Gear 5 Luffy Just Does Something To My Brain That I Cannot Explain He’s Just So ??? Pretty? Happy?

Out of all of the many many reasons I love gear 5, one I haven't talked about yet is how much Luffy so obviously loves gear 5 as well.

It is honestly revolutionary to have a shonen protag's final form be enjoyable for them. To not be something born out of anger or hate; a thing born out of strict necessity that has to be unlocked by painful emotions/the loss of someone they loved (temporary or otherwise) but rather born out of joy and a desire for freedom. To have them want to be in that final form, to have it spit in the face of the idea that the only way to be powerful is to be serious, edgy, ""mature"" and to abandon joy and happiness in favor of that.

I LOVE that Luffy's final power-up doesn't come at the cost of who he is as a person, and instead amplifies and uplifts who he is. It uplifts his carefree nature, his goofiness, his creativity, his sense of wonder. And as such, the form is something that he enjoys more than any other gear he has used. It allows him to be the freest version of himself, allows him to bend the world around him to his whims, of course he's going to love it.

It also (in a weird way) acts as a message of self love. Luffy does not have to abandon who he is to become stronger, but rather has to lean even further into who he is. The traits that make him 'weird' and 'strange' by pirate (or hell, even just by regular standards) are the very things that boost him up and allow him to win against his foes.

A "ridiculous power" Kaido called it, and yet it was that power that sent him hurdling to the center of the earth, toppling his reign over Wano with the very thing he robbed from its people.

they’re zany to the max!!!

meanwhile

THEY WERE SO FREAKING CUTE IN THIS SCENE *SCREAMS*

nom

OK correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the main 'yin/yang' parallel with Atsushi and Akutagawa is not something like 'this one is bad but secretly has a good side and this one is good but secretly has a bad side'.

I feel like it's more about 'who they are at their core vs who they choose to be'.

At his core Akutagawa is kind and at his core Atsushi is not. But despite this Atsushi tries every day to make the kinder choices and I love him so much for it. He has to work so hard to be good.

He wants to be a bitch SO bad I know he does but he tries his best to help people and be nice (sometimes he fails but that's OK <3)

Atsushi doesn't always WANT to help people, a lot of the time he's selfish and scared, but he does help people anyway. He keeps helping people over and over again. There's still some selfish motivation to it, and his initial motivation for helping people was because the headmaster told him that's all he was worth, but overall he does care about the people he helps and it weighs on him if he fails to save them. And of course, as the series goes on he starts helping people more because he can rather than because he feels like he needs to.

In Akutagawa's case, he's still capable of being kind but his environment led him into being someone who chooses to hurt people. But he's always been a protector at heart. In the start he was bad compared to Atsushi because he was choosing to hurt people and keep the cycle of abuse going. Just like how Atsushi developed in why he saved people, Akutagawa starts to get redeemed when he chooses to not just act on his rage. Not only does he start to spare people, but he speaks more kindly to them (apologising to Higuchi and telling Kyouka he's proud of her). It all culminates into the moment he chooses to help Atsushi and sacrifice himself for him, going back to his core value of being a protector. Even when he's finally revived, he keeps this role in his new position as Aya's Knight.

I kind of see the streaks of white in Akutagawa and the streaks of black in Atsushi not as their 'hidden sides' but as their fundamental selfs. That's who they are at their core, and their main colours (black for Akutagawa and white for Atsushi) are how they're presented to everyone else and how they try to have people see them as.

Tsukasa works FOR Sakura

Now this is very likely me just being slow and not connecting the dots until now, but chapter 109 has made me realise that Tsukasa is not the one in charge of the "destroy all yorishiros" plan... It's Sakura.

It's this line here that's made me finally see the light, Tsukasa has to "help Sakura, by destroying the yorishiro." He is not actively desiring the yorishiro to be destroyed, he's just doing his part in the plan. In chapter 106, he wasn't even phased that Nene didn't want to destroy the yorishiro and the only reason he persisted was because it was "his job."

Even way back in chapter 93, Sumire describes Sakura as the one No. 6 serves. Sakura gave him the job of destroying his own yorishiro, not Tsukasa.

Sakura is the one who wants the yorishiros destroyed, she's been trapped inside the school for 100 years and is tired of it. She wants to leave whatever duty is keeping her bound

And she is more than willing to make sacrifices to make her wish come true

Sakura is behind everything, she is the reason that Tsukasa was freed from where he was trapped (very likely Hanako's boundary).

She is also the one altering the rumours.

Tsukasa, as cunning and intelligent as he may be, is probably a bit too impulsive to be the brains behind the entire operation. His intense curiosity for things would likely get in the way, no matter how well he means or how serious he's being.

And again, it's clear Tsukasa is not as invested in destroying the yorishiros as we are initially led to believe. Again, he really doesn't mind that Nene no longer wants to destroy yorishiros anymore

In fact, it's Natsuhiko who worries Nene won't destroy them. Keep in mind Natsuhiko is 100% loyal to Sakura and not necessarily to Tsukasa. If this was Tsukasa's plan, I doubt he would be worrying over whether Nene will keep doing her part as the kannagi

The only reason we even initially thought this was all Tsukasa's doing, was because Sakura painted a picture that she was in a similar situation to Nene.

Sakura gives the impression that she can't go against Tsukasa, that he is her master. But that can't be right, because we know Sakura was the one who appointed the 7 mysteries in the first place. And she was also the one who freed Tsukasa, so how could he be the "master" in this relationship?

I think, Sakura said all this to gain Nene's trust.

Nene, being the modern kannagi, is absolutely vital in the plan to destroy the yorishiros. So having her trust Sakura would help out immensely.

So overall, whether it's the price he's paying for having been freed-- or for some other reason entirely-- it's quite clear to me now that Tsukasa is not the one in charge of the "destroy the 7 mysteries" plan. He's absolutely a major key player, with his cunning and curious mind clearly being an advantage (figured out the fastest and easiest route to stopping time so he could access the clock-keeper's boundary with Nene). But he is doing all of this to help Sakura, it's not for himself.

What do you think could make Tsukasa cry? From the beginning of the series until now, he has never been seen to cry despite what happens to him, so I was curious to know what you think. I hope you read it and have a nice day! :3

Thank you ^^

If you want to know, what would make Tsukasa cry would probably be the moment he receives love.

When he hears Amane say for the first time that he loves him with every word, when he hears that he is important, when he hears that his sacrifices were things that Amane did not want because what he wanted was to be by Tsukasa's side because he loves him.

He will cry when Amane admits that he will protect him, when Amane hears his calls, when Amane is the one who will hug Tsukasa, and not the other way around.

All Tsukasa needs is love, affection, care. He did everything he could for his brother, even before he met the entity. He asked Amane if he loved him, he wanted to feel that love, but what he received was the opposite.

He is so used to no one liking him, to no one caring about him, that it doesn't hurt him anymore.

Tsukasa know this will happen, he himself said that "Amane won't come, even if I call him"

Why won't Amane come?

He also explains "he's never done it before"

Tsukasa is the boy who was abandoned by everyone, including the person he loved the most. People don't usually like him, he always hears and sees looks of fear and contempt from other people. No one has ever asked him how he was, if he needed anything, no one cares about him.

And he knows this, he's sure of it.

One of the reasons he looks for a reason to "stay".

At the moment he was most vulnerable, he talked a little about what happened to him and Amane, that sad and empty look.

And you see that look shine when Hanako finally shows up to save him.

Then, the shine disappears again when Amane says he saved him "because he was there".

Tsukasa had a little hope here, but Hanako killed it again.

You see some of that hurt reflected when Tsukasa calls Amane selfish, when Nene says she loves Hanako and Tsukasa is handcuffed behind him saying "good for you" in the official translation.

When shortly after that Nene says she hates Tsukasa.

Can you see it?

Nothing negative will make Tsukasa cry because he expects it, because he is used to receiving contempt and indifference.

When you expect hate and not love, the tears dry up.

But when love finally comes to him, Tsukasa will overflow, because he has never dealt with it, he would not know how to react.

I can even see him shocked, in disbelief at first.

Like when Nene JUST hugged him.

He reacted that way with just one hug, so imagine how he will react when the person he loves the most finally admits that he loves him deeply?

He sings in search of a place where he can be happy

Tsukasa is neglected even by the fandom.

I understand that he did a lot of wrong things along the way, but let's remember that Tsukasa is that little baby who spent his days fulfilling Amane's wishes to see him happy.

Little Tsukasa became Yorishiro with this troubled personality because of his union with the entity.

The entity greatly influences his behavior, but he chose to stay by her side because the entity was the only one who could fulfill his wish to save his older brother.

The entity was the only one who stood by him when everyone else turned their backs (even though we know that the entity is also just using him).

All Tsukasa needs is love, affection, kindness, and that will be enough to make him cry.

He is a good boy who suffers unfairly for having chosen to save the life of the person he loves the most.

He didn't do it for himself, he never made wishes for himself, he wasn't looking for any ambition, he just wanted to see his brother happy, even if he didn't feel that he was loved by Amane, he didn't care about that, he just wanted Amane's happiness.

The cost of Amane's happiness is Tsukasa's pain.

If you want to see him cry, truly love him.

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Tsukasa's loneliness…

I've been thinking about Tsukasa's situation. How he is so tired. Tired of waiting for Amane, tired of being alone, tired of staying awake.

Everything about Takauji in this episode was sooooo unsettling and creepy I was gripped in my seat. Would