“In Another Universe”

How Hand Jumper Treats Gender

Most of the manga/manhwa I read default to the male gaze. I don't even mean that the female characters are needlessly sexualized, which they often are, but that they're only allowed to fill certain roles. Holy figures and healers are (young, impossibly beautiful) women, the tragic, innocent character who gets assaulted is a woman, the skimpily dressed ninja is a woman, the pure, younger sibling that needs protection is a woman, the seductive villain is a woman, the extremely powerful fighter that will nonetheless always be second in strength to the male lead is a woman. Upskirt shots and carefully framed ass/boobs panels abound. Their characterization can be shallow: especially in action and thriller series, the motivations of female characters are rarely given the same consideration that male characters receive.

Hand Jumper is different. First, female characters are taken just as seriously as male ones, in every way possible. Second, a character's gender does not influence their power level. While it's true that cis men are physically stronger than cis women in the real world, "men are always stronger than women" does not make sense in fantasy action contexts. Why are all the most powerful heroes in My Hero Academia men? Why must all the notable healers in Naruto be female ninja? In worlds where people possess honest to God magical superpowers, power is totally divorced from the density of your muscles. This is true of Hand Jumper's world as well, so it treats its characters appropriately: Male and female Aberrants fight on equal ground. As a result, some of the most prestigious Aberrant positions are held by women: Samin is the leader of the Crimson Society, Cell 4's instructor and mentor are both women, and Sayeon's mother Sara is so mysterious and so powerful that she seems close to godly. Sara's treatment is especially interesting, given that she's filling a role usually reserved for men: the mysterious, legendary parent of the protagonist who left their life when they were still a child. Think Gon's father in HxH, Baki's father in Grappler Baki, Naruto's father, the Joestars in JoJo, or Luffy's father in One Piece. In Hj, it's not the mother, but the father who is drowned out in the shadow cast by his spouse.

Personalities, fantasy power levels, and interests are not inherently gendered! So Hand Jumper doesn't treat them as gendered either. The bubbly, cheerful member of the main group is usually a girl, but this time it's Iseul Kim. The pretty, androgynous Min is both a deadly weapon and a baker of cute pastries- he picks up Sayeon in a bridal carry after a fight, and incredibly, it's not framed as a romantic gesture. Lastly, the aggressive, jaded rival to the protagonist is usually male, but this time it's Ryujin Kang. This position being filled by a female character is so unusual that I remember the comments section being filled with people mistaking Ryujin for a boy, even though she was clearly presented as a woman from the start. Part of this confusion is probably fueled by how Ryujin has a lot of… tension with Sayeon, tension usually found in heterosexual enemy-to-lover relationships. And Sayeon herself? She's on a crusade to avenge her childhood friend, a damsel in distress who died in Episode 2. Somehow, in Hand Jumper, the tragic dead lover that needs avenging is a man.

in which i try to chronologically order the events in this godforsaken au (see bottom of post for further details)

AU INTRODUCTION (one)

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS (one--two--three--four)

DESIGN ANALYSIS (one--two)

origins (zero|features a flashback--one--two)

chuuya's part time job interlude (one--two--three|featured in 2nd half--four)

chuuya's entrance examination (one)

reaction to chuuya's ada status (one)

the sheep (one)

chuuango alliance (one)

atsushi joins the agency (one--two)

kouyou and chuuya | dazai and akutagwa interactions (one)

chuuya mentors atsushi (one--two--three--four)

dazai mentors akutagawa (one)

chuuran shenanagins (one--two--three)

atsushi meets akutagawa (one--two)

atsushi meets dazai (one)

guild arc (one)

chuuya gets a puppy (one)

dazai Also gets a puppy (one)

the ada chaos ensues (one)

fathers day special (one)

oda and the flags react (one)

chuuya deals with atsushi’s love life—unwillingly (one)

i tried to include and organize all the au posts as best as i could but there were some that didn't exactly fit but i was able to include the most plot relevant posts above (i’m gonna try to keep this list updated!!)

you can find some other scattered posts below!

500 follower post (one--two) | 1000 follower post (one--two) |

ada!chuuya meets ada!dazai (one) | ability debate (one--two--three) |

air kiss! (one) | ada!chuuya-hug-bot-1000 (one) |

dazai's birthday (one) | chuuya's no good very bad day (one)

AND FINALLY!! there have been so many talented people making fanworks for this au and i IMPLORE you all to go check them out and give them all the support, you can find me gushing over their works in the "#soukoku switch au" tag and "#vinurb" tag!!

Anya and Damian's development during these two chapters is incredible!

THEY WERE MARRIED

oh, golden boy, don't act like you were kind

Chewing and gnawing on the irony One Piece continually shows with the main characters where they're doing objectively kind and helpful things and that's what gets them in trouble with the law. It's the selective application of criminal justice. The bias and room for corruption built into the system itself. It's delicious. It's horribly relevant. I'm obsessed.

Demons

Gen: We all have our demons Gen pointing at Senku who is mixing chemicals together: This one is mine

@anne-the-insomniac

Bold of you to assume I haven't already seen this.

“You made it,Captain.”

a comic about wine, a wager, and reconnecting through your weird kids

-

this behemoth of a comic is finally done - and just in time for zoros birthday huehue. initially i wanted to make a zolu introspective from an outsider POV and was like you know who would have really funny input on this … mihawk. and then it spiraled into seven pages of mishanks sitting and talking. i thought it would be funny if mishanks ended up doing self imposed couples therapy the day mihawk brought luffys bounty bc well. its kind of hilarious to think abt mihawk realizing shanks was onto something all those years ago after he meets zoro and luffy. like sure this new generation is batshit crazy but my god are they cooking. anyways. cheers. get some kids

@anne-the-insomniac aww (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

That One Picrew Uquiz Reblog Game

(but i changed the picrew)

picrew and uquiz

ok im tagging @megapocalypse @donnadonera @unreliable-narratoe @tinybeleiverrunaway @vatt1vv and YOU. YES, YOU. READING THIS POST. play my games im jigsaw from hit movie franchise saw