It's So Fun When People Give Characters Nicknames Based On Their Own Language, And It Gets Even More

!!! HII !!!

Oh pls forgive me for just... DISAPPEARING! If only I could tell you guys everything that's been happening lately!

I'll leave this WIP here as a reminder that I'm still here, I'm still an artist and that I need to finish this sooner or later!! I promise I'm trying hard to post again! It's just that you can't have a good academic, social and artistic life at the same time, one of them needs to be sacrificed O⁠_⁠o

☆ Day 2 : hobby or fight

Prompt list :

I have to skip my own submission today becusee i couldn’t get something finished in time OTL all I have are sketches

But I can’t wait to share everyone else’s art!!

Also ill be back tomorrow with my OWN fanfic. Get ready it’s gonna be ANGSTY

hello!! i just saw your post about teru’s character arc and dynamic w/ mob and was blown away - i never EVER noticed the heart eye panel. i was curious if you had a deep character analysis of teru/would be willing to share your opinions on teru’s arc? at risk of sounding completely media illiterate i feel like most of teru’s arc went completely over my head watching the anime and i would be curious to hear your thoughts (if you would like to share)!

oh it's totally not your fault, a lot of teru's arc was already pretty subtextual in the manga and the anime cuts a lot of the small details that give you the context to put the whole thing together

im gonna put my own interpretation of his arc under the cut because i could literally talk about this kid for years

ok so basically, teru's starting point as a character is "im special and important because of my powers because i have to be special and important or my life is empty and meaningless"

the entire construction of his social life; his overachieving in sports, his popularity, his place as the shadow leader of a middle school gang- all of that exists to prop himself up as the main character of the world and distract himself from how crushingly empty and devoid of connections his life is. hence-

this fight is what dismantles the idea that his powers make him uniquely special and enlightened, but it doesnt really do anything to actually built an internal sense of self confidence. his realization that he is an ordinary person doesnt come with "and that's okay because everyone is", it's just a reshuffle of the heirarchy he has viewed the world as. now instead of himself > everyone, it's mob > himself > everyone.

the fact that he knows special powers don't make him special is his new point of false confidence- he isnt uniquely enlightened because he has special powers, he's uniquely enlightened because he knows those powers don't make him special

and while the 7th division arc serves some challenging of this worldview, it's not really until wd arc that it actually gets dismantled.

to...

BUT this isnt the end of it. teru's notion that he is uniquely special and important has, by this point, been thoroughly dismantled. however....

other people....

by necessity no growth can really occur within broccoli arc for anyone but mob and dimple. since everyones memories of this arc get wiped, it serves as a good setup for where everyone's characters arcs are left to go before we get into confession arc. teru has been left in a place where, while his place in the "special and important people" hierarchy has been dropped, this has left mob at the top of an unreachable pedestal. dimple's prior efforts to convert teru through force, with the cookies and insisting himself as god, were fruitless. being controlled like that only made him angry. it was only through teru's idolization of mob that he was able to replace himself in that already existing spot in teru's psyche

so going into confession arc, teru has this unshakable, almost literally godlike image of mob in his head, which leads him to the same mistake so many people in this arc have to work through.

this isnt him. he's perfect. he doesn't make mistakes. he would never lash out and hurt anyone. he would never-

once civilians are in the picture is the moment it clicks for him. and then we get this wonderful mirror that kills me to think about.

so many of the parallels in these fights (which. i dont feel like finding all of them) culminate in this. because ultimately, they are very similar conflicts. both represent the dissolution of their respective personas. confession arc is a crossroads in mob's brain: to spend the rest of his life restraining his powers and- by extension, his identity- for the sake of other people, or to let his powers run wild and push away all these people whom he sees as only liking the fake him ("mob").

the breaking point, murderous intent, the point at which this fight goes from simply trying to push the other way/push the other into fighting back, is the assertion of the other's normalness. teru pushes back with the violence of a commoner, mob pushes back with violence that can only be exerted by an esper. teru cannot accept his powers do not make him uniquely amazing, mob cannot accept his do not make him uniquely horrible- uniquely despicable- uniquely unlovable.

which brings us to heart eye panel.

because this is the moment that teru sees mob for who he truly is- for a human being with flaws who's capable of having ugly emotions and losing control and lashing out- and still loves him.

and through this teru, despite his uglier emotions, despite whatever he's done in the past, is a person who is capable of being loved. he doesnt need to be the best esper or the best at sports or the best in his class to stand out, to be paid attention, to form genuine connections.

the people close to you will love you despite your flaws, will understand when you're going through hard times, will offer support even when you push them away. they dont just love the perfect image of you you try to present, the non confrontational person who doesnt speak out for themselves, or the overachiever who's always good at everything. they love you.

Day 1: Family or school life

It was hot. The sun seemed merciless that Friday afternoon, but perhaps the excessive heat was coming more from Mob than from the star itself. No matter how much he quickened his pace, it seemed he would never get home, and of all the days he could take a brief break on the way, this would not be the chosen one. It was then that a familiar voice took him out of his internal purgatory, with an excited call

'HI MOB!!' Tome said in all her ecstasy 'How lucky I am to bump into you! Can you come with me to return Mezato's camera? I can't find her anywhere' And, as tempting as it sounded to help his friend, it was not an option to stop and risk being late

'Ah, Kurata-san! I would love to help you but I can't right now, I really need to go home... Sorry...' he said, gradually lowering his tone

'GOSH, but what is so important that you have to do that would stop you from HELPING your friend here?' The girl replied, in a teasing tone but with a hint of curiosity.

'Y-yes! And I need to go now, see you tomorrow, Kurata-san!' Mob finished, returning to his firm step from before, but not leaving without first wishing good luck in finding the owner of the camera.

'Ah, Teru is coming over today, my parents want to meet him!' The boy replied, now more excited, unable to contain his smile that escaped when he mentioned the other boy's name.

'Ohhh, the boyfriend is going to meet the parents, huh? So things are getting serious!' She said, not abandoning the joking tone.

Oh marcille, they could never make me hate you ☺️ your my favorite little lesbian

Day 5: Whump/Separation

Hands that hurt

My part of the mp100 secret spirit exchange for @bizarre-blues ! They asked for flustered TeruMob I am here to deliver @mp100secretspirit

Mezato is a very intriguing person despite her position as a side character restricting the audience's knowledge on her, but there are some implications I have become very interested on.

During her conversation with Ritsu post-LOL Cult arc, she mentions something akin to "people really aren't born as equals", referring to how Mob is so disadvantaged compared to Ritsu even thought they're siblings. However, that also says a lot about her motivations. Mezato has two main reasons for organizing the Psycho Helmet Cult and trying to make it influent (with Mob's help as their messiah): 1) it sounded fun; and 2) she wanted to take part in such a massive event. Although the "fun" part can be attributed to the fact that well, she is a fourteen year old with a weird perspective, both motivations are directly associated to not only Mezato's passion, but her opinion on herself.

First of all, she becomes fixated on anything that appears worthy of her attention. It kickstarts her adventures as the school journalist, hunting for any kind of news that she believes to be interesting, and by that she doesn't mean "math class is cancelled": Mezato goes far beyond, from catching shoplifters red-handed to infiltrating a cult that supposedly brainwashes its members. It's clear that the mundane is not enough to her. Mezato wants the current biggest thing. This is one of the reasons she gets so interested in Mob, and being so obsessed with the worldchanging, Mezato cannot bring herself to care as much about the common, the mundane. This way, she can only see entertainment, or better put, value, in what stands out.

Equally, Mezato wants to participate in something she sees as 'big'. Being someone who is so attracted to the flashiest parts of reality, she wants to have an active, direct role regarding them. It makes her feel entertained. It makes her feel fulfilled. It makes her feel special, most of all, because even being in the Biggest Thing's shadow removes her from the condition of banality she disdains so much. That's what makes the Psycho Helmet Cult sound like such an excelent idea, as hollow and uncritical it could be.

But what does these beliefs say about Mezato? Simple. Mezato doesn't think she can be interesting or valuable by herself. She is not shown as pretty, or academically gifted, or athletic. She doesn't appear to have friends. She doesn't even have an ability with the occult like Mob does. Mezato is a normal, lonely girl who has no other excuse to be noticed besides her imprudent detective work, but worse than that, she thinks she can't change. Mezato will never be attention-worthy as herself, so she appeals to inserting herself in whatever interesting thing she finds in the hope that it'll make her Someone by association. She could be a loser, a nobody, but at least she helped build something that is wonderful, and that is the closest she can get to being important.

Her interests and achievements, in this sense, are more like an extension of herself than a result of her passion. A passion that isn't understood by anyone else. A passion that others ignore and are annoyed at, which only reinforces her loneliness and her obsession with chasing after Big Things. If she succeeds, she will finally have a part of herself she can be proud of. After all, there are a hundred wonders in the world with the potential to change everything; there is only one Ichi Mezato and she can never be like them.

Personally? I refuse to get over the fact that Monkey D. Luffy, one of the most fearless, reckless, tough, impulsive, fight-happy, determined, rough, hopeful characters I have ever seen in fiction, does not have a fight reflex when he is legitimately afraid.

He has a freeze reflex.

You know how few protagonists have a freeze reflex?

You know how many One Piece characters have a fight reflex? It's probably most of them (Ace, Zoro, and Kid are pretty notable examples). And after that, flight is probably next (Usopp, Nami, etc).

But Luffy has a freeze reflex. Consistently. Sure, he's learned to push through it, to snap out of it, but when he's really truly scared? It's like he's seven and helpless all over again, and he can't move. Just for a second.