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sohcah--toa · 2 months

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three assassins/grasshopper 2015 things that needed a place to stay

OK so basically... hello Three Assassins/Grasshopper 2015 fandom!!

I am VERY VERY late to everything about this book!! I first picked it up in 2023 during the summer, fell in love and have reread it 5 times now. (also convinced 10 of my friends to read it. one of them did. love her forever. And politely asked my mother to watch it with me, which she said yes to but now never wants my movie recommendations again. You win some you lose some.... at least she liked Asagao!!!)

And if you're randomly strolling upon this post with no idea what this is, PLEASE read it or watch the movie, it is SO good if you don't mind vulgar language and sensitive/gory content.

Other than the book, a movie's been made about it (called Grasshopper グラスホッパー - made in 2015. Grasshopper was the original name for the book but for some reason it got translated into Three Assassins in English though lol!! Both are great :DDDD) and it's practically as good as the original by Mr Kotaro Isaka.

Here are some really brainrotty-strange things that just needed a place to stay regarding both versions of the story... (SPOILERS)

-> Firstly, Cicada has completely different motives (not motives for his job but like... ya know if ya know) in the movie. In Grasshopper, he has this ringing in his ears that he wants to stop, whereas in the book, he's TERRIFIED of being controlled by another person (namely Iwanishi cough cough), especially after watching the film called Oppression by Gabriel Caseau or something among the lines of that.

-- The movie doesn't actually exist hahaha I was so disappointed. Or maybe it does and I just didn't dig deep enough...? Please tell me!!

Ahem anyway...

Cicada is such an interesting character. I think he's 100% Kotaro Isaka's favourite just because he got his own manga series.

YEAH YOU HEARD ME RIGHT CICADA HAS A MANGA SERIES!!

-> It's titled "Waltz" and it's written by both Kotaro Isaka and Megumi Osuga in Maoh: Juvenile Remix. (AKA 魔王 ~JUVENILE REMIX~) It acts as a continuation of Three Assassins, I suppose. It is AMAZING the art is beautiful!!

(I literally could not find the full thing I'm sorry but there's a Reddit thread reviewing the series and it links to the website if you want to read Waltz!! the whole thing revolved around Cicada.)

Also yess he gets a "backstory" here!! We also get full reason to why Grasshopper is titled Grasshopper other than Asagao/the Pusher and Suzuki's interesting musings ;))

-> Did you know that the book the Whale/Kujira was reading is called "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky? (or Преступление и наказание, Фёдор Достоевский)

You probably knew... hahahahaa

But if you didn't, there's a little secret!! It's a wonderful story as well, quite dark although, like, if you're reading Three Assassins...

-> Onto the amazingly written characters and their kind of messed up philosophies:

-- ASAGAO (朝顔) /THE PUSHER:

He believes that humans are like grasshoppers, and they enter a swarming stage when crowded. However, unlike locusts, they can't fly away so they just get more and more aggressive..?? Very interesting, so so so cool!! I love these random things Kotaro Isaka drops in the story. Like, WOAhHH give me a second!?!?

But also somehow, the Pusher is some that seems kind. I don't know, I'd hate to be that person but when he was interacting with the family, I just kept thinking "this could actually be a wholesome family dynamic if only he wasn't the Pusher and Sumire and the kids weren't his employers..." (He has a sense of humour too, isn't that great?? He gives off massive dad energy sometimes and I could have genuinely believed that he was the dad of Kojiro and Kentaro, especially when

-- CICADA (AKA SEMI 蝉)

His thoughts are represented in an uncanny way, because he genuinely is completely unempathetic to humans. You could argue that all the other assassins are the same but like, come on!! Isaka definitely definitely upped it up a notch with Cicada...

He straight up says that "well if we could see humans breathe then it would be harder to hurt them" and compares his job to "you know, it's like when you stop too late at a red light and your car kind blocks the road and you're feeling guilty but it's not that big of a deal". (these are not the actual quotations for OBVIOUS reasons but same energy)

It's hilarious that he likes cats and dogs as well. Everything this guy says is kinda quotable (everything the Pusher says is too, that man is practically a philosopher)

Oh yeah!! And I've got to mention the movie!!

In the movie, Cicada is absolutely unhinged as well but the ending is something else completely!! He gets beat up by the Whale (and the Whale gets beat up by him too) when he goes to Fräulein's headquarters while Iwanishi (more like his ghost) just stands there. Then Cicada cuts his ear off but we don't talk about that.

That turn of event was totally unexpected... I thought the cedar grove ending was cool in the book and extremely ominous but this worked so well too, I loved the Whale and Cicada's dynamic at the end of it where they just drive off together ahaahahah!!

-- SUZUKI (鈴木)

He's just a guy. I may as well be Suzuki in another universe because he is sounds really pathetic in the book sometimes.... don't get me wrong I love him it's just very funny how he fails to do so many things and overthinks everything... I guess it's like, a "THIS COULD BE YOU" moment but not really because he definitely has his own character.

(but also we should respect his dedication for his wife.. this man was willing to GIVE IT ALL UP for her and honestly it's so impressive!!)

OH YEAH AND HE BECAME A CLOWN IN THE MOVIE HAHAHAHA RESPECT!! After all he's been through that's a pretty solid career choice. He's totally precious in the movie though, the scenes with his wife and him are so sweet...

-- THE WHALE (AKA KUJIRA 鲸)

Oooh alright, now this was difficult to place a finger on. The Whale has a really nonchalant attitude to things sometimes and his whole demeanour is just "wahaaaha?!?" because he was so unpredictable. Like, I would not have guessed that he once worked as a newspaper delivery bow and shot his employer.

(oooyayaa but I need to say that the movie kinda changed his backstory and the first person he killed was his father)

OK I MEAN that was a massive connection to the film "Oppression" that Cicada is obsessed with (not in a good way) that Kotaro Isaka just DROPPED on us all of a sudden.

So what does that mean??

He just gives off this feeling that everything is connected. Cicada mentions this a few times as well, since Iwanishi starts quoting some talking scarecrow from a book (what is the book though??!?!). I guess the fact that he compares humans/technology to insects too shows that all the assassins have similar thoughts, which are all properly explained by the Pusher or something... that's merely an interpretation though!! A rather scuffed one at that....

-- HIYOKO

She's not the most important character ever but she's the textbook definition of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. She's so manipulative throughout the entire story and keeps threatening Suzuki with awful stuff... well, she's good at her job, that's that...

On the other hand, it's so interesting how her white skin is emphasised in the book. It's first "porcelain white" (By Suzuki), after it's just "pale white" (by the Whale), then "white like a mannequin" (by Cicada) and finally "her skin seems to have gone past white into a shade of green" (by the Whale when we last actually see her character).

BUT THEN THE MOVIE IS A WHOLE OTHER STORY!!

She is so ghghghgh :"DDD They made her so much more brutal, like she pulls out a weapon at absolutely everything and the scene where her shirt gets splattered with blood- WHAT. That's wild. (

Also her actor is so so so pretty!!)

(look at Suzuki in this picture hahahaha nooo save him)

-- OTHER CHARACTERS

Momo: she has such nice energy in the book and her friendship with Cicada is honestly wholesome sometimes even though they are what they are!! She seems really mysterious honestly and if she ever had a solo spinoff, I would totally read that!! Under appreciated character..

(also her reference to the Bashō poem was hilaRiOus!??)

Suzuki's wife: I don't know why but she's so much less chaotic in the movie, which is hilarious to see because in the book, she's kinda portrayed as someone who has extremely strong beliefs and is quite stubborn. She's still so sweet though!! In Three Assassins (book), she and Suzuki met at a hotel "all you can eat" when she started piling food up on her plate and said "oh I'm on a 1 on 1 battle with myself". This was followed by a really cute ending scene where Suzuki booked a hotel for himself after all the events transpired and basically just did the same thing. But Grasshopper (movie), they replaced everything there and made her bake a cake(?) and Suzuki ate the time capsule at the end. Aahahhh so sweet!!

Kentaro/Kojiro/Sumire: Felt so bad for the little guys, and was so surprised when Kojiro was the one who Suzuki's wife tried to save in the movie. I guess that's what made it so well rounded, because Suzuki ended up getting closure. Kentaro was so adorable too, like grr that football scene!?!? Yeah they had to keep it, even in the movie. It was too wholesome.

Sumire, on the other hand, was a little... CREEPY. Her actor was so so good, what the math!! And in the book, she has schoolgirl energy but this really sinister side to her as well. (I mean she enjoyed seeing Suzuki panic and stuff so why wouldn't she hahaaa)

This was so much longer than I expected I'm sorry... but thank you very much if you read this war!! That's kinda crazy woaah :"DD oK these are just intrusive thoughts that needed a place to stay. I hope this post reaches some other insane people so they can tell me what they think about everything!!!!! <333

#grasshopper (2015)#three assassins #kotaro isaka #bullet train #cicada #idk what to tell you man this book is just that good #brainrot is brainrotting #anyways #shitpost #literary analysis but we kinda stray off topic and it just becomes fangirling over amazing writing #inanimate insanity #morally grey characters #you know when you fall in love with a piece of media that barely has a fandom? yes this #headcanon #long rant

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11queensupreme11 · 2 years

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Okay I have a feeling some of the dudes in the harem would be straight up sexist and would prefer having sons over daughters. Which of the yanderes would be like that and how differently would they treat their sons compared to their daughters??

First off, here's the other HCs I've done related to this ask: “who would want kids” and “best to worst dads”

You’re absolutely right, anon. Most of them will be sexist but it’d range from mild to very fucking obvious.

Gojo: would actually prefer to have daughters over sons because he’ll genuinely feel jealous of them if Mizuhime were to pay attention to them more 💀 He’ll dote on his daughters relentlessly and while he’ll do the same with his sons (but more lowkey), he’ll still see them as a possible threat.

Sukuna: he wants heirs, but he would prefer sons more tbh. Ancient Japan always preferred sons over daughters and that stuck with him. He won’t be cruel to his daughters ofc, but he’ll see them as weaker. More focus will be put on pushing his sons to be stronger, but if his daughters end up being strong too, he’ll be like “oh nice :D”. Obviously, he won’t acknowledge that they got that powerful on their own, he’ll say some BS about “they’re this powerful because of my superior genes DUH” 🙄

Kashimo: same as Sukuna. Would prefer to have sons and honestly wouldn’t know what to do with a daughter. He’ll train his sons viciously, but wouldn’t train his daughters at all unless they ask. And even if they did, he would be very hesitant and take it easier on them. Outside of training, he’s more nicer and overprotective over his girls while putting very high expectations on his sons.

Yuji: the most normal dad ever. He’s a modern dude with modern values so you won’t ever see him treating his kids differently because of their gender. He has no preference over having a son of daughter either, he just wants them to be happy and healthy 💖 or... as healthy as they can be while being raised by two yanderes (yuji and megumi) and their victim (mizuhime)....

Megumi: no preference either! But he does end up treating his children differently because of their gender. He’s a tad bit more overprotective and controlling over his daughters while his sons have more freedom, but more expectations.

Choso: ooooh god, this precious man. Because he’s always been surrounded by boys (he’s got like nine brothers or something), he actually expected that he would have sons. A daughter would be a genuine surprise, but he would be sooooo overprotective over them. He’d be so sweet too and spoil his daughters more. As for his sons, he encourages them to treat their sister(s) delicately and be the best brothers ever 🥺

Yuta: he would want a girl so bad and he’d want them to be the perfect mix of him and Hime (as proof of their “love”). There’s a huge difference between how he treats his kids too based on their gender. He’s a lot more controlling and protective over his daughters; he’d spoil them, but he’d never let them out of the house. He would never train them either so they’d be very weak. Whereas with his sons, he’d train them AND give them more freedom 😔

#👸🏻| asks #👸🏻| tsunami

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commentaryvorg · 2 years

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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 40 - The Strongest Group of Knights! The Royal Knights Assemble!

In this episode, the team seeks out Yggdrasil, guided by a reborn Gotsumon who doesn’t remember them. They encounter the Royal Knights and struggle to fight them, but Masaru’s biggest shock is in store when he comes face-to-face with Yggdrasil.

So now that we’ve got through the mostly lacklustre half-clip-show introductory episode for it, it’s time to really properly get into my other favourite arc of this series! I am excite.

The recap’s fairly short – not that it even had that much from last episode to recap. Apparently they didn’t even want to remind us that we spent half of last episode watching a clip show, because Yggdrasil isn’t mentioned.

We continue pretty much exactly where the previous episode left off, with the group at the summit of Mount Fuji having just decided to head to the Digital World. Masaru’s DATS earpiece, which apparently he’d kept in his pocket this entire time (or maybe he picked up a spare one from the hideout?) beeps with an incoming call. It’s Chika and Sayuri, still in the hideout, with Miki and Megumi having helped them get in contact with Masaru. Masaru implicitly fills them in on what he and the others are about to head off and do.

Chika: “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Aww, Chika. Someone’s always got to try and tell Masaru not to do that, because you know he’s going to anyway.

Sayuri: “Try to make it back by dinner time. I’ll be waiting with a heaping helping of fried eggs.”

Aww, Sayuri. Still coping with her worry by cooking all of the food! It’s also quite a thing that she’s saying “by dinner time”. What even is dinner time any more when there’s no day and night because there’s no sun in the sky, and they’re living in a hideout that isn’t their normal home? But Sayuri just wants to try and make everything sound normal and familiar and safe.

Masaru glances up at ShineGreymon as he responds to this, which is amusing. Hopefully our dinosaur friend is not planning on eating any fried eggs while in that form. He’d need a hell of a lot more of them to fill his stomach that way.

Masaru: “We’ll be sure to come back home.”

I love that Masaru makes a point of saying this. He’s still aware of how Sayuri feels about him disappearing off to the Digital World, given what happened to his dad.

Masaru gives this small smile as he hangs up the call. It’s the kind of expression he only ever makes when thinking about or talking to his family, and it’s adorable.

With the goodbyes said for the only person whose family is in any position to actually do so from here, the four of them and their partners fly up towards the Digital World. Yushima is still with the Norsteins, watching the four bright streaks of light shoot upwards into the sky.

Yushima: “They’re our only hope left. We’re counting on you, Masaru.”

You’d think he’d want to mention at least Tohma as well, given he’s currently with Tohma’s family, but.

The space between the two worlds is full of huge purple storm clouds, with plenty of lightning and turbulence, just as Tohma was worried about. Yoshino is the first one to get swept off her partner by the winds – which is actually pretty surprising to me, because Rosemon and Ravemon are small enough that their humans are physically holding onto them, whereas Tohma and Masaru are literally just standing on their giant partners’ shoulders without holding anything, so they should really be the first ones to lose their balance.

Not that it matters, because it’s not long before all four of them and their Digimon partners are sent spiralling helplessly down to the Digital World.

Everyone regains consciousness sprawled on a beach, the Digimon having been reverted to Child form from the impact.

Agumon: “Aniki, I can’t eat any more.”

Agumon mumbles this as he wakes up, because even when he’s knocked out rather than asleep, he still has the best and tastiest dreams.

Tohma confirms that they are indeed in the Digital World by looking at the Earth in the sky, though it’s pretty difficult to see it through all of the huge purple storm clouds.

Yoshino takes a moment to breathe in relief that they made it, and sits herself down on a nearby rock. The rock yelps and twitches. Figuring its probably a Digimon, the group helps to dig it out of the sand, and it’s… Gotsumon. The same Gotsumon from before; his voice is identical.

Everyone is extremely put-out to see him here all of a sudden. Ikuto and Falcomon in particular are very startled. Not surprising, given the number of times he tried to kill Ikuto back then.

Gotsumon: “Well, I am Gotsumon, but is there a problem?”

Gotsumon doesn’t have a clue why they’re all staring at him like this, though!

Towards my future in the sky!

Just as I felt it

And on that sorta-bombshell, the opening! We sure did just head towards something in the sky, at least.

This second opening has a whole bit with the Royal Knights, which seems appropriate to cover in this episode where they’re properly introduced. It puts some particular focus on Craniummon, whom we’ve already met and seen is important, and also Dukemon, who’ll have a bit more of a significant role than most of the others.

Masaru: “Damn it, you were alive?!”

Back to Gotsumon, Masaru as ever is getting right to the point, physically grabbing him to interrogate him about how the hell he’s here.

Tohma points out that it’s possible Gotsumon’s completely different now. Agumon and Lalamon are Unconvinced.

Gotsumon: “It seems… It seems as if you are all angry at me, but that must be my imagination, right? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Agumon: “He’s the same.”

Lalamon: “Definitely the same.”

Agumon and Lalamon seem to be getting at the idea that his supposed pretending he’s done nothing wrong when he knows full well that he has is classic Gotsumon. That’s not actually what’s happening – but what is very much the same as the Gotsumon we knew is his simperingly polite tone (harder to get across as well in the subs, but it’s there in Japanese and very familiar, trust me). He is still basically the same person he was before.

Tohma reminds everyone that Gotsumon was reverted to a Digiegg and reborn, meaning he shouldn’t remember everyone any more. Indeed, it doesn’t seem like he does! Just like BanchouLeomon said, Digimon who are reverted to eggs are supposed to lose all their memories of their previous life. Agumon was an exception, only because of the strength of his bond with a human partner, but what’s happened to Gotsumon is the norm.

Gotsumon: “I’m so grateful that you’ve helped me! You’ve saved my life! Thank you! Thank you very much!”

Gotsumon gives this heartfelt thanks while enthusiastically shaking Falcomon and then Ikuto’s hands. The two of them are extremely awkward at suddenly being treated this way by a person who in a previous life repeatedly tried to kill them.

If you remove his memories of a lifetime of bigotry and prejudice towards humans, suddenly Gotsumon’s actually not that bad.

Gaomon: “His personality does appear to have changed…”

It’s really not so much his personality; like I’ve said, that’s pretty similar to before. It’s just his attitude towards humans that’s been completely reset.

Yoshino: “But when he acts like that, it actually makes it harder to trust him…”

I don’t blame Yoshino for feeling weird and suspicious about this, though. Even if you know intellectually that he doesn’t remember anything at all from before, seeing someone who was previously so hostile towards you acting all nice and friendly must be weird and raise all kinds of instinctive suspicions.

Masaru asks Gotsumon why he was buried in the sand, and he’s happy to explain.

Gotsumon: “I felt strangely uneasy about something this morning, so I came here to check out the scenery.”

I don’t know, Gotsumon, could it possibly have been the fact that the human world is falling from the sky? Just maybe that. Or even if you couldn’t see that, the huge purple storm clouds that are covering the entire sky are also a pretty big sign that something’s up.

(I guess maybe what he’s getting at is that he usually lives in the forest and couldn’t actually see any of that going on in the sky through the tree canopies, hence why he came here to get a better look?)

It’s as Gotsumon was at the beach that something huge fell from the sky and landed on him, burying him in the sand.

Masaru: “I see… Well, that’s harsh.”

Agumon: “It’s a good thing you weren’t injured!”

Masaru: “You’ve got that right!”

[the two of them laugh awkwardly with Gotsumon]

Either these two are being oblivious dorks, or they know full well that the large thing that landed on Gotsumon was probably ShineGreymon and are awkwardly trying to play dumb about it.

Tohma: “That large Digimon who fell out of the sky was most likely…”

Lalamon: “ShineGreymon.”

Yoshino: “Yup.”

Gaomon: “Let’s just leave the ignorant to their laughing.”

I mean, there’s about a 50/50 chance it was actually MirageGaogamon, so don’t be so quick to poke fun at Masaru there, Tohma and Gaomon. (It was in fact ShineGreymon, we see him in Gotsumon’s flashback, but these guys don’t know that for sure.)

Agumon: “Anyway, Aniki! We need to find Ykkrajil, quick!”

Yes, Agumon, Ykkrajil. He’s such a kid. What are these weird complicated words.

Ikuto and Falcomon, the Digital World natives, have heard of Yggdrasil but have no idea where to find it. Luckily, though, it just so happens that Gotsumon does, so he offers to take them to it! That’s… rather convenient that a Digimon who must have been born only fairly recently happens to know this thing that it seems most Digital World residents don’t, but you know what? I’m not complaining, because it means that we can get on with the plot immediately instead of spending several episodes aimlessly wandering around.

(Or, the writers could have had our guide to finding Yggdrasil be someone where it makes more sense that they know where it is, but I also find it neat that we get to see Gotsumon again here and have an actual example of how Digimon losing their memories when they’re reborn works.)

At Gotsumon’s offer to help, the group retreats into a huddle to confer amongst themselves.

Yoshino: “It’s a trap. It has to be!”

Gaomon: “Master, this smells dangerous.”

Tohma: “He certainly isn’t the most trustworthy guy I know.”

The most rational members of the group definitely aren’t falling over themselves to trust him. (I love how Gaomon says it “smells” dangerous, again, did you know he is Dog.)

Ikuto: “I think it’s okay to trust him.”

Masaru: “Ikuto!”

Ikuto: “Gotsumon is reborn. He doesn’t even remember me. He’s different from before.”

It’s really neat that Ikuto of all people is the first one to decide to trust him. Not only is he used to the concept of Digimon being reborn and completely forgetting their old lives, he also interacted the most with Gotsumon’s barely-suppressed bigotry and hostility towards him in his past life, and he can clearly tell that that’s not there any more. Ikuto is good. Look at him not holding a grudge, not against the new Gotsumon who doesn’t deserve to be blamed for things he doesn’t even remember doing.

Masaru: “I’ll trust him, too.”

Yoshino: “Why?”

Masaru: “C’mon, remember that old saying? ‘If you don’t go in the butt, you won’t get the tiger cub.’”

[long, awkward pause]

Yoshino: “It’s not ‘the butt’.”

Tohma: “It’s ‘the tiger’s den’.”

(The subbers’ notes explain that this is a Japanese idiom that’s the equivalent of “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. The words “butt” and “den” are only one consonant apart in Japanese, so it’s reasonable for Masaru to get them muddled up.)

I love this. It’s so Masaru for him to have misheard that idiom once when he was younger and then just ran with it and assumed that was how it really went. Maybe he was young enough to figure it made a certain kind of sense, in that baby tigers come out of the mother’s butt, right, and then never re-evaluated this when he learned where babies actually come from? It’s the exact kind of thing this dork might do.

Also, idiom mangling aside, it’s very Masaru for him to decide to trust Gotsumon simply because they won’t get anywhere if they don’t. Always gotta move forward, even if there’s a risk.

It seems like Masaru and Ikuto’s votes are enough to sway the others to agree, so the next thing we see, they’re making their way along a narrow cliffside towards wherever Yggdrasil is.

Yoshino: “Don’t you think it’d be faster if we evolved?”

Oh my god, it’s a miracle, somebody is actually suggesting evolving for the sake of transport, the world must be ending. (Oh, wait.)

Unfortunately for their convenience, Tohma points out that the sky’s grown even more turbulent than it was before and flying wouldn’t be safe, hence why they have to make their way there on foot. But I do still really appreciate that the writers finally actually addressed this option and gave a reason for why they aren’t doing it! This time, at least. It does not excuse literally every other time.

Back in the human world, the roads and train stations are absolutely packed with people trying to evacuate and get to shelters, at the government’s urging. Sayuri and Chika, however, have returned to their home.

Chika: “Hey, Mom. Shouldn’t we evacuate?”

Sayuri: “Why?”

Chika: “Because we’re the only ones who are staying behind.”

Sayuri: “It’ll be the same no matter where we run.”

I like Sayuri’s approach to this. Unlike the general public, she knows enough about what the crisis is that she’s perfectly aware that if the worlds do collide, they won’t be any safer in a shelter. The government’s only telling everybody else that to try and make them feel safe. Knowing that, if the end does come, Sayuri would much rather face it in her own home.

Sayuri: “Besides… Masaru and the others will be sad if they don’t find us here when they come back.”

Aww. She did say he should be back by dinner time, and this way that can feel a little more normal! She’s trying so hard to keep her family together and happy in whatever small ways she can, even at a time like this.

Chika accepts this and happily starts munching on some of the rice balls her mom’s just made for her. As her daughter does so, Sayuri looks behind her at the family photo – of all four of them, back when Suguru was around.

Sayuri: (Dearest… If something dangerous ever happened to Masaru… you will come and save him, right?)

Aww, Sayuri. How many times must she have coped with her worry about Masaru heading off into danger in the Digital World by telling herself that surely Suguru will somehow swoop in and save him if it ever comes to that.

(And yet it’s definitely not a coincidence that the narrative is showing her doing this for the first time in this episode out of all of them. Foreshadowing. Hee.)

Back in the Digital World, we’ve skipped the rest of what may have been a very long and boring travel time (don’t you love how Savers always just gets right on with the plot), and the group has arrived near Yggdrasil’s giant tree.

Gotsumon: “That is the World Tree which supports the Digital World.”

That’s an interesting implication that the Digital World needs this tree, because, as we’ll learn in a later episode, it actually wasn’t always there. I guess this is some sort of legend that started up after the tree became a thing. Perhaps it’s considered to be that because Yggdrasil supports the Digital World, and it currently lives in that tree.

Gotsumon: “No-one has ever seen what Yggdrasil really looks like, but it’s quite likely that he’s predicted this unprecedented crisis.”

Oh, it sure did. Predicted it so hard that it sat back and let it happen, even.

Masaru: “My dad must’ve climbed that tree…”

Hee, I love how Masaru’s instantly thinking about that. For all he knows, his dad never actually found Yggdrasil at all! But no, obviously he would have managed to achieve his goal, and obviously Masaru’s following in his footsteps now.

Before they can approach the tree, Craniummon appears dramatically in front of the group in a huge whirlwind, refusing to let them pass.

Craniummon: “I, Craniummon, shall eliminate all who dare to approach Yggdrasil.”

Masaru: “What?” [he steps forward] “We just came here to see Yggdrasil. At least let us talk to him!”

Love how straightforward Masaru always is, refusing to be deterred by Craniummon’s lofty pompous attitude about this. Come on, just let them talk to the guy, it can’t be that unreasonable a thing to ask.

Something suddenly slams into Masaru, throwing him back across the ground. Craniummon didn’t appear to move an inch, but it was him, doing that moving-too-fast-to-see thing.

Craniummon: “I believe I told you not to come closer. The next time you do, I will slice out your heart.”

Yikes, Craniummon. Taking this guarding-Yggdrasil thing very seriously, I see.

As the rest of the group marvels at how invisibly fast Craniummon struck, Masaru gets up, one hand over his chest.

Masaru: “You’ll slice my heart out, eh? Bring it on! I’ll force you to let us pass!”

Oh, Masaru. He rushes forwards and is slammed backwards by something invisible again, but this time he manages to right himself mid-sprawl and land safely in a crouch. His heart doesn’t appear to have been sliced out at all. He looks up, grinning, and raises a fist glowing with Digisoul.

Tohma: “You were able to see Craniummon’s attack?”

Masaru: “No way. I just punched the air in front of where my heart was!”

I love Masaru’s approach to this! So straightforward and risky, and yet he knew he’d be able to block the attack if he did it this way! We get a brief flashback shot to the moment of the impact, just slightly slowed-down enough that we can see Masaru punch at the slicing energy that was shooting towards him, but we still don’t actually see Craniummon move.

This is how you show someone using this kind of tactic to hit an enemy that moves so fast they can’t be seen! Take notes, episode 23. This is the same tactic Masaru used there, but this time it’s actually depicted well.

With that, as everyone decides to fight to get past, it’s evolution time, for all four of them and not just Masaru, so time to stand up and get a drink or something.

As the four Ultimate-levels stand before Craniummon, Gotsumon has a good view of ShineGreymon’s back and suddenly realises that this is the Digimon who fell on him earlier. He is not happy about it.

Yoshino: “I-It was an accident! An accident!”

Tohma: “She’s right! We didn’t do it on purpose!”

Gotsumon: “No! That was unforgivable! I won’t forgive you for it!”

Also a very Gotsumon trait: being very petty and insisting on holding grudges about something like this, even after they helped him out of the sand afterwards and even when they’re telling him it was an accident.

Masaru: “Gotsumon! We came all this way trusting your word! That’s why you should believe us, too! That’s what a man does!”

The writers mostly make comedy out of this by having Masaru’s last sentence accompanied by an overly-dramatic close-up shot, but even so, this is some legit Masaru manliness here! They trusted him (despite some compelling reasons not to on their end), so he should trust them, obviously!

As Masaru keeps glaring dramatically at him, Gotsumon is cowed into deciding to believe them. It kind of comes across less like Gotsumon relented because he bought into Masaru’s manly argument, and more just that he was intimidated into it. But maybe that’s kind of necessary, for someone like Gotsumon. He may have lost the bigotry, but he still has that pettiness to him that makes him not very compatible with Masaru’s principles.

Yoshino: “It looks like we were able to convince him in a really confusing way!”

Tohma: “Even with my intelligence, I can’t tell how that happened!”

Yoshino and Tohma’s comments are continuing the comedic vibe, though they don’t quite land right for me. Tohma’s “even with my intelligence” is a particularly awkward phrasing, especially given that he already knows full well that Masaru’s approaches rarely make sense to him and yet often work.

Anyway, comedy over, mostly, Craniummon starts off the fight by firing a blast at Gotsumon. ShineGreymon has to dive in the way of it to protect him.

Masaru: “You bastard! Gotsumon just brought us here!”

I love how Not Happy Masaru is at Craniummon taking such an approach. The four of them and their partners have expressed their willingness to fight by evolving, so they’re fair targets, but Gotsumon is an innocent bystander who doesn’t want to fight. Nobody should attack somebody like that; that’s not what a man does!

Craniummon: “My duty… is to get rid of all who dare to approach Yggdrasil. Those who assist you must also be eliminated.”

Geez, Craniummon. That’s a bit much in and of itself, but it’s especially a bit much that you made a point of attacking Gotsumon first. Ravemon and MirageGaogamon agree that this is super uncalled for.

Masaru: “Damn it! ShineGreymon, go and…!”

[Gotsumon steps forward and points at ShineGreymon]

Gotsumon: “Go and beat him up! Now go! Do it!”

Seeing a little bit more of the old Gotsumon we knew here. He always did like bossing around bigger and stronger Digimon, didn’t he? Apparently he has an instinct to be the one to do that, even when it’s completely unnecessary, because Masaru was already going to ask ShineGreymon to attack and has a lot more right to be the one to tell him what to do.

Not that ShineGreymon really cares who’s telling him to do it; he’s quite happy to charge at Craniummon. Craniummon easily deflects his and MirageGaogamon’s attacks with his whirlwind, then catches Rosemon’s whip between his fingers and flings her into Ravemon.

Masaru: “Don’t give up! We defeated Belphemon, so we can’t lose to a guy like him!”

Oh, Masaru. I do like him reminding them of the incredible against-the-odds victory they’ve already managed to pull off.

Masaru activates the GeoGrey Sword, which is actually the first time we’ve seen it since its debut in episode 33. I suspect that most of the reason the writers decided to give ShineGreymon this fancy sword is because of the Royal Knights he’s going to be fighting in this arc, a lot of whom also have their own weapons.

Indeed, Craniummon responds to this by summoning his own double-ended spear, Claiomh Solais… man I’m probably never going to actually call it by that name again, that is hard to spell and also contains an accent on the first “I” that I can’t be bothered to figure out how to input on my English keyboard. It’s a thing from Irish mythology or something, I think. Big fancy weapon, is the point.

Craniummon: “We Royal Knights, who protect Yggdrasil, are the ones who are closest to God! Opposing the likes of us… is the same foolish act as challenging divine authority!”

That sure is some Royal Knight pompousness there. It seems Craniummon – and almost certainly the other Knights too, we will be seeing a lot of them acting similarly – tells himself that Yggdrasil is totally always right, because it’s a god, and therefore he is also totally always right if he does what Yggdrasil tells him to do. Sure makes things easy for you, Craniummon. Easier than thinking about whether you actually agree about billions of humans being wiped out.

He gives this line as his and ShineGreymon’s weapons clash, and ends it by flinging the GeoGrey Sword out of ShineGreymon’s grip. Which kinda goes to show how overhyped the GeoGrey Sword is by the narrative, really. It’s literally just a big sword – and funnily enough, against opponents who have much more experience using similar kinds of weapons, ShineGreymon doesn’t get any meaningful advantage from it at all!

Craniummon summons a huge whirlwind attack, flinging the Ultimate-levels helplessly into the air and back down to the ground (while, amusingly, the humans and Gotsumon have to avoid getting sucked in too by clinging to some nearby trees).

Craniummon: “Come, my next attack shall sever you from any lingering attachments you have to this world!”

Wow, Craniummon, that sure is one way to dance ridiculously around saying you’re going to kill them.

He raises his spear to thrust it towards ShineGreymon, who’s lying prone and helpless on his back. Something stops it before it can stab through him. ShineGreymon opens his eyes to see…

…Masaru punched the spear. In the pointy end. And it worked.

Which, to be fair, is almost certainly because his body is cloaked in Digisoul right now. We’ve seen a fair few times now that Digisoul is more than just a power that can pass onto Digimon to evolve them. It can make Masaru’s (or Suguru’s) attacks more powerful and have other very tangible, physical effects, such as what BanchouLeomon did to keep the two worlds apart. Why shouldn’t it also be able to act as some kind of shield?

Still, credit to Masaru for the fact that he didn’t necessarily know that when he decided to do this. He just wanted to protect his partner in the most straightforwardly gutsy way possible, and went for it, and it paid off. Masaru is so good.

Craniummon: “You…”

Craniummon’s eyes widen as he stares at this tiny human showing such ridiculous tenacity towards someone as important and godly as himself.

Masaru: “What’s this crap about the Royal Knights?! What’s this crap about God?! Two worlds are about to be destroyed, and just what the hell is your God doing?!”

You frickin’ tell him, Masaru! I love that he can call this out for the bullshit it is. Who cares about all this pompous posturing about gods when people are going to die?

Craniummon: “What?”

Masaru: “Someone who doesn’t even bother to save the world… shouldn’t… shouldn’t call himself a god!”

EXACTLY! I love this speech of Masaru’s so much. It draws from his strong sense of responsibility – if someone’s going to call themselves the god of a world, that means they have a responsibility to protect all the people in it to the best of their ability. Sure doesn’t seem like Yggdrasil gives a damn about doing any of that!

(Well, unbeknownst to Masaru for now, apparently, on the surface of things based on what we saw last episode, it seems like Yggdrasil is at least trying to protect its Digital World by destroying the human world. But, ha ha.)

Masaru gave this whole speech while still furiously blocking the spear with his fist and his Digisoul, and at the final words of it, he thrusts his fist upwards and pushes the spear away, sending Craniummon toppling onto his back. Everybody else gapes in amazement that he managed to do that. Do not underestimate the power of Masaru’s sheer determination and fierce sense of right and wrong.

ShineGreymon: “Aniki, that’s amazing!”

Masaru: “C’mon! Show ‘em what you’ve got!”

ShineGreymon is still always so in awe of his aniki and the awesome things he can pull off, I love it. Inspired by this, he gets to his feet, blazing with power, and Masaru, probably also coasting off the fierce emotion of the speech he just gave, activates his Burst Mode.

For the record, this is not evolution padding. Yes, Masaru didn’t evolve ShineGreymon to his absolute highest form right away at the beginning of the fight – but we are never going to see anybody go straight to Burst Mode from Child-level. So evidently that’s not how Burst Mode works, because it’s different from a regular evolution level. It seems like a Digimon and their partner need to fight for a while at Ultimate level before they can build up enough fighting spirit to be able to achieve that extra Burst Mode boost.

ShineGreymon Burst Mode flies at Craniummon, clashing against his spear, but the moment only lasts a short time before another glowing figure shoots out of the sky towards the battlefield, knocking ShineGreymon down. It’s another Royal Knight, Dukemon, who seems unimpressed by Craniummon having so much trouble dealing with these intruders.

(Dukemon has the same Japanese voice that the Dukemon in Digimon Tamers did. It’s an amusing reminder, for anyone who’s seen Tamers in Japanese, that this armoured humanoid dude actually used to be an adorable dinosaur friend once upon a time. Oh, Digimon and their obligatory humanoid evolutions. Tamers had a reason for it, but here Dukemon’s a humanoid knight because he just is, how else would he be able to be one of the Royal Knights, right?)

More glowing figures arrive on the battlefield, revealing (most of) the rest of the Royal Knights. Gotsumon stammers out their names as he sees each of them, but I’m not going to bother giving them here, because most of these guys won’t actually matter much to the narrative. Gotsumon seems particularly intimidated by one called Omegamon, who is in fact supposed to be the leader of the Royal Knights, but this also does not matter one bit for the purposes of Savers. I’m not sure Omegamon even gets any lines. (Edit from later: okay, he gets like a couple of lines in one episode, that’s it, but it’s very telling that I forgot that fact.)

Digimon Analyser: “Each of them fight for their own personal justice.”

Which is kind of a weird thing for them to do, when their whole thing is supposed to be mindlessly obeying Yggdrasil’s orders, as we’ve seen with Craniummon. They shouldn’t have much room to have their own individual feelings and principles about anything this way. This is probably a remnant of an idea that’s lot more relevant in other media featuring the Royal Knights.

Masaru: “Interesting. Let’s take them all on, ShineGreymon!”

Oh, Masaru. There’s like… nine of them? here, and he had enough trouble with just the one. But of course he’s just seeing this as a challenge.

(Okay, seven, apparently, I had to count. That’s how little most of them matter. I very much appreciate that this is not one of those Groups Of Villains in Digimon where we obligatorily have to defeat all of them in individual episodes before getting on with the main plot. Man that’d be tedious.)

Before ShineGreymon can actually start any attempt to take them on, though, Dukemon raises his lance and launches a huge blast of energy that turns the entire surroundings blinding white, knocking the whole DATS group and their Digimon out.

The next thing we see is a flashback to Masaru’s childhood! We haven’t seen one of those from him until now, have we? There might just be a very good reason why this is suddenly changing.

Little Masaru: “No! I want to take him with me!”

Tiny four-year-old Masaru is holding a frog that he found out in the wilderness somewhere, insisting to his dad that he wants to take it home as a pet. That’s adorable. Remember how Masaru seemed low-key upset at the school pets being killed in episode 2? Turns out he’s actually got a soft spot for animals!

And, of course, remember him calling Agumon a frog both times he first encountered him? (“Both” as in counting the memory wipe episode as a “first time”.) Masaru actually did end up bringing a big orange fire-breathing frog home with him, in the end! Perhaps that’s part of why he insisted on thinking of Agumon that way, despite all appearances to the contrary. What an adorable dork.

Suguru: “Masaru. That frog has a family, too.”

Little Masaru: “A family?”

Suguru: “Yeah. The mommy frog has dinner made and is waiting for him to come back.”

I love that this is the angle Suguru takes to explain to his son why taking a wild animal out of its habitat is wrong. It’s got a family! You should always respect other people’s families and how important they are to them, no matter what species.

Masaru doesn’t have that many distinct memories of the times when his dad was still around (he was four), so it’s very meaningful that this one – in which his dad taught him the importance of respecting people’s families – is one that managed to stick with him.

At these words from his dad, little Masaru understands that he needs to let the frog go, and he happily waves goodbye to it as it hops off.

Suguru: “You did great. That’s what a man should do!”

Of course Suguru finishes up with this. Respecting other people’s families is part of his concept of manliness! He was already teaching his son how to be a Man (which is not about gender but about being a decent and honourable person), even when Masaru was this little.

Look at him he’s so smol and so good and so happy to be making his dad proud, it’s adorable.

Masaru: “Dad…”

Masaru in the present regains consciousness mumbling his dad’s name, probably without having really meant to. How often do you want to bet he has dreams about some of the few memories he still has of his dad. Very often, no doubt.

He opens his eyes to see his comrades sprawled around him, hurt and barely conscious just like him after Dukemon’s attack, the Digimon devolved. Further around them, the scene’s suddenly taken on an atmosphere of ominous gravity; the Royal Knights are lined up in two rows, bowing deeply, as a human-seeming figure in a cloak walks between them towards the group.

Masaru: “Damn it… They’re planning to finish us off… I won’t… let that happen… This fight… isn’t over yet…”

Masaru doesn’t quite seem to register what this might mean. He struggles to focus on the approaching figure, seeing them as nothing but another enemy, here to finish off him and his friends. Of course he can’t let that happen. Of course he can’t just give up like this.

He forces himself painfully to his feet and rushes at the figure, throwing a punch at their face. His fist ends up sailing harmlessly past just inches to the side – at the last second, Masaru must have noticed whose face it was and frantically redirected his fist to miss on purpose.

The gust from the missed punch blows the figure’s hood back, revealing the face of Suguru Daimon. Masaru’s eyes widen in shock as he stumbles to a halt and turns around to stare at him.

This is the first time Masaru’s seen his father in anything but a photograph in ten whole years.

(At this moment, the BGM piece called I’M JUST FIGHTER starts up. This scene is the single biggest reason I really love that piece.)

“Suguru” turns back to look at him with a completely cold, impassive expression, no hint of recognition or happiness at seeing his son again.

Masaru: “Dad… Is that you, Dad…?”

Masaru is Staring, hardly able to believe this is really happening: his dad, here again right in front of him after all this time. He doesn’t even seem to be properly registering the lack of reaction he’s getting, not yet. He’s too stuck on his dad is actually here.

Masaru: “Don’t scare us like that. Why didn’t you contact us or something if you were safe?”

I love that this is something that immediately comes to mind, seeing his dad here and apparently… fine? He must have told himself for all this time (and especially since learning where his dad really disappeared to) that the only reason he didn’t contact them must’ve been because he couldn’t somehow. And yet it looks like… he probably could have, but he just… didn’t? Why on earth not?

Masaru: “C’mon, let’s go home. Mom and Chika are waiting.”

I adore how Masaru’s got so caught up in the moment of finding his dad at last that he’s completely forgotten what they’re supposed to be doing right now. They kind of have a god to talk to and an apocalypse to stop, but literally none of that matters to Masaru in this moment. His dad’s here; that means he needs to bring him home and they can finally have their family back together at last, like they’ve always dreamed of. Nothing else is even remotely as important as that.

He says this while raising his hands forwards and stepping towards his dad, perhaps vaguely hoping for some kind of hug or something. “Suguru” just keeps giving him that impassive look, and slaps one hand away.

Masaru stares some more, probably beginning to realise there’s something very wrong about this. He must have imagined a thousand different ways his reunion with his dad might go when he definitely eventually found him again in the Digital World, and this was not any of them.

Dukemon: “Insolent fellow! Do you have any idea who you’re speaking to?”

Masaru: “Who I’m speaking to…? This is my…”

Dukemon: “This person is our God, Yggdrasil!”

I love the sort of lost, automatic way Masaru mumbles an answer to Dukemon’s question without thinking. He never even stopped to consider the context of what’s going on and the fact that the Royal Knights were all bowing to this figure. It’s his dad, of course, why even ask, what other possible answer could there be…?

Except apparently, his dad’s also a god.

Masaru: “Dad is… the Digital World’s God…?”

This shot here, as Masaru tries to process this, is so good. It does a perfect job at getting across just how huge and momentous and all-encompassing Masaru’s father is and has always been to him. His dad is the biggest most important person in the whole wide world, so upon hearing that he’s literally a god, some part of Masaru’s mind just kinda goes, yeah, that makes sense? it’s his dad, after all.

(Remember that Masaru last saw his dad when he was four. Thanks to his absence, that way that a four-year-old kid would look up to their parent as the greatest most powerful person ever is still how Masaru unconsciously sees his dad today, even now that he’s fourteen. I love Masaru’s dad complex so much.)

Masaru: “I-I don’t get it, Dad. We came here because we were told to go see Yggdrasil. Explain to me what’s going on here…”

It’s so adorable how, despite how obviously weird and unresponsive “Suguru” is acting, Masaru still instinctively asks him for an explanation to clear up the confusion he’s feeling. It’s his dad, right? He knows the answer to everything; of course he’ll be able to explain things and make it all make sense.

Dukemon informs him that there’s nothing left to talk about; Yggdrasil has already made up its mind to save the Digital World by annihilating the human world. Everyone gapes at this revelation, Masaru especially. “Suguru” stands there impassively, saying nothing to contest it.

Masaru: “H-He’s lying, right? You can’t destroy the human world… My dad would never say that…”

I love the desperate smile on his face, and the stammer (Masaru hardly ever stammers!) as he tries to tell himself that surely all of that’s just lies, surely his dad would never want to destroy an entire world, that doesn’t make sense, as soon as his dad opens his mouth to say something it’ll all be put back to normal again (right?)

(and yet he’s got to already be afraid this is true, because that look on his dad’s face, and the fact that he hasn’t said anything to question it, and how can this be happening it’s his DAD)

“Suguru”: “The ones who destroyed the dimensional barrier and are leading the two worlds to their destruction are none other than the humans. There is no worth in keeping the humans alive.”

Masaru’s desperate smile falls away as his dad’s voice cuts him off with an emotionless, callous explanation of exactly why humans deserve to die. No; no explanation from the father he thought he knew is coming. This really is exactly what it looks like.

(Of course, this is Yggdrasil speaking, just the same as it was last episode. It’s only Suguru on a superficial, physical level. But I’m using “Suguru” as the tags for this in these scenes where Masaru is present, because it is vitally important that Masaru 100% believes it really is his dad.)

Masaru: “Da… Dad…”

Masaru backs away in horror, and there’s this delightful flash of his dad smiling at him from the flashback, like Masaru’s image of his father as the kind and honourable person he thought he was is being utterly shaken to its core right now. I love it.

“Suguru”: “The human world… will be destroyed.”

I utterly adore how “Suguru”’s decisively ruthless words in the present are immediately followed by the flashback snippet of Suguru smiling at his son, affectionately saying his name while patting him on the head – and then it just shatters, and there’s nothing but a dark swirling void of nothingness behind it.

This is a very deliberate metaphor. Literally everything about who Masaru is has been built off his image of and idolisation of his father as the best most wonderful person ever. Seeing his father like this, casually ordering the genocide of an entire species – his entire species – utterly shatters that image. And without that, Masaru has nothing left that makes him Masaru. It’s all just gone. Empty. The writers knew exactly what they were doing with this shot and I love it so much.

Back in the Daimons’ house on Earth, Sayuri and Chika turn around in surprise. The family photo’s been knocked off its shelf by an earthquake or something, the glass shattered exactly where Suguru’s face is. Sayuri stares at the broken photo in horror, perhaps sensing that this is an omen of something really bad.

(It may be a huge coincidence that this happened with this exact timing and the exact placement of the damaged glass, but I don’t care it’s symbolism I love it)

Masaru stares at his father in broken disbelief for a long moment… and then he just crumples to his knees, utterly defeated.

I love this so so much. This is Masaru Daimon, completely indomitable unstoppable spirit, who’s been unintimidated by literal Demon Lords and who just earlier this episode stopped a huge deadly spear twice, by punching it – but this one man says three sentences to him, and he shatters, simple as that. It’s so impactful. It says so much about how his father is everything to him. This is my single favourite scene in all of Savers.

Something else worth talking about regarding this is: remember the concept I brought up in episode 26 when Masaru nearly didn’t remember Agumon, and in episode 34 when he completely bought into Tohma’s betrayal, both times because he’s so straightforward that he doesn’t know how to look at something beyond surface level? That is extremely relevant here, as well.

Anybody else in this situation, even someone else with an equally powerful dad complex as Masaru’s, would have been able to look at the way their “father” is acting, see him callously declaring that he’ll destroy an entire species, and realise, something’s up with this. Surely the better explanation, rather than that their dad has become a genocidal god, is instead that this isn’t really their dad at all, despite what it looks like. But Masaru is so utterly used to taking everything at face value that this doesn’t even occur to him. He completely buys into the idea that his dad has turned into this monster, despite how much it hurts and how badly he must not want to believe it.

Masaru reacts the way he does to this, again, because he is Masaru and has such a straightforward approach to everything. Nobody else would in quite the same way. (I mentioned that this scene uses I’M JUST FIGHTER, and it’s perfect for it. The music comes to a crescendo and climax right as “Suguru” says those damning words that break Masaru, and it hits just right; I love it.)

And then, because his belief in his dad was nonetheless so strong, that’s why this breaks him so badly, just like when he thought Tohma had betrayed him. The difference between the two situations, of course, being that Masaru can’t even get angry at his dad betraying him, because how could he? It’s his dad! That and all of the mental mechanisms that enable Masaru to get fired up and passionate about things are rooted in his belief in his dad in the first place, so when that shatters, he simply loses the ability to even get angry at all. There’s nothing else he can do but just… shut down entirely.

With Masaru summarily dealt with – he’s very clearly not about to say anything else to question their god – the Royal Knights advance on the others, asking Yggdrasil what to do with them. It orders the Knights to kill them, as they’re useless to it.

The Royal Knights tower over the group, raising their weapons, while Tohma and the others watch in fear, knowing they have no hope of stopping this. Yoshino is hugging Lalamon and trembling – aaaa, Yoshino, she’s still always so scared of all of this!

Agumon: “Damn it! Aniki! Get a hold of yourself! Aniki!”

Agumon at least is clinging to some of his Aniki’s usual never-say-die spirit, not understanding why Aniki isn’t – but Masaru himself is still broken, utterly unable to function like his follower expects him to. Masaru.exe has encountered a problem and has stopped working. He probably doesn’t even hear Agumon’s words.

His dad is a genocidal god out to kill humanity; how is he supposed to care or even think about literally anything else?

(This is my single favourite shot in Savers. I love it so much. Please give this kid a hug and tell him it’s going to be okay. Also, a bonus detail about it that I enjoy: Masaru’s pendant is almost always angled so we can see the front, but right now all that’s visible is the back.)

Just before the Royal Knights can finish them off, another giant Digimon, Sleipmon, swoops towards them, scooping the humans and their partners up in his hand and flying away with them. People familiar with Royal Knight lore will know that Sleipmon is also a Royal Knight, though the rest of the Knights seem quite surprised to see him doing this.

(You can just about see Masaru there in Sleipmon’s hand, but while most of the others seem to be freaking out about this sudden development, Masaru looks like he’s barely even registering it.)

Dukemon shoots an attack at Sleipmon as he flies up into the sky, which hits him but isn’t enough to kill him or stop him escaping. Craniummon suggests they should pursue him, but Yggdrasil tells them not to bother. Everything will be wiped out anyway; these humans and one rogue Royal Knight don’t matter.

Overall thoughts

This would otherwise be a relatively unremarkable, solidly decent but not outstanding episode, if it weren’t for my single favourite scene in the entire series at the end of it. That inherently pulls my appreciation of the episode as a whole up by several notches, purely because it contains this scene.

The rest of it’s fun enough as episodes go. Having Gotsumon show up reborn is neat, giving us an example of how this normally works; he’s clearly the same person but without the previous lifetime of bigotry making him an asshole. There’s a lot of comedy in this one that’s kinda hit-or-miss for me, but I do like the tiger’s butt line for how dorkily Masaru it is. And I love Masaru’s determination while fighting Craniummon, having the guts and straightforwardness to block his spear twice with his own fist, as well as the delightful “shouldn’t get to call himself a god!” speech.

And then. The best scene.

I just adore how comprehensively it gets across that Masaru’s dad is everything to him. We’ve always known this the whole time, of course, based on the way he acts whenever his dad – or, heck, parents in general – get brought up, to say nothing of where he obviously gets his manliness and determination from. But it’s so, so delightful to finally actually see it in full force. All this stuff I’d been noticing about Masaru’s dad complex this whole time, even on just my first time through? Yes, I’d been reading it right, and it matters, and we’re about to start getting really deep into it all. I love it. Those metaphor shots in particular are just. *chefs kiss* So good. The writers get it. They knew exactly what they were writing when it comes to Masaru.

And, of course, deep analysis aside, it’s also the absolute biggest possible example of Masaru being Not Okay. This is the most Not Okay it is possible for a Masaru to be, literally the one single way it is possible for him to be this. Even his dad turning out to be dead wouldn’t be nearly as bad, because then at least he could still keep believing in the father he remembered. The single best way to break Masaru: show him that his dad’s a monster. Which, thanks to his ridiculously straightforward nature, he won’t even question and will accept at face value.

Also I do love the adorable Little Masaru flashback with the frog, and his dad teaching him about the importance of family. The first of a few Little Masaru flashbacks we’ll be getting in this arc!

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[Dub comparison]

#digimon #digimon savers #masaru daimon #sayuri daimon #suguru daimon #yggdrasil #gotsumon #craniummon #dukemon #masaru's dad complex

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fuwushiguro · 2 years

Note

Petition for more gojo and megumi scenes 😌

Though, as much as toji is trying. I don't really see much of a good relationship between them (or as good as one can be). It seems like toji hates megs. I think that I lean more towards megumi x reader because yuuji is too pure and doesn't really deserve any of that. Whereas megumi is a dumpster fire and honestly I feel like reader isn't as like, put together either. Idk I kinda just want them to help each other, whereas I feel like she'd pull yuuji down because he's so kind and selfless. He'd do anything to help

under the cut hehe

Toji definitely doesn't hate Megumi ahhh!! He loves him, like, a lot! He just isn't a good parent. He wouldn't have ran out on him if he was! His approach to parenting is a big mess. He treats him more like a friend than a kid but if he's out of line he talks to him like he's beneath him. Like... (we all know by now Toji is a shady guy) so he talks to Megumi like he's on his payroll when he's in trouble. If he fucks up he clips him over the head rather than just... clipping him period. He wants to help Megumi get better and be kinder and less angry. He isn't much better though, so, it'll be a challenge!

Gojo and Megumi have a very interesting relationship because Megumi really adores Gojo and is grateful to him for taking him and his sister in when they had no one but... he kind of resents him for it too? He feels shitty that he's so indebted to Gojo even though Gojo doesn't see it that way! He's just a nice guy who wanted to help out some lost kids, he really does see himself as his dad whether Megumi doesn't want to or not. He's definitely an actual parental figure to Megumi, whereas like I said with Toji their more like friends. Maybe even acquiantances. I think Megumi has a hard time with his feelings, even with Gojo, and refuses to call him dad because he resents the fact that he needed to do that at all. His actual dad should have been his dad and shouldn't have placed him in a situation where Megumi needs to rely on a man with zero connection to him for help. The thought of calling Gojo dad makes him really uneasy and uncomfortable.

But when it comes to the reader... I know what you mean. She's had an upbringing where she hasn't felt good enough or appreciated or respected in the least and is just an accesory to her parents. She was engaged to Naoya just because her parents wanted her to be but she fought them every step of the way when it came to attending a public university and she's glad she did because she got to meet Yuuji after her messy breakup. She just wants to be her own person and but she's a princess at heart. She's always been taken care of and looked after and that's why Yuuji is so good for her, because that's what she needs in a partner.

But Megumi is exciting and complex and as much as they hate each other, the fact that they both have damage keeps drawing them to each other! The reader is fascinated by Megumi and everything he's been through and Megumi can't understand anything about the reader! The fact that she's rich, beautiful and so kind was surface level. But the more he picked on her and the cracks began to show I think he saw a bit of himself in her. They are very magnetic because even when he's done the worst thing possible to her, she can forget about it if he shows a vulnerability that might excuse his behaviour. Same with Megumi. Her pain is very addictive to him because it makes her relatable and more interesting.

#luxe mail 💰#wusyaname series 🍋

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linkspooky · 3 years

Text

Megumi and Toji

Megumi knows almost nothing about his father, his early memories are of being abandoned. His only family is Tsumiki as far as he’s concerned. It’s clear he doesn’t regard himself as a Zenin, or Toji’s son. He doesn’t even recognize Toji when they meet again briefly. However, though Megumi’s not even aware of it there’s a lot of story parallels between father and son. Toji serves as a cautionary tale of what Megumi could become if he does not grow up and learn to handle his emotions properly. MORE UNDER THE CUT.

1. Inherited Trauma

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but the Zenin family definitely has issues. They exclude anything which does not fit their arbitrary standards as an outsider. We don’t really know Toji’s backstory. We don’t have to know either, it obviously doesn’t excuse his actions. However, we see the after-effects of him being thrown out and scapegoated by his own family by the time we see him in the hidden inventory arc. Not only that, but from the clan’s treatment of Maki, we can theorize a little ibt of what Toji has been through.

Maki and Toji were both born without cursed energy and labeled as defective and wrong because of it. It’s clear both of them developed bad, hostile, even downright violent personalities in order to cope with a home environment that was constantly hostile to them.

In Maki’s case, it’s not that Maki is a hateful person it’s that she’s conditioned not to accept any kind of love because she was never shown the unconditional love of a family she was owed. When Yuta tries to accept her, Maki rejects him because she doesn’t know what that feeling of acceptance and security is like if it’s unearned. She ties it to strength, she has to be stronger than the Zenin clan, she has to prove she’s better than them and that they were wrong about her in order to earn it.

Maki is so busy trying to reject everything that the Zenin clan stands for, that she can’t really accept other people’s feelings at all positive or negative. She’s too busy thinking about herself, protecting about herself, trying not to hate herself that even the feelings of Mai who loves her, but in a more complicated way is something she can’t accept. She doesn’t want to think about mai’s feelings because she’s too busy with her own, Mai is an afterthought to her.

Maki has a complicated way of dealing with the abuse of the Zenin family, and I assume Toji did too. The only difference is that Toji is an adult, whereas Maki is still an adolescent. Toji was set in his ways, Maki is still in the middle of changing.

Toji is labeled as “the one who is left behind, the one who is free”, it’s very likely especially considering the way he treats Megumi and distances himself from anyone related to him, that Toji’s way of dealing with the Zenin family was to simply reject all of it. He couldn’t accept the hatred of his family, but at the same time he also couldn’t accept any kind of positive emotions too, like love between a father and son. It’s likely Toji can’t even accept the idea of having a family, or the unconditional love of a family because he’s never had it - not that any of that is Megumi’s fault.

Toji grew up completely isolated from his own family until he was eventually thrown out, and he probably had no idea how to raise a family, but he turned around and inflicted those same circumstances on Megumi. Toji grows up alone, Toji makes Megumi grow up alone because he fails to provide for him as a father.

Toji deliberately made a choice to throw out Megumi along with the rest of his family trauma, that’s his self reflection upon the moment of death. He wanted to throw away everything and live for hismelf, but he threw away Megumi too.

However, from Meugmi’s perspective his father gave him the name ‘Megumi’ and left. Apparently Toji was around so little that Megumi doesn’t even recognize his face whent hey meet again as a teenager. He married Tusmiki’s mom, got a divorce, and presumably left Megumi there.

Megumi grew up with no idea of what a family was, except for his step sister, and also completely isolated from others. He grew up with the same sense of isolation and distance from his family that Toji did, lacking totally in the unconditional love a child needs from his parents in order to grow up, because Toji was never even around for Megumi. Megumi just by default assumes that his father either didn’t love him, or just plain forgot about him.

2. Like Father, Like Son.

However, despite the fact Toji wasn’t even around to raise his son, Megumi turned out a lot like Toji. There’s a lot of parallels between father and son, probably because as stated above Megumi grew up in isolated circumstances, completely cut off, never truly receiving the parental love or guidance that he needed to help him mature into a emotionally healthy adolescent able to process his feelings and handle them properly.

Both Megumi and Toji respond to their emotional trauma in the same way, by suppressing themselves and all their feelings, and rejecting the feelings of everyone around him. Megumi isn’t even able to hear the news that his dad died, because he insists that already in first grade, he doesn’t care about his dad or even want him around.

This is you know, a lie of course. Megumi’s a first grader. All children want a parent. It’s just, Megumi’s way of dealing with his feelings is to just pretend that they’re not there, to pretend he doesn’t care. A first grader is not really mature enough to think of his family situation in these terms, or cope with these feelings. Megumi is simply pretending to be mature as a way of pretending to deal with his hurt feelings.

We as the audience know that Megumi is a deeply caring, and deeply feeling person. However, Megumi himself seesm to be in denial of this fact.

Megumi’s response to all of thes icky gross feelings he has for people, soft feelings that makes him feel vulnerable because while Megumi cares deeply, circumstances have taught him that people do not care about him, or at least Toji didn’t care enough in Megumi’s eyes to stick around. Megumi’s response is the same as Toji’s, he shuts everyone out, he insists he doesn’t care about anyone.

He can’t accept anyone’s feelings because he’s too busy rejecting everyone. He can’t even accept the positive feelings of familial love his sister has for him, he almost begrudges her for it. Tsumiki chose to see him as family, different from Toji who he feels didn’t choose him and Megumi just couldn’t realize that until it was too late. He’s so used to being abandoned and unchosen that he doesn’t know what familial love even looks like in Tsumiki.

This is also something that Toji does to Megumi. It’s said in a bonus in volume 8 or volume 9 that after the death of Megumi’s mother, Toji insisted that he “stopped caring about everything.” We see this repeat when he’s about to sell Megumi to the Zenin clan.

Toji insists he doesn’t care, while Megumi tries to creep back into his thoughts, and he keeps trying to help him in indirect ways. Toji wishing for a better future for his son than he had, while at the same time, selling him off for the money he plans to gamble away at the race track. Toji forgetting his son’s name, and then remembering it on the brink of death and asking his enemy to do something about it. These are all compeltely contradictory behaviors because Toji has no healthy, adult way of processing his emotions.

He’s just used to pretending he doesn’t care about things, that even when he obviously does care it’s what he keeps falling back on. It’s the same as Megumi’s complex with saving people, he insists he hates people, that he doesn’t want to save them, and then he goes far out of his way to save people like Yuji.

3. Growing Out of Your Father’s Shadow

They process emotions the same way, both insisting that they don’t care about anything around them, the only real difference is their priorities. Toji is a self centered person who prioritizes himself above all others. Megumi’s a self sacrificing person, he’s continually belittling himself for the sake of other people. Megumi belittles himself to the point where he insits he could never be strong enough to challenge Gojo. Being the strongest individual is just never his priority.

Toji however is someone who climbed to the top of the Jujutsu World to try to prove he could become a better fighter than them without any cursed energy. Megumi is someone who ran away from the challenge of becoming stronger than Gojo, but Toji wanted to prove himself stronger than Gojo so badly he stayed and fought a fight he knew he couldn’t win.

However, even though their priorities are total opposites, Toji prioritizing himself, and Megumi prioritizing other people above himself they both end up in the same place. They’re both incredibly self destructive people. Toji stayed and fought with Gojo, knowing that he would die. When Megumi is pushed to his limit in Shibuya, rather than try to run away he also sacrifices himself in order to summon Mahoraga in a suicidal move against his opponent. They are even paralleled in the way they’re drawn.

I think the takeaway from all these connections set up between Toji and Megumi is that even though Megumi doesn’t know his father well he’s a lot like him. They both handle their emotions in the same way, insisting that they don’t care when they in fact care deeply. They both repress all of their emotions until they go crazy from it.

Toji literally springs from Megumi’s shadow. The shadow is the symbol of repressed emotions. Emotions that people are conscious of, the ones they acknowledge are usually represented by light, deeper emotions, the ones they repress and refuse to acknowledge are then referred to as the shadow. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. The more Megumi pretends not to care about his father or his family situation, the deeper the shadow underneath his feet grows.

Being underneath your father’s shadow is even a common phrase used to describe people who are unable to escape from their parents, and become their own person. There is a connection between Megumi and his father between Megumi and the Zenin, even if Megumi likes to pretend it’s not there, like when he denies any similarity between himself and Kamo Noritoshi.

A lot of Megumi’s life is dictated by his family circumstances too, he’s just in denial about it. Kamo’s aware to sympathize with people because he’s far more aware fo himself and his family circumstances, Megumi denies sympathizing with other people, because he doesn’t have any sympathy for himself either.

Zombie Megumi is colored in pure shadow. He’s even referred to as a manifestation of the repressed feelings of the Zenin clan. Those who are restrained by their connection to the Zenin clan, all look in awe at the one who broke free from the Zenin, and free from everything.

Megumi exhibits the act same behavir as Toji. He suppresses himself, suppresses himself, and suprresses himself and then he just goes crazy. Megumi claims he’s not the strongest, he doesn’t care about being strong, but then he pulls moves like summoning the Mahoraga and Domain Expansion. Megumi just holds himself in until he violently lashes out on everything around him too, he’s hurt feelings waiting to explode.

Which is why Megumi learning more about his father and the connection between them could be a good thing, not because Megumi necessarily owes Toji anything, but that he could learn from Toji’s mistakes. When Megumi sees his own unhealthy behavior exhibited in another, he can learn to accept the things that Toji could not accept. He could learn to accept connections like family, and friednship, before they become chains that hold him down too hard, until he breaks everything and himself trying to be free. Megumi dosen’t have to become the strongest like Gojo, he doesn’t have to surpass or fight against the Zenin clan. He doesn’t have to save everyone in the whole world like Yuji. The best thing for Megumi’s character development would be for him to learn to accept his own feelings and the feelings of others without going crazy. That’s a strength that neither Toji, nor Gojo could never find in themselves.

#megumi fushiguro #fushiguro megumi #toji fushiguro #fushiguro toji #zenin toji #toji zenin #zenin family #zenin maki #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen meta #jujutsu kaisen theory

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sixeyesgojo · 3 years

Text

Dad!Gojo with schoolkid!reader hc

Summary: Dad!Gojo with a Reader that goes to school. Or more like: DILF!Gojo being hit on by people

Characters: Gojo and his kiddo

Word count: -

Content warning: Gojo himself is a warning, idc

A/N: I think this is part 2??? 3?? I don’t even know.

He does not pack your lunches, in case you were wondering if he did. Man's too busy eating his own sweets.

Imagine him doing it tho??? Devastation.

If he has time to pack your lunches, which is rare, he packs some pastries.

He actually packed your lunch once upon a time (when you were in kindergarten) but one day you had insisted that you were "all grown up" now (going to elementary lmfao) and could do it yourself, so he was like "Oho?? Is that so?" and stopped

gives you lunch money tho. Is 50 dollars enough?

regularly brings you to school (in casual wear), then is late to his own class or whatever he has to do??? (assuming he has indoor lessons at all)

He usually doesn't drive. He simply picks you up and uses cursed energy to transport. Because he can.

but when he does drive, rest assured that it will be in a fancy car bc he can afford it

If he is not able to bring you to school, he will have Ijichi do it

everyone thinks Ijichi is your less cool uncle

Occasionally Nanamin brings you to school

all the kids think your dad is super cool

They admire him: boys want to be like him later on, girls want to have a husband like him when they grow up but little, do they know both of you live dangerously

that one time when your homeroom teacher tried to sneak her number into your backpack for your dad after having seen him a few times

the dozen times when single moms flirted with him in front of the school gates and he flaunts his good looks but ends up being like "I am terribly sorry, ma'am, but I am a very busy man with a kid to take care of."

someone call the doctor(s) because: cue a VERY charming smile follows afterwards

crouches down to give you a goodbye hug <3 "I'll see you later, my little sunshine"

Honestly, I don't see anyone bullying you or picking on you. I wrote it in the last chapter in case people would be curious but you're literally Gojo's kid that probably adopted some of his traits and this man is just loveable and so are you. Sorry, I don't make the rules here.

In case you do get bullied or picked on: God forbid the first-years-trio hears of this. They'd pull up the very next day to make sure nobody picks on you ever again. Sorry not sorry.

Gojo isn't exactly thrilled about someone picking on you either, so he's gonna have a mature talk with their parent(s)

To Gojo, the most important thing is that he has a heart-to-heart talk with you afterwards to be able to assess what damage has been done to you, mentally as well as physically, and reassure you that you are a great person that should live their life with their head held high

If you're crying? Lord, help this man. He doesn't really know what to do besides suppressing his murder intent kneeling down to embrace you tightly and stroke your head

If he catches the other kid in the act of bullying you, he will pull you aside, throw them a look and make some sassy remark that will instantly shut them up

He has a mission? Oh well, guess Nanami will have to work overtime then because Gojo will make some time for you and spoil you afterwards to make you forget all the bad things

You are a prodigy in the eyes of the teachers

You are doing especially well in maths - already being able to multiply and divide bigger numbers

Sometimes Gojo explains stuff to you at home, so it's hardly surprising that you are able to do this

He takes your education very serious - just because he's a jujutsu sorcerer does not mean you have to become one as well... unless you want it, which is also why he sometimes teaches you basics about the world he operates in

Whereas he may take it seriously, that doesn't mean he will scold you for bad grades. He will just encourage you to do better. Not that you brought back a bad grade anyway

You may be good at maths but you enjoy arts lesson the most

lmao doodle your dad with a mustache, your dad fighting a curse (but ofc nobody knows what that is), Shoko and you enjoying a campfire, Megumi carrying you, etc

At the end of a day, he will pick you up again if he can (again, in casual wear)

You will run into his arms as soon as you see him in front of the classroom

Effortlessly, he picks you up and twirls you around

"How was your day, sweetie?" and you proceed to tell him

He listens well and throws in some comments or questions

What you do afterwards depends on his schedule

He would take you on non-special-grade missions too because he knows he is able to protect you for sure but he prefers to spare your children's eyes

so you just go home

#gojo x reader #dad!gojo #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru headcanons #gojo as dad #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu headcanons #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #ikemen gojo

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chil2de · 3 years

Note

Hii! It's me again, the "teasing mom's broyfriend" anon. I just- you about killed me with that sequel. Hot doesn't even begin to describe it, really 🥵🥵

I have more :))

------------------------

Megumi knows. He knows what a slut you are, knows you've been fucking his father behind his and your mom's back. He knows you only got with him to provoque his father. He knows all of that. And yet, he can't let go of you. He won't do his father this favour.

He avoids going to your mom's house with you as best he can, bc he just can't stand the two of you doing this to her, the poor woman doesn't deserve it. He never touches you when you come back from your mom's, bc he just knows you've been with him. There is, however, an exception. The only thing that can make him help you tease his dad is when they fight.

When it happens, Megumi goes visit your mom with you, and whenever she can't see it, he makes it a point to touch you a little more than would be appropriate in front of Toji. The mix of Megumi's hands all over you and Toji's warning glare could probably make you cum right then and there. Once, when your mom was out doing grocery shopping and Toji stayed behind with the two of you, Megs was all to eager to fuck you, make you scream his name, all for Toji's benefit.

Oh, you do so love it when they fight. You know you should hope for peace and harmony between father and son, but you have much more fun when they are at each other's throat.

You wonder what you would have to do to have both of them filling you up at the same time...

ugh okay sorry if this post is just a massive wall of text i had to cut down on spacing because i kept reaching tumblr’s limit on characters, and uh... incase you couldn’t tell, shit’s about to get serious if i wrote this much LOL this probably looks so clunkyyy :(( i apologise but i have like a line left or two? so i’ll compress everything by saying a massive thank you because this would not have been possible without your sexy ass intellect. i was seriouly fucking dying writing this, it might be the first or second piece i’m genuinely proud of and i thank you :) i hope you enjoy it as much as i did writing it

this piece makes sense as a standalone, but works a lot better if you read the previous piece! read my disclaimer here if you’re new <3

w.c: 2.8k / characters: 15k (incl spaces) and a special thank you to my beloved anonie. couldn’t have done it without you ❤️

day and night: two.

your bedroom door shuts with a quiet ring. you can only slump down against it, knees held into your chest. your thighs are still quivering like a poor little lamb.

as you move to type out a text for megumi to not come over, there’s a faint knock at the window. your heart burns, throat clogged and knees weak.

you don’t know if you can get up. hell, you don’t know if you should get up. there’s another few delicate rips against the glass and you manage to stumble over in fear of attracting toji’s attention.

“megumi?!” you mouth his name in alarm, dismay crawling onto your features.

your boyfriend gives you a dead once over, noting your matted hair, smeared mascara and weak posture.

of course he knows.

you can discern it clearly from the way he refuses to meet your gaze.

“can you just let me in?” he whispers, tone flat as his index motions over to the lock of the window.

you don’t know what to do.

after all, you’ve still got toji’s cum flowing inside you from earlier.

you fumble backwards, moving to allow his lanky figure to slip inside. megumi manages to hoist his leg up and over, squeezing inside with ease. he closes the window shut behind him, pulling the curtains.

“m-megumi? what are you doing he-“

he doesn’t have time to waste.

megumi knocks the wind out of your lungs as his cold hands seize the sides of your head, stealing your lips for a kiss. he tugs at your bottom lip, tongue drinking you in for a couple of moments like you’re the last meal he’ll ever eat.

“shit.” he hisses, pulling his face back and screwing his eyebrows in mutiny.

oh, but if you didn’t love the way he looked at you like you were pure filth.

“you taste like him. it’s disgusting.” he spits, wiping his delicate lips with the back of his hand.

he knew, but there was always a part of him that wished you wouldn’t submit yourself to the likes of toji. he just had to see it for himself.

“come on, megumi-chan~ thats no way to talk to your girlfriend, is it?

your mother doesn’t deserve this. megumi doesn’t deserve the heartache, either.

megumi can’t see anything but the spitting image of his father all over your body, licking and fondling all the same crevices that he has. but he can’t get enough of you. he can’t stop, can’t turn away from you. he knows that at the end of the day you're spoon-feeding him phrases he wants to hear.

but you’re so good to him.

your pussy fits him like a glove. your hand intertwines with his perfectly. your head is the perfect size to cuddle onto his chest.

there’s something about you that makes you more addicting than nicotine.

bony and slender fingertips ghost over your thighs. you can’t help the squeak that hiccups from you. megumi raises an eyebrow in scepticism before flipping the hem of your miniskirt up.

he scoffs, slicking his long middle finger against your hot cunt.

“don’t hold it in.” he reprimands you, flashing a grimace as you squabble with him.

“b-but toji-“

“but what? am i not good enough for you?”

you swallow thickly, chanting a small prayer before allowing toji’s cum to drip out of your pussy. you shiver, goosebumps licking your skin when you can feel the warmth of his seed ooze and coat your soft thighs. you can’t avoid the burn of megumi’s regard as he watches the cum slowly flow out of you.

he’ll make you want him.

megumi can’t fully comprehend why you keep running back to his father instead of him, why you choose toji over him. like father like son, it evokes a bubble of magma in the form of competition and jealousy.

he’ll make you beg for him. that’s for sure.

“get on the bed.” he whispers, tone cold and even. there’s no warmth to his voice, even with his usual monotonous tendencies you can tell you struck a nerve. it makes your stomach churn, butterflies swooping in and adorning your vital organs.

like a moth drawn to a flame, as though you have no mind of your own, you step backwards until the back of your knees kiss the metal frame of your bed. megumi towers over you, pushing you backwards as he crawls in between your thighs.

the crisp ring of his zipper sliding down clashes against the room. why should he undress himself properly for the likes of someone like you?

“there’s no point in prepping you. i think you know that.” megumi sighs, relieving his twitching cock from the confines of his painfully tight boxers.

you can feel the avarice swirl in your abdomen, cold fear stilling in your veins at the mere thought that you could get caught by toji at any second. it makes your fingertips tingle and stomach churn. when you wail a needy whimper, megumi only shakes his head before plastering his icy cool hand against your wet lips.

a part of megumi wants to let all hell break loose. if he allows you to moan as you please, it won’t be just toji hearing your cries of ecstasy. knowing your mother, perhaps she’d be a little glad to know that your boyfriend is meeting your needs sufficiently. whereas toji?

it puts him in a predicament. from a bystanders point of view, toji has no right to storm in here and to shriek at megumi for blowing your brains out.

why?

because he’s not your dad.

he’s not a paternal figure in your life. there’s no right for him to say what you can and cannot do. he won’t hold that kind of reign over you like your mother does. and megumi likes that. he relishes the idea of toji being forced to listen to you babble megumi’s name, to mewl and cry for him to hit it deeper whilst he can’t do anything but complain.

it’s not like you haven’t heard your mother with other men plenty of times. it’s only natural, right? hell, she’ll probably gossip with you about it.

a carnal desire glosses over megumi’s steel blue gaze. like a wolf waiting to pounce onto a hare. he can see the way your thighs squeeze, how you gulp before him with those doe eyes of yours. you’re practically purring underneath him. for once, megumi gathers the reasoning to understand why his father finds you so intriguing. there’s nothing better than having your own toy melt and oblige under every command.

your boyfriend’s hand finds its way to your chest, where he rests the palm flat underneath your breasts. he steadies himself, using you as leverage as he guides his dick through the cum stained mess of your cunt. your heart pounds in anticipation, drool coating the back of your tongue as your pussy throbs around him. he manages to fit his tip in, dragging the enlarged and sensitive muscle against your walls. your ankles flutter around megumi’s waist, lower body strength trembling as you attempt to pull him in further.

“m-megs- please..”

“what?” he screws his eyebrows, staring you down. you can’t find the words in you to plead for him.

“what the hell? why act all coy now?“

“that’s not how we do things around here, is it? so spit it out. i won’t get what you’re trying to say otherwise.”

megumi slips his dick out, grinding against your clit as his torso flushes against yours. he pulls you in for a quick kiss, enough to relinquish his appetite, but not enough to taste the filth that corrupts your sweet and innocent lips.

“those cute little whines of yours won’t help you, either.” his breath flickers against your skin, sticky tongue licking trails as he works to mark up your neck. you can feel the tears prick your eyes already. you’re suddenly hyper aware of your heartbeat pounding in your ears, how it throbs against your cunt and the droplets of perspiration trickling along your skin. you can feel megumi’s pulse heavy against your clit, the way his dick twitches as he smears the tip through the folds of your slick. it’s slowly driving him insane. but that’s okay. even through the static that bounces around in his skull- he knows that you hate it more.

after all, your boyfriend knows best.

your fingernails soar around to megumi’s back. you want to scratch him, but you can’t access his toned skin through the layers of his jacket. instead, you’re left fumbling and scrunching the fabric like a feline with an insatiable desire to itch its claws.

“megumi- please, it’s too much-“ you huff through laboured breaths, peering up at him through tear stained eyelashes.

it’s almost enough to make him melt. almost.

“what is?”

“this?”

he shifts himself back up, grabbing his dick and slipping only the tip in once more. he allows you a few centimetres extra before dipping back out and repeating the process again. megumi’s gaze locks with yours, as though he’s asking ‘is this what you want?’

“s-stop teasing me.. just put it in alreadyy~” you choke out a groan of frustration, ready to slam your hips down onto the full length of his shaft.

“why should i?”

“megumi, i swear to god- if you don’t fuck me right now-“

“-or what? you’ll go to my dad? good luck, when you couldn’t even fulfill your duties as being his toy.”

so fucking humiliating.

the way megumi instantly stands up and proceeds to stuff his still hard and leaking dick back into his boxers.

he’ll deal with it later.

you’re left stuttering, unable to form any coherent words, thoughts or insults to spew back at him. legs wide open, cunt empty and glistening in the blue tint of the moonlight.

he leans over, swiping some of your excess drool with his thumb before dipping it into your mouth. he half expects you to lick at his thumb, convince him to stay a little longer, but his skin sits in your mouth like a forgotten thermometer for a couple of seconds.

“if only you could see your face right now.” he hums, tone flat with a certain mockery.

sometimes, as the days pass, you can notice his resemblance growing closer and closer to toji.

the following day

you haven’t left the quarters of your room for the entire day. you’re stuck in bed, face mushed into the confines of your pillow. you’ve always held high regards of the fact that your libido isn’t necessarily extremely high, but when you’re promised dick just to be neglected of it? shit feels like you’re in heat. you can’t go to toji, because you’re mother’s home. not only that, but he’d be sure to teach you one of his lessons. you’re already shivering thinking of the conversation with him, how you’d even try to dig out of that hole you were already so deep in.

you can’t call megumi either… at least not for now. you sigh wistfully into the pillow, kicking your legs about on your bed as you hiss a groan of turmoil.

there’s a sudden knock at the door that snaps you out of your haze. it leaves you pumped, blood coursing through your veins and you shoot up like an attentive little puppy about to be taken for a walk.

“it’s open!” you clear your throat, humming.

the disappointment rocks your features so clearly that it’s embarrassing. it’s just your mother.

“you okay? thought you died in here, baby. lunch is ready, and your lovely megumi-kun came to say hello.”

what?

“megumi? that’s nice. did he leave a message or anything? like he just dropped by to say hello or-“

“hm? oh, no. he’s having lunch with us.”

“is everything okay, dear?”

“yeah! yeah, i’m good. sorry, i spaced out a little bit. small headache, that’s all. i’ll change clothes and i’ll come out to eat.” you dismiss your mother, keeping in the hyperventilation you’re about to undergo. she gives you a small glance of concern before returning to the dining room to serve her guests.

“(y/n)! we were just talking about you!” your mother hums, gifting you a smile of warmth and radiance as she pours drinks into some cups.

you can feel toji’s mocking stare dig holes into your skin.

you can fucking feel it.

you can imagine him saying it.

“slut.”

at the six chaired table, you scurry to sit the furthest away from megumi and toji. your mother shoots you a sideways glance, motioning for the seat between toji and megumi. you swallow thickly, awkwardly striding over to take a seat.

your knee accidentally knocks into toji’s and you instantly utter an apology.

“you should be.” he mutters underneath his breath, disguising the words as a sigh.

“so? you said you were talking about me?” you straighten yourself, perking up a semblance of cheerfulness and perfect innocence.

“oh, right! toji was just telling me how stuffed you were yesterday!”

your lids flicker in shock and you abruptly stare at toji, whose half lidded jade green eyes slowly land on yours before locking to meet your attention for a few seconds.

“sorry, what?” you stutter, finding it difficult to believe the situation.

“you know, the food? are you sure you’re alright, honey? you’ve been acting strange since this morning.”

“i’m fine, i swear. just some painkillers would be nice.”

when your mother turns around to rummage for some painkillers, she emits a squeak of alarm at the lack of them.

please. you’ll do anything to get out of this predicament.

“are we out? i can go grab some-“

“-no, that’s okay. i’ll head out. i need to grab a few extra things for dinner anyway. you three, make nice with each other!”

sure.

when the door shuts, you realise you’re out of options.

you can’t run away.

“so, megumi. how’s eating up after my leftovers feel?”

“leftovers? because one woman wasn’t enough for you?” megumi scoffs, averting his gaze.

“it’s not my problem that your woman came running to me. doesn’t that say something about you?”

“like what?”

“like, you can’t fuck her properly?”

“i can’t fuck her properly? but you’re telling her to keep your cum inside her? don’t you care what’ll happen if she gets pregnant?”

“see, megumi. she’s on birth control. you didn’t know that? and besides, if i didn’t know any better-“

toji finally allows you his undivided attention, staring right through to your soul.

“-i’d think your little girlfriend here likes walking around with my cum inside her.”

you’d be able to run a butter knife through the tension hanging in the air. the room holds its breath, and as do you in compliment of trying not to set things off into a piping hot mess.

“isn’t that right-“

“-princess?”

your fight or flight response kicks in at the malicious tone that coats toji’s tongue. you swallow thickly, throat parched and lips cracked.

but fuck.

if it isn’t the most arousing thing- the two of them squabbling over you.

toji screws his face at you, features lighting in a mix of awe and delight.

“really? you’re seriously enjoying this?” toji hums with mockery, eyebrows perking at your unusual behaviour. he can smell the sweet nectar of your arousal slicking against your underwear.

you abruptly stand up, ready to leave.

megumi’s hand curls around your wrist. he slings your hand behind your back, slamming you over the table. some silverware and plates clatter and dash against the hardwood floor.

“answer the question, (y/n).” he hisses.

you whimper a soft whine. there’s no way you’re answering that.

“get your fucking hands off of her.” toji barks, kicking his chair back.

“try me.”

something washes over you. a premonition, say. that if you don’t speak up, someone will end up seriously injured.

“i can’t choose between you two. i just can’t. so i think it’s the best option if we just stop this completely.” you sigh, prying megumi off of you. his stance relaxes and you wince at the pain in your spine. you rub your wrists in slight agony, refusing to meet either of their gazes.

“it’s been fun, but i think it’s time to draw the line-“

“no.” toji remarks offhandedly.

“huh?” you contort your face in offence. there’s something thick on megumi’s face, too. it almost looks like determination?

“i said no.” toji reiterates, taking a stride towards you.

his index and thumb caress your chin, tilting your jaw up to look at him.

“i don’t care how long it takes. whether it’s me or him-“

“-i’m making you choose.”

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i-am-distressed · 3 years

Text

RIDE ALONG: Part 1

Prologue-Part 2

Warnings: none

You thanked the officer that held the door open for you, nodding to one you recognized as ‘Nanami’ as you made your way to your destination, Captain Yaga’s office. When you committed the misdemeanor, you were 3 days away from starting your first day as a rookie for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. When you punched your ex, a few of the higher ups deemed your actions as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘out of line’, and they put your admission into the unit on ‘pause’ while they figured out what to do with you, but they weren’t the ones who decided what would happen to you.

It was the man who would hopefully be your new boss, Masamichi Yaga. The Chief, who apparently trained Yaga first hand, decided whatever he decides will be best, so this is your one shot to get this right. The other new recruits were starting today, so they put you on a ‘3 day probation to think about what you did’. You walked up the flight of stairs, letting your eyes wander as you did. The station was in nice condition. It had been remodeled a few years ago, so it was really sleek and new looking. It had an open concept layout, and most every room had plenty of windows in it, keeping the station open and light. It was much different from the 30+ year old academy you had spent that past 5 months training in, where every time you stepped into daylight your eyes spent a good 5 minutes adjusting to seeing an adequate amount of light. Already, this was a promising change, you just needed to not screw this up any worse than you already did.

You got to the top of the stairs and proceeded down the hallway the dispatcher you ran into had directed you to, Miwa? She was nice, much better than the other 2 girls who were sitting at their desks throwing balled up pieces of paper into a far off trash can. Walking down the hallway you found the second floor was much more closed off and professional than the first. It had more closed doors and private offices, not surprising since you saw a few doors with ‘Sergeant’ and ‘Lieutenant’ on them. You got to the end and stopped when you found the door that had ‘Captain Masamichi Yaga’.

You stopped taking a deep breath before you squared your shoulders and knocked. Just before you did, you heard the captain talking to someone, you didn’t recognize the voice, but it was clear it belonged to a man. “Come in.” You turned the knob before stepping in the door. “Go ahead and close the door, please have a seat.” Yaga motioned over to the second chair he had sitting in front of his desk, diagonal to the chair the unknown man was sitting in. You nodded as you closed the door, making your way to sit in the chair, keeping a professional posture and a steadfast expression.

“I don’t believe either of you have met before, no?” You looked over at the man. He had pinkish hair with a dark undercut, his eyes were dark red and sharp, even with how lazy his gaze seemed, it was intense. You could feel his eyes wandering you, not in a creepy perverted way, but in a scrutinizing judging way. And to be honest, you couldn’t tell which one would tick you off more. Beyond having hair that was definitely too long to be within regulation, he was also covered in tattoos. Maybe he was a C.I? “Never seen her in my life, can I go?”

Your eyebrow raised as you turned back to look at the captain, who had an almost visible tick mark appearing on his forehead. “No.” Sighing the man leaned back in the chair, crossing his notably muscular arms over his chest. You couldn’t tell since he was sitting down, but you guessed he was in the 6’0 range, probably taller. He was very fit, that much was for sure. And he definitely was no professional, that much was also for sure. Whereas you came in wearing a very nicely fitting pair of slacks and a silk button up, he came in wearing a tight white t-shirt and dark wash jeans, he was wearing what looked like a black flannel over his shirt, it being left open and the sleeves rolled up. It definitely didn’t meet the uniform standards, but it didn’t exactly look bad either.

Yaga cleared his throat and you directed your attention back to him. “I’m sure you’re aware of the possible consequences of your actions, yes? Your record shows good grades, good conduct, and overall a spotless record. Nevertheless, what you did could get you in serious trouble a few years down the line, you’re lucky he didn’t decide to press any charges. I should tell you to go find another career, since it’s clear you don’t process emotions well.” You looked down at that, your arms had crossed over your chest and you held your tongue, he had a point.

“But, My wife happened to be there, and when I confided in her on what to do about the situation, she told me if I treasure my marriage I should show you some mercy. Our daughter was cheated on, so I can’t say I hate what you did. In light of that, a punishment is still in order,” He paused to lean on his elbows, gaze serious, and honestly intimidating as he stayed quiet for a moment.

"For the next 3 months, You, Y/n L/n will be doing a sort of probationary trial with this man sitting in front of me." The man's head shot up, his crimson eyes wide open as his face contorted into a scowl. "Yeah, no, she won't be. I don't take passengers." Yaga sat up, his glasses casting a menacing gleam, "If you'd like to keep your job, Corporal, you will be." The ‘corporal’ in question ‘tsk’d’ before sinking back into the leather chair, leg crossing lazily over the other as his hand gripped his bicep. He was muscular alright…

”Ms. L/n, this is Corporal Ryomen Sukuna, he’s just recently been taken off of suspension and is in a probationary period of his own. If at the end of these 3 months the two of you are deemed fit for duty, you will proceed on with your careers with no problem.” You looked over at the man, his red eyes finding your e/c ones as he raised an eyebrow, your own narrowing slightly at him before you smartly returned your gaze towards Yaga. “Do I make myself clear?” You both responded with ‘yes sir’ and he dismissed you.

You both stood from the chairs, him grabbing the badge that was slid over the desk while you made your way to the door. “Your first day is tomorrow, don’t be late,” Yaga turned to Sukuna, “I hope you understand, it doesn’t matter how good of a cop you are, this is your last chance, mess this up and you're done. Please cooperate.” Your eyebrows raised at that before you felt yourself cringe, great, the ‘probation officer’ they assigned you was some kind of delinquent? You opened the door and stepped out, Sukuna passing by you without a word, going his own way as you sighed, shutting the door and making your way back out of the station.

On your way to the front desk to sign out, you heard your name being called. “HEY! Y/N!” You stopped and turned, finding two of the new recruits who had graduated with you, Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro. They were nice, and good at what they did, so you were happy when you heard they’d be going to the same unit as you. You watched as Fushiguro smacked Itadori upside the head, “We’re inside, idiot.”

Your lip tugged up at that, watching as Itadori rubbed his head with a pout before turning to you, giving you one of his smiles. “Anyway, what did the Captain say? Are you gonna be able to continue with us?” You nodded as a small smile made its way to your face, “With conditions, yes.” Fushiguro nodded as Itadori gave you a thumbs up and ‘nice!’, “You’re lucky you didn’t get cut, the higher ups can be really cut throat when they want to be, i’d watch my back.” You nodded at Fushiguro, remembering the stories your dad had told you about people being let go for trivial things, although back then it was mostly family politics.

Fushiguro was from the Zen’in family, who was known for being exemplary cops, and had a strong presence in the station. From what you knew, there were at least 5 of them in this unit alone. “I will, they’re letting me join, but for 3 months i’ll be doing a probationary trial with one of the corporals.” Fushiguro nodded at that, Itadori’s eyes lighting up, “Which one did you get? We get assigned our T.O’s (training officers) tomorrow.” You felt your eye twitch as you thought back to the disrespectful and presumably problematic individual you had just met.

“Ryomen Sukuna. From what I know he just got back from suspension, so this is a punishment for him too.” Your eyes narrowed in confusion when Itadori’s widened in shock, “wAIT!? Does he have hair like mine?” You nodded, “Tattoos??” You nodded again, “Really bad attitude and terrible social skills-” “I think she gets it, what’s your point Itadori?” You almost laughed at how tired Fushiguro looked, despite being friends all throughout high school, and going to the academy together.

“Dude...her probation officer is my cousin Ryomen.” You watched as Fushiguro’s eyes now widened, his lips fighting a smile as he turned around, grabbing the collar of Itadori’s uniform as he dragged him off with a wave, “Good luck then, you’re gonna need it!” Your mouth opened to reply before you decided against it, just shaking your head and finally making your way to the front desk. ‘Ryomen Sukuna...I’ll ask dad about him later, I swear i’ve heard it before..’

**20 minutes ago in Yaga’s office before you arrived**

“Corporal, please have a seat.” Sukuna walked in, sitting down on the chair and bringing his elbows up on the arm rests, hands clasping together in front of his mouth. Sukuna had been on a 2 month suspension after yet another misdemeanor. The only reason he hasn’t been fired is because he’s truly good at what he does, and the department really doesn’t want to let him go but…”You’re aware of how we handle discipline in this department. So tell me how it is you’ve been dealt 7 out of the 8 disciplinary actions and you still have yet to change?”

The department had a sort of system for disciplining it’s cops. 1. A verbal warning (which Sukuna had ignored), 2. A written warning (Sukuna had thrown away), 3. Performance Improvement Plan (He had on multiple occasions ditched his supervising adviser), 4. Temporary Pay cut (He practically lived at the station, it didn’t phase him much), 5. Loss of privileges (see #4), 6. Suspension (recently completed), 7. Demotion (...up until 2 months ago it was Sergeant Ryomen Sukuna…) and 8. Termination. He could handle everything else but...termination meant he was done, and he was anything but.

“I told you captain, it’s not me who needs to change, the departments way too stuck up.” Yaga took a breath before he sighed, leaning back in his swivel chair, “I know the higher ups don’t always act accordingly, but they’re still your higher ups, and I can only defend your job beyond so many offenses.” Sukuna glared at the ground as his arms crossed against his broad chest. *Knock knock* “Come in”

TAGLIST: @alohablue 💙

#sukuna x reader #sukuna x y/n #jjk au #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen au #sukuna ryomen #ryomen sukuna #sukuna ryomen x reader #sukuna x you #jjk x reader #y/n

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linkspooky · 3 years

Photo

Kamo and Megumi is the same...

I’ve always read the Kyoto vs Tokyo arc as a breakdown of communication.The Kyoto kids want understanding, but due to everyone being teenagers the Kyoto Kids cannot explain and the Tokyo Kids cannot understand. One of the stand out moments is when Kamo insists they are the same, and Megumi just says no.

They are both dark haired, quiet, introverts. They were both born outsiders. Toji and Kamo’s mother the prostitute. People that the clan looked down on. However, the clan will take in their children because they were born with a strong cursed technique. They’re both strategists, who act like they’re logical, but tend to be swayed by emotions instead. They’re both trying to protect someone, Megumi his sister, and Kamo his mother and both only became jujutsu sorcerers to protect these people.

But yeah, they’re totally not the same at all... More under the cut.

So, why does Megumi reject Kamo so utterly?

Well, on the surface level it’s simply because Kamo is wrong.

To explain complicated morality a bit.

Killing one child, even if it’s to protect the peace of everybody else is ethically wrong.

However, the position Kamo is trying to explain to Megumi is utilitarian. He’s saying, the best way to handle this situation is to do what’s best for everybody, kill one person out of a hundred to save ninety nine.

He then also adds that, because they’re both heirs to political families they are pressured to think that way. Kamo is thinking in a utilitarian sense, because, he’s saying that as a family with major political power they have to make their decisions on the scope of society as a whole.

So adding onto that, Kamo is acting like there is a higher order of reasoning. He says they are expected to think in strictly numerical terms like this, they have to be utilitarian, they have to make their decisions without personal bias, because that’s what is expected of them as the future heads of clan. Kamo is also trying to elaborate, he’s not really allowed, to let personal feelings get in the way of his judgement, because from such a young age he’s always been forced to act responsible in every situation.

So basically. Kamo is saying. I’m not allowed to do what I think is right because I’m the son of the Kamo clan, I have to do what the clan thinks is right and fall into line with their utilitarian thinking.

Megumi’s response to this is, I don’t care about that, I decide things based on what I think is right.

So on one level Megumi is right. Kamo is not actually doing what he thinks is right, he’s doing what the clan thinks is right and claiming he has no choice. Megumi is saying “I don’t care about your cicrumstances or what’s pressuring you, I still believe it’s wrong for you to try to kill my friend.”

He also, is right in calling that most people are just following their own conscience and just trying to do what they think is right. Kamo’s repressed motivation this entire time is, he’s not really thinking of the whole clan, he’s just trying to do right by his mother. Megumi, is trying to save Tsumiki and Yuji, Kamo is trying to save his mother, however they go about it in different ways, Megumi by saving people selfishly, and Kamo by pretending to be the dutiful and loyal son.

Megumi’s callout works. Both Megumi and Kamo are just doing what they feel is right in this situation. Kamo is the one pretending like he has a higher reasoning. He’s using the clan’s control over him as a way to excuse himself for what he knows is wrong.

However, on another level Megumi is wrong.

Megumi is saying, you are doing a bad thing. Therefore, you are a bad person and I don’t have to listen to you.

When it’s really that Kamo is in a bad family situation. It’s true Kamo’s choices are his own, and he can still make bad decisions and held to responsible for them, however, it’s impossible not to look at Kamo’s family situation, because one it influences his decisions so much (the constant flashbacks to his mother, he’s trying to do what will protect his mom), and two because it resembles Megumi’s own family situation so much (Megumi is also, someone who became a Jujutsu Sorcerer to save his sister).

“We have no choice but to curse each other.”

In other words.

“I don’t care to hear what your reasons are, I’m just going to fight you.”

It’s never a good thing when you’re quoting Geto.

This is a bad end. This is where the talks break down. The thing is, both Megumi and Kamo are wrong because they are both kids. Yes, Kamo shouldn’t have ever agreed to the order to kill Yuji but at the same time, Kamo never should have been put in that situation. It’s the adults that are making these kids fight, it’s the adults that create the situations where these kids fight.

Megumi is using a simplified morality here. Megumi unconsciously divies people into good or bad people and judges them based upon that. We’ve seen them do this countless times, he sees the bad people as not worth saving, and then puts the good ones on a pedestal where they can do no wrong.

His sister is a “good person” therefore she’s always a good person. Yuji is a “good person” therefore no matter what he does he’s always a good person and worth saving. The problem with this sort of black and white morality is that it doesn’t apply to a life that is a very, messy, gray. The thing is, the way Megumi sees the world the only people who ever do bad things are bad people.

Well, this guy must have been bad because he hit someone while driving without a liscense.

Megumi says while not knowing the circumstances at all. Maybe he was driving to work without a license because his mom needed the money and he was still in high school and couldn’t get one? Maybe, he actually felt sorry about it.

The thing is, the guy was arrested, and was already actively serving penance for his crime. And yet, Megumi is like, “Nah he’s not worth saving. I was planning on letting him die.”

That’s like, an awful thing to think, because crimminals are no longer human and therefore no longer worth saving. That’s how simplified Megumi’s view on morality is, it’s downright childish, once you’ve done a bad thing you’re labeled as bad for life. People can’t improve, or repent or feel sorry for what they’ve done.

The thing is people do bad things all the time without meaning too, or for understandable reasons, or because they’re people. Megumi’s primary fear is what if the person I save, turns out to be a bad person?

However, that doesn’t come from a place of hating crimminals per se.

It comes from Megumi’s tenderness, his kindness, his fear of hurting people. Childish is the best way to describe it. Megumi’s primary character trait is that he was abandoned by both parents, he doesn’t really know how to survive in the world but he has to pretend that he does because no one else is there to take care of him. Add onto that the idea that he was sort of forced into becoming a jujutsu sorcerer first by his dad selling him, then by Gojo only intervening on the premise that he come to work for him instead. Second, on the fact that he was completely powerless to stop whatever was happening to Tsumiki.

It makes perfect sense that Megumi has a really childish morality, he is a child, and it doesn’t come from a place of wanting to punish bad people so much as he’s afraid of other people getting hurt by his actions, and he’s afraid that he might be at fault, that he might be the reason that people like Toji, and Tsumiki left his life. Megumi is so careful with choosing his actions, because he’s so afraid that he’s the reason everyone else around him left him, and if he screws up he’ll lose other people again, or he’ll hurt people. It comes from Megumi genuinely being a soft guy towards almost everyone he meets, just like Yuji.

The problem is, Kamo is the same.

Kamo is also someone coping really badly with circumstances just like Megumi is. However, when it comes to judge Kamo Megumi just ignores those circumstances.

The difference between Kamo and Megumi is that one of them is good, or one of them is bad, they’re not better than the other, their fight even got interrupted and ended in a tie. They are both children.

The difference is their circumstances. Basically at this time, Kamo had already been placed as the next head of the Kamo clan, whereas Megumi was still being protected by Gojo. Megumi doesn’t stop to think about how their circumstances might be different, because he doesn’t think of circumstances at all he’s still hung up on good people vs. bad people.

The reason that Kamo decided to turn against Yuji is that he was being pressured too, he thought he had to choose between doing the thing he thought would help his mother, or saving a random stranger. He made a bad choice, but people make bad choices in bad circumstances.

The problem with Megumi’s reasoning is that he assumes because he’s deciding things based on his own conscience, that he’ll just somehow be stronger in those circumstances. Megumi assumes that he would still make the right choice, even if put into Kamo’s cricumstances. However, how would Megumi react if he was forced to choose between Yuji and Tsumiki. If he had to decide which one to save?

Now, Megumi is being pushed into similiar circumstances that Kamo once faced.

Tsumiki, who Megumi always held up as his gold standard of a good person might do something bad. Geto says he’s going to release all the new cursed energy users he created and make them fight, Tsumiki might hurt someone.

Yuji, who also was what Megumi decided was a good person also has hurt a lot of people now.

Yuji and Tsumiki are both victims of circumstance the same way Kamo was once. Yuji never wanted to do anything bad, his only intention the whole way was to save people. Yuji ended up hurting a lot of people in Tokyo. It wasn’t even his fault, but the undeniable reality is it’s still something that happened.

This is why dividing people into good or bad doesn’t work, good people can still hurt other people, good people make mistakes, good people are capable of doing wrong.

You could say that Yuji should have always known about the possibility that Sukuna would rampage, but it didn’t occur to him, that one he’d ever be in a situation where Gojo wouldn’t be around to stop him, and two he didn’t think he’d be fed ten or so fingers at once. It’s true Yuji wasn’t acting responsibly as Sukuna’s host, but Yuji is, just a kid. He’s like seventeen. There’s no way he can be held responsible in every single situation.

If you wanted to be pedantic you could even go back and say that Kamo’s decision was the right one. That Megumi should have killed Yuji all along, because the threat was always there that Yuji might let Sukuna rampage and kill hundreds of people.

However, even that is missing the point. The point being that, Kamo, Yuji and Megumi are all just kids. It’s unreasonable to expect any of them to be well adjusted in these circumstances. By expecting these kids to act like rational adults in situations that most adults couldn’t handle, then blaming the kids for their reactions, all you’re ensuring really is that the kids pay for the adults mistakes.

Now, Megumi is being put into the exact same position as Kamo. He’s a child, being forced to now act like the heir to the Zen’in clan because Gojo is no longer around to protect him. He’s going to become a piece to be manipulated by the adults around him.

Megumi probably won’t do very well in this situation, because he’s just a kid. If anything that’s the strength of Jujutsu Kaisen as a manga. Characters don’t ever like heroically overcome circumstances with sheer willpower alone. Yuji isn’t acting heroic like now, he’s horrified by what Sukuna used his body to do, he doesn’t feel like he can go back home right now because his friends wouldn’t accept him anymore, and he would just hurt them. It’s almost etter to see Yuji falter with circumstances instead of heroically overcome them, because now Yuji feels like a real kid. He feels what any kid would feel in that situation, he struggles with it.

Kamo and Megumi are the same, because they’re just kids. I wish Megumi would see that too, because he might learn to be more forgiving towards himself. It’s not his fault that Toji and Tsumiki left because he wasn’t good enough.

The strange thing is Yuji thinks that Megumi might blame him for what happened in Tokyo and think he is a bad person now, but Megumi is much more likely to blame himself. He’ll think it was his choice to save Yuji that led to Sukuna rampaging and he has to bear all the respnosibility alone without Yuji. When the truth is it’s neither of their faults, because both Megumi and Yuji are just kids.

#kamo noritoshi #megumi fushigoro #itadori yuji #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen meta #jujutsu kaisen theory #jjk 138 #jjk 138 spoilers #jujutsu kaisen 138 #jujutsu kaisen 138 spoilers

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