I Love It

I love it 🤣🤣🤣

Another project done! Man, I'm pumping them out left and right and I'm not even done with my exam weeks!

Don't be like me folks! Learn for your stuff!

This is based on a conversation @tired-reader-writer and I had.

I had no motivation for like quality text, but that makes it somewhat funnier, in my opinion lol.

Oh Gurazeh, if only you knew.

I really love how Arslan's confidence grew! Seeing him take immediate command like this is very nice. My son 🥹

Is it just me or is his hair really longer than it was before this arc????

Niiiiice. Farangis looks fantastic, Jaswant's Staring, Gieve has a shit-eating expression that makes me want to Whap him in the head, and what is Daryun doing?

They're sleeping on you, my man *badum-tss*

I'll see myself out.

Not gonna lie, the collar/lapel thing is really throwing me off. It looks like ones you'd find on a modern coat?

He's charming, ngl, I'd want to be his friend.

Now I'm sad because I haven't found a way to get Gurazeh and Gilan involved in Wolfpack! He's so great! Unfortunately Team Gorgan is in the Far North™ and he's in the Far South™ and it doesn't help that even in canon Gilan was pretty isolated from the rest of the narrative :(

Why does his beard remind me of Vahriz.

Arslan Senki Chapter 126 (Part 1)

SPOILERS for this chapter, obviously. The cliffhanger ending on this one is quite something and obviously a big departure from the novels.

We're straight into the Andragoras vs. Hilmes duel at the start of the chapter, and at this point I was sure that this would be the most stressful part? And it was pretty stressful, especially seeing Hilmes appear on the defensive and then watching as Andragoras kneed him in the chest/stomach... but then Hilmes managing to kick Andragoras's elbow from his position on the floor lifted my spirits somewhat!

Good move, Denka!

They're... really trying to kill each other here though, and that fills me with fear.

However, as they part with a hand to their respective injuries (nothing major for either, but Andragoras's arm must be throbbing/numb and Hilmes is winded and bruised) who should appear but the (Un)Holy Master?

He's becoming a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, especially in this scene, I think this time I'm not ashamed to admit that I quite enjoyed him. And at least his appearance had the added bonus of interrupting the duel.

The way he is just like... lounging nonchalantly against the throne.

The 'vwap' sound effect makes it seem very much like he just materialised there. We also get to see him teleport to (partially) evade Andragoras's attack later in this chapter.

Anyway, even Andragoras is shocked, because he recognises him, and yet... this sorcerer should much older than he appears!

Why do I like this panel.

The clawed hand sliding on the arm of the throne 👌

Interesting that he describes himself this way (same as in the novels if I remember correctly). I do think he originally started off as a regular human, but the effects of using this kind of sorcery warp the body over time into something unnatural in more ways than just an extended lifespan. I see some of the changes as deliberate and some as just a consequence of their magic use, though that's only a headcanon.

SNAKE PUPILS 🐍

Anyway after the stress of watching Hilmes and Andragoras try to take each other out it's quite fun to see the Master enjoying himself in the knowledge that the other people in the room know far less then him.

Oh, Hilmes... They were never on your side...

'Sides don't matter', hmm? Is that because we've entered the endgame? Because Zahhak is already free from Mount Demavant? Because this close to triumph, Team Zahhak don't need to pretend to be supporting anyone or anything in particular? Because they were always, always working towards their own aims? Either way, it definitely highlights exactly how poor Hilmes's grasp of the truth is here.

And at this point we divert back to Arslan!

He tells his followers the truth her learned about his origins, and states his aim to head to Mount Demavant and retrieve Rukhnabad. Last chapter, I thought Arakawa might be avoiding this and was planning to have him acquire Rukhnabad incidentally, by bumping into Don Ricardo which is funny because... it kind of does happen like that rather than outright aiming for it, and so when I realised where this chapter was going I was hesitant, but actually I liked it more than I expected to.

The dialogue in this scene is all so good! And it makes this decision more understandable. I would share it but I'd just be posting whole pages at this point, but one thing I will mention is that I was glad to see some discussion of what happened when Hilmes went after the sword and mentions of how Zandeh's actions stopped the earthquake. It feels like Arslan is making a more informed choice with an awareness of the consequences, and an acceptance of the concept that he might be found unworthy, which Hilmes totally lacked.

(For reference, in the novels this declaration of Arslan's intent to retrive Rukhnabad is a brief scene with like three lines of dialogue. Arslan basically says he'll go to Mount Demavant to retrieve the sword, prove he is qualified to rule, and then become Shah, and Gieve immediately agrees to be his guide. Arakawa did a much better job. I know Tanaka is the original creator but honestly... elements of that part felt out of character to me, and I think Arakawa manages to acknowledge precisely what was bothering me, so I'm now more on board with Arslan's decision.)

Now back to the throne room, where I will try to prevent myself from sharing yet more screencaps of the bastard himself.

No more snake pics in this post challenge: failed. Will you believe me if I say I wanted to post this image because of Hilmes?

Anyway, the big secret is out and Andragoras is NOT happy. The first half of the chapter ends with him taking a huge swipe at the Master with his sword that not only appears to cut him in half but also slashes straight through the ACTUAL THRONE behind him.

Andragoras, exactly how strong are you? What is your blade made of that it can cut right through the throne like that?

And at this point I'm realising how long this post is, so like the Kmanga chapter releases I'm going to split it into two parts. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon, in the meantime I'll leave you with Hilmes's utter shock at what is actually quite an epic moment from Andragoras (and just about the only one where we can cheer for him unreservedly).

And here it is, fellas! The Wolfpack AU playlist:

YouTube

Winds of Wolfsong AU Playlist

It's got 54 songs so far, I tried to order them in a particular way to correspond to story beats and such but... things spiraled out of control, I don't think the way the songs are arranged can be attributed to anything anymore. It didn't help that YouTube randomly shuffled the playlist without my permission and removed some of the songs???? What the fuck. I had to rearrange the playlist, hunt down songs all over again, it was a mess.

I... tried, to use videos that have lyrics either as captions, in the video itself, in the description, or sometimes in the comments, but it wasn't feasible with some of the songs, especially when I'm using covers. I didn't want to give y'all extra work looking up lyrics, but I do have some irritation with how some of these are translated. But oh well, I'll just have to deal with it.

Anyways, this is the first ever AU playlist (or the first playlist period) I've made in my entire life, I hope y'all enjoy.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

I love the idea of kintsugi so here's a porcelain dragon that highlights the broken seams with gold. Despite all the pains of hardships in life, we are beautiful.

Running a village is hard work and sometimes these two brothers will disappear for a few hours where no one can find them to take a break.

BONUS:

Their little compatriot.