#ibukuro

Day 89

SURPRISE! Days 79 and 85 were secretly the same AU all along! And by that I mean- wait before I get into that. Time for a headsup.

So tomorrow is Day 90. And as you know I try to do something special for those, which of course can lead to my little ramble sessions to go on for much longer than normal. And while I won’t guarantee it, this is more than likely going to be the longest one of the whole project, more than likely even longer than Day 100 which will be the post marking the end of the project.

Just to give you an idea of what kind of scale we’re talking about here, Day 90 took me a total of 3 Months, starting its creation on May 8th, and finishing on August 1st.

Alright! Now that you’re tense and speculating what in the merciful name of all that’s good is gonna happen tomorrow, let’s start talking about TODAY's art!~

Anyway, so when I made Day 85 I was trying to really think of what I could even do with an AU where the entire basis is “Oh, they’re kids.” And that reminded me! I had the same issue with the Adult AU, even if that had a bit more ground to stand on with them being adoptive parents to the Warriors of Hope.

Then it hit me! Why not combine the two of them? And thus was born the Childhood Friends AU! Though you could also just call this The No Talent AU because hey, you remember during Danganronpa WLWeek when I drew Junkan for the Talentless prompt? That’s right! It was secretly a tease for this art! Now if only I drew something for them during their college days I could have fully planted the seeds for this whole pic in your collective minds. 

Anyway, core idea of this AU is the timeline is slightly shifted so Junko and Mikan (along with the whole of the DR Cast) are born slightly earlier, while the Warriors of Hope are born at the usual point they would have in the timeline, solely because this allows our two favorite lovebirds to adopt them. Hope’s Peak doesn’t exist, nor do the ultimate talents of course (Though obviously for some characters like Mikan they’re still partial to those talents. It’s just that they don’t reach the absurd levels of skill that they do in main canon). And finally, Junko and Mikan were positioned in such a way that the two were childhood friends. I feel like I worded that in a way far too complicated and excessive for something that was pretty damn obvious, but hey I like to ramble.

Anyway, I can’t remember but I think I said that with the Fantasy AU it was the only other AU aside from Vampire that I would want to make a proper Fanfic for. If I did say that, I was either wrong or lying, because eventually I wouldn’t mind telling some kind of story of this version of the characters. More than likely just from their child and highschool years, but I’m sure eventually I’d get more ideas for them in college and as adults. 

The obvious dynamic here is that Junko since becoming friends with Mikan has been protecting her from bullies and not realizing that Mikan is very desperately pining for her (Don’t worry! They get together before the end of Highschool!). Also Mukuro is there! She’s got a stick.

I’m envisioning that up till they were entering middle school Junko would call her Bandaid Girl, because as kids Mikan was the kid who always had Bandaids (both in terms of wearing them and just carrying some around on her person all the time).

And look! Mukuro is in fact there, and not just that but a shit ton of other characters! I think I was really starting to crack and lose self control at this point in the project. So I decided to also make this a mini story of Mukuro getting together with Sayaka and Ibuki! Who both generally go down the same path they normally would, though eventually Sayaka becomes an Idol Manager after a short career as a proper idol, and Ibuki of course is a semi-popular musician. Mukuro has acted as a bodyguard for both of them before and will continue to do so when asked. 

And of course, by the time they’re adults Junko and Mikan decide to adopt the Warriors of Hope, very legally, and they definitely didn’t hide any bodies (I don’t even know how much I’m joking about that here). Fun fact! I almost forgot to draw Masaru! Don’t ask me how that happened, I have no idea. I will admit when it comes to the Warriors of Hope and Junkan most of my interest is mostly in their dynamics with Kotoko and Monaca. Not to write off the other three, Jataro especially, but I just think that’s what hooks me more immediately. 

I really tried to load today’s piece with as much as I could, because even if I didn’t know how long it’d take, I knew for a fact that finishing Day 90 would take a very, very long time.

Danganronpa WLWeek 2024 - Day 2 - Trapped

I will never not be a silly bitch.

Like in general I am aware there are only like 3 dr female characters with pants (Hina, Hiroko, Yui) but whenever it comes to Mukuro or Kyoko my brain just glitches out like.

No Mukuro wears cargo shorts, or occasionally tripp shorts of Ibuki's (plus sometimes Mukuro wears Ibuki's fingerless gloves to cover her tattoo instead of her own regular ones)

Kyoko wears those like soft faux-corduroy leggings and they're bell bottoms AND ALSO her jacket is a trenchcoat that goes down almost to her feet

Look. I leave CFVG for two weeks to enjoy christmas and what do I get? A PAIR OF EPISODES THAT ARE HEARTWRENCHINGLY PAINFUL TO WATCH FOR MY IBUKURO SHIPPER HEART!

No seriously, Gastille coming out of nowhere to attack Ibuki was a surprise, and then cursing Ibuki so that his heart slowly gives out as he takes more and more damage was a shock. This is one of those rare times that a Vanguard character is threatened by death. Like, its really rare to even see it happen at all. Then again, Vanguard G Z is one of the darkest arcs in Vanguard, on par with both the Link Joker and Legion Mate endgame arcs for the simple factor of the lurking threat that rears its head in a really frightening and heartstopping manner. The amount of mind games going on between both factions is terrifying really, and the effects are showing.

Taiyou and Kazuma pay more attention to the after effects of Chrono’s turn into a viable vessel of Gastille. Both of them have noticed the complete mark on Chrono’s hand prior to their escape, but without Chrono saying anything about it, they can’t really ascertain the damage done. On the other hand, for us watchers, we can kind of get an idea what has somewhat changed. 

The mark is 1. Affecting Chrono’s chosen ties to Chronojet, and 2. Allows him access into the Void like spaces that the Relics left behind.  The first may actually affect future battles Chrono has using his deck now, he noticeably tends to freeze up when using Chronojet, which can shake his confidence. The second is more an advantage to his enemies than him, as he can be lured and trapped in one of these spaces with no one wiser, leaving enemies able to turn him into said Vessel. We can actually see Gastille attempt to do this when Chrono shows up to take over for Ibuki in the fight, Gastille adds another term for their loss - Ibuki dies, and Chrono becomes Gyze. If Chrono lost the fight, everything is over, the enemy will win full stop.

Anyways, Chrono wins. End of story... or is it? Analysis of main stuff over! Time for the Shipping goggles to be put on!!!

I love these two episodes for the simple reason of CHRONO IS WORRIED ABOUT IBUKI AND SAVED HIM AAAHHHHH! The minute Chrono hears that Ibuki is in trouble, what does he do? He drops everything and runs off to find him. Then recklessly jumps into enemy territory. Then holds Ibuki protectively. Then fights in his place, saying he knows Ibuki the best. Then FUCKING PERFORMS A FUCKING COMBINATION FINAL ATTACK WITH IBUKI BACKING HIM AND AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Ibuki is just as bad dammit! Chrono invites him to the party and as much as he doesn’t want to do so he will go for Chrono’s happiness (just not with the Santa costume Mamoru was that your idea or Tokoha’s idea because I have no clue since Chrono won’t be that silly the fact that Chrono doesn’t recognise it in the end preview convo is telling.) Then Ibuki trusts Chrono to win! Then Ibuki places his hand on Chrono to reassure him, pushes him away to makes sure he focuses on saving the BOTH OF THEM, and THAT FUCKING COMBINATION ATTACK WHY WHY WHY!?!!!!!

The LAST TIME I SAW SOMEONE PERFORM A TWO PERSON ATTACK WAS IN IBUKI’S INTRO MOVIE! AND THAT WAS AICHI AND KAI DAMNIT. 

SHIPPING INTENSIFIES!

Anyways, back to some proper analysis. I actually thought it was strange that Chrono was given Dust, the Dark Zone’s Zeroth Dragon. Then I remember that Gear Chronicle is a Dark Zone Clan. Its an extremely overlooked fact since the Clan has heavy Steam Punk designs. And here’s the worrying thing - Ibuki may have overlooked that Chrono getting Dust was planned. First. Destroy their bonds. Then. Destroy their future. At least that is what I speculate. A way to destroy any possible opposition... 

vanguard draws +_+

Sketched up a Mikuzuno Comic and than colored the sketch. Based on a funny conversation with a friend. They are being gay in Ibuki's low detail dorm :)

https://www.patreon.com/carbonatedjem