#(as the scanlation just makes me uncomfortable)

[deoidesign]

just wanted to say that I absolutely LOVE your comic I am so inspired by it and it’s so lovely and I wanna buy the physical books (I’ve never done that before) I just AUGGHHH EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS SO 💙💙💙

do you allow fanart? And is there anything not allowed? I wanna draw adam and steve so bad 😭

Of course it's allowed! Fanart fanfic fan music fan dubs whatever!

I like to think I'm sort of "building a playground" when I make a story, have fun on it! I made it for you!

In my general opinion, it's not my business what my "fandom" does... It's on you and also me to curate our own spaces! If you're inspired by my work in any way, that's the greatest honor I could imagine and I want you to feel fully free to explore that. If someone is being weird, I know where the block button is and they can keep being weird where I don't have to see it haha

Just don't like... sell it... it's messy legally with webtoon and I'm one person making the story and it's my whole income so the few sales I get are kind of huge for me ;_;

[melthemia]

Venting a bit.

I hate feeling so conflicted in relation to something I'm so passionate about.

There's a lot of thinly-veiled casual misogyny and bigotry writhing around the GFL community that I've personally witnessed being completely unchallenged in open, actively moderated spaces. Ranging from "jokingly" hating anyone who picks the female commander in GFL2 to downright conspiracy theories about LGBT "propaganda."

Although... I don't know what I expected from such a relatively small and insular fanbase that has a decent chunk of its English following most prominently on 4chan, and ESPECIALLY from a game series popularised by marketing towards gun enthusiasts, on top of being an anime gacha game. I feel it should be obvious what kind of demographic that combination naturally fosters.

But even with that obvious fact in mind, it still hurts. I really like this series and the stories it has to tell. It has helped me get through incredibly tough times in my life since I started playing it in 2018, and continues to give me a lot of joy. But seeing the casual acceptance of some of the attitudes in a lot of the community makes me feel highly uncomfortable and unwelcome, and it risks tainting my view of the franchise at times.

It wasn't helped by me re-reading the GFL manga's sole English translation only to find the scanlator inserted extra "jokes" into their scanlation, and by "jokes" I mean some intrusive unfunny memes that break immersion in the scene combined with the occasional slur and hard-R thrown in for good measure.

Or people almost ALWAYS referring to the commander as a "he" 90% of the time, combined with despising the commander being female in the manga and calling her a mary sue. And we all know that term is always used accurately and never just used because you don't like a female main character nowadays, devoid of the term's original meaning.

A lot of these people seem to fear and dread GFL2 getting popular and "ruining" the franchise's core community, whether they mean it seriously or ironically. At this point, I hope it does. More people means more diversity, more success for Mica Team, and more people who can experience GFL's tales of love and hope.

The only part of the fandom I've found that I feel safe enough around to interact with actively is here on Tumblr, and I want to say thank you to everyone who posts about GFL on here. You're awesome.

Have some sapphic T-Dolls as a palette cleanser, thank you for reading this mess of a rant.

[narastories]

This autumn is all about getting back to older things I love, isn't that right? So Kuroshitsuji. I have so many thoughts about re-reading it now as an adult. I was in high school when I first read/watched it and it was pretty new then. I had the intention of making this post shorter and more snappy but I don't actually want to attract the wrong kind of attention with it, if you know what I mean, so let me ramble.

Personally, if you know me, you won't be surprised that I love how... (I almost used a word I hate here)... deliciously subversive everything is. I love the characters and as I mentioned how adult the humor is.

However, I couldn't help but imagine someone who might be in their teens, grew up with today's morality police internet culture, and then hears about Kuroshitsuji for the first time next year when the new anime season comes out. And then they might go and read the manga from the beginning. People are going to have a terrible time lol

For the uninitiated: the entirety of the Black Butler manga is very easy to find in English online for free. This version is what is known as a scanlation: someone took the original manga, scanned it, and then created a fan translation to English and overlaid it on the images. It's awesome, because it takes years to publish an original English translation and because poor high school students can't afford it. My intention is not to shame the scanlators at all, I support fandom activities wholeheartedly.

The tiny bit of issue I have is that this early 2000's translation has some things that will make you shudder in 2023. Especially about gender. That was what prompted my curiosity to get the kindle original of the second volume just to compare if it was as... unfortunate as the fan version. It's better. You could nitpick it, but it's better.

The left is the free version the right is the original. This was the panel that made me cringe.

So, my point is: if you are very sensitive about this sort of wording maybe buy the originals. No shade either way, just make sure you're having a good time if you are consuming media for entertainment.

But I guess, even if you read the originals there is no way around some things that fandom antis will have an absolute field day with, I can already tell.

Ciel, apparently, according to canon, age 12. Even if you don't ship him with his demon butler (which I think already has been canceled as a ship, you know how it goes)... there are panels where they are intentionally in very compromising positions.

No, let me rephrase that: if you don't ship them, this shit will make you feel uncomfortable. Personally, I'm eating it up, of course.

I mean look at them. (And this is uh a relatively tame one.) In my opinion, their power dynamic is what makes the whole manga/anime so enjoyable. But I can already see the fandom bloodbath lmao

Then there is Grell. I think if you can't love her at her worst you don't deserve her at her best, personally. Still, she's a trans woman who chops up prostitutes with her girlfriend. And gets misgendered all the time.

Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this. I love Kuroshitsuji. It's beautifully drawn and extremely funny. And people are going to lose their shit over it even before Ciel gets to say "fag".

[clockworkspider]

i am stuck between wishing my parents would of monitored me and my siblings better, and also the fact that them catching me looking at bad stuff on the internet would of been extremally uncomfortable &maybe dangerous in their reactions to it. btw i REALLY wish there was some sort of way to for real block children from viewing adult content cuz i did NOT need to see excessively over the top irl gore, lolicon manga and beastality at the ages of 11-15 :| curiosity for real kills the cat! XP

Now the thing about curiosity killing the cat is that a lot of the time the cat get around the barrier. Most extreme materials generally come with a warning, or tend to be obvious enough from a glance it's inappropriate, most teens just breeze right pass the warning, "yeah, yeah, I'm 18".

Like, really, there's no way to legally barricade adult content without IDing users, like bars, which would be a big privacy breech.

(Manga scanlation sites tend to just toss the adult stuff together with the shonens/shoujos unlike actual porn sites which has huge flashing "YOU MUST BE 18 TO ENTER" and that is a problem... but, well... manga scanlations are also illegal in the first place and the nature of piracy demands deregulation.)

So... let's reframe the question away from "less/more parental control" to "how parental control?" Cause that might be a more useful question from a parenting perspective.

How would you wish your parents have protected you from things you shouldn't have seen without making you uncomfortable for looking at "bad stuff", esp considering their values might not be your own? Like, right now, most of us would assume our own values are correct, but our children might disagree with that. With that in mind, if you think of yourself in the role of a parent, how would you do it?

[yfu]

ie turnabout: If you don't want to leave us on a cliffhanger but can't commit to a full scanlation, would a transcript + link to raws be easier for you? We appreciate all your hard work and dedication, but please don't stress yourself out.

Thanks for your concern! Long post incoming.

Seriously I love Turnabout and it's only 4 volumes (starts frothing at the mouth). While v1-3 raws are easy to find and I shouldn't have to spoonfeed you, v4 hasn't been ripped yet except by a friend of mine which is why I have them, however I am uncomfortable sharing these unedited because, well, they cost money!

Sorry as I am answering this message I just finished translating up to chapter 4 of v2. If anything the lack of attention this project has gotten made me really stubborn. Realistically, I could finish this in like, a week if I wanted to, but its mind-numbing work.

To not get into it too much, since I work solo, my workflow is a bit crazy. I'll read once, then sit down to translate with a rough script (generally both literal and localized translations), then I clean all the speech bubbles, EDIT THE SCRIPT AS I TYPESET while also comparing to the original JP dialogue, then proofread like 3 times, then edit again. I actually proofread multiple times, staggering releases so I can go reread with fresh eyes or get someone else's opinion.

So the problem is that I'm editing the stuff to fit as I'm typesetting, making sure it looks good, makes sense, and isn't too literal. Just the raw script would read like shit. It is very hard for me to read script without matching it to the pictures since it's just dialogue, it just doesn't capture the raw feeling. I also think it would take more time for me to format the script so it's legible than if I just typeset it outright. That's why there are teams of people who work on a single series. I'm a bit backwards and take some pride in my work, as much as any other group does. lol.

I'll just stop if I don't feel like it anymore. And no, I don't accept typesetting/editing/whatever else help because of my weird workflow, and I don't want to make commitments to anyone but myself.

edit: you know what would be faster? If the people who have it in English typed out the script from their copies.

[richardsondavis]

So I started reading Jujutsu Kaisen and I know that I am pro-official translation but this time, I'll have to concede to my roots. I'm going back to the scanlations of JJK and to my surprise it's by JaiminisBox whom I regard as one of the greats of my scanlation years. When I was reading MHA I got to see them and they were great. And the fact that they don't have a watermark is just GOATED. Sad to see that they went down the drain when Shueisha launched its own app.

I'm not much for mangastream. Mostly because I find their Chainsaw Man translation to be the cause of that Twitter drama but then again, why would I get affected by this drama. It makes me uncomfortable, yes but it shouldn't worry me much. I know myself and I know what I like so I'll stick to my principles.

Okay, back to JJK. I was just interested to see what it was but the first chapter isn't really doing it for me. Maybe it's because it's just D.Gray-Man but more shounen.

[askthestampedes]

REPORT OF THE DAY.  I already have this established  in my rules but just in case ;- I only reference the OFFICAL TRANSLATION by dark horse for Trigun / Trigun maximum when it comes to manga content!

I have provided a link to read the official dark horse translation online in my rules! As most, if not all, search results turn up the scanlation version!

I do not in any way acknowledge or condone the scanlation (the scanlation I’m refereeing to is the one that features credit pages in association with #mangaproject / ‘A maximum 7 release’.)It is riddled with content not true to the original Japanese text (e.g. dialogue being inserted that was never there to begin with.) And parts of the scanlation are also based on the original magazine publishing for Trigun maximum which had numerous sequences  altered for the official releases and so, not the true canonical version of trigun!

The official by dark horse isn’t perfect, but is of superior quality automatically to the state of this fan scanlation. I say this with utmost honesty because this was how I experienced the manga and was left confused / disproving of the quality untill I learnt this was a un-official fan scanlation.

The only fan translation I am willing to acknowledge (or recommend) is the @trigun-manga-overhaul project! A translation project that desires to release the best possible version of the manga for fans to read. All Whilst respecting Nightows original vision and the original Japanese dialogue so as to do the manga justice! Please support this fan translation over the scanlation any day.

[flopity-flips]

Regarding the Translation of Visions of V...

As some of you may know, for quite some time, there have been two translations for Visions of V; one by my friend Zolvios and I, and one by blackened-angel/cloudi_skye on Tumblr/Twitter. Recently, some negative things have been coming to light about her. I never shared here because I didn’t find the time to, but considering the fact that there is a new chapter today, I figured I could share my experience with her here.

For context, this is the original thread that started it all:

In this thread, you can see a certain pattern of behavior that I’ll get into in just a moment.

She’s been displaying this behavior since Summer of 2020:

In September of 2020, @Zolvios and I began chatting casually. Eventually, we got into discussing VoV. I asked them for the raws to read a chapter before it came out in English (as I speak Japanese) and we proceeded to talk about the scanlating/localization process. They explained to me that they translate from Korean because it's what they're more comfortable with, but that they're ALWAYS open to corrections and edits from people familiar with Japanese.

They then get into Claudia. Claudia had vagued Zol and their translations SEVERAL times leading up to her decision to translate VoV herself. As the screenshots of my convo with Zol about her says, what she's doing is considered VERY rude in the community, yet she still did it. This is a prime example of her repeated behaviors; instead of reaching out to Zol to correct them or even WORK WITH THEM, she decided to vague them then go on to make her own translation and CONTINUE to vague them, esppecially when their chapters got more attention than hers.

 And it's quite obvious she behaves like this to try and stomp out any dissent or competition by grating on them mentally and playing these silly mind games. Her behavior to Nerd Armoury, the OP of the thread at the beginning of this post, eerily echoes her behavior to Zol a year ago.

Aside from her shitty behavior to Zol, it should be stated that, from at the very least where I'm sitting, her translations are very lackluster; she leaves several grammatical errors in her translations and her typesetting leaves a lot to be desired.  

Additionally, she leaves in honorifics, which isn’t inheritly bad, but DMC does not take place in Japan; it makes little sense to leave them in. Her TL feels closer to a direct, rough translation rather than something CAPCOM would actually put out, which is what Zol and I aim for.

To address what she said about me in the screenshots in the initial Nerd Armoury  thread, that I harass aritsts and that I act superior because I make mods: I will admit I can come off as whiny and opinionated, but I have NEVER gone out of my way to harass any artist. If I see an artist post something I don't like or agree with, I either mute or block them. Simple as that. They do their thing and I do mine. I don't find it worth it mentally or time-wise to argue with or harass people on things like different opinions or artwork/topics I don't like/am uncomfortable with. If I get bad vibes or see something I don't like, I block. Simple as that.

And I make mods for fun. I never like to pretend I'm better than anyone else because I can make mods or for any reason; anyone can learn to make mods. If I've ever given anyone the vibe that I am superior, then I'd like to apologize for that.  I understand I have a skillset some people don't, but it's a skill that anyone can learn and I know that it doesn't make me more special or better than anyone else because I invested my time to learn that skill.

Everything I do is in good fun and to try and make other people happy and excited, not belittle them; however, I will also admit that I do have a spotty memory, so if I ever have displayed either of those behaviors, please tell me! I'm more than willing to apologize for them.  I will say, though, that I've grown and learned a lot since summer of last year and even just summer of this year, and I've moved past a lot of my whiny/opinionated behaviors. And I'm still growing and I'm ready to grow more as a person.

To conclude, I'd like to say that you can take my anecdotes and Nerd Armoury 's anecdotes to draw your own conclusions about Claudia. Regardless of her work, however, it's important to acknowledge her behavior and ask why she creates her translations. For passion? Or clout?

I know she will be reading this one way or another in spite of my blocking her here. And Claudia: speaking from one translator to another, it's clear you have a passion for the language and culture. I'm more than willing to hash things out privately and come to an agreement! I'd love to have someone to talk to about Japanese language and translation and I'd even love to be able to work together on something. But I don't think that will happen unless something changes. Which is why I'm sharing this story here too.

Aditionally, regarding what she said about me, if anyone at all feels I have wronged or hurt them, then feel free to reach out to me on here or any of my side accounts to have a chat. Im always open to criticsm on my actions and I'm amenable to discussion and apologizing for any wrongdoing.  If, after this situation, you don't want to support her or her translations, you are more than welcome to follow myself and/or Zolvios to keep up with VoV and any future DMC translation projects either of us plan to work on. Zol isn't active but I'm always gonna be here!

If anyone has any questions, they can feel free to reply or send an ask;  I can't promise I will reply to everyone, as I can only dedicate so much mental and emotional energy to this situation, but it's already bore on me so heavily emotionally since 2020; as someone prideful of her own translations, I find it upsetting to see someone who acts so awfully to other people get their translations uplifted and elevated in such a large way by her fans and other fans.

[ineveraskedforanyofthis]

12/18/21 - Chapters 22 & 23 are out!

Hello again, everyone! This upload is a little late.

The two-parter Chapter 22 and Chapter 23 should be out on MangaDex right now. One more anime episode down means a lot more closer to manga-only content!

For the most part, I like to upload multi-chapter episodes together but I’ll still keep a weekly upload schedule; so, that means I’m gone for two weeks and I’ll post the last chapter of this volume on the third week (December 31th January 1st).  REMINDERS: I’ve been forgetting to mention that I haven’t been using apostrophes this entire volume as a test. If it looks better, than I’ll stop using them from now on. Tell me how it looks using this strawpoll: https://www.strawpoll.me/45865445

Also, I haven’t gotten any responses for volunteers yet. I suppose that’s how it goes. Please know that a small amount of help can go a long way for me and my scanlations especially for the upcoming chapters that I feel uncomfortable  with my translations as-is. I will continue posting the ad below.

That’s it. Thank you all again for reading this manga along with me and I hope my scanlation is passable. Please let me know any way that I can improve upon it.

-agnyS

(STILL LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEER PEER-REVISER/QUALITY CONTROL PLEASE: if you’re interested, please make a tumblr account and send me a PM where we’ll talk further from there. You should do it... NOW!

Reason: In my quest to ensure nothing gets lost in translation, I feel like I’m not quite achieving that “certain quality” of translation into natural English. I would like to ask for additional help in checking that the English translations are natural (something real people would say in context) and keeping with its original source/meaning.

Qualifications: - Knows how to speak English. (Any level but the more, the better.) - Able to communicate (not even efficiently or super responsive. Just having notifications and “getting to it when you get to it” would be super nice.) - At least a little serious (please).

Responsibilities: Step 1) Reads chapter before I upload it to Mangadex. Step 2) Spot cringy/stupid/”no one would ever say that” dialogue. Step 3.1) Offer more natural replacements to dialogue. (Most necessary step but I’m not forcing you too hard.) Step 3.2) Be open to any important nuances that must be kept in the dialogue (if necessary, I’ll point out these language nuances after your initial offer.) (optional) Step 4) fan-girl about the manga/anime. ;_;

Pros: - Gets chapters (a little) earlier but maybe in a compromised quality. - Credited in the credit page (only if you want to…) - Gets to help share this manga with the English-speaking world (That’s kind of my whole motto for scanlation…) with just minimum effort and base-level/everyday knowledge! - Even if you absolutely hate this manga with a burning passion, there’s possible satisfaction in realizing a work of fiction to its fullest potential! - Even if there’s time-zones, I’ll respond in the next 12-hours 95% of the time!

Cons: - No pay for obvious reasons. (I’m not getting paid either…) - Could potentially make the scanlation worse? (I may be doing this by myself enough; who knows???) - Has to do work… (and work with me as my brain gradually degrades as I tackle the problem of knowing multiple languages and only taking the worst away from each one until I’m only a blob of stupidity.)

Do it for him.)

[chrisemrysfics]

Its totally before I saw again the extended first time scene in MDZS, and saw all over again all the things that make me actually appreciate the way its written, because, its meant to be awkward! Its two people first time! They, however, shows signs of being comfortable with each other (laughing, playing along once there’s confirmation its okay, etc).

There’s also a lot of subtle ways that they check in with each other if its okay, as well as the forgiving of the first (stolen) kiss. The check in is so, so important and subtly hint as to why they can have kinks like they do, because it shows they don’t just go once “yeah okay” and no more consent check, Lan Wangji, as the one “in position of control”, make sure to check in multiple times that the consent is still given!

Obviously, as I show the lines, some smut mention/line ahead!

From Exiled Rebels Scanlation, about Wei Wuxian realizing who stole his first kiss:

“…” Lan WangJi’s voice sounded muffled, “I, back then, knew I was wrong. Very wrong.”

Wei WuXian recalled how Lan WangJi broke a tree in half alone in the woods when he later found him, “That was why you were so mad?”

Wei WuXian thought he was mad about someone else. He had no idea that Lan WangJi was mad at himself—mad that he acted upon his urges, that he couldn’t control himself, that he took advantage of another in a way that was neither righteous nor abiding by his sect rules.

Seeing how low Lan WangJi’s head was buried, almost as if he was reflecting upon his mistakes again, Wei WuXian scratched his chin, “Alright, stop struggling so much. Well, I’m beyond happy that you kissed me so early. It was my first kiss, after all. Congratulations, HanGuang-Jun.”

Wei Wuxian immediate forgiving, to Lan Wangji admitting he was wrong, as well as Wei Wuxian understanding how Lan Wangji usually control himself, but had a lapse of control back then (which Wei Wuxian understands what it feels like!)

As he kissed the firm abdomen and ventured down, a few thin strands of hair slid off his shoulders and teased at the dangerous area along with his soft, thin breaths. Lan WangJi seemed like he couldn’t take it any longer. He reached to grab Wei WuXian’s shoulder, but Wei WuXian caught his wrist instead, “Don’t move, I told you already. I’ll do it.”

He pulled off his hair tie to refasten his somewhat disheveled hair before bending down again. Lan WangJi realized what he wanted to do. With a slightly unsettled expression, he lowered his voice, “No.”

Wei WuXian, “Yes.” He gently took Lan WangJi into his lips.

Making sure to not bite Lan WangJi with his teeth, he carefully wrapped him inside his mouth. As he tried to swallow as deeply as possible, he felt a bit strained with it rubbing against his throat. Lan WangJi noticed his discomfort at once and reached out to push him away, worried that he was forcing himself, “Enough.”

Wei WuXian moved his hand away and started to slowly suck on it.

Lan WangJi, “You…”

Note that Lan Wangji hadn’t realized at first what Wei Wuxian would do! This means “he couldn’t take it any longer” refers to him being, in fact, turned on, and is trying to stop Wei Wuxian before he looses control and does something... only for then to realize that Wei Wuxian is, in fact, leading him to do something on that nature. The “no” is likely because Lan Wangji is worried, as he shows it again later that he worries if Wei Wuxian is comfortable!

With the most sensitive part of his body held inside warm, moist lips and treated with such effort, it was terribly tormenting just for Lan WangJi to control himself from doing some awful act of violence.

This confirms earlier points, Lan Wangji is trying to control himself! Which is, funnily, the exact same thing he did while drunk, which suggest that either he wasn’t as drunk as he let on, or he was, but even then, what he cared about was making sure he didn’t do anything Wei Wuxian didn’t want to do (which Wei Wuxian very much indicated he wanted to, especially with his line about liking when Lan Wangji gets angry)

Wei WuXian had viewed quite the selection of pornography, but he hadn’t seen any on the topic of homosexuality. He never thought he had such interests or was curious about it, and thus he naturally thought that was all there was to the love-making between men—kissing, hugging, at most with hands or lips. As he was pressed onto the ground by Lan WangJi, being massaged finger by finger, he finally managed to realize that it wasn’t the case. On top of the slight pain, he found it somewhat surprising and perhaps funny as well.

But at the addition of the third finger, Wei WuXian couldn’t laugh any longer.

He was already feeling quite sore and uncomfortable, yet the three fingers were still quite a few sizes smaller than what he’d been swallowing. He interrupted, “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, uh, s-stop for a bit. Is it really alright like this? You sure you didn’t get it wrong? It’s here? I think it’s a bit…”

But it seemed like Lan WangJi was no longer able to listen to Wei WuXian’s words, curtly muffling Wei WuXian’s mouth with his own.

Sinking down, he thrust inside.Wei WuXian widened his eyes. His legs sprang up. The two lay flesh against flesh, their hearts and their breaths racing.

Lan WangJi’s voice was hoarse, “… Sorry… I could not hold back.”

Seeing his blood-shot eyes, clearly from holding himself back, Wei WuXian knew that it was all because of his teasing. He clenched his teeth, “Don’t hold back if you can’t… Then what should I do now?”

Honestly that’s peak inexperienced, first time experience right here. Lan Wangji knows what to do, and while he “can’t hold himself back”, he takes the time to prepare Wei Wuxian. As for Wei Wuxian, he quickly understand what is being done, why, and again, Lan Wangji apologize, Wei Wuxian realize its because he teased him, and express consent properly. The thing is: Wei Wuxian did understand a few moments ago! He simply asked “you’re sure its like this?” when he felt how it was with three fingers, so if Lan Wangji was uncertain, he would have stopped. Then, Wei Wuxian expressing consent cement he’s okay with this.

Lan WangJi, “… Does it hurt?”

Arms clinging to him, Wei WuXian couldn’t help from shivering, holding back tears, “Yes, it’s my first time—of course it hurts.”

With this, he felt Lan WangJi grow harder within his body.

One could easily imagine what it’d feel like when the soft, fragile insides were forcefully invaded by a hard, foreign object. But the moment he thought of how Lan WangJi reacted to just those simple words of his, Wei WuXian burst out with a laugh again.

As a man, he knew how uncomfortable Lan WangJi felt right now, stuck inside yet still constraining himself from forcing his way in. Wei WuXian felt his heart go soft. He took the initiative to draw his neck forwards, whispering by his ear, “Lan Zhan, my good Lan Zhan, Er-gege, I’ll tell you what to do. Kiss me right now. It won’t hurt if you kiss me…”

Again, this is peak first time experience, its actually great that they’re portraying having some laughter, and being a bit awkward about it! And again, Wei Wuxian takes note that Lan Wangji is really trying, he only pushed a bit more inside, and Wei Wuxian feels soft and offer what he feels can help (Lan Wangji told him to relax too, earlier, when he asked).

Lan WangJi began to thrust, while Wei WuXian shut his eyes tightly, gasping to fix his breaths to Lan WangJi’s motions. When he was just getting used to the overwhelming object, Wei WuXian moved his hips involuntarily and a sudden bout of pleasure ripple from down below, crawling across his whole body through his spine.

Wei WuXian immediately discovered how to enjoy such a position. He buried his hands inside Lan WangJi’s sweat-drenched hair, lifting the forehead ribbon as he grinned, his voice velvet,  “… Does it feel good? Inside me?”

This comes after a brief moment where Wei Wuxian noticed the brand and asked about it, so there’s also a lovely part where s/ex isn’t just about the act, but also intimacy (being close), and here we see Wei Wuxian finally finding how it feels good, and immediately teasing Lan Wangji, knowing now what it can do!

Here I found a translation for extended scene here!

We see Wei Wuxian tease restlessly Lan Wangji, who gets more into it, and when Wei Wuxian start to whine as if its too much, this happen:

Drops of sweat dripped down from the ends of Lan Wangji’s hair. This person habitually impassive to the point of coldness betrayed at that moment a discomfit expression as if he was on the brink of falling apart, “Are you really begging or are you… purposely… Your hips! Stop writhing!”

Wei Wuxian raised his head and yelled at the top of his voice, “Someone! Help! Hanguang-Jun is… ah! Hanguang-Jun… I can’t anymore…”

As Lan Wangji kissed away the tears he had wrung from Wei Wuxian, he uttered through gritted teeth, “… Wei Ying, I am… speaking seriously, do not do that again. I… I will truly… lose control. I fear I… Sorry.”

Even at such a time, with a flush spread across his face, he did not forget to apologise, his brows were slightly knitted and his countenance remorseful. Hearing this, Wei Wuxian’s heart softened and ached from the havoc he had wreaked, he said gently, “Why are you saying sorry? Even if it hurts, I’m still glad because it’s you doing it… aah…”

The two of them were drenched all over in glistening sweat. Wei Wuxian had always forgotten the taste of pain as soon as his injuries had healed. Despite having just suffered the consequences of his actions, he soon opened his mouth again to pant some more nonsense, “Hey, Lan Zhan… I just remembered, you are done for. We’re still missing the last of the three bows, we’re not married yet. Do you know what is called doing this kind of thing outside marriage? If your uncle knew… ah… he’d drown you in a pond.”

Lan Wangji’s tone was almost ferocious, “… I was done for long ago!”

Lan Wangji, who has seen Wei Wuxian tease him, but also hears him seemingly complain, first ask “are you serious or is it teasing”, and when Wei Wuxian continues, which would indicate that he means he’s just teasing, Lan Wangji wants to make sure so he speaks more clearly, and understanding, Wei Wuxian stop teasing for a bit to reassure him, then start again, this time they both understand he’s teasing!

Also, this section is why its actually possible the whole dream of noncon might be post canon, rather than a dream teen Lan Wangji had!

Wei Wuxian became aware that a warm liquid was trickling down from the part of his lower body where they were connected together but he kept rambling a steady torrent of obscenities in Lan Wangji’s ear, “Your strength is so great that I would have had no way to resist. If I shouted, you could have silenced me and no one would have heard my muffled cries. Your Sect’s Library Pavilion isn’t bad either, we could have spread some books on the floor and rolled around on them. We could have laid out some erotic pictures and compared positions, any position would have been fine. I would bully you during the day and you would bully me at night. You’d fuck my brains out as soon as the door closed… Ge! Ge! Er-gege! Spare me! Mercy, please spare me. Fine, fine, I’ll stop talking, you’re amazing, you’re the best. I can’t bear it anymore, I really can’t, don’t be like this…”

And finally:

The veins lining Lan Wangji’s forehead slightly stood out. He forced his words out, articulating clearly each of them, “… If you truly wish to stop… then hold your tongue and stop talking…”

Wei Wuxian said, “But I have a tongue so I can’t help using it. Lan Zhan, what I’ve said before about me wanting to go to bed with you everyday, can you pretend you never heard it?”

Lan Wangji replied, “I cannot.”

Wei Wuxian’s heart shattered at this, “How can you be like this? You’ve never refused me anything before.”

Lan Wangji smiled faintly, “I cannot.”

At the sight of this smile, Wei Wuxian’s eyes lit up, he felt for an instant as if he had ascended and he lost track of his surroundings.

However, the next moment, a stream of tears was forced out of the corners of Wei Wuxian’s eyes by the fierce movements that were at odds with this smile like the pure light reflected by the snow.

Hands clutching the grass, he shouted himself hoarse, “Then four days, let’s make it once every four days, all right? If four days won’t do then three is also fine!”

Finally, Lan Wangji concluded in a powerfully resolute voice, “Everyday means everyday.”

Lan Wangji, once more, take the time to confirm this is really okay, and Wei Wuxian, by speaking more, in this tease-begging manner, confirms. If he was serious, he would have done as before! He would have softened, or clearly said to stop, earlier he clearly stated “you don’t have to be sorry”

And the last few lines is Lan Wangji returning the teasing Wei Wuxian has done~!

[emptymanuscript]

His [Wei WuXian's] expression and tone were as kind as those of a grandmother who wanted to put on a jacket for her grandson. Jin Ling leaned against the wall with disheveled hair, “I am not a cut-sleeve!!!” Wei WuXian beamed, “What a coincidence—I am!!!”

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Chapter 23 Malice—Part One, Translation by K.san on Exiled Rebels Scanlations

It’s interesting, while I was 90% sure Wei WuXian was being a smart ass before he claimed to be only joking a couple of paragraphs down, for some reason this strikes me as much more real than most of the other things that happen.

It’s interesting because Wei WuXian is ALWAYS trying to get a rise out of people. The man is a tease. Like it’s part of his soul. And it’s not like this is the most extreme of his behaviors. He crawls into Lan Wangji’s bed and yells out in the mornings that Lan Wangji has taken him so hard he can’t get out of bed. This is mild stuff.

And yet, I don’t know, this is the first time that Wei WuXian himself has said he’s gay. And he’s not teasing it in a, hey aren’t you attracted to me, let’s get naked together and make out, Jin Ling has caught Wei WuXian in the act of putting his clothes ON for him. There’s something really different to me in this line of mockery. Yes, he is trying to make Jin Ling uncomfortable, because that what Wei WuXian does, but it feels much more like a mockery of identity than merely to fluster Jin Ling.

I don’t know, it just reads to me like the spouting off of a confession in a ridiculous way so you can see the other person’s reaction first and then claim you’re just joking if it doesn’t hit right.

Though, maybe I’m reading too much into it.

[domeyashiro]

Hello, I have some question for you today, it might not be seazuru related, can be say it’s just my curiosity. Since your blog is quite big for an foreign saezuru’s fan i assumed that a lots of people have reach this blog more than others which mean you may get Lots of saezuru related Q. Have you ever sometime skip the Q and not answering them? If yes why? Is it because the informations are still not show up yet or there is others reason for you? Forgive me if you’re uncomfortable to ans. this.

Yes, all the time. Unfortunately there’s no way for me to reply to all the messages I get, usually because I simply don’t have enough time. So when I do find some time, I tend to pick questions that would be of interest to more people than just the person who’s asking, or questions that I personally find interesting and would like to think/ write about. Sometimes I simply choose questions that I can quickly reply to. It really depends on how much time I have in that moment. I also tend to keep encouraging messages in my inbox because it’s nice to see them again and again. So thank you to everyone who sent one in the past! I appreciate them all!

There’s only one type of message I don’t reply to on principle, which is stuff like “Where can I read the new chapter / watch the movie for free? / When will the new chapter be uploaded?“ and so on, because a) I don’t know and b) I don’t want to know. I’m here to offer info and whatever I can share without working against Yoneda-sensei’s interests. I don’t mind putting my own work like summaries, or translations of tweets / older interviews online, but I will not help anyone pirate Yoneda-sensei’s works, even if every single one of you bought a copy afterwards. First of all, as a professional translator I feel it would be unethical of me to ignore the author’s will. But above all, artists are human beings like you and me. They have every right to decide what happens with their work. Like I have the right to decide what goes on this blog. So unless a mangaka explicitely states “Go ahead and share my work for free” (which I’ve never seen btw), I will assume that they are not happy with me uploading their stuff, or me telling people where to download their works for free (because I have seen plenty of mangaka and publishers speak up against scanlations). So I will not do it. Please respect that this is where I draw the line.

Don’t get me wrong. I know exactly what it’s like to want to know how your favorite series continues as quickly as possible. I’ve started learning Chinese for that reason this year. And I won’t pretend I’ve never read a scanlation either. I might have even translated a manga or two as a student for the local website of a friend. (Luckily, back then aggregator sites weren’t a thing yet, so I can only hope that barely anyone saw my translations.) But the more I learned and the more I saw of the industry, the more I understood that I was treating the artists like I knew better than them what was best for them (aka ”Spread the love!!!”). But I did not. I knew nothing, not about their working conditions, or about their financial situation, or the details of their contracts. There was literally no way for me to tell if or how what I was doing was affecting them. Which is why I stopped and never looked back.

Over the years I’ve seen a lot and learned as much as I could, and in the process I’ve come to firmly believe that the artist has to be the first priority of any fandom. Because without artists there would be no fandom! Manga should be fun for everyone. But if we sacrifice the creators for the sake of keeping the fandom happy, we’ll only end up with less creators in the long run. They deserve to have fun too. And I’m not here to take it from them.

Sorry if this has gotten a little off topic. I’ve never really talked about this before, because I was hoping that my blog would speak for itself. But since people keep asking me where to download stuff, I felt that I had to make it clear once and for all where I stand on this issue.

[magioftheseas]

Observations about Tsukasa

Tsukasa really is a weird and controversial character and while I get this would happen with his status as a villain regardless of his actual personality, I still feel obligated to point out some things about him that people seem to overlook.

Tsukasa’s backstory is still almost a complete mystery but I would argue his personality is strong enough that one can have a fairly good idea of his character. The thing about Tsukasa is that while a lot about him is unclear, what is clear is that he’s very, very immature and childish.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in children’s behavior. So, if I make mistakes or inaccurate assumptions, forgive me. And of course because we live in a society, I have to bring up incest as a topic. Bah.

For some of these translations I’d like to credit @just-a-little-hanako-obsessed​ and @jibakukarasu​. 

So, let’s review.

Tsukasa, like a lot of children, is often motivated by the fact that he can, so he will.

This in particular vaguely reminds me of Undertale, which has this very notable quote. It’s important to note that while this is directed to the player who can be of any age, the player character is a child.

no matter what, you'll just keep going. not out of any desire for good or evil... but just because you think you can. and because you can... you have to.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that Tsukasa is someone who defies the idea of order. He, in his own words, believes that people and apparitions should do whatever they want.

What a rebellious child!

Another thing about Tsukasa that shows his childishness is how he’s pretty literal-minded. He doesn’t pick up on implied meaning nor suggestions.

He also shows a very simplistic way of thinking, one void of consideration towards social cues and what is or isn’t socially appropriate.

Honestly, Tsukasa’s relationship with Sakura is pretty...different to the usual as well. Because Sakura is Nene’s foil, you’d think her relationship with Tsukasa would have hints of romantic tension in at least a similar way.

But while Tsukasa is similarly clingy as Hanako is, there’s zero tension in that regard. In fact...

This approach more or less de-sexualizes Tsukasa, diminishing his potential as a lover/partner and instead literally putting him on the level of a domesticated pet, specifically a cat, which...while they can be trained, they’re still notoriously fickle and prone to doing as they please.

Not dissimilar to young children!

Fun fact: cats bond with humans in a way very similar to how babies bond with their guardians! It’s true! Here’s a video on the matter!

Although note that cats are also known for hunting for pleasure rather than necessity. Still not dissimilar to children, tbh, even the more normal ones because it’s not uncommon to be especially dickish to bugs when you’re younger. I know I in particular was prone to kicking over anthills. Like. All the time. I don’t anymore. Ants bite.

More on Tsukasa and...uh...sexuality??? I guess??? We should compare him to his brother in this regard... I... I guess.

Hanako’s definitely a pervert with a thick leg fetish. Like, it’s not up for debate. A lot of comedic relief involves his perverse tendencies.

Let’s compare this to Tsukasa. First of all, as shown before, we already know that his response to this would be along the lines of “can’t you do all that already?” and would not understand why you...shouldn’t. Rather than dwelling on that, let’s look at this scene.

Compared to Hanako, Tsukasa’s interest in sexual things is pretty...pure??? I guess??? While he is curious, he’s not really perverse. Even when admitting to flipping Sakura’s skirt, he does so in a way that screams childish. He doesn’t display the kind of excitement a guy with sexual interests would have, it’s just matter-of-fact and you could easily call it even innocent.

He just wants to know about these things because he’s heard about them and the supposed significance of such gestures, not because he himself has any personal interest in them.

But speaking of Amane... Yeah, this is definitely the most controversial part of Tsukasa’s character. And while I’ve analyzed their relationship before, I’m not...really all for discussing the extent of weird shit going on between them, up to and especially the suggestive overtones because goddamn do I not want to be involved in The Discourse, but uNFORTUNATELY it’s relevant so I’m gonna have to bring it up.

How to do so in the least awkward way...

Okay so, Tsukasa’s fixation on his brother sure is a thing. There’s definitely an intent to make it uncomfortable on some level. Villainous incest is, unfortunately, a popular trope. One that I am not going to analyze here because I don’t want to. BUT, there are other tropes about inappropriate sibling relationships that are also pretty prevalent in Japanese media.

For one thing, the inappropriately attached sibling is often inappropriately attached due to immaturity.

“I want to marry my big brother!” isn’t an uncommon sentiment among “imoutos” and even Hanako-kun has a scene playing into it.

(It’s not scanlated, sorry, but I swear to god the line “I’m gonna marry big bro when I get older” is somewhere in here.)

But yeah while some probably see Tsukasa’s attachment to his brother in a villainous light, I argue that there’s an intent to frame it as childish/immature as well, especially in their later interactions.

Building on the mention that Tsukasa is pretty much lacking in any open sexual interest beyond the purely childish curiosity, I think we are supposed to view Tsukasa’s attachment to Hanako/Amane in a similar manner. That the reason why Tsukasa is so clingy with him is due to immaturity. While it’s still undoubtedly inappropriate, this framing and display of Tsukasa’s attachment as single-minded and immature can be viewed as ultimately innocuous the same way Tiara thinks she’d like to marry Teru in the future. The fact that Tsukasa isn’t possessive (as shown before) also makes me think we aren’t supposed to vilify him for his attachment. It’s really just the rest of Tsukasa’s personality that’s the problem.

Admittedly, the vague relationship history between the twins does make sweeping judgement difficult. So, like, things might change in the future. But this is the vibe I’m getting thus far and I do hope it’s not twisted for shock value later because I don’t think it’d be very good writing, lol.

But yeah, my point is that Tsukasa is really immature and childish. Really, really immature and childish. It comes across in every aspect of his character from his cruelty to his motivations to his attachments. While he’s still a villain, I do think we shouldn’t forget that he’s also...very much a child.

And that maybe this should be heavily considered before jumping to any conclusions.

At least, I think so.

[thiswillcostyourheart]

@fortune-maiden

#CHIBIIIIIIIIS!!!!!!! #Chibis always make everything cuter <33333 #typical Uruu kissing and running (into the boiling water...) #so much passion <3333 #Meanwhile Ran is here to fix the drowning problem forever! #(even though that still doesn't help poor Homura with the lounge chair floaty xD) #but making sure Homura doesn't drown is good too! XD #Ran is looking out for his friends! #(also sensei can i ask you an art question... what font do you use for the text in your comics?) #imtryingtolearnhowtodigitalartalittle >.<

!!!!!!! OHHH YOU ARE TRYING DIGITAL ART HAVE FUN THAT IS SO EXCITING!!!!! \;;W;;/ yes you can ask me an art question ty im so honored!! amnfgdfgd the font i use is anime ace, but i actually recommend wild words bc imo it’s a very clean and clear comic-style font that can also have a more serious feel to it... (they are both used in manga and scanlations though) the reason i used anime ace originally is that i wanted a “casual” feel ....iirc anime ace is free for personal and non-profit use, you might want to check on permissions tho bc i didnt research this enough;; >.< (ngl it can take me 1-2 hours or even all day just to arrange the type on longer comics OTL;;)

(i actually work digitally only for lines and coloring, i sketch traditionally bc ive always felt i have greater control over an actual pencil than the stylus ...which brings me to the point that im in the market for a new sketchbook brand bc my favorite brand became unavailable, im currently trying a new one but im not liking it as much OTL;; im used to a5 size but it’s taller and narrower which is making me uncomfortable.. luckily since it also has fewer pages than im used to, all this f-ran art is causing me to go through it quickly akvhsghd)

RAN IS LOOKING OUT FOR HIS FRIENDS YES YOU GET IT!!! XD (idk why but i got the impression ran was a bit protective of the group?) “still doesn’t help poor Homura with the lounge chair floaty” XDDD TRUE!!!! hopefully this does fix the drowning problem forever!! he just has to wear it at all times for the rest of his life!! XD (OMG homura sitting on the lounge chair while wearing the inner tube XDDD just don’t let him flip over the wrong way upside-down!! nooo)

uruu kissing and running INTO THE BOILING WATER YES I LOVE THIS DESCRIPTION!!!!! XDDD YAAAAAY IM SO HAPPY THE CHIBIS ARE CUTE!!! \;;W;;/ IT MADE ME SO HAPPY YOU GOT SO EXCITED FOR THEM!!! AAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THESE LONG HEARTS!!!! /)/////(\💕💕💕💕 TYSM YOUR DESCRIPTIONS ARE ALWAYS SOOO CUTE!!!! \>/////</

[trans-axian-archive]

hey, hi! sorry, I'm kinda new to the fandom and I've now seen some hate against the fantranslation team, but never with really any explanation so... if you don't mind me asking, what did they do wrong exactly?

oh goodness okay I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask about this but I will try my best. the hate being directed at exiled rebels scanlations comes from a few different places, I'll break them down simple as possible:

(quick warning that I mention homophobia, rape, and pedophilia in this)

- the biggest and I guess most "popular" reason is the way they have translated several parts of mdzs. there are lots on instances in which they make things more sexual or just... needlessly homophobic. I don't speak or read chinese, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but remember seeing a post explaining that lan wangji and wei wuxian are not referred to in the original text as husband and wife, the term for 'married couple' is used instead - the term is made from the characters for husband and wife but doesn't translate directly as that and is the closest thing to a gender neutral phrase that there is, but exiled rebels scanlations refers to lan wangji and wei wuxian very specifically (and I believe on several occasions) as husband and wife which is... incredibly homophobic. I can't speak about this in any specific terms, but I've also heard several people mention the translation being more fetishy/sexualized than the original text

- this is a related reason, but mxtx puts a lot of fetishy homophobic stuff in her writing, specifically mdzs. she has very questionable consent in a lot of the sexual scenes and even goes so far as to write a blatant rape scene that borders on pedophilia in one of the extras. she Needlessly makes ancient chinese society homophobic, despite the fact that, historically, being gay was widely accepted and considered normal for the most part. she's said on Several occasions that lan wangji and wei wuxian are The Only Gay People In All Of Mdzs fuckin Somehow and basically has said its impossible for there to be any other gay people in the entirety of the world shes built. people should be critical of mxtx. they should acknowledge the issues in mdzs and her other works. they should understand that she creates a lot of damaging content and they should be uncomfortable with it. exiled rebels scanlations, along with a large part of the fanbase, is very much in support of mxtx and the harmful things she puts in her work. they not only support her but, as I addressed above, add to the issue

- the reason you're probably hearing exiled rebels scanlations hate right now is because they've recently come under fire for posting a "joke" panel of an mdzs manhua strip. I didn't see it, and I don't know what it was, but it made A Lot of people very upset. this comes off as a very vague reason because I don't know the specifics of the incident, but I will say that it doesn't surprise me at all that they would make a "joke" gross enough for them to get enough backlash to react by taking their translation of the mdzs manhua down completely

I hope this helps answer your question and I apologize for not being able to explain to the best or fullest extent !

if anybody else has more to add, or can give more specific examples/proof for things I've mentioned, please feel free to do so! if I've made any mistakes/given incorrect information please correct me!!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

The fanon wiki lists Tsukishima's first appearance to be chapter 13, with Capt. Wada. The anime also shows this as well. The man resembles Tsukishima, but is it really him? In the manga version I'm reading (I'm reading it online so the volume versions might be different), he just looks like a generic soldier. The first truly recognizable Tsukishima can be found in chapter 70, so shouldn't that be his first appearance? (I'm sorry it's hard to understand, I have no idea what I'm talking about.)

It’s a good question.

So let’s clear up some things. The online version uses the volume scans for the first 10 volumes, in short up to chap 100.

They then moved to a scanned version of the magazine version up till chap 152.

From chap 153 onward (if I’m not wrong) they used the digital version of the magazine version.

So scanlations come from the magazine version from chap 101, but quality increases from chap 153 due to them using the digital version of it.

So basically yes, for chap 13 you were reading the volume version.

Now... when do Tsukishima truly appear for the first time?

In chap 70 which is the first time in which we hear someone (Tsurumi in our case) say the name ‘Tsukishima’?

We know for a fact Tsukishima was around earlier than that.

A Japanese fan managed to ask if soldiers that were looking like Tsukishima were his relatives and Noda replied they’re all Tsukishima... even though his name was never mentioned back then.

Question number 5 (30 March 2018)

Q: I’m curious to see a soldier that looks like Sergeant Tsukishima in book 4 chapter 31

& book 5 chapter 46.

Is he a brother of the sergeant?

A: They’re all Tsukishima. [Translation from Golden Kamuy Central]

Sadly he didn’t ask about the guy in chap 13 but the fact that those guys are all Tsukishima though, confirms that Tsukishima was around prior to chap 70 but the character design for Tsukishima wasn’t established right from the start.

The beard changes shape, the clothes vary.

This lead fans to assume that since Tsukishima was around PRIOR to his official apparition, Tsukishima was meant to be the identity of the following soldiers:

- The guy murdering Wada in chap 13 (same eyes, beard, similar nose although a bit more marked than Tsukishima)

- The soldier with Tsurumi in chap 34 (same face but missing beard)

- and this guy who also appear in chap 46 (same face and same clothes Tsukishima wears in chap 46 but beard missing)

It’s also worth to say that as Noda draws characters in very different ways the fact that those characters are instead VERY SIMILAR seems to support the idea they were meant to be all the same character.

The anime seems to side with fans as it confirmed all the above speculations using Tsukishima instead than a random stock soldier.

Ep 3 (chap 13 scene)

Ep 8 chap 34 scene

Ep 10 chap 46 scene

Tsukishima’s voice seems the one to be used in Ep 2 to tell Tsurumi Ogata has regained consciousness (chap 7 in the manga) but, same as in the manga, we don’t see the speaker.

If the anime confirmed the fan speculation in accordance with Noda or on his own it’s up to speculation as we’ve no idea. What we know is that they had stock soldiers they could have used instead of Tsukishima who, in the first series, didn’t really need to be used as the anime had no idea there would be a second series for quite a while as this is tied with the success of the first series.

Anyway, how common it is for a character design not to be established right from the start?

Common enough although the changes can be small or relevant...

...though I dug into this more in another ask, in which I also analyzed Tsukishima’s character design changes.

Character design changes are sometimes fixed soon, Tsurumi’s design was immediately corrected for the volume version so that in the following chapters he appeared with the right design, Henmi and Usami’s design were fixed the chapter after the one he appeared, but sometimes not to sooon.

Ogata’s character design was changed at his second apparition but there was no way to fix it on the volume version and Noda didn’t even try to do it with the flashbacks showing Ogata in vol 1, Vasily’s character design was fixed only when the chapters were transposed in the volume version in short months after he appeared on the magazine.

It changes from case to case.

But yes, you might argue, who says we should accept, as the anime did, that the guy who drew Wada out and shoot him is Tsukishima? Can’t he be a stock character?

As long as Noda doesn’t confirm it, everything it’s possible and, even if he confirms it, actually everything remains possible, after all Noda even retconned the time in whcih Wilk was jailed and wrote out of the story one of the fake skins so let’s keep in mind this is his story, retcons are an uncomfortable but valid way to fix things in a story and he’s human and can forget details.

Honestly, unless Noda has a better plot in mind for him, I believe it would be detrimental to Tsukishima if that guy were to be a stock character.

Tsukishima is basically Tsurumi’s right-hand man and, since Kikuta is in Noboribetsu and Koito in Abashiri, the higher in rank. It makes sense to send him to Captain Wada, to draw him there, and it makes sense Tsukishima, the higher in rank after Tsurumi, would do that work so as to set an example for the other soldiers.

We know Tsurumi made clear to Tsukishima he would have to do dirty things and Tsukishima agreed.

We know he did dirty things, like taking part to the massacre of all the guards in Abashiri. We know he chased Tanigaki, planning to kill him and, while I like to think he wouldn’t have sunk killing Inkarmat, her unborn baby and Huci, he might have been forced to do it if things were to take the wrong turn. He threatened to kill Koito, he was aware the three Russians would be killed so as they could be considered the culprits of the kidnapping he took part in and he even commented on how they let Ogata kill Hanazawa, clearly aware that the guy would be killed and which consequences this would have for the 7th.

And let’s not forget that Tsukishima knows that Tsurumi wants to go at war with Japan for the ownership of Hokkaido because there’s no way the emperor will let him take Hokkaido without fight.

So it’s not like killing Wada, which for Tsukishima was likely just another pet of the central governement, to protect Tsurumi, is this big of a thing in terms of actions.

However it’s meaningful for us, for the story and for the character that Tsukishima is.

We’ve this guy, this guy who does, as his first thing, something terrible like killing a superior officer, this guy who’s generally around Tsurumi... but we don’t think much of him beyond that he should just be a minion among other minions so we shouldn’t feel concerned about him.

In whatever work no one cares about the soldiers of the ‘bad guy’, they’re just minions whose duty is to do evil and be killed off by the hero... but this applies, in a way also to the soldiers in an enemy army.

Sugimoto himself will say he persuaded himself the Russians were just ‘bad guys without a soul’. We don’t bother thinking at what each soldier in a army felt, which sort of person he was, if he sided with his commander or was forced to take part to that war. They’re all just ‘enemy soldiers’ without a real identity and representing minions as just ‘enemies’ without a real identity is, undoubtedly a narrative expedient but also something that mimicks how humans see the enemy armies.

Only in this story, in Tsukishima’s case, it turns out that minion that killed Wada is not just a minion we shouldn’t care about and could easily forget.

He has a name, he’s a person, a likable person, with feelings, a guy who loves long baths and who feels bad when Edogai dies. A guy who believes Tsurumi’s victory will bring benefits for everyone, a guy who’s capable. And the more the story goes the more this random minion is fleshed out more and more.

In a way Tsukishima stands in for all the minions in Tsurumi’s army.

While the other characters are quickly introduced, we get a name, we get some characteristics, they immediately rise out of the ranks of minions to become characters, Tsukishima doesn’t do it that fast.

It’s impossible for Noda to introduce us to all the 100 minions Tsurumi has, but, Tsukishima’s story in a way reminds us that they are all like him in truth, people with a name, people with feelings who could have a deep backstory behind themselves, who might have noble goals.

Many of us will feel really sad if the minion that Tsukishima is will die.

Plus, showing Tsukishima around, doing tasks and being effectively Tsurumi’s right hand man is a good idea in itself so as to establish Tsukishima as an existing character in the universe and not something Noda pulled out of his hat only at chap 70. Tsukishima existed, did things, was around, Noda showed him around, we were the ones who hadn’t given him the right importance in the beginning.

So yes, not only I believe the one killing Wada is meant to be Tsukishima but I also think it’s a great idea plotwise, one of which the character that’s Tsukishima benefits.

However, unless you consider the anime an official source, so far we’re still without an official confirmation. It might come in the future, it’s possible that Wada was another piece of the Ogata’s rebel group plot or that Wada was actually tied to Kikuta in some form or that Kikuta will just investigate on his fate.

Or maybe Noda will never tell us.

So ultimately it’s up to you decide for yourself.

If you ask me that guy is Tsukishima... but that’s just me.

I hope this will help. Thank you for your ask!