#things about things

They’re called heat pits! They’re used to sense where prey is and hunt it, cause their eyesight is piss poor 😭 they can “see” where the prey is via those weird little holes!

Here’s a cool article explaining them!

To fight for a cause had always felt important to Astoria. When you believed in something, passionately, you fought for it, and that was exactly what she had been doing. For years now, she had been writing articles, trying, in her small ways, to give her portrayals of werewolves in a different light, something that didn’t portray them as bloodthirsty beasts, their only goal being to kill and transform as many people as possible. It seemed to have been working for a while, but then all the different werewolf attacks started picking up, more and more people dying, more and more people getting hurt. As much as she felt it was the right thing to be fighting, a part of her had started doubting her own opinions, her own beliefs.

There had just been so many attacks during the last year, so many families torn apart, so many people who had died from being attacked by a werewolf. The inkling of doubt had snuck into her head little by little over the span of the year, but the deciding factor on the doubt settling had been when her and Lennox had snuck out into the woods and had run into a man on the verge of turning into a werewolf. While transforming, he had gone in for the attack, scratching her arm. Had Lennox not lost it completely and attacked back, things might have gone so much worse. They both could have gotten killed right there in the woods, but Lennox had saved them both, while seriously hurting the man - the werewolf.

Ino and Sai both wear crop tops in Naruto Shippuuden, but only Ino wears one in Boruto. This means that their relationship is under the rule of only one (1) crop top per household. So, one of two things must have happened.

Either

1) Sai and Ino competed for the right to be the one with the crop top and Ino was victorious

or

Actually, a theme in Yu Yu Hakusho that doesn’t get brought up a lot is that Yusuke is kind of looking for a father figure during many points in the series. He’s awful with authority, especially male authority, due to the dehumanizing comments made by his teachers, but he does look up to a lot of older males despite that.

First there’s Takenaka. Takenaka was the first person to believe Yusuke was more than a waste of space, and Yusuke’s never too rude when talking back at him. However, there’s also the aspect of their interactions that it’s Takenaka’s job to encourage and look after Yusuke, so Yusuke would hate to burden him and couldn’t really rely on him as a support because of that. In addition to that, the two were from completely different worlds, as Takenaka is an educator and Yusuke hates school. Takenaka is well-intentioned, but he doesn’t understand Yusuke.

The second paternal figure seen in the show was Toguro. In this case, Toguro very much lives in Yusuke’s world, and Yusuke himself admits that he could have at one point seen himself growing up to be like Toguro. However, Toguro is not a good person. He’s not a role model to be emulated and he’s certainly not someone Yusuke could rely on, regardless of how the man tried to give Yusuke advice on how to reach his full potential as a warrior. In another world that might not have been the case, as even Genkai herself muses, but the theme with Toguro is very much that he gave up on living his life long ago.

While Yusuke doesn’t connect with him on any level, Sensui’s appearance in the show further showcases Yusuke’s disappointment with who Toguro ended up being. Sensui is another example of the “road not taken” in Yusuke’s selection of life choices but, after clashing with Toguro, Yusuke has grown comfortable with himself and his choices, which is why Yusuke doesn’t even listen to Sensui’s attempts to sway him. However, presented in Sensui is another danger in Yusuke’s path that doesn’t get acknowledged; the self-reliant warrior who didn’t make it. Sensui is a prime example of a young man who didn’t rely on anyone and ended up becoming twisted because of that lack of trust.

Regardless of his victories, after his transformation into a demon, Yusuke feels uncertain about his place in the world once more, this time not even feeling comfortable in his own skin. Raizen was the only one Yusuke could turn to, the only older demon who reached out to Yusuke with understanding of what he was now. However, Raizen was distant with Yusuke until his final moments, when he finally opened up, and functioned more as a goal to reach for Yusuke than a pillar of support. Raizen was too focused on his goals to really give the people in his life attention.

Hokushin is Raizen's primary enforcer. Because of this, Yusuke first meets him rather than Raizen and he functions as the middleman between Raizen and Yusuke. Despite this connection, Hokushin is more similar to Genkai than Raizen. Hokushin is Yusuke's primary mentor during the last arc, guiding him along and knocking him around until he surpasses Hokushin in strength. After that, he remains as Yusuke's support and confidant, helping him make his own decisions even when he doesn't agree with them. To him, Yusuke reaching his full potential is the most important goal to focus on. Out of all of Yusuke's paternal figures, Hokushin is the only one who never lets him down and understands him the best.

What I'm saying is that, while it took him a while, Yusuke did find a father figure on his journey. It was the man who was more supportive and proud of him than anyone's ever been.

Are they technically aliens though? I mean, I get what you mean but their current selves were born and raised on Earth with Earthen parents and have never lived anywhere else.

The show is very vague on the finer details of the whole reincarnation thing. The girls definitely have Gone Native and the recovery of their past memories didn’t make them devalue their new lives as earthlings and they do identify as such, with how they call others “aliens”. The show isn’t even clear on how much the girls remember and how much they consider their past selves themselves.

However, there are some hints on the girls being “other” on some level. The Inner Senshi are very much fine with putting their mundane lives on hold for their Princess, for all that they hope they’ll be able to pursue other things on the side of supporting their Princess. The girls either didn’t have friends outside of those in the know, or they drop their old friends in favour of hanging among the Sailor Team even on their spare time. They very openly treat Usagi as their number one priority with the dedication fitting of their former status as the royal guard, which is not something modern teenage girls do. That has to, at least on some level, be their Senshi duty and past lives influencing their values.

Then there’s the scene in the latest episode. None of them say they have to defend Earth because it’s their home. It’s their planet, their city and their treasure. It’s valuable to them as the people they are now, but it’s not their place of origin.

Childhood and Joining the Spirit Detectives

Starting chronologically, in terms of Hiei's personal timeline, his first memory is of him being rejected, unwanted, as he was tossed off a cliff because the ice apparitions thought everyone would be better off with him dead. Right after this event, he was discovered by bandits, who saw his potential to be useful, due to how powerful he was even as a baby. Then, when Hiei became too violent for their tastes, the other bandits turned their backs on Hiei. Once again, Hiei was rejected, despite being useful. He wasn't wanted even here.

This explains why Hiei often behaves hesitant, even over things he wants and knows he needs. He knew he needed to recover after his Jagan surgery but by this point he'd learned that, no matter what, he'd wear out his welcome eventually. Even if someone offered to put him up, they could rescind that offer at any point when they decided they didn't want Hiei around anymore. Shigure saw Hiei's hesitation and he saw through his blustering, which is why he offered Hiei the sword lessons as an added incentive/excuse. Because Shigure promised Hiei sword lessons, it didn't matter if he suddenly decided he didn't want Hiei around anymore, he'd still owe Hiei those sword lessons. This also gave Hiei a safety net of sorts; he knew he'd be welcome for as long as Shigure was still in the process of teaching Hiei these lessons.

As soon as Hiei recovered, he tracked down the floating island of the ice apparitions and discovered that his mother was dead as well as that his sister had disappeared. At this point Hiei was no longer burning with hatred, as he spared Rui's life even as she voiced her desire for death. Here Hiei first starts truly showing his new defeatist attitude. He has clear memory of his birth, so he remembers his mother pleading for his return. Now the only person who ever wanted Hiei was dead, and he felt that his arrival at the village was purposeless. His new goal then became to find his sister and make sure she was safe.

Then complications arose. Hiei got into trouble in the human world, which sidetracked him from his main goal. Hiei mentioned he didn't join the Spirit Detective squad for a pardon, but because he wanted to fight Yusuke again. However, at this point he must have discovered that, in the human world, the Spirit World had power and resources that he could use to locate his sister. Playing nice with them was the logical thing to do, even if it left him as a babysitter to the fledgling human warriors.

The Saint Beasts arc is the most important arc for Hiei's character development. During this arc, Kurama gets visibly surprised by how different Hiei starts acting partway through. This is because, during this arc, Hiei discovered emotional openings in himself that let the human teammates in. First was the gate challenge, where the point was to create a trap that tempted one of the group to betray the others. It was designed to create distrust and to break apart any group coming in to invade the castle. And then Yusuke defies their opponents', and Hiei's, expectations by placing his trust in Hiei. A lack of trust was what caused Hiei to be abandoned for the second time in his life, and now Yusuke offered his trust to Hiei without needing anything from Hiei first. It was almost like being wanted.

And then there's Kuwabara. You all know I pay special attention to how Hiei acts towards and around Kuwabara and in this arc we get all the reasons for it. Hiei started off barely acknowledging Kuwabara's presence. He didn't know anything about him but that he was human and so Hiei has no reason to think too much of it; powerful psychics are rare in this day and age. But then they encounter Byakko, who brings out a lot of the stronger and more admirable aspects of Kuwabara's personality. Hiei had been expecting him and Kurama to do most of the fighting, but Kuwabara stepped up, wanted to carry his own weight and wanted to contribute to the group effort. And he didn't stop until the fight was done, even when it dragged on and exhausted him. The Byakko episodes are the ones where we first really see that Kuwabara simply doesn't tire out completely. Ever. He always manages to find more energy to keep going, although it's only around the Dark Tournament that the other characters start to notice this.