dramaturgist | Reading

okay I've been wanting to make this post for like last 5?6? ship tags I've gone through but it's difficult to sit here and be like 'ahhh let me leave my thoughts on fics that i thought were mostly insignificant' but if anyone's keeping track i have gone through the haikavetham tag, the sirus/remus tag, i think I did just a generic read through of fandom big names atp, and I did a lot of the phaidei tag. today's tag is not any of those, and I'm sort of still actively reading through whatever getogojo fic i can find so... I just want to call it at this arbritrary point, because I've stopped filtering for rated E fic only, and have found people with BOOKMARKS who actually BOOKMARK FIC and this is an exciting development that lead to understand, once again, the reason I write so much character study is actually because character study is my favourite thing to read Also, and I really dgaf about porn... sorry... but it is so nice when it's there, i just don't want it to be there in fic i think is serious isn't that CRAZY...

however, before we get this started, I did do a mini-side quest into fe3h mediest land midway through, and came being no.1 sylvain fan because he was really was always being depicted in a situation and without sympathy in a way I wish would happen to gojo all the time... thank you mediest... ANYWAY... that aside, there's going to be actual weight and heft and Real Things to #Talk About in this fic[lit] review because it's no longer just bad or good porn....

some notes on things I like and don't like:

we all know that ship order has a nonzero effect on characterisation because of how we've internalised certain hang-ups about pederasty/romance/wtv ... here are my things that I believe are canon and that fic should respect whether or not I like the ship order they do it about, and tend to respect about fics whether or not i like the ship order: [socially inept and emotionally unintelligent gojo satoru] this is my big one, which goes hand-in-hand kinda with [gojo is stuck at the restaurant] which mostly just means [gojo fell harder and pined harder and loves more], this i think is simply true because [geto cares more about his ideals than he does satoru] which I think is really important to understand how agency affects his moral/psychological transformation. like c'mon guys... so those are my big ones that I believe preserve sort-of the important aspects of what makes their relationship appealing To Me, and thus is what I want to see depicted in fic...
we all know I hate woobification... literally I don't want poor angsty victim babygirl who is so insecure and needs love and big fat cock and is sooo sad and hurt ... i cannot stand ittttt like I barely enjoy this kind of suffering and it does not make this character more erotic or sexualisable or enjoyable to me in any way... moral argument alert! but Geto Suguru is, in canon, a genocidal murderer cult leader. like I don't need to nor do i particularly want to feel sorry for him, or think he didn't actually deserve it and was misunderstood the whole time, which I know is not always the objective of woobifying fics, but is nonetheless the effect. in the different way, I think you fundamentally misunderstand gojo and how he suffers if he is cognisant of his own suffering. like gojo satoru is the single character I want whump of* real bad because he does not actually understand why or how he is in this situation, he doesn't know what he's done to deserve it, and he does not put actual value into his own suffering. [*case 0 is mydei who i wanted Waterboarded] like he absolutely deserves the sylvain_fe3h treatment because he is both at fault for everything he's done and is incapable of understanding how his nurture has shaped him and because he can't even articulate that, no one else will/should feel sorry for him either!!! he's one of the skinner pidgeons! if geto's great tragedy revolves around the way he seeks agency, gojo's great tragedy is that he never even realises he lacks it and therefore lacks the ability to grasp at it...
夏五. geto/gojo. summer5. that is my chosen ship order. I don't want any other food. I'm picky, that's my molly tea order with no matcha foam please. like I don't think rev order is innately bad or mischaracterised or anything, I just like it better this way because i have gojo_prion_disease. it happens to the best and worst of us. my two bones are here: sugusato order tends to ... just elide geto's psychological hang-ups/issues/problems ... like hello? I want my man depressed and struggling and on the brink? like he's a great caring loving responsible indulgent leash-holding boyfriend. at least tell me he takes antidepressants? whatever... satosugu order, on the other hand... literally Crimes of Woobification and everyone is like 'he's sooo depressed and sad and struggling and overworked and insecure and self-hating bbygrl' girl what about his superiority complex? hello? that was the best part. that was literally beautiful and NECESSARY representation for depressed guys who think they're better than everyone else and hate themselves for it. that's where you get the self-hating part from!!!! also no one believes in exploring his image gap. like alright man. let's not even take this seriously. gojo is probably a harder character to mischaracterise on the surface if you keep all his shallow notes, but geto literally suffers soooooo much on both sides. ACCORDING TO MY INTERPRETATIONS. shoko also suffers but everyone is excused for that because she has like 10 lines in canon.
back to my aforementioned, most general bone: Why does everyone think Geto is the pining, more in-love half? [...] like there's one thing in thinking Gojo doesn't realise he's in love at all, point-blank, and therefore can't be pining about it ... but he does realise at some point... and even if he doesn't in whatever point your fic is taking place in, well who left who, and who broke up with who, and who chides who about holding on until the very end, is very apparent. as is, gege akutami saying gojo's single complex is being unable to change geto's mind. as is, i don't know... the shibuya incident? ... a plan that only works because Gojo Satoru, if not stuck at the restaurant, Returns To It? ... anyway, I feel like this problem would not occur if fandom collectively fixated on the 'At least curse me a little at the very end' line instead of the 'We're the Strongest duo' line... because one is far more romantic and torturous than the other. TO ME. and wayyyy more revealing of gojo's character/naivete/morals... AT HIS BIG AGE OF 28 TOO!!!!
I don't like aus. I like the jjk universe, I like canon divergence, I like this ship because this ship cannot be reasonably extricated from the universe it was written within. there is no such thing as Gojo Satoru unless he is the Strongest, and the mess of that title comes up with all the things wrong with Jujutsu society... everything wrong with gojo works Best and Most Perfectly in jjkverse... anyway. I approach aus with extreme prejudice, that's all.
I don't like internalised homophobia and I just don't think it would be real for this ship, where BOTH , TWO , BOTH parties reject social conventions and norms with extreme prejudice. like yeah they know the rules. fuck the rules though.
like okay I have categorised approaches to geto whump/angst/psychoanalysis/character study fics into two modes, and it's either, and often more commonly (and I think, incorrectly): [geto hates himself for meaning too little to gojo] OR [geto hates himself for meaning too much to gojo] ... which, look, I personally don't see or particularly care for the self-hating aspect, I think there's a lot self-burden, and I think there is a lot of repulsion/disgust caught up in there, but i don't think all of it is necessarily directed at himself. and I think a lot of fic reaches for like Guilt/Shame as like guiding emotions that lead you, the reader, to [want to] sympathise with him. again, this is neither here nor there for me as a reader, but I think what really turns off me is how these things intersect with Gojo as character/concept. I really don't think that geto would be cold/cruel or hateful as some gojo_angst tries to ascribe, but by trying to convince me/your reader, that geto cares more about gojo and meaning something to him and his hatred of his own weakness is because he's not gojo's equal, very directly undercuts his choice to break away from jujutsu society, and how he does that to escape his own weakness. not because he's beholden to gojo's morals or gojo's strength, but because he himself feels powerless and used outside of that, and he feels this way not because of gojo but because of how his fellow sorcerers are treated. like, my reading of XX village massacre + KFC break-up is reliant on the line: "Kill me if you want, there's meaning in that." Geto has not only chosen to grasp and give himself agency through becoming a curse user, but he's encouraging Gojo to do the same, to follow the path he finds for himself. anyway. we may come back to this later when I review some fic...
sort-of my white whale of fic I have yet to find is like gojo-navel-gazing fic? not that exactly but... it should ideally be outsider pov pitying gojo for being so arrested development and stuck at the restaurant and barely even understanding those things about himself and never knowing or even realising there Could Be something outside being a weapon... all while he is still hated in the nation and perpetuating all the things that make it impossible to pity him/be nice to him/etc... like AUUUGHHH it would taste so good... it tastes so good in my mind... sorry I just really want delicious rich meal of gojo_nonwhump_whump... gojo being painfully unaware of himself My Favourite Flavour I will say that shit forever and ever and ever....
'parental gojo satoru' really pisses me off. the attachment he could have to megumi/tsumiki and the responsibility he assumes over them is not analogous to geto<>mimiko/nanako... like it could not be more obvious or clear but whatever... and, not to touch on recent jjk twt discourse, but gojo satoru is an extremely middling muddied figure where his morals/affections/attachments/teaching abilities are very confused. because he! is! a! confused! unactualised! unrealised! guy!!! if his character seems underdeveloped and contradictory, that's actually, and I hate to say it, on purpose! that's gege akutami being a good writer! he has his shit IN THE BAG when he wrote gojo satoru. you have to accept and write him as the half-baked impulsive, mostly personally motivated guy that he is!!!
i don't have a 10th point. YET. i'm sure I'll find one. well some smaller nitpicks that people are culpable of ... first of all: 1st year trio are not gojo's favourites. gojo's favourites are the 2nd years. what? that can't be true. WHO IS HE TEXTING ABOUT MEGUMI GETTING ALL BEAT UP? + I will agree that itadori is kind of up there if not There as his student 1pick, but that's sort of like, protag privileges ngl... anyway... but saying this also, I find it really hard to believe that people like gojo in general and are allied with him For His Personality, like In Fic... like if it's double teachers au/no defection esp, like, be honest with me... let's all be honest with one another...

anyway. onto the actual review portion of this.

Carry Me Home
+this is like, The Fic? to me? in that it really made me appreciate geto's moral journey, was a really good piece of fiction on top of being a good character study fic, and literally had famous famous line of [geto to gojo]: "I care about my ideals more than I care about you." WHILEEE spending the entire fic throwing up over how much he loves gojo... which is so beautiful to me because it really highlights that you cannot save people and gojo himself saying he can only save those that want to be saved...like the only person who can change geto's mind is geto himself + just the way it highlighted the difference in maturity between 17sg 17st 28gt 28gj ... like BRUHHH... i think i just generally really like 17x28 as a subgenre in jjk, and I think this one really did such a good job in showing the relative Lack of development between the two gojos [like one has just seen more death now] and the backslide of older geto where he is maybe a far more curated person who is pre-occupied with Performance [perfect, no notes] but his morality and fanaticism has degraded him... it was just reallyy good and really understood so many things about jjk canon and what i felt about it INCLUDING my ult thesis of [gojo is always collateral] because even in this fic, like so much of it happens with 17st being offscreen and or BEING LEFT BEHIND, while 28yr gojo can barely say anything that matters and honestly, in a DIVINE, STROKE OF GENIUS-like choice, 17yr geto hates him. like i think that's also sooooooo **__** because of course he does! the carelessness and ineptitude doesn't look as good at 28 as it did at 17!!! but i think there was also something soooo moving and perfect about 28yr old gojo being described as 'awkward' and Noted to be Bad At This ... idk there's so much to noting how much he's been left behind in so many different ways, no? DOWN TO ALWAYS HAVING TO BE THE ONE TO FIND GETO!!! and I think this was especially sooo potent when compared to geto's relative sociability and the ease with which, as a 17 ON THE BRINK is able to handle similar situations... like genuinely the wide chasm between them TT like idk it was also so affecting because there's such a potent emphasis then on who gets to be/remain a child and who is forced to 'grow up' ... AUGH...
+ch10 has this pill bottle moment, which to me was THE most satisfying reading experiences i've gotten from ao3 ever. like I was shocked and gagged and so deeply impressed and affected, and impressed by the character first and foremost! and then by the author for coming up with this. like the experience was so diegetic, which on ao3, at least for me, i am always so aware this is OP's understanding of:, but this was just like HYPE MOMENTS and AURAAAA x69000 I wasn't even like 'how did op come up with this' i was just super fucking impressed with this character and his own understanding of his situation... like it felt so good watching him outsmart himself.
+in the end, I really enjoyed everything this fic promised me, it put a lot of beautiful images in my mind and made me #ponder and #think... and I read some of op's other stuff, which we'll cover but i love the chaste aroasexuality they write adult getogojo like yeah. it is so fucking complicated it's unreal..

sediment
+this is literally a fic that is so famous to me in my mind because the concept of like >being in love with a guy who hates that you're in love with him so much that he'll barely admit to it> like yeah. it happens. LIKE HOLY FUUUUCK... in execution i really don't know how i feel about it but I do want gojo to be yelled at and unfairly victimised and I like the conceit of everything that's happening here probably more so than the execution, 'as if you haven't made an emotionally comprised decision' was SUCHHH a good line but idk if the comeback was deserved but literally... op does this thing where clearly they really understand gojo's narrative role in both the jjk story and the story they're telling, but he is also so genuinely inscrutable On-Screen in fic ... where you can INTUIT that he is in love and he's being unfairly treated and he is making the active decision to let this happen to him but at the same time, you're just Not Allowed to Know this. esp not from his own mouth. like these are all the logical and natural conclusions to what's happening and because it's a fic that's been tagged accordingly, You Know, but you're still denied the Certainty of it. GOD DAMNNN... what a crazy way to preserve the agency/dignity/etc that has been stripped from him.. bc again, he is so often Forced to play such a passive role in a story he wants to be in... AUGHHH. gojo satoru my beloved.
+so like in many ways, i am the guy being edged and ruined orgasm'd and dickmatized and etc by valleykeys but they also know that is litr what i want... so...

Anchor
+I should be making a valleykeys tab but it's FINEEE...this was the other one of their fics I quite liked and also the fic where I was really convinced that they were charmed and affected by gojo satoru's innocent naive shining heart fr fr fr because they do really think he is a teenage girl and geto is a delicate victorian gender neutral something ? I DON'T KNOWWW... but I did like this fic like yayyyy everyone let's take a break from the doom and gloom and #angst... everyday we suffer because of the ships we choose?

a decade's worth of days with you
+this was in valleykeys bookmarks, and valleykeys bookmarks, they've led me well okay... except for this and 1 other thing, because this was a DNF... combination of 'I wouldn't want him to say that' and 'you're not convincing me that he would say that' AND like a lot of inconsistency with Geto vs Suguru vs Gojo vs Satoru ... it did start out decently funny, but ultimately I found that I did not care for the geto characterisation and if it was better, then I would've been way more open-hearted about the Vaguely Mature and Understanding gojo ... or maybe not. and I did go in, having crtl+f'd for cock to make sure the switch tag would not landmine me, but ultimately I just don't believe[/am not really interested in a] Gojo is capable of the sort of delicate and emotionally attuned actions he takes in this fic...
+this is the fic that made me realise the thing about [geto hates himself for not meaning more to gojo], because that is it's approach. like I really don't understand what and where and when in the timeline geto would be like 'whoa he fucking hates me and finds me sick and disgusting' which is not an unreasonable thing, given like psychosis and depression et al, but he didn't even have that much psychosis or depression in this!!! so, like HELLO?
+also like, gojo was making breakfast for geto and I was like really shocked and gagged by the allegation that he would be so nice and wifely and attentive and caring...ANDDD he wanted to go out of his way to meet the twins... so Who do you think gojo satoru is and what have you replaced him with? litr a fic about giving gojo a lobotomy a year earlier than expected?

bodily fluids
>read this litr while writing this post and it was kind-of scary because of the switching references... ummm... it was fine.. it was normal... the only thing I have to say is that I didn't like the lack of contractions, especially in dialogue because it just felt quite unnatural [...] i think I liked the gojo, but again, really easy to hit the shallow gojo notes imo [esp bc a lot of that shallowness is the brunt of his character] ... the other thing I have to say, is that like I really like it when people just tell me in fic straight up that X character doesn't like bottoming. like yayyyyy. it's okay to admit that. i think it's very brave and the easiest most satisfying way to justify fixed order :)
>I read the other zofgk fic and I just don't think they're for meee style-wise even if the characterisation is decent... but it's OK...

the swipe of a scythe
+oof... theoretically everything I want from postcanon everyone!lives fix-it fic where it is actually really hard to fix-it... and actually nothing can be fixed and having people alive is way more complicated and fucked up than having them die!!
+I really liked the gojo in this... i genuinely think I would care/like so much 'Good' sugusato fic more than I do if they tended to be as attentive and caring about gojo's [1000000000 psychological problems and issues and things he has wrong with him but is literally too much of an idiot to even understand or know himself!!!] as much as geto's... like this is literally tagged 'Gojo gets to be mad!' which i think is a beautiful valiant tag and I wanted to see it bc, in an unpublished post I lambast over how gojo is literally so bad at being mad in general [why does he have to be told to curse geto!!!!] so it actually would've been really nice if that tag was not as subtle as it was... maybe I wasn't reading attentively or generously enough bc i felt like a lot of what must've been op's intent to showcase anger came off more as awkwardness, and maybe it is one and the same for gojo, bc i litr just said he was bad at being mad and so maybe it does manifest like that.
+but I think ultimately really enjoyed the awkwardness as key to the re-adjustment... I do think gojo being awkward when faced with any non-jujutsu vaguely vulnerable/delicate situation is SOOOOO...literally gapmoe charm trait to every degree possible MY HONEYPLUMMM... like and YES i do think it would only happen with geto actually. like i think he's very capable of bulldozing and doing his thing any other time bc it Does Not Reallyyy Matter [to him] ... [I KILLED YOUR DADDY] ....
+so in the end, like you, the reader, expected me to say: Really a fic I would've enjoyed more from gojo pov and actually just if it was about gojo instead full stop...

The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom
+kind-of wanted I wanted on the tin... but I didn't love it... I was thinking 'oh this is so american...' and then op lampshaded it two lines later, being like 'wow gojo you watched too many american movies' like damn okayy... idk didn't love the prose or the resolution but conceptually it was everything to me... like i do love the idea of gojo going crazy in prison realm by mashing together memories that happened/didn't happen/he wanted them to happen and his own brain fucking that up for him... but birdginia already did that and better....

A Change of Masters
+just really funny in premise and concept TwT but I literally do hate uncritical capitalist young master heir ascendant gojo... like... cmon now... AND ALSO, ANOTHER THING, they gave him daddy issues for nooooo reason it... like he literally doesn't have those. like his parents are a non-issue thing because he was spawned on earth fully formed? i don't know...
+just. uh imagine getting the best dicking of your life by the hottest guy you've ever met and then he starts ranting about the class war near the end... end it all bruh,...

the void behind my face
+great fic. birdginia gets it. they have the twine box fic, which is nice and really really good [probably better?] than this one, but this one really scratches the itch of like Needing Evil Things To Be Done With Gojo Who Barely Has The Facility To Handle It... like genuinely, brushing off his own rape into >litr deluding himself because he wants it to be suguru so bad like he needs this one thing so so bad... like it really was a Moment of All Time, how awful and romantic and terrible that kenjaku/gojo scene was... like my poor guy reduced to a teenager in love once again TT ... so good because of how it indulges in gojo’s delusions while also ripping them into shreds + gojo having never been hurt like that in his lifeeeee and also unable to be imagined being hurt like that ever like it scratches a spot so good…

covered in false images (just like God)
+literally such a scary fic... because it truly makes you feel like catwhoatethelemon but also like, there is such a scary landmine that happens in this fic... WHICH IS FINEEEE... anyway it is soooooooooooooo YAYYY interactive fiction YAYYY i literally am experiencing being in prison realm, but I also just love the fucking IMMEDIACY? of how much love there is and how much love he feels, like I think that's genuinely the most fucked up thing about both birdginia fics, is that there isn't a 'there was love' or 'i did love him' it is just, STILL LOVE, ACTIVE PRESENT IN LOVE, like he is once again and still forevermore a giddy lovesick teenage overblown by the feeling... aughhhh it is so fucked up how romantic it is...
+the 'you're going to think about something else right now, thanks!' into 'you're a goddamn idiot' into 'you can't do this you can't do this you did this' is always so sos osososososooso good, like #yasss the total flippant desperation that gojo always approaches any sign of a problem with... ;rainbowjokebear; ;tearyeyes;
+ALSO. insanely good writing all across the board and insanely good use of twine as a format AUGHHHH

A Light Touch
+this was suuuuch a good episodic fic... like all over the place, the teen insecurity, the >Just Kids of it all..., really good voice/story/character and extended cast... the river of nostalgia that runs through it, like you, the reader, are seeing it is as a memory even though it happens in present tense for the characters... Idk mood/atmosphere/writing was all there and all real good.
+I also liked their other fic, Ignore the Greek Chorus, a little less but I think they do such a good job of showing the way that gojo's careless consideration/affection manifests in... I think I told hannah i don't care about hidden inventory era fic, or that I was sickkkk of the high school nostalgia of it all but that really isn't true because I LOVE INNOCENCE!!! and I think there is sooo much terror and sickness and doom that you feel read any fic set at that point in the timeline bc you, as the reader, are like 'THEY DONT FUCKING KNOW!!!' and you, as the reader, are like 'THEY WERE HAPPY ONCE!!! THEY WERE HAPPY HERE!!!' ... idk it just scratches that itch that you want fanwork to scratch sooo bad so well...

inbetween
+I really liked this fic, ummm... there were just such a good scattering of moments [ramen on the stove], [not hugging itadori], the general Not A Sane or Okay Guy but whatever we ball attitude of it all... like this is my nickel of fic found that is taking gojo's general unwellness seriously and observing how it manifests, and I think it does quite a good job, I just ... don't think he gave that much of a fuck about nobara/tsumiki/megumi ... like I think, in concept, he is not someone haunted by his dead...
+on the other hand, I really didn't like op's ten years fic, but I did like their grapes fic, which I really do love time-travel where nothing changes and nothing is fixed... I LOVEEEE FUTILITY AND DOOM and also it was so so scary to read while listening to charli xcx john cale House, like yeah. you are going to die in this house. like transformation irt to haunted man carrying his dead [geto suguru] ... LIKE LOOK. i think gojo cares about his living, and he cares about his future, but it's also true that his emotional core has been warped by the existence of geto... anyway. GOOD author! would reread both inbetween and grapes.

The Genealogy of Morals
+THE BEST/WORST FIX-IT FIC IN THE WORLD!!!! really like the tag 'fix-it' is doing so much skulduggery and trickery and lechery and honestly just being really mean to the unsuspecting reader and setting an expectation that is then... i can't even describe it. come back to my review after you've read it... you're kind of like 'i guess. i guess it is. no like... it is what is said on the tin? like? yeah?' one of the best fics in the tag TO ME ... that kind of says every single thing that I want to be told about X Y Z character, but specifically, gojo satoru.
+"Gojo doesn't think anything at all. He's waiting for you to tell him." which is literally canon and exactly where the hidden inventory/plasma vessel arc ends. so like. i wish everyone else in the tag a very >Let's Internalise This... Let's Put A Pin In This... Let's Meditate... I don't knowww just such a good fic about >Suguru's actions were always going to be set in stone, >Gojo is an idiot baby ... I also really liked the presence of Shoko in this fic, I was just busy getting blown the fuck up by the perfect gojo and the perfect gojo dialogue... how indelicate he is and how awful he is but also so much like bad glue and so fixated on the single star in his orbit/radar.... what do you guys know about MY baby? he really is a kirihara...
+a lot of fic does a lot of heavylifting work on like geto's morals and psychology et al, and leaves gojo as perpetually unaffected, but this fic is so like OH MY GODDD... it's just two lines but gojo saying psychological evaluations are impossible to pass, and then later, he stopped doing them because they were useless... like such a clean devastating cut about how gojo's mental state/psychology/etc certainly does not matter, not to him and not to those around him eitherrr... and not even to this fic!!! JUST SO GOOD!!!
+also the sparseness of the style is sooo appreciable to me and it is such a beautiful exercise of 'less is more' in how disaffected and detached it could be as well as the few tangible sensations that op chose to describe... probably my top jjk fic. no way, is that crazy? the feeling of it is soooo...

i thought i had to swallow them before they swallowed me
another timeloop fic... I really liked the last chapter of this, which was the only chapter i read... so rip to ch1-5, but i loved the twist and the characterisation and authorial decisions i saw... like yayyyy
+this was also one of those fics that were like 'yeah gojo is also fucked the fuck up but that matters less cuz he's not doing Murder but He Is Fucked Up and barely cognisant of it' which i think is part of the struggle? or the ideal of writing gojo because how do you even broach the mental state of a guy who doesn't self-reflect and doesn't care about it and no one around him cares either... WHICH OBVIOUSLY. IS WHY I WANT DELICIOUS BEAUTIFUL NAVEL-GAZING WHUMP ABOUT IT!!! but even in this fic geto's like, I acknowledge this but I need to focus on myself moreee... so delicious and beautiful and good...
+maybe I need to read the full thing through once and maybe I will someday but I've lowkey had ENOUGHHH of geto psychology deep dive like WHAT ABOUT GOJO SATORUUUU!!! whatever... whatever... im the greediest person on earth and i keep shopping at the wrong stores fine fineeee... fine...

fool me once (shame on who?)
+okay I have to talk about this fic in conjunction with the way better version of this fic HANG ON...

HASTUR
+THIS WAS LITERALLY THE SCARY BODYSNATCHING HORROR FIC THAT I ASKED FOR!!!
+genuinely a fic I found so offputting and visceral that really did such a good job of taking seriously and portraying kenjaku as the scary grabber bodysnatcher that will be psychologically torturing both parties but in a sexy scary way... like I literally love, as evidenced by my choice of this ship, THE MONSTER YOU LOVE trope but this made it really really scary because it was actually [Monster you love.... WHO DOESNT HAVE YOUR BEST INTENTIONS IN MIND] ... idk it's true the things I find scary are >old houses, the cold, medical horror... + THE UNCANNY, and this had all of that perfectly balanced esp the ending which was soooooo... MY POOR GOJO MEOWMEOW??? really a fic that reminded me of one of my favourite tma statements of all time AKA 'MAG101: Another Twist' like sooo Sannikov Land-y....
+op's prose-writing is not really my favourite but it suits the tone/atmosphere of their works soooo well... idk what a treat! how good! how scary!

back to fool me once (shame on who?)
+I reallyyyy wanted to like this more than I did… I did like the psychological horror/unnerving domestic terror notes I loveeee >the monster you love fics I really do… uh the concept of gojo living with bodysnatched geto just to be close with geto… yayyyy but I think I would’ve enjoyed more of a focus on how twisted gojo is to go along with this rather than having him play uncritical victim… also lowkey a fic where I was kind of feeling like the sex scene should’ve been rev order but it wasn’t and so in the end... no one won….
+idk in the end it just didn't have the right tone or the right amount of horror/uncanny/dread unfortunately :( but ... pseudocitrus does have a pretty similar geto_bodysnatching fic that's quite similar to this in how it treats kenjaku's violation of ...mundaneity? it's trueee... + the iamsomebody post-canon fic also hits similar notes... so I think ultimately this is a theme/concept I really like and do want explored, bc it's also just an inversion of what geto does to the curses he collects in general no? the karmic aspects of that would probably be really fun to deliberate on...

pressure
+this one was quite good, i liked it, another timeloop fic for the road... I think this is better than their other fic Just Personally to me, but both are quite ambitious in concept and really well done because of it!!!

YOU CANNOT SAVE PEOPLE
+kind of such a great fic becauseeee of how correctly voice was assigned... like yasss perfect in character gojo satoru pov...!!!

telephone syndrome
+this is an orphaned pseudocitrus fic that is SO SO GOOD once again because the tag it's tagged with is literally perfect in concept rather than me gaf'ing about the actual fic... IT HAPPENS TO ALL OF US!!! the 'shoko and suguru using each other to burn off stress while satoru is oblivious to it all' like... IM GOING TO THROW UPPPPPPPPP... IM GOING TO THROW UPPPPPPP... i literally love fucked up triangulation and i am a big fan of sugu/shoko in general and how they're, at least, the 'real' adults of the trio... it's sooooooo... AUGH. the apathy v the degradation v the teenage god of it all... hang on I'm literally about to start making a gojo<>furina venn diagram...

ruche
+this is my ruche corner and I have some things to say... I think I innately disagree with some of the character explorations they do, but they did write the best 17x28 fic in the tag with 'let's climb the cliff and jump again' like perfect characterisation, perfect amount of regret and Bruh_fuck_this_shit and patheticness and gojo ignoring all his problems in until they're non-issues to him + perfect PERFECT 17x28 gojo x gojo interaction where ofc the teenage god wastes his fucking question by being an impudent asshole jealous girlfriend... SO CUUUTEEE... and I really do think teen suguru is so perfectly described... as is their other 17x28 fic with the roles reversed, where adult geto really is sooo conniving and manipulative that bastard...
+also CLIFF fic is literally so good because gojo says I love you and thinks it and is trying so so hard to believe in it and geto does not respond or reciprocate that desire in any way and IT'S LITERALLY SO GOOD THAT IT'S SCARY!!! wow the porn is nothing to me but i would've hated it if geto had been bottoming so there's that... isn't that fuuuckeedddddd... it's because penetration is an entirely semiotic act in fic[tion] and therefore Means/Implies something about these characters in a way it doesn't have to in real life... yep yep...
+see literally their fic is only bad when they start doing all the geto whump/glaze/angst/insecurity wombo'est of combos...

anyway, the allegations really looked like a fic that started off so strong and so good and then I was reading some of their endnotes in fear of The Landmines that were going to Landmine Me and instead I felt the most >Huh? What? I have ever felt when reading the thoughts of a writer I otherwise deeply admired and felt like I was likely to agree with

click more clickhole read more [...hole?]

“I do not like to woobify Suguru but at the same time I do believe he is a sick puppy and if he was exposed too much to Gojo drama, plus rough violating sex, plus the emotional instability he usually hides, plus the innate sense of guilt and anxiety, plus degradation carried out by the love of his life who's actually angry at him bc Suguru pushed him, this does seem like smth that could happen . Like he just sub drops hard and then is also uncomfortable with being so sensitive and touchy and emotional around Gojo, because being Gojo's enemy is better than being a weakling when Gojo expects an equal from him!!!!

+So I just don’t think that would happen.

“fuck idk yeah I wanted pissed gojo and miserable Suguru but isn’t this kind of the better representation of their relationship. Suguru at his worst and Gojo still loving him, Gojo guilty about his emotional shortcomings, Suguru getting away with shit because he’s unhinged but in a strong, tragic lovable way. x("

+I just don’t think that’s true!!! Like, maybe this is my own problem and my own fault cus I really do not spend a lot of time justifying or thinking thru the genocidal mass murderer guy’s emotional and philosophical and cognitive state that causes him to do all that. Murdering. but I think it’s really strange that this the most obvious case of >you can love your unrepentant monsters< everrr [famously also gojo’s Most consistent trait. He’s like pleaseeeee I need a serial murderer to love so bad] yet it's being treated like a surprising fact?
+and I agree that geto is a guy who loves fronting and puts up so much fronts but the things that we know about geto and gojo:
(1) geto is actually very attached to and does believe really hard in his convictions. He’s probably a foil for yuki in that sense. Like I don’t really know how you watch or read jjk0 and also the kfc breakup and come away with the geto does not really believe in his mission and suffers from the cognitive dissonance of it all. Like I think he probably embraces it actually. Like I think the line, “Kill me if you want. There’s meaning in that,” is really emblematic of him choosing his path was an act of agency and an exercise of Free Will, like gojo is going to be forever behold to jujutsu society and what it means to be the strongest and also what it means to kill geto, whereas geto is making this active choice to excise himself from this system he sees as causing only suffering for the people he cares about. the cognitive dissonance comes from like, a right-wing nationalist party seeking self-determination re/the taliban… so essentially the concept of nationalism itself. But ultimately, geto finds his actions more meaningful than he finds the sense of self-hate/helplessness/depression he gets from being the ‘right’ kind of sorcerer. And that’s ultimately what he wants, that sense of meaning, not only for himself but for all sorcerers. Again, you can Um Actually me all you want, what do I know about this guy.
+I just really don’t get like. Yk, it’s like the concept of >Lots of people get depressed. That does not make them become genocidal mass murderers. Like Nanami also suffered burn out. And he was way nicer about it. It’s okay to admit that geto has a similar twisted sense of self that gojo does and that’s why he’s the only person gojo has, however briefly, felt understood by.
(2) gojo is not good at being mad. !!! Gojo is like, really bad at being mad actually. “at least curse me a little at the very end” / “sorry Megumi, I’m just enjoying this now.” / “I wish I could’ve given sukuna a good fight in return” … like he’s just not a guy who gets mad! This is part and parcel of his [lack of] morality and emotional shortcomings!!! He has a very weak sense of justice because he lacks a strong concept of human dignity!! For both himself and Society at large!! He says over and over that kids should have a youth, and he follows through with that in shallow gestures, but also ultimately, he does endanger and manipulate them!!! Yes he kills geto, yes he kills the higher ups, but these all ultimately symbolic actions that are undermined by [whatever sentimental way he handles geto’s body that allows kenjaku to hijack it/that he never ever ever Gets Over geto for real despite it all, Again, no need to read all of jjk, but vol0 does cover all of that!!! ‘oh people can change’ the whole point of gojo is that he is in a perpetual state of arrested development. Infinity is both a superpower and a diegetic metaphor about how nothing can pierce beneath the shallow surface!!! He is untouchable both emotionally and physically!!! Whatever… whatever man. I mean I guess he got mad about kenjaku body hacking but…. Like I do agree that if gojo ever gets mad at anyone, it would be at/about geto but I think it’s probably fair to point out, and what my end argument is, is that anger is not a productive emotion that leads to anything for him.

+Herein lies the problem with ‘humanising’ gojo is that he is simply a character whose actual flaws people don’t find all that interesting, I think. Or, they don’t make for straightforward angsty emotional whump or typical fanfic tropes. Like similarly to yuta, there’s a want for a secret dark side or like with maki, a secret fragile side … but that’s just nottt how it works. Like the story iterates for you over and over again that love is his curse, and that’s the thing that makes him fallible and that’s the thing he wants to return to and ends up returning to over and over, but it’s not a straightforward or easily digestible conception/expression of love!!! Again, this is all my reading and my sensibilities, and I really don’t want to be accused of anything but wanting gojo objectified and sexualized. Like I’m not arguing for gojo sensitive soft delicate victim coding. I am arguing for gojo whump though but only because he really is the perfect guy for it. But ONLY the in-character kind. Litr like >guy who has never had anything of this kind happen to him and is in the ride of his life rn.

Till Death Do Us--
+another valleykeys rec that uhhh.. is really funny that part is true. idk how i feel about their geto suguru... not very strongly or agreeably... but maybe I just lowkey hate adult geto and only want my sickly teenage son with mental problems... i don't know... i was really on-board and I found it really funny and then the lack of endgame and multiship kind of scared me and then the nanami bottom REALLY scared me mom i was so scared... but i do think it's perfect no notes gojo pov... I really do<3

in Victory, in Defeat
+sukugo... you think I would've enjoyed this but I don't like bloodplay I think... must be why I'll never find vampires sexy.... like ideally I want masochist painslut gojo all the time but this wasn't very fun to me even though i like all edging and ruined orgasm and overstimulation...AND bondage.. AND CHOKING!! so wow i must really not fuck with blood/knife play... yeah that checks out. i only like impact play and real violence...

voxofthevoid
+my yujigo dealer... who we're just going to do a full pseud review because their fics are not that different to me since I'm reading mostly and only for the porn because the choice of ship for the dynamic they write is genuinely baffling to me... but hey... we're ALL doing transformative fiction here no judgement just a normal amount of judgement...
+ultimately there are so many things about this choice of ship that make me go ‘Huh? Sure peggles I guess’ but I do have respect someone who has the same delusion of yuji as sukuna2.0 the way I have delusions [that are canonically supported and encouraged even] about maki being toji2 …
+I think they sort of write one of the best “Gojo Satoru is his own warning” tags. like, I think probably a lot of the psychologically/morally scrutinising gojo fic I would want occurs in the teacher/student groomer fic half/side of the fandom but the way I read it, it’s p much canon that gojo’s greatest fantasy is to be dominated and stripped of his status/pedestal [ch236 anyone?]… so I don’t really find it interesting when fic is sort of concerned with him stratifying that position and using it to revel in it, or whumpify a different guy. Which is like, sure probably within the realm of suspendable disbelief, I’m just not interested in it. BUT I do think gojo is someone who is very flippant with how his position/power affects his relationships [as in, he really doesn’t seem to understand or care about this other than it’s Useful, probably] … I just don’t think it’s appealing... anyway all this to say, I think op does a really good job of exploring that nonchalance and lax morality aspect of him even when I need to suspend an insane amount of disbelief to accept that he would feel this way about itadori yuji...
+I think out of all the guys I listed, this is sort of the sexiest iteration of painslut!gojo… op’s fics were quite appealing because gojo was being so ‘let me sexually piss you off so bad you start doing violent revenge sex on Me’ which was Hmm, quite an image in my mind being presented here, and I do think it’s a good concept to have gojo dangling and abusing his power so blatantly for the sake of wanting someone to strip it away from him bc that’s like, Cathartic and Gratifying and Fulfilling and checks out for him [ch 236 anyone?!] … in the end litr like fics i would like so much better and take so much more seriously if they happened with Any Other Ship... or if op literally cared and respected the canon text of gojo's actual endgame true love[s] at all...
+I also deeply appreciate that they’re the guy who writes adult!gojo as a guy who incessantly uses petnames because, Yeah, he fucking would. It’s the most basic annoying guy trait in the world. have you guys heard of Michael reeves?

amyritter
+i think I did enjoy both of op's jjk fics, like not that they left much of an impact but they captured the sort-of tired/sad/wistful/regretful atmosphere that gojo is often denied i think... i think i enjoyed Theoretical Ambitions more especially bc the title is soooo beautiful and affecting.....

saturday night live
+I DNF'd this but this fic is in sooooo many people's bookmarks but I just don't care for mixed-media [but it's all formatted into text] fics orrr no powers au though I was valiantly holding on because I really do want friends to lovers to exes to enemies to lovers fic so baddddd but then op was like 'geto was actually still in love with satoru and only did this bc he had mental health and money problems' LIKE THE FALLING OUT OF LOVE IS THE APPEAL. THE FUCK? why would gojo have a terrible personality and be hard to be around if he's NOT HARD TO LOVE??? hello??????????? that's literally the point that's literally the pointttt....
+like you may love and like gojo satoru and acknowledge his flaws but i love gojo satoru BECAUSE OF HIS FLAWS!!! like lowkey this is truly my uh, other?white whale? where i need gojo to be the worst version of himself possible... like i actually so badly am giving him the relationshipcrimes treatment where i need him to be terrible and bad and wretched and then like suffer erotically and emotionally about it... MY FEELINGS ARE SO PURE AND HEARTFELT IT'S UNREAL!!!!

On The Edge And Scared Of Heights
+okay no one is going to believe me when I say this but this is legitimately a really good fic. like unserious pwp about a/a rutsex? and yet.
+the more I read this the better this gets… which is scary because I really did frown the first time, but seriously every single time I’m like ‘wait op like actually really got it and her understanding of these guys really resembles my own’ AT LEAST IN THIS FIC!! bc her other fics are kinda… not doing all of the wonderful >gojo is an selfish impulsive idiot demon baby .. like litr this line: “Truthfully, Satoru hasn’t thought much about the execution. He hasn’t thought much at all. His ideas are usually good, so he doesn’t bother dissecting them before he acts.” Does OP know? Does She Know? She must… I also reallyyy liked the geto characterisation because perfect amount of guy who’s a pushover and a people pleaser with the slight edge of steel underneath veryyyy nice I think…

law of effect
+this I think is literally the other best fic in the tag. if not THEEE other GOAT of the tag. i think it seriously just so sosososoososoooo perfectly captures just how unaware of himself gojo is... pseudocitrus is literally my goat of the tag and my holygrail jjk writer, which, lol, YEAH.
+it is literally SO GOOD!!!! The skinner box experiment being used to allude to what’s happening in this fic plus pseudocitrus my GOAT op who came up with ‘emotionally unintelligent and socially inept gojo satoru’ tag, which, all I can say: ACCURATE. and I think this fic is so good at being bittersweet and showing how they’re growing apart despite the want never-ending, and it’s just sooo tight and so good and so so good at showing how shortsighted and unaware of himself gojo is. Perfect fic No Notes.

uhhh... let me do juuchan<>sardinejar comparison corner and then do quickflash notes on irreverance and then i'll c+p my unfinished porn reviews....

sardinejar / juuchan
+sardine jar is like the hentai mindless porn dealer super unapologetic pervert, literally fine and respectable as a vocation, I like their hypno fic. but I have to say theyre basically juuchan but without caring about plot, like the dynamic of >[horny insatiable slut] and >[in control providing dom] is litr the same And I really do think that’s sort of more real to alternative sex dynamics, but also not exactly it… but also idgaf about geto outside of being a device to torture gojo with so i really cant say… ...look idk if that's true bc i really do respect geto as his own character and really like him without really gaf'ing about his rs with gojo, but iiiii probably love gojo to the extent i do because he is so emotionally bludgeoned by geto... like.... i do need that man with the wrench of geto suguru lodged into his heart/soul/psyche [and toji. LOL]
+look, Juuchan would have me crucified for this but genuinely she and sardinejar write the same getogojo they do….and this is like mostly because of the problems i have wrt to their geto, who is literally like Not That Guy [aka my beloved mentally ill son from canon] and not at all tortured enough like hello like that’s Theee Psychologically Tormented Guy please put some respect and interiority onto his name pleaseee hes not meant to be an alpha domtop, he’s meant to be repulsed and pathetic and stuck in his own head [and I do mean repulsed I dont mean repulsive i mean repulsed]
+but they have a really charming geto/gojo overall which I enjoy … i do like that geto is the one in rational control v gojo is driven by id/libido/passion and that’s a weird stalemate bc I think people sort of latch onto geto’s insecurities as a src of his complicated fucked up incel mental state, but I also enjoy the unevenness of guy you would pick over everyone v guy who never chose youuu which is sometimes what juuchan really is able to get at, but she cares more about sexual satiation than like, trying to kill me emotionally with knives...
+LOOK, and I am saying all this as a real juuchan fan, I love her fics, I am really supportive of and attached to their understanding of gojo as a guy who is all id and nothing elseeee, but there are a couple of notes/points of comparison to pseudocitrus [aka my gojo dealer] who really understands that gojo isn’t even aware of his own selfishness/himself [whereas juuchan does just attribute/represent that as id/innate hedonism] but also, pseudocitrus, esp re 17gj also really understands that he’s also ultimately just an immature kid, whereas juuchan is trying to convince you of him convincing himself that he’s a god ... which no doubt we could argue about to no end, but it [which point in the timeline] does become a really important aspect here...

+mostly I am so charmed and endeared by her word choice and some of the specific terms/metaphors she chooses… and the aphotic zone was really good for all the psychological aspects, and she is sooo careful wrt to narration and viewpoint and et al, but-and like, I love grooming but op is like ‘well geto/gojo is true love and not grooming but others/gojo Was grooming’ like hello? HELLO? .... which is again because she is so tuned into what Gojo would think but also this was a getogojo fic so... you're meant to believe that anyway...
+my favourite fic is lost and found and otherwise I really like the abo one… like juuchan is so fucking real for being ‘gojo would never want kids and cannot even entertain the idea of babytrapping geto’ like he would abort that thing. He literally would.
+anyway, sometimesss her stuff is a little too technical/real bdsm for me sometimes but I appreciate it nonetheless... I think ultimately also i wish they were better at writing porn in that the porn is technically fine its just not that sexy Which is crazy bc its so detailed and so kinky and she has clearly had sex before but I’m also like danggggggg How can masochism be made So Boring? but I think it’s because I lowkey don’t care for bdsm tools like flog/whip/etc and I feel like if your canon has built in casual violence Well Why not utilise that… why do we have to … anyway she also loves the concept of someone with a pussy loving/prefering anal and I did think that was also kind of sexy and vaguely illuminating like I enjoy wrong hole

notorphanedaccount
+I actually think op is reallyyyy good, and I hate no powers au but they do a good job, I liked wrong number fic, I liked the camboy one and I unfortunately read the micropenis one and was shocked and gagged by how it was so perfectly in character like ohhhh my god.... I have to read micropenis fic to enjoy great gojo characterisation? the gojo who I firmly believe should have a big dick, that's size proportionate? i'm so sadddd... anyway I am subscribed to op and Checking In...

uninspired porn fic findings category

39k no powers roomates au, e
+DNF’d because it made gojo into a cuteified bl uke and geto was just Some Guy… like I don’t like stsg porn bc of the aesthetics I would like some of my Guys in there for real instead of just face-claims [as opposed to phd where I can uncritically consume r18 fic because I do like the aesthetics of it]

4.6k canon divergence, e
+this was not… characterised in a way I necessarily agree with, and I think there is one line that lampshades it like ‘gojo would never philosophize but now he Is’ and in theory it was a little sexy, but I felt lowkey nothing reading it because I actually have become so sensitive about geto suguru characterisation like I need your notes and proof and abstract as to why we’re here and he’s Like That… which again, I don’t think it was out of the realm of possibility, this was written in jjk0 era so he was psychologically at his worst probably but… still… hmm… I don’t know. I do love that op made a point of gojo embarking on vows of chastity and celibacy post geto like yayyyyy…

6.5k canonverse, t
+I DNF’d this because I began to suspect halfway through that op liked sato/sugu ship order and it just wasn’t good enough to keep reading but I actually really liked the gojo characterisation, presumably because op wrote him like the annoying canon shoujo love interest, but the geto was soooo ;side-eye; also no one in the world wants to write shoko with the laissez faire and whimsical attitude she has in canon?

Mahbeck yakuza fic
+I DNF’d this because mahbeck does not write things that are compelling to me and I wanted to give it a try because there are so many fanarts I like that this fic was working off the visuals for but uhhh, writing and characterisation both being weak made the overall reading experience sooooo mediocre that I decided it was not worth my time…

Magswrite college au fic
+DNF’d Uh this always looks kind of funny in the tag but it’s not good on the inside and I really just don’t get the point of writing gojo as a … wimpy cutieface bl uke like that’s not the appeallll that’s not the appeallll

Magswrite camboy au fic
+This one is kind of popular recently on gego twitter and … look there’s a way better gojo camboy fic… just trust me on that one we’ll get there… well we won’t be the notanorphanaccount gojo camboy fic is litr so much better ESPECIALLYYYY because when geto finds out that gojo’s a camboy, gojo’s like… having the most Not-A-Real-Person reaction to it that was legitimately so perfect I was like oh! Okay! … anyway this guy has the same problem as with mahbeck where both writing and characterisation is weak that the overall effect is just mediocre…

7.7 no powers au, e
+DNF’d … uh literally just facecast fic with bare bones characterisation

24k no powers au, e
+This was good as generic fic… good is kind-of an interesting term to use here but it promised me lowkey toxic codependent possessive homoerotic friendship and it delievered all of those notes. And I was like ‘those are pretty good notes. I enjoyed that’ and therefore it’s pretty good fic. good sgst fic? it’s fine. Like yeah sure.

persimmonsandcats onlyfans fic
+This was really not that different from any other of op’s fics, but it’s good because it’s good sex and it does not really try to be anything other than good fwb fic… I think this was like mildlyyyy funnier but a little less hot to me just because her other fic was just sexier in general to me…

persimmonsandcats bartender fic
+this was a different version of ^ fic, so the conceit was basically the same and hit all the same notes… op loves super fluffy loving sex and Banter and guys saying they love you and specifically geto calling gojo ‘baby’ which… by my doctrine, I want everyone to know that I think GOJO would be the one using the annoying petnames all the time like that’s just my heart and headcanon…

permissionnadncats pussy fic
+this one is the best of the fwb plots because it has / kink … like YAYYYYYYY I love a guy who’s inexperienced and a virgin and wants to do everything sooo bad :D :D :D

18k canonverse fic, e
+this is like a miscommunication/jealousy fic and it’s Fine… I didn’t hate or love it… it’s 18k but it really did not feel like that… I remember basically enjoying it while I reading it because there was nothing too objectionable happening on page but… idk I just don’t remember anything in the end…

8.2k abo fic
+I don’t think I believe in sgst abo unless it’s just for the sex pollen part… like yeah it checks out when you want them to fuck or die but don’t expect me to take omega gojo as a premise seriously.

3k canonverse fic
+I really don’t remember this outside of it’s named after the Mitski that I’ve been playing onrepeat writing my own sgst fic... and also I enjoy the liberty taken by op in making gojo enjoy the menial domestic task of laundry like yayyyy let’s all give him 1 normal passing trait

5.6k abo fic
+another fic that wants me to take the omega gojo satoru tag seriously… and worse even because it wants me to take the Parental Gojo Satoru tag seriously… oh my god please, please take this seriously.

10k no powers au, e
+I was in the degradation tag and this wasn’t anything… sort of scratched my dv itch but not enough…

36.8k, geto/gojo no powers fwb au
+trans!gojo … this was really good porn… I love tdick and I’m kinda sad there was no tdick action at all but I’ll live…
+I don’t like no powers au so I really wasn’t expecting to like or love the characterisation because I think you have to do uncomfortable and outrageous things to make gojo’s character work outside of the jjkverse and op didn’t do those, and gego ship order ‘fluff’ au sort-of requisites that geto has none of the great complexity that makes him so fucked up and moving in canon … though it is retained that he’s a incomparable people pleaser super wifeguy type because he is… why not… I wish they did anal but in the end it was a good read

OKAYYYY... well in the end we've learnt that I've been spending wayyy too much time on ao3, i have gojobraindisease and I am wasting away my already waning youth on fictional characters. wow that's quite pessimistic... hmm... well... idk. well my life really has not been fulfilling lately so...

venus

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