For those who's favorite servant has yet to have a summer alt: draw your fav servant's summer alt! Or, for non fate fans: what does your fav wear to the beach?

Oh ho ho!

Dungeon Meshi Episode 17 SPOILERS (Mostly Toshiro ramblings)

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I think a big reason why I became so interested in his character is cuz as a Black person, I know exactly what it's like to hold your tongue and not say your piece and feel like your opinions may not matter. Especially in the face of Whyt people. I've had my fair share of speaking up and attempting to set boundaries with a couple of Whyt friends in the past and lets just say...we're not friends anymore lmao.

However, there definitely comes a point where that become a You Problem. That in some cases it's *you* who's holding yourself back. And it was VERY refreshing seeing Toshiro admit there are things he should've said. And that's he's envious of Laios' very open nature. Because I too get envious even 'till this day of those who are readily open about their thoughts and feelings. And it's something that is hard to try to do yourself, to try and be like that when you've grown up the opposite. It's envy and self loathing, but also a lot of admiration for the other person. A lot.

I definitely noticed how Toshiro spoke more after the fight. It made me happy to see lol If he reaaally hated Laios, he honestly would've just left him to die. However, despite appearing as this Law Abiding Citizen™️ (not affectionate) that some of the audience want him to be, he literally was like "ring this bell and I'll help you escape the police ✌🏾" And that's something I'm not surprised quite a few people are willing to ignore.

Toshiro and Kabru, in my opinion, are very similar in that they're shown in what appears to be bad light first. But it's up to the audience to pick up what's been put down in order to understand that they're also valid in their thoughts and feelings. Laios and The Gang are not the only ones who deserve understanding, and this is something that's suggested so far throughout the story.

Saturday Variety stream is a go! Today we're doing a raffle where winners get to decide what outfits we put Mephistopheles and Van Gogh in (drawn by Cake and I respectively.)

sorry for all the toshiro posting but i'm thinking a lot about toshiro and laios and how, even though it didn't happen cleanly or neatly, laios was exactly what toshiro needed in his life. laios's socially-awkward ‘cannot mask to save his life’ autism was, in the end, was not a bad thing -- it was something that, deep down, toshiro was jealous of and through that jealousy it showed him the path to being more open and honest with others.

if laios had been different, i don't think toshiro would have realized what he needed to change to be happy. he might have gone his whole life never being able to be himself because he was so convinced that he doesn't matter. because laios didn't just frustrate toshiro to no end, finally making him snap so he articulated his true feelings for once in his life -- he also told toshiro he cared for him, wanted to be his friend, and that toshiro needed to eat and sleep. that he needed to care for himself, too. and because toshiro accepted that he had his regrets and wished he was more open like laios... he was able to be more authentically himself.

idk. that's really special to me. that laios being the way he was wasn't bad, in the end, even though so often not reading social cues is seen as a damning negative. if laios hadn't been flawed, idk if toshiro would have ever come to these conclusions.

th.... there are no harem allegations in this post. that is not me making those allegations, and i never have. those viewers/readers are irrelevant to me and the point i am making.

i am talking about the retainers we see, on screen, who i described as women because they are women, who are paid to serve him which impacts his relationships with them (PARTICULARLY maizuru and hien, the former of which he distanced himself from when he realized she was fucking his dad, the latter of which he used to be extremely close friends with before their implied class difference separated them) and left him totally socially alone. which is pretty important in the laios/toshiro conflict.

i really hope this doesn't come off badly, it was just wild to make a post about the class issues inherent in toshiro's character and have someone essentially correct me by saying 'to be fair, toshiro doesn't have a harem' which is something i have never said, because it's........ a weird thing to say.....

I know there’s a lot of people talking about the culture conflict between Toshiro and Laios, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the class conflict between them too. Mayor’s child or not, Laios is still from the boonies, while Toshiro is waited on hand and foot by a flock of women his family employs to serve his needs. This has 100% stifled Toshiro’s ability to communicate with others, to the point where acknowledging his retainers and thanking them for their efforts is shown as a huge point of growth.

Meanwhile, Laios’s bumbling nature towards Toshiro’s boundaries is very much informed by his lack of knowledge of other people and places. He knows how much it hurt him to see his sister rejected by people whose insular attitudes made her powers frightening to them, so he tries to express overtures of friendship towards Toshiro by being so interested in him that it comes off as frightening instead. While he means well, his lack of knowledge on how to interact with people who are different from him puts Toshiro in a weird spot, and this lack of knowledge isn’t just the autism — it’s where he was born and raised. And it’s something real kids from rural areas go through when they enter more urban spaces. The sorts of social manners that are appropriate there aren’t appropriate elsewhere, and they get seen as… well. Inelegant. Pushy.

If Laios had gotten Hien’s name wrong, she would have decked him. But because it was Toshiro, whose upbringing didn’t give him any conflict resolution skills (because he’s around people who have to bend to his needs*) he doesn’t know how to sort things out with Laios, and grows to resent him. It’s not just the culture, it’s the place he occupies class-wise.

That’s part of why I love Toshiro’s arc — if this was just a culture conflict where Laios commits microagressions against him, as I’ve mostly seen it put, him ultimately learning a lesson would be pretty weird. But it’s not. His upbringing as a noble lord’s son in a BONKERS family has given him certain issues… and Laios helps him confront that, so he can live without regrets.

(*please note, this is a massive oversimplification of what the hell is going on with Toshiro Nakamoto. i just didn't want to write a book.)

th. the femininity of his servants was not really a point i was making about the inherent class issues that toshiro is discussing, and the mention of their gender was simply to indicate the actual interactions we see him have on screen.

like there is ABSOLUTELY something to discuss there about toshiro's relationship to gender, particularly with how much he despises his father, but this post is about classism and not how toshiro should maybe transition.

I know there’s a lot of people talking about the culture conflict between Toshiro and Laios, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the class conflict between them too. Mayor’s child or not, Laios is still from the boonies, while Toshiro is waited on hand and foot by a flock of women his family employs to serve his needs. This has 100% stifled Toshiro’s ability to communicate with others, to the point where acknowledging his retainers and thanking them for their efforts is shown as a huge point of growth.

Meanwhile, Laios’s bumbling nature towards Toshiro’s boundaries is very much informed by his lack of knowledge of other people and places. He knows how much it hurt him to see his sister rejected by people whose insular attitudes made her powers frightening to them, so he tries to express overtures of friendship towards Toshiro by being so interested in him that it comes off as frightening instead. While he means well, his lack of knowledge on how to interact with people who are different from him puts Toshiro in a weird spot, and this lack of knowledge isn’t just the autism — it’s where he was born and raised. And it’s something real kids from rural areas go through when they enter more urban spaces. The sorts of social manners that are appropriate there aren’t appropriate elsewhere, and they get seen as… well. Inelegant. Pushy.

If Laios had gotten Hien’s name wrong, she would have decked him. But because it was Toshiro, whose upbringing didn’t give him any conflict resolution skills (because he’s around people who have to bend to his needs*) he doesn’t know how to sort things out with Laios, and grows to resent him. It’s not just the culture, it’s the place he occupies class-wise.

That’s part of why I love Toshiro’s arc — if this was just a culture conflict where Laios commits microagressions against him, as I’ve mostly seen it put, him ultimately learning a lesson would be pretty weird. But it’s not. His upbringing as a noble lord’s son in a BONKERS family has given him certain issues… and Laios helps him confront that, so he can live without regrets.

(*please note, this is a massive oversimplification of what the hell is going on with Toshiro Nakamoto. i just didn't want to write a book.)

I know there’s a lot of people talking about the culture conflict between Toshiro and Laios, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the class conflict between them too. Mayor’s child or not, Laios is still from the boonies, while Toshiro is waited on hand and foot by a flock of women his family employs to serve his needs. This has 100% stifled Toshiro’s ability to communicate with others, to the point where acknowledging his retainers and thanking them for their efforts is shown as a huge point of growth.

Meanwhile, Laios’s bumbling nature towards Toshiro’s boundaries is very much informed by his lack of knowledge of other people and places. He knows how much it hurt him to see his sister rejected by people whose insular attitudes made her powers frightening to them, so he tries to express overtures of friendship towards Toshiro by being so interested in him that it comes off as frightening instead. While he means well, his lack of knowledge on how to interact with people who are different from him puts Toshiro in a weird spot, and this lack of knowledge isn’t just the autism — it’s where he was born and raised. And it’s something real kids from rural areas go through when they enter more urban spaces. The sorts of social manners that are appropriate there aren’t appropriate elsewhere, and they get seen as… well. Inelegant. Pushy.

If Laios had gotten Hien’s name wrong, she would have decked him. But because it was Toshiro, whose upbringing didn’t give him any conflict resolution skills (because he’s around people who have to bend to his needs*) he doesn’t know how to sort things out with Laios, and grows to resent him. It’s not just the culture, it’s the place he occupies class-wise.

That’s part of why I love Toshiro’s arc — if this was just a culture conflict where Laios commits microagressions against him, as I’ve mostly seen it put, him ultimately learning a lesson would be pretty weird. But it’s not. His upbringing as a noble lord’s son in a BONKERS family has given him certain issues… and Laios helps him confront that, so he can live without regrets.

(*please note, this is a massive oversimplification of what the hell is going on with Toshiro Nakamoto. i just didn't want to write a book.)

Screenshot Saturday! Working on NPCs for the next RPGmaker project on my roster- Bug Bites! I thought it would be fun to repurpose some OC designs I haven't used for anything yet, and have them populate the world! Some cute lil bugs~

Of course... I do love you. Isn't that how you've made me?

chilchuck going "sorry leave me outta this one. i cant fight" but then hitting literally every precise shot with an arrow or projectile he ever made in the story INCLUDING PIERCING A RED DRAGONS EYE BY THROWING A KNIFE WHILE LEAPING AWAY my bro is a rogue with dex 20 and wants no one to know biggest liar in history

No one is discrediting the student protests. I myself am a student who is partaking in largely student-coordinated protests, drives, campaigns… but I also understand that we are largely missing the point if coverage of these protests overshadows what they are actually protesting for—the atrocities committed on Palestinians every single day. As the western buzz around this genocide gets more and more coverage, the coverage of the genocide itself sharply declines. It’s true and I see it every single day. Things are not being reported with the precision and diligence they should be.

I thought it a bit when I read the chapter in the manga but the anime really highlights how much the laios/toshiro conversation is this perfect encapsulation of autistic struggle AND how assuming other people know what you’re thinking can really harm your relationships. there’s the obvious ‘Toshiro hurt laios’ sure, but more than that, ‘Toshiro was unable to properly connect with falin because he just proposed to her without giving her ANY context into what he was thinking, which put her in an incredibly weird spot that he later regrets.’

it’s so perfect, in fact, that it almost feels like one of those moments when the author has staged a play to, in one scene, articulate something deeply important to them — and because of how it works out, it acts as like… autistic wish-fulfillment fantasy??? Because Toshiro admits he was wrong in the scene. He sees laios’s point of view, and gives him a gesture of genuine friendship — the bell is SO sweet and SO ride or die, given the potential consequences for him. They beat the shit out of each other and manage to, finally, communicate their frustrations… but ultimately, the episode is about Toshiro changing his way of thought, because Laios’s words bring to light something that he regrets. He wishes he’d told Falin why he really felt that way. He wants to have real connections with people. He… he finally thanks his retainers for all they’ve done for him until now, because he wants them, at least, to know that before it’s not too late.

Despite all the characters saying they think Laios needs to develop better social skills, the story itself never frames it like Laios needs to Be Different. He does grow and change, but it’s his own response to how much he loves others and cares for his friends, not because his inability to read the room is portrayed as some grave character flaw by the narrative itself. Toshiro’s narrative is handled the same way, fwiw, which I’m glad for — he doesn’t change because he hurt Laios and that hurt supersedes his own experiences, he changes because Laios’s words reveal that he has his own regrets, and he wants to connect with others. Neither is a straw man, but Toshiro is the one who learns something by the end.

Idk, as an autistic person, that’s always been… something I’ve wanted in the relationships with those around me. To have my unique perspective be something…. That can be positive and good. That maybe, yeah, even if it’s understandable why someone has communication issues, isn’t saying ‘well, you should Know Better’ is kind of unproductive and fucked. How putting the blame on the autistic person for not Knowing Better really just obfuscates how if you can’t communicate, you get hurt, and Toshiro deserves to be able to have real relationships with people he loves.

And like, it’s such a perfect fantasy that it makes me fascinated about Ryoko Kui’s own perspective on it. How much of that is an accurate read into her own thoughts. How much of it is a reflection of her experiences in the society she’s lived in.

Is Toshiro someone you’ve wanted to punch and make friends with too, ma’am? If so, I hoped writing that scene felt good. It’s a great one, imo.

if i had one question to ask ryoko kui it would be ‘was the laios/toshiro fight written to be catharsis for you specifically.” their relationship is fascinating to me and I’d love to know her perspective on what these things represent to her personally.

if i had one question to ask ryoko kui it would be ‘was the laios/toshiro fight written to be catharsis for you specifically.” their relationship is fascinating to me and I’d love to know her perspective on what these things represent to her personally.

hakurei

Komako Sakai