Mm653339 - Unbetitelt

Democracy is when one insane billionaire gets to decide if an entire category of people get basic dignity and rights

Steve Oster [producer of DS9] - about 4.06 - Rejoined

Invalid reasons for why a character should not be redeemed:

They’re too evil! - Redemption has nothing to do with how good or evil you were to begin with.

They don’t deserve it! - Redemption is not something that can be “deserved.”

Their actions are unforgivable! - Redemption has nothing to do with forgiveness.

It’s too late for them to change! - It is only “too late” to choose redemption when a character is dead (unless the scope of the story includes an afterlife in which change is possible).

Valid reasons for why a character should not be redeemed:

It doesn’t fit the themes of the story.

They’re not an important enough character for showing the process of a redemption arc to be worthwhile.

They’re more interesting as a character who isn’t doing the right thing.

It’s more satisfying to let them keep being evil.

It makes it more satisfying when they die.

There’s probably more, but you get the idea.

Remember, redemption is when someone realizes they are wrong, and takes steps to doing the right thing. That is not something that can be “deserved,” it is not something that hinges on forgiveness, and it is not something that it is ever too late for! …Unless the person is dead or something.

OK SO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE WHOLE EYES BEING IMPORTANT TO THE CHARACTERS THING. because this chapter had a whole lot of that. ohhh boy it had a lot!!!!! it did!!!!!

FIRSTLY. akutagawa. for a while, his eyes have been pitch-black. last chapter, they regained their light, as he remembered atsushi. and then they're pitch-black again in this chapter-- as the person who brought light to them, to akutagawa himself, is gone.

SECONDLY. dazai. as he tells akutagawa he can "certainly" give him a reason to live, at the same time, he himself looks like he has no reason to live, as if he's not living at all. his eyes are dark and dead. pitch-blacm just as akutagawa's were at the start of the manga, and this chapter, but with none of the determination or bite akutagawa has. just emptiness.

THIRDLY. (child) akutagawa. his eyes aren't empty, nor pitch-black at first. they're dark, with light within. he has not been shown light, nor has he been pushed into the shadows. they become purely fully of light when dazai claims he can give akutagawa a reason to live.

his eyes turn his signature pitch-black with his time in the mafia. he was not given a reason to live. he was given fear, pain, emptiness, and desensitivity to brutality. the chance of light and goodness in his eyes from when he was a child is erased by the port mafia-- by dazai.

his eyes become like dazai's dark, lifeless ones as dazai trains him. any chance at light, or goodness, or happiness, or true life is sapped from him and replaced with violence, abuse, the mafia, dazai, dazai, dazai!

atsushi is what brings akutagawa that light. and when atsushi is gone, the light is gone.

"the light in somebody's eyes" is a phrase meant to refer to someone's spark of life. their reason to live. akutagawa says that killing atsushi "became [his] sole motivation." but when atsushi dies, that takes the light out of his eyes. his reason to live vanishes along with atsushi.

atsushi is akutagawa's reason to live, isn't he?

D.Gray-man Chapter 254 Translation

Notes: Million thanks to @konakatomo who helped me start the translation ASAP and proofread/revised everything!

Some parts are directly quoted from previous chapters, translation credits go to @jeidafei

As always, it can be improved, feel free to leave notes !

Lavi: Eh... it's snowing

Bookman: Looks like it

Lavi: Really? I didn't think it would snow around here, there are so many weird things happening lately

Just the other day ! so many flowers bloomed before their season and-

the color of the lake changed overnight and-

the lady from the inn said she harvested sooooo much so she gave us some vegetables and-

Bookman: That was big help.

Lavi: A big help!!

Bookman: Was there a ripple somewhere? Something big enough to have such an impact on the surface...

[or could it be... was the helix...]

[Lavi: Dad]

Bookman: [I can't... Again, it's all I can think about....]

(Says "it" but the kanjis say Helix)

[To think that you have become a part of it...]

Lavi: Gramps, Do you think the snow will pile up ?

[Remembering his son in the silver snow]

THE 254TH NIGHT: IF IT IS INDEED FATE, WE'LL MEET AGAIN SOMEDAY . CONCLUSION

Apocryphos: it's been 2985 days… we've been at a standstill for about 8 years.

What now?

Apocryphos: Is that the host....!?

Apocryphos: What about Bookman Jr....

.... Hope. Struggle

Love. Hatred...

huh? so that's all?

It was a waste of time

after all this effort... let's just kill hi- [!!]

[What...!?]

//ugh

[LAVI: Hope

Struggle. Love. Hatred.

Lives touching lives

Bonds. Convictions passed from one to another

The traces left behind, of a life lived with that heart. That is what makes the helix stronger.

You, all alone, couldn't fathom the bonds between lives, could you ?

You underestimated humans, Apocryphos!

Apocryphos: [what was that, just now

I felt an immeasurable energy

It's the first time that I've felt such Helix energy]

Am "I"… trembling ?

[Does that mean this helix is connected to this little life? This is beyond human level]

[The Helix energy, already powerful in Nea alone, reached a whole different level when it absorbed the life of Bookman Jr.

So the karma of the Bookman clan runs so deep?]

Ah I see, that's right… they were closest to the Heart...

[If this amount of helix energy could be offered to the Heart…]

Since the person connected to this one helix is alive,

The more joy, pain, and sorrow he experiences, the stronger the helix will become.

Energy will be offered to the Heart, through the innocence that has taken possession of his left arm.

This will bring forth the revival quicker than expected

This child will surely become the perfect sacrifice for the Heart

I shall shape him so myself.

[Lavi(?): Allen

From now on, you will go through a great deal of suffering

but

somehow

Please keep on living]

[Please continue your journey]

Allen(crying) (me too): Lavi...

Apocryphos: You will be reborn as an unsightly orphan who has forgotten his own name among everything else after being abandoned by his parents.

Yes…. I'll sell him to a circus

This shall be the tale of one who started from the bottom and went on to become a beautiful sacrificial angel.

Go ahead, live on.

For The sake of the Heart.

[Allen's memory was all true...]

D.Gray-man ----- To be continued.

People on this site cannot or intentionally refuse to distinguish between systemic oppression and lateral mistreatment and it's a massive problem.

Me talking about how other queer people target me for having masculine traits isn't me saying that cisallohet perisex men are oppressed for being men and feminism sucks and lesbians are evil.

Me pointing out how late diagnosed autistic people treat me like an other for getting a diagnosis early isn't me saying late diagnosed people are privileged and have power over me.

Me saying that aroaces have mistreated me and pushed me out of aspec spaces as an alloaro isn't me saying that aroaces are my oppressors and they don't belong in aro spaces.

"Can the people who are in the same community as me but have different experiences please stop treating me like shit" isn't me saying that I'm the most oppressed person on the planet and no one but me suffers. I'm just asking you to stop treating me like shit. That shouldn't be a controversial statement.

Not everything is about privilege and oppression, sometimes people are just dicks and maybe it's you.

[RELEASE] D.Gray-man Chapter 251

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

Release 152 // [05.04.23]

Mangadex | Mirror

Another massive props to the team for their hard work and a special thank you to our readers for your continued support! ❤️

Enjoy the chapter~

akaashi who works very hard to get muscle references for udai’s manga!! ù_ú⭐️ (why does he keep travelling to osaka to get them, tho??)

Could you maybe reblog this post if you think respecting trans peoples' names and identities is a basic right and not a political opinion?

No pressure. Just seeking some validation of my sentiment. Due to some. people

one thing that 122 has highlighted to me is that sskk's lack of understanding is the only thing that hindered them until now.

akutagawa sought to understand atsushi, but was still caught up with his own reason to live and could not comprehend a world where somebody else had a deadly ability but could be treated so kindly. once he understood atsushi, and understood the reasons he wished to fight or go on missions, he trusted him with rashomon and even sacrificed himself to ensure the 'better' man went ahead.

whereas atsushi, up until 122, meets akutagawa and focuses on why. why was akutagawa always like this. why is it always dazai that akutagawa focuses on. why does akutagawa even help atsushi. why did he save atsushi. it's never clicked in his mind that all of these things could be linked - or even, that akutagawa is just as human as atsushi is.

now the puzzle is complete in atsushi's mind, he understands. he knows the answers to why akutagawa has done all of the things that he did, and he knows why he and akutagawa are meant to work together. he gets it. he understands.