#I have that much respect for him that I am too shy to draw screenshots of him or when I write oneshots when I have to embody him akjfdlöajf | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

idkimnotreal · 2 years

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or does he want me around because it boosts his self esteem? (my favourite theory)

he’s big on social media, but he’s like a rags to riches story. ugly, awkward kid who had an incredible glow up (he posts pictures of him as a kid everywhere so it’s okay that i know this info) and grew almost by accident on social media. he’s introverted and shy (from what i gather) and his interactions with followers are extremely limited, almost exclusively during lives, which he does once every two months. he gets a few comments on pics and an average of 200 viewers on lives which gives the impression that most of the thousands that follow him just like his appearance and like his pics whenever he shows up, but he has a small close knit fanbase who supports him regardless and has been doing so for years.

so, in other words, yeah he’s popular, but not exactly. there’s a lot of buts. i think the very reason he likes the attention on social media (because it follows he does, since he posts for likes and follows) is because he needs the validation. an awkward kid, suddenly hot as fuck? hell yeah. he’s obviously deeply sensitive and insecure which is what draws me to him, or to want to help him.

so my point is that, i don’t even know if he gets that much attention on his dms. my initial calculus was that he gets 10-20 dms per day and i think i am correct. he’s going through a decline of reach on instagram, or maybe stability of reach, so he’s not growing, so he might not get a lot of attention. he did at points in the past (grew about 24k in a month in 2021) but it was always temporary. so i think, it’s common for some of his followers to go like “oh i love you so much” “i’m in love with you” but someone like me, who goes into details why and is unafraid to speak about it, i think he’s never dealt with it. and plus i’m quite intelligent and i can figure out stuff on my own so i’m improving on my interactions with him and that also makes me perceptive. intelligence is another factor. he might be curious about what i have to say or even interested.

and then i respect obvious boundaries. i never mention info i don’t think i should know (though i do draw conclusions about his personality from secondary info which might be an indirect way of saying i know too much), i never talk to anyone else but him (his friends or family), i never mention his appearance if i feel it’s unwarranted. in fact, in all my dms, never once did i mention anything about his body and face. at all. not even physical compliments. even though he’s the hottest boy i’ve ever laid eyes on, even if he’s just pixels for me.

so in short, i’m not that much of a creep, i’m self-aware, and i’m a source of self esteem for him, which he might have judged was worth it even if i was stingy at times. i know he dreads dm requests on instagram (said so multiple times, including when posting that screenshot of my own dm), and yet he always reads mine, from what it seems. is he growing... attached? does he see me as more than a stranger? or am i interpreting his tweets about dms incorrectly? that is, he might open some of them (those that are not only “hi”), but never answer. which is on par with how he acts on social media as a whole. just ignoring everyone, doing his own thing. i love this about him.

his whole attitude towards me is very interesting to me. i wonder the why of his actions. caring so much about some of my opinions, then updating his bio on my request. why? what am i to him? what does that say about him?

(i’m bouncing again. this time it’s not about him but about me. i don’t know where i fit. this has been happening since yesterday once i knew he reads my dms. i’m not focusing on him so the splitting has stopped for a while. it’s about me now)

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neriad13 · 5 years

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The Dororo manga is something that has been very dear to me for a long time. The entire time I was watching the anime, I was mentally weighing it against the manga, trying to decide on which one I thought was better. For the most part, it was a pretty even competition...but then an inciting event happened which significantly tipped me in favor of one over the other. But first, a comparison!

Plot Arcs

- Bandai: There’s a bit more intrigue in the manga, but on the whole, I think it’s about even here. Bandai’s monster form is freaking beautiful in both of them.

- The Cursed Sword: The anime wins, by a nose. The mood, the tension, the symbolism, the much more obvious love of Tanosuke for his sister - I think this is one of the best put together episodes in the series.

However, what it was missing from the manga was Dororo’s anger at the world in general and the reason that he wanted a sword so bad. Anime Dororo picks it up by accident, isn’t following Hyakki around to steal one of his swords to begin with and isn’t a person who gets terribly angry. It’s more of a matter of differently written characters.

Would I have liked to see Anime Dororo get angry though? ...maybe. But that wasn’t what the episode was about.

- Mio: Point goes to the anime. I love how Mio’s story is expanded and how much more personality she’s given. Hyakki’s rampage is my favorite bit of animation in the entire show.

It’s also interesting how the placement of Mio’s arc affects what Hyakki’s character is like too. In the manga, by the time he’s telling the story as a flashback, he’s world-weary and his heart has turned to ice. In the anime, his heartbreak is fresh.

- Dororo’s Backstory: Point to the manga by a wide margin. Dororo’s parents are much less complex and interesting in the anime and the whole episode felt a bit rushed. Of course, that’s a lot of backstory to fit in one episode though.

- Banmon: Hmmmmm. This arc serves a much different thematic purpose in the anime, though it (somewhat) follows the events of the manga.

On one hand, the sequence in which Tahoumaru dies is one of my favorite in comics, period. It feels so dreamlike and disconnected from reality and in a manga which doesn’t shy away from showing fountains of blood, it’s shocking in that it doesn’t show a drop.

On the other hand, OH MY GOD Nui’s near-suicide was heartbreaking, the fact that they gave a backstory for Tahoumaru’s eye was phenomenal and I was utterly shocked and elated that Sukeroku actually found his family.

It’s a draw.

- Fair Fudo - The anime. The fact that I’m having a hard time remembering how it went down in the manga says it all. Also having Dororo be the one to rescue Hyakkimaru this time was an excellent decision.

- Sabame: Oh my god, the manga. Bad. Bad anime.

- Shiranui: Gonna go with the manga here. I am forever salty that the anime left out the “I’m a boy” line.

However, the anime also gets half a point for ACTUALLY PUTTING TREASURE IN THE TREASURE HOARD and not rendering that entire storyline pointless. -.-

- Nue: There’s not really a point of comparison here. It’s the same monster transplanted in a totally different storyline. But, with that said...

Do I give a single shit about Manga Nue?

Nope.

Do I give a shit about Anime Nue?

Yes.

- Midoro: Hmm. Another toss-up.

I found Midoro’s death in the manga much more affecting. The image of a dying horse, riddled with arrows, spending her last moments wandering among the fallen - that says something more about the grimness of war and the innocents caught in the middle of it than turning her into a horse bomb ever could.

However...I was so freaking THRILLED that Hyakkimaru got to ride her in the anime. My desktop’s background still contains a screenshot from the episode 22 preview of him doing that. Their stories are not so different and in this adaptation, it felt so eerily natural for them to end up together. Their partnership was utterly horrifying and glorious to watch.

Characters

- Hyakkimaru: There’s a lot to unpack here. The differences between characterizations are like night and day. So, I’ll start by taking you on a journey.

I loved Manga Hyakki’s snark. I loved his aloofness, his sarcasm, his arsenal of ridiculous weapons, his terror at the thought of having a mother who abandoned him, his rage at the thought of other children being abandoned, the way he hated the fox for telling him who Tahoumaru was more than he hated himself for killing him.

Watching the first few episodes of the anime was kind of difficult for me. It felt like the snark had been surgically removed and thus, was not there to lighten up the intense drama of the rest of the story.

But, as time went on and I got to see more of who Anime Hyakki was, he grew on me like nothing else. The stark contrast between his gentleness and his seething hatred of all beings who would take advantage of another, human or demonic. His insistent desire to be heard, to be listened to, even if he has to scream to get the point across. His unshakable resolve in the face of an entire world against him. The fact that his disability is something that actually limits him - that he can’t read minds or use telepathy and that learning to speak is something that takes the entire runtime of the show to accomplish - that is compelling. And so amazingly refreshing.

This one’s a draw.

- Dororo: The World’s Greatest Thief really doesn’t do a whole lot of thieving in this anime (once. literally once. offscreen. unless you count the attempted theft of Hyakki’s reforged swords). But then again, Dororo is also a way different character in this adaptation.

In the manga, he’s much more of a little snot. He’s furious with the world and constantly looking for ways to get back at it. He travels with Hyakki because he wants to steal from him. He’s not welcome in some villages because he’s such an awful kleptomaniac of a child. I do not have trouble believing that this Dororo has a demon in him that Hyakki has to kill if he wants his arm back.

Anime Dororo...is the complete opposite of that. He’s the kindest, most loving character in the entire show. He looks at a horrible world and doesn’t shake his fist at the sky - he tries his damnedest to make it better.

Both characterizations have their high points and their low ones. Manga Dororo is an entertaining little monster. Anime Dororo is an angel and the prevailing voice of reason. I think it would have been pretty interesting to end up with a character somewhere in between those two extremes, but, alas.

Manga Dororo’s arc is about taking responsibility and figuring out how to be someone better.

Anime Dororo’s arc is about raising someone else up to be better.

Also calling this one a draw.

- Tahoumaru: THE ANIME, by a mile. Or more. Way more! It’s not even a question. His depth and complexity, his compassion and anger, his deep love for his land, his people and his friends - HOT DAMN IS THIS A WELL WRITTEN CHARACTER. Manga Tahoumaru looks like a missed opportunity compared to him.

- Jukai: I wasn’t terribly fond of Anime Jukai at first. My first thought upon seeing the Jukai-centered episode was “Jukai’s an asshole =(”

Like, Jesus Christ, please give him a leg. He limped so far looking for you.

But, over time, I came to understand him better. He is a character in stasis, one who has “given up all power”, responsibility and desire. If he does nothing, if he devotes his life to pointless pursuits for those who can no longer benefit from them, then he can hurt no one.

Anime Jukai is one of my favorite characters now. The kind, fatherly figure of the manga who was delighted to know that Hyakki loves him has his place, but the point goes to the anime here.

- Nui no Kata: ANIME. Another character whose role was fantastically expanded, to great affect. Her story feels like the chapter that was left out of the manga.

- Saburota: Anime Saburota is Saburota in name only. Can’t really compare here.

- Daigo: To be honest, I don’t find either version of Daigo to be particularly compelling. He’s more important as a plot device than as a person. It’s a draw...unless Daigo’s ending from the stage play makes it to the anime, at which point Anime Daigo would win.

Stage Play Daigo gave me chills, man.

- Biwamaru: Our resident cryptic shit and spirit guide might be the only character who made the transition unchanged. He’s exactly like his manga self personality-wise and is the only character whose design was not significantly changed.

- Shiranui: I really like that anime Shiranui actually fed his arm to the sharks! It’s like he took Manga Shiranui’s desire to be eaten by them and actually acted on it. Anime wins.

- Itachi: Manga all the way. His sole redeeming features were that he felt badly for stripping Dororo and how he subsequently chose to respect his gender identity. Lacking those features...he’s a much less sympathetic and interesting character. He also went down screaming battle cries at the samurai who were attacking him and defending Dororo.

Overarching Themes

- Manga: I believe that the overarching theme of the manga is that of otherness and how the world reacts to it. The hardest hitting scenes for me are the ones in which Hyakki and Dororo are thrown out of a village they saved by villagers unable to understand that they’re just as human as them. Hyakkimaru doesn’t struggle to regain his body because it’d be better than a prosthetic one (acid gun leg! c’mon! the heck would you need a flesh one for?? if it gets shot you can just build another) - he does it because he wants to be seen as human, however long he has to fight to do it.

- Anime: Individual vs. collective responsibility. Anime Hyakki actually suffered long term harm because of the demon deal. His prostheses and abilities have considerably more limits. He wants to regain his body because he wants to live and experience all the things he’s been missing. But...in this case there’s a cost. The fact that his actions directly cause calamities in Daigo - that’s a fantastic choice that makes the story bigger than just one person fighting to be human. As much as I love the manga and its themes, I think the anime’s central conflict is slightly more compelling.

The Tipping Point

It was this scene specifically.

The desperation, the futility, the love so strong it destroys - these aren’t things that happen in the manga.

Manga Hyakki is constantly trying to get rid of Dororo, belittling him, forcibly reading his mind and fighting over something stupid more often than not. He cares about him, in his way, but would his heart crack in two if Dororo died and there was no way he could have prevented it? Probably. For a bit, anyway. Then it would harden again and he’d go back to doing what he was doing without Dororo.

Their bond in the anime is something else. It is the beating heart of the entire story. It’s the reason why Hyakki is so desperate to get his final pieces back. He wants to be able to save Dororo with hands that can lift a rock. He wants to see the fall colors with him.

Episode 20 was the one that pushed me over the edge into finding the anime superior to the manga...which is an amazing accomplishment, considering how dear the manga has been to me for so long.

I cannot believe how excited I am for the final episode.

#dororo #dororo 2019 #hyakkimaru #jukai #tahoumaru #daigo #personal essay #a thought

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