Do You Take Pride In Your Hurt? Does It Make You Seem Large And Tragic? Maybe You’re Playing A Part

Something about Zoro being one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized characters in One Piece is funny (not haha funny, funny sad) to me because?? That’s literally how his introduction starts?? With people misunderstanding him and thinking he’s some big, monstrous demon who kills with cause and cannot be trusted or tamed.

Meanwhile the actual Zoro is a driven guy who is often both literally and figuratively directionless in life and found his goals in life through good people (first Kuina and then Luffy). He's tied up in the Marine base not due to those actual crimes he commuted (well not inherently anyway) but because he ‘disrespected’ a Captain's son and stood up for a little girl. He accepts the challenge they present to him and because Zoro himself is a guy that puts his money where his mouth is he assumes the Marines will uphold their end of the deal and let him go (note the actual shock when Koby tells him the truth)

He joins Luffy's crew but also outright says he’s not gonna let his goal take second place to Luffy or anyone else's for that matter, he bears the weight of two people's dreams, his heart isn’t going to be swayed by some pirate.

Speaking of Kuina, her impact and influence on Zoro's life isn’t talked about enough for my liking. She was Zoro's first friend, his first rival, his first goal. He looked up to her so much and his reaction to her passing cracks my heart in half every time because you can seem him just..go numb. Kuina, dead? Kuina, the strongest person he knows, gone? Kuina, who swore to him just yesterday they’d race to the top of the world together, doesn’t exist anymore. His blank face only cracking within the privacy of his sensei before he begs. He begs on his knees, tears streaming down his face please please please let me take Kuina's sword with me. Let me take our dream to a high neither of us could imagine. I won’t let her name die here.

On top of gaining the Wado Ichimonji that day Zoro also gained…fear. Not of death, well at the very least not his own, he gained his fear of not being enough. Kuina kicked his ass every way a person could and still died, what could someone like him do? So he trains…and trains…and trains some more. Overly, obsessively, constantly telling himself he’s not enough, he’s weak, he can’t protect anyone like this and everyone's death would be on him.

As for Zoro being cold and stoic that’s just…not completely true? He’s not stone, he can be excited or sad or angry just as much as most characters he just sucks at showing it canonically (Kuina thinks he hates her before their final fight after all). Sure he’s not as forthcoming about it as some of the other Strawhats but Zoro's more of an action guy anyway, he'll show his love with his protection and unwavering faith.

In conclusion, Zoro is a ridiculously stubborn, incredibly loyal, mildly emotionally constipated, do what you say/say what you mean kinda guy.

(Also that whole ‘Zoro would kill the whole crew if Luffy asked him to’ thing? Top ten stupidest things I’ve ever heard from the fandom and that’s saying a lot. He’s loyal not brainless and heartless guys if Luffy asked him to do that, he would never but I digress, Zoro would square the fuck up with him so fast. DPMO.)

fishman island

Concept:

The dynamic of Ranpo and Yosano as kids is really interesting to me.

You have Ranpo who thought he had an ability and it saved him. He flaunts it to the public and takes great pride in displaying it.

He’s smarter than anyone else and he made that a strength of his instead of something to fear.

And then you have Yosano who has an ability and it hurt her. Her ability was abused and she was locked away when she tried to run.

She knows she can do so much good and that terrifies her.

I personally don’t think that Ranpo understood the weight of having an ability until they met.

Yes he was kidnapped for it and I’m sure Fukuzwa told him tales and the importance of this gifted business permit.

But I like to think meeting Yosano reminded Ranpo that he’s not untouchable.

That even now he’s still human.

I like to think they saw pieces of themselves in each other. Parts of them that they had long since lost.

Ranpo saw in Yosano the fear of one in a world full of monsters. Yosano saw in Ranpo her earlier confidence, when her ability was a point of pride.

That Ranpo tries to return to her with that butterfly pin he found in the wreckage.

Because you are human.

Because you are extradionary not because of your gift but because you are kind.

You wanted to help them.

And now I’m going to help you.

again & again

CW: religious symbolism, mention of suicide, severed arm

[Read from left to right]

Speaking to the memory of him.

OMG JUST UNCOVERED: SHORT SEGMENT OF THE ANIMATION MEME I THOUGHT I HAD LOST FOREVER T O T!!!

There's so many layers to this whole scene but this exchange in particular. When experiencing the story for the first time, it's obvious that the attention is going to be directed to the reveal of Dazai having been Akutagawa's mentor, a fact up to this point unknown to the audience. But on a second rewatch, and knowing everything we know about Akutagawa and Dazai's relationship… I feel like the thing that might have actually sent Akutagawa over the edge might be Dazai simply addressing Akutagawa as his former superior; Akutagawa being someone he doesn't recognize anymore. Whereas after all those years (and after this scene, too) Akutagawa has kept considering Dazai to be his one and only mentor still. Here, Dazai saying that he's his past mentor must have came as experiencing the trauma of abandonment all over again for Akutagawa. Which might explain why it's something that pushed Akutagawa's most hurting buttons so much, to the point he'd even retaliate by punching his beloved mentor and most respected person.

About that, i really like how physical Akutagawa's reaction is during this scene. He punches Dazai twice. And to me it really uses to express how conflictual and oxymoronic Akutagawa's state of mind is. He loves Dazai, but he's also enraged at him, feeling so betrayed for having been left alone without a word, all those years. He craves his recognition, but right here and now even that can't placate the relentless rage boiling inside him. The overwhelming feeling of frustration for himself before anyone else, because it's his fault for being so weak and incompetent that Dazai left him behind; and yet he can't help but take that frustration out on Dazai himself, symbolizing just how overbearing Akutagawa's emotions are, how he's not in control of them. I just think this scene is neat.

suegiku is absolutely insane like can we take a moment. at first their relationship is played off like a joke like haha tecchou watches ants and jouno hates him but man. man. the fact that tecchou is a man who places justice over everything, while jouno is a sadistic fuck who appears to have no moral code. but theyre partners!! tecchou reigns in jouno when he gets too out of hand. and THEN

tecchou wholeheartedly believing that jouno is a "hero that despises violence and protects the weak", when even the man who recruited jouno and inspired him to save others in the first place only did so because he thought jouno would be easy to use in villainy. of everyone, tecchou is the only one who believes in jouno:s goodness; the one who has spent the most time with him, the one who is known for being singleminded and terrifyingly focused when it comes to destroying evil, the one who's dumb as a brick and oblivious as hell. and he's right!! jouno refuses to join fukuchi. he proves fukuchi wrong. fukuchi was the one who originally saved him and gave him a second chance in helping others, and it was all so he could eventually use him as an assassin. and even though that was a lie, jouno still became a better person, and found someone that believes in him. GRAH.

And the Loki-Luffy parallels just keep growing!

This one is particularly poignant not just because of the fact they both looked up to strong pirates, but the circumstances of why they looked up to pirates are also connected.

From what little we can glean of Luffy's early childhood, he had basically no one looking after him and no other friends his own age. Makino is the only adult living on the same island as him who treats him kindly but even then she's not his guardian. Loki was the pariah of Elbaf who had even less of a support system than young Luffy.

When a child is abandoned and ostracized, they'll naturally throw themselves at any scrap of potential positive affirmation they can find no matter the source. Even if said source is socially frowned upon like piracy. Sometimes it works out really well like with Luffy and Shanks. Other times, it puts the child in danger and sets the wrong example like with Loki and Rocks.