Darkest Bluest Seaest

He/They, mainly just lurkin, DarkBlueSea on ao3, I ramble. a lot.

[darkerbluerseaer]

Introduction post??

Hi!! editing this to make it more digestible cuz I've had enough time to think it through

Current fixation (will be updated): Wind Breaker

my ao3

a-spec so a bunch of ships are very a-spec (either asexual, aromantic or aroace) to me (biggest examples include Sherliam, Hualian, Wenrenjiang, Wrightworth, Akeshu, Saikechi and a lot more but mainly Sherliam)

I'm in so many fandoms omfg, like 20+, almost all of them not live-action tho (all except for House MD I think...), biggest ones include SVSSS, Moriarty the Patriot, Genshin Impact, Persona 5, a whoooole bunch of danmei I read, Death Note and Saiki K (have written fics for the cursive ones, published for bold)

agenda to bring the svsss fandom spirit into other fandoms! I love textposts!!

I'm a sucker for good characterization, my biggest pet peeve is bad characterization and I love discussions abt characterization (won't harrass random ppl tho obv)

I love character studies

I ship all kinds of ships, no matter what genders or popularity, poly ships too (actually invented a polyship for genshin and writing a longfic for it...)

my brain hates me so fic updates/new fics are very very inconsistent... I'm working on it tho!!

Below the cut is a little deep dive into some fics I wrote that I reallyreally love a lot!! If you only wanna read till here, have a wonderful day or night or whatever it is for you rn!!

I'm proudest of my longfic "The Sun, Moon, Stars and Their Sea" for genshin, because it's the longest thing I've ever written. It's also basically the only fic for the ship, the ship being FreXingMingYun (Freminet, Xingqiu, Gaming, Chongyun, because I adore Freminet and I couldn't decide who I liked him best with).

The other fic I'm super proud of is "The Two Detectives on the Train" for Moriarty the Patriot, because it's the best I've written in terms of writing style and I love canon compliant character studies.

My top fic on Ao3 is neither of them, tho, that one would be "Why is it always that blue box??" which is an angsty, system reveal oneshot with a happy ending, which was definitely one of my ambitious works too and I do also love it a lot.

If you're at all interested and have the time, I'd be actually really happy if you checked them out!

So yeah, if you somehow made it till the end, thank you so much! Have a wonderful day or night or whatever it is for you rn!!

[darkerbluerseaer]

been thinking abt how Sakura prolly isn't used to calling "I'm home" (ただいま) let alone hearing a "Welcome back!" (お帰り/お帰りなさい) back and just, Sunisa fic where Suo and Nirei try to normalize that for him pls

[darkerbluerseaer]

I think it's a little controversial but I honestly wouldn't mind if they were to fight Suo in this arc. this is still a fighting shounen, I don't think fighting's gonna not play a role in any of the major arcs and fighting has been explicitly equated to talking when one can't make themselves otherwise understood/when one wants to understand more than what is being said. it's never been portrayed as smth that needs to be abolished in favor of proper talking. even in the Momijikawa storyline, yes they did talk, but in the end, they still fought to reach their current level of mutual understanding and respect. sure, there are a few arcs in which no one fought but I'm not expecting Sakura to go beat up an elderly man or a little kid, when they don't speak with their fists, nor do I expect anyone to beat up a sick Sakura

Suo communicates in fighting the same that he does in words. "I'm not going to let you get close to me". in words, he dodges and uses half-truths and speaks abt others so he doesn't have to speak abt himself. in combat, he dodges, twists and turns, makes his opponent look like they're incompetent n just stumbling about. there are things he's communicated in combat that he's never communicated in words (his rage at the KEEL member/Endo or the cruelty with which he can treat people he views as immature, as well as his immensely protective side (I'd also say his defensive side has been communicated more clearly during combat asw)). when Nirei managed to hit him during the fight, that was the exact moment Nirei remembers when he says that Suo was suffering. sure Nirei may have noticed him suffering throughout the fight but this was the most prominent moment to him

my point is, if they were to talk to Suo, and Suo still doesn't want to be straight up with them immediately (which, I can't see it any other way tbh), then they're not gonna succeed talking. the entire crew except maybe Kiryu are no match at all for Suo when it comes to words n I'm not saying Kiryu stands a chance either. like in the Suo Nirei convo before, they can be as sincere as they can be but if Suo thinks it's better to withdraw, he can verbally shut them down. I just think it's far less likely that they're gonna get him to lose control verbally

in combat on the other hand? I'm not saying Suo would be more impressed by Sakura continuing to stand up no matter how often he beat him down than he was with Nirei (esp since it was more impressive with Nirei, since the fight was entirely unbalanced). I'm saying that Sakura might land a genuine physical hit, and another, and another. I'm saying that Sakura might be able to draw Suo out of his eternal defensive stance and get into battle for real. I'm saying Sakura could experience the full might of Suo's rage, of his desperation, his need for control, to hold everything together, of him having a matching determination, something to fight for as well

I'm saying that they might start mutually communicating in a way Suo never has with them before and in a way that I, personally, don't think he could be driven to by any of them via talking. Sakura says that he needs to "talk" to him but even in the latest arc, where he's actually used his mouth to talk, the conversation with fists was still a focal point in understanding the other person. for Sakura to understand Momijikawa better as a person and for Momijikawa to understand Sakura's determination. and I think a very similar thing could happen with Suo

ofc I'm still saying they need to talk. I need them to talk. desperately. I just love the wbk fight scenes and their symbolisms and I need Suo to get one too

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

shoutout to wind breaker for giving us so many different flavours of autism, we've got:

sakura 'i take everything literally and will go apeshit if i feel a Single Human Emotion besides anger' haruka

kaji 'sensory issues and explosive meltdowns' ren

sugishita 'almost wholly nonverbal' kyoutaro

endo 'burnt out gifted kid with violent tendencies' yamato

takiishi 'absolutely no concept of basic social norms' chika

and of course;

togame 'i got adopted by an extrovert and now im kinda struggling with this whole 'friends' thing' jo

[darkerbluerseaer]

everyone forgetting abt Tsugeura "can't control volume n doesn't get how he comes off to others, esp when excited/passionate, but hates to make a negative impression" Taiga

[amildlyspookydeer]

ok, i'm keeping my hopes low obviously. but. can you Imagine what it would be like if sakura does realize he's in love with suo and then we eventually get to see endo's reaction to the guy who tried to smash his head into the ground on first meeting for saying sakura didn't belong in furin getting to date him while endo has been shooting his shot every chance he gets. realizing he stepped between insanely repressed slowburn on frame one

[darkerbluerseaer]

on one hand, canon SuoSaku isn't really an expectation, bc shounen and past expectations getting run into the ground, on the other hand, my previous fixation was Moriarty the Patriot (which I should at least finish my fics of, I hate when that happens), which is a Sherlock Holmes adaptation and a shounen asw, where you watch/read the animanga and see those typical Moments between the MC and Sherlock, which could all be explained away by smth else ofc but we've gotten to the point where they've been doing typical shounen monologues abt how important they are to each other and another character called those "wedding vows" and Sherlock taking the same cover last name as the MC a while back and adding that he's married to his cover despite not having to. so yeah, it's not Explicit explicit but it's getting real damn close, esp for a shounen animanga that also (just like wbk) has (at least) another explicitly queer character in its cast, and I've just noticed in general that modern animanga just get a lot more okay with being progressive and Wind Breaker is definitely delivering in that department already, esp as it's alr more character/emotion focused than any other battle shounen I've watched. like if SuoSaku ended with homoerotic friendship vibes, I can at least see there being comments from the other charas abt it bc it would feel weird if they didn't

or maybe I'm just an irrational fan like in most other shounen fandoms lol

[darkerbluerseaer]

emotional impermanence Suo....

him realizing every day again that his friends like him and forgetting the feeling every day again asw

him going "I see Nire-kun and Sakura-kun have other friends, they get along so well, I wish we could get along this well, they like them way better than me, they don't need me around anymore" and then being stunned when seeing his friends have just as much (if not more) fun around him or confess that they like having him around

him forgetting how much fun it was to be with his friends over summer break, esp how much fun his friends had with him

him feeling like a hypocrite when admonishing Sakura for thinking they would just leave him for not being useful, even though he himself has nothing that anchors him to the feeling of being loved

him after going missing for three days thinking that telling Nirei abt him leaving won't even be That Bad bc Nirei prolly doesn't actually care abt him That Much (nvm that Suo himself cares so much)

him knowing on an intellectual level that Sakura will probably be in Bad Shape after he leaves but not being able to really understand how much bc surely he's moved on from Suo by now, he wasn't that important to Sakura anyway (nvm that Suo himself could never move on)

him bracing himself every day for being pushy/a burden and being surprised every day that the backlash hasn't come yet

him needing to be useful/hyperindependent bc it is an objective fact that ppl like you if you are of continued use to them and they will definitely keep you around if you can provide, no need to rely on emotions that he doesn't believe to be stable anyway

him needing to be useful but also not thinking that him being useful is garnering him any positive emotion points, just "it's convenient to have him around" points

him being surprised when one of his friends text him on the weekend or indicates in any other way that they thought abt him while he wasn't around

him thinking that his friends won't come storming into Bankoku-gai bc why would they, he's not that important to them, they'll move on, he made it really easy for them too (nvm that Suo himself could never move on)

just, him forgetting that people care abt him just bc they aren't right in front of him expressing it all the time

[darkerbluerseaer]

actually there is nothing that anchors me to the feeling of being loved

[darkerbluerseaer]

Nirei being the de-facto leader, backbone and braincell this chapter is giving me life

[darkerbluerseaer]

no bc I usually don't even like tsunderes in fiction bc as someone with a hard time taking ppl at anything but face value, a shitty self-worth and a lack of emotion permanence, they feel exhausting and I wouldn't wanna be around them irl (and unlike with other fictional archetypes that I wouldn't wanna be around irl, they don't even make it better by being cool or relatable or tragic for me usually). it's just really not my cup of tea

so when I started wind breaker and in the first minute or so, Kotoha thanked Sakura for saving her and he responded with disproportionate blushing and stuttering and denial? I sighed. bc 1) heterosexual antics in shounen are often also exhausting and 2) tsundere

so when a few minutes later, he also blushed when the old man thanked him (and then time and time again later), I was genuinely so happy bc that meant 1) no heterosexual antics after all and 2) this might be a tsundere who is cool, relatable and tragic for me. and boy was I right

[darkerbluerseaer]

my ideal gender expression is some fucked up mix between Suo, Umemiya and Tomiyama, something abt that elegant bishounen + emotionally reliable older brother + short gremlin just cooks up some real gender envy in me

[asofspades]

Okay, disclaimer, I'm not saying Suo doesn't like the dojo Kids or he doesn't care about Bankoku-Gai or RC, because I feel like some people think that this has to be a "Suo has to hate one either Furin or RC" situation somehow

That being said, the way people are claiming that Suo looks like he's doing great back at Bankoku-Gai and his smiles are less forced is killing me, because look at these panels and tell me that's not a kid dissociating in 4k and that smile isn't forced

He looks tired and on the edge, and this is not the first time he's looked like this, so it's wild to me that people are ignoring it

Like, he has that look before as well

And then obviously the strained smile, like, how do you miss that, obviously there's something Suo doesn't like about the kids joining RC at 15

And well, more proof that things really are getting serious (and I feel this is a big issue that not necessarily has to link directly to RC, like, maybe there's some corruption in RC, but we have to remember that RC and Bankoku-Gai aren't synonymous, please)

And last but not least, this panel

The only light in that eye was the reflection from an artificial light, that boy is not okay...

And it's likely just that he's a 15 year old with too much responsibility on his shoulders due to being an officer, a clear problem in Bankoku-Gai, possible internal issues with the other 2 sections of RC and the fact he had to leave his friends and Makochi behind.

But truly it is wild to me that people feel the need to claim that Suo looks perfectly fine and all his smiles are genuine back at Bankoku-Gai, specially considering the panels I've pointed out, as if any other claim would suddenly mean he doesn't care about his city and his people, when it's very obvious that exactly because he cares a ton he's not doing fine, he has to hide things from them, as an officer he likely can't show weakness, vulnerability or doubt in public because that would influence everyone he's responsible for.

Suo cares about Furin and he cares about Bankoku-Gai, but he has a formal obligation with Bankoku-Gai that he doesn't with Furin, it's pure feelings (Furin) Vs a mix of duty and feelings (Bankoku-Gai)

[poppy5991]

Particularly when you compare it to other panels where he is smiling genuinely. The difference is so distinct. Nii sensei has such a talent for nuanced expressions.

Concerned for Nirei, but affectionate smile:

Joking around:

Admiring smile:

Talking to friends

Angry smile:

Sad, introspective smile:

Suo is drawn so incredibly expressively that I think the difference is clear. Those smiles don’t quite reach his eyes. He looks like he’s anxious/holding back in the BG panels to me. I think there was a deliberate artistic choice to draw his eyes looking rather flat without the reflected light we see in many of the panels.

[silfurskin]

I'd also like to raise you

Possibly the most gleefully happy and carefree Suo in the whole manga

When I first started getting into wbk, I saw all these comments about Suo being "oh so mysterious, wearing a smiling mask and being inscrutable" but the more I read the manga, the more I realise this kid actually sucks at hiding his true emotions

Particularly I've learnt to recognise that when Suo's eye (or any other character's eyes for that matter) are not coloured in, it indicates fear/surprise/anger/some kind of negative emotion... so honestly to me he just looks scared the whole time in Bankoku-gai. Like he acts normal, talks familiarly with Bacchus and Rakta and the dojo kids (these, btw, were the only moments his eye was coloured in in ch 217, indicating he might have relaxed at least a little bit with these people), but the whole time there's something niggling in the back of his mind that terrifies him

[darkerbluerseaer]

being obsessed with Suo but also pretty bad at interpreting subtle facial expressions is something bc I see him making a Face in a Situation and have to sit there for a minute like "I don't know what your face tells me exactly but from the rough idea I'm getting and the context and my hcs, it might be this" and rinse and repeat the guesswork every second facial expression cuz he has so many and they're all so damn subtle.

[asofspades]

I've been running numbers in my head, from the dojo kids comments on Suo going back to the dojo earlier now, I gathered he did in fact go back and forth between Bankoku-Gai and Makochi every day.

Now, typically Japanese highschool starts at 8:30 am, but students should be at school by 8:00 for homeroom assembly, I doubt Furin has that, so they probably arrive at any point between 8:00 and 8:30 am.

Bankoku-Gai is 2 hours away, I'm going to assume that's measured by train time, they do after all have a train station in Makochi, and usually trains start running at 4:30/5:00 am in Japan.

Considering Suo usually walks with Nirei and Sakura to school and that by the way they acted when Suo was missing, he arrives before most of them to class, I gathered Suo must take a train between 5:00 and 5:45 am, depending on how far the station is from Furin, which would make sure he arrives in Makochi between 7-7:45 am.

Usually, Japanese highschool wraps up lessons at around 3:00/3:30pm, and then has club activities until around 7pm.

Nii-sensei has brought up some of our guys doing club activities outside of Bofurin patrolling, so safe to say some days Suo might start patrols around 7pm.

Counting that, plus the pothos hangouts post or pre patrol, and adding training Nirei, which seemed to be a late evening activity, Suo might have taken a train back home at any point between 7pm-9pm depending on the day, in turn making it so he'd get back to Bankoku-Gai around 9pm-11pm.

And he had responsibilities back there he also had to take care of. So I'm guessing Suo gets up between 4:30-5:00 am depending on the day, and goes to bed late, he might not get more than 4-5 hours of sleep per night on a good day.

If we assume that Suo has breakfast and dinner and then doesn't eat the rest of the day, going with 5 am to maybe 10 pm, that's 17 hours without eating while keeping up physical activity. And you want me to believe that kid weighs 66 kg (145 lbs) being 174 cm tall (5'8.5") under those conditions.

Like, boy could have the breakfast of gods and still there's no way he weighs that with all that fasting and physical activity while also being a teenager, sure, muscle mass is dense, but I know for a fact this is not feasible.

So either Suo has no clue how much he weighs and asked Nirei to guess when asked or he made up a number close enough to what others had answered; or he does know how much he weighs, and just upped the number a bit to a point it wouldn't worry people when he didn't eat in front of them.

Now, Suo probably handles all this well because he's been doing a similar dance and routine during middle school, but the patrols and socialisation for sure must have been taxing on him.

I really want Nii-sensei to explain how Suo did the whole going back and forth thing and how he didn't die of hunger at any point...

[occasionalficwriter]

thinking about the trio being sacrificial in different ways. sakura isn't worth anything so he can sacrifice himself so everyone else can be safe. nirei can't do anything else so sacrificing himself is a way to be useful. suo can shoulder it all himself so he can handle being a sacrifice.

[yamalvr]

imagine being suo. you have one billion responsibilities on your shoulders while trying to meditate petty conflicts between fully grown adults, all while taking care of orphaned and traumatized children despite the lack of sufficient resources your organization has, and at the same time training starry-eyed new recruits (also children) who have no idea for what theyre in for, and potentially fighting with other rival groups trying to infringe on your territory (and thus threatening your civilians livelihoods) and then. your ex-classmates show up in droves shouting about how bad theyre gonna punch you and beat you up (you know this equals a form of communication. everybody else in red chanpuru does not. Also you are allergic to direct conversation)

[littencloud9]

the comedy potential of red chanpuru being like hey, we just saw 30+ teenage boys in uniform entering the place, call our executives to check on this right now. and then suo is called over and he looks at the screen and sees his fuckass class strolling in and his eye genuinely starts twitching

[darkerbluerseaer]

the fact that I personally have a hard time placing Suo's combat strength, just bc I don't think we've seen him go all out yet. like sure I've seen rankings online where he's placed relatively low (somewhere in the lower top 15 or smth usually) but like. he's never actually fought against/sparred with most/any of the people he's measured up against. he's also never been placed against actually powerful opponents that are comparable to notably difficult fights (like against Noroshi members or leaders of gangs, best we got was that Not-Quite-Noroshi guy) or even opponents that any other chara has also fought against, making it difficult to measure relative struggle during combat. even more than that, in every battle Suo has faced so far, at least for me, the tension of the battle has never been on whether Suo would win this fight but instead whether he would get hit at all. imo, we just can't judge Suo's combat strength yet bc we've never even seen or known him struggle to win a fight.