holy moly watching the eine kleine animatic made me realize how fitting it is that teru is the one to make mob "wake up" (jumpstart his heart, etc etc). Other than being mob's "rival", it's fitting in that Teru is one of the VERY first people Mob hurts ever since the incident, perhaps even the first one Mob lashes out with his powers. It's the shock of doing that again, to someone that Mob considered one of his first victims before they were his friend, and the whiplash of feeling "i didn't change" again.
And that's what wakes him up. His guilt, a manifestation of everything horrible reflected/refracted through a hunched over figure, through outstretched arms and words of his own echoed back to him months and months down the line. Teru matters to Shigeo because he's the first person he ever intentionally hurt. Teru matters to Mob because he's the first person, that /wasnt/ somebody he was close with beforehand, he felt guilty for hurting.
And Teru matters to both sides of him, because he was the worst version of an esper Mob had ever encountered before. Mob/Shigeo mattered to Teru because he was the best version of an esper Teru had ever seen.
I LOVE TAKING TWO WILDLY CONFLICTING SHOWS AND MAKING AUS FOR THEM.
Soooo in case you don’t know what Ajin is, it’s a psychological horror manga/anime about immortal humans (called Ajin) who revive no matter how many times they’re killed and can summon “black ghosts” that are shaped according to the Ajin’s actions. The ghosts cannot be seen by humans unless the Ajin has strong emotions towards a targeted human, like bloodlust, fear, etc. Ajin don’t know they’re Ajin until they die once. Then they are hunted down by a special branch of the government for inhumane experiments and all that lovely bullshit. Also, Kou is my fave lmao the poor idiot doesn’t deserve the shit he’s forced to go through…let him rest gdi
So I’ve been thinking about this AU for awhile now and I’ve come up with some ideas (warning, it’s late and I have shaky-ass fingers so if anything is misspelled or grammatically incorrect, blame my fingers):
>Mob’s family doesn’t turn him in although he’s Ajin and they continue to shield him from suspicion and let him live normally
>Mob found out he was an Ajin at a young age (he and Ritsu were messing around at the top of the basement stairs, Mob fell down backwards and died almost instantly)
>Mob doesn’t use his ghost for much, just mundane tasks around the house (reaching high objects, cleaning his room, moving heavy objects, etc), and as such, it stays in a humanoid form. The claws act more like fingers than actual claws, but black ghosts always retain their claws so they’re there to stay. It also resembles ??? a little bit.
>Mob’s ghost is ridiculously strong tho
>When he hits 100%, he unleashes a Flood (dozens of ghosts being released at once) and they’re all incredibly powerful.
>??? ends up appearing when he dies in a state of great emotional distress. It’s like Shinya Nakamura’s Flood but the whole thing is packed into one incredibly powerful, absolutely unstoppable ghost.
>Mob ends up meeting Reigen after bumping into him on the street
>Reigen is part of the anti-Ajin committee but he’s more like Ikuya Ogura. He doesn’t have anything against Ajin, he’s just fascinated by them and wants to learn more about them. He doesn’t agree with the experiments on Ajin, however, but he’s able to meet with Ajin easily and learn about them in noninvasive ways over a cup of coffee. He’s valuable to the committee because of this.
>Reigen doesn’t ever go to the anti-Ajin HQ unless there’s a meeting. He hates seeing Ajin being experimented on, but the committee won’t stop it no matter how much he asks and offers peaceful solutions.
>Reigen’s pretty much quit the anti-Ajin committee (his sole purpose for joining was to try changing their mindset on Ajin) and started up his own small business about investigating Ajin peacefully and trying to get their rights recognized. Since he’s an ex-member (and a good one at that), the committee’s unanimously agreed to leave him be.
>Mob’s fascinated by Reigen’s little business that he goes (against Ritsu’s warnings) and ends up confiding in him. Reigen’s intrigued by this kid and ends up hiring him to help him find Ajin and help them with their problems(Mob can see black ghosts and Reigen can’t).
>Reigen gets incredibly attached to this kid and after a few attempts, convinces Mob’s parents to trust him. Ritsu’s still suspicious of Reigen.
>Frick, Dimple was hard to figure out
>Dimple doesn’t actually go out and try killing people, but he’s trying to rule Japan. Like Satou but without all the “psycho murder MLG videogame man” stuff.
>Nobody knows what he actually looks like, but he must be strong because he can keep his ghost out 24/7
>Basically he lives his life through his ghost. He basically is his ghost. He speaks, travels, fights, and everything through his ghost.
>I’m at a loss for the whole ‘security guard Dimple’ thing, I’ll figure it out tho
>I was considering that Dimple is actually security guard man but he makes like 1 appearance and then he’s back to projecting himself through his ghost.
>Oh yea, his ghost’s pretty damn weak just like Dimple is in the manga/anime
>His ghost transforms like Dimple does; huge and strong when Dimple goes into his true form (anime/manga) and a little floating black ball with teeny arms most of the time.
>Anyways
>Now for Ritsu
>Ritsu’s an Ajin as well, but nobody knows. Not even Ritsu himself.
>Ritsu ends up meeting Dimple (his ghost) after that whole stressful arc in the anime and wondering ‘what the hell'
>Suddenly, BAM, 'holy shit, is that what Nii-san’s ghost looks like????’ 'wait’ ’wait’ 'I’m an Ajin?????'
>Dimple shows him how to use his ghost and that’s when Ritsu starts doing risky shit with it
>Ritsu’s ghost looks plain af since he’s never used it. It looks like Kei’s ghost.
>Ritsu dies for the first time in the battle with Koyama. Unlike when he just got the shit beat out of him in the anime, he was straight up killed by Koyama. That’s what pushed Mob over the edge.
>Claw is basically Satou’s little murder squad, but they don’t go out senselessly killing civilians.
>Toichirou is basically Satou but you know…not
>Toichirou’s ghost resembles Satou’s, but it rivals Mob’s in terms of strength.
>They capture young Ajin and brainwash them into hating humans and wanting to take over the country (and then the world)
>The esper kids and the Awakening lab are Ajin who haven’t died yet (they have weak ghosts), and a facility made to protect them.
>Now my boi Teru
>Teru lives alone due to a conflict between his parents resulting in his dad wanting to turn him in for money and his mom wanting to protect him. He didn’t want to see his parents fighting because of him, so he decided to move out. Needless to say, learning that his father didn’t care about him if he wasn’t human fucked him up a bit.
>He died for the first time at age twelve. He was washing dishes and slipped on some water while he was carrying knives to put them away.
>He started using his ghost to make himself popular in school and to swiftly take down his opponents, so it developed with characteristics that made it more agile and fast. It has a light, thin body and wings rather than clawed hands. His ghost is sort of like Takeshi Kotobuki’s.
>After befriending (and getting a crush on) Mob, he began to think carefully before using his ghost. Like Mob. He hates seeing when Mob dies and vice versa.
>Yay, my other boi Shou!
>He’s been encouraged by his father to use his ghost violently so it developed for just that. It looks a lot like Tanaka’s ghost, with elongated claws, a mouth with jagged teeth, and a slender body for moving at high speed.
>When Shou faces Ritsu in the battle with the Scars, Ritsu’s ghost is absolutely rekt by Shou’s ghost. Shou hates killing, so he just knocks Ritsu out.
>Shou ends up teaching Ritsu how to use his ghost later on
The AU only loosely follows the MP100 timeline after that, save for the major events (the battle with Toichirou, etc), and the Mogami arc is different. Idk, this was a really quickly-made AU and I fell in love with it but it’s definitely weird haha…I’m prob gonna draw more of this either way :3
