A socially awkward timid caterpillar

[sabertoothwalrus]

for those who don’t remember, “mole interest” was an experiment I did 2 years ago because I wanted to test what causes tags to go trending on tumblr. My hypothesis was that all it takes is one (1) post blowing up in an established tag to make the entire tag trend.

I had randomly generated 2 words, which is where “mole interest” came from. I failed to consider that by generating a new tag, it wouldn’t have had enough posts already in it to prove what I now call “the mole interest effect”.

But now it does.

In 2023, we said “fuck it” a la mythbusters and ended up doing whatever it took to get #mole interest to trend. And it did. And it happened to be September 11th that day, and we managed to get #mole interest to trend ABOVE #9/11.

So, in the name of science, I ask you to reblog just this post. Let’s put the mole interest effect to the test.

[lxmelle]

Spoilers.

The ending is very close to the jujutsu world that Geto and Gojo always dreamed of.

One that didn’t rely on just the One Strong person.

A sorcery institution that protected the youth and would try to shoulder the blame / responsibility.

A hierarchical system that wasn’t led by selfish old gits who upheld outdated values.

A world of relative peace.

A team of sorcerers who are “strong and intelligent comrades”.

Individuals who would fight for and with each other.

Sorcerers who have been touched by feelings of loss and understand the value of belonging - will likely open their arms to others, nurturing more of the same in the future.

The roots for a place that others can feel like they would be coming home to - a “family”.

A world that wouldn’t leave anyone behind.

A world that would try to leave the pain of the past behind, but carry along (keeping) its precious memories to heart — without it being a wound that created loneliness. Gojo and Geto fundamentally strove to create a world that would not have casualties like themselves who were far too young to shoulder huge burdens all on their own.

…for the last point, this really echoes real life. People do die, and those left behind have to find a way for life to carry on.

Their legacy may or may not continue. Sometimes it does continue when a real revolution occurs. We have reason to believe a real revolution did occur. Gojo and Geto did straddle the two worlds because they elicited change. They took on the brunt of the blame and responsibility. This was what they wanted. It gave them meaning. And this was meant to be the most fulfilling thing for them.

Even within the series, one day, Gojo Satoru will be talked about just as Gojo himself talked about his ancestors. Maybe like Tengen and co. who first brought peace to the world. Those of that new era will not be able to put a face to his name. Or understand their methods. May not wish to.

And it’s... okay. That’s arguably the way it’s meant to be. Life does go on.

You can remember as the reader.

This is what it means to grieve, I think.

Things like this touch the core of what it means to be human. Facing death. Loss. Grief. How we make sense of it.

I’m filled with gratitude that I fell into this series by chance. There are so many memories of where I was when I read this or how I felt when I read that.

My feelings for the series and the characters will change one day.

It’s normal. It’s okay.

In this very moment, I’m so grateful for the series, the vision created by Gege, and the community who love jjk - especially those who choose to keep it alive and embrace their fandom by expressing it in healthy ways that love each other rather than tearing each other down.

[jarimaa]

hey, i was just wondering what are your thoughts on the final chapter of jjk…

The End

This is gonna be a little detailed. I am gonna first give a short answer and what I liked and disliked, then a little more detailed one. This is about ending as a whole.

I remember I did quite some research during my college time on post modernism and existentialism because i had to write an essay (it isn't about that) but I will be referring to what I researched here and there, when put forth my points.

Short answer- I am content with the ending. I am also surprised since this is the first time gege wrote a full manga for the first time, but he still managed to give an ending better than most. And any gripe that still remains, I will not hold it against the author cause the story and characters aren't real, Gege is.

Yuji, Sukuna, and Gojo's character have some of the best conclusions within the story (unpopular opinion probably 😮‍💨). The way they were written and the consistency with regards to their characterization was amazing.

As for what I am conflicted about or have any gripes with, well, it's Megumi's character. I don't know how to say it, I liked it his conclusion, but I wish there was more introspection to how he reached there. But alternatively, I talked with a moot of mine, and they think the lack of introspection from Megumi is quite in-character. He decided to live for others once again (i.e., he didn't address his problems at all) and he is finding peace and comfort in the cage he is stuck at, it's such simple decision from his part, cause he is very clueless about his own psychology, and this is the beauty of it, that we as readers know what caused him to make that decision-according to my moot. I highlighted this one, cause this interpretation stood out the most. I also talked with other people, who seem to hold dislike for the lack of introspection from Megumi's end. While I am still conflicted, maybe I will address in some other posts or not at all, idk, but right now, I haven't formed my opinion on it.

Detail:-

I like that it's more about evolving and coexistence rather than breaking the cycle or one conclusive solution. Regardless of Sukuna's or Yuji's existence, the curses will always continue to exist. It's humans' negative emotions that create curses in the first place. If the negative emotions of humans can't cease to exist, then curses won't either. Jujutsu Kaisen in a way rejects the idea that life can just have a start, middle, and end, or that one single truth/solution can provide closure. Maybe things can get worse in the future, maybe things can get better, that's up to you to decide, in that particular sense, it's open-ended.

You may ask what was even the point then? Well, let me offer a perspective, although it's just my interpretation, you don't have to agree to it...

When characters within a story accept a belief, perspective, or solution as the only truth, it can lead to their failure, especially if that belief oversimplifies a complex reality. But, one character who comes to understand the complexity can find a way to coexist with the chaos or ambiguity, though not necessarily "fixing" things.

In narratives such as these, the answer isn’t just a rejection of truth but a recognition of multiplicity, the presence of multiple perspectives, interpretations, or meanings within a single work or the idea that one truth or solution cannot account for the full stretch of experience. The character who realises the absence of a single "fix" often ends up navigating the challenges in a more nuanced way. They may not succeed in traditional terms, but they endure by accepting life’s complexity.

Many characters within JJK try to find some single "fix" to the system or the problem of curses and cursed energy and each of them had very flawed solution which we see failing--Yuki/Kenjaku/Geto were all extremists in that sense, one of my friend mentioned this in twt, Yuki wanted to completely break away from CE but also she didn't have any concrete plan, and Kenjaku who wanted to optimise it, but never really knew what merger could do, himself. Even Geto knew that killing all non-sorcorers is not possible.

Sukuna/Gojo-- both their ideals were extremely flawed. Many people have written amazing analysis on this, so i won't go in detail. But we see in the story how strength was the reason for both their solitude and which led them to path of their own death. But Sukuna perfected what Gojo didn't, sukuna completely threw away his humanity and was content living as a curse. A hollow human, who only ever cares about strength, he deemed love worthless, like Gojo deemed love to be the most twisted curse. However, gojo still wanted connections at the end of the day, and this kept him a little more humane than sukuna, who became a monster who clung to life wanting to stay at the pinnacle.

I liked that in the end Gojo realised that Yuji and other should follow their own path rather than just following his goals (although he would've like that) and I am glad they didn't follow his footsteps.

This conversation between sukuna and mahito just added so much to their characters.

Sukuna is the man who perfected his ego. He discarded his humanity till his last breath. Sukuna says he was an unwanted child (maybe cause he ate his twin in his mothers womb, someone on twt pointed out that this is similar to biological condition called "fetus in fetu") and he internalised this all and lived his whole life as a curse, only ever caring about his pleasures and displeasure and being the pinnacle. But even a perfected ego gets humbled in death, and the same happened with him. He acknowledges that he could have taken a different route, and if there is a next time, it would be nice to walk on a different path. Beautiful, honestly.

Now, Mahito is the literal manifestation of humans' hatred for others. He is a true curse, and he wasn't able to reconcile with his humanity after death because, unlike sukuna, he has none, he is not human. He is the manifestation of the same cycle of human hatred, he didn't change, he is the only one left sulking like a child. As I mentioned before, if the negative emotions of humans can't cease to exist, then curses like mahito won't either.

You could then say - well, then nothing changed?

I mean, is it really nothing? Tengen is no more, and this is the curse user Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara caught, and what happened to him?

Earlier, he probably would have been executed, but now Yuji offered him a chance to change.

Yuji turns out to be the person who learns to coexist. He is, for me, the best written character within the story with the best conclusion.

Now, let's just say that doesn't mean anything, nothing changed at all, there was no point...

However, the idea that "nothing changed" often misses the deeper layers of such narratives, which are less about external change and more about internal realizations, the acceptance of ambiguity and even the rejection of simplistic resolutions.

The "point" is not necessarily achieving change or a clear resolution, but rather witnessing the struggle itself. How characters navigate or accept a chaotic/indifferent universe.

There are two examples I can think of, first one being, Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus", Sisyphus endlessly pushes a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down, its completely futile, yet the "point" is his perseverance. The second one is "Waiting for Godot" by Beckett, nothing really appears to happen in the story, and characters seem stuck in a cycle of waiting for this supposed person calles Gadot. However, the "point" is in the waiting itself. It's a reflection on the human condition, the search for meaning, and how we deal with uncertainty and the passage of time.

Thus, the point of such narratives is not in "what changed" but how we live with things not changing, how we adapt, or re-contextualise meaning of things when the world resists easy solutions or "fix its". It's reflectimg on the messiness of real life, where change is often slow, subtle, or non-existent, and simple answers are rarely seen.

So it's up to you to decide what you wanna make of this ending. Personally, I am very, very content.

(Again, this is my interpretation, I could be completely off charts, and I don't mind, maybe I will change my mind after thinking about it again, or maybe not, but one thing remains, that I throughly enjoyed all 4 years I was reading this manga. Peace✌️)

[hiimtryingtounderfell]

Guys, the day is upon us!! I finally reached 25k followers!!!

This is an amazing feat omg, I never would’ve imagined I could get this far! I want to celebrate it big time, with a raffle! (Promotional pic was made by @abel-draws, what would I do without you ;v;)

You can win a free drawing just by participating ^^ To enter the raffle you can reblog, and that will count as an entry! But if you comment as well, that will be two entries! I will count both! So be sure to reblog and comment for more chances ;) (of course, you have to be following me to be able to enter the raffle, but that’s a given) Once again, thank you so much for sharing this Undertale journey with me, I will do my best to finish sketching the Waterfall arc so I can bring you quality content really soon!

Note: The raffle’s deadline will be on december 20, so make sure to participate before then ;)

[adreamofbooksanddust]

Attack on Titan Chapter 115-Hanji’s POV

The pathetic fallacy of a downpour was not lost on Hanji. In fact, it was perfectly fitting. Paradis collapses, the skies cry. There was nothing too unnatural or out of the ordinary about that, all things considered. So why, then, did a sickening feeling of dread seem to be lingering in her stomach?

The group of horses plodding on, each looking as miserable and forlorn as their riders. The Yeagerists…if someone had told her such a group would exist four years ago, she’d deem them crazy even by her standards. The entire group, come to think of it, was rather cult-like in its deification of the Jaeger brothers, whose true intentions Hanji didn’t trust in the slightest. This had been cemented by her confrontation with Eren. Vague as it was, it had still been the most the military had gotten out of him since the return from Liberio.

Still, in order for whatever plans that the faction might have to work, Eren and Zeke had to make physical contact. Granted, avoiding that was becoming harder by the minute, but if she could make contact with Levi, there was a chance, however small, that they could overpower the Yeagerists long enough to get away with Zeke, before transferring his Titan power.

Of course, that was assuming they didn’t kill her and Levi once they arrived. A million things could go wrong, but somehow, she had to still hope that-

The sound of a distant explosion shook her from her thoughts. Around her, the horses were panicking, their riders looking no less spooked. She was aware of everyone trying to figure out the source, but she had no need to do so. Despite wrapped up in her own thoughts, Hanji had placed the sound as one all too familiar to her. “That was a Thunder Spear…”The feeling of dread inside her was suddenly amplified “Zeke should be in custody much further ahead of here…what happened?”

She glanced to the left to see Floch studying her intently, almost as if he could read her thoughts. “I think we’ll find something if we follow that sound.” He stated, not once breaking eye contact with his former superior.

The group continued riding in silence for a mile or so in the direction of the sound. The surrounding land looked so pristine and ordinary that it was unnerving. That is, until they passed around a grove of trees. Then it was all too clear what must have transpired.

Debris and shrapnel littered the surrounding area, smoke still spiralling up in wisps even whilst being gutted by the torrential rain. Past that, the bodies of two horses could be seen, one clearly dead, the other still appearing to cling onto its last shreds of life despite bleeding out from a number of deep puncture wounds. The remains of a titan lay steaming in the distance, and body parts were everywhere.

Hanji knew the effects of Thunder Spears, had in fact coordinated their rigorous testing prior to them being considered ‘safe’ for use. But the scene before them still shocked her to the core. She quickly urged her horse forwards. If there was something she could see, something that could tell her more about what happened here…

“Commander Hanji.” A voice shouted “You need to stay still!” She chose not to respond, her eyes instead taking in the surroundings. “Did a carthorse get blown to pieces?” She wondered aloud. If so, where was the cart’s driver?

Her gaze then landed on something-no, someone-crumpled at the river’s edge, the Wings of Freedom clear as day on their cape. Without a thought of the consequences of her actions, Hanji leapt down from her horse. Upon hearing protests, she yelled out “Someone’s there!” and raced to the bank.

Upon reaching the figure, Hanji bent down into a crouch and tried to pull them upright. “Hey!” She asked, panic edging her voice “Are you alive?!” A stupid thing to ask, considering the alternative and how they looked, but if they were only injured-

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw their face.

It was maimed, almost hideously so, drenched in blood that mingled with the mud and rain. Large pieces of shrapnel stuck out of their cheek and jaw on one side, and on the other…a long gash trailed from the eyebrow to the chin, right through the eye. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the rest of the body, but judging by the blood soaking through the clothes and staining her own, it was just as badly injured, if not more so.

But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that she recognised and knew this face all too well.

“Levi?”

This was bad. No, this went beyond bad. Her comrade, her friend was dead in her arms, and she couldn’t even tell what exactly had transpired. The wounds must have been caused by the Thunder Spear from earlier, that much was obvious, but what had been the cause to use it? It couldn’t have been used to down the nearby Titan, Levi would’ve used his blades for that, and he wasn’t stupid enough to be near his spear when it detonated. So what had happened?

Suddenly, she saw his eyes flicker briefly. It was over in the blink of an eye, barely noticeable, perhaps even a spasm as his body shut down-but she’d seen it, and it gave her hope. Until she became aware of footsteps approaching her and the sound of guns cocking.

“I have no idea what happened…but we got lucky.” The unmistakeable voice of Floch spoke out, from what must have been no more than a few paces away “Our number one threat is here, covered in his own blood.” Hanji froze, still holding Levi’s near-lifeless body. Another soldier came up behind her “Let’s shoot him in the head.” “He’s dead.” She cut in. The lack of gunshots briefly reassured her that they believed her-for the moment, at least. If she was going to get herself and Levi out of here, then she needed to think fast and on her feet, just like in any other mission. And in this case, she had to come up with the most believable lie she’d ever told.

“He got caught in the explosion of a Thunder Spear at point blank range.” Her eyes remained locked on Levi, refusing to look at those who were just a single shot away from ending their lives “I’ve seen similar accidents during training. But beyond external wounds, internal organs would be ripped to shreds and death would be instant.” “I can also check a pulse.” Floch stated “So let me have a look.” Hanji glared at him and tightened her hold on her friend. She didn’t have much time to react or plan further, however, as a sudden burst of steam from the downed Titan diverted everyone’s attention.

“FLOCH!” One of the soldiers ran over to them “There’s something weird about this Titan!”

Immediately, Hanji noticed that instead of being emitted from the body as would be the case with injuries, the steam was being sucked in. In all her years of studying and fanatically obsessing over Titans, she’d never witnessed this.

“Is it disappearing?” Floch asked “Did it die?” “No…” A million thoughts spun through Hanji’s head, but she fought to keep them at bay and assess the situation “Normally…when steam gets absorbed like that, it won’t disappear…” She froze as something appeared to move on the titan. No…it was climbing out of the body. A person. As they looked up, face becoming visible, Hanji fought back a yell.

It was Zeke.

Mere metres away from her and Levi.

For a second, Hanji’s gaze locked with his, fear threatening to swallow her. But it was not the time for fear, not the time to freeze like a startled rabbit. They had to fight, damn it. They had to win.

Without further hesitation, Hanji grabbed Levi and plunged into the river, frantically swimming with the current as it dragged them away.