if he knew you were feeling needy and clingy more than you usually did, he’d tell you the things you wanted to hear. Not what he wanted to say.

You never really minded it, really. He was more of a realist, rather than a romanticist like his friend Jin Mori.

The sound of the front door of your shared apartment door unlocking. The sound of his swift feet moving towards you without hesitation. The low swish of your bedroom door opening. His exhausted sigh from a long day his job demanded from him. The tap of his nail as it hit the buttons he was unbuttoning. The shuffling of clothes being discarded. The water from the shower head hitting the bathtub. All the sounds, it was beautiful to you. Daewi, he was beautiful.

You’ve grown to notice the way your boyfriend spoke since he began talking to you only a month ago. The soft intake of a breath as he moves from one word to another. His pitch changing when he said certain words like “want” and “this.” The soft vibrations he sends into the bed when he speaks. The low rumble of his voice as whispers to you, and you wonder if he realizes any of this.

“I’m home,” he mumbles routinely to you as he sits on the bed, back hunched as he dries his hair.

His voice, no matter how many times you’ve heard it, always made your heart speed up. It takes every ounce of you to calm it down. Even with your eyes closed, you didn’t want to out yourself. Especially since your back wasn’t facing towards him like it usually did.

Risking it, you open one eyelid. The only light coming into the room was the bathroom, and you managed to make out his broad and sturdy form. Daewi’s back muscle rippled and flexed as he continued to dry his hair. He sported nothing but sweatpants.

Daewi groans as he pushes himself up, towel over his head as he goes to turn off the light. Once he begins to turn back to the bed, you immediately shut your eye, putting your best act of sleep. You go of out of your way to make sure your arms and legs are in a position that only looks natural when sleeping.

The bed dips and then sinks under his weight. Daewi lays on his side, staring at your sleeping form even if he can’t see you all that well. You can’t see it but the corner of his mouth quirks up as he pushes the strands that’s fallen onto your face away before carefully skimming his lips to your forehead, trailing down to your cheek and then lip.

“See? I made it home again, just as I promised you, didn’t I?” His curled finger skims the cheek he just kissed, as if to brand it there, before dropping it down to his side. He never missed a day to say that to you.

Lately, with the physical demand of his job, you had expressed anxieties and concerns to Daewi a month ago. His job usually put him in danger, and as much as you know how important his job is right now, you can’t help but worry about his well being too.

“As someone who cares about you, don’t you think I deserve to worry about you?” You couldn’t look at him, not with this heavy atmosphere so early in the morning. You were leaning against the kitchen counter, waiting for the water to boil to make coffee for the both of you.

“Hey,” Daewi said, spreading his both his feet shoulder-width-apart so he was eye level with you, his large hands gently cupping your face in them, calloused thumbs running small circles against your cheek. “Can you look at me?”

You wait for only a moment before holding his gaze. “Daewi...” you sighed, not really knowing how to go about the conversation. What was the right way to word it? Instead, all you can do at the moment it take put your smaller hand over his.

“Tell me what your worried about, (Y/n), so I can understand.”

“I’m just scared,” you told him truthfully, something you both valued. “What if something happens to you while you’re doing you job. Something I can’t do anything about?”

Daewi looks away before looking back at you, trying to put on a smile of comfort. “That won’t happen. I went through The God of High School, didn’t I?”

You sigh out a laugh. “Yeah, so did I. You beat my team to the pulp.”

“Ha...” Daewi laughs as well, going in for a quick peck on the lips before pulling you into him. “How could I forget? That was when I fell in love with you. So try not to worry so much, okay?”

You shake your head against his shirt, listening to the steady thumps of his heart. “I can’t help but think that one day, I’ll get a call from Jin Mori in the middle of the night telling me that you’ll never come home. How am I supposed to deal with that information knowing that that is what your job demands from you?”

“That won’t happen. I promise you, (Y/n), that I’ll come home every night.”

“You promise?” you ask, mumbling it into his chest, fisting your hand into his cotton t-shirt.

“Of course,” Daewi says, putting his chin atop your head, pulling you tighter into the hug.

“(Y/n),” your boyfriend hums to himself, turning onto his back. “I had a pretty rough day today. Though, if I think more on it, it’s not due to Nox, but rather Jin Mori.”

You practically can see him close his eyes in disbelief.

He’s quiet for a long time, making you a bit nervous. Perhaps today was physically draining for him and he’s knocked out. You don’t want to be greedy, but you want to hear more of his sultry voice.

“I’m lying,” he whispers more to himself than to you. “I... I had a rough day because of Nox.”

Something about tonight felt weird. You just couldn’t place what it was just yet.

“I had thought, while facing Nox, that I was going to break my promise to you even if I didn’t want to.”

Your heart stops for a second. It was such a raw and honest confess, and for a split moment, you wish he would just lie to you. It was getting harder to stay composed

“If... if it wasn’t for Jin Mori today, I don’t think I would be laying here, in this tranquil home of ours, with you. I almost died today, and it made me realize how much I’ll miss loving you if I was gone.”

Your throat was feeling heavy, and it was damn hard trying to push that choking feeling down. Good god, he was being so sentimental and you wanted to join him. Was this the same Daewi you first met all those years ago?

Daewi chuckled softly, running a hand up and down his chest. “I know that you know that I’m not good with my emotions when it comes to romance, so I’m grateful I was able to learn along the way with you. Thank you for the patience you’ve shown me, for loving me, for being there with me.”

You hear him stifle a yawn. And as much as you know how important sleep is, you want him to keep letting everything he’s bottled up for the past five years out into the open.

“And I know that I don’t say it often, but I love you. I really do love you, (Y/n). I love how fast you accepted me for who I was. I love how soft you feel against all my calloused hands. I love how you keep your nails short so you can keep practicing martial arts with me. I love how much you hate it when I wake you up too early in the morning. I love how it drives you crazy when you hear someone chewing obnoxiously loud. I love how embarrassed you get when you do something embarrassing. And I’m not going to break my promise with you ”

A pregnant pause.

Daewi takes a trembling intake of a breath, something you definitely did not expect from him. “God, if you could hear what I’m about to say right now, you would think I am a coward, but I want my last name to be yours soon, (Y/n).”

Your body goes rigid and you don’t even care if he notices. In that moment, everything seems to stop. Your body is hot. Your heart burning. You can’t help but open your eyes to look at the very man you love.

“I want to marry you. I want you to be Han (Y/n), so let’s get married soon.”

Seeming to be satisfied with how much he’s spilled to you, Daewi turns towards you, expecting you to be asleep. But when he finds you wide awake, with wide eyes, that are staring at him with such a passionate gaze, he can’t help but stifle out nonsense as he tries to cover up his burning face. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Who said I was asleep?” Hearing your own voice scared you a bit. You didn’t actually think through what you were going to say once he found you awake.

He blinks at you. Once.Twice. In disbelief. “H-How much did you hear?”

“All of it,” you whisper gently, afraid to break the atmosphere he built. “Everything.”

“Everything?” he says, flabbergasted. He wanted his soul to leave his body right now. “Every conversation from then to now?”

You reach out and take the hand covering his face away so you can see him clearly. “I did.” You kissed his warm fingertips and his right eye before pecking his lips.

Daewi lets you take it, not once, not twice, but thrice.

“Do you promise? With what you just said?”

He wraps a hand around your waist before pulling you into him, hiding his face into your chest. God, he missed this. Missed laying in bed with you when you’re awake. Missed your embrace while you’re awake. He missed being with you, alone, in the dark, with each other awake.

“I do,” he says confidently, pulling you into a kiss.

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mihidecet · 3 years

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Sbi&CO d&d AU: A Familiar Face (1/?)

WELCOME WELCOME EVERYONE! Today, the tournament arc begins! I do hope you’ll enjoy this ahahah

I dedicate this to all the wonderful people of the Au’s Discord - hit me up if you wanna join! Also, a special thank you to @traitorous-bisexual and @awebo without whom this arc wouldn’t exist <3

Finally, before we start: make sure you check out @whatimevendoinhere , @spout1nk and (soon) @julius-ranch for art and fanfics about the AU!!

It was a lovely morning.

The sun shined through the tinted windows, turning the light a soft orange glow that lessened the glare of it against his eyes.

It was a welcome respite: during the months that involved preparing the tournament, days were quick to melt together, nights becoming just darker afternoons as Scott and everyone around him hurried to make everything look ready for the contestants' arrival. So, not having the sun shine directly into his eyes as he looked over the final challenges that had been chosen for the tournament was a relief. The cup of warm tea by his desk was also a saving grace.

Stifling a yawn, Scott figured that he could let himself take a stroll. Maybe open up his window, let the room freshen up a bit.

With his window overlooking one of the many parks inside the Academy, maybe he could distract himself for a moment and see if his protege had finally started warming up to his teammates.

That plan had flown out of the window almost immediately. Or maybe it would be better to say that it had flown into the window, along with a green tipped arrow that had suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

Now, Scott hasn't been adventuring for a while, but it would be foolish to think that he's forgotten how the world works - with a flick of his wrist, a translucent dome of purple arcane energy materializes between him and the incoming arrow, which impacts with the barrier a split second later. The tip goes through, piercing the veil of his magic, and for a terrifying moment Scott thinks it's not gonna stop, but it simply stops, held in place as if caught in a web.

Which is a relief, the amateur that tried to attack him - an Archmage, in the middle of his own Academy - failed to get their first shot in and this will give him the time to step back and call his most trusted in order to quickly and efficiently get rid of the problem at hand. He has other more pressing matters to attend to, he's not going to waste his time on this.

As his Shield spell fades, it congeals like a shimmering second skin over his upper arm. Maybe calling the guards isn't that pressing, he's got this.

Or maybe he doesn't, he thinks as he get a second, much more terrifying surprise - in the span of a couple of seconds, he really can get no breaks.

A figure materializes in the air in front of him, with a dark hood over their head that covers most of their features except for a huge - terrifying - grin and an intricate bow strapped to their back.

The figure appears with a puff of iridescent smoke, crouched in the air as if they'd been in the process of jumping before they decided to teleport, and- crashes into him, the force of the impact and the shock of it happening making him lose his balance and start falling back.

There's a moment where Scott is confused: is this some sort of strange tactic? Did the stranger misjudge their trajectory? Are they going to wrestle on the ground as if they weren't both magic users?

Then, a brief split second of panic - he didn't look what the stranger was holding, and he is currently falling on his back. He is going to get stabbed, at the very least, and that conviction is only made stronger as he feels the stranger's arms close in around him.

But then, Scott has simply enough time to blink in shock, as the arms just wrap around his back, before his world is literally turned upside down.

One moment he is falling on his back, already anticipating the pain of a knife to the back - please no vital organs, spare him the need for an extremely expansive healer. The next the is wrapped in a hug and grunting in pain as his knees impact with the ground.

"Ah, fuck that hurt- Scotty are you alright?"

Scott refuses to believe this. He pushes against the chest under him - the arms give, letting him go - and finds himself face to face with a sight that is both very familiar and weirdly unusual.

"You-" Scott says, tone an unconvincingly mix of menacing and angry as he jabs a finger into the not-so-stranger's chest -"Are lucky to be alive. I could have murdered you."

Hbomb's worried glance instantly brightens, despite Scott's best hopes, and he throws his head back to laugh. No matter how irritated he is at his friend, he can't help but huff out a laugh himself, and a moment later they're both chuckling together on the floor. By all the gods, it has been some time.

"You are a dumbass, H. You couldn't just use the door? You know, like a normal person?!" Scott asks, holding himself up on his left elbow because H has always been one to laugh with his whole body and Scott is still recovering from jamming his knees into the floor, he's not in the mood to be jostled around by an enthusiastic ranger.

"Aw, Scotty, aren't you happy to see me?" The half-elf asks, putting a hand on his chest as he fails to pretend he's insulted. Scott flicks his nose.

"Ah- that hurt!"

"I know, I meant it to hurt. Now, do you want to tell me what you're doing here? And what is that doing on your face?" Scott demands, serious at first until he realises that H has been growing out his beard well past what he considers to be a good length - H's pout is barely visible under all that scruff.

"Well, now, that is unnecessarily rude. I've been traveling for a while now, and I wasn't gonna risk injuring myself-" Scott grabs a wandering hand and brings it back on H's chest.

"H." Hbomb has a tendency of gesticulating when his hands aren't being kept busy, and while he did figure that his friend had simply forgotten to shave, he has known him long enough to be able to recognise when H is going off on a tangent - which is perfectly fine - and when he's changing the subject because he doesn't want to answer.

He knows he's right when H simply shuts up, eyes wide like those of a deer - quite fitting, considering where he enjoys spending most of his time. But instead of looking pensive, or starting to answer, H just … looks down. At where their hands are.

Normally, he wouldn't think much of it. But H looks almost sheepish, and his eyes keep moving from his face to their hands, so Scott looks down.

His brain screeches to a halt, and suddenly he stands up a little straighter, sitting on the floor next to H as he grabs his hand in his.

Around his fingers wraps a perfect replica of a silver winged fae dragon, while in his palm- one of the most accurate representations of the different Planes.

Scott turns his stare to his fiend, who looks more calm than Scott feels he has any right to, and when he speaks he sounds almost breathless.

"What happened to you?"

The tale of how Shubble's patron reached out to him to grant him powers is exhilarating. Not in the "funny" sense, more in the "my friend who is usually not that fond of talking and interacting with people especially when he's not in a place he is familiar with, was transported to a different plane and spoke with a being of transcendent power". So maybe a bit in the "funny" sense.

The only negative side of the whole affair is the fact that Shubble is currently not present.

She actually teaches at the Academy, so H was right in his assumption that reaching this place would have helped him out, but he just barely missed her by a couple of weeks. She's recently left, called out on an urgent mission by her patron themselves, and a part of Scott's mind can't help but feel like it is an extremely weird coincidence: he respects power gained through pacts, but he fears deeply the machinations of otherworldly beings' minds and the power they hold over his friends. He'd much prefer dealing with forces controlled by his own self, so that when a spell backfires comically he only has himself to blame.

But all things considered, he's glad to see H is still alive and seemingly doing better than ever. He looks fine, happy and more confident than the last time he saw him - the way he stands and moves more firm, more secure, filling his space in a way the Hbomb of some time ago wouldn't have.

It's nice to see him like this.

What isn't nice is the way his increased confidence leads him to suggest how good of an idea it would be for him to take part into the tournament. Which is a horrible idea.

"Listen, I know I am banned from playing again-" H starts, arms spread open with a mischievous grin on his face. Scott has sudden flashbacks to all the times he'd seen that grin from the other side of the battlefield and shakes his head firmly before pointing a stern finger at his chest.

"You still have a year before you can."

H huffs, shoulders falling, and he adopts the most fake-innocent expression Scott has ever seen.

"But I'm just here to say hi!" Scott levels him with a blank stare, using all of his willpower and internal strength to avoid bursting out laughing. Because for all that his friend's expression is hilarious, this is really no laughing matter. He can't have him win again.

"I said what I said." H's head hits the desk with a groan of protest.

On the other side of the table, Scott pinches his own arm in order not to laugh.

He fails.

H still manages to pout his way into getting a free room to stay in for a while - just like the old times, come on! - and seems to be alright with being left to his own devices for the rest of the morning.

Knowing him, he'll take it as the perfect chance to snoop around, make new friends and bother the tournament's contestants.

As Scott turns back to his schematics, the only thing he does is chuckle to himself.

#sbi&co dnd au #sbi dnd au #hbomb94 #smajor1995 #tournament arc

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kagemajaya · 4 years

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So much to watch, not enough time in the week - What does Fall 2020 look like?

A list of what looks interesting in the next season and silly reasons as to why

I’m not the sort of person who likes finding out too many (in some cases even a smidgen of) details about anime I’m going to watch, so this will be a spoiler free preview of the season. Here is a list of anime I will try and you can expect to hear about on Kagemajaya.

Click on the show names to be taken to their MAL pages for more detail.

Hype

Taisou Zamurai

A male cast gymnastics anime from MAPPA (the studio of Yuri!!! on Ice.) Enough said.

Watch the trailer here.

Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan

This one’s a bit of a cheat as we’ve already seen 2 episodes of it (3 for those who have VIP accounts on weTV.) However, I was indeed hype for it before it started. Based on a BL novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, the author of Mo Dao Zu Shi, this one promises a lot to people who enjoy transmigration, cultivation and a bit of gay. It is also a quite funny isekai parody. The only downside is that it doesn’t share the same visual quality as MDZS, and is entirely 3D. It’s a good thing I’m not much of a stickler for hot visuals.

Watch it here on its official stream.

Tian Guan Ci Fu

Another donghua based on a BL novel, well-known among the danmei fans also by its English name of Heaven Official’s Blessing. Also written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (boy, are they busy.) And a big plus: it’s not 3D, so really looking forward to watching handsome men cultivate together in pseudo-historic China. Beautiful setting, beautiful boys. Now one can only hope for an interesting plot too and we are set.

Watch the trailer here.

Cautiously Expectant

Yuukoku no Moriarty

I saw manga adverts for this one all around Akihabara and Ikebukuro last year when I went on a little trip to Japan. The bishie Professor Moriarty was an immediate pull, and as a Holmes fan, I feel attracted to most of its adaptations, despite almost always being let down. The one thing that makes me cautious about this one is that it is published by a shounen magazine that is not GFantasy, so I’m not sure if the bishie designs and the male cast actually mean what I want it to mean. Fingers crossed.

Watch the trailer here.

Giving It a Shot

Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii

A cute looking comedy short about a dog and a cat.

Jujutsu Kaisen

A mostly male cast Shounen Jump affair. Spring 2020’s Kakushigoto also implied that it has a fujoshi fanbase - let’s see what that’s all about.

Maesetsu!

A female cast gag comedy sol created by Lucky Star’s Yoshimizu Kagami. I watched Lucky Star fairly recently and found it quite entertaining with many sweet/funny characters. I suppose we will see if Yoshimizu still has it. Fingers crossed.

Adachi to Shimamura

I try to watch all queer anime as they come, and this comes in from the shoujo ai quota. Looks like a pretty straightforward romance. Hopefully it will have heart.

Kaeru no Pickles: Kimochi no Iro

All I know about this one is that it has a chill looking poster and has a slice of life tag on MAL. I’m not entirely sure whether we’ll get this subbed, but if we do, I’ll give it a shot.

Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko

Fell for the slice of life tag once again. This one is an isekai with a soft looking MC. Not entirely sure it’ll be up my alley, but no harm in trying it, maybe for a pleasant surprise.

Sore dake ga Neck

This one seems to have the cool setting of a convenience store. I did initially think this was going to be a sol as well, but seems like that might not be the case. Either way, cool setting.

Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima

Another anime whose source project I saw plastered all around Tokyo. I’m not a huge fan of idol shows but the rapping bit makes me a bit curious.

Noblesse

A manhwa massively popular among female fans which has also received one off adaptations before, it’s finally getting its turn for a full cour among the hype the industry seems to have for Korean webtoons these days (Kami no Tou, God of High School, etc.) I did watch one of the OVA’s years ago, and wasn’t entirely impressed but then again I can’t judge a whole work based on one arc adapted into a single episode. Male cast action stuff. We shall see and judge.

Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst

This was chosen entirely on my shallow criteria as usual: visuals with two dudes on them. Now we’ll see whether the German name is a cringe factor or it’s actually interesting.

Sequels

Osomatsu-san 3rd Season

Osomatsu-san has been a consistently high quality production for me since the beginning. The humor is definitely my cup of tea, though as with any episodic gag comedy, some sketches do miss. It is more often than not a hit. The seiyuu cast is a huge huge pull, as this is not them only acting out an already written character but you can actually hear them having fun as the sextuplets. It is also one of the rarer shows where I, as a person who isn’t great at focusing on visuals, appreciate the impeccable quality of animation. So hype for another season of this majorly fun series and to welcome Matsuno’s back home - coziness, here I come.

Quanzhi Gaoshou 2

I watched the first season of Quanzhi Gaoshou (or King’s Avatar) because it was made by the studio of MDZS, and it was the first time I had seen a good looking Chinese animation production. And it didn’t disappoint. Production quality was similar and more importantly, it had a very engaging plot - pro MMORPG players playing MMORPG, their personal dramas and the actual (surprisingly fun for me) gameplay and action. Its most important quality is still its charming cast for me, a successful ensemble cast, where with the exception of the antagonists, everyone and their relationships are lovely. Mostly a male cast show, it does also have nice ladies. Looking forward to going back to them. My only personal issue (definitely not a flaw on the show’s part but my attention span) is that it has so many teams and characters that I forgot most of who was who. Fingers crossed it’ll be easy to get back into.

Haikyuu!!: To the Top 2nd Season

Haikyuu is back again, to finish off the “To the Top” arc. The first cour of this season was probably the season that took me out of the Haikyuu hypnosis state where I assumed everything that came out with the name attached to it was great. It was still enjoyable in its second half but I do feel like the magic has worn off now. I hope I’m wrong and the tournament hype will bring it back again. Haikyuu is at its best when it’s tense in-match and funny with character interactions, so fingers crossed for that.

Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 4

The Chinese comedy short is back! As mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago, gag comedies are always hit or miss with their sketches, and this one is also mostly a hit for me, though definitely not at the level of Osomatsu-san. The pull of this show is the cute boys and their dumbassery. Looking forward to its easy fun and more Kai Xin.

Also continuing...

Mo Dao Zu Shi Q, Great Pretender

Have been enjoying both these shows greatly so far. 2 more cours of MDZS Q to go with their cute chibi fun, and Great Pretender’s last case (9 eps) is already released on Japanese Netflix so now we wait for Laurent and the gang to reach us. Really looking forward to the emotional drama of Laurent and hopefully some proper addressal of his feelings for Edamame. Either way, it’ll look gorgeous and will be heaps of fun if the first three cases are anything to go by.

I might pick up other shows and most likely drop some of these throughout the season but here’s hoping it will be enjoyable overall despite the small number of shows I’ll start with. What are you guys planning to watch?

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letsgofoletsgo · 3 years

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Nightlife of Scilica

“Okay, got it. Thanks love, bye.”

“So, what did she say?”

“Belle says she and Masa will meet us at 6:00.” Morgan said as she slid her phone into her pocket.

“Alright, that leaves us a couple hours.” Lamar stated.

“So what do you guys want to do in the meantime?” Sofia asked.

“Well, I guess we could wander around and see what we can find.” He suggested.

“Wait a sec… Isn’t Anime Reach just around the corner?” Morgan realized.

“Anime Reach? Wasn’t that that one store you guys accidentally shoplifted from?” Sofia said.

“I thought we weren’t gonna speak of that again!” Lamar retorted.

“Hey, no one got arrested, so no shade from me.” Sofia teased.

“That being said, you haven’t been there before, have you Sof?” Morgan said.

“Nope, can’t say I have.”

“In that case, you and I have a duty toward our friend here Lamar.” Morgan said confidently

“Oh yeah! As proud Otakus, we’ll guide you through one of the most prestigious anime merch stores in all of Silica!” Lamar boasted. “Er, if that’s cool with you.” “Sounds good to me!” Sofia smiled.

“Then onward we go MD-5!” Morgan exclaimed.

The three proceeded through the bustling streets of Silica City. The multitude of neon signs mounted around the buildings illuminated the city in a brilliant shower of light, sparking a sense of wonder and excitement of of the nightlife scene. Indistinct chatter coming from the crowds that populated the sidewalks perpetuated the buzzing atmosphere of the night; The signature vibe of the city that MD-5 felt truly at home in.

“We should be coming up to it now.” Lamar noted.

“Yo, look! There’s that one gaming equipment store we looked in.” Morgan pointed to a neighboring store that looked worse for wear, complete with being decked out with glaring yellow and white neon signs that appeared to be on their last legs.

“Oh yeah, Nyla Co., was it? Let me tell you, all it took was one look for us to decide to high tail it out of there- leave their shoddy products for the next poor fool to stumble upon.” He commented.

“Huh. Don’t need to tell me twice,” Sofia said as she eyed the place dubiously.

“Forget Nyla- I can see Anime Reach from here!” Morgan said.

“Let’s get a move on then!” Lamar said.

The trio made their way across the street, and they approached a large store with anime merchandise posters plastered all over the large glass windows. As they came closer, Sofia’s eyes lit up in wonder.

“Woah… I had no idea it was so big!” She marveled.

“Just wait ‘till you see it from the inside! Morgan said excitedly.

The sliding doors in front of them parted, and the entered the building. Before them was a sprawling otaku paradise; for seemingly miles the shelves were stocked with figurines, posters, cardboard cutouts, art books, disc and manga sets, anything a lover of anime could want.

“Wow, I can see why you like it here so much.” Sofia remarked as she took it all in.

“Indeed, welcome to our little slice of heaven my friend.” Lamar beamed.

“Lamar’s been here more times than I’ll have, so I’ll give him the main honors of showing you around.” Morgan noted.

“An honor it shall be! If you ladies would follow me, I’ve got the best bits of the store practically memorized.”

“I would expect nothing less.” She giggled.

Lamar led the two down the main isle, where several groups of fellow otakus were browsing the shelves. He then took a turn a little ways down, where the shelves displayed hordes of figures. The colorful figures all had a unique charm to them, and they were usually grouped with others from the same source material. While most of them were packaged in flashy but efficient boxes, there was a certain section where the figures were out in the open, and seemed to be mismatched between animes.

“Now, I like going into this aisle because you can actually find some good figures here, and they’re usually pretty hard to come by otherwise.” Lamar explained. “But there’s also a section of figures that I think are second-handed, so they go for lower than they normally would.” “Yeah, didn’t you find a decently-made Sastsuki-Chan figure here once?” Morgan asked as they overlooked the displays.

“That I did, little bud. I’m pretty sure I still got it in my room... Somewhere.”

“Hey, isn’t that Nova-Chan in there?” Sofia pointed to a figure in the bunch.

“What? Nova-Chan?? Don’t worry baby! I’ll save you!”

In a rather comical endeavor, Lamar dramatically reached for the figure Sofia identified. He grabbed the blue-haired figure and cradled it gently in his hands.

“What did they do to you, Nova-Chan?”

As Lamar expressed his lament, Sofia and Morgan just looked at each other, not quite knowing what to make at this display of weebness.

“Um… Is uh, is she okay?” Sofia asked after a moment.

“Luckily, yeah, but it ain’t right for a figure that’s so high quality to end up in a pit like that.” He stated.

“Looks like Nova-Chan wasn’t alone at least.” Morgan dug into the pile and pulled out a figure that looked similar to Nova-Chan, but had a different design scheme.

Lamar gasped. “Comet-Chan! Not you too!”

“Don’t worry, she’s a little chipped around the edges but seems alright as well.” Morgan said as she examined it.

“As much as I like this store, I wish they’d treat some of their stuff a little better.” Lamar expressed.

“You know, this actually got me thinking of that one episode near season one’s finale.” Morgan said. “Remember how the Galactica arc started?”

“Oh yeah! The Nova explorers had to fight in Galactica’s tournament to save their galaxy, and she put Comet up against Nova for the first match!” “You see, it was a really big plot point because this was where Comet-Chan’s jealousy towards Nova-Chan started to boil over, and we get to see what their friendship was like before the formation of the Nova Explorers.” Morgan described.

“Then after Nova wins, we get a moment of character development where they re-learn what it means to be apart of the Nova Explorers, and made amends to their friendship.”

“A bit cliche, but I personally think it was well done, and it solidified their friendship for the coming seasons.”

“Well now, you two are certainly well-versed in Nova Explorers lore.” Sofia joked.

“What can we say, we binged watched the first couple seasons last week.” She admitted. “Anyway, Lamar, how about I show Sofia and I look around the rest of the place, while you scour the other end for any rare merch you might have missed?”

“Sounds like a plan, little man.”

The two shared a triumphant fist-bump, then briefly parted ways. Lamar went to searching the shelves in great detail, using his keen eye to detect anything worth noting. Morgan and Sofia went about in a more casual manner, however the former continued on about Nova Explorers lore and how it all connected to the central plot. Sofia didn’t quite understand it all, but eagerly listened nonetheless. It was fun wandering around in the store, it felt like so long since they all just let loose and had a good time. The trio almost felt as though they were kids once again running about the toy store.

It may have been for that reason that they nearly lost track of time; Morgan was dramatically acting out a pivotal moment in one of the latter seasons with a couple of figurines, when she abruptly remembered the schedule they were on.

“Hold on, Sofia!” she said, realization hitting like a brick. “What time is it?”

“Uh- five fifty.” She stated, checking her phone.

“Shit! We need to find Lamar and get going!”

She nodded in agreement, and the two set off to find their Otaku friend. It took a few minutes, but they managed to spot him rummaging deeply in a shelf.

“Lamar! There you are!”

“Huh- Ack!” He cried as he banged his head on the upper shelf as he came out.

“Dude, come on, we’re meeting the others in ten minutes!” Morgan said. “Oh damn, we better get a move on!”

With that, the trio hurried out of the store back onto the streets. After briefly arguing which would be the quickest path to take, MD-5 ended up cutting through a nearby alley way and out onto a major commercial lane. Despite nearly running into several people and maybe a lamppost or two, the friends eventually made it to where they agreed to meet. “Finally! Good thing we got here in time.” Sofia said slightly out of breath, looking intently at Lamar.

“Hey, I was on a good lead towards a limited edition, so sorry if I lost track of time a bit.” Lamar defended. “Besides, we weren’t held up too badly now, were we?”

“I’ll say. Now where-” Morgan was interrupted by a ping from her phone. After reading it over, she looked around for a moment before spotting a couple of familiar faces.

“Guys, there they are!” She exclaimed. “Masa! Belle! Over here!”

The other two members of MD-5 turned to face the rest of their friends.

“Hey there, it’s about time you all showed up.” Masa said.

“Sorry, we spent some time at Anime Reach and got a little distracted.” Morgan smirked at Lamar.

“Look, a fan’s gotta do what a fan’s gotta do, okay?” He said proudly.

“Well, what are we all standing around for? I’m dying for some food over here.” Morgan said.

“Yeah! Besides, we still haven’t covered the Quazar arc from the fourth season of Nova Explorers!” Lamar said.

“Oh boy, here we go again.” Belle said in a half exasperated tone.

“Hey, that’s what you sign up for when your girlfriend and her best friend are anime fans.” Morgan said playfully.

“Regrettably so.” She nudged her a bit before putting an arm around her.

“So as I was saying to Sofia, the Quazar arc really threw the fandom for a loop as it turned one of the main concepts of the series on it’s head-”

And thus she would nerd on, with only one other member of the group intently listening.

#meta runner #selfship #md squad #scorched feathers #scorched feathers AU #ready player two 💞#self shipper #self shipping #s/i #f/o #I swear to god my adhd ass has been sitting on this damn thing for months

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razorblade180 · 4 years

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Twin Snowflakes pt10: Expedited Exam pt1

“Thank you miss!” a group of three kids say with crumbs on their face and new red coats. Summer kneels down and wipes the middle child’s face, making him giggle. No problem little ones. I wish I could do more but this is all I have for now. Stay warm and go back to that that nice man’s mechanic shop if you ever need help okay?

“Okay.” They give her a big hug before running off.

Summer:Phew! That makes twenty five. I wish I had brought more money. Starting to run low.

Winter:You could swipe your card.

Summer:I never bring it down here. That little boy just now, last time he stole it.

Winter:What!?

Summer:Yeah it caught me by surprise when it happened the first time. Hehe It’s a good thing a little kid with a SDC credit card is highly suspicious. Those three tried buying an entire grocery story.

Winter:And you still let him hug you?

Summer:Everyone needs a good hug. Now let’s go to the la-

“Ms?” A small voice called out her from behind her w gave Summer a little scare. It was a little girl’s doing. Her face was all dirty and her black hair was unkept. Tiredness was in her big golden eyes.

Summer:H...hi. I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Are you okay? What’s your name.

Ruth:M..my is Ruth. *shivering*

Summer:Ruth huh? Where did you come from.

Ruth:My parents they....lost all their money. So they lost me too.

Winter:*frowning* That’s...terrible. They didn’t even give you to law enforcement or an orphanage?

Ruth:They did, but it’s hard there. I don’t like it at all. So I left.

Summer:You look cold. *unzipping jacket*

Winter:What are you-

Summer wrapped her over sized jacket around the kid. She couldn’t be older than twelve. Maybe even ten. The warm fire dust glowed and made Ruth’s eyes widen. Summer smiledat the reaction. “Pretty cool right?” A sudden weight rested on her back. She looked up to see Winter standing over them both without her military coat on. Summer chuckled bashfully at Winter’s exhausted expression.

Summer:Whoops. I’m probably stressing you out a little huh?

Winter:More than a little. Better safe than sorry.

Ruth:Th...Thank you.

Summer:The cold is a dangerous thing. Can’t let it get too close now can we? This might not fit you but hey, it’ll make a good blanket this way. Tell me, do you know the name of the orphanage?

Ruth:S...Saint Harold’s.

Summer:I’ll tell you what. If you go back there then I’ll promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure it gets a bunch of nice things so you won’t want to runaway. I might not look like it, but I’m super good at getting nice things.

Ruth:You’ll do that?

Summer:Of course! I would never lie, it would ruin my image.

Winter:And you were raised better than that.

Summer:I was getting to that part hehe. So, do we have a deal little lady?

Ruth:....You’re really gonna help out.

Summer:It’s an Arc promise. That’s worth like a hundred pinky promises. But if you want more convincing then we can make it a hundred and one.

She takes off one glove and holds out pinky in front her then wiggles it. Ruth simply stare at for a moment before it registers that she’s supposed to do it back. The tiny girl extends her pinky and watches Summer curl them around each other and give it a little tug. Something about the whole situation makes Ruth smile deep down. ‘This lady, she’s so sweet. Like an Angel.’

Summer:There we go. A hundred and one promises. Now do we have a deal?

Ruth:Y...Yes ma’am! Can you walk back with me?

Summer:I-

Oh yes, I wouldn’t mind seeing such a place. Every floor, every room, child....

......

Winter:Summer?

Summer:Huh? Sorry....spaced out for a second.

Ruth:Wow, your pinky is really cold.

Summer*lets go* Sorry about that. *puts on glove* As much as I would love to, I have to go do something really important. It’s another promise I have to keep. My Auntie would be more than happy to though; right Winter?

Winter:Are you sure?

Summer:Don’t worry about me. We’ll go to the lake some other time. I should be heading home anyways. I’ll someone and wait somewhere warm.

Winter:.....

Summer:Do I have to make a promise with you too?

Winter:I believe you, be careful though. Now then Ruth, you wanna hold my hand or be carried?

Ruth:*pouts* I am way too old to be carried.

Winter:A big girl? Okay then. Lead the way then.

Ruth:*grabs her hand* Foward march!

Winter:Hehe looks like I found a little trooper too. *walking off*

Summer:(On my own yet again.)

We both know that’s not true...when are you ever truly alone?

Summer:(Shut it....)

xxxx

“Order up. One hot chocolate, extra steaming for Schnee?”

“Thanks..” Summer said tossing what little cash she had left on the counter.

One of these days those are gonna make you f-

Summer takes a long sip of the beverage to the point she tips her head back a little. The barista’s jaw left open in amazement. “D..doesn’t that burn?” Summer finally puts the cup away and down on the counter. “If only.”

The sound of automated bells went off as the front door open. “There’s my niece; isn’t it a school day?” She turned around to see her uncle in a pristine white suit and red tie with a ice blue shirt under it. His hair was combed to the side and most importantly, his face was free of facial hair.

Summer:Hey uncle Whitley. Oh you know how school and I mix. We don’t. You look nice. Wait are you heading to work? I could’ve called someone else to pick me up.

Whitley:It’s fine. Not like they can fire me for being late. Besides, I was already picking up someone else. *steps aside*

Nick:......

Summer:.....Before you give me the “go to school” lecture, can you buy me another drink?

Nick:....I would give you that speech, but I have a better one in mind.

Summer:Do I still get a refill?

xxxx

Summer:That’s insane Nicholas. *sips drink*

Nick:Or maybe it’s genius.

Whitley:It sounds perfect insane time me.

Nick:Hey! This is a back of the limo conversation.

Whitley:I should hit the brakes for that but have it your way.

Summer:He’s right though. Just take the normal exam. You’re just gonna use the free time you created to do more work. Do you know what taking a break is?

Nick:No but I know the answer to all questions on the science test! Do you?

Summer:Yeah. Because I can learn everything in class the day it’s presented.

Nick:You should take tougher classes.

Summer:Gross. Learn to optimize learning. Maybe if you relaxed regularly then your brain could absorb information easier.

Nick:Never! This could be a win on multiple levels you see? I get more things done, Valerie feels even for me saving her-

Summer:Saving her?

Nick:She almost got ran over by some idiot driver on the way to school.

Summer:WHAT!?

Nick:Yeah it was crazy. It was a mustang with a bird on the side or something. That’s not the point. You also get a win because then you don’t have be in the women’s locker room and deal with that drama; which I wish you told someone about.

Summer:I mean.....I told Valerie

Nick:Ok well, I wish you told me.

Summer:Why?

Nick:Be...because........

Summer:?

The limo went silent and the boy seemed more frayed then usual l. He rubbed his fingers through his long messy hair before pulling out fifty lien and holding it front of Summer. “Please take it.” It wasn’t bribe money to help him. No, it was what they always did when they wanted a conversation topic to die.

Summer:The Throwaway Question? What is so hard about answering what I said.

Nick:Please just take the money and forget about it? I don’t have the energy to have that talk so let’s not have it. I always accept your money.

Summer:....*takes money* You get off easy this time but be ready if this topic gets brought up again.

Nick:*leans against window* I know I know. So, you really aren’t gonna help me with this? It’s perfect practice for the tournament for the both of us. Plus when is the last time the three of us got to fight together. I get tired seeing a tomahawk flying at my face; sometimes I want to see it helping me and not dropping my aura into the red.

Summer:You sound so bitter right now.

Nick:I’m winning gold in that tournament even if it fucking kills me! Oops, sorry uncle.

Whitley:I ain’t your parents.

Summer:....How bad do you want this to happen.

Nick:I don’t like the way you said that. What do you want?

Summer:I need your help with something.

Nick:I’m not singing.

Summer:You are literally the worst sometimes. You don’t even know what the cause is for!

Nick:Ugh, what’s the cause?

Summer:I’m thinking we get a little fundraiser going to get money for Mantle. Specially the food drives and an orphanage called Saint Harold’s.

Whitley:An orphanage? What brought that idea up.

Summer:I met a girl who recently has been placed there. I promised her that I would make it a nice place; I Arc promised.

Nick:Crap, you would. Now I’m obligated to help. *sinks into seat* can’t we just write a check? I don’t wanna sing.

Summer:That’s not fun.

Nick:When would I have the time to even put a fundraiser together. I’m a busy guy.

Summer:Uggh, I hate it when you’re right.

Whitley:Whatever check you two write, I’ll double it.

Summer:Really!?

Whitley:I’m usually holding back molding on meaningless events and it gets board members angry. You’d be giving me a valid excuse. Plus it’s a good use of our money.

Summer:Thanks, that means a lot. *smiles*

Nick:Am I off the hook?

Summer:Not even close. If I do this then that means I’m not singing at the tournament, so stop bugging me about it.

Whitley:Doesn’t that put him in the same position of messing up his schedule? Now he has to find something to fill that slot and make sure it’s good.

Nick:I apologize for trying to not include you in this conversation.

Whitley:I know. I don’t understand why you don’t duet with your sister at the tournament.

Nick:I take it back. Stop giving her ideas.

Summer:Too late! Those are my conditions. Take it or leave it.

Nick starts chewing on his lip as Summer offers a formal handshake. The deal wasn’t terrible. It only meant he’d be doing at minimum two tough matches and was still expected to entertain a crowd. That’s a tiring day; not to mention singing rehearsal. Knowing his sister, she probably won’t put him through the ringer. This exam does take care of practice as well.

Summer:So we shaking hands or not?

Nick:Don’t make me try any high notes.

Summer:Deal!

Nick:*shakes hand* Good, now you better be ready for tomorrow. I’m pretty sure we only get one shot at this.

Summer:I have a feeling you already have a plan to pass.

Nick:Oh Summer, when don’t I have a plan?

xxxx

The afternoon dragged on into night. Nicholas has spent hours with Summer and Valerie on face time to discuss their plans for tomorrow’s victory. Eventually all three of them called it a night and finally went to bed. Some of them a bit anxious about the whole thing; while others were anxious about school in general.

However night was just starting for Veronica was still on the open seas. Her gaze fixated on the moon’s reflection on the water and the dispersed glaciers everywhere. A sign that the boat was indeed getting closer to its intended destination. Two floor easels are propt up on each side of Veronica while a pencil and notebook are at the ready in her hands. She began drawing and sketching diligently; gaining ideas with each stroke until a shadow loomed over the immediate area.

Veronica:You’re blocking the light ma.

A new light quickly pushed away the darkness. Veronica smiled and looked up to see Yang looking at sketches littered everywhere; her hair glowing beautifully. Veronica went back to working.

Veronica:That works too I suppose. Always showing off. Not like I’m one to talk.

Yang:What are you working on?

Veronica:Concepts for a new fashion line. The water and scenery is the perfect cool color scheme to contrast the fiery design I want to create.

Yang:Fiery? Well I-

Veronica:Nope, won’t work. Not to put you down but your flames are a bit boring.

Yang:Boring!!?

Veronica:Seem them all my life. A grand inferno of some sort. I’m hoping the glow of Mantle’s warm glow from its heat generators against the tundra is what will do the trick.

Yang:Inspiration? That’s what motivated you to go on this trip? Menagerie getting too cramped for you?

Veronica:Something like that. I was always too much for that place anyway. Not that Solitas is exactly better. Airships roaring hourly, and the people frankly aren’t my kind of crowd for obvious reasons.

Yang:One person from Atlas definitely has your attention in a good way. As for the other...

Veronica:*flips page* I know what you’re doing. I rather not think about either of them right now. Too busy concentrat-

Her pencil breaks as she finishes another outline. Slowly her grip on it tightens intensely before she takes a deep breath and sets it down. Veronica’s hand reaches for her tail and rubs it rhythmically as she continued looking at the moon.

Yang:Blake told me something interesting before we left. About why she’s usually the one who doesn’t have to try too hard to get you to pipe up. I hope you know... I’ll listen to whatever you want to talk about. Including the emotional stuff. Everyone gets that way.

Veronica:I know that.

Yang:Still gonna be tight lipped though I see.

Veronica:No, there’s nothing to talk about. Just enjoying the view. The full moon never looked prettier than tonight.

Yang:Full moons still freak me out. The fact the gods fixed it as proof of their power is crazy. Even I almost wanted to kneel to them.

Veronica:I’d be more impressed if they did something meaningful instead of correcting their own foolish mistake. Anyways, when will we get to Atlas?

Yang:Ships slow down from here because of the glaciers. Then we port and take an airship. We still have plenty of time to kill. Wanna grab some dinner? The captain is eating with everyone tonight. I’m sure his fancy outfit has something interesting you might find.

Veronica:I’ve seen it already. It’s very tacky and daft. A far cry from even my earliest work.

Yang:I bet it’s more cost efficient at the very least. I mean those outfits in your room-

Veronica:Will be worth every last lien it took to obtain those necessary materials. Not every day I get use Grade A stuff. If all goes well then my pieces will notoriety and I can by better stuff.

Yang:You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you? I’m proud.

Veronica:*smiles* Of course you are. I’m great. Now if you excuse me...

She gathers all her belongings in a way everything touches each other. Her hand rests on top of it all and the items sink into the floor along with her. “I’m going to lay down.”

Yang:I’ll bring some food to your room later.

Veronica:Thanks. *vanishes*

Yang’s eyes looked towards the railing of the ship. Veronica’s pencil still rested on top motionless. “She forgot her pencil? That’s re-” The moment her finger grazed it, the pencil shattered and the railing was cracked.

Yang:Sigh...hard to read and fiery inside. I wish she’d simmer down. It’s like I’m dealing with mom. *rubbing her head* Oh geez, I really have become dad....

xxxx

Harriet:So, you actually managed to talk them into it?

“Yep!” Nicholas said proudly as he pumped his fist outward. The trio stood on the track ready for their exam; each of them in their standard fighting clothes instead of school uniforms. Not that Nichola’s clothes make too much of a difference. Semi formal is typically his style after all. His mostly white pants and shirt were replaced with icy blue this time around. His vest abandoned. He had a feeling that he’ll end up thrown into the ground before his friends finish the battle. Nick took the first three buttons on his shirt and undid them. As well as slicked his messy hair back. “I’m gonna take this seriously from the jump!” The cold edge of Mort Froide already unsheathed and lightly scraping the ground at his feet.

Valerie stood ready in a light brown coat with fur around the collar, sleeves, and bottom rim. Underneath is a pink shirt with a white lightning pattern that makes it look like it’s cracking. Navy blue leather pants and light brown fur boots complete the look. A pair of blue matching leather holsters on held her twin tomahawks nicely across her back; accessible at any given moment. “I can’t believe we’re actually attempting this.”‘excitement and wariness crept from her voice. “Might as well hand us diplomas if we manage to win.”

Summer wore a similar outfit to yesterday. Thermals and all, except for jacket that was still in Ruth’s possession. It was gonna be a bit hard to explain to Penny how the newest creations she made had already been lost. Penny was nice but Summer knew she was in for a earful whenever she eventually has to ask for another one. Her left hand rested on the blade at her hip. “I honestly don’t remember any class of Paladin being this big. It’s at least one and half times the size of a fully matured Goliath.”

Her keen eyes scouted their soon to be battlefield. It makes sense to use the track area. Plenty of space. Still, every thing about gym still irritated her to no end.

Harriet:Summer, I’m glad you could make it to my class finally. Even if it is after school.

Summer:Teach....you look lovely today.

Harriet:......

Summer:Sigh....I’ll show up to class.

Harriet:You promise?

Summer:An Arc can’t go making promises willy nilly. But I assure you that there’s no need to worry. I won’t try to cause any more problems.

Harriet:We’ll see about that. I’m not gonna give you too much of a hard time about it. Focus on the task at hand and depending on how this goes I might sweep a few absences under the rug. Maybe turn a couple zeros in your grade book to something more pleasant.

Summer:Really? Yes ma’am! I appreciate the generosity.

Harriet:*smiles* You three will start the moment you move your feet or when the five minutes timer I start beeps. I’ll be up on the bleachers the entire time watching to make sure everything goes fine. The Paladin as your data uploaded into it. That means it knows your aura level; it’ll stop targeting you once you are in the red. Remember, all of you will still pass if only one of you remains when it’s defeated; individual letter grades will be different depending how much you fumble through this. I suggest you take this time discussion any plan of attack. Break a leg.*walks off* Not really though!

Summer: Five minutes. Wanna go over the game plan one more time?

Valerie:Didn’t commit it to memory last night Snow Princess?

Summer:You were the one dozing in and out during the video call. Do you remember everything?

Valerie:*red* Hehehe, ya got me. Nicholas...?

Nicholas:The Paladin is equipped with rubber bullets, stun lasers, concussion grenade, and thrusters for maneuverability. Not to mention it could just out right hit us with its body. It is made out of the finest metal; annoyingly hard to scratch. Fortunately, so are our weapons.

Summer:One lap around the track is three miles and the Paladin starts in the middle. No doubt able to attack with at least it’s bullets and maybe it’s laser from that position. Long ways, going from one end of the track to the other his half the distance, 1.5 miles, or 7920 feet.

Valerie:If it’s in the middle then we’re actually going .75 miles, 3960 feet. Definitely within laser range.

Nicholas:Traveling .75 miles is also the total distance walking across the track going from the short ways. Making reaching the center .375 miles, 1980 feet wouldn’t be too unbelievable for its concussion grenades to reach us.

Summer:Spatial awareness is everything. We can bait out certain attacks to deplete its ammo. Adjusting accordingly, even when it moves. So let’s-

Valerie:That’s right! Keep different distances from different positions. I knew I’d remember eventually. We’ll rotate between long, mid, and close range when necessary. I’ll get in close.

Nicholas:I’ll start in midrange

Summer:Leave long range to me then. I’ll cover both of you so don’t worry.

Harriet: 30 seconds!

Nicholas:Looks like we’re good to go. Valerie, Summer you’re sort of cornerstones of this.

Valerie:Huh?

Summer:What’s that mean?

Nick:As long as you’re the one watching me Summer then I know you’ll never let me fall. You seem to always give me what I need before even I do. Reading each other is second nature at this point. Valerie, your pure strength and will has always inspired me during any battlefield or boring situation. That’s why I push myself, so I can keep up. Let me not forget how amazing your semblance is as well. Couch Bree wanted both of you for this because she knows the three of us are a force to be recognized. Passing this exam was never insane in my eyes. So thanks for believing in me. I’ll do all that I can.

Harriet: 10 seconds!!!

The two of them were stunned by his words. His genuine confession of his feelings about the pair. Summer’s eyes looked like they were dancing while Valerie couldn’t help but be a little touched by the praise. It was lucky that the cool air already had her face a bit red. They locked eyes and gave a smile as well as a nod. They weren’t going to misplace trust.

Harriet:Three!!!!

Valerie:We got this.

Harriet:Two!!!

Summer:Easy A

Harriet:One!!!

Nicholas:Let’s get to it then...

Harriet:Beg-

All three dash at the same time. Valerie straight ahead, Summer to the far left end, and Nicholas around to the right. “ LET’S GO!”

Part 9

#rwby twin snowflakes #rwby #nicholas schnee #summer schnee #whitley schnee #winter schnee #val valkyrie #harriet bree #rwby au #yang xiao long #veronica belladonna #bumbleby #rwby whiteknight

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coolgreatwebsite · 4 years

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Cool Games I Finished In 2019 (In No Real Order)

We’re here. The end of the decade. 2019 was a weird, turbulent year for me. Despite my cross-country move already being a year behind me somehow, nothing’s really settled yet. Living situation is still weird, still separated from most of my belongings, I left my full-time QA job for a contractor position at a mobile game advertising company that may or may not convert into a full-time position... everything about what’s going on with me still just feels like I’m completely winging it, and while that’s not a position I’m really comfortable being in for such an extended amount of time, everything seems to be working out okay enough despite it. All this is probably why I spent most of my time playing the shit out of a handful of games rather than playing a bunch of different games this year! Needed some sort of stability. Also when I did manage to pull myself away from the timesink games and play something else, a lot of them ranged from “okay” to “real bad”. But I still managed to play just enough stuff that I liked to where I can put out yet another one of these. Here’s a bunch of cool games I experienced for the first time in 2019.

Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (PC, 2005)

I haven’t bothered to do two thirds of the story quests yet and have barely touched any Episode 4 content so this game technically doesn’t count for this list, but if I left it off I would be neglecting to mention an extremely large portion of my video game playing time this year. I fell back into PSO preeeettty hard this year after the surprise announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2 finally coming to the US. Guess what: game still rules. It feels stiff to play and it’s obviously far less expansive than it seemed back in 2000, but the core of Phantasy Star Online is still as fun as it ever was and the aesthetics are still entirely my shit. I love everything about the way this game looks and sounds, I love stumbling on a weird new weapon, I love participating in the custom seasonal events the server I’m on runs, and I love how oddly relaxing the experience of playing this game and taking it all in is. I will probably continue to play Phantasy Star Online into 2020. I will probably still dip back into it after PSO2 US servers finally launch. If I know you and you want to join my Discord server for PSO get at me. PSO forever.

Cookie’s Bustle (PC, 1999)

You ever play a game that just speaks to you? Even through a language barrier? A game so incredibly out there and bizarre in the exact way you love that you can’t help but adore it despite barely understanding it? Holy moly did I ever find that game. I learned about Cookie’s Bustle through a news story last year about some rare games leaking from a Japanese collector’s stash. Didn’t manage to get it to run back then, but my off and on attempts to get it working finally paid off in March of this year and I’m so glad I kept trying. I knew nothing of this game other than it had a weird name and was about a bear doing sports, and it turned out to be a fully voice-acted and mostly unsubtitled adventure game starring Cookie Blair, a 5 year old girl from New Jersey who sees herself as a teddy bear and has traveled to Bombo World, an island nation once visited by aliens and currently in the middle of a civil war, to participate in the Bombo Sports Tournament. Dead level, I probably shouldn’t have been able to genuinely love Cookie’s Bustle as much as I did. The only context I had for what was happening and what I was supposed to do was provided by a 20-year-old Google translated walkthrough with broken images, the game’s slightly higher than usual reliance on English loan words, and 30-ish years of video games and anime allowing me to halfway pick up on a handful of Japanese words. However, Cookie’s Bustle is dripping with an undeniable and off-beat charm that genuinely transcends language. Even if you can’t understand the words and specifics, you can understand the basic plot, characterizations, and emotions they’re going for. Cookie’s Bustle manages to both be completely off-the-wall bizarre and feel totally genuine and heartfelt at the same time, a balance very few games manage to successfully hit but many of my favorites do. One could say that’s why it seems to have resonated with a decent amount of other people this year, too. Games rarely make me feel sad that they’re over. but when they do that’s how I know they’re one of the good ones. Seriously, go look up a longplay or stream of Cookie’s Bustle if you (understandably) don’t want to go through the hassle of setting it up and figuring out how to play it, it’s impossible not to love.

Devil May Cry 5 (PlayStation 4, 2019)

Here’s something crazy to think about: Devil May Cry 4 came out 11 years ago. Aside from being a potent reminder that time is moving too fast and we’re all going to die soon, that means that there hasn’t been a DMC for over a decade. Devil May Cry 5 does not bare this fact even a little bit. Not only did they pick up right where they left off and manage to make another Devil May Cry game without missing a beat, they made arguably the best Devil May Cry game. I mean I still like the story and single-character focus of DMC3 the best, but DMC5 is the best playing game in the series without a doubt. Nero finally feels like he has a complete and complex toolset, Dante is the most mechanically dense and fun to play he’s ever been, and they even added a new guy that’s... neat to play as, until you start trying to S-rank the harder difficulties. Then he’s kind of annoying to play as. But it’s still cool that they tried something totally different and mostly got it to work! They also did something very stupid that I love and used this game as an excuse to make literally every single piece of Devil May Cry media canon. Like, characters exclusively from the anime and the books show up and act like they’re someone you already know and love? And they go out of their way to explain the most esoteric lore shit possible?? And despite it all they still intentionally give DMC2 as short a shrift as they can??? It’s so dumb, it rules. It’s just one of the many things about the game that show that even with so long of a gap between entries, no love for the series was lost by the people that make it. I don’t think the suits at Capcom expected this game to hit as hard as it did though, because despite there being clear areas where the game could be expanded on with DLC there still hasn’t been anything announced. I hope they’re maybe saving it for some sort of DMC3-esque special edition, or maybe just already working on DMC6, because even after getting all S-ranks I still wanted to play more. The game’s just that damn good.

Hypnospace Outlaw (PC, 2019)

I expected very little from Hypnospace Outlaw. I backed the game on Kickstarter solely because it looked cool and I thought a game about fake GeoCities was neat, and then I immediately forgot about it until it released. Admittedly my lack of expectations stemmed mostly from the fact that it’s kind of hard to set expectations for a game you never really thought too hard about, but even in the brief period of time where I considered it enough to give it money, I never expected it to be much more than a pretty-looking 101 Great GeoCities Jokez delivery vehicle. Boy was I wrong. I mean, it is incredibly good at that, but Hypnospace Outlaw is so much more than a funny period piece. The basic premise is that you’re in alternate universe 1999 and have just become a community moderator for an Internet service provider that allows people to connect to the Internet while they sleep. You’re tasked with browsing the game’s weird fake Internet and issuing demerits to users who violate the five basic Hypnospace rules, but it quickly evolves into something way bigger. Hypnospace Outlaw’s greatest strength is its exceptional ability at weaving together subtle world building, small and engaging character arcs, esoteric microjokes, and a genuine sense of mystery and discovery into an incredibly cohesive and engaging package. It’s as much a game about the people that use and run its weird fake Internet as it is about that weird fake Internet itself. And a lot of the problems both face echo the problems we face with our real world Internet today. When I was mapping out writing this article like a month or two ago I was prepared to go on about how at its core, Hypnospace Outlaw is an incredibly poignant story about how uncaring tech corporations actively harm their users and always have, but then a couple of days ago I read Colin Spacetwinks’ game of the year list and his #1 entry put most everything I would have said about that topic down in a way more eloquent and well-written way than I ever could have. And then I remembered that Friend Of The Site Heidi Kemps covered some of the same angle but from the perspective of the early Internet in an article earlier this year, again way better than I could have. So I highly recommend you read those when you’re done here. What I wanna bring up instead is just how effortlessly surprising and interconnected a lot of stuff in Hypnospace feels, using a mildly spoiler-ish late game example. Two of the first “zones” you’re allowed to moderate when you start Hypnospace Outlaw are Teentopia and Goodtime Valley, which are essentially alternate universe Yahooligans and a little slice of Hypnospace just for Boomers respectively. On Teentopia you’ll see a bunch of kids that are wild for Squisherz, Hypnospace’s alternate universe version of Pokémon, and over in Goodtime Valley you’ll see (much like there was back in real world 1999) a few pages made by religious fundamentalists convinced that everything the kids like these days is the work of Satan. This of course includes Squisherz, and you can find a page by one organization full of crackpot conspiracy theories with flimsy evidence that TOTALLY DEFINITELY backs up their claim. Squisherz contains a wolf, which the Bible warns about many times! This giraffe monster CLEARLY has a pentagram in its design!! And the eye of this snake-like Squisherz is the eye of Horus, an Egyptian occult symbol and NEED I REMIND YOU that Lucifer took the form of a snake in the Garden of Eden!!! It is very clear what this page is goofing on and throughout the course of the game it doesn’t get updated at all, so it’s very easy to laugh at it and forget about it. Very late into the game, you get an optional sidequest. Adrian Merchant, one of the CEOs of Merchantsoft, the company that created Hypnospace, was found out to have logged traffic indicating he was a frequent visitor of a website called Children of HORUS, and a call is put out to investigate what that even is. You can easily find the website, but it asks you for a password if you click the Enter button. Adrian Merchant is consistently portrayed throughout the game as a complete idiot, and the solution to this puzzle has you capitalize on that. Another early game objective ended up with you finding a list of cracked passwords, and one of those passwords happens to be for the instant messenger account of Adrian Merchant. If you can remember that he was even in that text file from forever ago, and then put two and two together that of COURSE that dumbass would use the same password for everything, you just punch in his messenger password and you’re granted access to the Children of HORUS page. It turns out that HORUS is an acronym that stands for Hiding Occult References in Utmost Secrecy, and the page itself is a basic leaderboard with a list of names and two numbered columns reading “Hidden” and “Found”. In that list of names you’ll find A. Merchant, along with the names of various other CEOs and celebrities you might have read about elsewhere in Hypnospace. One of the other names on this list is F. Kazuma, the CEO of Monarch, creators of Squisherz. The funny conspiracy theory website from the beginning of the game that you most likely forgot about was, about this one specific thing, correct. There was an eye of Horus hidden on the snake from Squisherz. Not as any sort of Satanic plot, mind you, but only as part of some weird millionaire dickwaving contest. This dumb tiny revelation is not called out by the game at all and nothing comes of it, it’s just there for you to notice if you’ve been paying enough attention. Hypnospace Outlaw is LITTERED with stuff like this. Weird small interconnected things you wouldn’t expect to be interconnected. Little dumb things you wouldn’t expect to have any sort of payoff but somehow do. And it’s also just as chock full of big things. Having all the pieces fall into place at once to where I was able to access Hypnospace’s equivalent of the dark web was the best sequence in a game this year for me, even beating out the outlandish shit in DMC5. Getting and solving the final case was a rush. Hypnospace Outlaw is full of incredible moments big and small. It’s genuinely engaging and affecting, which is so much more than I was expecting from a game that was pitched to me as “Funny GeoCities Cop”. It almost has no right being so good. But it is. Hell, even the music rules! I didnt even get into that! I don't have enough time or space to get into that now! The music is so goddamn good! I know I started these lists because I had no interest in ranking games, but every year I sort of jokingly-but-not-jokingly say “haha this game sure would be my number one if I did that!” for at least one game. It’s time to fully lean into it. I don’t gotta rank ‘em all, but I can pick a favorite. Hypnospace Outlaw is my favorite game of 2019 with a goddamn bullet.

These games were also cool, I just had less to say about them:

Etrian Odyssey (Nintendo DS, 2007): Man, this series just started out good, huh? I dabbled with the first two games in college when I got a DS flashcart but never really dug in until EO4, and the first game is enjoyable in just about every way the modern ones are. Definitely more barebones and punishing though. Kero Blaster (PlayStation 4, 2017): This is a game by the creator of Cave Story that does not aim to be Cave Story, and that’s fine! A fun little shooter in its own right, though I do think the shooting in Cave Story felt a little better than it does here. Space Invaders Extreme (Nintendo DS, 2008): I played the shit out of this game in college thanks to that flashcart I mentioned before, but I never finished a playthrough in full until this year for some reason. Still way stylish and way fun! I need to get a copy of the second one... CROSSNIQ+ (Nintendo Switch, 2019): Incredibly chill puzzle game that can be as hard or easy as you want it to be. Almost uncanny in how well it emulates the style of late PS1/Dreamcast games. Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo Switch, 2019): Mario Maker 2 is kind of weird for me. It’s a solid improvement in a lot of aspects, but a clear regression in a lot of others. Also the online multiplayer is the second least amount of fun I’ve had with a video game this year (Secret of Mana swooped in and stole the number one slot near the end). Still, I had a lot of fun with it and I’ll probably end up going back to it eventually. Katamari Damacy Reroll (Nintendo Switch, 2018): The original Katamari Damacy is still every bit as fun and charming as it was upon its original release. This port is weirdly based on the Japanese version with the English text inserted, which means no English voice acting and Wanda Wanda only plays in the multiplayer mode. The Joycon sticks also aren’t the greatest for doing charge rolls. But none of these faults detract too much from the game. Bring on We Love Katamari Reroll! Earth Defense Force 5 (PlayStation 4, 2018): Sandlot somehow keeps finding ways to make each new EDF bigger and explodier, and EDF5 is the biggest and explodiest yet. I think the mission design in 4.1 was more solid overall, but 5 feels the best to play and has the most fun tools. Also the dialogue is the most absurd its ever been, and the final boss goes for it way harder than the series ever has. Pokémon Shield (Nintendo Switch, 2019): This game is honestly just okay, but leaving it off would again be neglecting a game I put a ton of time into this year. Pokémon Sword is fun in the way most Pokémon games usually are, and extremely half-baked in basically every other aspect. I’m still having a good time putting together teams and finding shinies and doing The Pokémon Thing regardless.

And that’s 2019 (and this decade) in the bag! I don’t know where anything’s going from here, but I’m going to ride it out as best as I can! I hope you do too! As always, thank you so much for getting to the bottom of all these words. I’m hoping to be in a more stable place mid-2020, and then I want to get back to all the things I haven’t had time to do. I want to get back to streaming, I want to write more dumb articles like The Best Babies, I want to do it all! I hope I will be able to do it all. Until then!

#article #year wrapup

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makeste · 6 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 037: More Hallway Encounters

Previously on BnHA: Aizawa taught an entire audience of people how to respect women. Bakugou faced off against Ochako. Bakugou tried to blow her up, but she very nearly outmaneuvered him with a masterfully played strategy that culminated in 3 tons’ worth (apparently) of floating rubble nearly smashing him to bits. But in the end he managed to defend himself with another explosive blast, and she was too worn out to continue.

Today on BnHA: Bakugou tries to get me to ship him and Ochako because he knows I’m weak. Ochako tries to make me cry because she knows I’m weak. They all fucking know. Fucking shit. Kirishima arm wrestles Tetsutetsu because this series gives the people what they want. Endeavor stalks Deku in a hallway and tells him to fight Todoroki seriously since it’ll be a good test of how Todoroki would fare against All Might. Deku is all FUCK YOUUUUUUU but not really, but basically though. Then Todoroki and Deku get ready to fight.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 82 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

“MIDORIYA AND ENDEAVOR”??!!!

OHHH MANNN. LOL THIS WOULD NOT PAN OUT IN A NON-COVER SITUATION, THOUGH. SHOUTO WOULD HAVE HOPPED ON OVER TO ALL MIGHT AND DEKU’S SIDE IN A FLASH

Deku seems really distraught that Ochako lost

Present Mic seems even more distraught

thank you Aizawa for keeping some semblance of impartiality

so now the first round is officially over and there’s going to be a short break before the quarterfinal round

I sure hope you’re ready, Deku. also, based on the title, maybe keep an eye out for Shouto’s psychotic dad who’s been making a habit of trolling people in the hallways today

OHO A WILD BAKUDEKU MOMENT APPEARS

HAHAHA

I love how they both go “!” when they see each other

I also like the face Kacchan made for like .001 seconds before he shifted into the DOOM face

lastly, I love Deku congratulating him after a brief moment of hesitation. like, he didn’t have to do it -- in fact, oddly enough, he risked pissing him off by doing so -- but you can see he wanted to, or like at least didn’t feel right not doing it lol

and then he walks off like a total weirdo

EXCEPT HE DOESN’T MAKE IT VERY FAR BEFORE KACCHAN HOPS UP THE STAIRS AFTER HIM

THESE TWO NEVER LET ME DOWN

I’M TRYING NOT TO POST EVERY SINGLE PANEL OF THEM, BUT JUST. LOOK AT DEKU’S FUCKING FACE HERE

anyway so now Deku, tell him that you didn’t suggest a damn thing. even though you tried to you sneaky sneak

and he is doing just that

giving her all of the credit. just like she fucking deserves

“so if it really was a lot of trouble for you... that was Uraraka”

and now Bakugou is dotting like he doesn’t quite believe it

BELIEVE IT, BUSTER

AND DON’T FORGET HER NAME, EITHER

whew! back to the stadium! Bakugou, you better get out here too if you don’t want to miss your rivals’ deathmatch

everyone from class A is heckling him as usual

I like that none of them are really scared of him at all. he’s only been at the school for about a month, and you can already see the difference that it’s made

Kaminari is saying that Bakugou should have held back against “that frail little girl”

uh. were you not paying any attention at all to Aizawa’s speech in the last chapter my dude. come on man

BAKUGOUUUUUU

LOOK, YOU. I CAN’T SHIP YOU AND OCHAKO BECAUSE I ALREADY SHIP HER AND IIDA, AND YOU AND DEKU, AND MAYBE TODOROKI IS CONFUSINGLY WEAVED IN THERE AS WELL, AND KIRISHIMA SEEMS TO BE VERY FOND OF YOU ALSO! ANYWAY I’M GETTING SIDETRACKED, BUT WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY IS THAT I SURE AS SHIT DO SHIP YOU GUYS AS FRIENDS, IF YOU EVER WERE SO INCLINED TO FEEL LIKE POSSIBLY MAKING A FRIEND, YOU OLD SOFTY

AND ALSO MAYBE I DO SHIP YOU ANYWAY GODDAMMIT

RESPECT WOMEN, EVERYONE!!! IF THIS ASSHOLE CAN DO IT SO EASILY NONE OF YOU OTHER FUCKING CHARACTERS HAVE ANY FUCKING EXCUSE

OCHAKO IS AWAKE!!

Recovery Girl has already healed the majority of her scrapes and burns/bruises! she’s so great

Ochako is also great

“darn it!” omg. I fucking love you so much. you did so fucking great, please be proud. and you earned my asshole son’s respect, which you should know takes a whole fucking lot. he sure as shit doesn’t give that out to just anybody

moral of the story: all you have to do to earn Bakugou’s respect is nearly kill him

I’m glad Ochako’s not getting too down on herself, even though she’s disappointed! I mean, she should be a little disappointed, because if she wasn’t, it would mean she didn’t care at all and wouldn’t have a reason to keep pushing and improving for the next time. but like, she’s doing it productively and not getting all depressed and shit

ohhh! Present Mic’s voice is coming in over the loudspeakers! he’s talking about Kirishima versus Tetsutetsu! right -- I forgot all about them

lol are they really gonna arm wrestle? you know what it should be -- good old rock-paper-scissors

although now I have this mental image of the two of them just endlessly picking rock over and over again

anyways, they are indeed arm wrestling

AND KIRI CRUSHES HIM LIKE VELVET

THAT’S MY BOYYYY

AWWW HE’S EXTENDING THE HAND OF SHOUNEN FRIENDSHIP

LOOK AT THESE GOOD BOYS FORMING BONDS OF RESPECT IN THE SPRINGTIME OF THEIR YOUTH

ANYWAY. TIME TO DIE NOW, DEKU :’D

-- oh my god Ochako is calling her dad

I can’t handle this fucking shit

what the fuck are they trying to do giving me feels out of nowhere when I was unprepared and expecting to jump right into the Deku vs Todoroki fight for crying out loud

her parents are so proud and encouraging!

they’re saying it was really close. Ochako says it wasn’t. well, it wasn’t super close, but she put up a damn good fight and she nearly had him for just a moment

her parents are saying it’s not the end of the world and she can try again next year

they’re saying it’s no rush

oh my god Ochako

then silence for a sec... then they say she doesn’t have to push herself just for them

fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkk

omg. what the fuck. like, I already love her?! so why do they keep...?!!!

I don’t know what else to do with these feelings about this girl lol. she tried so hard and did so well and she lost and she’s disappointed but her parents are so encouraging and she wanted to do well for them but they’re telling her it’s okay and just. I HAVE MENTIONED SEVERAL TIMES THAT KIDS TRYING HARD AND FAILING IS A TEAR TRIGGER FOR ME OKAY fucking shit. fuck. okay

whew. okay

fuck and Deku’s still within earshot. YOU SCOOT ALONG THERE, DEKU. LET HER BE. YOU HAVE A SAD BOY WITH DADDY ISSUES TO FIGHT

-- DEKU IF YOU CRY TOO I SWEAR TO GOD

-- HWHOWHKHL

OH MY GOD THE DREADED HALLWAY ENCOUNTER AT LONG LAST

I GOT SO CAUGHT UP IN THE OCHAKO FEELS I COMPLETELY FORGOT AND I LET MY GUARD DOWN

Deku is freaking out

this is the number two hero in the world, after all. he probably has so many notes about him. he probably would have asked him for his autograph just like he did when he first met All Might... if this encounter had taken place literally at any point before today

Endeavor is complimenting him on his quirk

“in terms of power, it seems on par with All Might’s.” hahaha. funny you should say that. what a funny coincidence huh

so is everybody and their fucking mom going to figure this out before this is all over, or

Deku is trying to storm off “innocently” and it’s just. the single most suspicious thing anyone has ever done

also, I hadn’t thought about it before, but when he thinks to himself that he has to keep it secret from Endeavor more than anyone... yeah. just think about what this asshole would do if he knew it was possible to gain All Might’s quirk. look at what he’s already done to his own child(ren??) just in order to surpass him. not only is he a piece of shit, he’s a very scary and powerful piece of shit

speaking of him being a scary and powerful piece of shit

welp

it’s amazing how he just goes and independently verifies everything Shouto already told Deku about him without being prompted. like if Deku had any doubts at all -- which of course he wouldn’t have, but if he did -- you have to assume that’d all be completely wiped away by this single page

he’s telling Deku to give it his all

well it’s not like he’d have any other choice, given how powerful Shouto is

now Endeavor’s walking away

but Deku is hitting him up with one of his trademark slightly-time-delayed Honest Shounen Responses!

“I’m not All Might...”

oh SNAP

YEEEAAHHHHHH. SUCK IT ENDEAVOOOOOOR

I’ll say it again -- if and when Todoroki wins, it’ll be in spite of him, not because of him

now the kids are finally facing off in the ring!

MY GOD but I love me a good fucking tournament arc :DDDDDDDD

BONUS:

well if it isn’t Todoroki “fuck you” Enji

he’s 45 years old omg

-- then just how fucking old is All Might?!

after a moment’s consideration, I’m still willing to date All Might if he’s 45

also, he looks damn good for 45. if he really is 45

I’m glad he isn’t part of the U.A. faculty, seeing as he’s an irredeemable sack of shit and U.A. doesn’t need any more of those. bad enough we have to put up with Mineta

“I hope to eventually portray exactly why that is” no need. for some things there’s just no excuse. again, see: Mineta

(ETA: although I assume it’s actually because this superhero society is so systematically fucked up and prioritizes just about all of the wrong values. like, I get that, and I can understand how he ended up being such a garbage person. but it doesn’t excuse it, nor does it excuse his being an abusive father and husband not to mention a just-this-shy-of-confirmed rapist to boot.)

also I’m kind of mad that he’s so good-looking without his flame beard and mustache. I suppose Shouto had to get those looks from somewhere

also also, “he can switch them on and off but typically leaves them burning as a flashy show of power” -- exactly like Vongola Primo! how fitting, since Primo is also a giant sack of shit lol

yeah I’ll just end this recap right there on that sick Vongola Primo burn okay bye

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #uraraka ochako #kirishima eijirou #tetsutetsu tetsutetsu #lmao is that really his last name too #endeavor #todoroki enji #to everyone wondering about that out of the blue vongola primo hate #allow me to direct you to the the end of khr's inheritance arc #that's right primo you handsome old bastard #I haven't forgotten and I never will #and here it is now cropping up in an unrelated manga recap BECAUSE THAT'S JUST HOW I ROLL

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blazardragon · 6 years

Photo

English Translation of Korotan B: Chapter 3 - Pui Time

In this chapter, Pui’s first day in Class E begins! Irina shows off her, uh, “unique” teaching-style, Kimura suffers, Maehara and Isogai get schooled, and Okano gets to show off her crazy gymnastic skills.

I felt like I was writing bad smut for part of this chapter, though…

Also, my wish was granted and Gakushuu and Gakuho are actually mentioned in this chapter! They don’t appear, but at least this is a step up from Korotan D.

Chapter 3 – Pui Time

Pui came to Class E and sat between Itona and Karma, with the same glare he had during his assassination attempt the day before. He had an anti-sensei knife placed with dignity on his desk, and he was full of the urge to kill.

“That guy, does he intend to study at all?”

“Who knows…..”

As Okajima and Fuwa watched him anxiously, Pui briefly returned their gaze. He appeared to be a little uncomfortable with being in the classroom, looking around here and there and then staring straight ahead again when Kataoka approached him.

“Here’s your notebook and pen. Use these to study.”

She told Pui in English. Pui glanced at her before taking the pen and notebook.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

Relieved that he took the pen and notebook without a fuss, Kataoka returned to her seat.

“Everyone, be sure to try talking with Pui in English.”

“Alright.”

“Of course!”

Just as the classroom was getting lively, the sliding door at the entrance of the classroom slid open. Korosensei was grinning more than usual when he entered.

“Good morning, everyone! Let’s study together today as well!”

“Wow, you’re in English-mode first thing in the morning~”

“Guess there’s no choice. We’ve got to keep up with him.”

Kurahashi and Kimura nodded to each other and returned Korosensei’s greeting.

“Good morning, Koro-teacher!”*

“Perfect, Kimura-kun and Kurahashi-san!”

And so, the classroom was completely in English-mode.

~~~

It was rare for Pui to be around so many boys and girls of the same age wearing the same uniform, so he just sat there and stared. Concerned, Kurahashi looked back at him. He averted his gaze and sat completely straight. He seemed frantic, unable to relax his posture because he felt like someone was watching him. However, he was also fascinated with Ritsu, peeking at her screen whenever she moved.

“Well, he’ll get used to this eventually.”

“Yeah.”

Sugino and Fuwa whispered to each other.

~~~

“You know that pole-toppling tournament we did the other day? My body still hurts just thinking about it…”

Kimura had walked up to Sugaya’s seat and was talking to him about the sports festival that was held the other day.

“You were awesome, too! I mean, you were one of three guys Asano marked as a threat!”

“I didn’t do anything all that great, though. The fact we were all able to function so well as a team is what’s really amazing! The lower grade students are beginning to see us in a different light, and Class A can’t look down on us anymore!”

“But, no matter how much we fight against Class A, we can’t escape from the Chairman’s control.”

“True.”

Sugaya then noticed that Pui was watching them talk with a curious expression on his face. He decided to use the moment to try teaching him some English.

“Let’s see, I guess it’d be good if we teach him about the Chairman. Ummm…… how do you say you’re being controlled in English? If I remember correctly, you use ‘over’ or something. Like, ‘control over~’.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s ‘over’, right? So, how are you supposed to say it?”

“Don’t ask me! I wanted to ask you!”

“Wait, so it’s not ‘under’? Isn’t it supposed to be ‘under control’?

While Sugaya and Kimura were arguing, uncertain of their own assertions, Bitch-sensei had entered the classroom to begin the next lesson.

“What’s the matter, you two?”

“Oh, Bitch-sensei! Perfect timing! We’re having trouble trying to figure out how to say you’re being controlled in English. Do you use ‘over’ or ‘under’?”

Upon hearing Kimura’s question, Bitch-sensei sighed, and then said with a smile,

“You want to ask me about ‘control’? Then, I’ll teach you in terms that are easy to understand.”

Suddenly, she grabbed Kimura, pushed him to the floor, and straddled him.

“Woah!?”

Kimura stayed where he was after Bitch-sensei’s surprise attack. Her breasts hung right before his eyes, obscuring his vision.

“So, how’s this? My breasts are right above you, right? Try describing the state you’re in using English.”

“Eh, English!?”

His head was spinning and his heart was pounding due to the power of her breasts.

“My teacher’s breast are over me.”**

“Right. Good job. Now, this time, imagine that you can see this scene from above. Right now, you are beneath my breasts. Please describe that in English.

“I am lying under my teacher’s breast.”

“Perfect. There are two ways to describe the state you’re in, one point of view from above and one point of view from below. How do you feel right now?”

“…I can’t really say.”

“Do you need more stimulation?”

Bitch-sensei moved her body forward and pushed her breasts into Kimura’s face, causing Kimura to let out a groan.

“I can’t even raise my head…… It’s feels as if I can’t defy them.”

“That’s right. You could even say you’re being controlled by my breasts, right?”

“Y-yes, ma’am……”

Kimura swallowed.

“So, you can use both ‘over’ and ‘under’ to say you’re being controlled by them. Both “My teacher’s breasts have control over me,” and “I am under the control of my teacher’s breasts”. Do you understand?”

Irina asked as she looked down on him. With his gaze diverted to the side, Kimura replied,

“I-I understand, so move…… please……”

With his request, Irina chuckled and raised herself off Kimura. Pui’s eyes were as round as circles as he watched their interaction. Irina said to Pui,

“Oh, do you want to be controlled by me, too?”

Pui’s face flushed a deep red as he cast his eyes downward. Fuwa and Hara didn’t miss it.

“Did you see that!? Pui’s face turned bright red!”

“How cute!”

~~~

In consideration for Pui, who didn’t know any Japanese, Bitch-sensei decided to teach her entire lesson in English only.

“Okay, today’s lesson will be taught entirely in English. I’ve given you a lot of pointers this year, so you should be able to accomplish this much, at least. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Ms.”*

Class E responded in unison. However, Bitch-sensei didn’t miss that there was a reply different from everyone else’s mixed in.

“Hey, over there! Just now, you casually slipped in a ‘Yes, bitch’, didn’t you!?”

“A bitch is a bitch. I have to make sure this noob here knows exactly what kind of teacher you are.”

Then, Karma whispered something into Pui’s ear, causing Pui to look at him in surprise, look at Bitch-sensei, and turn red in the face.

“Wait a sec, just what are you indoctrinating him with!?”

“I just told him that your signature move is a deep kiss, and that you’ve used it to kill ten men.”

“Oh, but I’ve killed more than ten.”

Bitch-sensei’s and Karma’s conversation continued on smoothly. The pace of their conversation was fast, making it difficult at times for the class to listen in, but they kept their vocabulary simple so that even those with weaker English skills could more-or-less follow along. Even Pui, who was cautious at first, was listening along with the rest of the class and being pulled into the classroom’s atmosphere.

“Please come forward, Pui.”

At first, Pui looked around him restlessly before scratching his head, standing up, and heading toward the front of the class. He was too embarrassed to look at Bitch-sensei straight in the eye.

“Your pronunciation could use a little work. Please say ‘under’.”

“Under.”

“Right, you open your mouth too wide when you say the first syllable of “under”. It should be a darker, more muzzled sound. Look at my lips very carefully.”

“Under.”

As usual, Bitch-sensei’s pronunciation was exceptionally languid, giving it a certain sex appeal.

“See, my mouth didn’t open very wide when I said ‘under,’ did it? You had opened your mouth as if you were saying ‘Ahh’ for the dentist, but that’s not how you’re supposed to do it.”

Pui’s face turned red as he watched Bitch-sensei’s lips.

“Say it after me. ‘Under’.”

“Under.”

“Love.”

“Love…”

The rest of the class watched Pui in suspense. Even those watching from the edges of the classroom could see he was flustered.

“Do you understand now? ‘Love’ and ‘under’ involve similar pronunciation rules. You don’t open your mouth widely to say ‘love’, either. Instead, you open your mouth just a bit, and then you erotically say, ‘I love you’.”

Bitch-sensei’s “I love you,” packed with plenty of sex appeal, landed a hit on every single student in Class E, making the room temperature itself rise, but Pui was hit particularly hard, making his face flush bright red and putting him into a daze.

“Aah, his nose is bleeding!”

Okano noticed a red substance flowing out of Pui’s nose. She scrambled to grab a tissue and plugged his nose.

“He got so excited that he got a nosebleed? Are you an elementary school kid, Pui?”

Just as Okajima began to make fun of him, a stream of blood escaped from his nose.

“You too?”

Sugaya turned around, only to see that Itona, too, had a nosebleed.

“They’re like the Three Nosebleed Brothers.”

Irina smiled seductively, satisfied with the results her sex appeal produced.

~~~

By the time the class headed outside to begin P.E., Pui’s tense expression was beginning to loosen.

“Today, we will start with reviewing knife techniques. Repeating the basics will make them the foundation for your technique.”

“Yes, sir!”

In accordance with Karasuma’s instructions, the students practiced the basics of knife-work, repeatedly swinging down, swiping to the side, slicing up, and stabbing forward, shouting “One! Two! Three! Four!” with each repetition. Pui moved with the rest of Class E. The students’ knives moved with a linear trajectory, but Pui’s moved his in an arc.

“Look, look, the way Pui uses his knife looks a bit different!”

Okano noticed Pui’s unorthodox movements.

“Now that you’ve reviewed the basics, we will now commence training for close-quarter combat. Isogai, Maehara, you two will attack first.”

“If we hit you within one minute, you’d better reward us!”

“Fine. Mimura, keep track of the time.”

Karasuma took a stopwatch out of his pocket and handed it to Mimura while Maehara whispered his plan to Isogai.

“Begin!”

Maehara was in front of Karasuma, swinging at him bit by bit to act as a diversion. Isogai used that gap to get behind Karasuma. Their plan was to attack from both the front and the back; a pincer attack. However, Karasuma struck Maehara’s wrist, causing him to drop his knife, and then dodged Isogai’s knife from the back, tripping him in the same movement. Isogai took the fall defensively, and, after Maehara picked up his knife, Isogai joined Maehara’s attack from the front. Just as they were about to land a hit, Mimura announced that a minute had passed, signaling the end of the battle.

“Too bad. Your idea to try a front and back pincer attack was a good one, but that’s what I’m most vigilant against. Maehara-kun, though your attacks were meant to be a diversion, they were incredibly obvious, so they couldn’t draw away my attention. Try to consider what the person you’re attacking might be thinking.”

“Y-yes sir…”

Maehara shrugged, and then put his hand on Pui’s shoulder.

“Pui, let’s try it together.”

“Seriously!?”

Pui made a forceful nod before Maehara whispered to him,

“I don’t have a plan. Just keep attacking him.”

He then pointed his knife at Karasuma.

“Let’s go, Mr. Karasuma!”

“Sounds good. Don’t hold back.”

Pui suddenly lunged at him with a sharp thrust.

“Guh!”

His speed caused Karasuma to lose his balance. Maehara aimed his knife for where he was falling. Karasuma just barely dodged him by twisting his body, but before he could regain his footing, Pui launched another attack. Karasuma raised his elbow to block the attack, but Pui moved his knife in an arc, passing by his elbow and hitting his collarbone.

“Woooah!!”

Class E roared after witnessing Pui successfully capture Karasuma on his very first attempt.

“You’re good!”

“Awesome!”

The corners of Pui’s mouth raised just a bit, barely altering his expression, as he puffed his chest out. Karasuma praised Pui,

“You’ve clearly conveyed that you have a lot of experience with this. As I thought, you’ve been making a living as a professional killer.”

The next activity Karasuma had them do was free running.

“Okano-san, show him what free running looks like. Scale that slope using the fastest route.”

“Yes, sir!”

Okano suddenly bolted toward the slope Karasuma was pointing at. There was a mountain path for going up the slope, but Okano ignored it and instead ran up an Oak tree, jumping from branch to branch.

“Heey!”

Okano waved her hand from the top of the cliff, which she had just scaled in the blink of an eye. Pui whistled, impressed by the feat.

“You want to try, too, Pui?”

“Sure!”

Class E closely watched Pui’s trial run. Pui climbed straight up the slope of the cliff. Using the small trees growing out of the cliff as support, Pui didn’t mind the steepness at all and just kept climbing. Karasuma stopped the stopwatch.

“Almost the same time as Okano’s. You show a lot of potential.”

In the style of a warrior, Pui raised his hand in the air as he triumphantly stood atop a tree on the top of the cliff.

Notes:

*As much as it hurts me to write “Koro-teacher” (and, though less painful, “Ms.”), that’s the translation in the book, so I feel that I shouldn’t change it.

**This is the original English printed in the novel. It’s not perfect, though I’m not certain if that was a mistake on the writer’s part or if he’s intentionally making Kimura’s English flawed. Since Irina’s English is correct, I’m assuming it was intentional. In which case, it’s a nice touch!

Thank you Kimura and Sugaya for mentioning my favorite characters ;__;

#assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #Irina Jelavic #Karasuma Tadaomi #Isogai Yuuma #Maehara Hiroto #Hinata Okano #Kimura masayoshi #Class E #Pui #Korotan B #translations

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tomioneer · 6 years

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the yyh marathon continues 10 with episodes 31-33

CHU CHU CHU CHU

no, I’m not making train noises

he’s amazing.

i love chu’s stupid hair, I really do. it’s so fun to like, watch move around

10/10 would date someone with that style ponytail. not the mohawk though, that’s too tall.

better and bigger and BUFFER than I remember damn son

speaking of sons.

soft yusuke

pure, blessed, angel baby yusuke

you’ve realized by now, of course, that I prefer his hair down, but did you ALSO KNOW that i prefer this child is garishly bright coats

no wonder I love napping!yusuke so much and remember these early matches so fondly despite what horrible shit the other kids go through

reminder that they are ALL children

except for rinku. honestly, in retrospect, presumably full-demon rinku is probably older than any of them?

except for kurama. because. youko.

hiei is somewhere between actually fourteen in human years and like. 300 in demon years, probably.

I feel like kurama, an apparently four tailed fox (I maintain this is a lie, as kitsune can willfully appear to have less tails than they actually possess) is like. four or five hundred human years old at least

koto is a standard kitsune, by the way--transforms into a pretty girl, has one tail in her human form, and is a red fox.

I digress.

chu. chu is an adult. chu is not fourteen, so I can enjoy his shirtlessness without any qualms

koto, oh my god: “well, they’ve burned their skin, shortened their breath, and somehow lost their shirts. altogether I’d call it a successful fight!”

relatable

they’re laughing, and it’s honestly adorable.

they’re not hysterical, koto, they’re bonding.

yusuke used to fight because he had nothing better to do and nothing worth staying out of trouble for, to his perception. maybe he thought it better to get killed in a fight than end up like his mom??? I can’t say

and he certainly never understood keiko’s vested interest in him

he fell in love with that kind of fighting, the carefree brawls where he always came out on top, and used them as a way to prove himself

but now he understands fighting at another level entirely, where his life really is in danger, and the stakes are higher than he’d previously imagined they could be. this isn’t about territory or revenge, he’s been saving lives

and he loves it, and so does this random stranger he’s ended up fighting

of course chu comes back as an ally later

he’s one of the first people yusuke’s ever understood on such a resonant level

thanks for the dramatic preview, kurama, but I really wouldn’t call them perfectly matched

in a fight bewtween two people of equal skill, the bigger one usually wins

or so says anita blake in laughing corpse, a book I havne’t read in ten years lol

so I have a thing for supernatural detectives, sue me

I ran out of ice cream ten episdes and 2 days ago. in retrospect, It hought I was going through these episodes faster than that

knife-edge death match

why is he australian

have I asked that yet, because I’m asking

koenma doens’t like the sound of that but I rmember how this goes and I LOVE IT

shizuru makes a dick measuring joke

watching chu remove his shoes is my new sexuality

btw if you don’t know what ‘toe off your shoes is’ in fanfiction, please watch this sequence because chu does it and yusuke does not

yusuke, I will say again, is a CHILD

yusuke loves the rules of this fight and if it weren’t amanga where he’s not aloud to use the same sort of fight more than once for fear of boring readers, I guarnatee ytou yusuke would do this more often

I can’t believe yusuke and chu are both just standing there in that position waiting with their feet on the sharpened edges of knife blades while the cimmitte decides whether or not a death match is allowed in a death match

yusuke is so small

ominous dark clouds that I missed bc I was typing lol

boys just punch okay

oooh and they even light the fight fo us, interesting

koenma somehow doesn’t recognize someone he knows and has known for years, according to the genkai tournament arc.

yusuke has to reach a lot farther to hit chu

karasu showed up like the little bitch he is

are those tiny eyeglasses on his mask, because if so that is BEYOND STUPID

karasu has a crush on yusuke, I know because his eyes shone and he’s gay

no, I don’t ship it

I could almost ship yusuke and chu though lol

I DO half-ship chu and koto

what the hell, I count them both

ship count: 6/400

kuwabara: I could watch them fight for hours...

keiko, immediately: I can’t watch them fight anymore!

knowing how this match ends really makes it funny that the dub, when those plant zombies showed up, had yusuke ask Kurama if he should headbutt them

shizuru makes an totally unacceptable, but still funny, joke about yusuke having died once already (because they don’t know he pretty much died a second time against rando, and a third time against suzaku)

keiko runs off and shizuru chases her

is this why shizuru meets sakyo? he left his viewing room earlier so I bet it is

I remember shipping them as a kid, let’s see how that goes this time

this is pretty cool actually

she dresses like a first calss gay, honestly

I wishi I could pull that sort of look off

SAKYO hey who guessed he’d show up here , not me

he is beautiful

I actually forgot that this whole time, my favorite fight was going on

I can’t beleive keiko actually got into the fighter’s area and made it onto the field that girl is fucking unstoppable

Keiko, crying: Kuwabara, you have to make them stop fighting!

Kuwabara, clueless: no way, why would I wanna do that?

classic

I read a theory online that kuwabara used to be friends with keiko and yusuke when they were all little, and it has totally changed the way I see it whenever these two interact.

kuwabra genuinely tries to explain this fighter’s mindset to a noncombatant. he is a good, patient boy

yusuke is loving this fight

so is chu

rinku’s internal observations are completely different in the subtitles, saying that chu still has something hidden up his sleeve and it waitinf or the right time to use it, where in english he says that hie wishes the reast of team urameshi had given such a good fight, so rinku could have ‘given his yo-yo a workout’ which is a terrible euphemism for... using his yo yo weapons.

I’m surprised we haven’t gotten more shots of their feet against knives, bleeding

as I went to type that, we get the first shot of exactly that, as yusuke goes in for his own headbutt to counter chu’s

which was aparently the ‘secret weapon’ rinku meant in the subs

yusuke has beautiful eyes

chu’s head BROKE THE FLOOR

yusuke called chu mate, I dig it

yusuke and kuwabara are cute and gay

oh, they are extra gay when they do sidehugs

I can’t believe that of this whole team only two people are left

yusuke is my hero

he just yelled loudly enough to shup up the entire arena of spectators

“if you idiots got something to say, say it! but say it to my face, or else say it to my fist.”

that’s a badly written but highly epic and kickass line

I have NO IDEA what chu just said because the audio broke and he has am AUSTRALIAN ACCENT

son of a--

the narrator just fucking punned

yusuke flipped off the toguro kyoudai, and the screen does the dramatic stylized freeze, and the narrator goes, “yusuke may be flippant now”

YOU SUCK

but also it’s a good joke I hate it

where did keiko go during the dramatic pan over the team anyway, she was down there with them.

I rewound and she is Not There.

WHYYYY did they even make Chu say anything??? he doesn’t in the japanese version, there are no subs for him

I really miss the old ED. I love the images for this one, the keiko focus. but. it doesn’t have the same energy. it’s not a jam

now that I thinka bout it, the photograph at the end of that ED could only have been taken in universe on the return trip from the tournament, so I should never have worried that hiei or kurama or kuwabara actually died.

I’m so glad for this arc if only because it’s means all these casual clothes for our cast, and I love that

look how high wasted yusuke’s jeans are, I love it, Ireally do. BOYS , wear high waisted jeans.

during purely internal monolgue, dub yusuke gives a fraction of the information sub yusuke gives by just saying “damn it” instead of “I can’t focus my reiki, why??”

kuwabara’s outside, coincidentally passing by where yusuke is, because hs’ not psychic and ISN’T LOOKING FOR HIM cuz he’s not gay

look, I realize I’m calling yusuke and kuwabara gay a lot. I don’t mean literally gay.

they are obviously bisexual, or pan, or demi.

I just mean they fall under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, which is in my region frequently shortened to “gay”

Kuwabara immediaetly ruins my theory by straight up admitting to looking for yusuke and wondering why he wasn’t left a note

kuwabara (paraphrased): I wanna have a team meeting

yusuke, a smarty who already knows he ain’t straight: have a meeting with yourself, then. you’ll learn a lot.

kuwabara, who clearly needs more time: what does that mean?

justas I was about to say tha tI couldn’t beleive they just--left genkai in the room alone, we see that genkai is actually stalking her student now that she’s bored of intimadting kuwabara

we just--that’s the ichigaki team

those poor men

those three poor, wonderul men

I remember nothing about those two demon members of the team but now I’m getting flashes of--delaying hiei and kurama?

thank you kurama, you nerd, for bothering to do research on the next team

yusuke, who now trains on his own time even after running out of reiki: why am I so damn tired?

is this. a filler villain? or did togashi really come up with a character who manifests rubgy balls and calls himself rugby

WHY is the dub so far off the sub right now? there’s no lip flap to match!!

this is awful

buys a fucking gymnast

well he lasted for three minutes before getting killed by his own teammate

GENKAI SPEAKS BLESS HER

oh man yusuke thought is was genkai and is now confused as fuck by this young voice amazing

but why the fuck does she sound young, when she hasn’t exerted herself at all that day

she just, fucking tells them about hiei fucking up his arm

baby YOU KNEW you were making that trade, you KNEW

botan looks a lot like sailor moon right now

keiko confimrs that she is aware yusuke has the hots for her, but also that she can see how happy he is here in the tournament

shizuru’s ass is AMAZING

it’s shocking to think neither hiei nor kurama could tell toguro was alive when they were just a room away from him

why are yususke’s eyes glowing

that whole team is huge, how did rugby even make it on that team lol

‘don’t you have a team?’ “of course I do, but they’re extremely lazy” amazing.

I mean, we know they brothers are famous, but it makes so much more sense WHY they are famous--having previously WON the dark tournament

I wouldn’t be opposed to a movie or something about that tournament, honestly. I want to se more of toguro when he was human.

I wonder how genkai feels weatching him do this

toguro is sort of like an early saitama, if you strip away personality. their drive at this point is similar from what I know of OPM.

okay so the dub has creepy-possessive implcations thanks to toguro saying (about yusuke) “that boy is reserved for me”. the SUB on the other hand--toguro just says, ‘it’s a bad day to be a large guy, huh?’ which is fucking. amazing. bold. iconic.

yusuke is sitting next to the previous LOVE of toguro’s LIFE, and he doesn’t even notice her. just yusuke. I guess amask really can hide everything?

I’m stunned they aren’t having more trouble about sittin ght eaudience that was calling for their blood yesterday.

of course yusuke and his friends have to deal with an extra match lol.

okay but what’s up with this reigun thing. I don’t remember it at all.

I guess we just really need to see genkai fight.

i do love and admire her a lot.

on the other hand, I do NOT want to see the vs. dr. ichigaki fight. I remember it pretty well I think? and it was just so--upsetting.

did we uh. ever get a NAME for the younger toguro brother???

#yyh rewatch #yyh #dark tournament saga #dark tournament arc #chu #rinku #urameshi yusuke #yukimura keiko #koto #kuwabara shizuru #toguro the younger #team rokuyoukai

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recentanimenews · 6 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 6/25/18

Astra: Lost in Space, Vol. 3 | By Kenta Shinohara | Viz Media – Two things are the most notable about this volume of Astra, which otherwise sees our heroes going to more alien worlds and slowly firming up into the obvious romantic couples. The first is the big reveal that Luca is intersex, which comes out after a confrontation with Ulgar over Luca’s father, the senator. We’ve seen intersex characters in manga before, but it doesn’t usually hit Jump titles. The other reveal is back with the parents discussing their kids, who have now been missing for a month. It’s clear that there is some sort of big conspiracy going on here. That said, I’m not sure I’d really be continuing with this if I didn’t know the next volume was the last. I look forward to it ending, but also want to see the end. – Sean Gaffney

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 2 | By Yukito Kishiro | Kodansha Comics – Having recently started reading and enjoying the original Battle Angel Alita, I was naturally curious about Mars Chronicle. While the first volume of Mars Chronicle served as a prequel to Battle Angel Alita, taking place during Alita’s childhood as a war orphan on Mars, the second volume is a sequel set after the events of the Last Order series. Tying the volumes together are the characters and the Martian landscape. Alita finds herself caught up in a dramatic battle with Erica, her childhood friend and another expert martial artist, while larger efforts to establish a unified Mars are in danger of collapsing, Alita herself framed for an assassination attempt of the emerging leader. For the most part, Mars Chronicle is a fairly accessible series even for those who haven’t read the earlier manga, although some basic familiarity with the franchise can still be useful. – Ash Brown

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 24 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – One of the more iconic things about Food Wars! are the images that are drawn by the artist summing up the preparation of food. Sometimes, when it involves the judges eating, it’s pure fanservice, but not always. There’s two terrific portraits here of the different types of cooking that two of the teams do—the one with Gin, Takumi and Megumi is shown as a sort of cocktail jazz band, while the one with Soma, his dad and Erina is shown to be avant-garde Jackson-Pollock style painters. It’s great stuff, and helps get us into the big final matches, which start with Soma immediately having rotten luck destroy him, as he’s challenging a soba expert and the meal they’re doing is soba. Ah well, he’s the hero, I’m sure he’ll come up with something. – Sean Gaffney

Ghost in the Shell README: 1995-2017 | By Takuma Shindo | Kodansha Comics – Despite being subtitled 1995-2017, the recent Hollywood live-action Ghost in the Shell film is oddly the first incarnation of Shirow Masamune’s manga to be addressed by the README guide and artbook. The rest of the volume is devoted to the various anime films and series by Mamoru Oshii, Kenji Kamiyama and, most recently, Kazuchika Kise. Each of the adaptations is given a chapter of its own which includes general information, story summaries, character, mechanical, and landscape designs, an abundance of full-color artwork, and more. For me the most interesting parts of README were the essays, the interview with Atsuko Tanaka and Maaya Sakamoto (the voices of “The Major,” Motoko Kusanagi), and the roundtable featuring all of the Ghost in the Shell anime directors in conversation with one another. README will likely appeal most to established fans of the franchise, but it provides a terrific overview and general introduction, too. – Ash Brown

Horimiya, Vol. 11 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – It really is impressive how the author of Horimiya is just not letting go of the fact that Hori really gets turned on by being dominated/struck, and that this really seems to bother Miyamura. It’s one reason, perhaps, why the volume ends with a short chapter that shows that, though they love each other, they still have tremendous difficulty figuring out how the other thinks. And there’s also Hori’s rage issues, which they at least acknowledge but don’t really deal with. As for the other couples, well, Ishikawa and Yoshikawa (Ishiyoshi?) are still struggling a bit, mostly due to embarrassment and embarrassing family. Horimiya isn’t as fantastic as it once was, but it’s still fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vols. 23-24 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | VIZ Media – We begin with the conclusion of the Winter Cup semifinal game, during which Seirin manages to defeat Kaijo by a one-point margin. It’s tense and exciting and there is a lot of manly crying. Rather than move right into the finals, however, the story diverges into flashback mode, with Kuroko telling the story of his time at Teiko Middle. This arc is fabulous and I’m a little bummed we didn’t have it earlier, as it would’ve informed so many of Kuroko’s interactions with his former teammates. However, putting it before his big matchup against Akashi makes sense, since Akashi was the one who sensed his potential to develop a unique style in the first place. In particular, I wasn’t expecting to come out of the arc loving Aomine so much. It’s nice knowing he finally did find someone who could defeat him. One of the best volumes in a while! – Michelle Smith

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vols. 23-24 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | Viz Media – As you might expect, Kuroko solves things, and is even allowed to make the winning shot—something that stuns him a bit. We’re clearly getting near to the end of the series, which means it’s now time for a biiiig flashback showing how the Generation of Miracles actually came to be. As you might imagine given everyone we’ve seen, it was not free and easy. Kuroko is almost put off the team a few times and the others barely work together at all. (It’s also cute seeing a middle-school, pre-sexy knockout Momoi falling for Kuroko.) I’m glad that this flashback is coming now, as we’ve come to know all the leads, and it also gives us a break from the tournament while still being filled with basketball. – Sean Gaffney

Mushroom Girls in Love | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – If it weren’t for the length, this could easily have fit right into the middle of A Centaur’s Life, a series that seems to enjoy randomly wandering off into whatever the hell for a few chapters on end. Instead of animal-human hybrids, this time it’s fungi-human hybrids, as our heroines try to stay married and in love despite root rot, royalty trying to break them up, and evading gunfire and the world seemingly being against them. As with A Centaur’s Life, this is not so much comedic or dramatic as just plain weird. And then there’s the girls riding tarantulas like horses… I guess what I mean to say is that if you like A Centaur’s Life and wish that the lesbians were the main characters, give this a shot. – Sean Gaffney

Princess Jellyfish, Vol. 9 | By Akiko Higashimura | Kodansha Comics – In many respects, this is a satisfying finale. Jelly Fish is back in business and it’s great to see the girls, particularly Jiji, finally able to don fancy clothes without hesitation in order to help Tsukimi’s visions become reality. In fact, I pretty much cried straight through from that point on. Reveals and reunions occur, but when one looks closer, one sees that several things remain unsettled. Amamizukan is still owned by Kai Fish, we don’t know whether Jelly Fish will actually be a success, and we don’t know how Tsukimi feels about Kuranosuke being in love with her (though I do love that he recognizes she doesn’t need a man right now). The feeling is all very optimistic, though, and perhaps it’s for the best that we just imagine a happy outcome without worrying about the details. It’s hard to believe it’s over! – Michelle Smith

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 2 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – If you enjoyed the first volume of Wotakoi, this second one gives you more of what you enjoyed. The four leads are still all otaku types, but realistic and not caricatured. We get to see how Hanako and Taro met, which temporarily turns Wotakoi into Haikyu!! for a bit, and also see the couples accidentally getting swapped thanks to a haunted roller coaster. And there’s a new character, introduced (I thought) to be a gay love interest to Naoya, but no, she’s just a shy girl who dresses like a schlub. Still, there’s some comedy to be mined from hiding this from Naoya for the time being. As an anime and manga geek, reading Wotakoi is both fun and heartwarming, and I like it a lot. – Sean Gaffney

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 2 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – I really liked the first Wotakoi omnibus, but I flatout loved this one. All of the characters are so great and so vivid, and there was an interesting structure to the two volumes included here. In the first, the continuing story of Hirotaka and Narumi’s first real date is interspersed with short vignettes and the story of how Naoya makes a friend. I came away with a much stronger idea of why Hirotaka loves Narumi, and how he feels like an inferior adult compared to her. In the second volume, the continuing story is an amazing flashback to Kabakura and Koyanagi in high school, with all the tsundere goodness one could wish for. Ordinarily, characters who bicker this much would bother me, but these two are the exception. This is a fabulous series that everyone should be reading. Get on it! – Michelle Smith

Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs, Vol. 2 | By Tadahiro Miura | Seven Seas – If nothing else, Yuuna is proving to be a slightly better ecchi Jump title than To-Love-Ru has, possibly as there’s slightly less emphasis on falling into everyone’s breasts all the time. Only slightly, though, and Yuuna still positions itself for one type of reader and one alone—the horny teenage boy. But if I were a horny teenage boy, I’d like this—Kogarashi is a bit less hapless than the typical ecchi protagonist, the girls are for the most part fun (I was amused that the drunken Kitsune wannabe is a manga artist), and there is the occasional sweet romantic tease. Still, if you’re expecting romance, read Nisekoi. If you want boobs, this is the book for you. – Sean Gaffney

By: Michelle Smith

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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tigerlover16-uk · 7 years

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Well, just read up to the end of the Champa saga in the Dragon Ball Super manga...

I’ll give it this much credit. The artwork is nice and expressive, it was cool to see an actual fight between Beerus and Champa in the past, Majin Buu simply failing the entry test instead of falling asleep works a bit better than the anime, especially in hindsight with the universe survival arc since it means Buu’s sleeping won’t be quite as overplayed here, Goku’s fight with Botamo was better than in the anime and even his fight with Frost was a bit better in places, at least in it’s choreography...

but literally EVERYTHING ELSE was a downgrade from the anime.

Remember how the anime gave Piccolo a short but pretty good fight with Frost that showed off his wide range of techniques and expert battle strategy, and how Piccolo would have won if Frost hadn’t cheated... well here, they just exchange a couple of punches and whatever before Frost used his poison on him, it lasts 3 or 4 pages at most with nothing particularly impressive happening and there’s no implication that Frost even NEEDED to use the needle to beat Piccolo.

And you know why? Well, remember how the anime set up Frost as this great hero celebrated throughout universe 6 as it’s greatest hero who lead an army to defend the universe from evil forces and end wars, but then it turned out that he was actually leading space pirates in conquering and selling planets he pretended to save for high profits, all the while making himself look like a hero to the rest of the universe? And how that made him kinda just like Frieza, but smarter and gave him enough unique qualities to still be his own character even if he was a bit of a knockoff?

Well screw that actually interesting idea that had potential to be further expanded upon. Because in the manga, he’s just some rando who happens to just be a dirty cheater, and just wanted to get the tournament over with quickly because he didn’t want to fight in it since he wasn’t being paid. And that’s it.

And the whole thing makes Piccolo’s shafting far more egregious and pointless than in the anime, and Vegeta’s beating him a LOT less satisfying or cool. It all just made Frost feel pointless and flat, whereas the anime at least gave him some character and managed to successfully leave the audience equally disappointed and disgusted with Frost as the characters were. We don’t even get that cool bit of foreshadowing with Hit taking Frost out afterwards.

Magetta and Cabba both get much weaker showings too in their fights, both barely having time to show their stuff with Cabba not even getting to land any good hits on Vegeta after ascending to super saiyan.

They also completely alter the rules for super saiyan God and super saiyan blue, to the detriment of the story. here the super saiyan God form is used again for Goku’s fight with Hit, despite that the form was supposed to be absorbed into Goku’s body after use with SSB effectively being it’s replacement, making it basically bargain sale SS4 instead of it’s own thing. And instead of being about perfect ki control and peace of mind, here super saiyan blue is taken in the exact opposite direction and given an even WORSE power drain than super saiyan 3 where using it more than once means that after the first usage, the user loses 90% of the strength they had when they first used the form that day.

Which Toyotaro tried to use to make Vegeta losing to Hit seem less anti-climactic for Vegeta as if Toyotaro felt he needed to protect Vegeta’s image by making it look like he only lost because he was exhausted. But all it actually does is make Vegeta look like a big idiot for using SSB against Cabba earlier, and along with some other stuff makes Hit himself seem a lot less cool and impressive than he was in the anime.

Speaking of which, you know what an awesome character Hit was in the anime, how great his interactions with Goku were, how he really pushed Goku to the edge, and how AMAZING the moment Goku went Kaio-ken as a super saiyan blue was? Remember how everyone lost their minds over that and how it made the Goku vs Hit fight into one of the most beloved moments in all of Super, if not one of the best fights in the franchise?

Well, screw that apparently, there’s no kaio-ken here. Like I said, Goku just uses Super saiyan god to initially gain the upper hand on Hit, then instead of Hit having the ability to rapidly improve his skills and strength as he’s fighting Goku like he has a fast acting zenkai boost ability, it turns out he was just holding back and Goku has to use Super Saiyan Blue to beat him. It’s... not satisfying at all. And to top it all off, instead of Goku giving up because he realized that he and Hit were basically just being used as pawns for Beerus and Champa’s childish feud and him basically doing so to give Beerus a figurative screw you and teach him a lesson, while still believing Monaka can win for universe 7, in the manga... he just quits because... he feels like it I guess? Hit’s pretending to lose to Monaka makes a lot less sense as a result.

Honest the entire fight felt really anti-climactic and a lot less exciting compared to the anime. And all of the good character building moments and interactions Hit gets throughout the saga in the anime and particularly during this fight are missing, so Hit comes off a lot less flat and interesting whereas even though he wasn’t exactly super fleshed out, he still felt like a rounded character in the anime that you wanted to know more about and put on an amazing show. Here... he’s just kinda meh. And that stinks, because Hit is honestly one of my favourite characters in the franchise so this just left me feeling insulted for him.

Oh, and we also rush through the ending and especially super shenron’s summoning in a montage that takes away most of the spectacle of his summoning from the anime, and the ending with Beerus wishing Universe 6′s earth back for Champa feels less touching because we didn’t get quite as many moments with Champa here compared to the anime or as much interaction, so the build up to the ending was overall weaker.

Honestly, so far this manga feels like a bust. It starts off as basically an abridged version of the Battle of Gods movie (Except not a funny parody like DBZA, just an abridged version of the story that cuts out a lot of the best parts, all of the good character moments that didn’t involve Goku, Beerus and Whis and to a lesser extent Vegeta, and the moments it does show in full usually aren’t handled as well as in the Super anime or in the movie), it skips the Resurrection F arc entirely despite it still happening in this continuity, and the Champa saga just feels... lacking. A lot of the coolest and funniest moments are missing, and a lot of the cool moments replaced with stuff that’s just far less impressive or boring. Character interaction like Vegeta and Cabba aren’t handled as well, all of the supporting cast get virtually no good moments to themselves where even in the anime they all had at least a few good character moments to themselves, if not really being crucial to the story or fights.

Goku comes off as more of a jerk in places, especially when he seems to outright ridicule Gohan for choosing to be a scholar instead of a fighter and being angry he didn’t come to watch the tournament, whereas in the anime he was disappointed Gohan couldn’t take part because of a press conference, but understanding and happy to shrug it off since he knew Gohan’s academic ambitions were also important and still expressing pride and acceptance in Gohan. So, basically the manga removed a good moment that showed off Goku’s maturity and him being a loving and supportive parent... to replace it with him being a smart mouthed jerk annoyed with his son over matters out of his control. Charming. Are we sure it’s the anime that makes Goku into a selfish parody of himself, people?

Honestly, this manga so far feels pretty weak. There’s very little here that improves on the anime and nothing that improves of the Battle of Gods movie, and it just feels like a watered down experience with some worse writing choices so far, and it ends up underselling all of the universe 6 characters except Botamo oddly enough, and all of the supporting cast. Everything feels less fleshed out, more rushed and just not that satisfying or entertaining, with it’s only saving grace really being the artwork. Not to mention it cuts out any breather episodes, so I know it’s not going to include the baby pan story from episode 43 or anything like that.

I’m still going to read the Future Trunks arc of the manga, but only out of morbid curiosity and because I want to be informed about everything that’s going on in regards to Dragon Ball Super. But honestly so far, I’m starting to really scratch my head and wonder why the heck so many people keep trying to insist to me that the Super manga is so great and the anime is trash by comparison. because honestly, it feels like quite the opposite for me so far. But hey, that’s just me, I can’t blame people for enjoying it, that’s perfectly fine and I encourage people to have fun with things. But I’m getting really annoyed at how people bash the anime for certain things and blame them all on Toei, when this version of the story makes me feel like Toei are the ones actually putting in the effort to make the story as good as they can.

#dragon ball super #dragon ball super manga #dbs #dragon ball #dragon ball z #dbs manga #Champa saga

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