#[ finally a thread with yuzuki. ]

[soulstagger]

So.

Let's talk muses. Let's talk Kako muses more specifically. I feel I owe explanations on everything, the delays, the uncertainty, and ofc. Who is staying and who is going.

Starting with this blog specifically and who will be on it.

Soulstagger

Immediately being the main blog, it is meant not just for the most popular muses, but the muses I want to openly push at more people. Not just my friends, but new followers, other fandoms, creating new longer stories. It's not that the side blog muses can't, but these are the ones I want to focus, and deserve to have the main blog's ability to send asks most often.

Starting with the expected.

Jeanne Beaulieu, Skadi, Micuccia Coccaro, Hong Meiling, and Kirisame Marie.

All of them are popular, story driving characters. With them Viorela Lupei, Kitagawa Ida, and a final new muse will take up the last slots. Each of them have the potential to be multisetting, with long stories to grow and I hope you'll indulge me on them.

Additionally Skadi and Heart will each get their own tiles.

So we move to the side blog and the most complex of the problems.

Soulstumble

I'll talk about those who are getting a full tile slot, and then those who will be legacy. Then we'll talk about those not showing up.

For Touhou/Arknights: Kasen and Akiyama Mao are main stays, with new faces Ueda Naomi and Akabane Mirai showing up for an event soon enough. As for Arknights, possibly a Blaze re-addition but right now no primary Arknights beyond Skadi on the main blog.

For Fantasy/Searoulean: We will keep the main faces of good, bad, and neutral types present. Vaimiti, Avra, and Yura, alongside Natalia Naess. All of them could be considered main enough for soulstagger, but I figure keep them all together in case the focus is more my setting rather than just fantasy occurs, then it helps for them to all be there.

For Other/Modern/Post Modern: Eloisa and Lenora take front positions, with new face Yamazaki Cassidy, and specifically the Lust variant Franziska slotting in as well.

There's a lot missing so let's talk about the Legacy Tiles/Extra tiles whatever I decide to call them.

Mostly muses that really probably should of kept napping after my retirement, and that I didn't need to bring back but doing stuff with friends is great. So these muses, are more request only or established stuff.

Legacy Touhou/Arknights: Miko, and Chengshu. Not that I don't want to write them, but I have no desire to do new stuff. I like what I have, it's hard to want to do more than what I do already.

Legacy Fantasy or more accurately, NPCs: Let's just list em off, Kawa Bae, Kurousa Kiyoko, Usha Sharma, Ruan Na, Neche Machi, Zhu Xueyi, and Elva Joyce. None of them muses are really legacy as they were quite new even when I retired, but most of them are additions to their core fantasy characters. They either have small ships, or show up in threads belonging to stories involving other Searoulean muses. They have just enough to exist, and could have their own slots later once the blog's settled again. Available but, they are extras. Smaller stories. It's the one legacy/extra tile that's a bit misleading because I'm always happy to do more with them. They just clog up a lot of space right now.

Legacy Other/Modern/Post Modern: This one is a grey zone betweeen how the legacy is meant to be and how fantasy is treating it. It's old stories, but also muses that need a chance to shine later but don't merit removing. This includes Celune DeCalme, Ziatrix, Sezja Krieger, Mariam and Mirana.

Again being Legacy doesn't mean less important, just not my focus nor the ones I want to promote the most. But ultimately there for the friends.

So let's talk the others you have yet to see. New, upcoming, old, ect.

Trouble? No bitches no profiles?

Let's start Arknights, the biggest one missing from the equation is Yuzuki Zunin/Ulpianus. He needs a little rewrite but he effectively around for some specific instances. He will probably return to the legacy tile. But he is the easiest to talk about, don't worry Ceri mun his threads are good and I am not stealing him from the grump cat.

Others like Rrrrat Lin Yuhsia and Gavial will exist on a, I saw specific friends doing stuff basis and sent them an ask.

Our beloved Indigo and Mudrock will not be muses anymore.

Touhou time v3, I will for the time being, not be continuing my Tojiko, as I've lost confidence in it. And I will put my Megumu addition on hold too. Kokoro will continue to be retired. Let my babu sleep. And Nobu or Hannah might return later but right now there's no need.

Talking Fantasy now. There's a popular muse that's missing. It's Tone, even with the FC change I don't feel comfortable playing them. They changed a lot since I started, and I really tried for my friends but it would be unhealthy for me to keep writing them. So for now Tone is not a muse right now. I apologize hugely to Momi, Ceri, and Draco.

Give me a little time, I want to continue her, but she needs some updates and an identity that is her own and not a changed concept.

Additionally, Vera Voll needs a rewrite, and may return later but for now ZZZZ.

Now for a confusingly short talk about the Gates sisters and Zak'yanna. The reason they're not there is obvious, Zak'yanna is technically KIA right now, and the Gates sisters Sophia and Skadi Sedna, are K.O until some threads resolve things. They will be changed too coming out of this, so you could say this is a little rewrite, no an update more so.

Now Yuma and Deva. Like Lust, they're event hold overs, but unlike the Lusts on this list. Deva is supposed to be dead, and will only appear in threads as remains. So will not have a proper profile, and Yuma.

People love yuma, but she was meant to be retired too, living a nothing life away from everything. I would like to give her that. As of reading this, Yuma and Deva are no longer muses on the blog, with Deva only showing her face as a fragment for story reasons like with Rirune ect.

Speaking of Lusts, where are the rest. Let's be real, the Lust era is over for me. I'm happy to some of the ships that finally got to name there's, and sure for asks from time to time, or story reasons like Kiara, they'll pop in and out. But they don't merit tiles legacy or not.

So let's move to more NSFW geared muses. Like Gavial and Yuhsia mentioned earlier, muses like Maman, Reject, they exist for specific people and will not be listed. They exist in a, if you know, then you know way.

A few more fantasies to mention, Katou Kazuko, Pascal Van Kren, and Mu. May return in the future, but they are a tier lower than NPC/Extras, they might appear to add conflict to a thread but their lack of depth means for now they're gone unless as mentioned, needed for conflict.

Hit the ground, not running. I will not be adding Sekai Yume, Yamazaki Noriko, or Aikawa Yuuka just yet. Let them cook more.

Finally the beloved.

Haya and Aiharu. My favorite muses of my entire life, but truthfully hard to rp now that their core cast has all moved on. If not for Millia I would have retired them entirely, and that's what I'll do. They exist for me to bug Xana's Millia from time to time, but you will not see them with a profile for some time now.

So new faces?

That's Ueda Naomi, a fox man in Touhou, and a snake lady Akabane Mirai also for Touhou.

There's Kitagawa Ida, a mirror witch for all fandom/setting. Viorela Lupei, a fox woman and somewhat a bounty hunter.

And one last new face that's meant to start very normal, but I want you to drag her into crazy worlds and situations.

But for now, I think I've covered what people were expecting.

If there's a muse not listed you are wondering about, if they're to be added, not added but still there, or retired entirely. You can ask me.

I just felt I owed some reasons and explanations, it's these thoughts and some code issues that took this update so long.

Anyways my plans going forward are to move everything accordingly, to try to reach out with stagger more to new followers with a smaller selection on the blog. But continue a lot of our fun on stumble too, as well as an incident event in March.

For now thanks for reading.

Again I'm sorry to a few friends whom got replies from me last night, yet today I axe the muses.

If I didn't do it now, I would be unhappy going forward.

Cheer.

[monjustmontemp]

A Place Further Than The Universe is an anime that is gonna remain in a warm spot in my heart, I feel. Having said that, what is it saying? What is it about? Perseverance, grief, loneliness, bravery? These are all themes present in the story in quite notorious ways, but if I had to bet on it, I would say the story is about friendship, because friendship supports all the other themes.

All the struggles that each of the girls go through during the story are made easier, are made more manageable, are faced more decisively, and sometimes even resolved, due to the support that the friend group has afforded them. Yuzuki literally only wants to create real human connections, and gets them through friendship. Mari learns to proactively work for the adventure she wants, to take the risk of disappointment after making an effort, to step out of her comfort zone, in the drive to help and accompany Shirase. Hinata learns how to be vulnerable, how to be helped, and where she has the right to take distance due to Shirase's support. Shirase is helped in very practical and direct ways, wherein she would never have reached Antarctica without her friends' help, but additionally, she is emotionally supported as she finally reaches the point where she can process her grief and mourn. Friendship is the common thread in the story.

What I truly find fascinating is what this series says about friendship beside it being an incredibly helpful, motivating, and healing force in one's life, because a lot of the choices made in the story are quite interesting and unusual.

The character with whom we are introduced to the story, Mari, has a best friend at the beginning, Megumi. As Mari begins her character arc, Megumi falls into a spiral of jealousy that makes her harm Mari in subtle ways, until she confesses her actions in regret. Another story would have set up this plot-line for a redemption arc, but in this one, Megumi recognizes that it would not be healthy for Mari to keep interacting with someone who has been harming her behind her back, and that she herself needs to take distance from the relationship. She "breaks-up" their friendship. (There is an implication later on that Mari and her keep texting, but its also clear that something has indeed been disconnected.)

The story makes a very strong emphasis that the girls, the main 4 of the cast, have known each other for a very short period of time, but they very quickly get along, sometimes without any sort of transition period of them being at odds. In other stories, the strong friendship would have been given the force of time behind it, or otherwise, more emphasis would have been given to a transition where the characters would have learnt to respect and hold affection for each other. Instead, they are friends the moment they chose to help each other, and the disagreements they have from then on never feel like a threat to that.

One of them, Yukuzi, barely understands the concept of friendship, and in an effort to not lose her current friendships, she wants the other girls to sign a contract. Rather than promise to be best friends forever (though they do tell her that they are best friends), they tell her that the contract would not mean anything. That sometimes people drift apart, and that it is nobody's fault. The friendship happens naturally and that one just knows, without having to sign anything or commit in perpetuity. (Though the girls do make clear to each other the intention to keep seeking each other out.)

In this way, this story presents an interesting and invaluable set of messages. That friendship is not supposed to deliberately hurt you. That friendship can simply be something you choose to do, to help a person, to prioritize their needs, and to be there. That you do not need the weight of time or expectation to make friendship happen. That you do not need someone to profess their friendship to you in order to acknowledge it internally. That you are not beholden to friendship beyond the point where you're willing to participate in it.

For over a decade now, it has been theorized we've been in a Loneliness Epidemic, globally. A lot of outlets have described it being especially intense in Japan and the United States. Some describe it as beginning in the 2000s, others in the 2010s, but whichever the variables are, people are having a harder time connecting with each other, with visualizing the possibility of building connections that are not neatly fixed within the romantic, familial, or even the professional. This series presents us with an imaginative framework that we could use to help us visualize possibilities in our own lives, to feel the joys of friendship with none of the usual apprehensions. Everyone needs to know that if you seek it, you can find people whom you can understand, and who can understand you.

I know that some friendships have turned out to be invaluable in my life, and that points of great hopelessness might have never resolved if I had not mentioned it to friends, if they had not encouraged me to make the effort for my aspirations, and helped me find a path forward.

[bloodmaarked]

butter // asako yuzuki

first published: 2017 read: 27 january 2025 - 07 february 2025 pages: 464 format: e-book

genres: fiction; asian literature (japan); "thriller"; contemporary favourite character(s): kajii least favourite character(s): also kajii?? first line(s): "the row of small, narrow houses all in the same shade of ecru trailed up the gently sloping hill, with no end in sight."

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 thoughts: butter is a book that's difficult to parse out my feelings on. while i enjoyed it, and was kept engaged, i did feel it was lacking in some senses. going i knew this was a slow-burn thriller, but i feel like i was led somewhat astray as i wouldn't really call this a thriller at all; there's crime and "murder" involved but not to the extent that i'd call it a true thriller or mystery. it's really more of a character study and societal commentary - but even then, i wish it had leaned more into the psychological thrill of things, had some more nuance in the themes it wanted to explore, and was better at seeing all its plot points through end to end.

the cover is what pulled me in initially; seeing those butter-yellow copies with the red foil bloodstains stacked in the bookshop, i couldn't resist checking out the book. i'm glad that something told me not to buy a physical copy (i eventually bought a heavily-discounted e-book) because even from this point i feel i was misled. everything suggested something like a psychological thriller and it wasn't that.

in terms of what i enjoyed, there is a journey of self-acceptance, self-love, and found family that takes place for the main character rika. while not always as nuanced as i might've liked (particularly in relation to her weight in the earlier parts of the story - i'll come back to this), i liked watching her growth and the clear through line of her development. i liked how this was juxtaposed against kajii, who at first she seeks to emulate before finding her own path - one kajii could never reach herself.

i also loved the food descriptions, which were gorgeous, sensual, and written in beautiful depth. i was even inclined to try and make some of the simpler recipes myself - and so were some of the people i discussed this with at book club! the food descriptions got to be less enjoyable as the book went on, but i think that's because the book was too long.

for the things i didn't like... for one, there was a sense of dissatisfaction turning the last page. the ambiguity of the ending, specifically as it pertains to kajii, didn't bother me at all. i don't mind an ambiguous ending, but i like to feel that the book gave me enough to think about in the lead up to the end that i am satisfied to be left guessing by the final page. i don't think butter did that. the themes it spent so much time discussing - feminism, misogyny, the role of women in (japanese) society, body image - are not new topics by any means. therefore i feel like something new needs to be brought to the table if you're going to discuss these themes for almost 500 pages. for what the book actually was, it definitely needed cutting down. the topics were very surface level, and lacking in nuance. i don't know if this is a cultural thing, or an issue with the writing or perhaps even the translator, but the scenes around body image in particular felt almost cartoonish. for rika to have work colleagues literally call her fat to her face felt unrealistic. every time rika weighed herself, all the discussion around the teenage idol in that band, felt weirdly in-your-face in a way that might've worked if the story was written as a satire.

having discussed this in book club, i actually realised there were a lot more threads woven into the book which served to increase the nuance of the characters' development. the problem was these threads were so disjointed, picked up but not really finished, etc. that it was hard to pick up that they were there at all. again, a lot of this could've been cut out of the book entirely so that it was less lengthy (for example, reika's little detour in which i thought we might actually start getting some excitement happening but which nothing really comes of).

i was going to round up my 3.5* to 4* for goodreads, but after thinking on it, it didn't sit right with me and i couldn't say i thought this was a 4* book in good faith. i'll be rounding down to 3* instead. if you would like to read butter, definitely make sure you go into it knowing what to expect - you might have a more enjoyable time of it.

[queenoflace-blog1]

@silverbulletofthefbi (for starter call)

It was easy to locate where Kudo Shinichi lived (or used to live), after the raging media storm that was that one Kyoto murder case.  But it was investigating she’d felt hesitant about.  If Kudo Shinichi was part of the syndicate and still monitoring the house, she could be found out in a flash.  On the other hand, she didn’t have many leads.

So she’d made up her mind to go on her weekly grocery run sans lolita outfit (but not sans her baby face) and pass by the house on the way home.  Yuzuki wasn’t planning on knocking on the door.  She wasn’t stupid.  But there was nothing weird about a girl that looked to be in high school staring a little bit at a celebrity’s house, was there?

Also, her physical condition was terrible as always, and she’d bought so many snacks that she had to set them down periodically on the way home.  So she timed one of her rest breaks to be right in front.

Yuzuki peered at the house that was helpfully labeled with his name in front.  A big Western-style house, from the looks of it.  Wasn’t there supposed to have been a freeloader in the house that answered an intercom...?  Was that person connected to any of this...?

[berriebun]

Night Time Surprise

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia Pairing: Iida Tenya x Uraraka Ochako Rating: SFW Word count: 2,398

A/N: I don’t remember why I started writing this, but I was struck with a very cute idea (probably while I was talking in a server) about how cute it would be for these adorkable first-time parents experiencing their baby’s quirk finally developing.

ao3 link redirect

“Mommy! Mommy look!!” The bright squeals shouted over the other screaming children running around the daycare. Ochako had never really believed her mom when she would tell her that she could always pick her voice out of a crowd, but here was the evidence as the Hero smiled. “I’m super fast! Just like Daddy!! Pchooooo~” The delighted laughter was joined by other kids as the three-year-old ran around the open area of the room, imitating her dad’s movements to the joy of the others.

“Goodness! You sure are, huh!? Daddy will be so proud of you Yuzu!” Ochako laughed, crouching as the little girl with a full head of dark brown hair barreled her way through the other kids, who didn't seem to mind, and into her mother's arms. As it was tradition between mother and child, Ochako quickly activated her quirk and lightly tossed her daughter into the air who squealed happily before her mother bought her fingers together and ended the zero gravity, catching the laughing child in her arms.

The little girl went on to babble about what a fun day she had playing with the other kids as Ochako thanked the counselor in charge and signed her daughter out, leaving the building to head for the train station. Apparently, a lot had happened today during daycare, and while she hadn’t been paying attention to the first half of the story, Ochako gave her daughter her undivided attention as they made their way on to the train home. The little girl tried to pull her backpack off to show her mom all the art projects she had done during arts and crafts, but Ochako told her to wait, briefly explaining in a way she could understand that it was better to show her at home because she didn’t want her to lose all her amazing work.

The entire time that they were on the train, Yuzuki would talk to anyone and everyone who would listen to her. Like any little three-year-old, she was full of so much excitement and energy and none of what she said really made sense but she was still able to share simple thoughts. Ochako was vocally encouraging as her daughter bounced around between her legs while holding her mother's hands, babbling on about whatever came to her growing mind. She would have been worried about Yuzuki having this much energy in the afternoon, but Tensei had assured her that it was an Iida trait through and through, which was both daunting and reassuring to know. She was just grateful that her daughter would definitely use up all this energy before bedtime, knowing that it would help the little girl to go down for the night much more easily.

The house was quiet by the time they arrived home, meaning Tenya was likely still at the agency which was to be expected since he was the leading hero now. Regardless, the mother and child made their way inside and settled in for the evening, ending up in the kitchen after shoes and coats had been removed. Little Yuzuki was sitting at a small toddler table near the fridge with her little backpack upturned over the surface, messy craft supplies littering the floor where they had fallen over the edge.

As Ochako made dinner she listened and engaged her daughter in fumbled conversation over things that had happened that day, delighted that Yuzuki seemed to be making friends with the other children. She was also overly proud when her little girl presented her with a scribbled drawing labeled ‘family’ in wobbly letters, which Ochako promptly pinned to the fridge with a bright sun-shaped magnet.

The closer it came to be dinner time, the quieter the toddler became as her endless Iida energy finally seemed to have dwindled. Though, as the front door opened, a small spike of excitement seemed to charge through the little girl with a squeaky ‘Daddy!’ and little pattering feet fleeing the kitchen.

Ochako was just barely able to make out the gentle scolding of ‘no running in the house missy!’ before laughter and happy toddler babbling took over, while she carefully dropped the seared meat and veggies into the gently bubbling pot of thick gravy. She just placed the ventilated lid over the food so it could come all together when her husband entered the kitchen with their daughter clinging to his hip. They made a complete picture of exhaustion with both of their happy expressions being tugged at by tired smiles and crinkled eyes.

“Welcome home, hon.” Ochako smiled as Tenya approached, stepping over scattered art supplies to kiss her on the cheek.

“Good evening.” He smiled in return, shifting the clinging toddler in his arms. “I saw the report about your rescue mission this afternoon.”

“Yeah, things could have gone a lot smoother but there are just some things you can’t really control. Especially against a Rampage quirk like that.” She shrugs, smiling regardless of the highlighted difficulties she had faced during her stationed hours at Thirteens Rescue Agency. “We still were able to rescue the hostages while keeping the bystanders out of harm's way. We’re going to probably be billed for some structural damage repairs on the building but that shouldn’t be an issue.” She continued as she made quick work of cleaning up after herself and wiping down the counters.  

In the meantime, Tenya had moved over to sit on the floor next to the toddler table as Yuzuki went through her show and tell with him this time, with a lot less energy. And with that, they lulled between conversations with Yuzuki about her day and also discussing what had happened on their respective hours at work. It wasn’t all talk though as eventually dinner came and went, and Ochako took their daughter upstairs to put her to bed. The little girl hardly made it through half of the bedtime story Ochako had started reading to her before Yuzuki was out like a light.

Ochako tucked her in, turned on the baby monitor just in case and the night light before leaning down to kiss her daughter on the forehead and leaving the room. She was met at the door by Tenya who seemed to have been watching the entire time and smiled softly at her and then towards their daughter.

“She’s growing up so quickly.” He mumbled as his arms found their way around her waist and shoulders.

“Yeah… Our parents did say that time would slip away from us after the first couple of months. Now look at her. Running around, drawing pictures, and talking. Soon she’ll have her quirk and before we know it, she’ll be off on her own.” Ochako sighed, leaning into her husband and resting her head back against his shoulder.

“If we’re not careful, we’re going to blink and miss it all.” He chuckles quietly, squeezing her closer before releasing his grip and leading her away from the room, closing the door quietly behind them. Together the couple made their way to their own room and contently started going about their nightly routines of getting ready for bed. If it wasn’t for the time, Ochako would have loved to have taken a bath before bed but alas, parenthood accompanied by career work robbed a person of past luxuries that they had taken for granted.

Eventually, both of them settled in under the covers as the room stayed partially lit by a side table lamp while Ochako settled into her pillow with a small novel, hoping to read a couple of pages before officially falling to sleep. There was some shifting as Tenya settled behind her, draping an arm over her stomach as idle finger-tips mindlessly caressed her stomach before falling still around her belly button. As the night slowly crept on, the two of them muttered random sleepy thoughts to each other as Ochako read and Tenya dozed into a combination of his pillow and her shoulder. After a time, she finally puts the book down and settles back into her little spoon position against Tenya’s chest.

It felt like she had only just closed her eyes when she was woken up by a loud crackling sound cry coming from the left.

The clock said it was nearly three in the morning, which meant she had fallen asleep properly, as both she and Tenya scrambled from the bed sleepily. The sound, she was able to figure out, was tear-jerking sobs from the baby monitor she had set up next to the lamp she had accidentally left on. Both of them made their way down the hall and rushed into Yuzuki’s room, Tenya making it to her side faster having a fair bit more energy than herself as she followed.

Whatever their daughter was trying to say to them was lost in the tears and wobbly cries as she reached out and clung to her dad’s pajamas. They only found the source when Tenya tried to rub her back as he normally would, to comfort her, and instead elicited more cries and squirming. Immediately, Ochako reached out and threaded her fingers through Yuzuki’s hair, cooing softly over her cries that everything was okay, and that mommy and daddy were there as Tenya shifted to carefully pull up the back of their daughter's pajama shirt.

From where they were sitting, in the dark, she could only glimpse a scattering of small circles that just barely reflected the nightlight poking through their daughter’s back in a group of four sets. A matching set of two on either of her sides and identical sets of four on either side of her spine on her lower back. Confused and worried, Ochako had Tenya bring their daughter into the hall bathroom and unfortunately had to flip the lights on so they could get a better look. The Iida three all flinched under the bright fluorescences but the parents recovered faster as their daughter opted to keep her face buried in her father's neck.

Thankfully her sobs had died down as Ochako kept brushing her fingers through her hair as she shared a look with Tenya. In the light, it was easier to recognize the holes that were forming in their daughter's back.

“Exhaust pipes.”

“Yeah… She’s got your quirk.” Ochako nodded, pulling her hands away from her daughter's hair just to check the holes properly. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong but Tenya understood what she was doing.

“She’ll be alright.” He assured her, and the sleepy Yuzuki against his shoulder. “It’s going to be mildly uncomfortable for about a week or so, depending on how long the engines take to fully develop. She was probably shocked awake by the sudden protrusion, which probably scared her.”

The set of two pipe engines on her sides sat up near her ribs, and the other set was positioned at her lower back above her hips, thankfully both sets completely avoided her spine. Ochako still wanted to make sure and made a mental note to contact her family-in-law and ask about recommendations for pediatricians who were capable of handling their specific mutation quirk.

With shared yawns, Ochako flipped the light back off and the parents carried her back to her room. This time it was Tenya’s turn to tuck her into bed, reassuring his sniffling daughter that everything would be okay and to sleep on her tummy tonight to avoid being uncomfortable. Ochako watched with a tired smile, listening to Tenya address their little girl so directly as he tucked her in and made sure she had her stuffed monkey toy. He had always told her to resist using a baby voice since it hardly helped with children’s vocal development, but of course, she sometimes gave in when he wasn’t around. A little baby talking wasn’t going to hurt, but she did try to make sure that Yuzuki could pronounce words to the best of her little three-year-old abilities.

With Yuzuki back in bed and thankfully falling back to sleep, the two returned to their own beds and feel into a jig-saw mess of covers and pillows. The following morning found Tenya waking up nuzzled into the curve of Ochako’s shoulder blades and his arm slung over the back of her thighs. The rude awakening had thrown off their positions so much and he could already feel the slight ache in his back in relation to the awkward angle.

Mornings were his forte, as he rolled out of bed and stretched. After yawning, he quietly left the room and went to scoop Yuzuki out of bed to brush their teeth together. She wasn’t too talkative as she squinted sleepily into the mirror and mimicked her dad’s actions with her Alien Queen themed toothbrush. Afterward, Tenya sat her on the bathroom counter and picked up a brush.

“How do you want your hair today, Yuzu?” He asks as he starts carefully running the brush through her hair. Her answer was delayed as she dozed off slightly and yawned again.

“Piggy-tails!” She chirps sleepily as she allows her dad to manipulate her positioning with an assured nod.

“Piggy-tails it is then.”

It’s not until later in the morning, as he’s cooking breakfast, that Ochako emerges from upstairs, dressed in some civilian clothes. Her own hair was loosely braided and tied off in a pink bow with minimal make-up.

“Morning Mommy!”

“Morning, Blossom. Did Daddy do your hair for you, huh?” She asks as she leans down to kiss her daughter's forehead while she carefully ate some eggs with a spoon.

“Mhmm!”

“Morning.” Another cheek smooch from Tenya. “Your oatmeal is warming in the microwave, and there is half a banana on the table already. I wrapped the other half and put it int for Yuzu’s snack.”

Ochako smiles through a smile as she gathers her own breakfast as Tenya finishes his own and joins his wife and daughter at the table.

Their morning goes on as usual, though Ochako tells him that she’s going to be calling his mom sometime around lunch to talk about booking a check-up with someone reliable for Yuzuki now that her quirk is coming through. And thus their lives went on as normal… As normal as they could be anyway! Boy were they going to have one hell of a time once Yuzuki entered her teens though, especially with those Engines.

[sambart93]

2019.01.14 GARO Stage Vol 3: Kami no Kiba - JINGA - Reincarnation [Review]

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Videos 1

CAST and CHARACTERS

Inoue Masahiro as Jinga Yamamoto Ikkei as Sasha Inami Anju* and Oda Erina as Tomoha Masaki Kaoru as Ruka Matsunoi Miyabi as Amelie Fukuen Misato* and Nazuka Kaori as Shera Shimizu Saki as Ontake and Yuzuki Miyagi Koudai as Ushio Sengoku Minami and Isohara Kyouka* as Saeka Yumoto Misaki as Kerusu doNcHY as Tomino Sato Daisuke as Ramedo and Pakutora Sato Kazuma as Kaise Namiki Shusuke as Ikari Noda Hiroshi as Kido Iwata Arihiro as Lumido and Midouji Nakamura Seijiro as Fugi Horrors: Ega, Ryo, Hiro-C, Taka-ki, Kraus, Shimoo Hiroaki, Kudo Shoma, Katakabe Hiromasa, Sakai Hayato, Noda Ryunosuke, Yoshiba Yuki, Tezuka Sae, Ito Reina, Taguchi Fumiya

*There were some double casts so the * signifies the ones I saw.

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This was very good. This was a solid stage. I thoroughly enjoyed the action, I enjoyed so many of the new actors, seeing the horrors IN PERSON and so up close was amazing! The use of the projection mappings and how they used the front screen for the effects was really cool! The combination of heavy rock and action scenes was a perfect combination and I absolutely adored the two - three big action scenes that used heavy rock music to their advantage to intensify the action. One of the fighting scenes actually really impressed me with HOW they did it! Also the fact that we had a LIVE band performing is awesome! The adlibbing was gold. I can see a lot of potential in some of the characters and their future storylines. I hope we get more development and more appearances from certain characters in the future! I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this stage, even with the earthquake about 30 minutes into it which FREAKED me off. However, I had a few technical issues. This play could’ve been amazing with about 2 - 3 more days rehearsing. Let me clarify; the actors are not the issue at all! But, the sound staff and the scene transitions were very questionable at times. Sometimes the sound effects for punches and such were either played too early or too late, and it was glaringly, obviously off beat. There were a lot of moments where the orchestra would go from one song to the next as a scene ended and started, but there’d be like 10 seconds during that transition where none of the actors could more or say their lines, and it felt very unnatural and roboticly timed. If they had had just a few more days of rehearsals I really think they could’ve fixed and perfected the sound and music timing. The other issue I had was the story. The main story and the main points of the story were absolutely fine, but I felt like one character and their story line (which is attached to the main plot) was totally unnecessary. At first I thought maybe only I have these issues, but upon talking to other friends, our negatives about the play matched completely. They also had problems with the timeline in the story too, they said it was confusing to figure out when all these events are supposed to take place. But luckily, I was able to understand the timeline without any problems. But besides me, my friends found that a problem. Rating: 6/10 - I enjoyed myself, but with a few more days of rehearsing and script revising, this stage could have been amazing.

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SPOILER REVIEW

PreShow

I was very confused when I got to the cinema and got in line for the goods. My goodness Goods was confusing!! You had to pick up your goods from the tables first THEN line up to pay?! No wonder the line was going so fast!! XD It took me a minute or two to figure out what the hell was going on. I kind of wish all shows did this. Would be so much faster in the goods line!! Rather than waiting for Miss-Take-A-Lot who is always in front of me buying about 40 sets of different bromides when all I want is a pamphlet but I have to stand behind her for 10 fucking minutes, also because the effing staff are taking their god damn time too trying to get everything and counting everything out for then about three times. <<< A common occurrence I experience unfortunately.

But anyway....

Then I got into the theatre and right away the very front screen is down and the projection mapping for the Garo opening sequence/advertisement on the screen looks so damn cool! And the GARO music to go along with it!! It was very Messiah-esque in that it had random patterns and shapes floating about but you knew they signified something or someone. Just like in Messiah’s movie openings. It was so cool to watching while counting down to show time.

I was to the right of the stage fourth row, but just not far enough to have any of the stage cut off - PHEW!!

Finally, about 20 minutes in, I ‪FINALLY experienced an earthquake during a show! It was bound to happen soon xD‬ although it went on for much longer than I was comfortable with so I momentarily didn’t focus on the play, so I have no idea what happened during those few minutes.

The Story

I want to talk about the story first:

So the story actually jumps around; it occurs before, during and after the Jinga tv show. Some people (as mentioned above) found it really difficult to figure out when it was set but I took little hints to figure out when it was. The first 40 minutes or so are set before Jinga is reborn as a human; he’s still hanging around Amelie and the Horror are bowing down before him. Then the middle section is set during the Jinga tv show; we see where he went those few episodes where he came back bloody or he doesn’t remember what happened. And the final part is setting during after the events of Jinga when he gets his Horror posse to turn and such.

The main running thread throughout all this is a girl called Tomoha. Tomoha is a Makai Priest in training, and she has a group who she trains with, she has a sister, and has some normal friends. One of her normal friends unfortunately succumbs and becomes a horror, but Jinga gets involved and reverts her back to a human being. Tomoha learns that the person who saved her friend is called Jinga and that he can turn horrors back to humans. After this she decides to find him, but when she does Jinga doesn’t recognise nor remember her. She realises there are two Jingas. Later she wants to introduce him to her training clan but while there Jinga’s Horror henchmen, and a group wanting to destroy Jinga turn up and the entire clan is doomed.

That the basicness of the entire story. Now to get into details.

The Show

Maybe I’ll just get the negatives out first and then I can flail to the end.

☆ As mentioned above I had some technical issues with the play. First was the timing between action/movements and the sound effects. The timing of some action hits were either too fast or too slow. And the off beat of the sounds were glaringly obvious unfortunately. Also, the transitions between songs, the actors would stay frozen until the right note in the music and then the scene or line would start, which made it look and feel very robotic.

☆ I really do think just a little more (a few days of) rehearsing would’ve really perfected this stage! There were technically things like timing that could’ve been spot on if they had had just a little more time. I heard from a friend that:  they didn’t have a GenePro for the press because it wasn't good enough yet, and that they kept pushing things back until eventually just cancelled the GenePro and only gave interviews instead. So clearly, I’m right in thinking (even at Senshuuraku) that they needed a few more days. During the curtain call, Masahiro even commented that he only had one day to rehearse. But I’m not even calling out on the acting! I thought everyone did well. I only had issue with technically stuff.

☆ Call me bias but the first 30 mins or so were so unnecessary and were pretty boring. They use Tomoha as the central character for the plot but in all honesty, Tomoha’s entire storyline and participation was unneeded and unnecessary.  I liked the main storyline for Jinga, and the storyline of Jinga being tracked down by the Ikkei crew, but Tomoha was completely pointless. We didn’t need her in order to know about a training group of priests and knights, we didn’t need to know she had a sister, we didn’t need one of her friends to turn horror, we didn’t need her begging for Jinga to save her. This all could’ve been just a random human or a random training crew and nothing in the main storyline would have changed. Jinga could’ve just found and gotten to that training crew on his own, Jinga could’ve ‘saved’ this human-turn-horror without introduction. We didn’t need to know about her or her sister or any one specifically at all. You could’ve switched ANYONE in where she was and it wouldn’t have made any difference to the story at all. Having her as the ‘main character’ just made the first half full of unnecessary introductions, absolutely pointless, and SO BORING.

☆ And because the story was somewhat lacking, they really missed a great opportunity to have Jinga get really evil. We have Tomoha who has clearly fallen for Jinga and completely trusts him, and you’re telling me Jinga didn’t even TRY to manipulate and use her?! I really wanted Jinga to USE her! Manipulate her! USE HER!!! That’s what the real Jinga would do! He’d be like ‘oh this idiot LIKES me. Well I’ll trick her into falling in love with me and then she’ll do anything for me mwahaha’ but nooooooooooo the story makes a romantic bullshit subplot out of it where it’s hinted that Jinga also likes her. Oh FUCK OFF! The real Jinga would have used and abused her, and he would have laughed in her face the moment her world came crashing down! That’s the Jinga we know! But alas the story did not go there. Seriously, a few more days of script writing and rehearsing would’ve made this amazing!! 

☆ Another thing I wish that changed in the script was during a few battle scenes, the entire cast are dancing to the battle music rather than actually fighting... wtf?Again, another missed opportunity! Even as the music and the dancing started, I immediately thought: TARANTINO!  I really wish they had done a Tarantino-style thing: Jinga orchestrating and dancing to music while everyone else is actually fighting and screaming. That would’ve been much better. I was completely fine with Jinga being all orchestry and dancing but I think going Tarantino style would’ve been better: only he can hear the music and is dancing, while everyone else is actually screaming and fighting. Instead of this bullshit of everyone, including Horrors, dancing to the entire song.

☆ Lastly, I didn’t have a problem, but a lot of people were confused as what the the timeline of this story was. I’ve already explained above, but I can see how others might been confused. It wasn’t exactly stated so you just had to pick up on what people were saying and who was where in order to understand what point in the timeline we were in.

Now to the fangirling!!

☆  Sticking to the fighting and music topic: The actual fighting scenes with the very heavy rock music were AMAZING! You could feel the music through the floor and the fighting was very well choreographed! It was so god damn fun!!

☆ I’m jumping ahead but the best fight scene was definitely the climax fight between Jinga and Sasha. It was absolutely amazing how they did it!!! Ikkei (Sasha) had a body double so it looked like Sasha could move super fast from one end of the stage to the other! It was so fast paced, and so well executed, that even from the 4th row, I couldn’t tell where the real Ikkei was during the fight! Also the use of the lighting during this scene, and having their weapons light up. We had some points that were in complete darkness and all you could see were Jinga’s sword and Sasha’s weapons that were lit up and fighing. It was SUCH A GOOD SCENE. It was best scene in the entire play. Absolute kudos to the choreographer and to Masahiro, Ikkei, his body double and everyone involved in that scene because holy hell it was amazing!

☆ We had a LIVE orchestra the entire time which was absolutely amazing! The music itself is just a masterpiece! It’s so good! I guess that’s why they called it Garo the ‘Live Entertainment’.

☆ There was a higawari/daily change guest every day and the show I went to had Kashiwagi Yusuke as the guest. If you don’t know, I love Kashiwagi so I was super excited for this! And he did not disappoint. He was GOLD.

Yuusuke did fucking Osomatsu!!! Everyone was DYING of laughter! Even Amelie and the other cast couldn’t keep it together! SO MANY OSOMATSU JOKES!! So his story is that Amelie and co. can’t eat him because he already made a promise with Jinga that Jinga would devour him. So he explains that he wanted to save his brothers (and that there are six of them), but they accidentally got mixed up in his scheme of trying to rob a bank, and they all ended up getting shot at. In exchange for stopping those bullets from hitting his brother, he agrees to make a deal with Jinga. During his storytelling four of the ensemble came on stage in the other Oso-coloured jumpsuits and Yusuke’s like ‘WHERE’S PURPLE?!?! You couldn’t even get me five people?!’ He was absolutely amazing! So many round of applauses during his higawari. And he did some backflips too. At the Amilie ran after him with her knife like ‘KKAAARRAAAMMAATTSUU!!!’.

During the curtain call, he said he wants to come back as a Horror if they ever let him come back. He also apologised to the vast colour difference between everyone’s outfit and his; he was ain a bright blue jumpsuit with a kimono styles scarf over his shoulders xD Absolutely GOLD.

☆ I absolutely loved being able to see Jinga’s costume so up close! I absolutely adore his grey coat from the TV show and being able to see the detail of that coat so close in person was amazing!

☆ Also the full body Horror and Makai Knight suits that we got to see on stage were phenomenal! They looked AMAZING! They were pretty terrifying as they went past me in the theatre! xD And huge kudos to the people wearing those suits. They must be absolutely dying in sweat in those suits!!

☆ There is a scene where we get to see the switch between Human Jinga and Horror Jinga. Seeing that transition right in front of my eyes was amazing! I love how different his body language and posture is between the two Jingas. I also adore how different his fighting style is too between the two versions of him.

☆ Ikkei/Sasha was so good too! I absolutely adored his look. I love how he always called himself ‘Sasha’ and referred to himself in the third person, and I love how over the top he can be. And I already said but that final fighting scene with him was phenomenal!

☆ Nakamura/Fugi’s fighting style and weapon is so cool! I really loved how much control he had with his weapon. He had some moves where the weapon could’ve easily fallen out of his hand and gone flying but he had such control and so flawlessly used it. I was so impressed.

☆ Koudai as Ushio was GREAT! He was playing a young, cheerful, sorted stupid Knight in training and he just lit up the stage with his happiness and silly moments xD I wanted so much for him to survive and get all revenge-y on Jinga’s ass! I was so sad when he died. I wanted so much more from him!

☆ A quick note on the Sasha/Fugi/Ruka/Ontake group: They are neither Makai nor Horror. From what I understood, they’re from their own world and Ontake is actually like....a god? or at least an overseeyer of the human world. Because she has a forest of candles, and the candles are everyone’s life/souls. Some candles have black flames which shows who’s become a horror, and the rest are normal flames. So essentially they’re from another... dimension/world? And they hear about Jinga’s plan to steal their goddess/spirit called Tomino so they want to kill him before he can get to Tomino.

☆ There is a twist at the end where Tomoha is possessed by Tomino (we assume she’s a goddess/spirit from the world that Ikkei is from) which means ‘Tomoha’ might have a bigger role in the future.

☆ A comment from curtain called that I enjoyed: Nakamura mentioned that he’d like a spin off dorama just about his character Fugi, and then Ruka’s actor was like “I hope Ruka gets a spin off dorama too!”. Inoue immediately after said ‘not like Sasha’s gonna get one cos he’s dead’ and Ikkei was absolutely distraught looking, it was hilarious. He was like ‘hey!!!!!!!!! I can come back! I can just pop out of nowhere!’

☆ After the show: Miyabi/Amilie was at the dvd corner and Inoue/Jinga was at the buppan corner!

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And that’s all! I hope you enjoyed this short review!

[recentanimenews]

My Week in Manga: November 13-November 19, 2017

My News and Reviews

Last week was a very quiet one here at Experiments in Manga with nothing posted other than the usual My Week in Manga feature. However, I did manage to make some progress with my next in-depth review, so that should (hopefully!) be posted later this week. While not much was happening here at the blog, the North American manga publishers were all keeping pretty busy last week with a variety of license announcements, made either online or while at Anime NYC.

Starting with the online licensing spree from Seven Seas: The Bride & the Exorcist Knight manga by Keiko Ishihara; The Bride Was a Boy manga by Chii (an autobio comic by a transwoman–I’ll definitely be picking this up!); the Claudine manga by Riyoko Ikeda (I am absolutely thrilled by this license); teh Fairy Tale Battle Royale manga by Soraho Ina; the Harukana Receive manga by Nyoijizai; the How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom light novels by Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki (previously released digitally by J-Novel Club); the My Solo Exchange Diary manga by Nagata Kabi (a follow-up to My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness); the Ojojojo manga by coolkyousinnjya; the Plus-Sized Elf manga by Synecdoche; the Space Battleship Yamato manga by Leiji Matsumoto (I’m so happy more influential classic manga is being translated); the True Tenchi Muyo! light novels is written by Masaki Kajishima and Yousuke Kuroda; the Versailles of the Dead manga by Kumiko Suekane; and the Wonderland manga by Yugo Ishikawa.

At Anime NYC, Kodansha Comics announced that it would be releasing Yasushi Baba’s Golosseum manga and Vertical Comics revealed that it would be publishing Tsutomu Nihei’s Aposimz. As for Viz Media, the publisher announced that it would be releasing a print edition of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court’s My Hero Academia: Vigilantes manga (currently being released digitally) in addition to a brand new license, Okura and Coma Hashii’s That Blue Sky Feeling manga (I’m really looking forward to this one).

Yen Press has picked up quite a few things as well: Sanzo’s Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy manga; Tsukikage and Bob’s Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You Have a Ringer) light novels; Kazushige Nojima’s Final Fantasy VII short story collection; Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket Another manga; Yoh Yoshinari’s Little Witch Academia manga; Hiroumi Aoi’s Shibuya Goldfish manga; Yusaku Komiyama’s Star Wars: Lost Stars manga; Gao Yuzuki’s The Strange Creature at Kuroyuri Apartments manga; Keiichi Sigsawa’s Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online light novels; Soichiro Yamamoto’s Teasing Master Takagi-san manga; Mito Aoi’s Tsuno no Gakuen manga; and Akira Kareno’s WorldEnd light novels.

 Quick Takes

Land of the Lustrous, Volumes 2-3 by Haruko Ichikawa. I found the first volume of Land of the Lustrous to be pretty, but perplexing; Ichikawa’s artwork can be absolutely stunning even while the plot remains somewhat impenetrable. Even so, I was and remain intrigued by Land of the Lustrous and its peculiar charm. The second and third volumes continue to explore the world that Ichikawa has created. Largely following Phos, who has been charged with writing a natural history (providing an excellent excuse to show readers around), more is slowly revealed about the Lustrous, the Lunarians with whom they battle, and the larger environment in which they live. The manga still seems to be primarily concerned about finding opportunities to display exquisite visuals–and there are certainly plenty of those–but the series’ underlying symbolism, themes, and mythologies are starting to coalesce and crystallize as well. Land of the Lustrous can be surprisingly philosophical even while being strange and surreal. I may not always understand exactly what’s going on, but I am captivated by the manga’s allure.

Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, Volumes 1-2 by HeeEun Kim. It seems as though there are fewer manhwa being translated into English these days, but Yen Press still publishes some. The fifth and final volume of Void’s Enigmatic Mansion was released earlier this year which made me realize that I hadn’t actually gotten around to reading any of the series yet. JiEun Ha is credited as the creator of the original, but I haven’t been able to determine if that means there’s another version of the story out there in a different medium or if Ha simply developed the basic manhwa’s premise. In either case, Kim is the series’ adapter and artist. The titular mansion is a seven-story building, most of which the owner rents out. The mysterious Mr. Void hasn’t been seen yet (as far as readers know), but a number of his tenants have, none of whom live particularly happy lives. Void’s Enigmatic Mansion tends to be fairly episodic although there are also threads tying all of the characters and their unsettling stories together. Kim’s full-color illustrations can be quite beautiful, but they are also punctuated by shocking moments of blood and gore befitting the series’ horror.

By: Ash Brown