~ You're My Sea You're My Sunshine The Star The Moooon ~

New art for Akutagawa's birthday by Beast illustrator Shiwasu Hoshikawa

Sometimes self care is putting your silly little clown in silly little outfits

Lucy should get to have a crush on Yosano, as a treat.

She's her favourite customer at the cafe. At first she was too shy to directly talk to Yosano about anything other than her order and couldn't make eye contact without going completely red.

Yosano is one of the prettiest women Lucy has ever seen, smart and confident, she admires the way Yosano walks into any room and looks like she belongs there. Lucy would find herself idly watching Yosano's hands, they're always so well manicured and look like they'd be so soft to hold. The hands of a doctor, they move with skilled purpose, even when just holding her coffee cup.

It was Yosano who started talking to Lucy first. Just casual topics, "Has it been busy today?" type of thing and Lucy nearly fell over herself to answer at first, but it quickly became easier to talk to Yosano. She has such an inviting smile and her laughter is like music to Lucy. Even when Yosano is complaining about her work load, Lucy can't help but be enthralled.

Yosano starts coming in to the cafe more regularly, taking her lunch breaks down there, or stopping in after work. She always sits near Lucy and waits to be served by her. Lucy has her order memorized so they get to talking immediately.

Yosano has invited Lucy out, she suggests they should go shopping together and get lunch out sometime, that way Lucy doesn't have to be distracted by her work whilst they talk. She wants to take Lucy sightseeing, show her more of Yokohama and build up her confidence about living in a new city.

Lucy can't help but feel like half the places Yosano suggests are dating spots, but that must be her imagination. Surely. The compliments Yosano pays her and the way Lucy's also caught Yosano watching her when she thinks she's not looking, must be a coincidence.

I find it really funny how Poe is basically the ada's emergency contact

A Fear Even Greater: BSD Ch. 121 vs. BEAST Ch. 4

I was reading the new chapter today and I couldn't help but notice some similarities to BEAST that I wanted to share. I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this nor do I usually do this kind of analysis post but I thought it was interesting and I'd like to share so please bear with me!

BSD CH. 121 SPOILER WARNING

I've highlighted the segments from each work that I think are thematically relevant to each other in the same colours because my brain works that way, but if yours doesn't don't worry - I will explain:

In YELLOW we have Atsushi's instinct to flee in the face of the enemy. I touch on this a bit more later on but BEAST!Atsushi is further along this thought process than canon!Atsushi. B!Atsushi seems mostly afraid of pain and violence while canon!Atsushi is more despondent. He's lost hope and had his spirit broken from watching his surrogate family die in front of him (understandably, poor baby)

In GREEN we have Dazai acknowledging/calling out Atsushi's cowardice. BEAST!Dazai is mostly describing how Atsushi used to be while canon!Dazai is snapping Atsushi out of his current doom-spiral.

He does this in most of his other hallucination appearances, not dissimilar to his interaction with Atsushi in Ch. 25.

In PURPLE we have the core of this whole rambling post (*´▽`*) There really isn't any contrast in these two, both B!Dazai and canon!Dazai are saying the same thing here.

Which brings us to CYAN where we see how the purple bits deviate slightly with context. It's a minor difference but B!Dazai lists the things that Atsushi used to fear (pain, violence, etc.) but canon!Dazai lists the qualities that Atsushi feels he's lacking (courage and hope). B!Atsushi is already able to use this "technique" (for lack of a better term) in combat, likely because he was exposed to terrifying situations earlier and more frequently than canon!Atsushi and has had more time to adapt to them (again, poor baby [╥﹏╥])

Now in RED we skip ahead a bit in the BEAST chapter to Dazai giving Atsushi his next directive. B!Dazai uses Atsushi to enact his plan and (eventually) bring Atsushi and Akutagawa together while canon!Dazai urges Atsushi to compartmentalize and focus on saving the people that he's still able to save.

Canon!Dazai's request is reminiscent of Oda's final words to him which - knowing Asagiri - could very well be intentional even if this is obviously not the "real Dazai" but rather the manifestation of some part of Atsushi's inner thoughts or Byakko (personally my money's on the tiger theory but we'll see). The Oda/Dazai/Atsushi/Akutagawa parallels will never stop and I'm here for it tbh.

[Dark Era excerpt from this translation from @nkhrchy]

Which brings us to MAGENTA (Could I have done these in chromatic order? Yes. Did I only realize that after typing it all out? Absolutely.) In both cases at this point Atsushi comes to a realization and I think the difference in what that realization is really drives home how well BEAST uses alternate universe to emphasize characterization in canon. Some of this is based on my assumptions about the final page of Ch. 121 and is therefore at risk of being jossed next month BUT I think that what canon!Atsushi is realizing in the final panel ("who you really are") is that this Dazai apparition comes from The Tiger. If it isn't Byakko explicitly I think it's fair to say that it's coming from somewhere within Atsushi himself. So, that being said, let me explain a little bit: B!Atsushi's only recourse is to take refuge in Dazai's plans/orders. His "greater fear" stems from an instance when he deviated from those orders and as a result he feels safest behind the bulwark of going along with Dazai's will. Not the healthiest coping mechanism, but it makes sense considering what B!Atsushi has experienced up to that point. Canon!Atsushi, however, is (I assume) realizing that the safety and reassurance - however harsh it may seem - of the Dazai in his head has actually been coming from himself the entire time. I think it's safe to say that whether it's his subconscious or Byakko, this apparition takes the shape of Dazai because that's who Atsushi trusts during times of crisis; that's the voice he's desperately wishing he could hear. Ultimately canon!Atsushi is in a much better place (despite... everything lol) because he's able to recognize his own internal strength instead of clinging to the safety he sees in Dazai. B!Atsushi does eventually start this process after Dazai fires him and Kyouka (and then steps off the roof of HQ RIP) but he has to take the time first to heal from the anxiety his violent upbringing inflicted on him (quite understandably - let's all say it together: poor babey T_T) There's more I could say about canon!Akutagawa undergoing a similar process re:Dazai but this post is too long! So I won't ♡

OKAY! My brain has never been satisfied with using one word when I could use ten so if you made it to the end thank you and I'm sorry ♡ I am not a writer and doing this reminded me why!! So I will definitely stick to drawing pictures (I'm almost finished one I swear! I'm like a plant, I wither into nothing in the winter months)

I love how Dazai’s role in the whole go after the fingernail guy thing was just to narrate what everyone else was doing.

Oh Ranpo found you guys in 5 seconds. Atsushi and Junichiro took out of all your back up. Kenji over here just destroyed your door and Yosano’s going to hunt you down for sport.

Like Dazai didn’t do shit but he showed up anyway just so he could happily talk about how proud he is of everyone else’s contributions.

Hello everyone.🥹

Did you know that here in Gaza, between 600 and 500 people die every day, including children, women, and men, and no one sees me or knows about us? Did you know that the crossings are closed and there is no food or drink? Did you know that the doctor told me that my fetus is in danger and that I must eat healthy food and take injections until my pregnancy is complete?

Did you know that this is my first fetus after trying to get pregnant for more than three years?

Please, do you know what it means to lose a child?

Please, I do not want to lose my child.

Here is the donation link.

Your donation will save my child's life. Please donate.🥹🥹

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Inas to succeed & overcome high risk pregnancy in Gaza, organized by Amanda Marsh

Hello, my name is Amanda Marsh and I have set this campaign u… Amanda Marsh needs your support for Help Inas to succeed & overcome high risk

✅️Vetted by @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #425 )✅️🇵🇸🇵🇸

Google Docs

GazaVetters

volatile times

Since Teruko's story was revealed, I've seen some people saying that she wasn't twelve years old in the present day, but in the Great War, and since that was my first impression when I read the chapter, I wanted to talk a little bit about why this wouldn't make sense if we take into account the timeline that had already been established by the manga up to that point.

Because of Yosano's backstory, we know that the Great War began fourteen years before the current timeline, assuming that Mori recruited Yosano at the beginning of the conflict. (It's said that she was eleven years old when she entered the war, and as she is currently twenty-five years old, it is safe to assume that the war began, at least, fourteen years ago. Mori's age also agrees with this assumption.)

Back to Teruko's backstory, we are told that she started fighting in the war in her first months of life, as her ability meant that she could mature her body and mind, so she was already considered fit to be a soldier even though he was literally a baby. Just like Yosano, it's never stated that she was there from the beginning, and the chapter itself refutes this later, somewhat.

At the beginning of her flashback, the narrator talks about how Teruko's only childish characteristic is her appearance, which imply the idea that she is an adult today, and even the speech that she is only twelve years old, that she really is a child, can also be ambiguous as the scene changes to show Teruko during the war, giving the idea that during the war she had a childlike appearance because she was a child, but that now she uses that form for convenience, or any other unspecified reason.

However, if we consider everything we know about the war and when it occurred, it's possible to see that Teruko couldn't have served in the army while she was only a few months old and be over fourteen/fifteen years old, and we also know that the the war didn't last long enough for Teruko to have joined it when she was a few months old, and be twelve years old when it ended, at least according to what was shown in the manga.

Of course, she could be thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen, but the manga itself states that she is twelve, despite her ability being able to change her physical and mental age, so I see no reason to believe she isn't that age.

Also, the fact that she is twelve now only adds to the tragedy. She is a child who has only known war all her life and who died (as far as we know) to avenge the person who saved her life when she was just a few months old and had already seen people dying, already had to kill enemy soldiers, and was almost killed by them. It was supposed to be something sad, her life was destined to be a fight until the end, and not by her choice, because she had no choice to be here, to begin with.

Actually, while having a retrospective on Egghead, I realized there isn't enough Sentomaru appreciation.

The entire arc he spends sacrificing himself for the safety of others. And boy does he sacrifice. Zero shits given about his "faith" to the Marines and the WG. No hesitation in betraying them if it means helping his father figure and the innocent civilians of the island. Goes against a BUSTER CALL and is willing to stay behind if it means others get to escape. Does everything he can to save innocent lives to the point of going against his mentor figure. And all of his efforts go to waste due to the sheer tragedy of the situation, as he has to watch the escapee ships get shot down. He instantly sides with the Strawhats even if it means he'll be declared a criminal. Quits the corrupt system of the Marines and in return he looses everything. And yet he tries to keep going even in his mourning and manages to survive. Genuinely the unsung hero of the arc.

I give Stella a lot of criticism about a lot of things, as much as I love him as a character, but "leaving his son behind to potentially die on a Buster Call'd island while he attempts to escape with some pirates" is one I often forget. Justice for 'maru.