bubblingbeebles

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Tokyo had already hit 27C and 80% humidity by 7am today, so let's take this sweat day and do another wet day!

翠 was totally new to me, and that's exciting because it's something I love: kingfisher! It can also mean green. It's read かわせみ (which is what the bird is called), みどり (green), or スイ.

It's made up of 羽 feather on top of 卒, meaning graduate (or end, or die, or soldier). To further break it down, 卒 is a 亠 lid over two 人 people standing on 十 the number ten. Hmm. Not sure how to mnemonic that for you.

川 should be much more familiar, though! It means river, and it's read かわ or セン.

Put them together and you get the surname 翠川 Midorikawa, with the possibility of Sotsugaawa, Hikawa, or Suikawa. Conspicuously absent is the reading Kawasemigawa.

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i remember making this on my old blog

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among the many things in japanese that tickle me is when a character is quoting someone else, or otherwise putting words in their mouth, and uses that person's pronoun habits in place of their own.

like sure when it changes the gender. she would not say 俺 in her own voice. but also when it changes the formality? delicious. she would REALLY NOT say お前.

i have brought this habit back into english but i don't think anyone has ever noticed it and been like oh, I see what they did there

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Super rough sketch in light of the newest episode

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I never got how past TOS every Star Trek writer seems to treat the Prime Directive as some sort of sacred edict rather than the anti imperialist screed it actually is. TOS was made in the Cold War where Russia, the USA, and other countries were basically playing tug of war with smaller countries to their detriment, so writer Gene L. Coon came up with the idea that Starfleet should not do that, that civilizations should be allowed to develop on their own without being used as catspaws by more powerful entities.

The problem is that somewhere along the line this got lost and it turned into “these people are all going to die but saving them would violate the Prime Directive”. Like yeah you should save people from dying, just don’t do it in a way that makes them your client state!

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Lost Princesses

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Little coloring because love them so much 🥹💗

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maomao can have little a yuri. as a treat

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TORIKO DAY! (06.06)

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How to explain

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The Unbearable "Denseness" of Sorawo Kamikoshi

It bothers me a little bit when I see people refer to Sorawo as dense. For whatever reason it makes me think of the fucking Kojima "you will regret your words and deeds" tweet.

[So, uh, there's a lot of later novel spoilers in this post, so I'll hide them under the read more break]

While I do think she's a bit... obtuse... when it comes looking at herself and motivations, I do think there is a consistent throughline: Sorawo Kamikoshi does not like assumptions and invisible expectations. Vols 7, 8, and 9 of the novels all elaborate on this theme—there's her classrom discussion of interpretation-free ghost stories, having a breakthrough when Benimori brings up alternatives to escalator relationships, and comparison of romance to a gravity well. It's pretty clear she struggles to identify with normative romance, and feels scared and frustrated by the way her words and actions are misinterpreted by those around her.

Like yes, she does want a special relationship with Toriko! She swoons at first sight (twice!) and has a strong desire for exclusivity. But Toriko makes a number of common assumptions about relationships that feel like a form of pressure to Sorawo. Somewhere between vols 2 and 4, you can see her discomfort about how she expresses herself around Toriko start to grow once Toriko begins seriously pursuing her as a romantic partner. I think the source of that discomfort is ultimately the shape of their relationship changing from queerplatonic "accomplices" exploring the Otherside into something more typical of a standard romance.

In hindsight, her behavior around the confession at the hot springs in vol 4 makes sense. She even says in passing that she feels comfortable saying "I love you" to Toriko; her fears are entirely related to the "danger" of Toriko's behavior changing in a way she can't anticipate when she says it. And with good reason: once Toriko believes she has secured a relationship, she immediately moves to sex, the next step in the progression of normative romance. Which, while moving a little quickly, is a reasonable assumption for most people! It's not until Sorawo says she doesn't like kids in vol 6 that Toriko realizes they don't have the same thoughts about how their relationship should progress.

Not to say that all of the blame is on Toriko. Sorawo, for her own part, has her own ideas about the relationship but doesn't really have the language to express herself. Rather than trying to understand or talk through the problem, she tries to ignore it and hopes it goes away. It's not until Toriko gives her an ultimatum that she puts words to a long-running source of discomfort for her and they can figure out whether their relationship is sustainable or not.

But I don't think "dense" is the right word for that behavior. Her problem is not that she's unaware of her own attraction, it's that she doesn't have the language to describe it and a fear of what happens when she does. Without that understanding most readers*, like Toriko, default to intepreting her behavior through the framework of "romance". They fail to try interpreting Sorawo through her own words, and then poke fun at her inability to conform with their expectations. If that's dense, then so is every queer person attempting to understand themselves when society doesn't give them access to the tools to do so.

*for the record, I will confess that I was in this category of "most readers" until vol 8 dropped. I regret my words and deeds

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Actually that makes me wonder

If you’re in between the two just pick the one you align with mosh

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N700系。

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For years I would look at posts and questionnaires about neurodivergence that takes about being so focused on something that you forgot to eat and be like, "Couldn't be me. Being hungry is so uncomfortable! Your stomach is growling and cramping? How do you ignore that?"

Then someone informed me that neurotypical people have a whole bunch of "hungry" sensations before they get to that point.....

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