Mana0407

🍡🍡🍡

[archiesoniconline]

Mobius has had its fair share of relationship drama in the past, but that's all over now! Now it's definitely, probably, maybe nothing but healthy and well-adjusted romance from here on out! Happy Valentine's Day!

Art by @veeloopz

While we're on the subject, let's take a moment to appreciate the unironic OTP of Archie Sonic: NackXMoney!

Art by Lilly "Anne" Bell

[mikaiswolfsbane]

‎A stoic woman ≠ masculine

And how the phrase "[insert character] is the man in relationship" is reductive. There is a serious conversation that needs to take place in fandoms, especially regarding the phrase above. This was once a statement I used to find somewhat amusing but after considering the implications i now find it to be unsavoury. I would like to shed light on how harmful it is to parrot these sentiments but through the examples of two characters and their respective ships.

‎Maki Zen'in- Jujutsu Kaisen

‎MaoMao- The apothecary diaries

‎Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that the majority of these types of comments don't necessary form out of malice but rather an attempt to break free of the restrictive gender binaries but often ends up perpetuating the very thing they tried to avoid.

Secondly, I most see this being said about straight ships to make them more digestible, not to say that Queer relationships/ships don't face the issue of applying gender norms into their relationship. I am merely talking about misogyny often bleeds into way people talk about straight ships and stoic woman despite being the society ''norm''

‎Just because a woman tends to fall on the more stoic side does not equate that's she's masculine. I have seen this type of characterization happen in time and time again. Not all woman display upbeat personalities. let's use Maki and Maomao as examples of how reductive this sentiment is especially taking into account the themes their respective media deals with.

‎Maki

‎‎(jujutsu kaisen S3 spoilers and manga spoilers)

‎Gender is a big theme in jujutsu especially when regarding maki's storyline. We see Maki get criticized for not fitting into the stereotypical woman, whether it be for her physical appearance or personality.

Maki's story shows how she defies the odds which can be the physical manifestation of her heavenly restriction or the acknowledgement of her feats despite being in a male dominated field. What really irritated me was how people recieved the announcement of YutaMaki becoming canon, i would often see tweets showing how Yuta got Maki as a 'Prize' for helping kill Sukuna which to me come across as willfully ignorant especially considering what themes Jujutsu Kaisen deals with.

A lot of the Times people tend to project their own biases onto Maki. People masculinize her purely because she is good at sparring and has more male dominated interest. This type of rhetoric really erases the issues jujutsu kaisen tries to highlight in its manga. why should they be gender roles in a relationship.

Let's refer to the manga shall we...

‎(source: Jujutsu Kaisen volume 16, page 82)

Characters like Naoya who constantly invalidate maki's sense of being a woman just because she is is not confined in the stereotypical ideas of what a woman should be. Her appearance is not the main focal point of her character in contrast to Mai who is positioned as the better looking sister from the jump

(source: jujutsu kaisen volume 3, page 13)

obviously I do not support two women being compared to one another but this showcases who appearance is often tied with a woman's value, also linking about the the previous panel i showed of noaya speaking. We must acknowledge that this is the type of environment Maki and Mai grew up in. an environment where being submissive and beautiful is a requirement where as men are praised for mediocrity.

(source: Jujutsu Kaisen volume 5)

to me personally this panel shows the acknowledgment of the issues in society especially regarding women however it also represents the complacency in Jujutsu society. Unlike Maki and Nobara, Mai and Momo do not challenge the status quo but rather recognise it. Perhaps not everyone has the willpower to change the system but rather to critique, I still its interesting panels to analyse.

Maki is representation for woman who do not fall under the stereotypical confines of both beauty and personality. She is the embodiment of defying the odds stack against a woman.

Maomao

(light novel,anime and manga spoilers)

the way people characterize Maomao makes me laugh. Despite what the fandom says Maomao is stereotypical feminine, whether she paints for nails or wears dresses, knowing this people have the gall to portray masculine simply because she's more on the stoic side then she is bubbly.

The reason as to why she does not portray herself in a more feminine way is because she is aware of how it can be weaponized against her. She literally grew up in the pleasure district, a place where r appearance and talent mattered most.

(Apothecary diaries manga volume 1, page 46)

Maomao intentionally uses the beauty standards to her advantage, she is aware of how vicious woman's desire is for beauty even at the cost of their own lives. Maomao simply is responding to her environment, she intentionally makes herself look "unattractive" to avoid getting exploited.

The whole reason why maomao is even in the rear palace is because she got kidnapped for her abductors monetary gains. The light novel/manga/anime clearly demonstrates how beauty is needed in order to thrive as a woman.

Beauty is something she INTENTIONALLY does not perform in order to survive. This goes back to my point of audiences projecting their own biases onto the characters. Now let's take in the ship, Jinmao into account, their relationship is extremely complex and dumbing it down to simply Maomao being the man in the relationship is harmful. It is like the critique of certain issues in the rear palace flies over people's heads.

A lot of audiences wish for more complex relationships but when they are awarded with one they cannot even enjoy it the ship without projecting gender norms onto them.

In conclusion parroting this statements remove woman's ability to not be bound by conventional norms. just because these two women do not fall under your idea of femininity does not make them any less of a woman. These two characters are actively attempting to handle the issue of Gender and by masculinizing them you undo the work the authors tried to portray.

[bluebell33]

Just wanted to be the one to say that the visuals of season 3’s opening are doing wonders to flesh out some characters.

But I was so impressed by this reference to the Ophelia painting with Mai Zenin.

Ophelia’s fate Hamlet is very reminiscent to Mai’s as they are obedient to the men in their lives and yet suffer due to that, they are then left isolated and only find freedom in their deaths.

I find this comparison especially amazing because Maki leaving Mai was to find her own agency and strengthen herself as both a sorcerer and person, but in doing so she left Mai to suffer alone at the hands of their clan which is what made her build resentment towards her sister.

But she always have loved Maki, and thought that so long as they had each other they could endure the harsh treatment, and it breaks my heart at further implications Noaya made.

I think Mai as a character is incredibly underrated, it shows that even as you try to leave an environment that’s not safe there’s always going to be someone left behind. Their dynamic is beautifully written.

[yuutacest]

I’m so sick of gege 😞

乙骨憂太 = Okkotsu Yuuta

織本里香 = Orimoto Rika

禪院真希 = Zenin Maki

禪院真依 = Zenin Mai

乙骨依織= Okkotsu Iori

乙骨真剣 = Okkotsu Tsurugi

乙骨憂花 = Okkotsu Yuuka

Iori is named after Mai and Rika, Tsurugi is named after Maki, and Yuuka is named after Yuuta…

[godhandler]

College Major Headcanons:

[Extra content for The Homo Economicus in Love - noritoshi kamo x reader, cute college au]

Yuuji Itadori - Media Studies, on a full sports scholarship even though he's not too interested in sports. He doesn't show up to practice that much but carries the team in tournaments. Not really very academically inclined but everyone he meets loves him so much that he's gotten a shit ton of internships and work experience just cuz he's nice to work with. Stays on campus dorms.

Nobara Kugisaki - Fashion Merchandising (yay legally blonde). Another one who's not very academically inclined but does great at the practical aspects of the job. Gets 40% off on tuition, but has some funds from her grandma. also gets money from her fashion blog, part-time jobs at fashion mags, and manages clothing for photoshoots on a freelance basis (if she commits she commits). Saves on residence by renting with Inumaki and Panda.

Megumi Fushiguro - Computer Science with a minor in Math. Full scholarship and bursary grant by the college due to his shitty financial conditions (orphaned and destitute at a young age). Prof Gojo is his legal guardian. grew up in and stays on campus dorms.

Maki Zenin - Star Athlete, literally training for the Olympics. Her degree is in Mass Communications but she doesn't actually have to attend classes cuz the Uni wants her to focus on sports. Disowned by her family. Full sports scholarship and occasionally gets sponsored by sportswear companies. Trying to go pro.

Yuuta Okkotsu - Sociology and Anthropolgy. He enjoys talking to and meeting people and works as a part-time Journalist for local news channels to bring attention to issues like poverty. Gets a bursary grant from the uni, gets paid for and is decently recognized for his journalism work. Both Geto and Gojo want to mentor him. He talks to himself when he's alone but that's a secret.

Toge Inumaki - Architectural Design, chose this degree just for the hell of it, is a solid B+ student. Has a YouTube gaming and ASMR channel with 200k followers but is struggling to monetize it profitably. Got in on legacy admissions but gets a sports scholarship of 30% (he's pretty good at athletics)

Panda - ???

Noritoshi Kamo - Economics and Finance, specializing in Private Equity and Investment Banking. he's the heir of the Kamo Conglomerate. Full legacy admission even though he graduated valedictorian of high school and is the captain of the Archery team.

Todo Aoi - Quantum Physics. he's literally the top student of every class he takes. he keeps taking random other classes from different majors based on his whims. his genius was recognised and personally mentored by Yuki Tsukumo, but is now undergoing formal college education for the certificate even though he already knows all this and more. he spends half the day in the gym and the other half streaming Takada-chan variety clips.

Mai Zenin - Economics and Finance, her family made her take it. good at academics even though she's not super into it. legacy admission.

Momo Nishimiya - Literature and Creative Writing. She posts regularly for a gender and sexuality magazine. loves nobara's blog.

Miwa Kasumi - Computer Science with a minor in Software Engineering. She just wanted a degree that would lead to a well-paying job. Cabinet Member of the Student Council. She vouched a lot for Mechamaru/Kokichi to get disability-friendly accommodation. she struggles a bit with academics but pulls through with A- all around. Kokichi/Mechamaru helps her if she finds something particularly difficult to understand. has her own campus residence but has practically moved in with Kokichi.

Arata Nitta - Health and Medicine, focusing on Emergency Care Medicine. he TAs for Prof Shoko's classes. his sister works in college admin office. has campus residence but mostly stays in the college affilitated hospital, bit of an over-worker.

Mechamaru/ Kokichi Muta - double major in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. Another top student of his classes. Found it a bit difficult to adjust to campus life at first (not enough disability accommodation) but with Miwa's help he got around. campus dorm with Miwa.

Professors!

Gojo Satoru - graduated from top Ivy colleges, has 5 PhDs, and wrote 1000 papers and books, and is the one of the most respected physicist in the world but insists on teaching Intro-level Physics and Math. drives a Bugatti to college. highly competitive relative grading. prescribes his own books for his class. expect a problem set every day after class. gives a lot of individual attention to students tho, n is very nice in general. he'll accept a late submission if u bring him sweets. his lockscreen is prof geto?

Geto Suguru - teaches one class named Ethics, Philosophy and Law every semester. doesn't answer questions over email, only during Office Hours. great at explaining difficult concepts, his course is the one students fight to get into and say "opened their eyes". has a devoted cult of worshipping students, voted student favorite every year. his adopted daughters took a gap year to travel abroad and he talks about them in class. he always has sweets in his pockets?

Utahime Iori - teaches modules on Economics, Politics and Philosophy courses. great teacher, very clear explanations, bumps up the grading slightly (absolute grading) and is very accommodating as a prof. hates getting emails at night tho.

Shoko Ieiri - Shitty ass prof tbh but everyone takes her class cuz she gives everyone an A. teaches Surgical Anatomy. focuses on practical experience rather than theory. she has a no attendance policy and takes few very exams or assignments.

Yuki Tsukomo - Visiting Faculty, takes one super high level class Quantum Physical Theory one semester and comes back after 4 years. Independent researcher funded by the uni.

[epickiya722]

Ooh, you know what, with the discourse of Maki "destroying her whole clan" and people hating that, a thought just occurred to me.

Unpopular opinion, but I do think Maki killed everyone who was a part of the militia part of the clan. But I don't think she actually killed children or mothers or other wives, who would be just as much as victims as her and Mai were.

I see the Zenin falling/completely destroyed because Maki killed off what would have kept the Zenin clan in power. That is their militia which was mostly consisted of men.

Take in account, within this story, the clans are ran by men. The Zenin clan losing most of their male family members who also happened to be sorcerers would eradicate the family as a whole.

So in a way, Maki did destroy the whole clan (metaphorically), but only by taking out the part that gave it power.

Also, how about not forgetting about Megumi here? He wants nothing to do with the Zenin clan. So without him, the named heir, there is no one in the Jujutsu society who would at least tolerate as heir. Therefore, yeah, Zenin clan demoted.

As for her mother... A part of me feels like Maki actually didn't even touch her mother.

When this scene happens it starts in the kitchen and it cuts away (no pun intended). We are then treated to ZenMom holding a knife. A kitchen knife.

What I feel happen is that out of panic, she grabbed the nearest knife and slit her own throat, fearing that Maki might have had the intentions to kill her anyways.

Keep in mind, her head is still intact. If Maki really wanted to kill her mother, if she truly hated her, she could have have just used her sword. With a sword, her head would have been clean off. A knife, on the other hand, would just cut your neck.

And I know, I know. There is a line of "no" being shouted here, but what if this is Maki saying that as she witnessed her mother do that to herself? Yeah, ZenMom also says "no", but given it's a manga we really don't know who is saying that last "no" there. What if that cut away as that "no" is being shouted is to trick us into believing ZenMom is saying it? What if it was used to hide her attacking herself while Maki witnessed in horror?

Time will tell with the anime.

I don't know. I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just thinking out the box here. Kind of have to not stop at the surface here with JJK. Gotta dive deep.

Maki probably would have a reason to kill her mother and probably would have, but it doesn't make sense to leave her to suffer like that instead of killing her swiftly like she done with everyone else. Did she killed her father, who was worse, quickly, so why not her mother? Why leave her with a slit throat to suffer? Unlike with her father, I feel Maki and Mai did have a better relationship with their mother.

With that, I also don't think Maki is that cruel enough to actually kill any mothers, wives and children who can't defend themselves. That doesn't make sense to her character at all.

Heck, thinking about it, I don't think there was a lot of them within the Zenin clan to begin with. Probably some of those men didn't find any woman "worthy" enough to be a bride and bear "worthy" children. There's also the fact that some of them don't seem to be at that age where they're that adamant about having a family. Most seemed to be around 20s - 30s. The men in the family who do have children and are married are old. That's Naobito and Ogi. Naobito would have been 44 when Naoya was born. He has other sons, all older than Naoya and most likely are back to back in age. At the youngest, I can see Naobito starting to have kids in his early 30s.

Other than that, if there were other women and children, they were probably casted to stay out of sight knowing the Zenin clan.

I would also bet that the reason why Maki gets a bad rep of "destroying the whole clan" in Modulo is because others have said things to make it worse than what it seems. Let's remember that Maki is someone who lacks cursed energy and we see how they feel about people like that. She is also an outsider to the Gojo clan.

I don't doubt that they took Maki killing the sorcerers of the Zenin clan and twisted into "Maki killed everyone" when in reality she probably didn't.

Yuka thinking that makes sense when you take in account that she probably sees Maki differently than how Tsurugi did. Each sibling had their own relationship with each grandparent (Yuta & Yuka, Maki & Tsurugi). Maki probably did tell Tsurugi the whole story and why he says these words, praising Maki. Meanwhile, Yuka is left thinking Maki killed her whole clan. It's probably because she heard this through the grapevine and didn't actually listen to Maki tell her own story.

So simply put... I don't think Maki killed everyone single person tied to the Zenin clan. I think words got twisted around.

That's how I'm seeing and I don't expect everyone else to.

As for the fandom... *Sighs*... Even if she did kill everyone, I still find it ridiculous she gets hate for it. I'm saying it's not bad. I'm saying it's feels so backward to call Maki "evil" and hate on her when we have plenty of other characters in the same manga who don't even have her backstory who killed innocent people. Even if recognized those characters being in the wrong, why still be fans of them if you're gonna hate on Maki?

[lolitamermaid123]

I believe Maki killed her mother because she believes her mum was also complicit in Mai's horrific beating.The situation got even more complicated when Maki's mum ignored her when she asked why she tried to stop her, which put her in a dilemma about whether her mum genuinely gave a half-assed vague warning to save her & just didn't wanted her to create a ruckus if she saw her sister's condition,which is why she wasn't fully able to finish her and was really shocked to learn that her mother killed Naoya.If we also hadn't seen Maki's mum's monologue, then we would have been in the same doubt about her intention as Maki. (Even from the limited screentime about Mum,we can clearly observe that even she was verbally abusive towards her daughters and hardly showed any motherly love to them,instead berated them,and only showed love and felt proud of them when she was on the verge of her death).

Conclusion:- The sorrow resides in the disconnect between Maki's perception and her mother's genuine feelings, mirroring Mai's resentment for Maki because she believes that her sister abandoned her like maki thought her mum was also complict, making this one of the most emotionally nuanced scenes in JJK and showed us how the toxicity of the eugenics obsessed misogynist clan affected the people who were not favoured by their system.

[lxmelle]

Do you have any analysis that makes the "Maki/Mai kiss" scene abit more bearable? I can understand all the other weird stuff in JJK, but this just always bothers me; most of all because it seems so unnecessary. MeiMei's incest plot at least had a point to show her greed and manipulation. People try to explain the scene as just a very intimate way of showing love at the moment of death and I definitely don't believe Gege meant it sexual. So I keep asking, then why? It's weird in Japanese culture and most cultures to kiss a sibling on the mouth especially when neither of you are kids anymore so what was the point of purposefully drawing that? Was it that hard to find a way to express grief/love between sisters that didn't involve an incest moment? Was it to play into Mai's characterization as having her first crush be "Maki or Megumi"? Am I just supposed to accept it as another weird quirk of Gege? For now, I'm holding on that it was necessary to transfer CE because I really really hate it and hope it's removed from the anime.

Hey anon, thanks for taking the time to send me an ask!

To be very honest, it didn’t stand out to me much, so thank you for bringing it to my attention. When I first read it, I foolishly thought it was like CPR 😓 (I’m an idiot for skimming it).

I read it properly this time. 🫡

To be honest, I agree with you, and to be really transparent, it made me a little bit uncomfortable too 🤔 Not homosexuality, but rather, the need for a kiss in that context between siblings.

So, I sat with it for a bit and after having had a think about it; considering the other parallels with “twins” that we are aware of... my own interpretation (at least preliminarily), is that it isn’t sexual as you also seem to feel/believe. There just aren’t any other signs that it should be interpreted that way.

Further to that, I also know/sense Gege isn’t the type of author/mangaka who sexualises things. I have faith in him as a self-deprecating man who avoids making his characters “sexy” for no reason.

Sorry, this for a bit long, so… More under the cut:

Thinking about the pace of the story, themes, interactions, and narrative thus far, I don’t think Gege wanted it to be romantic or even sexualised, because there are many other ways to express the “perversion” of a scene... like a breast grope? It would be convenient, and it wasn’t done - so, I think this is an indicator in itself it wasn’t sexual. The next scene cut to the death fantasy we see many characters being given. So it seems to depict that death was at least occurring when Mai & Maki’s lips touched.

At least, imho. Based on logic and deduction.

Also… as for the fear over how/why it could be interpreted as such (sexual) could be due to several factors in the fandom’s belief of Mai having a preference for women.

Which is fine and I appreciate that need for a young person to explore their sexuality or preferences. My view of Mai is that she was trapped on a path where she was not allowed freedom. Just like Maki (and many others like Yuji who felt they were born to be a vessel, and Gojo & Geto as the strongest that needed to hold a heavy responsibility, and Kamo who had a lesser-known arc).

This seems to be a themes Gege revisits that has shaped the jujutsu world that needed reforming. Geto tried to change the world, Gojo tried to change the students that made up the jujutsu future.

After doing some digging and thinking about these central themes, I think it also touches on character growth through parallels and foreshadowing. It isn’t a story about romance, to paraphrase Gege’s words, I’m reminded of the only other kiss we saw which was like a binding vow between Yuta & Rika in which the latter was also a curse. And then there is the subject of pain that leads to focus and growth. And we can’t ignore how Yuji broke free from the “cog mentality” which demonstrated transcendence in his character growth... I’ll expand on this as we go along. I hope I’ll make sense.

Anyway… We also know Gege is a bit liberal and finds opportunities to draw or depict characters who are on the fringes of Japanese society (like Larue, Miguel, orphans, people within oppressed systems, etc.) and some have had opportunities to love, but face obstacles or tragedy.

So, unrealised potential and broken/shattered dreams plague many of them. Death also comes abruptly and unfairly... so with Mai, I wonder if her openness to “unconventional love” / affection / a crush like with her sister or Megumi or even with Takada - simply represents all the things she may have wanted to have - freedom to be herself and to explore - but it was a path that could never be.

Also, a crush is sometimes also like a sense of love or longing - and we know Gege likes pure love as a central theme that is the underside of a curse.

It’s not a far stretch to say that Maki and Mai were cursed. And there was a pure love between them. When you’re young, I think only pure love exists anyway. I think we as a fandom have to also be careful not to sexualise things...

Like many other characters, it was as if her presence as a twin was doomed from the start. They were doomed as long as they were split as two entities. For her to say that she knew it would come to this (“gonna happen one day” seems to mean that she had already prepared herself for the possibility that she would die for Maki.

For the parallel to be drawn between Yuji & Mahito, with the latter bringing it up first, and then for Yuji to demonstrate that he sat on that statement (adding that his instinct was initially to reject it), showed initial growth. He expressed relating to Mahito “I am you”. Overall, this was regarding their innate instincts (to save and to kill) and as a character with a role.

I am reminded of this scene, where Maki reflected on the path they were on. Being separated or even rejected (the rift/conflict between them). And what she was bestowed with... idk if it’s a binding vow of sorts, but this seems to tie together with Yuji accepting his role at this stage.

For more character growth… We saw Yuji expand on the “i am you” theme relating to predestined roles, etc.

So with Sukuna, he echoed the same sentiment/phrase - I see it as a demonstration of empathy (much like Gojo -> Sukuna — in wanting to reach him) where he was expressing relating to being born a curse/was cursed but did not have to choose to remain one. And in becoming one, or in embracing themselves wholly, they could exist. (Also, in both circumstance, one died and the other lived. More on this later when I address the actual kiss).

There may be more to unpick about that, or an even deeper meaning, but it seems to say that there are many parallels and connections between characters in their trajectory as well as their fates. Mai and Maki said the same thing...

So I doubt that there was anything romantic about their relationship. It seemed like an inevitable thing that the stronger of the two would have to die for the other to thrive/survive.

But what becomes of the soul... I have no idea. This is a mystery! Now this is a Gege quirk for not explaining it. If Sukuna’s twin’s soul could reincarnate, maybe Mai did? Or did Mai’s essence become imbued in the katana? I really... have no idea.

I hope this line of thought helps make that scene easier to swallow.

As for the kiss. I’m reminded again of Sukuna - who devoured/ate his own twin to become “whole”. Maki and Mai had to become one in order for Maki to reach her full potential. She also had to experience loss and pain in order to find a stronger reason or resolve. Doesn’t this remind you of both Gojo and Yuji (and countless others? Even Megumi? Is that what it means to retain humanity? To have known/treasured something only to have lost it, for someone to be able to find a reason to live? Hmm.)

It’s possible that it was an exchange of CE, as we know it took everything Mai had to make a weapon for her sister. If I’m not mistaken, she took whatever Maki might’ve had, in order to complete it.

Again, as soon as their lips connected, we saw the death vision/fantasy scene... that seems pretty telling.

Could it also symbolise the unity of the soul, to connect in such an intimate way? Like a “breath of life” that CPR would bring. Mai said that their connection / relationship went far everyone a binding vow. So maybe we could also see it as her exchanging a vow with her sister. Like allowing herself to be consumed by her sister in a symbolic way, and the vow/exchange was - she took Maki’s CE and gave her sister a weapon (her life). Also reminds me of Rika and Yuta. In her death... Yuta gained Shikigami Rika. An exchange.

Anyway, those are my thoughts and ponderings.

Feel free to leave a comment, add your own thoughts in a reblog, or ask away!

Edit: I realise this wasn’t the most coherent 😂 but thank you for those who read it to the end.

[nothing-suspicious-in-there]

A slightly different translation of this part from ch 251 really made me reflect on how much Allen's one-word character definition really is just. Fake. Like, on every possible plane. Certainly there's the stuff he does intentionally, but most of all there's what's happening to make him unlike himself - or how he originally was. Less authentic, a more and more skewed imitation of someone that's far from himself each time.

He was - and is in the process of being - basically Ship of Theseus-ed piece by piece by others and himself:

physically (fused with lavi sr and clown crown),

soul/helix-energy-wise (still lavi sr, possibly mana and a bit of suman got in there too, apo now is trying as well),

consciousness-wise (nea),

personality-wise (mask of mana),

memories-wise (apo),

I might forget more.

Hoshino was like “I’m going to make a character that is so unauthentic there’s barely anything there of the person he once was”

(but also:

1. it crucially balances it out extremely well with the parts that are actually very genuine. so as a whole it just works very well.

2. regardless of who he was 35 years ago and how far he is from that, the person he is now is himself, mask of mana notwithstanding. that's how life works, minus the fantasy stuff. knowing more about his past is the issue

3. and just as crucially some of those changes can or could also bring a positive side: despite the tragic circumstances, carrying with him lavi sr or possibly the part of mana that loved him is also a sign of being loved in a way that can't not be a positive, and is already framed as such with the huge power his soul was already showed to have.)

[lumen---sky]

Art for Nobamas in twt🎄

Merry Christmas hehe

[castlephantom]

So let me get straight with this info from JJK: Modulo

So Maki and Yuta's son is Iori (wasn't Iori a last name🤨... I mean Utahime's last name is Iori)

And Panda stop functioning (I will catch you Gege... I will catch you)

Ans Iori married a woman who is Mifuyu (so the age gap between Iori and Mifuyu is 7 years)

And Tsurugi was born and one year alte Yuka was born, but after her birth Iori... disappeared? (Like what is wrong with 10 Shadow users' father?)

And I wander who is Mifuyu's family? Is she member of Gojo clan or something🤔? Is the woman from the first chapter Mifuyu herself or another Gojo clan woman?

[linkspooky]

Hi there, I was rereading your Maki Zenin fanfic (Tyler Durden and the Culling Game piece). I must say when I read it the first time reading it, the way you depict her mentality, emotion, and actions. It was so emotionally draining and at the same time cathartic as it reminded me of myself back then and now still (well minus mass murdering all lotta people). But also surprised me, cause I have never this depiction of her after Shibuya Incident. But over time as I look at your analysis on various characters and paid attention to her upbringing by rereading the manga chapters focused on her, I realized the way she behaves in the Culling Games after what happen to her throughout her life. She is kind of stable??? Regardless, even though she is already my all-time favorite character. Your depictions of her makes me love her character even more as I actually relate to her more and felt those similar feelings. But I'm glad she is alive and is doing ok near the end of the manga, so I wanna ask. What do you think about her character now since JJK is VERY close to its end? And how do you feel about where she is right now as of Chapter 269. Sorry for the long ramble, I might ask more lol.

Thank you so much for your ask! That reminds me I need to start updating my culling games fic again sometime soon. For anyone curious the ask is about THIS YUTAMAKI FIC HERE.

Maki's kind of a hard character to talk about because even though Maki is clearly one of my favorite characters to explore in fic, and I love to dive deep into her motivations and inner struggles in the fanfics I write every time I criticize her writing in canon a little bit her fans jump me.

So instead I'm going to share one recent Maki scene I really liked, and one little tweak I think would have made both Yuta and Maki's character endings perfect.

You're right, for a lifelong abuse victim who just murdered her family Maki seems oddly stable all throughout the culling games. I no longer think this is a Maki specific problem, but rather a Jujutsu Kaisen problem. Basically, post Shibuya most of the character conflicts in between characters are dropped so everyone can work seamlessly together as a part of one big team.

This is a storytelling choice on Gege's so he could eventually set up for the Shinjuku Showdown fight, it'd be impossible for everyone to keep jumping in and out of the fight if people kept stopping to argue and have interpersonal conflicts in the middle of it.

If your name wasn't Megumi or Yuji, then basically all your personal hangups, your self-reflection, all got dropped. Which now it kind of makes sense why the audience was yelling at Megumi for not being able to immediately get over his sister's death, like in comparison none of the other characters spend any time at all dwelling on personal issues because Gege needs them to move to the next fight.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying this is how Gege chose to write his characters post Shibuya, most personal conflicts got dropped for story reasons.

However, there was one moment that made me really get on board with Maki's writing again, and it was a... you guessed it moment of personal conflict.

This moment where Yuta is bringing up the idea of body swapping with Gojo before the group, and Maki despite being firmly against it is unable to do or say anything substantive to stop Yuta.

It's the first time I've seen that yeah, Maki is still in fact reeling from the loss of Mai. It doesn't really show most of the time on the surface, but Maki's always been like that - like an island able to stand strong without the support of anyone else. It is her strength, and also her greatest weakness.

Remember, the last time someone she loved walked away from her and decided to sacrifice their body and autonomy so they could become a weapon for the greater good Maki wasn't able to say or do anything to convince Mai to stay with her and stay by her side too.

There's the parallel with Maki and Sukuna, that Sukuna chose to devour his own twin in the womb in order to survive and therefore gained a body perfect for sorcerery. When Mai died, Maki gained a body just like Toji's.

Maki carved everything away in order to become a true void, but unlike Sukuna she didn't do it by choice.

We know she wouldn't willingly sacrifice Mai. She begged Mai to stay. Yet, she kind of did choose to sacrifice Mai with every choice she made before that. Maki chose being a Jujutsu Sorcerer over Mai every single time, to the point where when it counted she couldn't do anything to convince Mai to stay.

Maki consumed her twin and became a monster like Sukuna, a true void. She didn't choose to do it per se, but every choice she made leading up to that point indicated to Mai that Maki would rather be strong on her own then weak together with Mai. That Maki is someone like Gojo, and like Sukuna meant to stand strong all alone. Maki is an island and that is her greatest strength and her greatest flaw.

As when it happens again and someone she loves is about to become a monster, she can't find the words to convince Yuta to stay with her on the beach instead of walking into the ocean the same way she couldn't find the words to stop Mai. After all, Maki is someone who chose to become a monster like Toji after losing everything else, what right does she have to stop Yuta from becoming a monster too?

How could she possibly stop him from walking the path she walked? I think it's telling to thde depths of her love that Maki who values being a sorcerer above everything else, would have rather had both Mai and Yuta stay human and stay with her, but also telling of her complete inability to express that love.

It's "You're too important to us" because the words "You're too important to me," doesn't occur to Maki in both cases with Yuta and Mai, because Maki is an island. She can keep going on even after Mai and Yuta are gone even if she doesn't want to.

So here is the one change I would make the Maki's endgame to make her and Yuta's character arcs perfect. I would just have Yuta not be able to come back from Gojo's body. Otherwise, Yuta being magically fixed after the fact makes that whole plot twist kind of inconsequential and as much as I love Yuta in Gojo's body it kind of just seems to exist for shock-value now considering how easily it was resolved.

Yuta not coming back would provide a consequence for Yuta defiling Gojo's body, and also in general give the perfect bittersweet ending to both him and Maki's arcs. They both chose to become monsters in the end to defeat Sukuna, and as a result Maki is standing alone at the strongest. It would also provide the perfect parallel to this scene with Geto and Gojo. You could even have Maki musing on how she was left behind again. There's a pretty big parallel to Maki and Gojo both being people who seemingly don't need anyone because they're so strong and self-sufficient and yet they crumble at the idea of the one person they've always been relying on walking away from them.

It would also parallel Megumi and Itadori as well, because the reason that itadori is eventually able to reach Megumi is specifically because unlike everyone else he refused to give up his humanity to defeat Sukuna.

You could have a really heartbreaking parallel of three generations of friendships broken apart by the Jujutsu World. Satosugu, and YutaMaki aren't able to reach each other and stay together, but finally by never giving up on reaching out towards one another Megumi and Itadori are both able to find each other again after the world and Sukuna pulled them apart.

I do enjoy this scene a lot - especially the parts where Maki seems borderline arrogant by insisting she could have done things all on her own and if they went with her plan instead of Yuta's then they would have suffered far less losses. Especially since Maki's not genuinely trying to chew Yuta out here, she just knows no other way to express her worry over him besides being hyper aggressive and confrontational.

It still shows that Maki's personality problems are all still there, she loves people a lot but she loves people from afar and can't admit to needing them but like I'm just saying we could have had THE UTLIMATE DOOMED LOVERS ending for YutaMaki.

[linkspooky]

The Next Gojo Satoru

As you've probably guessed I have a lot to say about this chapter. However, right away I want to start out by pointing out once again that the fandom is taking a mostly gojo-centric view of this chapter. Which I understand it's Gojo's body that's being puppeteered around and dehumanized in the exact same way that Kenjaku one of the sickest and most inhuman characters used Geto's body.

However I think it shouldn't be understated how shocking it is to see Yuta betray all of his values like this. The most human character who represents love in the cast has given up on the cast and betrayed someone he loves. So let's talk about what this all means for Yuta under the cut.

GOJO GETS AN F IN TEACHING.

I understand why most of the focus is on Gojo, because yes Gojo's body is the one being violated here. He's not even allowed to rest in death after fighting on the front lines against Sukuna to the point where his brain was hemmoraging in the middle of battle and he was brutally cut in half.

Considering how much horror Gojo experienced when he saw Geto's body taken from him and made into Kenjaku's pupet. Cosidering the horrible pain that Nanako and Mimiko endured just seeing Geto's body still moving around denied a good death (Nanako and Mimiko were tellingly willing to let go and not try to take revenge against Gojo for killing Geto because of their friendship even though Geto was their whole world, but they'd never forgive Kenjaku for taking his body). Considering that Gojo even went out of his way to say he wanted to kill Kenjaku / Geto on Christmas Eve again in order to give him a proper burial it's understandable how horrifying this update is.

This is also a series where the two main antagonists are parasites who take the bodies, and steal away all bodily autonomy from characters like Yuji and Megumi and then force them to do horrible things they would never do and bear witness to it, such as the slaughter at Shibuya, or the murder of Tsumiki at Megkuna's hands.

It's understandable how people had such a visceral reaction to this chapter. However, I think the fandom has a tendency to paint Gojo like he's the central victim of all of Jujutsu Society when he's both victim and perpetrator.

Gojo is someone who has only been regarded as the strongest his entire life, and been used as a tool to keep Jujutsu Society stable his entire life. Gojo is also someone who never tried to be anything other than the strongest, never tried to empathize with anyone other than those who were just as strong as he is, and who raised all of his students to be tools too.

To illustrate my point here's an incredibly similiar character from Tokyo Ghoul: Arima Kishou. They are so similiar that they're both white haired mentor characters to the protagonist, they're both the strogest in their respective worlds, and Gege straight up copied this section of panels from the Tokyo Ghoul Manga.

Arima is a breeding project, who was bred by the Washuu Family who mxies blood between humans and ghouls through a series of controlled marriages for the purpose of creating hybrid ghoul human children. Arima isn't the ideal hybrid they were looking for, but he was so ungodly talented he quickly rose to being the most powerful and well-respected investigator in the CCG.

However, this is how Arima reacts to the fact that his entire purpose in life was just to be a weapon to kill ghouls.

Arima loathes violence, he loathes being an investigator, he loathes himself most of all and designs his entire political revolution around him finally being killed by Kaneki - to punish himself and also to relieve himself of the burden of living a life where he was only meat to kill others.

Gojo on the other hand loves being the strongest, he lives for Jujutsu. Arima's death is tragic and nihilistic believing his life had no real worth because all he ever was was a weapon to hurt others, whereas Gojo died satisfied.

Arima's last battle against Kaneki is grim, silent, and tragic, he does everything he can to make Kaneki despise him, to force Kaneki to kill him by being the worst version of himself and when Kaneki still wants him to live he just slits his own throat because even if Kaneki forgives him he can't forgive himself. Gojo laughs his head off and has the time of his life fighting against Sukuna, and going out in a blaze of glory.

Gojo dies smiling, Arima dies finally breaking into tears after a life of pretedig to be cold and emotionless. Gojo's dying regret is 1) that Geto wasn't there to say goodbye to him, and 2) that he wasn't able to draw out all of Sukuna's strength. Arima's dying regret was all the pain and suffering he caused throughout his life and how he was never able to rise above his circumstances and be anything other than what he was born to be.

These two characters are incredibly similiar, they are both the strongest, and they were both made into tools by a dehumanizing system they were born into. However, their attitudes are entirely different. Gojo enjoys being strong, and yes part of it is that Gojo himself doesn't realize he's a victim or what society has groomed him into becoming, but the other part is just because it's an ego trip for him. Gojo doesn't see himself as the tragic victim his fandom makes him out to be.

If you were to transplant him into Tokyo Ghoul Gojo would be happily killing ghouls, and he would think killing ghouls is fun because he's the strongest and best at killing ghouls. This is the complexity that is Satoru Gojo, he has been dehumanized and put on a pedestal his ow life, but Gojo also enjoys being on that pedestal and won't ever step down from it willingly.

I'm not saying that Arima is a better person than Gojo. I think the fact that Gojo doesn't think of himself as a victim is tragic in its own right, because he lacks the self-awareness to actually grow and change as a person. In the end both Arima and Gojo believe they couldn't be anything better than what they were, and their only release is death which is just insanely sad to me because as long as the future exists people always have a chance to get better no matter who they are. To give up on the future, to see an early death as a good thing simply because you can't endure life any longer is one of the most hopeless things imaginable.

Gojo's not sad because he was born to be a tool exploited for society's benefit, he's sad because he was lonely. He doesn't even realize it's his own darn fault he's lonely, because not only has Shoko said that he's not alone she's always been right there, but this chapter we get a repeat of Gojo's students begging him to let them in and Gojo himself decided to draw that line between himself and others and thinking an enlightened, godlike being like himself can't possibly be understood.

All of this to say I think Gojo is the sole victim here, but he's the middle of a chain of of victimhood. I think ultimately the biggest victim here is Yuta, and yes I will not only play trauma olympics here I'm going to win.

If this chapter goes to show anything it's that Gojo has completely failed in his ideals of protecting the youth from the dehumanizing system of sorcerers that takes children and reduces them to cogs in a machine.

A lot of people criticize Jujutsu Kaisen for dropping basically all of its political elements and themes of reform in the second half after Shibuya, and while I understand the criticism I think Gege intentionally shifted away from politics because Gojo's political revolution was never going to succeed.

From the beginning Gojo's solution to reforming Jujutsu Society and it's habit of taking away the youth of children and raising them up instead as child soldiers is... to make stronger child soldiers.

This is Gojo's blindspot and it has always been Gojo's blindspot.

It's why Gojo is completely okay with someone like Mei Mei who at the best uses her brother as a human shield to get out of curse domains and has stolen his entire childhood away to make him own pet little shoulder, and at worst actively molests him.

It's why Gojo is stated in the databooks to have only taken an interest in Megumi and Yuta because they were strong.

Gojo understands that he's being exploited by Jujutsu Society, but doesn't understand you need to deconstruct unfair systems of power and exploitation in order to build something better. Gojo from the beginning only had one plan, and that was to replace the people at the top with his own allies who'd support his agenda. He just thought waiting for them to die out and the children to grow up was the more peaceful way of doing it.

Gojo's political revolution was doomed from the beginning and that's why we see him go back on his word this chapter and just slaughter everyone at the top. His choice of a new leader for Jujutsu Society is hardly better than the elders, the person who executed Gojo's teacher and tried to get all the children to kill Itadori early on. Good choice.

This is what Gojo said would happen though, if he just wiped everyone out at the top no real systemic change would occur because they'd just be replaced with someone who wasn't that differet. Gojo's just given up on the notion of lasting change out of pragmatism.

Which is why Gojo himself is not that different from the elders in the first place, not because he's a bad person but because he was shaped by that same society and he's the pinnacle of that society.

I think the thing is and this point often gets ignored - a lot of the choices the elders make are because of outdated traditions like choosing to oppress Maki and Toji just because they challenge the traditional notions of cursed energy.

However, some of the decisions they make are out of cold hard pragmatism. Gakuganji actually turned out to be right in his assassiation attempt against Yuji Itadori. If they had succesfully killed Yuji, then the massacre in Shibuya would have been prevented and likely Kenjaku's plans would have been pushed back. The elders didn't sentence Yuta to execution just to be cruel, or just because they're superstitious but because he's already had several incidents of nearly killing people because he can't control Rika.

It's easy to dismiss the Elders as evil because they're just faceless entities, but then we witness in this very same chapter the main characters making the same heartless decisions out of the same sense of pragmatism.

Gojo understands Jujutsu Society is flawed, but doesn't understand exactly why it's wrong. He doesn't raise his students to be independent free thinkers because then they might question him, he raises them to be very powerful because that's more pragmatic.

Here are the next generation of sorcerers who are going to bring about the change to Jujutsu Society that Gojo so desperately seeks.

Nobara Kugisaki: Dead

Hakari Kinji: His greatest ambition is to start a fight club

Yuji: Actively calls himself a mindless cog and just wants to kill whatever society points him at and tells him to kill.

Maki: Mass murderer.

Yuta: Just stole Gojo's body and said he had to become a monster i Gojo's place.

Megumi: Begging to be killed.

Inumaki: Tuna Mayo

Panda: Is a Panda

(Joke lovingly ripped off from @kaibutsushidousha)

I understand that fighting Sukuna takes precedence now, but do you think once the dust settles any of these characters are going to do anything to make lasting change?

Are we going to see anything for them at the end of the road other than a mountain of their fellow sorcerers corpses?

Gojo didn't nurture his students to grow into healthy adults, he raised them into stronger child soldiers and yes that's the pragmatic thing to do to help them survive in the Jujutsu World, but the elders make those decisions out of cold pragmatism as well.

MHA is also showing a story where the children are failing to learn from the previous generatio's mistakes, but it's far less frustrating to watch in JJK because it almost seems like that's the point?

Maki sacrificed Mai for the sake of becoming someone strong enough to reform the Zen'in Clan, only for her sister to die and Maki to slaughter the rest of her family failing in both her goals to reform her clan and protect Mai.

Yuji became the host of Sukuna in order to help others, because the total deaths of people in the world would go down if he ate all the fingers. Not only did that decision lead to the death of thousands in Shibuya, but he's even lost his role of being Sukuna's host to Megumi.

Yuta wanted to find a reason to live and a purpose in protecting his friends, and also wanted to pay back the man who saved him, not only is Yuta choosing to die in a way that breaks his friends heart he's also violating his beloved teacher's bodies.

There's a lot of arcs like this where characters fail in what they set out to accomplish, because like in most tragedies they don't try to grow as people they only care about getting stronger. It's the same choice over ad over again, a decision made of cold pragmatism that brings about their tragic ending.

I think it speaks to why systems like this perpetuate themselves, because it becomes so hard to hold onto your humanity that even trying gets you actively punished all the while people like Mei Mei crawl to the top. However, even if you throw your humanity away purely as an act of survival you're still helping perpetuate that system instead of fighting against it.

Anyway, that's enough hating on Gojo, onto the main event.

THE NEXT GOJO SATORU.

It's almost masterful how perfect the foreshadowing for this chapter's twist was. Yuta sharing a common ancestor in Sugawara with Gojo.

The irony that Kenjaku said out loud that someone like Yuta could never become Gojo, on top of the fact that Yuta's true power comes from detaining his loved ones soul. He's turning Gojo's body into a weapon the same way that he once used Rika's vengeful cursed spirit as one (he even channels her strength into a sword, the same way Maki uses the sword that Mai gave her life to create in battle).

The way that Yuji's first impression of Yuta from his powerful presence and cursed energy alone was calling him someone even creepier than Gojo.

The idea that Kenjaku has been trying to get his hands on the six-eyes for years, which is what led most of the fandom to theorize a possible Kenjaku return by stealing Gojo's corpse. The fact Tengen said the six eyes, himself and the star plasma vessel are all connected and one time Kenjaku killed the six-eyes from a child only for another one to appear right away.

Yuta being told he could never reach Sukuna's heights because he lacks the selfishness of a calamity.

Even Yuta trying to tell a nameless assassin Uro to be less selfish, only to be chastised by her for not understanding because it's impossible for someone as blessed as he is to know what it's like to not have a name, to not have a face, to not be someone important.

Now here Yuta is, not only is he making the selfish decision to use his teacher's body as a tool, he's also most likely in five minutes going to die in someone else's body, having sacrificed not only his name, and face, but also his personal values in order to become a monster.

This arc makes it seem like Yuta's gone against everything he's stood for, making his arc a complete circle from Jujutsu Kaisen Zero and that's kind of the point. Heck, even something as small as Yuta's decision to show mercy to Ishigori was rendered pointless because Sukuna immediately killed him soon after taking Megumi's body.

If Yuta's regressed in his character it's because Gojo's purpose was not to raise these children into healthy adults, but strong soldiers.

What happened to Yuta is a direct consequence of the way Gojo recruits these children, and the underhanded motivations he has behind those recruitments.

Yuta's decision to take Gojo's body is more tragic on Yuta's part then it is on Gojo's, because Yuta is a child, and Gojo is an adult.

It is sad that Gojo is all alone, that he's forced to become a tool to society, but Yuta shouldn't be the one who feels responsible for that. Gojo is supposed to protect Yuta, he's the adult, the teacher, the one with power and Yuta is the child. Yuta is not the one who should be making this speech because it is not Yuta's responsibility to do any of this - but Yuta thinks it is because he owes Gojo.

However, when Gojo recruits people it's with the unspoken implication that they now owe him. He wants them to feel indebted, because then they'll be easier to use as pieces in his intended political revolution. We see this blatantly with the way he recruited Megumi.

I'll make sure you and your sister don't starve but you owe me in the form of labor later on in your life.

Gojo saved Yuta because he thought Rika was powerful and the elders were foolish for executing a potentially powerful sorcerer for THE GREATER GOOD instead of teaching him to control his power out of fear. Gojo recruited Yuji, because someone with Sukuna's power and who could eat his fingers as a vessel had the makings to be an incredibly powerful sorcerer. Gojo didn't even think of Megumi until after Geto defected, and Gojo decided he needed to start making changes to Jujutsu Society.

While Gojo's pragmatism is understandable to a point it also poisons his more nobler intentions. Since Gojo expects payment in return when he sticks his neck out for people, because these children are assets first and children secod.

I think Gojo likes Yuta. I think he gets along with him well. Yuta clearly respects him as a mentor. He did in fact go to great lengths to save Yuta from execution. He was right that it was more ethical to teach Yuta to control his powers rather than execute him for the danger he might represet. He even gives Yuta emotional advice a couple of times.

However, if Yuta was just like a grade 4 sorcerer with no special talent I doubt Gojo would have blinked at his execution. He sees Yuta for his talent first, and his potential to become someone like him. If anythig there are clear comparisons to both Megumi and Yuta. They're both prodigies born with incredible techniques, but Yuta is a lot more receptive to Gojo's grooming than Megumi is who's too traumatized to function. Gojo's not just grooming Yuta into being a powerful sorcerer, but another version of himself.

So it's almost karmic that not only does Yuta basically turn his back on everything that makes Yuta himself (his love for people, his desire to live and be surrounded by others), he also does so by literally becoming Satoru Gojo and transplanting his brain into Gojo's body.

Because Yuta is despite possessing a similiar level of talent as far from Gojo as possible. Gojo is not well liked by his comrades, he's there because he's needed due to his power. Yuta on the other hand has everyone vehemently disagreeing with his backup plan in the event of Gojo's death because they don't want to lose him.

People need Gojo, they want Yuta because of the connections that Yuta has made with them and because they care about Yuta as a person. Gojo is someone who deliberately draws a line between himself and others because he believes the strongest can't be comprehended, Yuta only fights for the sake of being accepted by others because he needs their approval in order to live.

Yuta's now turned his back on those two things, his tendency to put his loved ones first, and his desire to live, both because he feels he owes Gojo.

This comes about because of two factors, number one Gojo helping him with the implication that this help means that Yuta owes him something which makes Yuta desperate to pay him back and therfore easy to mold, and number two Gojo's intentions to begin with to take Yuta and make another Gojo out of him. To make a successor who would carry on the same burdens that Gojo did.

Gojo succeeded one hundred percent in making his successor as opposed to Megumi who turned out to be too different from Gojo i the end. He took what make Yuta unique and ironed out all those wrinkles until he was left with someone willing to make the same inhumane, pragmatic decisions that Gojo was.

I think it's tragic that as much as Gojo wanted to make things better for the next generation, he basically led Yuta down the same road he did, to make the same choice to throw his humanity away along with all of his loved ones. Especially since Yuta started out in such a different place.

Yuta has learned to become selfish like Gojo, because selfishness is apparently now the only way to get by in this world. A cycle that has been started with the elders, and continued on with Gojo, remains unbroken as Yuta becomes just another link in the chain. Yuta's likely going to die in a stranger's body, leaving all of his friends behind to mourn him, but even if he lives what life will that be exactly?

It speaks to the arcs in Jujutsu Kaisen that they're all kind of circles at this point. We have this heartwarming goodbye of Rika telling Yuta to live, and Yuta's whole arc was to learn to try to live without Rika and make new friends, but it's now likely goig to end with Yuta dying a year after Rika finally moved on.

Choso was told to try living on as a human and Yuki even sacrificed her life to give him the opportuity to escape the fight, and he only lived a month longer to die right in front of Yuji's eyes.

Gojo put all of his hope in the next generation, but now not only did he put all the power in Gakuganji's hands but he ended up dying a year after Geto did just like Yuta will likely die a year after Rika.

I think these character arcs are turning out to be circles because the characters aren't actually doing anything to try to break the cycles that they're trapped inside of - they're only trying to get stronger. Which is why they end up resembling the actions of the villains, Yuji becoming more curselike, Yuta stealing Gojo's body the way Kenjaku did with Geto's.

It reminds me of a quote from Critical Role that I absolutely adore.

“I have just taken an audience with the Raven Queen who has snuffed any hope of my redemption, for which I am truly grateful. With new clarity, I can finally see my life as a series of compounding, poor choices.” Vax winces. “There was nothing I could’ve done to save my family, yet I still sold my soul in search of vengeance. Later I allowed Ripley to leave, knowing full well she was a greater threat to the world than the Briarwoods would ever be. I traded the world’s safety for the belief that I could murder my way to peace; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my family back. And once this lie was shattered I scrambled to find asolution, to make a deal, to undo my mistakes and balance the scales. I nowunderstand that there are no scales, there is no redemption, and no ledger that judges me good or evil. I am free to simply be myself and live with the terrible mistakes I’ve made."

Especially this sentence: I believed I could murder my way to peace; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my family back.

Maki is a character that I have not found all that interesting in a while because she committed such a huge mass murder, only for it to have no consequences in the narrative and never be mentioned again, but this chapter she suddenly became an interesting character again.

Maki who lost everything but gained strength, doesn't seem all that bothered by the loss. People compare Megumi's reaction to losing Tsumiki to Maki's reaction to losing Mai, but Megumi's reaction is much more interesting because it's always better to see a character be weak and fall apart then to be strong and power through things.

However, maybe the reason Maki hasn't experienced any grief at all towards Mai and has instead delighted in her newfound strength and independence is because of this, because she still had Yuta.

Maki is a character who's not really said anything other than exposition the past like twenty chapters, but now she's the most vocally against Yuta sacrificing himself for the greater good. Yet this is against Maki's own ideology of doing everything you can to be stronger, to win. Maki was always about individualism, not about friendship or the bonds between others, she severed her own bonds to be free. Yet, she can't stand to see Yuta do the same thing as her, to become more like her.

This might be the consequence of Maki's continued choice to value freedom and the power to achieve that freedom over all else. Now, the one time Yuta is trying to throw away the same things that she threw away she can't say anything meaningful or convince him to stop him.

Which reminds painfully of this chapter as well.

Mai killing herself in order to free Maki from cursed energy is an obvious parallel to Sukuna devouring his own twin in the womb, but the difference is in this situation Maki didn't want Mai to go, she begged her not to. However, just like with Yuta there was nothing Maki could ahve said or done by that point to convince Mai to stay. Maki has always chosen power over her sister, she's always abandoned Mai, so what exactly can she say to convince her that she cares more about Mai more? That her dream of defeating the Zen'in and having revenge against them isn't worth the price if it comes at the sacrifice of Mai?

Maki didn't want to abandon Mai, or for Mai to sacrifice herself, but tragically her every action indicated otherwise. It all comes down to this: I believed I could murder my way to peace; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my family back.

Maki seems to have achieved peace by murdering the Zen'in, but we see the same kind of circular arc that we have for Yuta.

Maki gave up on everything for strength, but Maki's not strong enough to finish Sukuna then and there, forcing Yuta to sacrifice himself the same way Mai did.

Maki can't talk Yuta out of making that sacrifice, or come up with any convincing argument with why he shouldn't because of all the choices she's made before this.

Maki chose to murder her way to peace, but it came at the cost of her humanity and growth and thus she's faced again with the exact same situation with Mai and she's forced to watch her heart be taken from her again.

It goes to show that we think these characters are getting stronger but they're actually sacrificing something vitally important.

These characters are just going to keep going around in circles and you have to wonder just when is it going to stop?

[yourblueberrymajesty]

Fucking rude and homophobic that Hallow didn't include the scene of Timothy as Allen getting real up close to Link's face to see his reflection in his eyes 😡😡😡 175

[yourblueberrymajesty]

247 Allen and Link's reunion is so..... Romantic? Here let me show you :33

Kanda insists that a dog reveals themself which kinda freaks Allen out cause he just told him his Tragic Backstory involving a dead dog

A graceful shadow falls onto the balcony behind the window Allen has been standing near by this whole time

Allen dramatically turns and opens up the balcony to reveal

A very beautiful very alive Howard Link who is wearing a soft smile Allen has probably never seen on him before! They're bathed in moonlight

Allen so overcome with emotion seeing his friend alive he almost tackles them both off the building

And once they're safe Allen still clings onto Link as he apologies for leaving him to die even though Link was the one who created a way for him to escape and insisted Allen do just that

And the cherry on top Link's memories had been remade the whole time he was secretly following Allen around he thought he was the one who failed Allen

And seeing Link again reminds Allen of his actual fr fr love of his life, food <3 Because as much as he denies it Link is very complicit in giving Allen something to eat at all times lol

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

(highly simplified) its all scheduled

[1296-very-good-year]

Chapter 26 vs chapter 253.5

[tetitous]

Some past!laven hc because I'm in the trenches (they shouldn't have that much of a hold on my brain)

They're both occasional smokers. Lavi picked it up from Bookman and Allen was peer-pressured to take it up while in the army. Out of them both, Allen is the most likely to stress smoke.

The cape Allen is wearing in the second part of the flashback was given to him by Lavi, he never bought it. He likes the heaviness of it on his shoulders.

Lavi saw Allen smile for the first time months, if not years after the start of their journey. That's what truly got him.

Lavi smiles whether he's happy or sad. Allen learned to see through his expressions pretty fast, but he still would rather see Lavi be fully sad or angry than look at more fake smiles.

Allen is Lavi's best audience (canon), but it doesn't mean Allen is Lavi's only audience. Whenever they stop at a bar, he ends up telling stories and legends from across the world to drunken men and women, and sometimes to children on the street as well. They typically recieve a few coins for it. Lavi's a pretty good storyteller.

Past!Allen may not be as good a cheat as current!Allen is, but he fares pretty well on his end. Plus he actually has some luck. Lavi tries not to stay too close to Allen whenever he plays, just to be sure Allen doesn't fall victim to his bad luck.

Allen has his own stories to tell, but he doesn't talk about them much. Lavi only hears them sometimes, in the middle of the night, when sleep cannot find either of them and Allen is too tired to keep them in.

They spent so much time together Allen can tell the weather based on the state of Lavi's hair. High humidity means Lavi struggles to keep them in a ponytail, cold weather means he won't even try.

Allen cannot grow a beard. He tried, it won't. Lavi shaves though, both to not piss Allen off too much and because he likes the feeling of kissing Allen better that way.

Hanging out with them for less than 24 hours means being subjected to the most old-married-couple-and-happy-about-it energy. They talk to each other like best friends, they flirt with each other in code, they will be insufferably lovey-dovey in the strangest of ways. Oh to be gay travelling lovers in the 19th century and everything it implies.