#gkposting

the “we’re here to protect yuusaku’s virginity” panel is the funniest panel in gk it’s truly the “I’m assembling a team” of the three worst people for the task. oh boy it’s a good thing lieutenant pedophile the superpredator brought along his unhinged child bf who jerks off to dead horses and sexually assaults DL guys in club bathrooms AND yuusaku’s brother who’s fixated specifically on defiling yuusaku. let’s go team!

obligatory once in a few months wow that was crazy post but it was crazy how tsurumi & ogata were built up as just a runaway soldier and his superior he doesn't care about much with only very vague hints of it having more depth (ogata being included in the it's LOVE page, him seeing himself in edogaikun as a "foolish young man in love", him trying to manipulate asirpa on the ice floe like tsurumi would and lamenting about not living up to him, him disliking koito, usami accusing him of wanting tsurumi's love, him having investment in usami's bond to tsurumi) but they were all super subtle and easily attributed to something else/ignored/misinterpreted. then it's revealed that tsurumi conspired with ogata and offered him his political support and a good chunk of ogata's actions were stemming from frustration that tsurumi didn't give him enough attention. that one page that is like you were always focusing on other things, on opium and military expansion and vladivostok and some other people when you should have been looking at ME! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!! and all of this is your fault for not looking at me, so i will make you! god it re-contextualized everything. remember how so many people lost their marbles because ogata turned out to not be not like other girls after all, not a loner wolf nor a political mastermind with his individual agenda nor above anyone else, just another one of the young men who loved tsurumi and wanted his attention and approval. crazy!

the problem i have with tsukigata is i feel like i've said everything i have to say about them vis a vis stages/states of their relationship - I did the interwar period and Super Spy Boys in WnH and Empty Sons, I did Tsukigata Wins in Light/Way, I did Russian excursion in Light/Way and Letting Go/Holding On...I guess I haven't done post Ogata's death yet...? But even though I've kind of done it all I still feel compelled to write them again....

usam1 being submissive and masochistic for tsurum1 and dominant and sadistic towards everyone else (ogaga, kadokura, ariko, etc) is honestly such a stroke of genius character writing wise and says so much about tsuruusa’s relationship and usam1’s sexual and mental development. and while OBVIOUSLY I know that noda is clearly a fellow fan of seminal molested boy classic mysterious skin, it reminds me so much of neil only ever bottoming for his coach who sexually abused him as a child and exclusively topping in every other sexual encounter bc he feels that receiving is something he only ever wants to do with coach, that I feel it’s a given that the two character were written in dialogue with one another,

do not mean this in a “””found family””” sense but I love usam1 as being more of a “brother” figure to ogaga than yuus4ku ever was. they know each other better and probably for longer, they spend more time together, they understand each other, they fight, they tease each other, they compete for the attention of their father figure, they have similar backgrounds. ogaga does not feel understood or seen by yuus4ku, but he goes to usam1 for help and philosophical conversations. their relationship may be contentious and have an undercurrent of resentment and dislike, but they share a weird closeness despite it that yuu and ogaga just don’t have. and, of course, ogaga kills usam1 just like he killed everyone in his blood related family

controversial to many bc I know it’s common for people to act like 12 year old usam1 is being evil and trying to manipulate tsurum1 by threatening to tell someone what happened (which can I just say. is crazy. wow that 12 year old victim was so fucked up for even considering. telling the truth to a trusted adult). but I think usam1 was really brave during that scene ;-; tsurum1 is dangerous and clearly not happy and it’s the only time we ever see usam1 express any kind of negative emotion at tsurum1 himself. he was hurt and upset and stood up for himself in an awful, tense, unsafe situation and trying to mentally cope with something very freshly traumatic while also still dealing with the heartbreak and extreme emotional release that led them there. and the fact that at that moment, both of them know that tsurum1, as the powerful adult who engineered the situation and encouraged both boys, is the most culpable party. they both know how bad it looks. and layered with all the framing and language that’s purposefully evocative of csa. every time I read the scene I just think usam1 is so brave for standing up to tsurum1 at all. “there were times when I knew how you felt, and it was hell to know it, my little one. lolita girl, brave dolly schiller”