#just needed

[na-page]

DARREN CRISS - New York Theatre Workshop's Gala | February 10, 2025 | 📷 Emilio Madrid

[clinging-to-the-bars]

[embossross]

this intersects so perfectly with many things that i despise, so i need to rant because i'm seeing these ice cold takes everywhere...

yes, Denji and Makima's relationship is 'toxic and abusive' but just recognizing that without digging any deeper is useless. we need to ask ourselves why fujimoto included an abusive relationship in a manga that isn't an exploration of abuse. what was the point?

answering from my interpretation: csm is about how nothing has meaning beyond that which we ascribe, so how do we determine what to value, how to live, how to engage with others' different values in a world where we are solely responsible for making those decisions for ourselves?

makima represents a very attractive, but ultimately harmful option, which is to cede all that responsibility and existential distress to some authority figure who promises to lead the way for you and ease your burden. makima represents authoritative structures (the government, corporations, the army) far more than an abusive girlfriend or other interpersonal relationship because that's not what the story is primarily about.

reading these tweets though, you wouldn't think this at all. they're so grossly gleeful as they lord the world's most shallow analysis over the heads of the anime watchers who haven't caught on yet. & i don't hate people that can only engage in media analysis as character good or bad, but it's embarrassing to be so smug about your bottom barrel analysis.

speaking of which...why are people so proud of predicting a twist? if it was meant to be explicit, Fujimoto would have made it explicit. he gave enough information to give the reader an idea of what was to come, to make it plausible, but did not make it explicit until midway through the story FOR A REASON. it's not bad reading comprehension to not take for granted something that is kept intentionally ambiguous.

and why leave it ambiguous? because Makima and what she represents (yielding to authority and release of personal responsibility) is meant to be super attractive. we're supposed to see how much peace lies in just listening to makima, to the peaceful life of a pet. denji is seduced not because he is manipulated but because what makima offers him IS seductive.

so, the people who are falling for makima or shipping them are arguably experiencing the story more in line with what Fujimoto intends than the sanctimonious 'you-didn't-fool-me' twitter mob ever could. you should engage emotionally in stories, not just try to solve it like it's a damn puzzle.

and lastly, as a manga reader, manga readers are insufferable! just how much credit do manga readers really want for knowing that the villain is the villain 🙄🙄🙄 i doubt any of these people were 100% confident when they first read it, and now they want to high horse the anime readers?

like, just let people experience the story in full before discussing their interpretation with them. it's a complete work. you don't get brownie points for finishing the test early. let them digest it.

this has been a rant. 😅

JUST KIDDING also - people not getting that denji (and the story by proxy) isn't a shallow objectifying freak for wanting to grope boobs at this point aren't idiots either. shonen has such a long history of characters exactly like this with no further redeeming thematic reasoning (*cough* mineta) that it's not crazy people would write him (csm) off. it's only as the story develops and confidence in fujimoto as a storyteller with something to say grows that it becomes abundantly clear that he's not part of that pattern and actually saying something powerful through denji's boob grabs.

[anna-something]

hello? are you there? are you listening to me? you have seven minutes let’s complete the mission. 

[unsaintedfox-a]

‘ ah, fuck it. ’

Send “ah, fuck it” to shove my muse against the wall for a surprise kiss

Deshi probably shouldn’t have started the fight in the first place. He just couldn’t get over how much he enjoyed pissing off Malia. Though, he hadn’t expected her to just shove him against the wall like she did. The wind was knocked out of him by the impact as he felt her attack his mouth, growling into it as he kissed her back with just as much frustration. “That’s one way to shut me up. But I’m not letting this go so easily.”

[akiameokami]

I so emotional and fragile right now and it's ticking me off... where is that cold hearted, man of steel that I usually am? I want my walls back. Usually im disassociating at this phase. Why am I flipping anxious and on edge in stead?

[thefantasyhunters]

Just a worried rant

Ok, so my ex-boyfriend that I dated and lived with for 5 years (ages 15-20) just told me he’s a sadistic, manipulative, pathological liar and a clinical sociopath who never loved me. He viewed me more as a possession to boost his ego and self-esteem than an actual person.

We broke up, because he kept intentionally hurting me emotionally and letting his friend insult me behind my back without doing anything about it. I thought he was just a coward and spineless, but the fact that he just didn’t care or value me hurts so much more.

I am so pissed at myself. I’m pissed that I ignored all the signs that he liked my pain, that he isolated me from all my friends at one point, manipulated me to have a dependency on him, and I don’t know how many other lies I believed.

When we broke up at 19, he turned everyone in our social group against me, saying I was crazy and dumped him for no reason. And 8 months after our final breakup at 20, he got so angry with me and hated me for getting involved and having sex with another guy. It’s because having him as the only guy I’ve slept with makes him feel special and boosts his ego, and now he feels replaceable and worthless. Which was strange because he has had a girlfriend for 6 months at the time. 

He’s even cheating on his girlfriend, but the thing he likes most about the girl is that she has a girlfriend, it’s a huge turn on for him; the thought of manipulating and stealing someone else’s “property”. 

And now he told me he’s joined the army because he wants to know what it’s like to kill someone. But I think he’s also doing it so he can realise his sexual sadism without suffering consequences. I really do believe he’s going to rape someone eventually. He says the only reason he hasn’t raped anyone yet is because he wouldn’t get away with it, but he likes the idea of overpowering someone that way. He likes harming women, and that he doesn’t want to hurt animals, because they’re not smart enough to understand what’s being done. 

And now I can’t sleep and always stress, because I think that once he crosses that rape and murder line, and gets away with it, he’s eventually going to rape and torture me as punishment for no longer being his possession. 

I feel like I’ve just found out how I’m going to die, the only question that remains is “when will he crack?”

And I can’t tell anyone about anything, because they all think he’s a charismatic and charming guy, and I’m just the jealous and crazy ex-girlfriend. But I don’t want to be raped and murdered just so people know I wasn’t insane.  He will never let me go until he re-establishes his dominance over me