as we draw near the release of the next issue here's my list of (not completely serious) sweet sixteen predictions:
jesse and nicholas fight that feels really brotherly even if they don't know yet. i'm saying hair-yanking, kicking shins, fingers in the face. they're playing fully unfair.
seiji gets benched and they put nicholas in instead of him (way back there was a panel about how the closer should never be replaced by the reserve....... foreshadowing perhaps?)
this leads to seiji complimenting nicholas and NOW we get nicholas realizing he has a crush too (this either spurs him on during the next bout or causes him to have a crisis)
seiji and marcus sweet moment where marcus compliments seiji and it actually means something to him because he was his idol as a kid
harvard gets to say fuck, aiden engages in more internal turmoil than normal
confirmation (as far as there has been the implication) that aiden and nate are exes and everything that comes with that
we discover whether robert coste knows about nicholas or not (my bet is on not) but jesse doesn't find out in this issue
we get some kind of insight on jesse's relationship with fencing (whether he's just a natural talent, it's just for the family, or is as obsessed with it as seiji, ect)
kyle somehow fucks shit up bad. or he has a really funny one liner. like either he's fundamental to the plot of this issue or he's just there to look back and forth between jesse and nick going "oh what the hell"
ok but seriously: harvard and marcel will probably speak during the tournament and aiden will fuck shit up either for himself or others, mayhaps along with someone actually getting him to talk
someone who's not a trusted adult discovers nicholas's relation to the costes (bobby, aiden, or kyle?) and it either gets out, so nick deals with the fallout of that, or they have the moral dilemma of telling someone (coach, robert, or perhaps nick himself)
williams/lewis crumbs lol
haiden kiss. for me specifically. it won't happen but i so wish that it would. and if it does happen it should give us insight on why aiden refuses to apply himself to fencing and harvard's relationship with being captain and responsibility, and they should be deeply troubled and shaken up by it
some more insight on nicholas's dynamic with his mom and maybe information he has about her and robert's relationship?
for the giggles: team finds out seiji never celebrated his 16th because he was in france, so they set up a little celebration for him (hence "sweet sixteen") (this is my favorite one out of all of these) (i have many emotions about seiji being in france, alone, for a year)
last but not least: someone gets carded at least once and someone yells at the refs (happens without fail at every team comp)
Saw the sports au in the wind breaker week prompts and this art immediately came to my mind
Gonna try writing some Archer Suo content he looks so good ♡
ill delete this later BUT HEY LISTEN TO ME
VASH AS A BOFURIN MEMBER
IT'S FINALLY IN MY LOCAL BOOKSTORE
Reading it physically just feels different 🤧
Olympic boxing aikusagi for the aikusagi day on twt
PLEASK make this scenario a fic anyone😭
I really want a fence fic where nick needs to get surgery or blood transfusion for whatever reason but has a rare blood type and nobody but jesse can help him and then boom family reveal, theres a fight in the hospital and shit and then uh oh roberte coste arrives and has a heart to heart with nicholas and theres crying and ahhhhhhhhhh
i can't stand him
mitsukou in c118 !
Thoughts on the new chapter?
so many!!!! we got so much thematic/character stuff and a lot of lore implications as well!! I’ll try my best to cover all my thoughts!!
mitsuba SHINED this chapter he was GLOWING he was so brave and clumsy and troubled, he absolutely NAILED the final girl role and I love that so much for him!!
he also had some of my favorite thematic moments. I especially loved the yorishiro destruction panel:
LOVE love love love that he TEARS IT APART WITH HIS TEETH !!!! when we’ve learned this mitsuba has supernatural mitsuba’s memories!! the HAT oh my god the symbol of the hat flying off in the moment when he goes full feral to save this girl and himself… when that’s a part of himself supernatural mitsuba tries so hard to hide and suppress… this mitsuba dives into it for the sake of his own life and the life of his underclassman. mitsuba tears something apart with his teeth, leaning into his more monstrous instincts, to be a hero!! the hat is so silly but also I’m choosing to read it as a symbol of hiding the parts of himself he’s scared of, and in this moment we see the beauty and strength in that part of him!! (go, queer monster boy, go!! I love you!!!!)
I also find this mitsuba fascinating for how he flips the script on picture perfect mitsuba
picture perfect mitsuba wants to pretend he’s human mitsuba… he wants his memories, even if it’s fake. 116 mitsuba… wants to remember!! he wants to understand!! he wants the truth!!
it’s hard to really know what to make of this though, because it’s hard to know who this mitsuba is. according to the supposed altered timeline, this should be alive mitsuba. but he has supernatural mitsubas memories… it raises questions mitsuba and tsukasa always have: what is a person? a soul? memories? both? to what extent?
to bring it back to him destroying the paper with his teeth: I would love… if original/human mitsuba had some of the same aggressive/feral tendencies supernatural mitsuba is so ashamed of, that make him feel so nonhuman, so monstrous. he doesn’t have human mitsubas memories; there could be so many similarities between them he can’t see!!
one last mitsuba observation:
his injured hand in 116 is the one always in his sleeve as a ghost and then as a supernatural. probably just a thematic thing rather than a lore one, but a really interesting detail!! are we barreling inevitably back to our original timeline?
kou is also really interesting this chapter, and in this arc in general, for his unwillingness to remember… he’s had multiple opportunities and ignored them all. very baffling, considering picture perfect kou’s and red house kou’s dedication to reality and all the pain that comes with it. not sure what to make of this just yet, but it’s something I’m keeping an eye on!! would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this!!
my favorite kou panel this chapter:
I am FASCINATED by the bandages slipping off his hand… they look!! incredibly familiar!!
I wonder what the parallel is here? could this be a lore hint, implying amane’s wounds were caused by whatever gave kou his injuries? or maybe just a thematic parallel of a boy in too deep trying to protect someone? someone putting himself in harms way willingly… much to think about!!
now some nitty gritty lore thoughts:
happy to report I am still steadfastly team “tsukasa is tsukasa”—I think original supernatural tsukasa definitely is tsukasa, and the white bubble of him calling out to amane suggests to me he’s still in there in this timeline too, just less in control. maybe that’s as good as neutralized to the clock keepers though? or maybe the yorishiro destruction was more tsukasa’s idea than the god’s, and the god is appeased by this ritual enough to not need to destroy any yorishiros?
do mysteries and their yorishiros even exist in this timeline?
on the topic of yorishiros, it’s interesting that the girl from the photography club was saved when the paper was destroyed but kou still got possessed… is it just one spirit traveling between targets, and it left the girls body to possess kou? but the girl and tsukasa seemed to be possessed simultaneously… so maybe destroying the paper did do something to help the girl? if the yorishiro allows connection between the supernatural and human realms, why the flowers? are they a sacrifice? the existence of the ritual itself is also confusing, because the god didn’t need any ritual to contact tsukasa in the red house… does this have something to do with the power of rumors? or is the red house maybe just a more powerful location than the school? why was amane hyping up the ritual? is tsukasa calling for him because he’s used to teacher amane being there and now he’s not?
as usual I find myself with a million questions lol, I absolutely loved this chapter!! would love to hear other thoughts about it!!
and as a closing note: I would die so fast in this timeline there’s no way I’m not playing with him he’s so cute even when supremely possessed
if he’s so evil why does he have a halo??
little angel confirmed <3
back after my hiatus (recently saw a fence post and was like “i think….i miss my wife”)
i forgot how much fun it was to make these — i already have my next dump half done