ichippon

[ichippon]

i've got no idea how to use tumblr but i love reading the blade essays that i come across ever so often...

[ichippon]

anyway, my hot kenzaki take is that a lot of people misunderstand him pretty fundamentally, and its all in the specification of him "sacrificing everything for his friends". cuz .. i mean. he doesnt.

so kenzakis story starts age 11, when his parents die in the house fire. regardless of ""realism"" or the immediate kneejerk reaction people have of "you were 11", kenzaki takes the fact he could not personally protect the people he loves hard, and then is isolated for the next decade. inshow, he says koutaro is his first friend. not his newest, not his most recent, not his first in a long time. koutaro is his FIRST FRIEND. tachibana is his senpai and he made no friends at board. hirose doesnt become his friend until after koutaro does. tsubaki himself confirms in the final episode interview that "Kenzaki was in a situation where he had no friends, lost his parents, and was all alone." no matter where he went after he lost his parents, he was alone.

its not to say kenzaki doesnt care about people, or humanity, or whatever, even as a chronic loner. because he clearly does! he loves people. he chose protecting people as a job because he didnt ever want to feel powerless again, he wanted to help others, he doesnt want people to die. these are all noble reasons, but its evident there is a hierarchy in his heart and it becomes clear when he gets attached to hajime! kenzakis biggest problems are about Protecting The Ones He Loves, specifically. HIS people. his parents were what started it all, and he didnt get attached to anything to that significant of a degree again until he fell in love with hajime. and. i mean its obvious

i cannot stress enough that the moment kenzaki decided he believed in hajime he stopped listening to literally anyone elses advice about their situation. his senpai tachibana expressing concern about a real danger? hes not only fine, but if anything happens, i am the one who will handle it. koutaro not trusting hajime around his family because of the chance he Killed Haruka's Husband? but i believe in him, there must be a reason. mutsuki being concerned? well hes mutsuki. sorry mukki. anyone else? no, its fine, i trust him.

Kenzaki believed in the possibility of a sliver of a sliver of a chance, and he risked everything and everyone else he ever knew and loved for it. Kenzaki let the darkroaches rage on Japan for WAY TOO LONG just because of his belief in a miracle for one single person. Tachibana was injured, Mutsuki was in the hospital, and literally every single other one of his acquaintances was in mortal peril. It would have killed all of them if he did nothing, but instead of the single most logical action, and the only path to the end anyone else could see, Kenzaki gave up his humanity to keep Hajime alive!

Above the world, Kenzaki will choose the one he loves.

this is part of how kenzaki and hajime are mirrors - hajime never had the opportunity to make friends, because he was bugmode/not really a "person" up until a little while ago (and even then, chalice had a friend?), but kenzaki just never made them. hajime attracts people like... darkroaches, from amane to haruka to jin to kenzaki onwards, and kenzaki stumbled into his housing situation and kotaro and was otherwise alone. hajime loves deeply and protectively, instinctively, selflessly, even if he didnt understand what the feeling was, and kenzaki was so isolated from other people that despite being human all of his emotions seem "weird", the way he interacts with the other humans at first is "weird", etc. kenzaki likes People, but individuals have always been beyond him. hajime doesnt like people, but he loves Persons. hajime is willing to give up his life for the world, and kenzaki is willing to give up the world for hajime (and when it crosses the edge, he is willing to give up himself... for hajime.)

-functionally, kenzaki is set up as less ""human"" than hajime in quite a few ways.

(i am honestly inclined to think at times it is not just that kenzaki saw that hajime was capable of love that made him believe in him, but saw that hajime was capable of love in a way kenzaki wasnt, a way that seemed more noble, natural, and human.)

and this is obviously controversial because on the surface kenzaki is very kind! kenzaki does obviously care about humanity as a whole and people as people. but that doesnt mean hes not selfishly selfless. that doesnt mean he doesnt have his own priorities. that doesnt mean hes perfect, or that hes a typical hero type, when in all ways he is extremely Weird right from the beginning. hes tall and gangly and a bit awkward and kind of moody and sort of unsociable and a huge sweetheart yardstick.

[ichippon]

Why the takoyaki amnesia doppelganger episodes???

So I think we can all agree that this whole plot line in Blade was wild and peak Inoue and definitely a comedic break in between two emotion heavy arcs. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t do anything for the narrative. Despite being a huge departure in tone from the rest of the show, it does actually fit thematically and in terms of character development.

As a refresher, the arc I’m talking about happens in episodes 29 and 30 of Blade where Hajime briefly loses his memory and meets an identical-looking guy who convinces him to switch places for a bit. This guy, Mikami Ryou, is the heir to a takoyaki-making group in fierce competition with a taiyaki group and knows nothing of the Undead.

As silly as this whole premise is, the “prince and the pauper” style identity switch thing is a well-established trope often used to explore a character and their situation, just as it does here in Blade. There are intentional parallels between Ryou’s life and Hajime’s, despite their completely opposite personalities, and by switching them around, this arc both gives us a new lens on Hajime as a person and foreshadows the ending of Blade.

Keep reading

[ichippon]

gozyuger girls i've drawn over the months~

[ichippon]

all of my yuri tezuren (miyuki × ren) that i made so far that i haven't posted on here~ i'm passionate about this coupling to say the least so there is a lot...

[ichippon]

my blade girls designs from my twitter! the 2nd pic is a thank you but i should post it here as well!

Feel free to read about my design notes here~ it's lengthy but thank you if anyone reading it~ https://fusetter.com/tw/G7V9NcPX

[ichippon]

The CONTRIBUTOR APPLICATION is now open for RIDER KICK! RIDER GIRLS! from January 8th to February 8th! Take this special chance to apply to the Nyotaika Kamen Rider Zine during this first month of the New Year!

Submit an application as a Page Artist or Merch Artist via this form!

The form is now closed! Thank you for your interest and participation!

[ichippon]

Hey all! I am hosting the unofficial zine for RIDER KICK! RIDER GIRLS! A Nyotaika Kamen Rider Fanzine on Twitter only. . This zine is a Kamen Rider-focused female genderbend/nyotaika* zine. We want to see everyone's creative takes on our beloved Riders! We are currently in our interest check. Our Twitter Page Interest Form Zine Information Guide illus. tsukasa kadoya: @ichippon illus. sougo tokiwa: @/vyscones on Twitter We are nearing our mid-point for the interest check so I thought to post on here as well. Please keep in mind this event is regularly updated pretty strictly on Twitter. However if you are interested in becoming a contributor we will communicate through Discord~ Thank you!

[ichippon]

fem kagaten that was drawn as a result of watching too many vocaloid mvs

[ichippon]

the best matches or something idk ive never watched the show

[ichippon]

my design for the sweet pool girls

[ichippon]

i made some sticker designs for the protags for a local con~

[ichippon]

my nanoshiki girls

[ichippon]

doodles for my fave N+C games^^

[ichippon]

akirarin girls :-3

[ichippon]

first n+c post is keiaki yuri kyaa

[ichippon]

Sanga and Touga 🎀🔔❤️