Ryn

Zutara for me had nothing to do with looks.

At all.

It was how they paralleled themselves.

It was how symbolic they were to each other.

It was how they were two teenagers trying to find a way to make it through what they saw as an impossible situation to live through a war that started before they were born.

The mental and emotional maturity they both had and how they both changed and developed and how in the end they ended up on the same side.

That's why I ship Zutara and will continue to no matter what Bryke idiots throw at me.

smooches 💋🌹

Me:

There seems to be quite a theme in Spy x Family, of showing how a character who was in an underprivileged situation was indoctrinated into an extremist or criminal organization by being preyed upon their feelings. The first detailed example is Yuri.

One of the main ways extremist organizations work to recruit new members is by emphasizing how dangerous a specific group of people is, and that if people want to protect their loved ones from the evil [insert racial/religious/queer/etc. slur] people, they should join them. It works especially well with people who have been hurt or targeted by groups of people deemed "evil" by the organization, but propaganda also plays a role.

A clear case of this is Yuri's. The SSS claims to work to provide safety from the evil "western spies", and Yuri wants above all to keep his sister safe and happy. His sole motivation to work for the SSS is to make the country safe for Yor to live in. He is also young and traumatized, having lost his parents young, experienced poverty, and seen his sister work a dangerous job (he was wrong about whose blood she was covered with but he was right that the job was dangerous) and along with that he's not scared to get his hands dirty and he's obedient like - as his boss called him - a puppy.

It took me a long time for the meaning of this comparison to actually hit me. Yuri dreams of catching Twilight - but despite his passion for that, we and his boss know that this is a wild dream that will probably never come true (and if it does it will be because Endo will aim for some wild tragic irony, not to prove that Yuri's skills matched Twilight's). Yet, his boss allows him that unreachable dream because it keeps him motivated, same way a puppy is motivated to please its human. He's patronizing Yuri like hell and the whole organization is built upon taking advantage of people's desire to keep their families safe in order to fuel their hatred for the West.

Next, we have Yor.

In a similar manner, Yor wanted to protect Yuri's carefree life, and somehow she was recruited into an assassin syndicate at a very young age. Also brought down by the deaths of her parents and the poverty they faced from then on, the promise of payments good enough to keep them housed and fed, along with giving her the opportunity to buy Yuri the books and snacks he liked was enough to lead a very desperate teenage Yor into a life of crime.

But money stopped being the sole motivation after a point. The Shopkeeper claims that through Garden's work, they manage to keep the world beautiful and clean from "pests".

I don't think I need to say why recruiting desperate, orphaned teenagers to do assassinations for you is absolutely despicable, but even if the circumstances were any better, the Shopkeeper does not seem to respect Yor for anything other than the services she offers him, and he appears extremely though subtly controlling of her life. She begins the story scared that the police may become suspicious of her for not being married, but the Shopkeeper didn't seem willing to do anything to offer her protection from that. She had to find a cover all on her own, and he even seems to disapprove of that.

Still, Yor is still so deep in and so respectful of him that she doesn't question anything for a single moment. She has been doing that for half her life, starting at one of the most vulnerable times of her life. The fact that she is still following the Shopkeeper's orders, and now has added the Forgers as people she wants to protect along with Yuri, is only a testament on how even with personal motivations driving her, the Shopkeeper's brainwashing runs deep.

Another, more recent example, is Billy Squire.

Although he disagreed with the Red Circus' methods, and could see them as dangerous from the beginning, they managed to indoctrinate him by using his daughter's death to fuel his rage against the government. They knew from the beginning that Billy could be unstable and set off easily, and that they had to keep an eye on him, but they hoped that his rage over his daughter's death would blind him enough to follow them.

They had already indoctrinated Biddy in the past, by preying on her compassion and her desire to fight back against inequality and provide a fair life for everyone. When she died, Billy could have very easily and immediately turned against the Red Circus and fight them. Taking that into consideration, they provided him with safe passage outside the country and away from the SSS, making themselves look like the good guys who gave him a helping hand through his tragedy - ignoring the fact that they were half of the reason said tragedy happened in the first place.

And so, blinded by his grief and his rage, Billy was easily manipulated into following the Red Circus and fully acting on their behalf. Which is the exact opposite of what he'd do if he had had a clear head and a support system.

And then, counterexample to all that, is Twilight.

While [redacted] had his own share of tragedy and loss, the recruiter decided to pile a little more up by threatening to court-martial him if he didn't join them, practically giving him no other chance but to join. As "motivation" he offers that his skills could help them win the war, for the sake of his nation.

But [redacted] boldly exclaims that he doesn't care about serving his nation, or winning the war. And while we know what his motivation was - it wasn't subtle, after all, with the happy kids running by him as the recruiter asked him about it - he doesn't say it out loud, and we get a view of his back, as he's now beginning to hide himself.

Twilight joined WISE with full knowledge of what he wanted, without someone preying on his wishes and without letting anyone know about them. The recruiter gave him a reason to join, and Twilight rejected that.

Character-wise, this makes sense since his country's propaganda preyed on his grief and fury over everything he'd lost to make him a pawn to fight their war. He's now taking measures so no-one can use his feelings in order to use him ever again. His reasons for joining are his and his alone.

Narrative-wise, it gives him a surprising amount of agency. He was threatened with a court-martial yes, but he wasn't indoctrinated. In fact, that threat did the opposite - it gave him a clear view of what this organization was willing to do, so when he joined them it was an informed decision. He knew what he was getting into, and he was willing to accept it in order to get what he wanted.

Of course, the way he was recruited was still brutal. Taking a young man, orphaned and scarred by the war, with fresh grief from his friends' recent deaths and absolutely no support system, and giving him a choice between getting court-martialed with high chances of being sentenced to death, and joining a spy agency where he'd have to abandon all parts of his identity and risk life and limb on an everyday basis, is inhumane even amidst a war. But still his case differs in the way that he rejected the motivations the recruiter gave him, and decided to follow based on his own selfless goals.

I'm curious to see if this difference will play a role later on. Billy rejected the Red Circus and surrendered, even taking away their chance for their "last resort" plan, to blow up the bus and take the children down with them. Yuri has potential to be de-radicalized, and I feel that is a very possible path for his character to take. Yor downright deserves to be free from the Shopkeeper's control, even if she remains an assassin on her own terms. But Twilight, considering the character agency he had in joining WISE, may take a different path in claiming his own identity and chosen way of life other than simply leaving WISE.

ive seen this take floating around a few times, this whole "teruhashis mental image of saiki is wrong" "teruhashi wouldnt love him if she got to know him" "teruhashi hated any time she saw his REAL personality" and i just dont get it because like...

this scene?? the scene where hes being inconsiderate, rude, not taking her feelings into account, making her play games she doesnt even want to play, acting like a gooner, etc? THIS is the scene you thought was him showing her a glimpse of what hes really like??? where did you get that from?/genq

hes competitive, yeah, but this… isnt being competitive, its just being an asshole. thats not what hes like when hes trying to win. him wanting to win games and show off with his powers is not equivalent to being an inconsiderate tryhard who wants to make everyone do what he wants with no thought to what they want…

but youre ALSOOOOO forgetting that she actually did end up being like… “hehe i still wuv him 😚” after this…

so.. on THAT note, i need everyone to pay really really close attention to what im about to say…

she loves him when hes rude, inconsiderate, pushy, competitive…

she loves him when hes open, popular, kind, powerful, reading her mind…

she loves him when hes gloomy, monotone, boring, quiet…

she loves him when hes a GIRL.

so why is the conclusion here “she wouldnt love him for the real him”? the logical conclusion here seems to be “she would love him no matter what”

WHAT ABOUT THAT DOESNT SCREAM “LOVE”?

and regarding her "only loving his persona the same way people only love teruhashis", i think everything above disproves that anyway but i have to go more into it because not only have you misunderstood me but this also implies you think none of saiki and teruhashis friends truly love them at all 😭

saikis quiet, boring self isnt completely not him. its still him, just a different side of him than you might be used to as a viewer. you guys have to understand that although, yes, he is masking and putting up a front, that doesnt mean EVERY part of him that people see is fake 😭 its the same with teruhashi, she doesnt have a single tangible "true" self entirely on the inside and a single tangible "fake" self entirely on the outside, its NOT completely black and white! PEOPLE arent completely black and white!

youre forgetting that me saying those guys (the kokomins and all those gross ew men) dont love her because they dont know and see her was accompanied by a picture of them literally asking her to continue validating them immediately after she woke up from passing out 😭 they quite literally dont love or care about her, not even about her image, they just like the idea of her image and want her to make them feel good. the whole "nobody sees and knows and loves her" doesnt apply in the same way to yumehara and their other friends, they may not truly see her with the same depth that saiki does but that doesnt mean their care for her is fake, because they DONT care more about her image than just her and being in her company even if they do still see the parts of her that ARE fake.

you cant just take the idea that they fake a lot of themselves around others and morph that into "every single thing people see of them is fake and every single thing they dont see is an accurate representation of their true selves", it just doesnt work like that 😭 regardless of saikis power and silliness and sweetness and competitiveness, hes still a quiet guy with a gloomy face. and regardless of teruhashis cuntiness (lol) and competitiveness and obsessiveness and silliness, shes still a sweet girl who enjoys making people happy. they can be BOTH and thats okay!

this misunderstanding is like youre hearing someones thoughts and thinking "oh what a blunt person" like well... no because not everything in your head defines your personality or is something youd ever want or need to say aloud. everyone thinks crazy things, had wrong initial impressions, etc, do you see my point?? am i getting this across properly??? saiki still enjoys sitting in his house and doing nothing but eating coffee jelly and playing video games and teruhashi still enjoys when she makes people happy, those things arent fake just because they contribute to their fake personas... saiki also would not have been singing and doing standup or whatever the hell people are convinced he wouldve been doing at the mixer with someone hes "more comfortable" with, he doesnt do that shit around anyone 😭 not around his family and not around the psychickers, so im not sure where people got the idea that her thinking he would sit there and do nothing was her not understanding him or that the way he was making the guys act was how he truly wants to act 😭 he can sing and crack jokes but he never has around anyone so we dont know if thats what he wants to do, i dont even remember him making jokes aloud to the psychickers other than being a little sassy ☠️ the most i remember is him making short silly jokes to tease his dad or toritsuka... you guys just assume that hes the type of guy to stand up and sing and yell and make everyone roll over laughing because idk... maybe you cant stand the idea that your fav might not be a sexy loud confident alpha male and might actually be a little guy who loves video games and watching people and being a little brat on occasion ☠️

i feel like this take is just you guys taking both their insecurities SUPER seriously, because what else could be making you think that ANYONE who doesnt know about his powers doesnt truly love or care for saiki??

So here are some reasons why I ship Terusai and think it's one of the most canon ships we have (DNI if you genuinely despise the ship, do interact if you like it / wanna know why people ship it)

(Clip for reference)

Let me know what you think of these:

-it’s like a little kid watching a couple of girls at their boyfriends’ wrestling match and saying, “this is fujoshi!”

- like a kid meeting a boyband and saying “you’re a polycule!”

(Clip for reference)

Let me know what you think of these:

-it’s like a little kid watching a couple of girls at their boyfriends’ wrestling match and saying, “this is fujoshi!”

- like a kid meeting a boyband and saying “you’re a polycule!”

I Accidentally Broke an Expensive Vase and Now the Ouran High School Host Club Wants Me to Pay Them Back with My Body?! (Print)

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I wonder what I look like through them.

I wonder what Schroeder thinks whenever he hears me coming. Does he secretly get excited behind that stoic expression of his or is he counting the seconds till I finally go home?

I hope it’s not the latter.

I rest my cheek against the piano, my gaze glued onto him as I watched him play. He was like magic—no, he had to be magic with the way he played the piano. The way his fingers tickled the ivory keys, the music that seems to capture one’s mind and soul.

Yeah, he’s got to be magic. I can’t imagine what else he would be.

We’re at school, he’s sat a few seats ahead of me, talking to Charlie Brown and my eyes just always seem to focus on him. Sometimes, I forget there’s the rest of the world when he’s right there.

I get up to talk to him but I stop in my tracks, my world stops spinning as I watch that stupid, pretty redhead walk up to him. How could she walk up to him when he’s mine? How could he look back at her and talk to her?

That’s my Schroeder.

I shouldn’t call her stupid. That’s not nice but I can’t help it. Why is she talking to him? I can tell she likes him and it scares me that I don’t know if he likes her back.

It scares me that I don’t know much about him despite all my efforts.

I want to tell him not to talk to her, I want to push her out of the way and pull him into my arms and take him away but…

He would probably hate me if I do.

Instead, I take a step back and turn on my heel before walking out of the room.

As I walk away, I can feel my mind is playing tricks on me because I swear I can hear Schroeder calling out to me.

“Hey Lucy, wait up!”