Unpacking Karasu Tabito

Dragging myself out of inactivity to grossly overanalyse/scream about the chapter 213 Kunigiri stuff coz I’m so mentally unwell and it’s their fault.

First of all, I love how in order to get into the other stratums, players first have to submit a request form. Presumably they’d have to state a reason for going and I doubt “I want to see my friends” would be allowed because some people would end up using it as an excuse to slack off, so I wonder what Chigiri said to get his request accepted? Obviously he was actually coming just to see Kunigami but he probably needed to make up an excuse (either that or Ego/Anri let him through because BLTV really is just football Love Island atp).

Anyway, I love the intro panel for Chigiri in this chapter coz it says SO MUCH about him.

It’s the hair.

Chigiri barely ever wears his hair up, not even while playing football (and I’ve made my thoughts on that clear in the past so I’ll refrain from any ranting). On the field he’ll have that weird half-braid thing going on, and off the field he usually just wears it loose. One of the only other times we see him with a ponytail is in chapters 150-151, during the 2-week break post U-20 match. I think this shows that Chigiri is putting active effort into his appearance for his visit with Kunigami. He puts his hair up when he wants to make a good impression — in the Shibuya chapters he’s also wearing a rather nice outfit, so he was focussing on his appearance then too. This time around, he’s specifically doing it for Kunigami because he’s unsure about what Kunigami thinks of him after “ghosting” him during the MC match. This is Chigiri going all-out to impress through subtle gestures and small changes that are consciously made and will subconsciously be picked up on.

(There’s also Kunigami’s canonical thing for the napes of necks (egoist Bible) to take into account which… listen we have no proof that Chigiri is aware of it but we also don’t have any proof that he’s not. Who’s to say he didn’t choose this hairstyle specifically because he knows it shows off his nape, which is usually kept hidden under his hair? He’s already a bit of a flirt after that “such an insensitive hero” comment back during the Second Selection. It isn’t impossible.)

Next, the iconic “keep an eye on me” line.

First off, Nomura really decided to make Chigiri look that pretty when he said this. Boy looks absolutely gorgeous. I’m aroace but I would’ve folded. Kunigami is stronger than me.

Second off, I like how this shows Chigiri being attentive towards Kunigami. When they first reunited, it did come across a bit like Chigiri was being dismissive of what Kunigami went through in the Wildcard, saying that he’d treat Kunigami as exactly the same person he was before (although it’s arguably understandable since they’d only just met again and Chigiri has no idea what happened in the Wildcard). Now though, it’s clear he’s observed the change Kunigami went through and a) wants to make amends for his previous comments, and b) still wants to be with Kunigami. While there’s never a direct apology given, it’s clear he doesn’t think of Kunigami the same way he did before the Mc match and wants to make amends. Honestly, idk if a direct apology would’ve been a nice addition or would’ve just made Kunigami feel worse — Chigiri is a proud person and Kunigami doesn’t want pity, so this less direct approach was probably the best way to go about things.

Thirdly, when Chigiri says “from now on, I’m gonna be keeping an eye on you”, it’s not just a promise to acknowledge Kunigami’s skills as a footballer. It’s also a subtle way of saying “you’re not getting rid of me. I’m staying right here”. Adding to that the “so, you better keep an eye on me too, got it?”, it’s both a declaration that Kunigami shouldn’t underestimate Chigiri and a “you’re gonna be seeing a lot of me so get used to it”. (Side note: Isagi’s face on this page is so fucking funny to me he’s just like “yeaaaaaah, these bitches gay. Good for them” lmao.)

Last thing I’ll scream about is this:

FIRST NAME BASIS!!!

Obviously Chigiri is specifically using “Rensuke” as a little jab at Kunigami to get him riled up. Chigiri is just like that when it comes to teasing. Still, it’s nice to know that he feels comfortable enough around Kunigami to say something like this without Kunigami getting angry or making things awkward between them. We’ve seen Bachira do this with Isagi too during the Barcha match, so that’s nice little bachisagi parallel. At the very least, Chigiri is showing that he wants their friendship to continue and is going to continue to treat Kunigami as a close friend, no matter how much Kunigami might try to push him away.

Conclusion to my ramblings: Chigiri is putting in the work and I respect him for it. Kunigami is in a bad place rn and what he needs is someone as stubborn as Chigiri to see him through. Chigiri knows what it feels like to feel depressed and push everyone else away because it happened to him too. He thought for a time that everything was over for him. No doubt he’s recognising those things in Kunigami and wants to help him out, especially since the two of them had grown pretty close before being separated.

Kunigiri has my whole heart!!!

engarde slaying as leon kennedy

Look I'm not saying that stopping in the middle of a sentence on a WIP was a bad idea but what i am saying is that as soon as I get my hands on a time machine past me needs to be ready to square the fuck up

it follows by waterparks but through the lens of matt engarde:

"kiss me like nobody would when i was 15" taken not in the way that nobody kissed him, but nobody did so with care, with tenderness, with respect. love him, all he wants is love. something real and true and messy, sure, but in the way love is. Not lust. Kiss him in all the cheesy teen romance ways he was never allowed to experience.

formative idiot fag. to me

Just wanna say thank you for your Juangarde content (as a starving Juangarde fan and as a Juan fan in general haha) and for the fact that you realized how bad Inpax and her relationship with Juan and Matt is. I’m just tired of people viewing her as entirely angelic and all

These two are also kinda my comfort ship too so, even a mention of them is cool to me and your posts did exactly that, thank you again lol

Oh my god stop I'm literally gonna cry (/pos) over this— Believe me anon I am also starving over content for these two so I decided to Be A Chef and make my own food lmao!!

And yes yes yes oh yes I will be the first person to shout from the rooftops how absolutely horrid of a person Inpax was. Between the age gap and the power dynamic???? No wonder these two boys were kinda crappy lovers at times, they were TEENAGERS. KIDS. what are you as their adult supervisor doing dating and getting engaged to them!!!!!!!!!!! i hate her so much . and omg if juangarde is your comfort ship pls pls let me give you some headcanons of them i think are really cute, I'd love for someone else to hear the machinations of my mind—

Matt has a few pet names for him. Yes he’s the type to use ‘dude’ and ‘bro’ romantically, but he’s also disgustingly romantic once he’s done some healing, and he’ll use the corny shit like ‘mon ange’ and ‘mon musique’.

When they were younger, pre-Inpax, so like 11-12, they were never able to dance together at award show afterparties because that wouldn't align with their (fabricated!!!) rivalry, so they have to wait until they’re back in one of their hotel rooms (Matt comes to his more often, since it’s not like he’s got parents looking after him) to get time to themselves. They get their time to dance together in the late hours of the night, candles and the city skyline surrounding them, music playing from one of their phones.

Juan sings to Matt when he’s having bad nights (be it his road to recovery/sobriety or Inpax related trauma) because nothing can calm him down like his nightingale.

Matt names all his animals by picking them up and holding them like an inch away from his face and just saying the first thing that pops into his mind. His first cat was Armchair, of course we have Shoe, and then when he names a cat Vacuum and Juan sees this ritual for the first time, he goes "You are not gonna get to name our kids if this is your method, I don't want a kid named Jukebox or some shit—" (shoutout to my bestie for that Juan dialogue) and then Matt almost drops the animal out of shock, looks at Juan with the biggest widest puppy dog eyes, and just "Did...you say 'our kids'...?"

Anyway I literally love these two so so so much and I want to keep pumping out content for them I've got a hurt/comfort type thing on the way that's pre-2–4 and I'm working on a long-form multichaptered fix-it fic that will be canon divergent!!!! And of course more posting here whenever the boys invade my brain and I have a Thought

When the main manga doesn't have our backs Kunigiri stans, we can count on Episode Nagi 🔥

taking a behavioral pharmacology class for my psych degree? no. taking a behavioral pharmacology class to write a scientifically accurate matt engarde overdose.

made this in a fugue state

saw Wicked on Broadway for the first time this weekend and can I just say No Good Deed is so so so matt coded.

"no good deed goes unpunished" oh you mean like how he told juan the truth about inpax and her creepy abusive ways to try and save him from that relationship and then years later they're both blamed for her death?? yeah??? yeah.