THE ITOSHI BROTHERS // ON SIBLINGS

a really great organization that i don't see any posts about here is HEAL palestine. it was founded by steve sosebee, who was a founding president of the PCRF before leaving in late 2023 to refocus his efforts on heal palestine to better meet the needs of palestinians impacted by the genocide. the organization provides palestinians in gaza with food, clean water, shelters, "makeshift classrooms," and even medical evacuation for some children when it's possible--their services are pretty wide.

you can donate here if you would like to send a tax-deductible donation to an organization. also, i don't think any evacuations are possible right now, but if you're in the united states and you'd like to welcome medically evacuated children in the future, i highly recommend signing up for their newsletter or following them on social media so you can stay updated in case any children evacuated by HEAL come to your area for treatment. welcoming these kids at the airport is a really moving way to provide them with moral support, entirely for free.

Racism isn’t saying an uncomfortable word. Racism is every news media reporting on the individual lives of the 33 adult settler hostages to be released in Phase 1, and not one mention of the 100+ Palestinians, 25 of whom are children, that Israel has murdered since announcing the ceasefire. They’ll try to kill as many as they can before Sunday.

💚❤️

Football, fame, and solitude

In the emotional and thematic climax of the Neo Egoist League, Blue Lock concludes this arc not with shouts of victory, but with silences that resonate louder than any ovation. Chapter 301 presents a delicate counterpoint between the noise of fame and the echo of intimacy, and in that contrast, its true heart emerges: the insatiable desire that drives the players, and what is sacrificed in its name.

Kaiser and Ness: ruin, redemption, and the spell of affection

The first act of the chapter is a fall. Kaiser, broken, faces utter loss: not only of victory, but of the image he held of himself. His rhetoric is filled with self-loathing “I’m trash,” “I’m destroyed” as if his worth depended solely on winning. In front of him, Ness takes a step that subverts everything we’ve seen from him up until now: no longer a servant, but an individual who chooses to stay. “I’m not going to do what you say anymore,” he says, and it’s perhaps his most powerful line in the entire manga.

What follows is not a promise of success, nor a motivational speech. Ness speaks of a spell, a cure for the broken Kaiser. He speaks of affection, of humanity. What he’s trying to revive is not the player, but the human being. Until this point, football seemed to consume everything. But Ness reminds us that bonds when not based on dependence or manipulation can also be a form of resistance.

The parade of new heroes: masks of glory

The scene shifts abruptly, transporting us to a bus with the 23 players, still unaware of where they’re headed. There are jokes, anxiety, trivialities. The confinement in the bus recalls the early episodes of Blue Lock, when everyone was merely a number. But now, they’re about to face the other extreme: the public showcase.

The parade in Roppongi is the consecration of this transformation. The world applauds them, shouts their names, fights for their images. It’s the highest point of visibility they’ve ever experienced. Yet, Isagi’s monologue blankets it all with a disturbing haze of clarity: “With a single shot, you can become a hero or plummet.”

That line encapsulates the essence of the new football: there is no safety net, only the vertigo of the result. The spectacle is glorious, yes, but it’s also cruel.

Compared to the early days of the manga (that closed space, without windows, filled with psychological bars this parade is an external triumph). But internally, the bars remain. They’ve changed form: now they’re made of expectations.

The silence of Nagi: a world without football

And then, just as the noise reaches its peak, Blue Lock chooses to be silent.

The chapter ends with Nagi. Alone. At home. Facing his cactus, Choki, the same one that accompanied him before entering Blue Lock. His monologue is neither a celebration, nor a reflection. It’s a statement: “Nothing has changed. We’ve simply returned to the routine, to an empty everyday life.”

This ending contrasts with the frenzy of the parade. While everyone bathes in applause, Nagi returns to square one. There are no teammates. No football. Only the void. His “I’m back” doesn’t sound like victory; it’s a surrender, an acceptance that, without that competitive fire, the world loses its colour. Nagi represents the player whose motivation was external—the duo with Reo and now that that bond is broken, he seems to wonder if there’s anything left to fight for.

The comparison couldn’t be starker: while Isagi sees the summit as an abyss he must climb, Nagi looks at his surroundings as a desert he doesn’t know how to fill. One finds meaning in the vertigo; the other drowns in the silence.

Conclusion

The chapter doesn’t close with a coronation, but with an open question. What is left of the human being after submitting to a system that turns them into a hero? Is that recognition worth it when bonds, certainties, and even purpose crumble off-screen?

Blue Lock has often shown us that egoism can be a tool for greatness. But in this chapter, it suggests that it can also be an unbearable burden if not balanced with humanity, with meaning, with something beyond the result.

Because when everything fades away, when there are no stadiums, no applause, no rivals... the only thing left is silence. And not everyone knows how to live in it.

By @isthepame

i am going to have to respectfully disagree with people who think nagireo break up abt to happen like what do u mean reo just scored (and we KNOW nagi already thinks he's the coolest) i know nagi's gay panic is about to whip him into shape

I know how the current relationship between r!Ciel and o!Ciel looks like, but here is a sentimental theory on our little twins’ relationship:

They used to be inseparable, two peas in a pod, and our Ciel seems to be the more sensitive one compared to his older brother, but if you look closely, r!Ciel was the one more deeply attached to his younger twin.

Now, from our point of view, this older twin rises up from the dead in such a disconcerting manner; leaving piles of dead bodies sacrificed for his resurrection. Since he was supposed to be the sacrificial lamb required to summon the demon, it becomes a question of whether r!Ciel even still has a soul, or if he has become something else entirely. This “soulless” brother killed Agni then proceed to frame o!Ciel for his crimes and ousted his twin brother and the servants from the manor.

But what was it like from r!Ciel’s point of view? After being cruelly murdered on the altar, his body was butchered to retrieve the Phantomhive ring from his stomach. His younger brother was consorting with the very same demon who ate his soul. Not only does o!Ciel not seem to resent Sebastian at all, he trusts and relies on the demon, treating him like a most trusted confidant, the only person o!Ciel allows to carry and touch him in such a familiar manner. From all manners of appearance, it seems almost like his younger twin has been coveting his position from the start, using the chance given through his demise to usurp his rank, steal his name, his position as the heir, and even his fiancé.

From our Ciel’s point of view, Sebastian is merely a demon summoned by the people who killed his brother: he does not begrudge Sebastian for being what he is. He negotiates a fair contract with terms of service clearly defined and a promise for the payment to be delivered at the end. Our Ciel cannot trust other people, but he can trust the contract; thus making Sebastian the only person worthy of his trust, the only one who can’t abandon him, can’t betray him, and will definitely stay by his side until the very end. From r!Ciel’s point of view, this is the demon who consumed his soul and stole his younger brother. After all, before Sebastian was there, they used to be each other’s closest confidante.

His little brother has changed so much, and he seems to be living happily as the Earl of Phantomhive with this filthy demon by his side tending to him, catering to him, touching him so familiarly with the same hands which ripped Ciel’s stomach apart to dig for that ring; the ring that was supposed to be their promise to return home together. His little brother left him behind on that altar and told the demon to reduce everything to ashes. He couldn’t even be bothered to give him a proper burial. He acted like he never had a twin brother in the first place: nobody aside from their closest family friends and relatives even knows that the Earl of Phantomhive had been born with a brother.

While he was left for dead, forced to become an undead abomination prolonging his miserable existence by stealing the life and blood of other people, his twin took his place and denied him of his existence. It was the pain of betrayal like no other, from his most trusted and beloved brother.

But therein lies the paradox: who was it that our Ciel truly buried, with no sentimental feelings left, given that he took the name of his brother?

We don’t even know the birth name of our Ciel. Rather than Ciel Phantomhive has disappeared, it was more like his brother has disappeared. Almost without a single trace.

Why did the little brother choose to take his older brother’s name? The readers know that it was not only for the inheritance; but this is because we read what was going on in his head. The real Ciel does not necessarily know the reason why his brother chose to take his identity; and by saying that he does not intend to pursue it, he likely does not dare to hear the reason why.

Our Ciel was haunted with the guilt of being the only one who survived. The spare should have died in the place of the heir, not the other way around. Even when making the deal with Sebastian, he constantly thought of ‘what would Ciel do?’—but Ciel is gone, and he’s the only one left. No matter how difficult and insurmountable it seems, he had to live in the place of his twin, acting like it was Ciel Phantomhive who had survived.

So he has killed himself and removed all traces of his existence; all for the sake of revenge—in order to let Ciel Phantomhive rise from the ashes and restore honor to the name of the Earl of Phantomhive. There is no use for the spare, there is only place for Earl Ciel Phantomhive. The only remnant left of the person who used to be Ciel Phantomhive’s spare was the toy company. It was a silly childhood dream, and our Ciel has accomplished it true to his words… in the place of his brother.

The toy company was perhaps the last remnant of his selfish desire; the wish that if his brother had been the one to survive, he would fulfill the childish dream of his dead younger brother. If the real Ciel was truly the one who survived that night, maybe he would also think to remember his little brother this way. Even if the spare was to disappear without a trace, with his soul gone into the bowels of the demon, surely his older brother will commemorate him so, letting him leave their mark in the world; symbolized by the rabbits that were their tenth birthday present.

It’s just such a shame that the spare was not the one who died and the dead does not remain dead, so both were left hurting each other; each thinking the other wants him to be gone, leaving their brotherly affections broken beyond repair.

Petitions - UK Government and Parliament

Petition: Do not stop transgender people from receiving care in mainstream hospital wards

The previous government proposed changes to the NHS constitution which would mean transgender hospital patients in England may not be treate

Well fucks? Get to it!

[RELEASE] D.Gray-man Chapter 253

Grab a copy of SQ.RISE 2024 AUTUMN here to support Hoshino if you can!

Release 154 // [11.01.24]

⚠️ This chapter will be updated with SFX later, we will post here once it's up!

Mangadex | Mirror

Thank you to the team for their incredible work, and to you guys for reading as always! ❤️

Enjoy the chapter~

old movies, public domain, classics, other such things: the read-more edition

this is a carry over of my original post but under a read-more for more extensive and readily available editing. updated whenever possible

the purposes of this post continue to be “eclectic” but to be “brief”, is for people who enjoy consuming Media and want to have online resources on hand to find them, especially when they are non-contemporary, non-mainstream, and/or on the obscure side (but not always!). it has evolved far beyond what the title says basically

feel free to send your own resources!

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