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[chibivesicle]

Gokinjo Monogatari got an English release. I am just - feeling like I got my wish from 1998.

That's right, I'm alive but not very active on the meta for the time being. 2023 sped up for the second half; work got crazy busy for Q4. I worked up to Dec 18th through several weekends so yeah, needed some recharge time.

I don't know how I missed this, but thanks to watching Coleen's Manga Recs, I discovered that the one shoujo manga title that I had been wanting an English release for has finally arrived. Gokinjo Monogatari by Ai Yazawa!

I discovered Gokinjo Monogatari in '98. One of the local comic stores had the first three tankobons and I bought them based on the cover artwork alone.

It wasn't until undergrad I was able to meet a few more people and figure out more than just the name and artist. I tried to find the translation of the manga online, but was unsuccessful. I have to remind people that before scanlations, you had to buy a tankobon and hope you found the text based translation which would have the text according to page number and what panel location. I read a fair bit of Kenshin that way, but sadly, this series was not that popular with readers in the States. I've been moving my entire adult life hauling my three precious volumes of the manga hoping that someday I would first, collect volume 4-7 to complete the picture and that I'd have my matching English version. Granted, I haven't done a good job of looking for volumes 4-7 when I've been in Japan . . . or using the internet either.

As if to spite me, the follow up manga, Paradise Kiss, did get a translation in 2002 from Tokyo Pop which exists in the same universe as Gokinjo Monogatari. Note that a previous manga's characters show up at the Flea Market in Monogatari as well and Yazawa likes to keep a lot of her series tied together. Eventually, the scanlation of the series appeared and I read it around 2011. I'd only found an episode or two of the anime during the golden age of file sharing, but didn't follow through on it. I wanted to read the manga before watching the anime. In 2017, I visited the Manga Museum in Kyoto, got to see a cool display about Ribon magazine and of course they had Gokinjo Monogatari merch! I bought the file folder set and stickers! I bought the Gokinjo Monogatari UT shirt from Uniqlo featuring Ribon series. Yet each time I found more stuff, the universe got the last laugh. Japan released the collectors set with four volumes, there was a French translation, German etc and never one for English. So, you have to realize how I absolutely lost my mind when the thing I'd figured would never happen, happened! Not only was it a thing, I'd even missed the December 2023 release date -at least I didn't have to wait for a pre-order to get volume 1.

I'm happy to see that this version included some of the original color pages!

It has a few more at the end with a photo wall of Mikako's outfits. Everything about the style of this manga, I absolutely love. The fashion goes so hard even now. I get nostalgic with all of the mid-90s Japanese street fashion which has a mix of 60s mod and 70s flare. I think the series also does a good job of capturing that awkward time in your teenage life when you are trying to figure out how to act with people you are interested in. But failing to sort things out. Unlike a lot of other high school manga series, this one stands out with the much more "normal" appearance of the students. I remember picking it up and thinking that the characters looked like they could be my peers; though there is no way Mikako's outfits would pass my high school's own liberal dress code where dyed hair and piercings were permitted. Her bare midriff would get her in trouble . . . Funny how now when I look at it, this is a very unusual high school set up for a Japanese reader likely coming from a more regimented school environment with a uniform and strict dress code. I never thought about it at the time. More that I was plotting my own hair dying plans for when I moved out of the house for undergrad just like the characters had - while still in high school. I did read Parakiss back when it came out from 2002-2005; however, it never really resonated with me the same way a series that I couldn't even find a decent translation for. I started to watch Nana but couldn't get into it at all. Maybe it was my mindset or the fact that I wasn't the mood for young twenty-somethings figuring their shit out.

Yet, here I am in the winter of 2024, and I have volume 1 of the collectors edition format of Gokinjo Monogatari and I'm still loving every little bit of the story as I read it. Perhaps, Parakiss and Nana were more edgier/grittier than something like this which is why they never quite clicked with me. I wanted my fashionable shoujo drama but not over the top. I'm not sure what I'll write about it. It isn't a well known series both due to the fact it is from the 90s and that it is shoujo but perhaps I can reflect on what I was drawn to it all those years ago and what I think about it now.

[chibivesicle]

Further Daniel last name shenanigans.

I finally got my copy of the B3 B5 book and was most excited to flip through it despite the fact I'll never be able to fully appreciate it with my terrible at best understanding of Japanese.

Besides having the original Kekkai Sensen one shot with Klaus, Chain, and Gilbert, it has a info for the first 10 volumes of the manga and the first season of the anime along with tons of color chapters and anime promo art. Interviews with both bands for their OP and ED themes as well as with the anime director.

Of course, I care about Daniel. His manga entry page isn't that detailed but does give us all his basic stats.

His name is only written in kana with no matching English for the manga character guide.

However, we also have his anime info box, where he is Lt. Daniel Low.

Besides him having the last name written as Low, I'm more disappointed at how lame his character design is. I don't think we ever even get to see him standing up in all of season 1 (which the book is only based on it). The very straight nature of his posture is a bummer, the anime at least still kept Steven's noodle posture but Daniel's is gone. His waist is not very cinched unlike in the manga. The anime guide also doesn't have him smoking in his character art. It seems so odd to not include that.

Interestingly, Aligura's Monster Truck is also in the B5 book where it is referred to as a "Monster Track" . . . the whole kana to English always results in things like this. It does seem that most of the Japanese media wants to write his name as Daniel Low(e); yet for me, my brain will always go with the anime Law which as I've stated previously, is hilarious.

I sort of wish there would be an updated Kekkai Sensen guide book, which would include all of Back 2 Back. Really, it is overdue.

[chibivesicle]

Have you seen other works by Studio Orange?

Hello!

The only other work from Studio Orange that I have watched some of is Beastars. I was intrigued since the manga got an award and was buzz worthy, but I ended up dropping it after about 5 episodes. I usually give most shows a 3 episode test but seemed to see if I'd give it an extra college try. However, my reason for dropping it had nothing to do with the production itself, the series itself didn't keep my attention. No fault of the production, just not something I wanted to keep watching. My guilty pleasure anime is to watch the D4DJ anime which are vastly poorer quality CGI, but than isn't why I watch them.

I am aware that their production of Land of the Lustrous was highly rated for its production quality and stellar visuals. However, I have not actively sought it out and to give it the same comparison as Trigun Stampede, I would have to read the manga and then watch the anime.

I really want to be clear that I think that Studio Orange has stunning visuals and high production values. The facial expressions in Stampede, especially Meryl's were exceptionally well done. My major beef with their version was how they decided to retell the story. It does appear that the art style for the Land of the Lustrous manga and anime are more similar and the animation took full advantage of the 3D for the gem like hair.

I think for a lot of Trigun fans, the addition of extra characters from the manga excited people and what happened to them in this production was a disappointment. Especially in regards to Elendira.

I get that when you go from manga to anime, a lot of the time the character designs get changed/simplified for the animation process but the changes for Stampede were extreme for a lot of the characters and it really took away from Nightow's art style. But the changes were much more than I think a lot of us were expecting and they seem to fit what I'd call a more generic/isekai look. Or perhaps, since Trigun wasn't a super popular manga in Japan and waaaaay more popular outside of Japan, they figured it could use more of a tweak because the art style of the original has always stood out even in the 90s?

Keep in mind these are just my personal opinions, but Stampede was a huge disappointment for a lot of people. I think Studio Orange has the technical chops to really put together a visually stunning production - but they clearly didn't pull from the source material in a clever way.

[chibivesicle]

Asks that I will never really answer. My apologies; life gets busy and I get distracted.

I'm dropping these here today, so I can clear out some of the asks from my inbox. Apologies for some of these going back to when Trigun Stampede was still airing. >_< If I don't have a clear and concise answer, I'll let things sit in the inbox but they occasionally do fall off my radar.

Uuummm sorry Anon, I meant to give this more of a response but as I got angrier at Stampede, I just couldn't bring myself to give you a well thought out reply. My overall vibes for the Christian themes that were missing in Stampede had to do how they kept a lot of the surface content, images/style/design from the original but with the sci-fi emphasis removed the weird esoteric Christian stuff and made it look that way. Vash was more willing to engage with others in the original manga/'98 anime based on what Rem taught him. Yet, we never get why he does what he does in Stampede. By changing Wolfwood from being a traveling preacher where Vash lambasts him with 'thou shall not kill' the nuance of his character's moral conflict is lost. He's a trained killer for a quasi-religious organization that might be using a Zia in a really not cool way. We also do not see him act in a self-sacrificing way, which he does from the get go in the original. The angelic body horror was gone, replaced by a sci-fi reading of plants and the concept of plant worship was missing in there as well. There is a lot of internal dialogue that many of the characters pose through the anime and manga and its just gone from Stampede and it revolves around forgiveness, violence, and justice.

For me, the complete re-interpretation of the world and loss of the moral conflict that all characters show hurt the Christian (and Buddhist) themes that underpinned the original. It really came down to how the characters acted and talked. There is no point to a gunslinger who is almost completely passive when one who is active but uses a non-lethal method based on principle. There is a chapter where Vash gets taunted by some enemy for how bad his target practice is until they determine he was that accurate at shooting someone but not killing them. The best way to summarize is that they took some of the aesthetics of the original and didn't follow through on how the characters acted. There is so much contemplation in the original and that is missing in the remake.

Let's just make this a list: 1.) Leo would actually have a real girlfriend. I already have issues with White, I think adding her in as a quasi-girlfriend was a disservice to Leo's character. 2.) Zapp would be white. Less of a manwhore perhaps? 3.) Chain would be cute as opposed to cold and distant. No drinking assholes under the table and vomiting in her bathroom later. See Meryl Stryfe.

4.) K.K. would have boobs, and somehow be more sexy than an awkward and doting mother. See Rem and Luida. 5.) Steven's scar would be smaller or missing to make him a real lady killer. Either they'd lean way too far into Steven's shady side or they'd clean it up completely. Like he'd wink at women as opposed to sleeping with them to get intel. Be Klaus #1 fan! But like all the time, making himself to work too much. His hangry side would either be missing or played up for laughs. 6.) Zed would be dropped because he's the non-human team member. What's the point of having him? 7.) Luciana Estevez would only appear in her super sexy doctor form not her silly clone or normal form.

8.) They would try to create lore and filler to explain things that you have to assume are just how things work. Or they would info dump as opposed to leaving it up to you to worry about things and figure it out from the context. 9.) The entire cast gets aged down, because having a bunch of 30+ cast members who don't have all their shit together is too embarrassing aka very realistic. e.g. K.K. has a house husband (not a good mother like Rem and Luida in Stampede), Steven will die single and alone, Daniel will die single and alone, Patrick carries a torch for Guinness but is single, Abrams is a walking disaster.

10.) Character designs which are super unique and fun, especially in the manga all get 'isekai treatment' were they look homogeneous. The whole point of the diversity of the cast is lost. Women are short and cute, men are tall and slender or tall and buff. No other options.

11.) They attempt to rationalize the 13 Kings and give deep meaning behind their behaviors. Which maybe we will get that someday, but part of the fun is how fucking chaotic they are.

12.) Hellsalem's Lot is an empty city. Somehow, the city lacks people on the streets and we don't get the rooftop betting scene between the giant stomping creature and super-sized Riel. Sex, drugs, gambling are minimized in their version.

13.) The entire Prosfair story line is cut because it is so fucking bizarre and awesome; they wouldn't understand the point of the entire game.

14.) The OST is bad.

[chibivesicle]

Steven A. Starphase - master of seduction.

With the most recent chapter of Beat 3 Peat and the chapter Saving Steven Starphase, we have the return of his playboy habits front and center. But this was not the first nor second case of a time when it was clear that Steven had slept with a woman either as a fling or specifically for Libra.

Based on how flexible he is, not only does Steven have the typical tall, dark, and handsome going for him but this man is super flexible. Def good in bed with his noodle like positions.

K.K. is the first character to call him black-hearted, annoyed to be teamed up with him. Though they always make great teammates. I've already covered this at length.

The first glimpse into his personal life is shown in Day In Day Out when he hosts the dinner party at his swanky loft condo. While he's drinking coffee while Veded cleans up the living room, the phone rings and he answers it.

Ellen - ex turned enemy

A woman named Ellen called about what to bring and he teases her about her Empress/Princess lifestyle (depending on the version/translation).

Ellen is one of the first guests to appear at his door as shown here. She's super friendly and he gives her what must be a generic smile as we only see his eyes.

The two of them greet each other with a hug, while Ellen's date holds a bag with wine. Ellen states the food smells good and then she greets Veded, who waves back and then there is the line that her "tentacles look great today". Okay, if Ellen has met Veded previously, she had to have been at Steven's place frequently enough to have bumped into her, likely meaning she's spent the night. I find it hilarious how Ellen introduces Christopher as an afterthought - like, whoops, here's my current squeeze.

This already seems to indicate that Steven dated or was involved with Ellen previously. The final moment is when she's caught by Steven along with the rest of the group when they threaten to kidnap or kill him. He flat out calls her error in wearing more perfume than usual.

If you know another person's habits around perfume and then notice that she didn't apologize if it was "too much" implying previously she was concerned it might have bothered Steven prior. Well, they've gotten up close and personal.

However, even though Ellen turned out to be an enemy of Steven and Libra, it does not look like he got involved with her for that reason. Instead, the story line is how Steven lambasts himself for making the mistakes of getting to know these interesting people and having a life outside of work. Since they all know that whatever his job was - before knowing he was in Libra - it was a demanding one that kept him busy. What she does establish is that Steven is very charming.

Which leads us to the next character whom Steven used his charm on.

Anne - HLPD officer (potentially nameless in original Japanese?)

In the chapter Outlaw of Green, the beginning of the chapter starts out with Steven getting hot an heavy with a woman. We see him holding her chin as he leans in for a kiss while the next panel shows a USB drive in his hands. He kisses her against the wall as his right hand really seems to want to grab that USB while he pushes his right knee between her legs.

The next panel shows her hot and bothered as he kisses her as she is flushed. Suddenly, he pulls away thanking her for things coat already in his arm as she's surprised. He's already putting his jacket back on as he's almost out the hotel door. The next page is the transition where she's left looking hot and bothered as Steven strolls along the sidewalk. Based on how she's holding her blouse, I'd say someone needs to button it up . . .

Steven walks through the crowd with a cold yet neutral expression until walking right by Klaus in a car pulling out the USB and telling him that he 'got it.'

Do we know how long it took for him to get this close to her? No, but they'd clearly messed around if he was able to convince her to hand over classified information.

For the rest of Kekkai Sensen and then Back 2 Back we don't see a lot of "Seduction" Steven. Instead, he gets a lot more moral conflict grey area with the return of his squad to take care of Garrett and trying to figure out how to deal with the human-non-human pot being. The entire Calamity Auction arc doesn't give him a whole lot of time to chat up the ladies, instead adorably loaning an extra shirt and pants to K.K.

Woman who drugged his coffee

With Beat 3 Peat, it appears he's back to his previous habits of going after women who might have information as the first chapter starts out with him being drugged by a woman in either her office or apartment. Hard to tell with the decor really.

The fact that there are only two coffees implies that they are alone and he's collapsed on the floor. She informs him she'll be taking either a USB or some sort of information/monitoring device. Maybe what he was trying to get in the first place. It seems that she's up to no good and tells him (I guess as long as he doesn't die on the floor) he'll find out what happens and it is implied to be some sort of terrorist attack.

Interestingly, she mocks him saying it is a shame she can't hear his whining and swearing implying that she knew him well enough to figure she'd know how he'd react. However, he uses the Needles of Absolute Zero on her and then proceeds to lay on the floor for waaaaay to long before meeting up with the rest of the team. I had wondered after so many chapters of Steven not using his good looks this suddenly happened in the first chapter of Beat 3 Peat. But now, it makes sense as I think Nightow wanted to remind us of Steven's habit of using his body to get what he wants. He has made it clear, he will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals and he doesn't care if he plays dirty. Even though he hesitated in that sunrise conversation with Taihong Huang in Midnight Blue, he's still at the point where he sees his own feelings and morals as less important.

Which then makes sense when we get to the most recent chapter aptly named Saving Steven Starphase (from himself, really).

Birgit the Beyondian eco terrorist

The chapter starts off with Klaus along with Zapp and Zed taking major damage preventing a terrorist attack on the city. Steven drives K.K., Leo and Chain back from the hospital the team down three main members.

K.K. gives him shit about how he got the information to save the city and how he refuses to let others know about his questionable and dangerous methods. Likely also the fact he's sleeping his way to that answer . . . which wouldn't quite agree with the married sniper.

After the car is attacked an totaled, his phone is kicked out of his hands by Birgit, the leader of the eco-terrorists.

She starts off by calling him Carlos (again, what's with the lame fake names Steven!) and she captures him at least leaving the rest behind when he surrenders without a fight. On her helicopter where his feet are sealed in some sort of block, she spends four pages talking about how he used her and that she still has feelings for him, even though she knew he was the one who betrayed her! She's at one point on the verge of tears and blushing as she controls her emotions and he admits he's the type of person to do whatever it takes.

Yet, his smooth talking ways annoy her as he keeps up his sweet talking even when he's in a shoe block and his hands are tied. She decides since her plan failed, they should die together tossed in the the Eternal Hollow in the center of the city, cursed to keep falling until they die and she does it dramatically by kissing him while Chain gets quite upset. This is interesting since it is the reverse of our previous scene with Steven and Anne all the way back in Outlaw of Green.

I love this. She's holding his face with her hand as she gets to call the shots. Honestly, it would appear that this is not how Steven expected things to go. Which means that this might be the first time that he was out smarted by one of the women he used.

I find his internal monologue to be interesting as you can see that his emotions are torn stating that he was starting to feel pity for her but at the same time comes back to the fact that he protected the city and thousands of innocent lives. Steven A. Starphase, man of internal conflict.

What I found most hilarious is that when he thinks he's done for all he can do is see Klaus and the rest of the team apologizing to Klaus. I think it is safe to say that for the entire manga the person that Steven really really really cares about is Klaus. Yes, he cares for the rest of the Libra team and he respects them, but his relationship with Klaus is far deeper. Nightow, you can give us their backstory anytime. I mean, Steven is willing to sleep with women for Klaus among many other things.

Chain comes to his rescue both to save him as a Libra member but also due to her crush on him. Without missing a beat, he's over the moon that she's there to save him and lays on the praise pretty thick. Does he care that much about Chain? Eeeeeh hard to say, Steven is very good at telling people what they want to hear to do things. She's not only able to save him but also Chain saves Birgit as well.

When it is all said and done, Birgit approaches Chain to thank her for saving her life but also to remind her that the dinner with Steven is likely a thank you for saving his life. She already knows his moves which [sighs] means Chain should be a little careful.

As cute as Chain going on a dinner date with Steven is, it is one of those plot points where I hope he continues to be oblivious to her unrequited feelings. Steven is likely not going to turn over a new leaf and stop messing around with other women to get valuable intel.

I love Chain and I love Steven but I'm not a fan of them dating. My biggest issue it around the idea of dating your boss. I mean she's in the Werewolf Bureau; and she's got more than one boss, but behind Klaus, Steven can and does give her direct orders. I don't like the concept of dating your boss and the power imbalance; though Japanese media seems much less concerned about an early 20s woman ending up with a 30-something boss. I just don't get it.

Anyhoo, aside from my rant on why I don't like characters dating their bosses it is clear that Steven is truly Mr. tall, dark, and handsome and will not hesitate to use his body to get what he wants. Does it come at great risk? Yes, it does and this is our first case of it backfiring dramatically. Does he appear to have a thing for blondes? Perhaps. Though I am dying to know what color Birgit is and her hair color as well. We welcome a chaotic bisexual character and as I've already stated, I think we will see more of her as the story moves into the next direction.

I think back to the extra chapters when the DVDs for season one were released and Steven and K.K. have to discuss love and relationships. K.K.'s responses are adorable, very well thought out and honest about her own relationship. Steven - he pretty much says he's terrible for whomever he dates because his purpose is to find the best way to serve Libra and Klaus. A personal life isn't something that fits into his vision. K.K. drags him off to a bar saying that is terrible but really? We'll see if he actually changes his ways. Right now, since KKSS is not a romance and Nightow states he doesn't write romance, I'm gonna say Steven will continue to do Steven things.

[chibivesicle]

Trigun character designs in Kekkai Sensen - mini meta

I keep telling myself I want to do some Beat 3 Peat meta but haven't really been in the mood. I'm quite curious where this third season is going but I don't want to get into hyper detailed analyses like I did with GK on a weekly basis b/c that was burnout inducing. But the most recent chapter Saving Steven Starphase was very much my jam. Steven, Chain, K.K. heavy and finally the appearance of Daniel as well. Though I have some feelings about the Chain crush on Steven but that is for another meta another time. I'm still going on my initial reaction but I was immediately really interested in the Beyondian eco-terrorist chaotic bisexual Birgit.

Her style is so good. The thigh high black boots, two-tone dress and the typical style we'd expect. Birgit has amazing mod/retro style and I felt like she was familiar.

When she approaches Chain to thank her awkwardly for saving her life, she is wearing another mod/1960s style outfit. A coat, mittens and pillbox hat.

And then my brain went 'waaaaiiiiii - pillbox hat. Duh.

Birgit's character design is taken from Trigun. Specifically, Elendira.

All of Elendira's outfits are that mix of retro (1960s) and mod. Their long light colored hair has a similar length and flow.

In this chapter alone, it shows that Birgit is passionate and has a jealous side. Elendira was also jealous of Legato, fighting with him over Knives attention. The fact that Birgit was 1.) saved by Chain 2.) thanked her 3.) has a huge crush on her makes me think that we might be seeing more of her. The possibilities to use any of the points can definitely add to future chapters. There is also the possibility that maybe she's changed her approach to things. Taking the time to show her thanking Chain is interesting storytelling and does remind me that even though Elendira was the toughest of the Gung-ho Guns she did occupy a unique perspective on Knives' side of things.

It is also interesting that the name Birgit (which I assumed was Bridget spelled oddly, and technically it is but the Scandinavian version of it). Apparently, the name means; exulted one, saver, rescuer and she was the one who was 'saved' in addition to the chapter title of Saving Steven Starphase.

[chibivesicle]

Daniel! It has been too long . . .

only if you had more than two pages!

Thus, Daniel continues his habit of pissing off K.K. Dude, you really suck at talking to her. I'm gonna have to guess that 224 is his partner MacKenzie perhaps over the radio? Or someone else at the scene. He seems genuinely shocked at first but then softens up as he asks for more information.

Anyone reading this would know by this point that I definitely love the Steven-Daniel dynamic so it makes the second page even better. K.K. is able to sit up as she explains that Steven willingly surrendered. Gotta love how he immediately remarks it is suspicious, wondering if Steven's luck has run out. But then the panel of the left that is a close of up Daniel's face shaded slightly. He's worried looking at K.K.s facial expression which is likely not good.

I just love how he tries to lighten the mood telling her to not give him that look. And then asks the paramedics to come assist Leo and K.K. who is both likely shocked/annoyed at being called a victim and also the fact he left out Chain. Which she quickly covers on the next page letting the comment go when Daniel is confused at her outburst.

I'm glad to see that Daniel is still doing his job, likely not sleeping enough, smoking too much and being cranky. I'm a little disappointed that we have yet to see if he got any fall out from his brazen disregard of direct orders during the Calamity Auction arc, but I sense if that comes back Marcus will also be involved.

But now we must wait to see what else will happen. My current predictions after my first pass of leisurely reading the newest chapter. It seems like Birgit will be back in future chapters. Perhaps, she may even work with Libra seeing that she's got crushes on both Steven and Chain now. They saved her and I think her words of thanks are legit.

[chibivesicle]

Ah hahahaha! I have gained another piece of cursed last name merch for Daniel!

Yet another Daniel Iowe item, this time with the SWAT themed merch set!

And this time I know for sure it is the cursed Iowe, because the upper case L in this font is around the outside of the badge!

Both of these are 2017 B3&B merch so I think the same person did the names for both the white suit with rose Daniel and SWAT Daniel.

Daniel Law thoughts and observations.  Why is his last name so bloody difficult to figure out?

This is a quick and frivolous post as opposed to my normally long form ones.  I’ve got it hard for Daniel at the moment; I’m wade through the vast expanse that is the internet looking for merch for him.  Steven merch is like shooting fish in a barrel with how popular he is.  K.K. merch is also easy and super cheap second hand.  But Daniel merch.  Hoooo boy, it takes some time and effort to find.

The first issue around him is his bloody last name.  Which Japanese isn’t equipped to deal with.  This shows in my merch quest as I’ve scrolled through pages and pages of items.  But first:

The Darkhorse translation calls him Daniel Low.

The Funimation translation settles on Daniel Law.

Keep reading

[chibivesicle]

Happy Birthday Daniel & Marcus

[chibivesicle]

Kekkai Sensen character clothing colors continued

I've been under the weather with epically bad seasonal allergies and a busy few weeks of work on top of deciding to draw and write for fun. Oh, and working on my Daniel Law cosplay for the future. Anyhoo, I'm back to thinking about clothing colors and outfits in KKSS and of course I'm stuck on my man, Daniel. Which might be less about clothing colors and more about the fact that he's got different outfits compared to the rest of the cast.

The most common look and appearance for Daniel Law is from the anime as shown here.

He has his dark brown hair, white dress shirt, red tie, brown suit and tan coat.

In the same episode we later see him kicking back at the office with his messy desk without the coat but still wearing the rest of the drab brown suit. I still want to know how smoking is still allowed in offices and he's got his own ash tray at his desk, where we see the smoke rising up in the entire scene from every angle.

Later on when he appears in season two, he still maintains the same look, tan coat, red tie, white shirt and brown suit.

This is most famously highlighted in the OP where he's on the fire escape here looking at the camera while the rest of the police are not.

He really got the short end of the stick in season two; despite being in the OP and ED (standing near Steven in the ED beyond the yellow police tape) he had one scene in the background looking disgruntled as they arrest the men Steven froze. I'm guessing he's on the phone with Steven or something to that effect.

Of course he shows up in the finale only to yell at Libra that they are finally there still wearing the same outfit.

All of the above scenes except for the Get the Lock Out bit (where he isn't even in the manga chapter) are from the KKSS volumes 1-10. Interestingly, when he's introduced in the manga, Daniel has a light colored tie, both with the policesuits and during his formal introduction through Steven and Klaus.

I guess we are to retroactively interpret this tie to be likely light green since he'll sport one much later in Back 2 Back.

One thing I noticed while reading Back 2 Back was the fact that his suit and tie colors were different depending on the arc.

For the Noctova Smile arc, Daniel sports his most popular look (based on fanart) the pinstripe waistcoat and pants. We first get a look at his pants under his signature coat when he tells Steven to get back to Klaus as he leaves the crime scene.

Later on we get many panels of him at the precinct wearing this waistcoat which save for one page is dark so I'm going to go with red tie. By far this is his best outfit and I refer to it as his outfit upgrade.

The next few stories settle on a mismatched suit pants combination. It is most obvious in the My Life as a Doc chapters.

I guess this is a light brown suit jacket with dark brown pants and a red tie? We also see this in the dead lynx short chapter with Brody & Hummer, as well as Neyka and Patrick's backstory chapter with Guinness.

When the final story of Back 2 Back starts, the Calamity Auction arc, Daniel is back to wearing a light brown suit and red tie. This is likely to contrast with his brother Marcus appearing for the first time with an actual name since his introduction in the background of Bloodline Fever/chapter 5.

Marcus is show back at the precinct wearing a white dress shirt, light green tie and his firearm holster.

This also gets back the the point that I keep thinking about - does Daniel even carry a gun in the story for the most part? Sure he shoots at Nightow in the omake; yet we only see him pull his gun on the auction house manager when he's under arrest with plenty of support. Which makes Daniel's own gun pointless to aim at him.

Adding into the mix was the manga color chapter here after the official introduction of Marcus.

An interesting thing to note is that in the full color page, Daniel is wearing black oxfords which are clear if you have the acrylic stand. Here we have Marcus in a medium grey suit with red tie while Daniel has a purple-grey one with the light green tie. Or perhaps, Marcus is wearing a sort of navy suit which would be the most popular and easiest.

The only signature aspect of Daniel's look are the following; tan coat, white dress shirt and a tendency to wear earth tones, the brown and purple-grey (stone?) sort of color above. He's got a mix of red and green ties just like his brother. Perhaps, the scenes where he's got the darker pants color is when he's wearing this purple-grey suit? There are a few shots of him with dark shoes which may be black instead of brown.

We sort of have to wing it, so I'll go with Daniel either having brown or a possible purple-grey suit.

Brown - this is seen as a classic suit color and one that had the additional vibe of a person being honest, humble, approachable etc. When thinking about Daniel's character, I feel that he's almost honest to a fault - when Luciana Estevez prevents him from entering the hospital to make an arrest he expresses is discontent with a kick to the pipe as well. He's got that scruffy hardworking vibe that he's not trying to impress anyone and instead means business.

Grey-purple - it is hard to determine where this color falls; I'm just putting it under the general darker grey category. It has a warm undertone and would be very practical. Professional but not over the top.

Pinstripes - the Noctova Smile arc was the one time Daniel was sporting pinstripes which are a very formal and power play for menswear. This makes sense since he was the head of the operations to take the object outside of HL via police escort. Additionally, this was a chapter where Daniel was incredibly confident with his plan and back up plans. You couldn't help but feel sorry for him as even his intricate plans did not work out. In his defense he didn't include Curious showing up . . . Return of his pinstripe outfit when Nightow?

White dress shirt - the most classic and practical thing to chose. So, very much Daniel. I could see him rationalizing it based on the fact if it gets dirty, he'll just bleach it. Really, you can't go wrong with white and it works well with brown suits.

Red tie - a clear power color. Shows that he's in charge and fits with his personality to quickly get people to move to action. This is quite obvious across media and styling especially in the States.

Green tie - a confident color. Another example where Daniel is demonstrating that he knows what is happening and competent. I don't think it leans towards the concepts of envy or jealousy. Apparently, much more popular in the UK than the States. Which, now that I think about it, green isn't really a thing in the States. I personally, feel the green is also more youthful; maybe Daniel is trying to compensate for his exhaustion?

Tan coat - classic detective garb in American media. This garment goes back to film noir and detective stories of the early twentieth century. Daniel (and Marcus) are simply more examples of characters who are visually identified by this obvious clothing silhouette. The cigarette adds to his classic detective appearance and the only thing missing is a fedora honestly. However, I don't think that most men have such cinched waists as seen with Daniel. The exact style of his coat also varies from time to time. It could be variability in the artwork (most likely) but I like to think with all of the crazy shit in HL, that's how many coats he goes through in the line of duty.

Anime Daniel is considerably stockier as well as shorter when compared with his appearance in the manga. He is also notoriously slouchy in the manga, making him have posture that is as bad as Steven's. The tight waist is not a part of his character design and they really went with very drab colors besides the red tie. I'd be curious to know what the decision was to change that aspect of his appearance. Hell, I've always been curious why the made Steven's suit charcoal instead of light grey.

Interestingly, the color which is never associated with Daniel is blue - either the classic navy blue or even a more blue-blue. I feel that we might get Marcus wearing navy blue in the future. Hell, it might be sort of what he's wearing in the color panel a navy blue suit with red tie is just classic, lazy, American male power look.

Whatever the color is, it is clear that Daniel does not wear blue. I feel that his color palette is earth tones that are warm. It shows that he's serious, confident and capable but approachable. With a slight issue of getting mouthy or hot-headed when people do things he thinks are really bad ideas. I would guess, Daniel shows that he's somewhat unconventional and doesn't try to default to looking how people expect him to. Instead, he's got a clear retro vibe showing he likely isn't one to follow any sort of trends. He makes his fashion statement with his coat not his suits or ties for the most part. All in all, I think his style choices are deliberate to make sure he looks decent. Yet, at the same time not putting to much effort into it for fear someone would judge him as shallow or vain.

Anyways, that's all I've got on this for now.

[chibivesicle]

Thanks for your comments!  I think back when I did my original list I had done something similar to what you’d proposed to separate out the season 1 finale with the season 2 finale.  Ultimately, I settled on the most chronological possible to slide into Back 2 Back.  However, I totally forgot that Zed was in One Butler’s Blitzkrieg, even though in the manga he wasn’t even in HL yet!  I’ll have to edit the original post for anachronistic Zed cameos.  Ending on Get the Lock Out!  isn’t a finale but leaves us ready for more of Back 2 Back (shrugs).  Honestly, trying to match up the anime order with the manga is a total pain in the ass.  Something is gonna be off and you need to decide how off you want it to be.  Ultimately, I went with what makes the most sense for me aware of all of the issues with the timeline and character development.

A more comprehensive way to watch Kekkai Sensen

This is something I started way back in May when I made my best friend watch the first few episodes of KKSS but in chronological order (in universe) as opposed to episode release order.

By no means is this to be a definitive list of things and I didn't quite completely match the manga and instead went with a flow that allowed for character development. I also wanted to make certain season two scenes or lines make more sense in context with the additional information from season 2 episodes or skipped manga chapters.

Like many people, I started KKSS with the anime and watched season one. I greatly enjoyed it but immediately picked up on the fact that a lot of content had to have been skipped over. This is due to how frequently anime will so faithfully adapt manga (line by line, panel by panel) that I found too many lines/character interactions were lacking something. Yes, Steven is one of my favorite characters, and my bias is showing, but it was clear that he was one of the characters who definitely had things cut around him. Closely following Steven, were K.K., Chain and Zed to a lesser degree since he didn't pop in until S1E9 and fairly late in the manga as well (volume 5 of 10).

Another issue with the season one original arc as opposed to adapting the chapters in order meant that all of the volume 1-10 back fill that season two had hurt Leo's character the most. Season one has him slowly overcome his struggles to save Black and release White. Season two then starts with legit Back 2 Back content and then jumps to back filling with the amazing original chapter 7 Day In Day Out. All of a sudden a lot of the comments directed at Steven by K.K. in particular make a hell of a lot more sense from S1E4.

Most of the return to previous chapters fleshes out Chain and the rest of the werewolves, Zed's origin and struggle to belong, Gilbert's skill set as a combat butler and K.K.'s domestic life responsibilities. Luciana Estevez is introduced all in all much later and we also get a return to the Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone, a story focusing on Leo's friendships with Beyondians outside of work.

Why a chapter like Get the Lock Out! was smashed in the middle confused me, since the season two finale was the manga volume 10 finale before Back 2 Back. I'm not sure if they should have even included this episode and instead animated other chapters like 11.5. Cherchez L'idole, 16. Outlaw of Green, or 19. Escape from Pain: Chain Reaction.

This all contributes to a sort of 'backwards/stagnant' character development for Leonardo Watch. When he does appear in events that happened in the manga before KKSS volume 10, he's back to the usual struggles which he was supposed to have overcome by volume 10. It made it weird as a viewer to see him get his ass handed to him as he waffled on things while if things had gone in order, it would have all tied up neatly with the Spectral Vision, Spectral Eyes the volume 10 finale. Instead, this is the season two finale which makes Leo go through the same motions as with season one and the new Black/White/King of Despair arc.

This is why I argue the anime hurts Leo's character the most - he gets development, then slides back trying to match the original manga story line and then ends up at the same place by the end of season two. If you had just been reading the manga chronologically, Leo gets much more fluid development and a lot of the self-doubt and growing street smarts have already resolved by the beginning of Back 2 Back. Leonardo Watch will never be the type of character with out of the world power or stats but by time he's in Back 2 Back, his relationship with Libra is such that he is a completely equal member of the main team. He voices his opinion when necessary and rolls with whatever is happening.

This is my long winded way to say that my proposed watching order will allow for a more natural development of the cast of characters and try to keep key elements together.

Here is my proposed watch order:

S1E1 – Secret Society of the Magic Sealed City

S1E2 – After the Phantom Ghost Wagon

S1E3 – A Game Between Two Worlds

This is one of the few anime episodes that really blows away the manga panels. The entire sequence as they enter the domain of the mob boss to play prosfair is gorgeous. I was already enjoying the anime, but when I saw this transition, I knew I was caught hook, line and sinker. The clever animation sequence, the perfect OST song, the build up. It was all excellently executed!

S1E4 – Bloodline Fever

S2E3 – Day In Day Out

A critical character development chapter for Steven, Chain, Leo and Zapp. Not having this in season one greatly hurt the characterization for them, in particular Steven and Chain. However, by bumping this into season two, I can see why after Get the Lock Out! they did not include Midnight Blue as Anila and Garrett are in Get the Lock Out! and Midnight Blue revolves around Garrett.

S1E5 – The Tremendous Blood Hammer

S1E7 – A No-Holds-Barred Eden

S2E5 – One Butler’s Blitzkrieg

S1E6 – Don’t Forget to Don’t Forget Me

Read chapter 11.5 Cherchez L'idole. This is the first glimpse into K.K.'s private life removed from Libra.

S1E8 – Z’s Worst Day part 1

S1E9 – Z’s Worst Day part 2

S1E10 – Run! Lunch!! Run!!!

Note, this episode will end oddly due to it being followed by S1E11 but most of the content with Daniel and the HLPD makes sense to be here. Again, this isn't perfect; you could watch up until Zapp gets sick and hold the last bit to watch right before S1E11 for better flow.

S2E4 – Werewolf Mission: Chainpossible

Somewhere around here read the chapter 16, Outlaw of Green. Again, a Klaus-centric chapter with more unsavory aspects of Steven's character that are removed from the anime.

S2E8 – Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone part 1

S2E9 – Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone part 2

Read chapter 19, Escape from Pain: Chain Reaction for Zapp & Zed Big Dipper bonding and hangry Steven. [Where's my subway sandwich?] and more unsavory Steven behavior dropped from the anime.

S2E2 – A Phantom Hospital Ward Rises

S2E7 – Bronchial Blues

S2E10 – Bratatat Mom

Watch the Restaurant OVA or read chapter 20, King of the King of Restaurants.

S1E11 – Paint it Black

S1E12 – Hello, world

I have no good filler for this section. Imagine some sort of boring time passed between these two situations. Due to the White/Black storyline it seems odd to flip the order of the finales.

S2E11 – Spectral Eyes, Phantom Vision part 1

S2E12 – Spectral Eyes, Phantom Vision part 2

S2E1 – Lights! Camera! Action!

S2E6 – Get the Lock Out!

There you have it, my proposed watch order for KKSS. If you want to throw in the zany formal dinner with the generic middle eastern prince OVA, go ahead and put that in sometime before S1E11, perhaps before watching Bratatat Mom since K.K. thinks lovingly about her husband Yukitoshi.

I personally love the OVA since it is one of the few times we get to see Steven's inner thoughts in a difficult situation animated. I still can't tell if the only reason why he doesn't succumb to the out of the world delicious food is to how anxious he is that he can't enjoy anything. He's so worried about landing the additional donation all other things fall to the wayside. Perhaps he should have brought a subway sandwich just in case?

That's all I have, go ahead and give my order a whirl if you want it to flow a bit better and read a few of those missing manga chapters.

[chibivesicle]

A more comprehensive way to watch Kekkai Sensen

This is something I started way back in May when I made my best friend watch the first few episodes of KKSS but in chronological order (in universe) as opposed to episode release order.

By no means is this to be a definitive list of things and I didn't quite completely match the manga and instead went with a flow that allowed for character development. I also wanted to make certain season two scenes or lines make more sense in context with the additional information from season 2 episodes or skipped manga chapters.

Like many people, I started KKSS with the anime and watched season one. I greatly enjoyed it but immediately picked up on the fact that a lot of content had to have been skipped over. This is due to how frequently anime will so faithfully adapt manga (line by line, panel by panel) that I found too many lines/character interactions were lacking something. Yes, Steven is one of my favorite characters, and my bias is showing, but it was clear that he was one of the characters who definitely had things cut around him. Closely following Steven, were K.K., Chain and Zed to a lesser degree since he didn't pop in until S1E9 and fairly late in the manga as well (volume 5 of 10).

Another issue with the season one original arc as opposed to adapting the chapters in order meant that all of the volume 1-10 back fill that season two had hurt Leo's character the most. Season one has him slowly overcome his struggles to save Black and release White. Season two then starts with legit Back 2 Back content and then jumps to back filling with the amazing original chapter 7 Day In Day Out. All of a sudden a lot of the comments directed at Steven by K.K. in particular make a hell of a lot more sense from S1E4.

Most of the return to previous chapters fleshes out Chain and the rest of the werewolves, Zed's origin and struggle to belong, Gilbert's skill set as a combat butler and K.K.'s domestic life responsibilities. Luciana Estevez is introduced all in all much later and we also get a return to the Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone, a story focusing on Leo's friendships with Beyondians outside of work.

Why a chapter like Get the Lock Out! was smashed in the middle confused me, since the season two finale was the manga volume 10 finale before Back 2 Back. I'm not sure if they should have even included this episode and instead animated other chapters like 11.5. Cherchez L'idole, 16. Outlaw of Green, or 19. Escape from Pain: Chain Reaction.

This all contributes to a sort of 'backwards/stagnant' character development for Leonardo Watch. When he does appear in events that happened in the manga before KKSS volume 10, he's back to the usual struggles which he was supposed to have overcome by volume 10. It made it weird as a viewer to see him get his ass handed to him as he waffled on things while if things had gone in order, it would have all tied up neatly with the Spectral Vision, Spectral Eyes the volume 10 finale. Instead, this is the season two finale which makes Leo go through the same motions as with season one and the new Black/White/King of Despair arc.

This is why I argue the anime hurts Leo's character the most - he gets development, then slides back trying to match the original manga story line and then ends up at the same place by the end of season two. If you had just been reading the manga chronologically, Leo gets much more fluid development and a lot of the self-doubt and growing street smarts have already resolved by the beginning of Back 2 Back. Leonardo Watch will never be the type of character with out of the world power or stats but by time he's in Back 2 Back, his relationship with Libra is such that he is a completely equal member of the main team. He voices his opinion when necessary and rolls with whatever is happening.

This is my long winded way to say that my proposed watching order will allow for a more natural development of the cast of characters and try to keep key elements together.

Here is my proposed watch order:

S1E1 – Secret Society of the Magic Sealed City

S1E2 – After the Phantom Ghost Wagon

S1E3 – A Game Between Two Worlds

This is one of the few anime episodes that really blows away the manga panels. The entire sequence as they enter the domain of the mob boss to play prosfair is gorgeous. I was already enjoying the anime, but when I saw this transition, I knew I was caught hook, line and sinker. The clever animation sequence, the perfect OST song, the build up. It was all excellently executed!

S1E4 – Bloodline Fever

S2E3 – Day In Day Out

A critical character development chapter for Steven, Chain, Leo and Zapp. Not having this in season one greatly hurt the characterization for them, in particular Steven and Chain. However, by bumping this into season two, I can see why after Get the Lock Out! they did not include Midnight Blue as Anila and Garrett are in Get the Lock Out! and Midnight Blue revolves around Garrett.

S1E5 – The Tremendous Blood Hammer

S1E7 – A No-Holds-Barred Eden

S2E5 – One Butler’s Blitzkrieg

S1E6 – Don’t Forget to Don’t Forget Me

Read chapter 11.5 Cherchez L'idole. This is the first glimpse into K.K.'s private life removed from Libra.

S1E8 – Z’s Worst Day part 1

S1E9 – Z’s Worst Day part 2

S1E10 – Run! Lunch!! Run!!!

Note, this episode will end oddly due to it being followed by S1E11 but most of the content with Daniel and the HLPD makes sense to be here. Again, this isn't perfect; you could watch up until Zapp gets sick and hold the last bit to watch right before S1E11 for better flow.

S2E4 – Werewolf Mission: Chainpossible

Somewhere around here read the chapter 16, Outlaw of Green. Again, a Klaus-centric chapter with more unsavory aspects of Steven's character that are removed from the anime.

S2E8 – Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone part 1

S2E9 – Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone part 2

Read chapter 19, Escape from Pain: Chain Reaction for Zapp & Zed Big Dipper bonding and hangry Steven. [Where's my subway sandwich?] and more unsavory Steven behavior dropped from the anime.

S2E2 – A Phantom Hospital Ward Rises

S2E7 – Bronchial Blues

S2E10 – Bratatat Mom

Watch the Restaurant OVA or read chapter 20, King of the King of Restaurants.

S1E11 – Paint it Black

S1E12 – Hello, world

I have no good filler for this section. Imagine some sort of boring time passed between these two situations. Due to the White/Black storyline it seems odd to flip the order of the finales.

S2E11 – Spectral Eyes, Phantom Vision part 1

S2E12 – Spectral Eyes, Phantom Vision part 2

S2E1 – Lights! Camera! Action!

S2E6 – Get the Lock Out!

There you have it, my proposed watch order for KKSS. If you want to throw in the zany formal dinner with the generic middle eastern prince OVA, go ahead and put that in sometime before S1E11, perhaps before watching Bratatat Mom since K.K. thinks lovingly about her husband Yukitoshi.

I personally love the OVA since it is one of the few times we get to see Steven's inner thoughts in a difficult situation animated. I still can't tell if the only reason why he doesn't succumb to the out of the world delicious food is to how anxious he is that he can't enjoy anything. He's so worried about landing the additional donation all other things fall to the wayside. Perhaps he should have brought a subway sandwich just in case?

That's all I have, go ahead and give my order a whirl if you want it to flow a bit better and read a few of those missing manga chapters.

[chibivesicle]

Daniel Law - when you’re only human all you can do is smartly manipulate others

After writing one meta about Daniel, I realized that I’d only really hit the highlights of his character around three key events.   His introduction, the Noctova Smile Incident and then the Calamity Auction.  However, he pops in and out during the rest of Back 2 Back and I figured that he was worth a revisit.  Plus, I already write super long meta - I couldn’t fit everything about Daniel into that first one.

Let’s dive into Assistant Inspector Daniel Law a bit more.

This is pretty much the only image that I can find where Daniel is genuinely happy and not looking like a smug bastard.  Things resolved themselves, lives were saved and he got the outcome he’d wanted.

First off, I’d previously written about his formal introduction in the chapter ‘Run! Lunch!! Run!!!’ where he threatened to arrest Klaus and Steven in the back alley.  Going back on a read through and comparing with the wiki, I realized that he actually appears in ‘Z’s worst day part 2′.  Very stealthy there Nightow.  I didn’t even notice since I’d watched the anime first and will always think of his smug ass in the alley scene.

As all of the intoxicated citizens rush to see the plane be destroyed by the tentacles and the like the HLPD try to get them to move away from all of the chaos.

A policesuit tells Daniel that the drunks keep coming.  Of course Daniel replies as we’d expect him to, stating that it would be surprised for them to actually listen to the police order.  He then states that he needs facts and orders video for evidence.

As things wind down it is interesting that Steven is the one who gives orders to the team to disperse.  With clear instructions to shake off any police who might be tailing them.  Therefore, at this point in time it is unclear if the HLPD knows the current location for their office.

Then we have Daniel’s official introduction, which I’ve discussed at length.  And yes, he ‘convinces’ Libra to assist the HLPD using a moral argument to win over Klaus, implying he knows that Klaus is the person to target while Steven snarks back annoyed leading to the threat of arrest.   His comments about K.K. also tell us that he’s been doing his homework on Libra.  Perhaps, he was assigned to them or became the in house expert on Libra?

The next time he appears is when the immature Blood Breed is wreaking havoc and Leo is at the mercy of the deranged doctor who wants him for his eyes.  Daniel is charge of setting up the perimeter so it doesn’t cause more damage and he clearly called Libra (well, likely Steven) for assistance as soon as they figured it out was a Blood Breed.  I’m not sure if the title of captain is a typo/translation error or what.  The point is that Daniel is barking orders at the beat cops and threatens to dock their pay.

Daniel is annoyed but slightly relieved when Steven and Klaus arrive and he gives them the update on things.  That’s pretty much it.  He’s in a few background scenes but won’t do anything else active since the entire story is about Leo trying to figure out how to fight a mainly visible foe and contact Libra.

We get the return of Daniel in the Noctova Smile Incident which has lots of quality Daniel and Steven bickering.  Through context, we can determine that Steven and Daniel have met up other times between the events where we see them on the pages. Apparently Steven has a habit of showing up when it is any event of importance to Libra.

Their behind the yellow tape conversation highlights both of them don’t sleep enough (we already knew this for Steven) and it is clear both have their vices; coffee and cigarettes.  It also shows that they have very similar body posture, with much more slouchy/noodle than other characters.  I’ve previously stated that the two of them are very much each other’s foil.  Both will do whatever it takes to get people to do what they want but with different styles.  Steven will snark you quietly into submission all with a sly smile while Daniel will bark at you, but because his suggestion is valid you’ll go along with it.

Now, I’m going to call bullshit on Daniel in this scene.  Steven is quite upset spitting out that he has no faith in him at all and Daniel replies (without looking at him) that is his rule to not trust anyone.  This is a great example of Daniel using very threatening or menacing language but not following through on it.  Why do I say this?  He wouldn’t be able to do his job if his subordinates didn’t trust him in the first place.  And for his subordinates to trust him, he must also trust them as well.  Daniel Law does not lead through fear despite being very loud and emotional when giving orders.

For Noctova Smile, Daniel still uses his HLPD influence to have Libra work with them, but instead of going only to Steven and Klaus, he invites the key members to the precinct showing professional respect and dare I say it, trust. After the death of Veneno the interdimensional thief, we get the chapter where the role is passed onto his daughter, Venedranda.  Before that main point, Steven and Klaus meet with Daniel to get more information from the HLPD.  He stayed behind after the events resolved and Noctova Smile was destroyed by Klaus to continue to comb through the scene.

This really tells us that Daniel did his due diligence following the crime scene and that he’s detail oriented and wanted to find that mysterious blade. As he’s talking we get a clear view of their positions as they talk somewhere outside and undisclosed.  Daniel almost completely has his back towards them!  What was that about trust Daniel?  You definitely trust Klaus and Steven to turn your back to them and have your left hand in your pocket and right hand carrying your leather briefcase.

We get some monologue from him about how the incident is stuck in his brain. However, we don’t get the completion of that statement as he then pulls out the briefcase and hands a document to Steven.  I love how he doesn’t make eye contact with them when he holds the manila envelope out for Steven to take a look at it, making it clear that the information is confidential.

Yep, Daniel, sharing confidential information with Libra, I see where this is going.  Klaus then asks if they’d be able to examine the head but Daniel reveals it sucked itself into nothingness along with a part of the room.  As the chapter unfolds Daniel gets one more page where he gets to be a little badass.  It is obvious that he’s dealt with a lot of otherworldly items popping up in HL and that trying to understand them is pretty much impossible at best.

Interestingly, his monologue continues over the next page noting that it may be a sort of contract between the wielder and someone else related to the sword - very similar to what we know is the case for Leo.  So, kudos to you Daniel, you have a pretty good grasp of how these sorts of things work.

He shows up in all of volume 5. First, when Brody’s old gang, Dead Lynx, try to rescue him from prison with Hummer and the Warden Alice gets kidnapped along the way.  Thus, he has choice but to call in Libra since Brody & Hummer were taken along with the Warden as Brody & Hummer are technically Libra when he’s allowed out of prison.

For the two chapter, ‘My life as a Doc’, Daniel leading the HLPD runs directly into the Bradbury Hospital where Dr. Estevez works.  He is attempting to arrest a very nefarious criminal with the nickname ‘the mechanic’ as he’s able to manipulate everything to allow for him to fight, absorbing all sorts of random items.

The criminal dashed into the hospital grounds heavily wounded putting Daniel in an immediate pickle.

Luciana stands up and states that they will be taking things from here on out, which Daniel isn’t a fan of.

In typical Daniel fashion he demands he be handed over, but Luciana explains that he must be treated first.  Realizing that he’s stuck, Daniel asks if this is for real before calling Minsk a bastard.  Who gets half a page of hahahaha while we turn to Daniel in a terrible mood on a rooftop.  He angrily kicks a HVAC pipe or something of that sort while Mackenzie (who must be his partner) Steven and Klaus watch him vent from a distance.  Steven tries his “Now, now” which only gets cut off by Daniel telling him “Don’t you “Now, now” me!!”  Which tells us Steven has used his trademark line on him in the past and it no longer works on him.

Steven awkwardly looks like he wants to reach out and support or console but is stuck as Daniel continues to vent.  Again, with his back towards the three of them.  Interestingly, Klaus is the one who tries to reason with Daniel stating that Law and Estevez are both trying to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.  Welp, I guess this will be the last time Klaus tries to converse with Daniel in a professional setting how well that went over.  This allows for him to bring up an interesting point; we want to be sympathetic to those who are injured, even those who have committed crimes.  But what do you do when that person is going to use that time to be treated only to recover and return to their criminal activities?

This also has a line where Daniel states he needs to make the hospital staff remember that those with power (like himself) have a responsibility to the general public to protect them.

 Now back to his usual eloquent self, Steven asks the Assistant Inspector what he is going to do as someone with this power. Since he called them specifically to meet him on the roof top.  There is an odd silence before Daniel replies; it seems it takes him a minute or two to shift from ranting mode to work mode.  His solution is for Libra to be guards while Minsk recovers in the hospital, stating this is the best compromise he can manage.  And in that Daniel is legally correct - if this were a normal criminal there would be armed guards on him.

All of his reasoning is totally logical.  You can use normal mechanized guards against him and that he has the right to post guards on Minsk is all within normal protocol.  The only difference is that he has pulled in Libra for a favor since the HLPD can’t handle this and all of their abilities are not mechanical something he can’t manipulate.

As expected, Minsk eventually gets discharged, after threatening to kill everyone which is oh so pleasant in the room in front of the group too.  Daniel is waiting armed to the teeth and is also cleverly making use of Libra who are still there with Dr. Estevez keeping an eye on Minsk.  Once Klaus saw him in person, you know that Klaus would not let this man go if he hurt anyone.

As soon as he become aggressive both Steven and Chain along with Zed try to stop him, but it doesn’t go as planned since even he has counter measures to their attacks that he’s seen.

When Minsk is released as soon as he leaves the hospital grounds, Daniel orders the force to open fire on him to try to capture him.  This goes poorly yet he remains undeterred and boldly holds his ground as Minsk literally splits his body in two around Daniel.

This goes terribly, but it anything showed that Daniel trusted that the HLPD forces had his back, I don’t know what else would prove that point.  Ultimately, as things spiral out of control, Klaus tries to seal him like a Blood Breed which Steven stops and it looks pretty bad.  Yet, the one who finally figures out that they need to ask for aid from Luciana is Law.  Recognizing that she’s the person who healed him, he likely will be able to wound him in a humane-ish way.

She prepares to perform surgery on him to cause him to stop, but understanding her moral quandary, Leo messes with Minsk’s vision so he can’t see that Zapp and Klaus are protecting her and Klaus obliterates him into a blob of cells.  The cells were then collected and once she’s able to put him back together, he’ll stand trial.  Either way, this all ended with Daniel putting the right people in the right place to perform actions he could not accomplish.

Which led the the only panel where Daniel looked happy in the manga.  This also resulted him to taking Libra out for dinner and drinks but it devolved into a night from hell with Luciana and Chain outlasting the rest of the group.

Daniel is face down on the table his tie off to the side possibly wearing his dress shirt only.  Steven is passed out next to him looking equally disheveled with his tie loose and someone had managed to balance a bottle on his head.  Leo and Sonic are in the foreground looking pained while Klaus is limp in Luciana’s grasp.  I can’t image what the bill was when Daniel went to pay it much later.  Klaus may have forced Daniel into inviting Luciana to join them but it appears his gut reaction to exclude her was correct.

Before the Calamity Auction, Daniel returns for a minor role in ‘Be Quiet & Follow Me’.  As usual he’s the contact point for Steven as they are discussing the next job to stop another attempt to destroy HL. The HLPD have some sort of device that is in revision with their engineering team, who are stating that it will be able to get the job done.  Always skeptical, Steven asks if it is secure while Daniel bluntly tells him to shut up and not ask him.  This is a point where instead of saying, “I don’t know.” Daniel of course deflects that question and says that the engineering team said it will work.  Very political language there Assistant Inspector.

There is also management bonding during the course of the call where reservations about working with a domestic terrorist group aren’t an ideal option for the HLPD and Libra.  Doing their day to day job whether Libra or the HLPD is a giant money pit, so they will tread carefully moving forward.

We learn that Guinness Purururo is one of the engineers working on the updated HLPD device and she smartly asks where she could get a good glass of scotch.  Daniel kindly obliges her request allowing for her to find Patrick at his usual bar drinking alone.  As the chapter unfolds we learn that Patrick brought Neyka along with him from some previous job in her home country and they started working together.  We also learn that Patrick and Guinness dated a long time ago and ran in a similar group with K.K. as well, who knows her trade nickname of “Queen Bee”. 

Under some sort of weird mind control, Guinness’ son Andrew is used as a way to manipulate her including her sabotaging the HLPD device which results in a panicked call for Libra’s aid.  It is quite obvious that the engineers may have over engineered their own creation as Daniel screams out at why they designed it as such.

Libra rush to their aid, destroying the device.  Welp, another time things didn’t go Daniel’s way but this time, as we saw from his language earlier he wasn’t the person fully endorsing the device in the first place.  It slowly unfolds that Guinness was forced to sabotage the device and Patrick rescues her to the best of his abilities.  After he’s able to cause their van to crash no one other than Daniel is there to whisk them back to Libra to put the special anti-magic gun in perfect working order so that Libra can crush this week’s opponent set to destroy HL.  Daniel is more than willing to listen to their story as they fly back to Libra to save the day.

He knows that both of them are critical to the success of their current goals, as he did give Guinness information to find Patrick earlier.  However, once he delivers them to Libra he watches silently in the background.  Patrick states he’d return to her sooner, while Daniel snarks he won’t come and rescue him either.

The ending panel for the chapter has Daniel talking to no one in particular that there is not way the Patrick is going to run back to Guinness again.

While someone else comments that it is a bold declaration.  How do we read this?  That Daniel is correct in stating that Patrick should steer clear of trouble? Or is this how dense he is to the feelings that Patrick will always hold for Guinness despite having dated her a long time ago?  I could go either way, Daniel is no idiot but we have not seen him have a social life besides work, yelling at people to do things and meeting with Steven in secluded places. 

With that the next major arc with him is the Calamity Auction where he does many things including getting his ass literally frozen by Steven, violating house arrest, tracking the Blood Breed bat Bloodline Gate correctly, saving Chain in the process, making sure Leo isn’t hurt in all the chaos and then arresting the auction house owner. When Daniel no longer has his regular position of power, where he’s barking orders, he still has people who are more than willing to work with him.  For example, he snuck out on his own and started chatting up some of the beat cops who were on the ground when the auction house incident occurred.  MacKenzie finds him and joins him as Harrison reports what the snipers saw in regard to the bats.  Both men turn a blind eye to Daniel’s violation of house arrest.

This circles back to the whole concept of trust.  The fact that Harrison is ready to follow Daniel Law’s orders even when he’s technically under house arrest and off duty, the option is better than dying.  Which only results in a normal Daniel spaz response that he’d get fired.  However, he’ll reveal his active role when he spots the bats borrowing a police radio and drops his badge number.  Later, he’ll lead the SWAT team to the room with the bat gates, save Chain right as the bat blob was about to kill her and also find one of the active gates left behind.

What all can we conclude about Assistant Inspector Daniel Law?

Despite all of his bark, he doesn’t have a lot of bite.  He clearly trusts others in the HLPD, his partner MacKenzie, and a decent number of the beat cops.  Perhaps, not so much those guys in the policesuits?  They seem to get the most of his bitching.

He says that he doesn’t trust Libra but he frequently leaves his back towards Steven or Steven and Klaus when meeting them more discretely.  If anything, the fact that asked Steven for more information on the rooftop seems to show that the trust is a little bit more on Daniel’s side than Steven.  Whoever at the HLPD above Daniel was smart enough to go after Libra without his knowledge.  And when you look at all the times he’s either calling them or working on things with them it is obvious that he is the closest member of the HLPD to Libra. This really demonstrates that Daniel is excellent at manipulating others into helping him to achieve his goals - big picture - to protect HL and its inhabitants from all of the threats.  Daniel knows what words to say to get Klaus sucked in, how to convince Steven something is important and he even requested Luciana’s assistance when it was a smart thing to do.  Why does Daniel do this?  He doesn’t have any other options; he’s a fairly smart and honest guy who is still a normal human.  He knows he can’t make a difference in HL or the HLPD unless he plays things a bit differently.  This goes back to my previous comments in my first meta about him.  Daniel never uses his gun.  I keep thinking that he sees it as a moot point, thus, only finally drawing it when he arrests the auction house owner view the Bloodline Gate.

With Beat 3 Peat several chapters in, I’m still waiting with baited breath when Daniel will return.  Hopefully wearing his pinstripe three piece suit too.  That was when he had the best style.

[chibivesicle]

The many moods of Daniel

I’m thinking about writing up another Daniel meta, but until them enjoy this silliness.  Note that only one panel is from when he is actually happy and not being a smug bastard.

[chibivesicle]

Update!  More cursed Daniel last name shenanigans.

Look at this acrylic stand I just got in the mail.

Daniel Iowe!  I will never know if that is a lowercase ‘L’ or a capital ‘I’ with the font.  Who also lives in Jerusalem’s Lot making the cursed Darkhorse typo even possible in Japan.  It seems that with all of the Japanese kana, anyone doing merch for this series will struggle with names like his that are unclear what the original English spelling is.

Daniel Law thoughts and observations.  Why is his last name so bloody difficult to figure out?

This is a quick and frivolous post as opposed to my normally long form ones.  I’ve got it hard for Daniel at the moment; I’m wade through the vast expanse that is the internet looking for merch for him.  Steven merch is like shooting fish in a barrel with how popular he is.  K.K. merch is also easy and super cheap second hand.  But Daniel merch.  Hoooo boy, it takes some time and effort to find.

The first issue around him is his bloody last name.  Which Japanese isn’t equipped to deal with.  This shows in my merch quest as I’ve scrolled through pages and pages of items.  But first:

The Darkhorse translation calls him Daniel Low.

The Funimation translation settles on Daniel Law.

Keep reading

[chibivesicle]

Kekkai Sensen redraw

I don’t usually post artwork here, but I’m feeling pretty good about this one. 

The idea of putting KKSS characters in The Sting is too good with the previous Saturday Evening Post redraws with the cast for the season one DVDs.

Steven A. Starphase as Johnny Hooker & Daniel Law as Henry Gondorff from the 1973 classic film about con artists in Depression Era Chicago.

[chibivesicle]

Daniel Law thoughts and observations.  Why is his last name so bloody difficult to figure out?

This is a quick and frivolous post as opposed to my normally long form ones.  I’ve got it hard for Daniel at the moment; I’m wade through the vast expanse that is the internet looking for merch for him.  Steven merch is like shooting fish in a barrel with how popular he is.  K.K. merch is also easy and super cheap second hand.  But Daniel merch.  Hoooo boy, it takes some time and effort to find.

The first issue around him is his bloody last name.  Which Japanese isn’t equipped to deal with.  This shows in my merch quest as I’ve scrolled through pages and pages of items.  But first:

The Darkhorse translation calls him Daniel Low.

The Funimation translation settles on Daniel Law.

When you listen to the sub and the dub, both the Japanese VA and English VA both clearly say “Law”.  I’d like to also note that the Japanese VA for Steven, Mitsuru Miyamoto, has really good pronunciation for all of the English terms/names he says specifically which makes me really think “Law” is the intended spelling.   The credits also reflect this.

Both versions also settle on the title of Lieutenant.  While the literal translation is Assistant Inspector (keibuho - 警部補).  I’m not sure why they didn’t go with Detective which sounds like the most American term and Inspector being British.  I guess Detective is a role while, Daniel would still have a police rank associated with him. But I know squat about American policing terms and job titles.  Maybe, I should go back and watch some Law and Order and cringe?

Where is this total weirdness around Daniel’s name coming from?  Especially if we get a season three and Marcus also shows up for the Calamity Auction arc.

Now, we all know that having an equal transfer of Law into Japanese can’t happen since there is no way to make say a “La-wa” etc.  The best you can get is to drop down in the r-line to the “ro” combo.  But then you’ve got that pesky “w” you need to do something with.

If you wanted “Low” this would be the easiest way to get it.  Go with “ro” and add the long vowel dash making it “ro-oh”

But we can see this reading of “ro” with a long “o” can be [sighs] Rho, Lau; Low, Loo, Rau, Raux, Roe or Roh.

Okay, this isn’t what happens in the credits.  The Japanese credits write his name out this way.  “ro” with the “u”.  Now, the first hit is “Law”.  Yay!

But then we get also; Loew, Low, Lowe or even Rowe!  Argh! 

So, how does this tie into merch?  Well, how his name is spelled on KKSS merch of course and how to search for it!

For Back 2 Back full color acrylics that were Jump (Festa Specials I’d guess), we get him and Marcus being referred to as Lowe.  ‘Cause they are twin brothers and Daniel is the older one! Another issue with Japanese language mechanics versus English but that’s for another time.  I’d read Daniel to be several years older since he’s referred to as “older brother” in B2B but since you have to place your sibling in age relative to you - Marcus has to say older brother in the original Japanese.    

There is also a small special badge set with Steven and Daniel here, where he is also referred to as “Lowe”.  Did I impulsively buy this?  Yes, yes I did of course!

Yet when we look at other items music/band themed (acoustic guitar) , the American heroes (fighter pilot? why?), ice skating, saloon barkeep/western. he’s got a last name of “Low”.

You might begin to think - okay, it is clear that 1.) there is no official spelling of his name down on paper.  2.) merch designers see ロウ and make an educated guess 3.) his name can’t be “Law”.

Buuutttt let’s go to the actual search function of a Japanese site like Goods Republic.  And what do we find in the character list on the left hand side?  Daniel Law.

Additionally,  you go on Zen Market and access JP Mercari directly, searching with the terms of ダニエル and 血界戦線.  You will get merch that not only pulls up Daniel but all the translated descriptions will always refer to him as Daniel Law.

What have I learned from this?  That until we get season three and Daniel gets a floating info box like below, we will never truly know how his name is spelled.  However, with the sense of humor that Nightow has and his wordplay in English, I really still think the original intent is “Law” because he’s a fucking cop.  Come on, easiest cheese joke ever.

And if he doesn’t get a floating info box in a season three, it means they aren’t giving him full justice due to his increasing role in the series.