Anelkia

Epic seven player, Handjumper enthusiast, Demon slayer, Fairy Tail and Hetalia fan. I draw on the side too

[lucienfresco]

[anelkia]

i feel so bad for him, my baby🥹

[ikoyravon]

i truly do think post-canon sanegiyuu is as endearing and domestic as it gets. these two dudes who haven't had any time to sit and figure out why they 'hate' each other, or even why they hate themselves, who've hidden for so long behind blankets of silence (giyuu) and sharp piercing words (sanemi), but now they finally get to have a moment where they stop and breathe, and yeah they lost so much in their shitty lives up till now but they're still HERE. they've lived to see this peaceful world, lived to see children survive and live their own lives, lived to better themselves, lived to form more connections, to love and be loved. and in all these quiet moments they learn to inevitably take care of each other. they learn to trace each other's scars with gentle awe, to soothe each other when they have nightmares, to still practice with each other when they don't quite know what to do anymore, to make ohagi just the way sanemi likes, to let sanemi take over tying their robes when giyuu struggles with his missing arm, to let each other exist when they retreat into their own worlds so as to grieve, but also to bring each other back out. really, they just learn to heal together.

[sanemin]

[anelkia]

Doing everything but letting his sword rest at his hip ugh

[muichirodoroid]

messy asses

[tlirsgender]

We need more women characters who are Male Protagonists. You know. Slightly haggard. She's splashing cold water on her face and gripping the edge of the sink staring in the mirror for a minute. She's coping badly with her deadwife

[anelkia]

Saeyon Lee lowkey fits the description lmao I can't xD

She even have a dead husband hauting the narrative!

[avodkat]

at its core, hand jumper is a critique on power. 

it is established early on that those who gain power must sacrifice something. 

sayeon’s introduction involves her studying to the point of exhaustion— "eating a little, sleeping even less"-- to become the top of her class. sayeon’s deprivation of her basic needs, like socialization, sleep, and food, introduce the idea that something intrinsic and human must always be given up in order to improve your abilities. 

additionally, hand jumper portrays the necessary sacrifices for power as corrupting. 

samin is scared her own mother will harm her sister, and sayeon herself describes sara as a "strange and difficult woman". she says that “for the longest time, (her) mother felt like something pretending to be human". Through the way other characters view and discuss sara lee’s lack of humanity, the author frames the sacrifice sara made to attain power as a tragedy. 

conversely, abstinence from power is framed as human.

extreme power allows its user to commit atrocities, which is exactly why ryujin kang refuses to use her gift. her refusal to exert power over others is portrayed as morally right because it prevents the most extreme acts of violence from happening. apart from this, ryujin's reason for not using her gift is deeply personal, tied to her trauma and emotions. using her gift would involve betraying her morals. ryujin's morality, and thus, humanity, is directly linked to her abstinence from power.

in summary, sleepacross uses characters' treatment of aberrant ability to warn readers that great power often comes at an even greater cost.

hand jumper is a cautionary tale on power imbalance.

sayeon starts developing a god complex and committing morally questionable acts because of her detachment from real consequences, and thus, her ability to rewind time. she starts viewing herself as morally superior to others, allowing her to inflict harm with no remorse.

Even koryo’s real-world events are a cautionary tale of power asymmetry. the story kicks off with a news story about butcher, an aberrant, murdering a prosecutor, while she, a human, is rendered helpless. near chapter 40, the narrator illustrates an aberrant killing over 200 civilian with their gift. these scenes show the reader that the scale of harm is amplified by aberrant strength, which gives them extreme physical power over civilians. This communicates that power can negatively impact morality by placing the user on a higher level than other, non-powerful or differently abled people.

thus, the author criticises the absurdity in the placement of power, which often favors a minority.

the readers question whether power has truly fallen into the right hands. sayeon says it herself-- that "aberrancy isn't bestowed onto the most virtuous, but falls into the hands of randoms like min and (her)” through sleepacross’s portrayal of power asymmetry, she shows how unjust placement of power leads to abuse.

finally, power is realistically portrayed as multidimensional. 

although the governor is a human who is leagues weaker than captain han, an aberrant, he carries far more political power. this allows him to treat the captain poorly, as evidenced by his constant beratement and mockery. the civilian sayeon tries to use as a “hostage” similarly has less physical power than yesol or juni, but he has systemic power as a human with a peace card. despite being an aberrant, a marginalized group, captain gyeon is acknowledged by the government due to his social status and political influence. these characters display that power can be multifaceted, and that different types of power can strengthen each other when used in tandem. 

Through the governor and captain gyeon, sleepacross deepens her portrayal of power. additionally, the usage of realistic types of power (social, political, systemic) allow readers to better relate messages about power to their own experiences, which increases the effectivity of sleepacross’s other criticisms on sacrifice and power imbalance. 

all in all, hand jumper is a nuanced critique on all aspects of power-- both the people whose hands power fall upon and the terrifying atrocities those same hands are capable of committing.

[rupurteblr]

i call this one “using tumblr as a person of color”

might update with more images at some point

[the-uncanny-dag]

Some of the ones I've accumulated

[trashyshrew]

[anelkia]

Rare pairs in Epic seven that I ship (unfortunately for me)

Mortelix and Kayron:

Forever obsessed with the one fic I found on Ao3 that made me discover this ship, only to be crushed with the realisation that it is THE ONLY fanfic of them. Like c'mon guys don't we see the potential? Am I alone in this ship?

Think of the potential tho, like they're both obsessed with power in a different but complementary way, let them be a power couple pls (that would be Ras worst nightmare and he would be valid)

Hwa-young and Arunka:

A clan leader and their right hand/ally/conselor? Sign me in. They're both badasses that can throw hands and ugh they really get each other and support each other I find their bound so cute

ML Lua and ML Surin:

She'll notice you one day Surin it's okay😭 One sided toxic yuri goes brr with these two. It's probably for the best that ML Lua doesn't aknowledge her actually, she's crazy too.

Tamarinne and Yuna:

Highschoolers being Isekai'd together in a crazy world and managing to follow their dreams and oh my heart can't take it, they're so domestic to me. I'm actually happy they're not heavily involved in the main plot, they deserve to be left alone in their magical school and organise festivals together.

Anyway that's all I can think about for the moment, I am starved.

Btw my username in E7 is also Anelkia if someone wants to befriend me on it lol

[lilikags]

Epic Seven Icons

Credit not required but appreciated. like/rb if saved or used

[basketcasekilljoys]

Tenebria (affectionate) Kayron (derogatory)

[crayonarts]

There's a tendency in fandom to try and break gender stereotypes by feminising men but often times it ends up going so far left it goes right. There suddenly has to be a "man" in the relationship who is strong and level headed and the embodiment of masculinity. While there has to be a "woman" who is dainty and fragile and needs protection despite the ship being mlm. Yes it's fiction do whatever but when it's at the detriment of a characters characterization to the point of becoming the dominating fanon, then I just can't stand it. I also am not critiquing bl as a genre here because that's a whole other beast. Those are the only versions of those characters. I'm specifically referring to shonen slash ships. And more specifically sanegiyuu.

Giyuu is oftentimes shown as weak or portrayed as a stereotypical omega, or worst of all, as a helpless victim of Sanemi, Shinobu, and Obanai's bullying. He has no agency and is often reduced to a damsel in distress role in fics due to his perceived femininity. These roles are forced on him because he's physically smaller than the people's he's most shipped with (e.g. Sanemi) or his silent demeanor is seen as more submissive in comparison to the other characters' louder/'maler' personalities. But it's not a role that makes sense for him because if it weren't for his size, Giyuu would represent the stereotypical ideals of the silent and brooding top, especially in comparison to Sanemi. He's closed off, level-headed, incredibly skilled at his job, has a voracious appetite, and possesses an incredibly protective nature when it comes to the people he cares about, such as Tanjiro.

Narratively wise, the guilt he carries for being responsible for Sabito's death and his own lack of autonomy over his life means being a feminised bottom would probably be his worst hell. As someone who was continously protected by his sister, Sabito (even Urokodaki in the case of Tanjiro), he feels his life is governed and extended not by his own actions but by the sacrifices of those around him. He is someone who desires control over his life and being allowed to have that control as a top would offer him both the safe space and the catharsis he needs. Being penetrator is something that is so deeply personal because it is an invasive act. It requires a level of trust that Giyuu would be able to give up but would only reaffirm his fears that he's someone who needs to be 'taken care of' rather than someone who could be that for someone else.

For Sanemi, who spent his whole childhood being the protector. First, his family is against his father. Then, his siblings were against his mother. Then others would have been victims of the demons he spends the next several years fighting till sunrise. This all built up a saviour complex that came at the cost of his own body in the most blatant act of self-harm and low self-worth poorly disguised as anger. Anger, which being in the position of a hard dom top, would only be allowed to fester. Having that ability to release, to actually let someone in, and allow himself to be taken care of is what would suit him best, which are things that are often awarded to the bottom in fanfics. The vulnerability that is gained from letting someone inside your body both physically and mentally would directly rival the poor emotional regulation he's struggled with since childhood.

I also feel part of the problem is people only being able to view anger as a 'masculine' emotion. But the truth behind Sanemi's anger is that he's a very emotional person through and through. Vowing to follow his mother to hell, having poor emotional regulation and subsequently trying to blind his only remaining family member, feeding stray dogs and raising dung beetles, the self harm (of which this isn't necessarily a feminine trait but often internal suffering to the point of externally harming one self is often reserved for bottoms and subs in fics). Even Gyomei says it himself that Sanemi gets easily embarrassed, and it's due to the fact that he is an incredibly sensitive person. He's also deeply angry but it's clear still from his calm interactions with Kanae and the master that being angry is the only way he can prevent himself from confronting his feelings of inferiority for 1 being a murderer (in his eyes), 2 failing to protect his family, 3 having to fight tooth and nail for his spot as a hashira, and 4 his fear of being mocked which I went more into depth here.

Compared to Giyuu's more overtly cool and brooding character, Sanemi's character is more emotionally charged, and yet because Sanemi is bigger and stronger and angrier and scarier looking due to his scars, he is seen as a masculine character. But because Giyuu is the typical ikemen character type, without possession of the more overt traits stupidly associated with masculinity, he's reduced to a fragile baby who can't swim, can't cook, can't stand up for himself, needs to be saved. And yet the manga disproved every single one of these fanon tropes.

Even if we go by physical attributes alone, the two of them fall comically so into typical female/male character designs we see in shonen animes. Sanemi's long lashes, his styled hair that swoops fashionably over his forehead, the soft design of his face (when he isn't looking murderously insane), and most importantly, his uniform. The only other person to get the same uniform treatment that Mitsuri does in the anime is Sanemi, and yet only one of them is seen as 'gooner bait'. Mitsuri is the most feminine and femme character within the series and her and Sanemi's uniforms are the samr in different fonts and yet even after drawing that very obvious and direct parallel between the two of them, people still fail to it. It's even funnier when you consider the fact that Sanemi chooses to walk around with his titties out 'for better fighting' (female gooner bait character excuses 101) while Mitsuri ends up with that uniform due to a shit perverted tailor. But looking at Giyuu's character, we never see him take his shirt off once (which I'll count as a sorta physical attribute because his body doesn't get open to sexualization in the same way Mitsuri or Sanemi's do). His hair keeps a very rigid messy and hasn't-been-brushed-in-weeks sort of structure, which reflects his internal suffering-in-silence character. His eyes are nowhere near as rounded as Sanemi's, especially when he's first introduced. They maintain this icy calculating kind of aura while Sanemi's take on the more feminine attribute of the extremely long eyelashes.

The thing with feminising characters is it's fun until you realize everyone is doing it to one character continuously to the point of changing their personality just because they want them to be the uke/bottom in the relationship. It erases sooo much of his character and ignores his character arc entirely.

Giyuu being feminised so often especially in comparison to Sanemi, to the point of Giyuu being well known as the fandom bicycle and yet somehow almost never being a top or in any dominating role in majority of the ships just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Everything about him that is perceived as being feminine and inherently equated with being weak is simply misogyny and homophobia in an ugly trench coat and yes I will die on that hill.

[crayonarts]

Of course, Sanemi and Giyuu would understand each other. Nobody else in the series is self projecting to the degree they are. And both because they feel they can't measure up to the other hashira in their own ways. They're just the absolute opposites of the exact same problem. Sanemi "are you making fun of me" Shinazugawa meet Giyuu "all of you can see I'm not as good as him" Tomioka.