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[anantagonist]

Toman and Buddhism + Tenjiku and Taoism

Another post to cover references in Tokyo Revengers! 

This time, I'll be covering the links to two religions to be found in two gangs in the series, reference by reference, with the according explanation of each. 

Some of these may be already known, I know one of them sure is (the whole buddhist manji confusion thing yeah yeah) but still, for the sake of a tidy compilation and of providing more detail, I'll go through them too. Some others are a lot less noticed, like Tenjiku's lean towards Tao, so it'll be best to lay down eeeeeeverything I've caught during my time enjoying this series. Plus, I'm pretty excited to get some of those less-known facts out here!!

Warning though, it's lengthy.

Let's start with Tokyo Manji Gang:

- Firstly, the gang's name and how it's written.

Despite Mikey suggesting the name as a short form of Tokyo Manjiro Gang, putting himself front and center, the kanji that ended up forming the name of Tokyo Manji Gang show that it went in a different direction of meaning. The manji used for the middle part ended up not being the same one from the name Manjiro, but a manji written as 卍. Aloud it's read the same way (many, many, many kanji are homophones), but has a different meaning.

卍 (manji) is an extremely common buddhist symbol (not even limited to japanese buddhism, but in hinduism and other aligned east-asian religions too), which represents the path of Buddha and the endless cycle of rebirth through samsara; the pursuit of leading a more spiritually balanced existence until the soul can reach enlightenment. In other words, it's nothing but deeply buddhist.

(To answer a common question around it: can it be called a swastika? Yes. The symbol in general, with each of the million variations that have popped up in different cultures, can be called a swastika as a broad term. There are a fuckton of swastikas. They mean a fuckton of different things. The tilt and the direction in which this one "spins" makes it different from other swastikas though, and it's always best to be precise and call this one manji.)

Moving on,

- Reunion spot.

The Musashi Shrine (based, but not exactly taken from any of the real-life shrines and temples of similar name in Tokyo, as far as I know) is a shinto-buddhist temple. And, apparently, a place where the founders hung out from time to time, but I'll add to that later!!

It's cute to me that the Toman members seem to use the temple very respectfully. They always meet in it at night waaay after it's closed (daytime meetings have always taken place in different locations, never the temple during visiting hours), they've never once set foot even near the oratory/sanctum/other buildings, never been seen bringing the motorcycles anywhere they shouldn't, and the one time a character was seen using the public temizuya (the little stone fountain where visitors purify their hands and mouth), he was proper about it in terms of pouring water into his hand to rinse his mouth with, not getting the ladle or the rest of the water dirty, as one should always do. 

A fun fact: in Google Maps, buddhist temples are marked with the manji symbol!

- Gang's manifesto.

Embroidered on the chest of the gang uniform, you can see the text  天上天下唯我独尊 ("Above the earth and below the heavens, I alone shall be honored"), which is the gang's manifesto or motto. Sounds just like something Mikey would choose, yeah.

That phrase is also of buddhist origin; famously, the words spoken by Buddha Gautama Siddharta (bear in mind that buddhism isn't a religion with one god or anything like that, anyone enlightened can become a Buddha and many figures have been granted that status, but Gautama is the first and main one, the creator of the doctrine) when he was born. To be honest, this is very much interpretative, but I've come to get the impression that it's not so much a power or ego statement, but rather an expression of cultivating and honoring yourself…? It's absolutely up to personal reading and I'm absolutely not an expert. But those are certainly THE Buddha's words.

- Additional notes about the leader.

I feel it's important to add up all these little factors of Mikey's choosing, with other little details about him as a person that kinda make it all make sense.

If I say "Mikey seems to be religious, to an extent", I understand this can carry a bunch of tricky connotations. Japanese religion isn't exercised the same way it is in other places, someone being religious SURE AS HECK doesn't mean the same things it means in the christian west. Shinto-buddhism is so commonplace in Japan, most people partake in all kinds of religious practices without even thinking of them as strictly religious, such as new year's celebrations, casual prayer during shrine visits, purchasing and giving charms and such. Religion is integrated in life in a lot of extremely chill ways.

And we can observe a lot of things about Mikey that put him quite above the average in terms of his relationship with local tradition and religion. His house is a huge traditional-style family home, his family is hinted to be active in religious practice (remember Emma's appearances during the Christmas Showdown arc? How she mentioned that their family does a lot of temple visits, and even she considered it weird at that time of the year?), he's much more prone to wearing traditional clothing than his peers, his motif in extra clothing designs is the lion-dog (temple guardians; statues of these can often be found in them), his personal beliefs around death and relationship to the dead run deeper than others' to the point they find him disturbing when he talks about Shinichiro or Baji still being with him... many little things that aren't that deep on their own, of course, but when added up they paint a pretty coherent picture of the guy.

And so, it does make a lot of sense that, even from childhood, a temple was a regular place for Mikey to hang out with his friends, leading to the birth of Toman in one. And it makes a lot of sense that he made all those little choices about the way the gang would be styled. In my opinion, it's likely that those things just all came natural to him because they're a part of his background and worldview. Of course, how actively religious he is, how much he believes in the things he happens to know and how much exactly he might know about buddhism are all up to headcanoning and interpretation. Personally, I'm just a roleplayer that takes it as a relevant part of his character.

- Following a Buddha?

A little out-of-TR-universe element that I love to bring up, 'cause it's just hilarious and cool as hell, is the creation of this statue:

This part of the 2022 Tokyo Revengers exhibition straight up imitates the famous Reclining Buddha in the Wat Pho temple, Thailand. 

The ENORMOUS statue depicts the moment Buddha reaches nirvana, and his enlightened soul is at rest. The golden Mikey statue that imitates it very much intentionally likens him to a Buddha; funny to note that the exhibition staff even prayed to the statue, as you can read in the tweet itself.

What does this mean about Mikey's character? Well, this isn't within text in Tokyo Revengers, just a little outside factor, so I wouldn't take it too literally or too seriously, but it's interesting nonetheless. Personally, I see it as a hint that Mikey was supposed to be on his own little quest to enlightenment, or had the potential to be. Grappling with morality without having a natural sense of what's right, wrong, too much or enough is a major thing with his character. I can also imagine it might just be meant to represent the godlike view others have of him, the guidance they sought from him. Take it as you will! 

The important thing is just that it exists, to confirm that there is an intentional connection of some type between the Buddha and Mikey.

Thaaaaat concludes the Toman and Buddhism section of this post.

Whew!! That was a whole lot.

The Tenjiku and Taoism section coming now is shorter, but I'm sure it contains interesting and less-known things (at least, I've never seen anybody talk about these)!

So let's see, Tao references in Tenjiku:

- Gang name.

Tenjiku is a now-obsolete word that translated directly to "heaven", while simultaneously being the japanese word for the country India (as taken from the chinese pronunciation, Tianzhu).

In modern times, it can be found mostly in ancient literature, the most prominent example being Journey to the West. Given that Kakucho and Izana mentioned this book and seemed to have knowledge of it as kids, we can conclude that's where they got the name of their gang from.

Why would they use the word for India to name their kingdom? What does this have to do with Tao? I'll get into that properly now:

- Kakucho, Izana & Journey to the West.

Journey to the West is one of the four great chinese classic novels (along with Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, and Dream of the Red Chamber) which are enormous, ENORMOUS influences on east-asian literature and fiction in general. Journey to the West, itself, is considered the most popular east-asian literary work overall; of course, being super well-known in Japan, too. (To give my favorite funny example of just how omnipresent it is, y'know Dragon Ball? Hit anime series Dragon Ball? Unabashedly based on Journey to the West, which was to thank for most of its initial local popularity.)

It's the story of the buddhist monk Tang Sanzang, who travels to Tenjiku, to India, to that certain heavenly kingdom, to obtain sacred texts for Buddha Gautama Siddharta (the guy I described as THE Buddha in the Tokyo Manji Gang section above). The quest doubles as a search and exercise of enlightenment, as Tang Sanzang is aided by three protectors that are atoning for their sins and learning from him. The main guardian and arguably the true protagonist of the book is Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, a fighter "so strong he could carry a mountain on each shoulder, and still dash as fast as a meteor". It's a huge, epic, 100-chapter monster of a book, in which each chapter is already a fantastic and entertaining anecdote about the characters or what happens in their travels, but also a long spiritual journey that pretty much serves to subtly teach the principles of Tao (term that can be translated to "the path", chinese religion and philosophy). 

A tangent: let me just show you how large it is (and why I haven't been able to finish it, 'cause I cannot take this brick of a book anywhere lmaoooo).

(Cover says Journey to the West: The Adventures of the Monkey King. It's in spanish.)

My guess is that Izana and Kakucho studied about it or read some chapters in school, 'cause dang, there's no way they read all of this at that age?!?! BUT ANYWAY.

While there's obviously quite some buddhist influence in the story, most of what it works with throughout is rooted in chinese folklore and Taoism. The edition of the book I have even begins with extensive notes and introductory explanations about Tao, as its themes of harmony with the universe, self-cultivation, internal alchemy, its main ethics and values, etc etc etc are the basis from which the book is built up. The characters very actively engage with Tao. Sun Wukong is an ardent student of Tao who obtains a bunch of powers through it, for one.

I've gone into this much into detail because Kakucho and Izana make it pretty explicit that, to them, Izana is like monk Tang Sanzang leading to Tenjiku, and Kakucho is like his guardian of unmatched strength, Sun Wukong.

In the end of Journey to the West, it's both Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong that accomplish their goal and also obtain enlightenment, finally ascending to buddhahood. Had Izana and Kakucho's journey with Tenjiku reached their original destination (not "to become a criminal syndicate that controls Japan" but "to build a kingdom where everyone without a home could exist"), had it been like Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong's pilgrimage… they would've learned true balance and they would've found the necessary enlightenment.

Again, I find this little connection with characters that could've been on a quest towards buddhahood, but as far as things went in the main TR timelines, all failed.

- Uniform & logo.

Finally, something lighter and quicker to add, haha.

There are symbols and references that are so so so widespread that they become more of an aesthetic detail than a symbol with meaning, in the eyes of the general public. The yin-yang is one of those symbols that just… appears in a lot of places, fashionably, and one kinda gets used to seeing it without thinking much about it. Sometimes it's not meant to stand for much more than a decorative detail, yes, that definitely happens, but sometimes it's very much a thoughtful choice. With Tenjiku, given its connection to Taoism, I'm gonna treat the yin-yang as a meaningful choice.

So! On the back of the uniform we have a yin-yang, Taoist symbol that represents the balance of the two complementary and opposing forces of the universe (note: it's not a good vs evil type of thing, as tends to happen with western black-white dualism, but rather… the fact that reality needs to be composed of push and pull to get anywhere, hard and soft things with their own function, sun and shade. A common comparison is how a mountain will have a sunny side and a shady side when looked at in a certain moment, but the sun and shade will switch over at another time of day, in a needed cycle). Other features of the uniform are a mao collar instead of a more common style for gang jackets, and an intense red color, the main auspicious and prosperous color in chinese culture. These last two little features could easily de coincidental, but when paired with the yin-yang, I feel like it's intended to lean towards chinese aesthetics.

And with that, 

I end this reference post!

Did you learn anything you didn't know? Did you enjoy learning it? Any thoughts? I LOVE TO TALK ABOUT THESE THINGS, SO FEEL FREE TO DROP BY MY ASKBOX with any comments or questions or such!!

[anantagonist]

OMG GANE ALGO!! Y ALGO GENIAL!!!

Re-rolleo de ganador

Tomen, dos innecesarios minutos de un rerolleo *me di cuenta de lo innecesario cuando ya lo estaba subiendo (: * ¡Felicidades @anantagonist! ♥

[anantagonist]

Sorteo de emotes!

Queríamos celebrar este diciembre con un pequeño detalle, nada grande porque se nos complicaría mucho. Pero aunque fuese algo chiquito, queríamos traerlo igual. 😄

Básicamente, es un sorteo de emotes para sus personajes. Se elegirán cinco ganadores, quienes se llevarán dos emotes/icons de su personaje cada uno (es decir, dos emotes por ganador). Está en ustedes si ambos emotes serán de su pj, o uno de su pj y el pj de un amigo o alguien más que ustedes quieran ♥. Quienes ganen deberán mandar imágenes de referencia de su personaje y una referencia de la expresión con la que desean que se les represente.

Podrán usar su emote en donde quieran, discord, foros, twitch, etc. 

Los ganadores se elegirán el 25 de diciembre (siento que elegir en otra fecha es anticlimático(????)). 

¿Cómo participar?

Solo dando follow y rebloggeando esta publicación, ¡ya estás en el sorteo!

Importante

Una vez anunciados los ganadores, serán taggeados aquí mismo o en los comentarios. Les contactaré por mensaje privado de tumblr. 

Desde el momento en que les contacte, tendrán una semana para pasarme las referencias. Si en ese lapsus de tiempo no las he recibido, el premio perderá vigor (más que nada porque después me costará encontrar espacio para hacerlos). ¡Así que atentos!

Habrán hasta cinco suplentes. Es decir, si las primeras cinco personas no reclamaron su premio, se contactarán a los suplentes hasta un número de cinco veces. 

Ejemplos

Eso es todo! ***

Como nota aparte del sorteo, no olviden que en nuestro foro de recursos, Dix Inmortal,  están ya las actividades y eventos de diciembre, no se los pierdan. ✨🙌

¡Feliz diciembre!

[anantagonist]

"Lovely."

Translation: "Wonderful. I made myself believe this is the path that would make me happy, so I guess it's what I've got now. It didn't work, it won't, I've pretty much realized your death won't make me better, but now this is how it's gonna be. No going back. So, okay, wonderful. We'll do that. Every now and then man reinvents the idea of killing God above or inside himself, but it's different to be the one left behind by God."

[anantagonist]

Hanafuda references in Izana & Kakucho

I love how full of references all of Tokyo Revengers is, so here's a thread about the links to hanafuda around Izana and his kingdom!! Cause it's a week till S3 and I'm excited!!

As expected, his earrings are the best place to start from.

So first of all, I'll explain what the hanafuda deck is and which card from it they're representing.

Even though they only contain pictures without any visible numeric value or indicator, hanafuda are playing cards. They surfaced exactly like this in order to avoid prohibitions around gambling way back in the Edo period, when foreign playing cards were banned. These slipped much more easily under the radar.

As such, hanafuda became kind of a discreet symbol of the illegal. Peony cards were a sign of prostitution, for one, and the whole deck was a staple of gambling. Which is why, even though that time passed and hanafuda cards did stay as regular playing cards, it's fun to have the leader of a criminal group wear one. 

Izana's card is the Full Moon, a highly-ranked card within the game (one of the 5 "lights" or "bright cards" which give the most points).

The hanafuda deck is distributed by months, in 12 groups of 4 cards each; each month also has an assigned flower/tree that appears in the 4 cards, visually tying them together. This card of the full moon over the pampa is part of the August set, matching Izana's birthday month!

But the hanafuda references aren't only around him. Moving on to his servant:

Kakucho's name (just Kakucho, mistakenly believed to have a surname due to a faulty fantranslation) is made of the kanji 鶴 (kaku) and 蝶 (chou), which mean "crane" and "butterfly". Both hanafuda cards.

The crane card is part of the January set and is one of the Lights, as it also depicts the sun over the pine trees. Being a Light, getting it alongside the full moon card is really advantageous and can build you some of the most point-earning hands. The butterfly card is part of the June set, depicting butterflies over a peony flower.

Both cranes and butterflies are thematically assigned to Kakucho! Taking a close look at his volume cover outfit, a crane pattern can be seen on the fabric, as well as a butterfly wing shape on the bottom of the jacket. Motifs that Wakui selected carefully for him.

( scan/translated commentary from @yokohamabeans )

What's more… take a look at Izana's recent illustration for the Nov 2023 TR Expo, 'cause it's pretty interesting in this regard.

Aside from the peacock motif and the yin-yang that were used for this outfit, there's a little cameo on the inside of the jacket: a crane. If you zoom in and take a good look at the bird's head, you can tell it apart from the peacocks. And another one, even harder to spot, so tiny that @anantagonist had to point it out to me: a butterfly, right above that.

No other Tenjiku member is linked to hanafuda references (the Haitani brothers have their assigned flowers, neither happens to match the flowers depicted in the deck), but Izana and Kakucho sure are closely linked through it. It's something they alone share.

Isn't it cool? Let me know if you dig this kind of reference-listing posts, 'cause with TR there is so much to dig into.

[anantagonist]

Radio Eva '97-Chapter 1, Part 1

After my first attempt at this comic people where so encouraging so I decided to re-start the comic from the begining! I'm having so much fun adapting it and also learning a lot. Again, it is based on my favourite fic by @anantagonist

[anantagonist]

OMG THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! ANU-CA! YOU ARE SO TALENTED!! ♥♥!

I can’t stop looking at it! Thank you so much for doing this and liking my work!!

So I went ahead I did a few pages on the Shinji and Kaworu's comic! It is based on one of @anantagonist fanfics (here).🙈

For now this is just a start, just wanted to try to make several pages. Hope you like!

[anantagonist]

♥

Re: Tokyo Revengers 255 and this:

To be real, I can’t find it in myself to mind at all if Kakucho dies.

He wanted to. He wanted to go with Izana, not because he was forced or coerced or anything; he just wanted to go with him. The person he lived for was dead and he was good and ready to hold his hand and go together. He didn’t choose to survive and he sure as hell didn’t like that he survived.

Him living on when he didn’t want to has felt more tragic to me than anything else that could possibly happen with him now.

It’s telling enough that, since Tenjiku, all he’s done is drag his feet forward and get used by others. But it’s even more telling that between the “looks like I lived” Kakucho and the “if I die now, it wasn’t a bad life at all” Kakucho, there’s no question on which seems happier.

“Just as man has the right to live as he chooses, he has the right to die when he pleases.” (Dazai, classic japanese author.)

[anantagonist]

hello :) I just found your blog and I think your take on tkrv manga is interesting. May I know your thought about koko & inupi library kiss panel? Does he kissed him as he is or with image of akane in mind? do you think the said panel a queer bait or is there truly something between them? I've been wanting to know (neutral) translator opinion and not from shipper or antis view. Sorry if you have answered similar question, thank you! <3

Hello!! Thanks!! That's alright, it's an interesting topic to discuss and I've barely touched upon it!! To be honest, I'll take this chance to go in-depth, because Inui and Koko's story opens up a whole thing with LGBT rep in manga and the way it's taken by fandom.

Firstly, in order to define whether this is a concrete piece of LGBT content or a case of baiting, we gotta start from establishing what queerbaiting is.

The wikipedia definition is perfect:

"Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBT representation."

There's another concept that I always apply to this, and that's plausible deniability: where is the line between 'hinting' and 'depicting'? Are two people of the same sex, for example, saying they'd die for each other anyday 'hinting' at a romantic bond, 'depicting' a romantic bond or is it meant to be ambiguous? When we just can't be sure of what it is, there's plausible deniability; people who don't wish to see it as LGBT rep will say it's not, people who see it that way will say they do. I, for clarity's sake and to avoid being baited (because I am queer and tired), only consider a canonical depiction one where there is no longer plausible deniability, when no one could argue 'that was platonic, just a friend thing' or nothing is ambiguous anymore.

And when is there no plausible deniability? Normally, when the word 'love' is used or alluded to in a clear romantic context, or an unmistakably romantic gesture (such as a kiss on the lips) appears. Then it's no longer up to interpretation, but a concrete part of that media.

Now, given that Koko and Inui is a romance that took place, ergo, the romantic nature of feelings involved was made undeniably present (the kiss, among other context signs), I don't think we're being baited. It's not bisexual content "hinted, but not given"; it was very much given, fully intended and executed as romantic.

Having said that, I think fandom gets easily confused on what discussion they're having and what discussion they're trying to have. 

Is InuKoko a thing that canonly happened? Yes. It took place beyond plausible deniability and has been displayed numerous times in canon as a plot point of romantic characteristics. Is it LGBT? Yes.

Did it happen for reasons that were unhealthy? Did Koko take a romantic initiative because he was grieving? Or because he was projecting? Or because he was confused? Discussing those points doesn't make InuKoko less canon or less LGBT. It can mean we have a messy bisexual story on our hands, or even an unhealthy bisexual story on our hands if you wanna see it that way, but the fact remains that we have a bisexual story on our hands. Fandom can discuss whether Koko thought about Akane while kissing Inui or not; but the fact of the matter is still that he kissed a boy.

In other words, the discussion of whether it's a 'good' or 'bad' ship is free real estate. Have at it. Maybe Koko was a disaster and an absolute dickhead about it. Maybe Inui was too when he wouldn't talk about his doubts for years. But the discussion of whether InuKoko is a ship that canonly happened in Tokyo Revengers is… not a discussion; the answer is yes.

From the standpoint of someone who cares about LGBT rep and its scarcity in mainstream anime/manga, believe me, I find it frustrating when an LGBT storyline happens "for reasons rooted in heterosexuality" (ergo, Koko developing his homosexual interest in Inui as an aftermath and consequence of his previous heterosexual interest in Akane). And I find it frustrating precisely because it makes people confused about what is still, despite any why/how/etc, an LGBT thing. At the end of the day, the fault of that lies less with the content, but with people shifting the conversation to something it's not and putting validity behind gates of secondary relevance.

At any rate, I've said my piece on that. Back to the start of the question! Back to the library scene. 

Because, while it doesn't change things in terms that what happened has happened and what's canon is canon (and I wanted to make that very clear, as my top priority), I can sure give my own thoughts on the scene itself. For fun lmao.

We don't truly have anything that tells us, clearly and unmistakably, what was going through Koko's head that time. Personally, I think it may be intended to be ambiguous and/or to match his emotional state; that's to say, in process of figuring out what he felt. 

However, nothing in canon has ever pointed to Koko taking Inui as a replacement for Akane, nor confusing him with her in any way (in dialogue, in the recent chapter 252, that has been reestablished too). On the contrary, he's demonstrated to be very aware of Inui as Inui, and to be anguished precisely because of the push and pull of two feelings he has at once. If you ask me, I think there is a reason he said Akane looks like Inui, before likewise implying that Inui looks like Akane too; he has seen them both as themselves.

I don't think any of these things are there for no reason either, as that simply doesn't exist in fiction. Every scene, shot and dialogue is part of a piece of fiction 'cause it is, in one way or another, relevant to be there. I also don't think it's a coincidence that the side of Inui's face that is towards Koko, that is so focused in the scene, is precisely the side with the huge burn mark; the side that isn't Inui-Akane's similarity, but just Inui. I believe there's a reason there for him to have broken down in guilt and grief about Akane after doing that, with someone who was not her.

But that's up to anyone's interpretation.

As a translator, the most I can say is the little parenthesis two paragraphs above: that in the text, in the dialogue, there is no suggestion of replacing or confusion, but a messy case of feelings for two people. Always an Inui and Akane-san, never an Inui as Akane-san. Up until, of course, chapter 252 makes it simply Inui.

The rest is just my impression of the overall material I'm reading, and my take as someone very used to handling fiction. But I'm very happy to be asked about these matters and very honored to be considered someone neutral you'd send this message to!! I hope this has been helpful orrrr at least interesting, 'cause it definitely is to me.

Message again anytime!!

[anantagonist]

"All this time I've been heaping Akane-san on you. I couldn't let things go. I couldn't accept... her death. So I fled into money, because it was easier to think money was everything."

"And yet, you've kept chasing after me without giving up. I'll forget Akane-san. This time, I want to give myself to you."

Disambiguation / language notes about these pages, 'cause I'm seeing some talk about it!:

- The wording Koko uses at the start implies piling the memory of Akane atop Inui, lumping them together. There's no implication of replacement or confusing one with the other.

- Koko speaks of turning money and moneymaking into his whole life as his form of escapism.

- The word he uses for his decision in regards to Inui is one that means dedicating all of one's self/give one's everything.

(Feel free to ask about/request disambiguation or examination of any lines!)

[anantagonist]

『Merch Reveal: Visual Novel Game』

Sayonara Last Train is a videogame set at a certain train station, in which the now-adult Shinji must accomplish a last personal mission. For Windows/Mac/Linux. 

A larger peek will be shown at the end of the merch reveals.

Game by 

@gold-pavilion​ / Twitter: akai_koutei  & Twitter: someantagonist / AO3: anantagonist

Interested in the zine? Expect preorder info very soon, or sign up for our notifications HERE.

Follow or contact us at: Twitter | Insta | Carrd | Tellonym

[anantagonist]

『Merch Reveal: Visual Novel Game』

Sayonara Last Train is a videogame set at a certain train station, in which the now-adult Shinji must accomplish a last personal mission. For Windows/Mac/Linux. 

A larger peek will be shown at the end of the merch reveals.

Game by 

@gold-pavilion​ / Twitter: akai_koutei  & Twitter: someantagonist / AO3: anantagonist

Interested in the zine? Expect preorder info very soon, or sign up for our notifications HERE.

Follow or contact us at: Twitter | Insta | Carrd | Tellonym

[anantagonist]

About TR chapter 222 and translation work on this one Draken line

‘Cause I can’t be the only one super confused about different ways Draken’s words are translated.

Kicking off with the line in question right away. This english version is part of a translation from me n Al for friends who are catching up with the manga.

All available eng translations we found of this chapter at the time had this one line as “I really liked that guy” and, whatever I’ll sound like here, I don't… understand why, tbh; it’s just not what he’s saying. So I’d like to talk about that a bit, along with some of what translation and differences in word choice entail.

(And I’ll make a note here before anything else: discussing this I don’t intend any ill will or anything to the translators that work hard and steady at the TR releases, they’re all hella cool! This is only a language/translation talk of interest to me!!)

Let’s check out the original.

Now, to start with the simplest clarification: this sentence is not in past tense in jp. 

大好きだ/daisukida is present tense, with だ/da being the informal vers of the です/desu particle. No two-ways around that; it’s a simple, present tense statement. As for the rest, well, that’s the thing.

There are 3 main words to state love in jp; you’ve got すき/suki, which is what characters use in most romance stories to confess (an “I love”), then this 大好き/daisuki which is kind of an emphasized version (maybe “really love” or “love a lot”), then a 3rd deeply serious one that’s culturally lots to get into. 

To contextualize, when Draken talked about Emma at her funeral, he used the first one and said 好きだった (translated as “I loved her”, naturally past tense). 

And that’s absolutely what I would’ve used too! This english “loved” was the right equivalent, that the reader can exercise fair interpretation with if they wanna view it as a deep friendly/protective type thing, I suppose, but it’s frankly gonna sound romantic. I wouldn’t have toned it down to “like” at all, and that seems to be the consensus among TR translators too.

But in the case of Draken talking about Mikey and using a stronger word, that’s where I don’t see reason to water “love” down to “like”. 

Again, readers can exercise interpretation to their liking, on what Draken means when saying he loves Mikey, but the words are what they are; they were very much intense words, and in the context of him laying there knowing he’s dying and pouring his heart out, impactfully delivered. 

I feel like there’s a high chance discussing this can be discarded as shipping-brained in some way, though to me it’s Draken-brained, conveying the character-brained, translation-brained.

What’s the exact nature of Draken’s feelings for Emma? None of my business to judge. And for Mikey? None of my business to define. In the role of a translator, my business is what he SAYS: “I loved her” + “I really love him”. So I just make sure to convey his words faithfully.

But why does working on this line matter anyway? Differences in translation are expected, always. Translation isn’t an objective exact science and it would just be a bother to be nitpicking word choices all the time. Heck, I’ve gone to TOWN working on other lines too, in this same chapter, trying to get the meaning across with the right wording in ways that probably differ a TON from other versions, like here:

But,

I think that when a character is expressing something important about themselves and their relationships, those lines should be handled with special care, because they’re gonna define the character itself and how the readers know them, as is the case with this huge moment. Draken has had a huge, emotional journey, with a really defining last 2 years; his final words carry the weight of absolutely all of it.

I can also say that in a manga like TR, where queerness is a thing that the author works with (bisexuality in particular, funnily), preserving emotional relationships matters for other reasons too, regardless of where anybody stands in tastes and opinions on the subject. But that’s a whole other thing on its own.

Again, no bad faith intended towards translators whose work I love, just thinking about translation and character stuff out loud. Eng readers might find the differences interesting too, and perhaps make another degree of sense of Draken’s final talk with Takemichi like this, that’s about it. 

Full chapter 222 personal translation here in case anyone’s curious. Thanks for reading and come stan Draken!!

[anantagonist]

Tokyo Revengers chapter 117, (re-new translation)

The following is my translation of the now old Tokyo Revengers chapter 117: Last Order. 

Read on IMGUR or below the cut!

I’ve just finished reading this whole manga (OBSESSED ABOUT IT TOO) and felt like I had a lot of confusions and misunderstandings around this point of the story, from the available english versions. After reading it in japanese, I understood things much clearer and felt like trying my hand at a personal translation to reflect that. It was mainly for my lil friend group that read with me, but I’ve decided to upload it here too. No offense intended to any of the translators that have worked wonderfully and mightily for Tokyo Revengers, of course! I’m just another translator trying his hand at a very cool chapter.

Translation is my own, cleaning and typesetting by @anantagonist​, raws from manga1001. All pages below:

Keep reading

[anantagonist]

About Mikey, building grand characters and placing good flaws

Here’s a little something that I find interesting about Mikey’s character and his place in Tokyo Revenger’s storytelling (in a very good way).

Fiction often struggles when placing characters who are above the protagonist/s in influence, power and/or relevance. It’s natural, because most stories are (and need to be) told around the person with the most story-driving force to the scene; the one with the strongest potential, or the chosen, or the one with a lil something special about them, or the one directly causing the plot to happen or maybe even just the luckiest/unluckiest in the situation. Having a protagonist but then also having characters that stand far above them being too close to the story can be a bit of a complication.

This is why characters who are guides, mentors or parental figures so often die to kick a story and the true protagonist into gear, much like any character with skills or positions that’d enable them to do too much being put away.

Now, Tokyo Revengers has Mikey, this character who would normally be difficult to keep too close at hand, because he was written to be something grand in the setting. And one would think a considerable story-driving force lies with him, since he’s introduced from the get-go as an admirable figure with the strength to win the conflicts that come along, the ‘political’ power to make decisions/cause changes (that’s to say, being the authority as Tokyo Manji Gang’s leader) and a good chunk of the storyline’s focus. But that’s just not it, honestly. For all his traits, he is simply not the story-driving force. He does not and cannot take the spotlight from Takemichi, our actual protagonist. 

And that’s a tough balance to arrive at!! It’s a feat of writing, to create someone very above the protag that gets to stay in the story and nonetheless doesn’t overshadow any roles. The “how” to this is an interesting sample of character building, where Mikey was just given such great character flaws, that they do effectively incapacitate him from being the story-driving force. No need to kill him out of the hero’s journey, no need to erase his role or put him away, just building him with a couple of precise flaws, perfect for the case, and it’s all in pace. 

The first and greatest of these is how manipulable he is. Definitely not a fool of a leader, but also not infallible (and very much an emotionally-driven person), Mikey is very often utilized by characters with a better mind for strategy or manipulation. When it truly comes down to it, it’s always other people getting to him, employing - and weaponizing - his leader charisma more than he does, or using his strengths as their own story-driving device. All of Mikey’s talents and traits are very much out of his own hands if Kisaki’s plans are paving the way, or if Izana has him personally gripped. We see the results in future timelines. 

And so, his level of agency is actually pretty diluted in the grand scheme of things and, in practice, his power to lead the story isn’t much. (Of course, there’s a bit of a break from this mold in TR’s very final arc, but that in itself is a misstep andddd a whole other talk for another post.)

The second crucial flaw is his lack of a natural moral compass. Interestingly, this trait that could easily not constitute a weakness in other stories (depending on what type, it’s more often glamorized as a cool thing) is the most debilitating struggle Mikey faces, as well as the flaw that opens the door to being utilized and pushed. 

It’s got a tragic element to it imo, because this is a guy who dreams like nobody’s business, who wants to create his own era and is well along the way. But things get complex, things get tough, the path is paved with choices about the level of violence to exert and how to handle the growth of his organization. And because he doesn’t fully know which direction is the right one, it’s easy for him to intend to do good and end up waist-deep in the worst of the worst, letting the wrong people in, relying on dirty methods or turning to increasing violence to get rid of the obstacles without foreseeing where it’ll get him. The lack of a functioning, natural moral compass in Mikey is why Draken has such a crucial role as his external heart, and why people like Kisaki, Izana and the snowball of whatthefuck that is Bonten all have such a dangerous effect on him. Before he knows it, he can find himself as someone he didn’t intend to be and his dream fucked up for good. Naturally, without a good sight or control over his path, he’s far from being able to effectively lead the story places, himself.

Flaws are often the parts of a character that end up being the most interesting to me, and the ones Mikey got are just that crucial element that balances him juuust right, makes him all the more compelling. And, of course, makes his role in the story an atypical and enjoyable play on the archetypes he’d otherwise fall into. New writers always find that writing grandeur is a lot easier than writing failure and flaw, but if traits are linework, if talents are like laying down the base colors, flaws are definitely the shading a character needs.

The way Tokyo Revengers and its characters are written is praiseworthy in so many ways. This is only one of them!!

[anantagonist]

Chapter 3 is out!!!  Kaworu has a cat and Shinji is looking for some hot water to do the dishes. More ultra exciting things on the little town on RadioEva fic. See you next month!!

As always! Thank you @gold-pavilion​ for the translation! you are a blessing! ♥♥

RadioEva ‘97  [Shinji and Kaworu SFW fic]

Rating: All Audience

Tags: Au - Small town, Set in the ‘90s, Slow burn, Romance

Summary: 90s-set AU. A broadcaster radio and his father’s cassette collection help Shinji feel a little less alone in a new, small mountain town. Another teenage boy tunes in on his frequency and finds more than the solace of music. Read here in english, and read here in spanish.

[anantagonist]

CHAPTER ONE AND TWO ARE OUT!!! Third chapter will be published on December 1st~ ♥

As always! Thank you @gold-pavilion​ for the translation! you are a blessing! ♥♥

RadioEva ‘97  [Shinji and Kaworu SFW fic]

Rating: All Audience

Tags: Au - Small town, Set in the ‘90s, Slow burn, Romance

Summary: 90s-set AU. A broadcaster radio and his father’s cassette collection help Shinji feel a little less alone in a new, small mountain town. Another teenage boy tunes in on his frequency and finds more than the solace of music. Read here in english, and read here in spanish.