GN_draws

can we talk about Marvel official website has updated Loki’s bio that confirms the “Loki was under the influence of the mind stone” fan theory?

Loki does something while under the influence of the scepter: Thor sells his brother out to his new buddies immediately and Loki becomes a war criminal, goes home to be disowned by his father and imprisoned for life.

Coulson also remarks that he “lacks conviction”, and there are no scenes of Coulson and Barton needing to be threatened with a fate worse than death just in case they’re not motivated enough. Even famously fight-averse Banner only needed a minor argument and proximity to the scepter to pick it up without even realizing it.

Oh and we see in other movies that Thanos is running an unusually brutal version of a cult, which even in much ‘milder’ irl versions is the type of community where people don’t get to make their own decisions.

Chinese pastries can generally be divided into the exquisite style, the rustic style, and those that fall somewhere in between. The exquisite style is represented by chaguozi茶果子(tea pastries), which originated from the Jin to Tang dynasties and flourished in the Song Dynasty. They come in various shapes of flowers and fruits, and are mostly sweet in flavor. The rustic style is less delicate in appearance, more down-to-earth, and can be either sweet or savory. Chinese pastries can also be classified by northern and southern flavors.

Jokes aside, I'm absolutely fascinated by the attention to detail this drama pays to palace life. The Emperor's robe was handstitched, it showed how the eunuchs used to carry the women, wrapped in blanket over their shoulders to the emperor. The attention to detail with the use of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) is really interesting too. In a lot of palace dramas the writing can be very lazy and they'll just be like, "Put some ginseng on it." This drama actually goes into great detail, and there's a lot of scenes explaining things like what they used for prenatal vitamins, birth control, and many other things.

"How long does someone dies from a microdosed cyanide－NO GOOGLE I DON'T NEED PROFESSIONAL HELP, I'M WRITING A FIC"

That aside, I'm now quite well versed in things related to HRT and operations for gender reaffirming surgeries due to writing Hyun-Ju x OC fic... yippee, a new knowledge just arrived.

I got two versions of manga translation to show his being inhuman or completely youkai is consistent in any versions of the manga. Why did the anime change this? It's a very important part of Kurama's characterization because he's not human, he's not Shuichi. Telling Gouki that he's merged with Shuichi is also anime only. Shuichi, the human son of Shiori, never existed outside of an alias/pseudonym. His guilt for this deception, of using her and initial plans to discard her, is what made him want to die in her place.

It shows a different dynamic between Kurama and Shiori i if everyone knows he is a demon from the beginning to the end of YYH. Like first of all, giving birth to a demon child is straight out of a horror story but Shiori's love subverted the horror of it and turned it into a familial bond between different species.

To Kurama, Shiori is simultaneously a child as well as his mother. She cannot be compared to a thousand year old ancient fox demon and she will only live within a fraction of his lifetime. But she gave him a family that felt real enough to Kurama even if Kurama wasn't being honest with her. Kurama being fully demon plays a big role to see how much impact Shiori had on the whole story. Without Shiori, Yusuke will have to kill Kurama who will be a nasty villain if he grew to hate humanity and didn't develop a conscience.

Edit because I can't shut up: By nasty villain, I mean can you imagine if Kurama's anger towards Toguro-ani was directed on all of humanity? Remember how the Toguros used to be human? Imagine if Kurama didn't have Shiori or Yusuke but met Sensui early instead. His smart old brain becoming a part of Sensui's plans. Shiori saved them all from the horrors just by taming a fox and proving humanity's worth to a demon old enough to judge human history.

I often get comments on my fics that they like how I write Kurama to be creepy. But it's just his canon personality. All credits for creepy Kurama goes to Togashi. This guy doesn't have normal reactions to atrocious acts around him. He probably did worse at his prime. I love creepy Kurama.

Hiei

Q: About the character

A (Togashi): “Some people thought that the name was taken from the mountain¹, but I applied the kanji to the sounds I chose based on my own senses². A non-docile child who uses abusive language³. The battles are as concise as possible and wins quickly.”

Notes:

¹ Togashi is talking about Mount Hiei in Kyoto and denying the old rumor that Hiei was named after this mountain.

² I don’t know if that makes sense in English (choose with the senses), but Togashi meant he chose Hiei’s name by the sound, a name that popped into his mind, and after that he applied the kanji he wanted, using his own senses and perceptions. I’ve already posted a Q&A with Togashi in which he tells he had a black image in his mind and that’s how he added the kanji “shadow” (影) to Hiei’s name.

³ Hiei is always insulting and mocking people. He usually refers to others as “kisama”, the most impolite way of addressing someone as it carries a connotation of “bastard” or “scum”. Sometimes, he also says “kuso” which literally means “shit”.

It’s funny how Togashi calls Hiei a “child” (子供, kodomo). Maybe he’s a very young youkai after all and is almost the same age as the others.

Kurama

Q1: About the Character

A (Togashi): “Some people thought that the name was taken from the mountain¹, but I applied the kanji to the sounds I chose based on my senses. He is the typical character that is usually polite, but is scary when he gets angry. The surname, Minamino, comes from “Youko Minamino”. But there were other surname candidates such as Minamida, Ishino and Gushiken².”

Notes:

¹ Togashi is talking about Mount Kurama in Kyoto and denying the old rumor that Kurama was named after this mountain. The same issue as Hiei’s name.

² Youko Minamino (南野 陽子) is a Japanese actress and singer. There was this theory among the Japanese fandom that Shuichi’s family name would have come from her, so Togashi is basically confirming the rumor. The other surnames he had considered are all from Japanese celebrities whose first names are Youko:

(南田 洋子) Youko Minamida: deceased actress;

(石野 陽子)Youko Ishino: actress;

(具志堅 用高) Youko Gushiken: former professional boxer.

Youko (妖狐) means “fox demon”. All those celebrities are named “Youko” but written with other kanji. Togashi only considered using their family names.

Q2: “Kurama” has two appearances: “Shuichi Minamino” and “Youko”. Why is that setting?

A (Togashi): Because I thought: "even though he’s a youkai, this guy is going to school, isn’t he? I wondered why.”

Finally, these are comments about Hiei and Kurama from the databook interview:

The names of the characters were something he whipped up on the spot, on the level of skimming through the dictionary and putting together out kanji characters he likes. “Yusuke is pretty much a pun, and Kuwabara is a combination of the names of two pro baseball players. Hiei and Kurama are also just names that popped into my head.”

JUMP: When you first introduced Hiei and Kurama in volume 3, did you plan for them to become major characters?

Togashi: I intended Kurama to be a major character from the very beginning, but I wasn’t sure about Hiei at first.

This interview was also published in english in an American Shounen JUMP. You can find the whole transcription in this link.

Source: “Reikai Records Vol.2 Main Character Setting Comment”. “Yu Yu Hakusho Official Characters Book Reikai Shinshiroku”. Shueisha , pp. 186-189, 2005.