GREGG RULZ OK

Lmfao I just saw this and have no idea what to make of it?

Thanks? Or sorry that happened

YET ANOTHER phone rework !!!

This time it's Akira !!!!

I only watched the movie a short time ago, n I'm reading the manga now, but man this shit hit me HARD and if there's ever been a manga with a strong aesthetic that called for this, Akira is it

I wanted to go for a stickered-over blueprint-sheet sort of look and honestly I think it worked out really well !!!!

This is probably gonna be controversial but here we go:

The "They See Each-Other As Brothers" excuse for hating on ships genuinely comes off as homophobic more times than not.

(Mandatory disclaimer cause I know what the reading comprehension is like on here: Any reason is a valid reason to dislike a ship, including no reason. I'm specifically talking about the people who go out of their way to publicly/personally shit on them or the people that ship them).

Like. First of all, I've never seen anyone do that to M/F pairings.

Akira and Miki? Akira was largely raised by her parents because his were absent, and they even refer to each-other as siblings. Perfectly fine.

Ed and Winry? Ed grew up in her house after being orphaned. Perfectly fine, endgame, even.

Eren and Mikasa? LITERAL ADOPTIVE SIBLINGS. PERFECTLY FINE.

Oh, but when it's Diluc and Kaeya? When it's Kaneda and Tetsuo? Gon and Killua? Jack and Legosi? Mika and Yuu? Now suddenly they're brothers? Be so fucking for real.

And second of all.

I get that this is a niche experience. But.

If you never grew up as a little gay kid with a childhood sweetheart that you developed an eventual adult relationship with, then you might not understand this - the "I See You As A Sibling" to "I Love You Romantically" pipeline is there. It's real, and there's nothing weird about it.

Feelings are messy, and complicated. People change, relationships change, and more importantly how we perceived them and our feelings change. Little kids don't always know why they feel the fondness and familiarity towards someone they'll end up being in love with, ESPECIALLY if they don't know they're (allowed to be) queer, and think the only kind of bond that can exist between same-gender pairs is a familial one.

It's completely fucking normal for kids that grew up together to misinterpret their own feelings as sibling-like affection and then change their minds. It's doubly normal for kids that don't realise those kinds of romantic pairings exist, or are allowed to exist.

It's only fucking weird if you're being fucking weird about it.

And again. Very fucking suspicious that this only ever seems to be the case for gay ships.

Watched Akira for the first time and all I can say is that I'm proudly adding it to the list of media where disaster would be easily avoided if the main characters had just kissed

Imagine a lonely, peaceful graveyard, somewhere in Midorijima.

Imagine two graves, side by side - one so old and overgrown, so laden with moss and grime and dirt, that you can hardly make out the inscription on it, just barely lost to time. The other - a lot more recent, though itself starting to show signs of wear.

An old man laid next to where his grandmother was buried so long ago, in eternal, peaceful sleep.

Imagine the top of that grave slowly growing moss and grass and little flowers, and there, on top, even slightly embedded into the soil - decrepit, rusting, overgrowing with vegetation - a broken-down, barely-functioning white-haired robot. Sitting still, dull eyes forever locked onto the name on the headstone - Seragaki Aoba.

Imagine a few years prior, Aoba getting older and older. Clear taking care of most of his basic needs now, carrying him when he's too tired, preparing all his meals and cleaning every mess - all with the same energy, enthusiasm, smile as before.

Imagine Aoba's old, shaking hands attempting to perform routine maintenance and check-ups on Clear. Imagine him straining his muscles to the point of pain, injury. Him mishandling tools and messing up the wiring, getting bit by electricity or having his increasingly fragile skin bruised from the force. Clear hiding any malfunctions, any errors in his performance, just to make sure Aoba doesn't try to fix it, doesn't hurt himself on his own stubborn pride.

Imagine Clear chatting with Aoba as he always did, happy and chipper, about the afterlife. Trying to spin it as positively as he can manage - assuring Aoba that he'll get to be with Tae-san, finally, and hey, maybe he'll even meet Clear's own grandpa one day! Imagine Aoba snapping at him to be quiet, rejecting, resenting the idea of an afterlife, fearing it more than desiring it because he knows that if there is such a thing, then he'll have to spend all of eternity without his love. Without Clear. Robots don't die, after all, and even if he stopped functioning there's no afterlife in the wings for an artificial being.

Imagine Clear visiting Aoba's grave for the first time. Crying uncontrollably, kneeling in the dirt, burying his hands into the soil as if to dig him up. Imagine him talking to Aoba through sobs, wishing him good rest, a fair journey. Imagine him never getting up from that spot again. Calming down, eventually, just enough to talk normally. Singing to him. Describing the environment around him, then breaking into sobs again.

Imagine his function gradually slowing down. Without any repairs or help, his body shutting down more and more bits of itself just to keep him from completely breaking. His eyesight, his voice modulation, his cooling system, his processing power. His brain becomes more and more warped and weak until he isn't even fully sure why he's there - all he knows is that he's with Aoba-san. He can't see him, or hear him, or feel him, but he's with Aoba-san, and as long as his voice carries (no matter how much it stutters, no matter how muffled it gets, no matter how garbled) - he'll keep speaking to him. Singing to him. Reaching out to him forever.

What other purpose does he have? What other purpose did he ever?

Now imagine a dog in a propeller hat.

Thinking about Hajime...

About how despite regaining his identity, he'll never truly escape being Izuru. About how he'll always be a human experiment, a test subject, and above all - a tool. About how the Future Foundation will probably use him as a doctor and scientist and inventor and engineer and interpreter and psychologist and a hundred other things because who but he is more capable?

About how they already shoved the responsibility for all the remnants onto him. About how he's always responsible for their actions, always on call, always present and alert in case they need anything, or cause any trouble - he might be Hajime, but he's still first and foremost the Ultimate.

About how he must be constantly stressed, tired, exhausted - about how he's taking care of all his friends, helping them recover, helping them get over their respective traumas and repressed memories, and keeping track of supplies, and up-keeping the facilities, and providing medical treatment, and, and, and, and. Constant stress. Constant work.

And most importantly - thinking about how that stress is what keeps him. It's what stops him from spiralling back into the boredom, into the dull dredge of predictability. The chaos caused by the remnants is what allows him to hold onto his identity as Hajime, as a person.

His very human nature is tied to the stress caused by the exploitation of his inhuman experimentation.

Insane.

Forcing a friend to play Danganronpa THH and MAN, we do NOT talk enough about the fact that Makoto IMMEDIATELY tells the twins apart and clocks the fact that the person he's talking to is NOT, in fact, Junko

And on top of that he just immediately points it out with 0 filter lmao, I know Mukuro was STRESSING

Given that Clear freaks out and starts beating the tar out of a person for just PUSHING Aoba, and given that even in other good routes he's mentioned to drop into Hum-Drum Junk on occasion to check on him...

Do we think Clear understands that children aren't a threat. Or does Aoba have to somehow prevent him from straight up (accidentally) killing Nao, Kio and Mio the first time he sees them swarm Aoba.

Genuine question.

I HAVE always headcannoned that the Usagimodoki's serve as sort of... Disability aids. He has a few programmed specifically to monitor different body functions so he doesn't lose track while he works.

Primarily I think this would be important in terms of temperature control so he doesn't freeze or overheat ("P! Time to open a window!"), but also potentially other things like urging him to get up and stretch so his muscles don't atrophy during his 32 hour work binge, reminding him to eat and get hydrated, as well as alerting him if he accidentally finds himself sitting in a pose that could injure him without realising. After a certain amount of time if he hasn't slept, one of them will back up all his work and shut off his monitor

(He can most likely feel thirst and hunger, since people with CIP generally can, but I think he'd find the reminders useful anyway)

After getting with Aoba, he gives him one to keep. It's not monitoring him constantly, but if Aoba needs anything he can just tap it and a corresponding one will alert Noiz to go pay him attention

"Noiz getting a headache for the first time" this, "Noiz bottoming for the first time" that, imagine the shock this man is about to go through when he puts on his little fursuit and discovers what a heat stroke is firsthand

I'm not big on music, but I AM big on nostalgia, really dumb humour, and show tunes. Here's a list of all I've been able to listen to for the past ... Week

1. A playlist of Phineas and Ferb songs

2. McDonalds in the Pentagon

3. Old Ylvis songs

4. High School Musical

5. The Misery x Reese's Puffs x CPR remix (extended edition)

6. A song from an old russian soviet cartoon I watched as a kid

It doesn't help that my Spotify won't update, so I'm just stuck making my YouTube Feed think I'm insane

One thing about me and Squid Game Season 2 is that I'm an unapologetic, unadulterated, balls to the wall Min-su HATER and I genuinely don't understand what y'all see in him like?

"Aw kitty mew mew" HE'S 28 THAT'S A GROWN ASS MAN and the ONLY thing he did is betray the one person that explicitly took a chance on him because she "Didn't think he'd lie to her", and then completely fail to do anything but watch as someone murdered her

Like make no mistake this isn't about me liking Se-mi or about morality (Namgyu is my personal little princess and I'm love him) - I just can't stand the idea of feeling sorry for a grown ass man acting like a little napkin

Motherfucker Daeho has PTSD and HE exhibited SO much more bravery and spirit even if he failed to follow through in the end, Min-su is literally just a spineless little traitor

I don't get it I don't get it I really don't

I think one of Haikyuu's greatest strengths as a sports animanga is how well they portray the passion and love that each player could have for their position.

We meet Hinata, who wants to be a Spiker, an Ace - what a cool title!!! The position that scores the most points!!! Asahi and Tanaka are both strong spikers and they're direct lines of offense, they're the ones the audience watches for those big WOAH moments.

And then we meet Kageyama, who is so passionate about being a Setter - the team's control tower!! The one who can draw out those amazing spikes is the setter after all, he's the one who watches and analyses things the most closely, the one who can best understand the other players. Kenma, Oikawa, Suga, all of them have their own way of strategizing and drawing on their team's power and boosting them.

And THEN we meet Nishinoya and HOLY SHIT - the whole game is impossible if the ball doesn't connect. He's the one covering them, the reason they can fight freely is because they can rely on someone to pick up the slack and correct mistakes. A strong receive is the team's lifeblood - just look at Nekoma, look at Daichi, how cool is it to be able to keep the ball in play no matter what.

And Hinata doesn't end up being a Spiker - he's a Middle Blocker, and at first it might seem less cool but then we meet Dateko, and they're such a threat just off of their blocks alone, holy shit, "The Iron Wall"!!! Being able to shut out even the strongest, most complicated play, to stop the games momentum in its tracks... That's what Tsukishima ends up excelling at, eventually, and THERE'S where his smarts can come in, even if he isn't good with people the composure to calmly watch the plays and stop them in their tracks is thrilling.

And then there's serving - first with Kageyama we're hinted at how powerful a good serve is, and then we see how terrifying Oikawa can be with it. "The Ultimate Play would be one where 25 points were scored with just the serve" - because you don't even give your opponent the chance to fight! And if you do it right, it isn't even about power or speed!! A little bit of technique with it is all Yamaguchi needed to become a strong asset, and a Pinch Server can turn the entire course of the game around with just a few plays!

I don't know. I guess maybe it's because I played volleyball too, but seeing this genuine... Not even just respect, this REVERENCE for each and every role a person can fill - seeing why these characters love the game, how it helps bring out their strengths, how every person with every build and every skill level can not only contribute something but GENUINELY LOVE their contributions... It's just amazing. It makes you so genuinely invested in them, their plays, it makes your heart pump because you understand why THEY'RE so thrilled so intimately.

I'm. Gonna get emotional and sentimental under the cut.

Another phone rework !!

This time I managed to teach my partner how to do his - and since the DMMD Brainrot is back and he themed his phone after Aoba, I figured I'd follow suit with my second highest kin, Ren !!

Being honest, it's an adjustment - the Ekko theme was by far my favourite, and this type of maximalist cyber aesthetic isn't one I usually go for. But it WAS immensely fun to make and I enjoy the tackiness of it quite a bit - my partner's phone is very harmonious and pretty and so I wanted this to feel like a busy rhyme field.

I even went as far as to dig up all the voice files in the game just to extract Ren saying "Aoba" and use it as a notification sound.

ETA: Almost forgot, I wouldn't be able to put this together without @dmmdresources which is honestly an invaluable resource and a really nice, organized blog, so thank you for the beautiful archives ! They're inactive as far as I can tell, but still a great source of all things DMMD

I've been on a nostalgic kick lately so I've started reading Haikyuu, and by far my favourite bit from it that I NEVER noticed when I was watching it as a kid (and never saw anyone in the fandom reference or talk about) is how genuinely fucking cool everyone thinks Takeda is?

Like he'll talk about doing something pathetic at best (like getting on his knees and begging) and genuinely bizarre at worst (like stalking the local convenience store clerk for a week until he could find something to extort him with), and all the characters will be like "Wow Takeda-sensei!!! So cool!!! So reliable!!!" with like, tears and sparkles in their eyes.

Maybe as a kid I interpreted it as sarcastic? I'm not sure, but reading it through adult lenses - no, these kids are genuinely so thankful and think this weird little loser is their hero and that's so beautiful to me

Takeda Ittetsu how I love thee