I Can't Believe Asagiri Confirmed That Sskk Invented Romance

Saw a diva in this sweater yesterday and had to draw Atsushi in it, then the art escalated from there! Happy Valentines day!!

Oh baby.....

"friends don't look at each other like that" well okay you coward you do whatever you want however i WILL look at my friends like they're the most important thing in the world. i love them with my whole heart and i will hold their hand and stare at the stars not because i wanna fuck them but because they mean the world to me and i care about them. fuck you

Forgotten birthday

Higuchi’s Unrevealed Ability

my theory on what it could be…

i think that Higuchi’s ability will be called “Takekurabe” (Growing Up/Child’s Play) after her most famous work, and i believe it might have something to do with reincarnation. here’s why…

in this official art she is featured with red spider lilies, which are symbolic of death, but are also thought of as a bridge between heaven & earth…a reminder of the “cyclical nature of life & death”

Takekurabe also explores themes such as how life is fleeting. & also abt being forced into a role that you didn’t want, or wouldn’t have chosen for yourself

(plus potential foreshadowing: in this official art, Higuchi is surrounded by pinwheels— which symbolize childhood, but also the cycle of life, & the buddhist teaching of reincarnation)

back to reincarnation…

after being told that Akutagawa may never wake up, she reached out to him & a glow appeared around her hand— like she was activating an ability— before pulling away bc she remembered that he didn’t want her (or anyone’s) help

but this means that she’s able to give help in this sort of situation

additionally, the fact that she almost always appears in official arts w Akutagawa indicates that she will probably use her ability on him at some point, which makes sense considering his terminal condition

(note the pulse in the background, his bright eyes, & her white suit)

because we have yet to see her use her ability, i’m assuming that she can only use it once, so she’d be giving up her life for Akutagawa’s (a life for a life— his reincarnation)

this would imitate irl Higuchi’s unfortunately short life— with her having died at only 25 years old. it also makes sense to give her such a powerful ability since irl Higuchi is such an important figure in japanese history— japan’s first professional woman writer of modern literature

now for a less likely, but fun theory…

i wonder if Higuchi’s sister has anything to do with her ability (in bsd she’s unnamed, but her irl sister’s name was Kuniko so that’s what we’ll call her)

according to Higuchi’s bungo episode, despite her literary genius, irl Higuchi was practically useless without her sister

Kuniko was the one who made what Higuchi did possible & kept things functional behind the scenes

so i think it’d be super interesting (& a cool irl reference) if Kuniko was involved in some way with Higuchi’s ability (i also just want to see more of her bc this sister duo is so cute :’))

bonus: when i watched this anime adaptation of Takekurabe, this was the ending scene & i wonder if it was harukawa’s inspiration for this official art 🥹

white lilies represent purity, & since they were off by the side of the road, they might have represented the character’s fleeting purity. white lilies are also used at funerals to represent a soul’s return to purity & its journey to the afterlife… which circles back to the reincarnation theme 👀

Crack concept: Akutugawa hears Dazai’s “my new partner is better” speech and is righteously pissed.

Because Kunikida is a respected enemy and one Akutugawa approves of as Dazai’s partner at the Agency.

And now this random person with no spine has replaced him?!

Inconceivable.

Atsushi’s very confused until he untangles the reason Akutugawa hates his guts and why he wants to see what he’s made off.

He reassures him he’s not going to replace Kunikida.

Akutugawa, begrudgingly accepts this and they both bond over how outrageous Dazai is for trying to replace Kunikida like that.

Kunikida finds out about of all this from an encounter with Chuuya who’s rather sympathetic to his situation.

“He try and blow your car up too?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about but I believe I know who you’re talking about.”

They bond over their mutual annoyance and get coffee.

Dazai finds out way too late and quickly tries to reassure him that’s not the case. And that it’s all a huge misunderstanding.

Kunikida brings it up every time Dazai fucks up.

Dazai: Heyyy Kunikida you ready for our case?

Kunikida, passive aggressively typing: That sounds lovely, I’m sure your new partner will be happy to go with you.

Dazai, in despair: I would never take a case without you. Atsushi, back me up here!

Atsushi, side eying him: I dunno you did take me out for that meeting the other day.

Kunikida: I suppose I should just retire now then. I trust you’ll carry my torch, Atsushi.

Dazai: Ahh! No! Okay, okay I’ll do my report first.

Kunikida: Be quick we have a case soon.

It’s interesting how Punk Hazard, Dressrosa, Zou and Wano all spill into each other with actions in one arc directly leading to motivations and consequences in another. Like all three of those arcs are essentially set up for Wano when you look at the big picture. They’re all explaining how exactly it is that all these characters ended up her fighting these two menaces. And that makes sense given that Wano is kind of the biggest deal we’ve ever gotten in terms of over arching storyline in One Piece and what is revealed there forever changes the story.

But yeah I just thought it was interesting because outside of Sagas like Water seven and we’ve never really gotten that tipping over feeling before. But while water seven feels just like one big arc with individual pieces. All those arcs are distinct from each other and it’s only when you get to Wano and see the bigger picture can you really fit together just how we all ended up here. It also doesn’t help that Wano’s where they’ve been trying to go from the start.

It’s also the first time they Straw hats actually have a plan to go out of their way and antagonize somebody. Like they are actively trying to antagonize Kaido before they got to Wano. They’ve never done that before they’ve always just kind of tripped and fell into trouble trying to help a friend. Which is kind of how the kaido thing starts but it snowballs into much more than that. The closest to anything like it is Vivi and alabasta. It really helps post time skip feel distinct from pre time and really sets you up with out even knowing it to prepare for something big to go down. It’s almost like a visceral shift from One piece as a serialized story to an a connected one.

I'm who I've got to be.

↳ 4/29; happy birthday chuuya!

Gifs of all of Lucy’s ability animations in mayoi

The resource on the mayoi wiki has them all sped up so I slowed them down to what I think is their original speed. Sharing is caring so here you go

Something I find really beautiful about this chapter is Atsushi subconsciously finding his tendency to rely on his emotions as a strength — he had no logical conclusion as to why the ADA members were alive, but instinctively, in his heart, he knew.

The same for Akutagawa — he knew that Akutagawa would remember, in his heart, with the doubt of his mind. I believe it was a quote Atsushi had said earlier, but I believe it's the core of his character — "The head may err, but never the blood".

The heart is a mysterious thing, because it makes sense without any logical basis. The heart is a trust, a senseless trust with a sense of clarity. Dazai in Atsushi's subconscious saying, "Feel strongly. That's what you do when you want to experience the past", brings me to believe that Atsushi has become better at living. Atsushi, by only living in the present, has become the only person fit to defy the space, because the present in the agreement of the past and future.

In other words, I believe Atsushi is the heart.