NOAH LYLES Pulls Out The Blue-Eyes White Dragon And Exodia The Forbidden One Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards Before Winning

suguru’s “are you the strongest because you’re gojo satoru or are you gojo satoru because you’re the strongest?” really hits you when you come to terms with the fact that satoru is nothing but a tool for jujutsu society — even in death. suguru will always be the only one who questioned it, who saw satoru as more than “the strongest sorcerer” because he was his best friend first and foremost :)

I thank God for Baeli's existence tbh.

Sukuna: Hedonism and Short-Lived Pleasure

I’m going to start this off by saying Sukuna, at least from what I’ve seen, is possibly one of the most misunderstood JJK characters, alongside Yuji. Because of how he’s treated narratively, and the position he holds within the story, it’s very easy to take everything he says as the truth and nothing more, even moreso when he’s commonly rewarded for his mindset, it being praised as the correct one to have.

He is the pinnacle of Jujutsu society in both body and in mind. At least, that’s what we’re made to think, up until 248 that is, where the cracks in his mind become apparent.

These cracks didn’t come out of nowhere either. Once you examine both his words and actions closely, especially in recent chapters, the weak points in Sukuna’s mentality are almost always on display. These weak points are most obvious within Sukuna’s fundamental ideology: Hedonism.

To give a brief summary, hedonism is a philosophical theory about human behaviour and our motivations, regarding the avoidance of pain and longing for pleasure as the most important factors in the decisions we make and how we choose to behave. Pleasure, in the concept of hedonism, is typically a broad term that encompasses any good experience that gives a person a sense of happiness or fulfilment - the opposite of pain.

There are a lot of different branches of the hedonistic theory, all with their own interpretations, but this is about the gist of it. Hedonism is a philosophy in which we live life based on the search for pleasure, whatever that means to each individual. Pleasure is a priority, and pain and displeasure is something to be avoided at all costs.

In Sukuna’s case, his hedonistic mentality is a highly self destructive one, baring similarities to the concept of folk hedonism - stereotypical hedonism - wherein the individual will seek pleasure at any cost, without regard for others. So long as pleasure is achieved, the means towards it don’t matter, and in such an extreme case like Sukuna, this has major flaws. Sukuna seems to always be chasing after a new high, a fact that becomes evident after the death of Gojo, as he tries to find someone, anyone, who can rival Gojo, and thus satisfy his need for pleasure. This falls into the Paradox of Hedonism, a counter-theory where the search for pleasure and defining happiness and pleasure as the same thing actually interferes with one’s pursuit of it, leading to dissatisfaction, and, in turn, pain.

Sukuna actively trying to derive some feeling from his battle with Higuruma, pressuring Higuruma to evolve in that moment, displays this flaw perfectly.

And then there’s this:

The way he talks about other people really places emphasis on the fact he relies on them for his source of satisfaction in life. If it entertains me, I’ll throw it a bone.’ ‘The perfect thing to slurp up to pass time until I die’. It’s interesting that he speaks of his main source of pleasure in this way, like they are dogs, or food, something lesser than him or something that won’t last as long as him, an acknowledgment of their fleeting nature, which he also directly acknowledges. In that sense, Sukuna is very self aware - to an extent. He’s a poet, a philosopher, an artist in every sense of the world. In 248, we see he’s capable of deconstructing his own behaviours and understanding them deeply, but he will always come to a biased conclusion due to his refusal to change.

If Sukuna is a seeker of pleasure, then Yuji is a seeker of pain, and if Sukuna is refusal to change, then Yuji is change.

Sukuna’s hedonistic mentality cannot survive because it relies upon remaining unchanged, and thus repeating the same journey to pleasure over and over, whether as Yuji, someone who often seeks pain - the opposite of hedonism - is able to get back up again and again, because he accepts change, accepts pain as a part of life, and grows from it, becoming unbreakable.

Sukuna’s pleasure is also not a long-lasting kind, which again links with the Paradox of Hedonism. You cannot equate a happy life with a pleasurable one. Sukuna will simply never be content with the life he has, always searching for something better than the last, something that will satiate him longer, and that is another reason as to why he will lose to Yuji, who once lived by similar principles, and tried to avoid pain, but was punished for it. If Yuji paralleling Sukuna in that way doesn’t say anything about Sukuna’s inevitable downfall, I don’t know what does.

That’s about all I have to say for now, but if you find this interesting, I’d recommend looking into the different theories of hedonism and the counterpoints to it. I have my own personal beliefs on it, but it’s always interesting to see other takes on philosophical theories!

by Marat Akhmetvaleev

kissu:3

₊˚⊹｡ big gym energy (is this my fantasy?) | fushiguro toji

wc: 2.0k

summary: who would have thought the rippest DILF in all of Japan would get you to go to the gym everyday?

contains: gn!reader, non-curse au, college au, appearance of itafushikugi (mostly nobara), reader has a huge and lowkey delusional crush on toji, age gap

a/n: the gym toji fic! tone in this is a bit different from what i write, and it's lowkey a crack fic but i hope it's still enjoyable! listened to: big energy - latto & area codes - kaliii

part of the in's and out's new year/birthday event | request prompt: going to the gym for yourself (and totally not for that cute guy who sometimes says hi)

“You’re going to the gym?” Nobara halts smack in the middle of the busy hallway. Groans huff behind her, the rest of your class filing out of the lecture hall. You bow your head apologetically as you pull her to the side. 

“Yes.” 

She squints, skeptical, “You.” 

You nod.

“The gym.” she says it slower this time, tilting her head down. 

You nod again. 

Nobara blinks, shifting her weight as she reaches one hand inside the pocket of her overalls. There’s a long pause, rushed footsteps amplifying the suspense, then—

“Okay, what’s the bet? How much did Maki put out? I want in.” 

You roll your eyes, shaking your head as you loop your arm around hers and continue walking. 

There’s good reason for her to doubt you; she knows you best after all. In your little quad, you are the least likely to be found doing any physical activity or sport whatsoever—and that’s saying a lot, considering the other fourth of your group is Megumi. But at least he walks his dogs regularly. 

“Rude,” you scoff jokingly, “there’s no bet, just testing it out because they have a free trial promo.”

It shouldn’t hurt to check it out, you think. One of your resolutions this year is to finally get started on your fitness journey, whatever form it may be. 

“You should come.” 

Nobara snorts, “Wrong person,” you both turn at a corner, “ask Itadori.”

The gym is just a few blocks away from your campus, a good 18-minute walk if you’re counting—which is also part of what makes it so appealing. The ad you’d seen for the free trial is an early bird promo to attract new customers for the gym’s new branch launch. 

And it does make the most sense to ask him; he is the sports science major after all—

“No way,” you step out on the sidewalk, “telling him is practically committing to a membership.” 

—but Yuuji is a bit too eager when it comes to things like this. No doubt he’ll be at your heel, wagging his figurative golden retriever tail at the prospect of being your certified gym buddy. It’s endearing and you know he means well, but that’s way too much pressure for someone who’s just starting out. 

She laughs, readjusting her bag, “He’d know how to use the machines though.” 

“I watched some videos…” you mumble, because Nobara has a point, but if you’re being honest, you feel just a teensy bit embarrassed at the idea of anyone else knowing about your attempts at fitness this early on, lest it fail in the end. “I can probably ask someone there…” 

“Try the most jacked up person in the gym.” 

You shove her jokingly, her laughter echoing down the road. 

. 

The first person you meet at the gym is the lady at the front desk. Her ponytail sways as she greets you, a chirpy smile welcoming you in as she holds an iPad to her chest while touring you around—at the center, the main floor plan is decked out with machines; towards the back sit the squat racks, and to your sides are the private cycling rooms and multifunctional spaces. According to her, they also offer yoga classes every 6:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. 

You’d expected a lot more people to be in here at 7:00 p.m., but you suppose it makes sense others would prefer to spend their Friday nights elsewhere. 

Looking around, you spot a middle-aged lady you swear is Megumi’s English professor; on the treadmills, a couple your age share a laugh as they try to match pace. There are some machines you’ve never even seen in your life, Youtube videos included.

You take a deep breath. You can ask for help. 

After all, the crowd feels friendly enough, not too intimidating—

—until your eyes land on him, on the benches; an absolute tank of a man doing chest presses with what you think are probably the heaviest dumbbells on the rack. 

You try not to stare, catching only a glimpse of the way his biceps flex against the tight sleeves of his black compression shirt. 

Don’t be a creep, you tell yourself, walking towards the leg press machine. You may be new here, but you’ve learned that gym etiquette isn’t so far off from acting like a civilized human being. 

Thank god you never take Nobara seriously, because you can’t even imagine the stuttering mess you’d be if you had to ask him how to work any of these god forsaken machines. 

.

It’s a good thing, then, that help comes to you without you having to say a word. 

This is number four out of five sessions in your free trial promo, and you have no idea how to get the goddamn plates out of the barbell. You pull some out from the other side and the whole barbell comes along with it. When you attempt the other side, it does the same. Then when you finally do manage to get off the plates on one side, the whole barbell drops, clanging loudly against the metal foot of the squat rack set-up. 

(Now that you think about it, maybe it isn’t such a good thing that you’ve been offered help instead of you asking. There must be a reason someone thinks you could need it.)

Someone, who is also the last person you could ever possibly want to embarrass yourself in front of.

Someone, who just so happens to be the jacked up tank of a man you’ve admittedly glanced at a few times in your past few visits here. 

“To make it easier,” he crouches beside you, laying down a smaller plate and rolling the larger ones on the barbell over it. 

He unloads them like they weigh nothing—and with his physique, it isn’t hard to believe that they probably do. His biceps look to be the size of your head, chest popping out in ways you’ve only seen on those Tiktok thirst edits; his one hand is larger than a 2.5 kilogram plate, and his forearms look like they could ch—

Mind out of the gutter, you blink away, focusing instead on the metal bar in front of you. 

God, you don’t even know this man’s name. 

“T-thanks.” you stutter, embarrassed. 

He gives you a half-smile, lips turned on one side, “Sure.” then he walks away, the tightness of his black compression shirt hugging the ridges of his back muscles. 

You gulp. 

So begins your year-long gym membership.

(And maybe, just maybe, the kind-of-meet-cute of a lifetime. Who knows, really?) 

.

“Who would have thought the rippest DILF in all of Japan would get you to go to the gym everyday,” she snorts, fingers grazing over the curved edges of the heart-shaped watermelons in the fruit aisle.

You hush her, scanning the area around you for anyone who might have overhead. 

It’s 11:00 p.m. on a Thursday, so you doubt it, but you can never be too sure.

“He’s nice, you know.” you pout. 

“Yeah, what’s his name?” Nobara gives you a look. 

You glare, touché. 

Maybe you don’t know his name. Yet. 

But he’s always offered to stack on the heavy plates for you, and will oftentimes help in unloading them too. There are times when you aren’t quite sure how to work the machines and he swoops in like the gym buff version of prince charming, teaching you proper form just so you don’t get injured. He’ll wipe down a mat for you to use some days, because—

“Stretching is important,” he never fails to mention.

He’s nice. 

And you have an insanely delusional crush on him, but you don’t care, because why else would he be giving you this much attention if he wasn’t interested in you too? 

.

You find out many things about your gym crush, most of them completely unexpected. 

One: his hair is unusually soft for someone who looks so rough. Or, well, you think it looks soft, you can’t tell for sure; you haven’t actually touched it to be able to tell. The black mop on his head falls flat over his eyes on the few days you assume are right before his next scheduled haircut. It surprises you even more when he walks in the gym with a small hair tie holding his bangs up. 

Two: he does a considerable amount of bodyweight exercises for someone his size—Calisthenics, specifically. 

You watch him pull himself up the bar, biceps and back straining against the movement. The muscles ripple across the fabric of his tee, and it’s impressive how smoothly he’s able to go up and down; as if he isn’t exerting any effort at all. Then, the push-ups and dips. He can do them all, in every variation you never even thought existed, and it’s always done with so much ease. 

It gives you reason to believe that he could be gentle, controlled. In what? Well. You know. 

Three: he likes fruity things. You expected his go-to to be straight black, maybe a chocolate protein shake on other days too. But he shows up one day with a smoothie in the shade of vibrant magenta. Dragonfruit, you assume, from all the black specks floating in it. 

This also happens to be the first time you initiate the conversation with him.  

“Your smoothie looks good,” you mumble, a little hesitant. 

God, so awkward. 

He looks up from adjusting the plate stoppers on your bar. 

A hum rumbles from his throat before he flashes you the same half-smile he always does, “Strawberry, banana, and dragonfruit.” 

You don’t really know what to say after that other than, “Cool.” 

And you mentally facepalm yourself. 

. 

In your fourth month at the gym, you learn a few more unexpected things that change everything. 

You’ve just finished freshening up and you’re on the way out when you bump into— 

“Megumi?” 

He looks up from his phone, dark strands hitting the tips of his eyelashes as he pushes back one side of his headphones. He raises an eyebrow, confused and surprised.  

“You gym?” 

“What’re you doing here?” 

Pink dusts his cheeks as he ducks his head, motioning for you to go first. 

“Sorry,” you chuckle, adjusting the strap of your duffel bag, “I started going here a few months ago. You?” 

He looks a little surprised by it, probably more so at the fact that you’ve kept it a secret from him for so long, but he nods, “That’s good. You did mention wanting to work on your fitness more this year.” then, he shifts, adjusting his weight before hanging his headphones by his neck. 

“I’m waiting for my dad.” 

In the past few years you’ve known Megumi, he’s never mentioned his dad. You never bothered to ask because you suspected there was a good reason he never talked about him in the first place. 

And so comes number four, and maybe the last unexpected thing you find out about your gym crush— 

“Megumi!” 

You both turn around to the voice of none other than Nobara’s proclaimed rippest DILF in Japan; the most jacked up tank of a man who also happens to be the man you’ve crushed hard on for the past four months.  

Everything is snapping into place, information forming bridges you would rather not cross right now. 

He walks up to Megumi, duffel bag slung across his chest as he reaches for your friend.

Megumi looks like he wants to wither away, embarrassed at you seeing him tucked under his dad’s arm. But all your brain can really comprehend is that Megumi, your good friend, is currently squished between the bicep and chest you’ve been staring at since your first day at the gym.

You hold your breath, the realization creeping to the forefront of your mind. There had been signs that your gym crush was a dad; apart from being built like one, he’d offhandedly mention ‘son’ a few times. You didn’t think it would be—

“Oh, you two know each other?” your gym crush tilts his head, turning to you, “you didn’t tell me your friend signed up for this gym, Megumi.” 

“I didn’t know,” Megumi grumbles, and the look on his face can rival yours, for sure. Tough competition on ‘who looks like they want to die the most right now?’. 

But he can’t win. 

Because when Megumi begrudgingly introduces your gym crush to you as his dad, you’re pretty sure you’ve buried yourself twelve feet underground. 

(It doesn’t ease the embarrassment when you learn unexpected thing number five: he’s been a trainer at the gym this entire time.)

thank you notes: to @twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat for encouraging me all the way!! ily ari

comments, tags, and reblogs are greatly appreciated ♡

Do you think there shouldn’t be a Jewish state at all? Not even in a different continent?

You might need to sit down for this one but ethnostates shoud not exist, regardless of what continent they might be on lmao

The existence of an ethnostate by default means the subjugation and violence committed against other groups of people and you cannot name anywhere, definitely not a continent, where a homogenous ethostate can be established without displacing the people already living there who are not part of the ethnic group.

The only way this can ever be achieved is through ethnic cleansing and you're literally asking me if I'm in favour of that and the answer is fuck no