Special Thanks To @shoujocowboy For Beta-ing My Little Comic Script. You Made It Better, As Always.

The Beginning of the Overarching Plot and Conflict

In a sense, the Harvest Festival feels like the end of an era in the story. Major story beats are resolved, new conflicts and plot points are presented, and there’s a shift in focus. I’d say the most important question in this first part of the series is whether Iruma wants to stay in the underworld, so with that finally answered, the story must evolve to continue. While Iruma is still the focus, other character like the Misfits and some teachers start gaining more independence, having their own storylines. There’s also a slight tonal shift as the plot gearing up mandates a bit more seriousness and creates a sense of urgency. Since I’ve already covered those aspects in previous sections, I now want to take the time to cover some new conflicts and plot points.

The Demon King prophecy already sets up Iruma to be the next demon king, so it’s not as if this is new information, but there is a key difference. A prophecy is something magical and beyond interference, making it seem like Iruma was coincidentally stumbling into its criteria, but this is an event created by a specific person, likely Delkira himself or someone operating on his orders, and we know that Sullivan served him directly.

The purpose is purportedly to find the “least demon-like demon,” but the criteria to find the legendary leaf seems less concerned about that and more concerned with finding a human. All the necessary traits are natural to Iruma as a human, and the final form of the legendary leaf is a cherry tree. It’s as if the person who created the festival wanted to bring humanity into the underworld. Sullivan is a very good grandfather, and I would never diminish that, but he’s definitely hiding things, including his real reason for bringing Iruma into the underworld. When Iruma tries to question the cherry blossoms, Sullivan cuts him off, establishing that line of questioning as off-limits, but also showing that it, and his role in everything, will become relevant later. He’s an increasingly suspicious figure and I genuinely don’t believe that Iruma fitting the prophecy is a coincidence considering both Sullivan’s connection to Delkira, and his own ability to meddle in the demon world.

Delkira’s involvement is proven by his appearance once the legendary leaf blooms, surrounding Iruma almost as if capturing him, perhaps representing Iruma now being in destiny’s clutches. There are a couple ways the line “So, it’s you?” can be interpreted. It could simply be in regard to the one who grew the legendary leaf, but I’m less inclined to believe that considering multiple people were involved in that while Delkira only appeared to Iruma. The other option, and the one I’m in favor of, is that Iruma’s been chosen, and whatever part of Delkira that was released recognized that. Delkira doesn’t show up that often, but he seems to have strong feelings on what the underworld should look like, so there’s a good chance that he purposefully disappeared as part of some greater plot. A plot that now includes Iruma.

Wrapping up this arc, the demons shaping up to be the main antagonists of the series return in a truly bone-chilling fashion. Iruma’s declaration was a powerful moment, but right at the end, those same words take on a sinister meaning, now haunting every subsequent chapter until the other shoe drops. The one thing that Iruma can’t let anyone know without compromising his safety is now in the hands of the enemy. An enemy who isn’t opposed to killing and eating him. Whatever they’re cooking up, it’s clear that this secret is part of their plans and it’s only a matter of time before Iruma gets exposed. However, Iruma’s words “because I’m human” spark the next big theme of the series. I consider everything from the first chapter to the end of the Harvest Festival as sort of part one in terms of story development and themes. Up to this point it’s all about Iruma discovering what he wants, after this he knows, so the focus changes. The next part is concerned with secrets, things not said or seen, and it all centers around the core lie of Iruma’s identity.

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Eldest sibling?

No, dear, you mistake me. I’m the eldritch sibling.

PSA

its nearing the end of pride month but dont forget that transmen and nonbinaries face more sexual violence than any other transgender group.

according to the 2015 survey of violence against transgender people (with the titles those people identify with) provided by transequality dot org and the human rights campaign, this survey was promoted and distributed by over 300 LGBT organizations in the united states with an accumulated 27,715 transgender respondents to this survey.

the charts for each poll of highest rate of sexual violence resulted in these graphs

this is a reminder to cis people (cis women in particular) in the LGBT community to please stop leaving out transmen and nonbinary folk in your activism. we dont have the rights that you assume we do just because of our pronouns. and us non-passing or non-transitioned afabs are at a higher risk for sexual violence than our fellow trans sisters. being sexually assaulted is still horrible and awful to experience. 

we still face sexism and are demeaned and belittled for being afab and cis men still treat our bodies like it is their property to own just as they do to cis women. we routinely place ourselves on the back burner to give transwomen spotlight to sit in and be supported by the LGBT community instead of turning them away, because they deserve the love, so why dont we get the same treatment. why is it that he/him or they/them suddenly makes us less valid for protection or opinion? why is it that cis women were the ones deciding which transgender group was more valid than the other based on who was going by she/her. 

why is it that yall think just saying “youre a boy!” or infantilizing us is, like, all we transmen need in order to feel accepted or better about ourselves? like we’re fucking hamsters in a cage and we’ll take care of ourselves if you just change the water once in a while ??????

stop pushing transmen and nonbinary folk away and pretending like we dont have problems in the LGBT community, or outside of it, and like the harassment that society gives us ends just because we arent using feminine pronouns anymore.

trans allyship for transwomen started out really great and amazing but somewhere along the way yall decided transmen were horrible and undeserving of any type of sympathy or acknowledgment for our issues. thats just wrong.

Trauma (Iruma)

Until this arc it felt like Iruma’s childhood was swept away, only brought up as a joke. To be fair, this is a comedy series, and those jokes are funny, but it felt like the series wouldn’t be living up to its potential without a more serious look at how Iruma’s upbringing affects him. Then, I reached the Harvest Festival, and all my expectations were met and exceeded. This event was finely crafted to perfectly simulate the environment Iruma grew up in, with the vastness of the forest, the need for survival, and the overwhelming isolation, causing his repressed trauma and emotions to gradually rise to the surface as the festival dragged on before finally exploding in what I consider to be the most emotionally cathartic scene in the series.

During Iruma’s training scenes (both in the Training arc itself and flashbacks), the matter of his parents is brought up casually, like it had been previously. While this aspect of his childhood had already been well established, moment like this still serve as important indicators that Iruma still thinks about what he went through. It’s also a reminder that Iruma grew up with parents that only saw him as a useful tool for chores and as a source of income. I also want to draw attention to the number of near-death situations Iruma had been through prior to living in the underworld. That scene occurs when Bachiko has Iruma fire off arrow after arrow at the very least over 100 times, meaning that there were probably hundreds of instances, starting from a very young age, where Iruma almost died. Between arriving in the demon world and starting the Harvest Festival Iruma had only been in legitimate mortal peril maybe three times, which is comparatively like a vacation if you think about it.

Iruma’s survival instincts are also expanded upon. Even living peacefully, Iruma retains his natural instincts to avoid all danger and uses this ability to his advantage, but that same peace prevents us from knowing what his exact mental state was before getting surprise-adopted. The Harvest Festival fixes that by placing him in a similar environment that causes him to unwillingly revert to a purely survival-oriented mindset. This ends up revealing a lot about Iruma, even explaining some of his quirks that seemed more outlandish, such as emotional repression to the point of not recognizing feelings like desire or anger. It also shows that his so-called “overwhelming crisis evasion capability” (heralded as the ultimate defense mechanism) is what his survival mode looks like while operating at its lowest capacity. His peak survival mode is represented by an amorphous black blob whose simplistic design conjures the idea of returning to base instincts. As specifically stated, Iruma has been operating like this for most of his life, relying solely on his base instincts and foregoing everything else, which would account for his lack of understanding even relatively simple emotions.

Now let’s get into the cause of Iruma’s trauma. To date, this is the longest they make an appearance, and even then, it’s only as an illusion, so we still don’t know practically anything about them. However, I would argue that it’s unnecessary to learn about them outside of their impact on Iruma, because this is fundamentally a story about Iruma’s self-discovery and him finally learning how to be human. Since they were the main obstacle to his natural development, their own thoughts are less important to the narrative. While Iruma does later say he’s not afraid of his parents, that ends up feeling more like a comparative statement when taking his immediate reaction upon seeing them into account, as well as how their faces are never shown, giving them a more nightmarish quality even compared to the other illusions. There’s a level of control that they’ve instilled into him that genuinely makes Iruma feel like they could whisk him away from home. Sullivan is easily one of the most powerful demons in the underworld, yet in Iruma’s trauma-addled state, even he isn’t an obstacle to the whims of his parents. This harkens back on Iruma’s inability to say no, born from years of psychological manipulation that can be seen in the question “aren’t you a good kid who always does as he’s asked?” His parents wanted someone who wouldn’t cause trouble and do whatever they wanted, so they taught him that saying no was wrong and that he’d only be praised if he did as they asked. So, while Iruma has gotten more assertive in the underworld, due to the years of damage inflicted by his parents, there’s a legitimate concern that he’d be powerless to go against him.

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trustworthy catto

My friend and I are having an argument over which is better, Neon Rainbows, or Pastel Rainbows. If you think pastel rainbows are better 

reblog this post

if you think neon rainbows are better, reblog this post

Give my boy his ADHD meds!

they printed a dozen of the photo and hid them all over the house (with love and affection ). hunter pockets every single one he finds. to keep obviously

Nightvale ace moodboard