My favorite quote from Uenoyama (Given manga), and my favorite quote ever (also followed by an analysis/rant that no one will ever read). ⭐️ Near the very end theres another quote from uenoyama that has the same ideas as the one below here

“Hearts are like guitar strings. They won’t play sound if they’re too loose. You have to wind them up until they’re about to break, and that’s when they become a wave the hit your eardrums."

As a musician, this hit HARD. To me I see it as how confidence or passion or love is. Your heart won’t have courage/passion/love unlesss you have the will for it to. The winding is the will to let these things happen, you forcing these things to happen so you can feel them.

Loose strings could be a metaphor for holding back, as when tuning a guitar, it holds back from the sound. It could also represent the fear of not holding back, as when you wind up strings really tight, they can break.

Breaking strings on a guitar hurts, especially if your quite close to them and the catch on to you (unfortunately I know this from experience). Knowing they Uenoyama plays electric guitar, this only makes the pain of that worse, and makes this a stronger point (again, experience, -1000/10 would not recommend, really hurts). Breaking your heart/having it broken hurts, and the strings getting caught only make it worse as the scrape and puncture you and make you feel more hurt. This goes into the loose strings, if you play it safe you won’t get hurt, but the sound won’t be the same. The feeling won’t be the same. The emotion won’t be the same.

When a guitar string feels like it’s about to break, you unwind it, or distance from it if it’s too late to unwind as you’re scared you will get hurt. This is especially true if you’ve been through the pain of a broken string before. When your heart is about to reach its breaking point, people often unwind the progress of how it got there, or they distance themselves from their heart to try and keep it from reaching that point.

To me, this quote can also demonstrate the line between intense emotion and a crash from them, as it says ‘wind them up until they’re about to break’. It shows that when you push yourself too much you will break, so you have to be aware of where before the break will be so you can stop yourself from doing too much.

The wave hitting your eardrums can be a metaphor for the feeling of being whole as you didn’t hold back and didn’t over do it. The perfect amount of risk and holding back is what creates the wave, creates a feeling that makes you feel whole and fulfilled.

“I think the heart is similar to these strings. When the pain is too much to bear and you can’t breathe, it hurts, like the strings laid across your chest are about to snap. It’s just like when you keep strumming and picking at the strings at their very limit, and sometimes they snap. Sometimes you feel like they can’t ever be replaced. But if there were someone to replace your strings for you, like this… I feel like your wounds may heal just a little.”

This quote is also from Uenoyama, and compares the strings to intense emotion, love, heartbreak, grief.

I found that It goes with the other quote and my explanation of the first one in general, so I added it.

Sorry about the lengthiness, I just wanted to let at least someone take away a deeper meaning from these quotes, and to rant because I love these quotes so much.

Thank you for reading! <3

I Don't Get It

Ok, so I read a thread on X about what's happening in the next chapter of Given 10th Mix. I was excited to know that there was some akiharu moments there, but then afterwards I got disappointed and confused at how Akihiko is treating Haruki.

Honestly, I'm pissed.

So, they're like, supposed to be so called married, because Akihiko is showing off his ring, but then Haruki isn't wearing one because Akihiko doesn't let him? And his reason was so that Haruki doesn't look like a lonely married woman? It looks more like the only one married or engaged here is Akihiko (to whom tho? I don't know, because nobody else is wearing a ring) and Haruki is not. Who even think that when you see a person wearing a ring while having a coffee in a cafe all alone that you'll think "oh look, that person is a lonely married woman!" Who the hell think that way?? You cannot tell if a person is married and lonely just by looking at the ring and noticing zero companion he/she has!? And seriously, you do not jump to such conclusion right away after seeing a person wearing a ring and alone to be someone who is married and lonely! On the contrary, Haruki not wearing a ring is just telling everyone that he's single and can be approached by anyone! This is mind boggling to me! Would you want your partner to be the only one wearing a ring and you're not wearing one? Would you like that? I don't understand Akihiko's logic. I don't understand Kizu sensei's logic! Is Akihiko taking his relationship with Haruki seriously? Is Kizu sensei taking Akihiko and Haruki's relationship seriously? What kind of a partner is Kizu sensei trying to make out of Akihiko for Haruki? The Akihiko who freaked out from not having a clear relationship with Murata Ugetsu is now not wanting Haruki-his partner-for-real, to wear a ring while he does? So, that's like back then he wanted a relationship with Murata Ugetsu but the other person didn't want it. And now he wanted a relationship with Haruki and already got it, but then not wanting Haruki to let other people know that he is in a relationship with him? History seems to be repeating here, in a way. What the hell? This is confusing af. What the hell is going on in Akihiko's mind?

I'm taking this as "Akihiko not knowing how to be in a relationship with someone", given that he never had serious relationships with anyone in the past before, and that Haruki is the first person he's seriously romantically involved with. But 10 years have supposedly passed, and shouldn't he be going through some character development already? Unless Haruki as the person who's been in a real relationship before, allow all this to happen. After 10 years being with Akihiko and still not understanding him seems like he's okay with being confused all the time. Haruki seems to be tolerating his lover too much. Is Haruki taking his relationship with Akihiko seriously?

I even couldn't use the word married for their relationship because it doesn't feel and look that way. They're not living together when they're in the same town and only one of them is wearing a ring. So, to me Akihiko and Haruki aren't married, they're still just lovers. Kudos to Ritsuka and Mafuyu for looking more like a married couple from living together all this time.

Well, since Haruki is not wearing a ring then he's open to be snatched away by anyone anytime now lol.

===

April 1, 2024

What are your thoughts about the pacing of the series, because I personally think that everything has been rushed to absolute hell.

The only real timeskip we get is the 10-11 months at the very beginning when Izuku is working on improving his physical condition to receive OFA.

After that, it's like all of the major events are spaced at like days or weeks apart, and I just don't like it. You're telling me all of these major events happened in their FIRST YEAR at UA alone? Yeah, I'm not buying it at all.

I really don't get it either, to be honest.

The beginning was a little weird to me, considering we're going from middle to high school very quickly with very little in between the time skips to get us settled in. And once Izuku gets into Yuuei, it's just one plot point after the next, after the next, after the next - it's exhausting to read through. I have to admit, I'm a manga reader through and through, and I'll defend reading the original all day every day, but sometimes I wish we had more filler or at least more chill arcs in between whatever the next calamity is going to be.

I continue to refuse to believe that ALL OF THIS happened within the first year at Yuuei. Besides being the single worst year in the school's history for staff and students alike, there's just too much at play here that needs to go down. They should've broken it down into the cast's entire three years at Yuuei to make it more believable. Give AFO more time to get Shigaraki ready, give Shigaraki more time to perfect his control and his techniques, give the League more time to become a more feared villain group - and give the kids more time to BREATHE. They're literally kids, they shouldn't have to deal with all of this in their first year alone. Can you imagine how AWESOME it would be if we had to see third-year Izuku going toe-to-toe with Shigaraki? How awesome it would be if we got to see them all matured, having trained themselves up, and going all out in a civil war against the villains' side. But we won't get that, because - and this is my opinion - everyone is too impatient to get the ball rolling. I don't think Horikoshi and the team want to wait until 1-A's third year for a climactic battle of ideals. And that's honestly kind of disappointing.

It's too much even for the audience. Many times in the manga I had to stop reading for a while because I needed time to process what the hell just happened before diving into the next problem at hand.

I don't know. You've got a good point in that the pacing is off, even for a shonen manga. I know it's taboo to even suggest, but I really do wish there was more manga filler to at the very least give readers time to process each arc. I know that's probably what the manga breaks are for, but I jumped into the manga after MHA started airing as an anime. It's too much.

Naruto rant leggo

Okay. Neji, right? Neji fucking Hyuga.

I always loved him. I don't even know why, I just always felt weirdly connected to him. 12 year old me just looked at him and said "he is my little meow meow." And I still love him.

But god I just realized the depth of how tragic his situation is.

Imagine this; your dad is an identical twin. Your dad/your side of the family isn't as valued as the main one. And your dad volunteers his life to protect your clan. And following the day you lost your dad, every single day, you see someone walking around who looks just like him, but you know it isn't him.

Imagine it. How many times must Neji have accidentally called him 'Father' when he was younger just because for a moment, just a moment, he wanted to pretend that his father was still around? How many times must Neji think he's seeing a ghost when he looks at Hiashi, wondering if his father would have looked any different from Hiashi now if he hadn't had to die? How many times must he have reached for hands that he knows will never reach back?

Just. Imagine how heartbreaking that must have been. It absolutely doesn't excuse how he treated Hinata during the Chunin exams, and it definitely doesn't justify his resentment towards her. But god. This poor kid had to grow up not even being given the opportunity to decide his own destiny—he's mired into a box imposed by his clan, his father is essentially the sacrificial lamb.

I feel like the tragedy of Naruto is how much everyone loses all the time. Everyone has lost someone in horrific ways in Naruto—but it seems like no one in the show/manga can see that. Maybe it's just so normalized that there isn't really any semblance of 'this should not happen!' Or 'this should not be normal!'

Obviously, it could be worse for Neji; he could be like Sasuke, or Naruto, or any of the other orphans who don't have anyone. But god it's so sad to think that every day he has to see someone who has always treated him differently because he's a side branch of the Hyuga, someone who his father died for, and he reminded that his father is not here anymore. I feel like it's even worse because Hiashi looks just like Neji's father! It's that uncanny valley effect—like seeing a ghost but knowing it isn't that person who died!

Alright, okay, rant over.

find it interesting that tengen gave orders that yaga, geto, gojo, etc need to follow rikos demands in a way that in the moment seems kind, while still ultimately leading up to their assimilation + removal of agency

hate ever since I finished giant robo yesterday my train of thought hasn’t been a critical analysis of what I consumed despite acknowledging both the show’s strengths and weaknesses and instead going back to my Imagawa Armageddon drama conspiracy board and going “okay no way in fuck he didn’t have Kei as Genki planned after the fucking family drama plot line in giant robo being similar to what we got in arma and it’s likely that the team got away with this idea after he left because they might’ve been in production for ep 4 but had to rewrite it and the show after onwards to fit the new direction”

or in simpler terms my brain activates “how do I make this about getter robo”

i have this real wild and wacky idea: stop hating sakura so much

That moment when you’re writing something quite positive as a totally informal manga reaction, skipping over one single small visual detail because it was both so insignificant you didn’t even notice it at first, and it would also contextually be so heavily overshadowed by something far more important everywhere around it, only to log on somewhere one fateful day and see that it is precisely said detail which has become gospel, despite the fact that it makes rather little sense in canon.

Ah well, I say as if I were to let it go, knowing very well the tags will be another literary work again.

It's fucking wild to see someone defend Mei Mei and demand people to blame Gege instead for her pedophilia and grooming.

WTF?

If you love a dark character, then accept everything that they are in the story. Mei Mei is one. She is a side character that is dark despite being on the heroes' side of the fight.

I appreciate what Gege had done to her character. I like it because thru her we see how rotten the modern jujutsu society is - that the heroes' side is not exactly great especially with the likes of Gojo and Nanami being gone.

A lot of people already pointed out that Mei is used as a foil for Nanami. I agree. She is everything he is not: - Nanami left stock trading. Mei is doing insider trading. - Nanami fights for the greater good. Mei is only in it for the paycheck. - Nanami protects children. Mei exploits children. - Nanami continues to fight even if he is half-dead. Mei retreats even if she is still perfectly fine. - Nanami has morals. Mei is immoral.

But why did someone good (Nanami) die a horrible death while someone bad (Mei Mei) got rewarded (practically highlighted with her escaping to Malaysia -which was Nanami's dream retirement place)? It's to highlight how broken and bleak jujutsu society is - bad people benefit but good people suffer. It also shows how the only difference between the sorcerers (sans our "heroes") and the curse users are just rule compliance and pay checks.

Speaking of which:

What Mei Mei is doing to Ui Ui is exactly like what that Granny Seance did to her Tojified Grandson. Both women are grooming boys younger than they into perfect tools to complement their CTs. They don't see them as brother or grandson respectively. Those words are mere "titles". It's like how you would call an giant axe "Axe" and straw dolls "Dolls."

Mei is the perfect example of what a peak sorcerer is in modern jujutsu society - strong and smart but selfish, self-absorbed, exploitative, and immoral.

I like Mei for what she delivers in the story: 1) A very dark character that represents the rotten core of the jujutsu society. 2) A complex female character - she is on your side but she is definitely not an ally you'd want. However, you need all the help you can get so you are forced to accept her but deep down you want her to get some comeuppance for all she's been doing. 3) Despite her... Mei-ness, she still has a really cool character design and powers as well as really badass scenes. 4) An excellent foil to Nanami (and maybe even Gojo if I stretch it a bit). 5) A great reminder that with the exception of the sorcerers within Gojo's close circle (Tokyo Tech staff/alumni + Utahime & her students), sorcerers are absolute scumbags. Mei's principle is pretty similar to Sukuna's! They're all about: Me, Myself, and I living it up and having fun at everyone's expense.

6) She is the closest I could get to a "villainess" in JJK. The villains in JJK is male-dominated with 2 gender-neutrals (Hanami + Uraume). Geto's family has very little screen time for me to get something out of them (Lady Secretary, Nanako & Mimiko). Yeah it's shonen but still... Gege is starving me with good villainesses 😭.

So TLDR: Mei Mei is not defensible but feel free to like/love her anyway. Being a fan of villains or dark characters is not a representation of a person's morals after all. Do not blame Gege for using her as a narrative tool to remind people again ( because we have to admit that we always kinda forget): the world of JJK is unfair and it really fucking sucks being a nice person there. Not that Gege is a perfect writer at all. There are plenty of other stuff to be angry about in his work like the pacing for example or the underutilization of interesting side characters or the story being so "scattered" into various mediums.

imagine being one of denji’s classmates. you’re like “bro my first girlfriend was wild” and he hits you with “haha yeah my first girlfriend was one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. i ate her remains. i adopted her reincarnation. wild stuff man”

when i was thinking abt the lea.isa<-->cri.menos outfit swap thing for like a week straight before actually doodling it out i had like a six hour span of time where kaldena and xemnas were just like sitting next to each other in my brain . like there is a thread here i fucking know it. and the thread is being gray haired antagonists w a fickle or otherwise differing relationship to their universes god/gods who i feel have some mishandlings in the culmination of their "arcs" but otherwise will keep me awake thinking abt them for days straight. same shit different square enix game.

Blue Lock: Not Even Once

What did you like most about Given?

honestly, mafuyu and ue's relationship!! (also all of mafuyus relationships are gold) you could point out a lot of flaws but its what makes it so much better because its so humane. they are seventeen and mafuyu is a traumatized kid (btw i feel like he is autistic or at least neurodivergent?? normally people are quick to jump on this stuff but i've never seen anybody talk about it?) and ue is ue and they just miscommunicate so badly sometimes but they are just freaking hs kids and when it comes to that they understand and support and motivate each other so well and this is connected to their music and i just--

i also love how the story is mostly told in everyday conversations between the characters.

oh oh and i loved ugetsu in the last chapters he made me tear up at 5 am.

thank you for asking, anon! 🥺💕

I sucked at remembering everything and it comes to bite me in the ass everytime I try to read a new book especially if it's a novel. I will legit say everything and every characteristics and chapter they were in rather than their name.

I still can't believe yall sat in my face and tried to explain why it's actually fine that the sex worker isekai light novel/manga adaptation's protagonist is a high school girl with past sexual trauma because something something girl power.

Drop dead.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaha ok i gave tokrev s2 one chance and i am at my limit