Recently Read The Stormbringer Lightnovel And "walking In On Chuuya Spinning Dazai Around In A Warehouse"

It’s just full au brainrot.

Reigen fully taking in another emotionally constipated teen, being a dad without realizing it. Teruki and Saiki do NOT get along very fast. And some small Mob and Saiki sillies :3

And my first time drawing Kuriko! I love her so dearly X3

Four aces

lore accurate teen soukoku. the worsties ever

What is Buggy's Endgame? A Post-1082 Analysis

Since the release of chapter 1082, we’ve gotten more insight into Buggy’s character than ever before, especially regarding his dreams and thoughts on past events. So, given our new information, I thought I’d revisit Orange Town Arc to see if 1082 re-contextualizes anything. What’s in the cards for Buggy as a character? What direction does Oda plan on taking him in?

To give you my answer, let me begin in a bit of a random place: the relationship between Shanks and Buggy. 

From the moment Oda first introduced their relationship in chapter 19, Shanks and Buggy already solidified themselves as character foils. Their first panel together is literally a fight over whether the North or South Pole is colder, which is pretty on the nose if you ask me (sorry… I had to). Their red-blue color contrast is also pretty self-explanatory; although green is technically red’s complement, red and blue are often used as visual “opposites.”

Beyond all that surface level stuff, though, what makes these two foils of each other are their opposing values. As a pirate, Shanks wants to “make time to see the world." He has no sense of urgency and no inherent desire to conquer the world — at least, not right away. Buggy, of course, calls this a “soft way of thinking.” Unlike Shanks, he views treasure as the sole purpose of being a pirate. And not just any treasure, but material wealth, gold and jewels which "make its possessor a king."

Shanks and Buggy’s contrasting viewpoints also embody the underlying themes of Orange Town Arc. One man's trash is another man's treasure, and Oda takes great care to emphasize this point, from Chouchou to the mayor.

Luffy's hat ends up taking center stage in Orange Town, however, which I think is a great decision. The straw hat is what tethers Luffy and Buggy to Shanks. It's a weighted symbol, one that helped shape both of their characters — albeit in antithetical ways. Thus, when it’s used as a tool to explore their relationships, it works really well.

Take Luffy, for example. In his youth, Shanks was a pillar of support, friendship, and sacrifice; the straw hat is his treasure because it reminds him of Shanks, but also because it symbolizes what Shanks gave up for him. He owes his life to Shanks, but he uses that gratitude to fuel his own ambition, and to hopefully reunite with Shanks one day as a great pirate.

Shanks allowed him to go after his dream. Luffy knows this well.

Now look at Buggy. He sees the straw hat as worthless, and it’s clear why he does: it’s a painful reminder of the dream that Buggy gave up on, a representation of everything he lacks in comparison to Shanks. And to add insult to injury, Shanks gave that straw hat away to what Buggy sees as an insignificant kid. Of course that would hurt. Seeing Shanks give up Roger’s legacy so easily, abandoning his potential to become Pirate King, when that’s all Buggy ever wanted in life… I mean, wow. It's an amazing role reversal. Buggy gave up on his dream for Shanks, but Shanks gave that dream to Luffy instead.

I think 1082’s context adds some much-needed character depth, and explains a lot of Buggy's rationale. We know Buggy does not value sacrifice or friendship like Luffy does, nor is he the type to go out on a limb for someone. He’s greedy, manipulative when it suits his interests… I could go on forever. So to see that Buggy once sacrificed his own dreams for the sake of Shanks’ — only to have it backfire — makes so much sense. Of course he became a bitter, cynical, and selfish adult. One of the people he believed in most broke his unwavering trust, and he never healed from that experience. (Not to mention that this happened directly after Roger's execution. His faith was already shaken, and it was just one heartbreak after the next.)

The impact of that betrayal only feeds into his greedier tendencies; Buggy is a character who keeps things close to his chest, figuratively and literally. He learned to fear trust, and it shows. All of his adult relationships (Alvida, Galdino, Crocodile, Mihawk) are strictly rooted in business and mutual, self-serving interests. Nothing more.

Just take a look at Buggy and Luffy's reactions to the Bara Bara no Mi story. Buggy can only focus on the things he lost, instead of what he had: a friend who was willing to jump overboard for him in a heartbeat. But Luffy, a character who values the people he loves, obviously has a different perspective. He concludes, “So Shanks saved your life?” Where Luffy sees hidden treasure, Buggy sees nothing but loss.

So why am I bringing this all up? Well, I don’t find it surprising at all that two of Buggy’s most prominent arcs — Orange Town and Impel Down — emphasize his struggle between selfishness and altruism. The internal conflict is played off as a joke in Impel Down, but Buggy has always been simultaneously comedic and complex. He actually parallels Luffy in that sense, but that's another meta for another day.

The position Oda has placed Buggy in is rife with potential. He's now closer than ever to the things which would fulfill his materialistic nature: the One Piece, Captain John’s treasure, and the title of Pirate King. Yet, at the very same time, he's closer to one of his most honest connections in life: Shanks. If there was ever a time for a character to be forced to make a fateful choice, I’d say it’s right about now. People have been wondering why Oda made Buggy a final contender for the One Piece. Why has he “failed upwards” for so long? Comedy aside, I think the answer is a lot simpler than we’re all making it out to be: Buggy’s story just isn’t over yet. 

Oda still has something he wishes to impart to readers, and he clearly believes it will be told best through Buggy’s character. Based on what we know about Buggy — his greed, his guilty conscience, his past with Shanks — I think that story will lead his character to some very interesting places.

Do I think Buggy is going to have a change of heart? Maybe, maybe not. In that regard, he’s already been in a gray area since Impel Down. I wouldn’t be surprised if he accidentally ends up allying himself with Luffy again during One Piece’s conclusion. But with the Cross Guild putting bounties on marines, a (potential) three-emperor interest in going after Blackbeard, and an open-ended Shanks-Buggy plot thread about going to Laugh Tale... Well, there's a lot of places this could go. Would Buggy be willing to give up the greatest treasure in dire circumstances? For Shanks? For the world? Will he become king, and then lose it all? Will he make a sacrifice that parallels Shanks' when they were kids? Who knows!

What do you guys think? Is Buggy going to play a larger role in One Piece’s third act? What is your ideal conclusion for his character in the story? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The (Laugh?) Sad Tale of Joy Boy

(Spoilers ahead, don’t read if you haven’t caught up with the manga)

This analysis came about from me remembering the ending of Wind Waker and the line from Amphibia’s true colors: “That’s the thing about friends isn’t it? The more you love ‘em the more it hurts when they go”

I don’t think a lot of people have caught on to the truly heartbreaking irony in the title of Joy Boy. That, despite his cheery name, his story did NOT have a happy ending.

We already know that the 20 kings (and Imu, most likely) won 800 years ago and destroyed most of what Joy Boy and his allies and friends accomplished.

This not only means that the many races of the world were doomed to persecution and racism by humans but it also means that the technology of the world was regressed to the point that they can only begin to catch up after 800 years (and largely because the man responsible is said to be 500 years ahead of his time) and the people don’t even know what they have lost.

Think about it, in the Jaya arc Robin examines a skull from the fallen galleon and deduces that they medically relieved him of a tumor by making a hole in the skull, without anesthesia. It’s a forgotten practice by the present time, but it still proves that medicine had to evolve to resort to less gruesome methods. And in the East Blue they mentioned that scurvy was only recently fully understood. None of these things are an issue for us because of current medical knowledge.

Of course not every technological advancement is good and some of them have actually caused horrific results both in the One piece world and real life. But people have an unfortunate tendency to take for granted the good things science has given us.

Back to the original topic though, if the Ancient Kingdom had won the One piece world would be unrecognizable to the one we’ve come to known. We don’t know how much for the better, but the 20 kings were very much afraid that such a world could have existed and of a man who‘s implied to have had a pretty innocent dream

When someone who doesn’t make sense to the rest of the world appears there’s two things that can happen with them. Either the world destroys them and who they are at their core, or the world is forced to change to make sense of them.

Joy Boy was definitely one such person in the past like Luffy is in the present. But unlike Luffy, when met with the violent nature of the world, he couldn’t beat it because of some cruel twist of fate. (Or perhaps betrayal? I think Imu knew the first Joy Boy or they wouldn’t keep the frozen straw hat).

Even if (when) Luffy wins and fulfills the original Joy Boy’s dream, the original Joy Boy didn’t, no matter how hard he tried.

But the 20 king were still unable to destroy who Joy Boy was at his core: a dreamer. The very reason that he had friends who loved him. And because of that, Joy Boy had to dream even further than thought posible and imagine that someone else would appear in the future who was like him. Surprise, surprise, that came true.

But he still died without fulfilling his promise. And he and his friends, like all people eventually do one way or another, had to part ways.

But no matter how much Joy Boy may think he failed his friends, they love him no matter what and believe in him. And go on to make sure Joy Boy’s dream of a new person like him appearing comes true. (And adopt the name D. as one of their methods?)

Even so, Joy Boy himself lost and his loss is felt by all who knew him because he is no longer there. Which isn’t the same as the memory of a person. Luffy may be the heir of Joy Boy, but he isn’t Nika (or whatever his real name was).

Imagine if Brook didn’t have the Revive fruit. Laboon would have kept waiting for someone who wouldn’t come back; and even if Luffy gave him a new reason to keep waiting, it still would be a very different person than the perverted-dad (skull?) joke telling-musical gentleman that Laboon knew, wouldn’t it? In this regard Brook is luckier than Joy Boy was.

That always was one of the most horrible things about the World Government, thinking people are expendable. They are not. Galley-La couldn’t make a new Going Merry even if they had the original blueprints because the crew that sailed her would notice small things that are not there anymore.

Although his memory and dreams for a new Dawn in the world are very much alive, the fact he lost so long ago after giving it his all cannot be undone. Similarly the 800 years of abuse the Government, the Celestial Dragons and Imu have inflicted cannot be undone either and many people who dreamed to see themselves free did not live to see it happen.

Is it any wonder then that a piece of the Rio Poneglyph, one of the only means of the Ancient Kingdom to communicate and perhaps the most crucial historical document in the One Piece world, is an apology letter from Joy Boy?

His dream will come true after all in such a way that will be mind-boggling to the point of it being funny, no matter what the world has thrown his way, which may be why Roger laughed.

What I mean to say is that I’m sure Joy Boy’s story will be extraordinarily tragic and yet triumphant somehow. And in line with who Luffy is, he’s not unbreakable.

But he’s not finished yet.

Making this healed something deep within me I almost cried

!!CHAPTER 109 SPOILERS!!

WHY ARE THESE PANELS SO SIMILAR. WHY ARE THEIR EYES SO SIMILAR.

Fyodor was lying in this scene, putting up a facade, does that mean Dazai is doing the exact same thing? Both scenes are SO INCREDIBLY similar. Sigma shoots Fyodor in the shoulder, Chuuya shoots dazai in the shoulder, Fyodor tries to appeal to Sigma, Dazai tries to appeal to Chuuya.

The difference here is the appeal doesn't work on Dazai's end, because Chuuya knows him.

His expression at the end is almost begrudging, if he really is even at least partially conscious he would almost definitely be showing more emotion than just slight annoyance after SHOOTING DAZAI IN THE GODDAMN SKULL

Meaning of ー...

In Chapter 108, when Nene and Tsukasa are plummeting to their doom, this happens:

Tsukasa goes... 「ー...」

This on its own could mean anything, but here I want to argue--without a shadow of a doubt--that he was uttering Amane's name. Not a crazy thing to argue, I'm sure, but when I've seen so many people argue otherwise I feel the urge to speak up!

First, I think some people remain unconvinced on the issue that Tsukasa is even saying anything at all, and while it is up in the air, I want to direct your attention to this screencap from AidaIro's old visual novel:

Ehem. So the character speaking here, Esterio, is muttering something almost unintelligible to the protagonist, Neige. These lines he's speaking represent each censored syllable of the word he is saying, which we later find out is the title of the game ending this scene comes from. I will now refrain on uttering any further spoilers from this point onward...

So, here we have a clear-cut example of AidaIro using lines, like the ones from Tsukasa's dialogue bubble, to censor a word being spoken. I personally find this pretty convincing.

Beyond that, we need to address the actual context of this scene.

Nene had been pestering Tsukasa to call Amane's name in the hope that he would come and rescue them! (Side note, I think it's cute that Nene is so insistent on this when she just learned how precious Tsukasa, as Hanako's yorishiro, is to him... she knows, just trust her!!! ♡)

I personally think this moment falls flat if Tsukasa stayed silent after already stubbornly staying silent the entire chapter. What's the big deal if he continued to not call his name? Why focus a whole panel on Tsukasa's persistent resignation?

But! It doesn't end there.

Near-instantaneously after this panel, Amane himself showed up!

Is that not incredibly strange? How do you explain Hanako finding them so fast if Tsukasa hadn't called for him?

Take note of Hanako's expression, too. He looks sour. He's looking at Tsukasa. He's asking... "What?" He's ANNOYED!! He would not be treating Nene this way. And he demonstrably is not--he isn't looking at her. He is responding... to Tsukasa. He's responding to what he said.

And I can think of nothing better for him to have said than "Amane"!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

That's it! I hope that this post, while brief, was informative. Feel free to reference it if you ever need to.

And if I had to guess why AidaIro censored it like that, I want to direct your attention to the visual novel once more... I like the idea that Nene, our point of view character, couldn't hear him. That Tsukasa's whisper was so soft you could barely discern it from silence. A whisper that represented the tiniest sliver of hope that Tsukasa still allowed himself to have, after all the times Amane ignored him... thank you for reading!!!

TBHK CHAPTER 124 SPOILERS

This post contains spoilers of the latest chapter (124) of Toilet Bound Hanako-kun, so proceed with caution! I'm not going to post any panels of the chapter. The chapter was released in English very recently so you can only read it on MangaUP or on tiktok if somebody posted screenshots of the chapter.

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What have we learnt from chapter 124?

The cat used to be a human and was probably turned into a cat by the clock keepers

Apparently, the cat has been in its form for a long time and it has forgotten how it became a cat

When you try to change the timeline, the clock keepers will take a piece of your soul from you and put it into a doll which they keep in their boundary so that you are forever bound to it

Mirai and Kako appear to be present in the boundary (Yashiro sees them behind the clock)

What we still don't know

What is the cat's true identity? (Could it be Tsukasa or Hanako)

What state are the others in? (Aoi, Akane, Teru, and Yugi sensei) (we know what state Kou and Mitsuba are in 💀)

Are the clock keepers willing to cooperate with Yashiro

Will Yashiro succeed in recovering the original timeline

There are so many more things we don't know I could go on for hours

My personal ideas

The cat is Tsukasa

Since Amane changed his future, could he have faced the same fate as the soul stuck in the doll's body?

Yashiro will have to temporarily take on the role as a clock keeper to do her job

Final thoughts: IT ENDED ON A CLIFF HANGER AGAINNNN GONNA HAVE TO WAIT A WHOLW MONTH JUST TO GET ANOTHER CHAPTER FOR CRUMBS OF INFORMATION GRRRRR

What do you guys think?

dazai no one breaks my heart like you do