Hello, this is Hikaru. Thank you for watching! This time, I asked you to submit some questions and concerns so I could discuss them in a video. I tried to answer all of your questions as best as I could💪 Thank you for all your submissions! I don't know if I am being helpful at all but I did my best to answer with sincerity 🌱 Hopefully I was able to help you just a little with your troubles. Please leave your video suggestions in the comment section📝
Nothing too interesting unfortunately. Don't think I will be doing a detailed summary. But of course, please don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Hikaru's channel and LIKE her videos. Also, here's the video from last week =>
youtube
【PLAZA】Haul 【@cosme】
Hello, this is Hikaru. Thank you for watching! This time, I will introduce some cosmetics which I purchased💄 It's spring and I'm so excited to see lots of new products lined up✨ I like to try something I've never used before. I always makes me happy when I find something that suits me☺️ Please let me know your recommended skin care items, cosmetics or really anything that has caught your attention this spring🍀if you have any video suggestions, please leave them in the comment section📝
Hikaru at Music Champ event
The other day, Hikaru appeared as a guest on day 2 of the Music Champ promo campaign to celebrate the release of SHAZNA's album "参華三釼" 🎼 (Tweet by Hikaru). The song corner seems to have been pretty neat from what I could tell from various responses on Twitter. Not sure how many songs they sang in total but they definitely did a collab of "Blackbird" by The Beatles (reminds me of Hikaru's Birthday Event from 2018). I haven't been able to watch any of the latest Music Champ streams so I have honestly no idea what's going on at the moment T_T.
“An Immortal’s Absence, Three Centuries Hence” by Musuli - promo
So, why should you read Shangxian?
At first glance, 《不见上仙三百年》 - “An Immortal’s Absence, Three Centuries Hence” (shortened to Shangxian for convenience) by 木苏里 - Musuli, seems a par-for-the-course xianxia danmei featuring a love affair between a demon and an immortal with karmic entanglements. It’s a classic set-up, and likers of the xianxia genre won’t need any more convincing than that to read it—It does hit the familiar notes of complicated pasts, forbidden relationships, and fighting against forces of fate.
However, this is Musuli we’re talking about; Shangxian is a xianxia that plays into her wheelhouse. It is a xianxia that, despite being—and I cannot emphasize this enough—grand in scale and narrative ambition, coalesces around intimacy and interiority. So it doesn’t make sense to talk about all the plot devices to try and sell this thing. It’s all about the emotions.
Considering her previous work, 《判官》 - “Panguan,” one can see the thematic thoroughfares Musuli has been investigating through her recent work: In the xuanhuan novel Panguan, the main characters are essentially metaphysical therapists; in that world, when a person’s feelings and regrets are too heavy and hard to face, they form “cages” that entrap both the originator of the feelings as well as anyone unlucky enough to stumble upon them. The titular “panguan” of the story dissolve these cages and set free all those entrapped within.
In Shangxian, we don’t have quite the same set-up, but the core of the novel—all the arcs in the beginning along with the main arcs they orbit—deal with the same sort of stuff: The helpless prisons characters build for themselves out of grief and remorse, and the necessity of having people who can lend a hand to pull them out. The xianxia setting operates by amplifying the interiority of regret to an epic scale.
Hence, we see the theme of destructive grief and remorse echoed in Shangxian’s very worldbuilding—In the beginning, we’re introduced to a world devastated, a world in which foul demons—humans who have been corrupted by taking the wrong path and harming too many people—have depleted the population and run rampant. Most of the foul demons we meet, however, are forged of tragedy surrounding a kernel of love and attachment; they harbor intense self-revulsion for having fallen to their current state—which in turn fuels their so-called “calamity periods,” when the souls of those they’ve killed backlash, forcing them to kill even more to suppress the resultant pain and cold (which then worsens their next calamity period).
Vast swaths of plot are devoted to characters carrying regrets for having been unable to stop such vicious cycles, and attempting to reverse their actions through even more destructive means.
The main characters are thus tasked with undoing the damage of these cycles, and of ultimately overturning the mechanism driving them. Because when the system is rotten, to punish individuals for their destructive actions is little more than drinking poison to quench thirst.
All the while, Wu Xingxue and Xiao Fuxuan must confront their own regrets and past entanglements.
Speaking of the main characters (art from manhua, edits done by Vid):
Wu Xingxue, the shou, is an extrovert who loves the hustle and bustle of the world, loves to tease and laugh and gossip. He tends to wear silver-filigreed white clothing, with a liking for white jade and opera. He is also the demon among the two.
Xiao Fuxuan, on the other hand, has a subdued temperament, and is usually seen wearing matte black clothing, with three funeral nails driven through his ear—rather grave for an immortal. But like his name (萧 - desolate, 复暄 - redoubled warmth), he is cold on the outside but warm within. He’s regarded as a quiet, solitary soul, but always makes exceptions to snark back at his husband a certain demon.
(He is so soft. So soft. He lies to Wu Xingxue a lot, but only because he loves him. The archetypal comfort gong.)
There is also a wonderful side cast of two fourteen gremlin children, a virtuous scholar, a severely fucked up family, and a tragic side pairing who will squeeze your heart with their missed chances.
If you love themes of grief—grief for one’s past self, grief for those one has lost, grief for a better world—and love and connection as balms for that grief, you’ll love Shangxian.
*****
For access to my completed translation, I require proof of payment of the original. To get access to the folder, please send me a (non-anonymous) ask or DM with 1) a screenshot of your recent spending record on jjwxc, AND, 2) your fandom/burner email (please do not send me an email address with your irl name, and please make sure it is a gmail account so that it is compatible with the invite/access system). For details, see the intro document for my translation.
Original novel on jjwxc
I am also translating the ongoing Shangxian manhua, with help from Vid (cyanoty on tumblr), Xuan (xuqnji on tumblr), and Jane (@chaosblessings on twitter) for cleaning and typesetting. Translations are currently in the same large gfolder as the novel.
I scanned this from a Nikkatsu promo book that had similar horizontal posters for movies being released in 1970 called ‘70 Nikkatsu New Year’s Movie (‘70 日活のお正月映画).
李若彤 (Carman Lee) & 吕頌賢 (Jackie Lui) filming promotional material for Chinese mobile game, 《剑侠世界3》 (“World of Sword Heroes 3”).
「李若彤 — 峨眉掌门」 “Carman Lee — Ermei Sect Leader”,「吕颂贤 — 武当剑客」 “Jackie Lui — Wudang Swordsman”.
Also chuckling at the sign that says, 「武林拍卖会」, which roughly translates to, “Martial Arts Clique Auction Meeting”.
I guess this whole promo is meant to be humorous! 😸
「快来听下三位港星的原声吧」
“Come, let's listen to our 3 Hong Kong celebs' original voices!”
Narrator says this ↑ in Mandarin.
Okay…! If anyone has difficulty differentiating between Cantonese and Mandarin ever, well…sorry but this video will not help you…prepared to be stumped again! 🤪😹
Our 3 HK celebs here are speaking in either Cantonese, or Mandarin that's so heavily accented with Cantonese that it almost sounds like a new dialect!
Thank goodness for subtitles! Heh! 😸
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Video in a Nutshell: “Wudang Swordsman” (吕頌賢) making an opening speech on what the “Wulin” (武林) is all about.
Enter “Dubious Monk” (李國麟, apparently reprising his role, 鳩摩智 from 《天龍八部 97》 — “The Demi Gods and Semi Devils”) looking to cause trouble.
After some arguing between the 3 of them, obvious abrupt cut in video, and scene changes to “Ermei Sect Leader” (李若彤) contemplating which faction, Shaolin (少林) or Wudang (武當), she should join. 吕頌賢's for 武當,李國麟's for 少林.
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吕頌賢 starts off saying his lines in purely Cantonese. 李國麟 (Joseph Lee) takes over and retorts in very heavy Cantonese-accented Mandarin, 吕頌賢 then (felt obliged?) replies back in the same fashion…(吕頌賢's Mandarin is way better than 李國麟's though! 😺)
While 李若彤 decides to stick to Cantonese…for starters at least! But when bombarded with 吕頌賢 and 李國麟 yelling from both sides, she yells out 「停!」 (“Stop!”) in something that sounds like it's in-between Cantonese and Mandarin! 😸
Her subsequent lines are finished through a Mandarin dub (why I'm not sure — 李若彤's Mandarin is actually not too bad, better than 李國麟's definitely! 😸 — maybe because it's the closing lines of the video),
「我很想听懂你们在说什么可是臣妾做不到啊!」
“I really want to understand what you all are saying but I (this humble servant) can't!”
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This entire scenario is meant to be a joke/parody.
Occasionally, I'll get hit with a bout of nostalgia, and childhood favourite actors and/or characters from favourite '90s shows will cross my mind.
One thing led to another, checked out the 微博 (Weibo) a/c(s) of favourite people recently just to see what they were up to nowadays, and learned about this (project).
Not a mobile gamer (and Chinese mobile games are pretty much inaccessible for the rest of the world anyway), don't really care for what this game is about frankly speaking, but, nice to see Carman and Jackie in a project together! 😺
Carman and Jackie were at their most popular in the mid to late '90s with TVB (Hong Kong TV station) hits like 《神鵰俠侶 95》 (“The Condor Heroes 95” aka “The Return of the Condor Heroes”) for her, and 《笑傲江湖 96》 (“State of Divinity” aka “The Smiling Proud Wanderer”) for him.
Their goodwill earned from that time is apparently still working for them today! Capitalising (not criticising them, just stating as fact — celebs have to earn their keep too, I totally understand!) on the Nostalgia Train is still worth some moolah!
Those who are familiar with their '90s stuff will realise that this whole mobile game promotion is quite relying on the target audience reminiscing about '90s HK 武俠 (Wuxia) series to propel it forward; lots of references to these series in the promotional videos alone!
You can only use this card name’s (1) and (2) effects once per turn each.
(1) If this card is in your hand and your opponent controls 2 or more monsters: You can Special Summon this card.
(2) If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can discard 1 Spell; destroy all Spell/Traps on the field.
VJMP-JP232 三眼の死霊 Sangan no Shiryou (Three-Eyed Ghost)
Level 3 DARK Fiend Effect Monster
ATK 900
DEF 800
You can only use this card name’s effect once per turn.
(1) You can send this card from your field to the GY; add 1 Level 10 DARK monster from your Deck to your hand.
VJMP-JP233 ローズ・パピヨン Rose Papillon
Level 3 WIND Insect Effect Monster
ATK 1400
DEF 800
(1) During your Main Phase, you can Tribute Summon 1 Level 7 or higher monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set (you can only gain this effect once per turn).
(2) If you control another Insect monster, this card can attack directly.
i'm planning on making a neocities site and one of the pages is gonna be a hfgn shrine, and for one of the sections i wanted to make a gallery of merch and official arts featuring hfgn
however i don't think i'll be finishing my site in the near future FSDKJH but i have all this catalogued already, so i thought i'd share it here for the time being. this also helps me find it easier because my own notes aren't very organized lol, so i can just go back to this and also edit it lol
生写真(男性)/俳優 前山剛久(夢野幻太郎)・荒木宏文(伊弉冉一二三)/キャラクターショット/シークレット/舞台「『ヒプノシスマイク-Division Rap Battle-』Rule the Stage -track.4-」ランダムブロマイド track.4 (2021/02/05)
Manga
FP vs M Vol 2 Limited Edition Cover (10/28/19)
FP v M pre-order bromide bonus (3/26/2020)
(need to track down exact volume it came with)
(technically they're not "together" in this art (they're on opposite ends), but if you place them side by side, they complete the image. so they're together. to me --)
Zero Sum Notice re: FP v M (11/26/20)
Pre-order bonus bromides (8/20/21)
(need to track down exactly which volume this came with)
Zero Sum Lottery Prize (3/28/22)
(looking for high res, if it exists... idk if a higher res was ever posted :'))
Zero Sum Cover + Lottery Prize (April 2023 edition, i believe. i have to make sure, but the image itself was revealed around 3/30/23)
ARB
Promo Image (8/30/2020)
Weather Decline - Panic! At the Mountain Event
(summer/fall 2020-ish, need to double check)
Ideal Weather for Camping - Panic! At the Mountain Event
Hey, Have you entered this competition to win Lifeform & NNS & BitKeep Airdrop yet? If you refer friends you get more chances to win :) https://wn.nr/LBdWZV