#(i have a soft spot for genki girls)

[isekyaaa]

This game is growing on me at the same rate mildew grows on my bathroom walls

[thee-horny-thicky]

The First Meeting

So, I have a Ko-Fi now, and was commissioned by @mikeyslvrr to do a piece showing when FES Suguru first met Jona. So, here it is! I plan to edit the FES series before moving onto the next fic, and this'll be added. However, until then, enjoy this sneak peak :)

Suguru didn’t consider himself an overly emotional man. Yes, sometimes he struggled to control his anger or was overwhelmed by his lust, but all in all, he maintained control over his emotions. But as he gazed upon his newborn son, still latched onto his mother’s teat, he felt a range of feelings.

Regret for missing the birth of his first child.

Worry; he’d walked in just as you had passed out.  

Pride, knowing that you’d pushed through, and the twins had followed his instructions.

And most of all, an immense joy that his baby boy was in the world, a soft whine leaving him as he greedily suckled the milk Suguru so loved.

You’d given him a son, an heir to the empire he’d one day forge, and he couldn’t be happier.

When the baby gurgled, he took him from your arms, uncaring that your breasts were on full display as he hoisted his son over his shoulder. He’d be perfectly happy if you were always nude in private. The twins didn’t share his sentiments, hurrying to cover your tits as a blush pinkend their pale skin. Once you were decent, the girls began to straighten up, milling about as they worked to return the room to normal.

“What’d she name him?” Suguru asked after a minute of admiring his boy.

Nanako took a break from cleaning up, her brows furrowing and her gaze confused. “Jona?”

Suguru tsked. You’d become smitten with the name, though he’d urged you to consider other options. Jona wasn’t a bad name, per se, but it wasn’t the ideal choice for his seed. He didn’t want to know the gender of the baby, so he’d chosen several options for both sexes. For a son, he would’ve liked Fumihiko, Genki, or Michio. Traditional names that conveyed strength and status. You went with none of them, settling for the mediocre Jona. He’d let you choose the name as you carried the child, and he wanted you to connect with it. Yet, when it was too late, he regretted giving you so much freedom.

“I was hoping she’d reconsider,” he mumbled as he bounced his son.

“I like the name,” Nanako said, returning to helping Mimiko tug away the sullied sheets and towels.

There were so many, he wondered if they had any left in the linen closet.

“Get a cloth for them, too,” Suguru called when they went into the bathroom, presumably to throw everything into the hamper.

He’d have to have a maid do the laundry earlier than usual.

 The twins came back within a minute, each carrying a damp cloth. He smiled at them, the two already model big sisters.

“Do you two mind tending to Yua a little longer?”

He didn’t cherish the thought of anyone else touching you, but the girls were an exception, and he wasn’t quite ready to let go of his son.

Mimiko shook her head. “We got it,” she said, crawling on the bed next to you, beginning to wipe your sweaty skin as Nanako dabbed her cloth on Jona’s little head.

As some of the grime was erased from your soft skin, your eyes fluttered open. You looked at Mimiko through hooded eyes, not making a move to stop her. That was until you realized your infant wasn’t on your chest. You shot up, forcing Mimiko to scramble back.

“Jona, where—”

“I’m holding him, Yua,” Suguru said gently, taking the spot that Mimiko had been occupying seconds before. “He’s alright. You did good, baby.”

“Is he breathing okay?” you asked in a small voice, making his eyes widen.

His confusion quickly turned into suspicion. He narrowed his eyes. “Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Because he wasn’t crying at first. I thought he was dead,” Nanako answered, too casual for his liking. “But Yua made us tap his feet, and everything was okay.”

Panic flared at Nanako’s words. His grip on Jona tightened, the idea that his son may have entered the world dead unbearable.

“Why didn’t you tell me right away?” Suguru demanded.

If something was wrong with his son, that should’ve been the first words out of the girls’ mouths.

Nanako shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the gravity of her revelation. “He’s fine, isn’t he?”

“That’s not the point—”

“Stop arguing with a child over something that’s over with, Suguru,” you ordered, the exhaustion in your voice shutting him up. “He’s fine.”

To confirm your words, he studied Jona’s tiny face, searching for any signs of distress. The gentle rise and fall of his chest verified he was breathing just fine, and he transferred his gaze to you. If there had been complications with Jona, he needed to make sure you were okay, too.  

“And you?”

“Peachy,” you said, your appearance contradicting your sarcastic reply. “I just pushed a baby out. How do you think I am?”

He sighed. Even in such a vulnerable position, you were defensive around him. He was your husband and father of your child. At this point, he expected you to be more docile, yet the best he could hope for was resentful cooperation. Coaxing orgasms from you, tasting your cunt, and burying his length deep inside you, was the only time he felt truly connected to you. Suguru wouldn’t trade you for anyone, but he wished you’d let the past go and embrace him as your lover and superior.

“The sarcasm isn’t necessary, Yua,” he admonished, reaching out and grasping your hand. “I just want to make sure you’re okay, sweetheart.”

Rather than addressing his worry, you scrutinized his loose grip on Jona. “Be careful with him.”

Frustration welled up in him. He was being sweet, he knew he was, yet you still rejected him. Focused on Jona instead of him.

He gritted his teeth and stood, making sure to hold Jona nice and tight like you wanted. “I’ll call your midwife in the morning. Get some rest, Yua.”

The twins bid you goodbye, then began to trail behind him, likely needing rest themselves. His hand grasped the doorknob when Jona sniffled. That sniffle turned into a whine, and within seconds, he was screaming his little head off.

Shit.

He hadn’t realized just how loud babies were.

“Bring him here,” you said, before Suguru had the chance to begin comforting him.

“I got it,” he responded, readjusting Jona so he could rock him with more ease. He looked at the girls. “Go to your rooms. It’s late.”

He received no protest as they opened the door and bounded away, leaving you and him alone with the crying infant. His efforts seemed to be paying off, his sobs turning into soft cries. Still, you weren’t satisfied with letting the argument end.

When were you? He liked how spirited you could be, but your mission to constantly oppose him grew tiring.

“He might need more milk. How long did he stay latched?”

Instead of answering your question, he said, “I said I got it. Do you think I’d hurt our baby?”

His tone was clipped, and he could see annoyance stealing away some of your tiredness.

“I don’t think you’d intentionally hurt him, but I’m not dumb enough to trust you with a child’s wellbeing,” you replied, returning his scowl with a glare. “Now give him to me.

He had much more to say, but it all died on his tongue when Jona cried anew, louder than before. You looked at him pointedly, your eyes narrowed. He considered hoarding the baby for a moment longer, but his heart clenched as his baby wailed. Before you both got raging headaches, he sighed and handed Jona to you. Immediately, you fussed over him, cooing and rocking him. He calmed but didn’t quiet down completely, not until your tits were back in his mouth. Suguru’s lip quirked into a smile. He was a greedy little fella.

Like father, like son, he supposed.

[atitarucore]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

ironically, this is my first ever ask, haha! but, narrowing down all the characters i love is gonna be pretty difficult, so i’ll try to make it the first characters that come to mind, i suppose.

in no particular order, here are the characters i love dearly! for the sake of not being bias toward one series, i tried to only pick one character from each franchise. i also tried to keep it as spoiler-free as i possibly can!

[continue below cut]

1. HARUHI FUJIOKA (ouran high school host club)

when i first watched ohshc and haruhi said, "it's more important for a person to be recognized for who they are rather than what sex they are," i took that and RAN with it.

i think the reason i love haruhi so much is because of our similarities—from personality, to zodiac sign, and even down to favorite food(s) and subject(s). maybe i'm just projecting though, LOL.

2. UKYO SAIONJI (dr. stone)

why is this man so cute.

in all seriousness, i think i love ukyo so much because of his personality. i've always had a soft spot for pacifistic and gentle characters, and truly, he is the ultimate gentleman! such a sweetheart :( i wish to hold him in my arms

3. HIYORI SUZUMI (honeyworks)

my GIRL!! THE GIRLBOSS!!

i'll essentially repeat what i've said before in a previous post—similar to haruhi, i hold hiyori dear to my heart because of her resemblance to me. i admire her hardworking, optimistic, yet still clumsy demeanor. she just like me, fr fr! i think she's just an awesome character and deserves the world.

4. ISHIGAMI YU (kaguya-sama: love is war)

you know, for someone who loves kaguya-sama, i feel like i don't talk about him that much. ishigami yuu is my favorite character in the series primarily for his outstanding character development! i just... love how akasaka writes him, and i simply adore his relationships with everyone in the student council.

did i cry during EVERY season of kaguya sama? yes, yes i did. did i cry during his backstory moment? absolutely.

5. ANGELA (lobotomy corporation/library of ruina)

woah! didn't expect this one on here, did you?

it's sort of hard picking my favorite character from project moon games. even after thinking about it long and hard, i don't even know if angela is my favorite. even so, there's no denying that she's definitely scored a position as a character i love—just like ishigami, her character development really struck a chord in me!

i could go on and on about lobotomy corporation/library of ruina, so perhaps i'll cut it short there...

6. REIGEN ARATAKA (mob psycho 100)

he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone (affectionate)

doesn't really qualify for any of the twitter polls he participated in, but still managed to win somehow. honestly? despite him being a con artist, i think reigen truly does have a heart of gold. i was debating whether or not i wanted to put shigeo or reigen on here, but ultimately decided reigen because he's like... cute in a pathetic sort of way

7. SAYORI (doki doki literature club)

i'm surprised i've gotten so far without mentioning my preference of the childhood friend trope! i think it's a super cute trope, despite it's... tendency to not be the winning relationship in most shows.

i'm not sure what about sayori intrigued me so much—perhaps it was the way her struggles were written in a very real manner, despite her very cliche genki personality? regardless of whatever it is, i think she's my favorite ddlc character.

8. ALPHONSE ELRIC (fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood)

i just have to say that finishing fma:b ruined my life for like four days. i was in TEARS.

as i mentioned with ukyo, i really like gentle, caring characters, and alphonse definitely fits that category! he's calm, he's compassionate, and he has the strongest affection for stray cats. i really enjoyed his dynamic with the other characters, especially with edward. something about close-knit sibling bonds... man.

9. LLOYD GARMADON (ninjago)

is lloyd my favorite ninjago character? probably not. is he a character i really love from that series? yes!

i have my own opinions regarding the characterization ninjago gives its cast (sometimes it's... iffy), but regardless, i've always liked lloyd's character—from season one, where he was just a lil kid trying to make his name known, to now! season... fifteen?!

even after all these seasons, i still don't know what the element of energy means..!

10. KOROSENSEI (assassination classroom)

my favorite anime is assassination classroom!

i think this can be attributed to korosensei, who fundamentally changed my life when i was younger. he's empathic and observant, willing to do almost anything to help his students—and that stuck with me for the rest of my life.

being able to learn and grow alongside class e-3 is an experience i'll never forget.

[lifesliced-a]

i’m going to be talking more about ren and hina with their individual and combined experiences since japan’s laws on prostitution give some leeway to the sex industry as a whole. obviously the below content warnings are due to them being of a sexual nature, so discretion advised. 

that being said, i’m aiming to take this from a respectful and technical approach to a character that lives a very different life than some of the other characters on this blog. also this is really, really long. i tried to do my research here as well as tie my character into all that research.

HOST STUFF / REN’S MANAGEMENT OF THE CLUB:

hina and ren have a small age difference of just a year, both having gotten into the industry at a young age ( both 18 ) .

as a host, ren is pretty strict in the day-to-day about hosting. it is exactly as it seems: he hosts and he manages the club.

it’s smoke and mirrors basically, catering to having drinks, flirting with customers, and basically entertaining them. a host can touch the patron, but usually not the other way around. ren is a little less strict to this in his own management of shining!, so long as it falls under the guise of socially appropriate ( returning a gesture from a host for instance, or a hand on the shoulder ) . 

hosts are allowed to give their numbers and often take their clients on dates, which in turn leads them back to the host club to make more money. the goal is to keep revenue coming in. shining! is aimed to the ‘classic’ experience, what many would think of in reference to ouran aesthetically speaking ( and not much else ) . as much as i keep ren at a dissonance from that show overall so as to not be confused, the idea of shining! started as a tourist attraction / pop-up. it no doubt drew that crowd in, and quite purposefully given that foreigners and locals alike were apt to visit. it was a pop-up for a few years before having permanent residence in the red-light district. it’s supposed to be a diamond in the rough; a place for affordable class.

ren was part of the original set of boys hosting for the ‘pre-shining!’ days, and is the last out of them to have not moved to another club / part of the industry. he was chosen just before he turned 19, having worked at another smaller club before he was scooped up. 

WHO RUNS SHINING! BEHIND THE SCENES?

his name is ishikawa goro ( though ren doubts this to be his real name ), and is a member of the yakuza, utilizing shining! for purposes mostly beneath ren’s nose. he started the pop up, he hired ren, and he got the business off the ground while entrusting ren to manage it. ren was known as umi then. goro was the one that suggested he go by ren, finding it fitting for him.

he has been involved in ren’s life for almost ten years based on where ren’s primary verse picks up, and has basically been a formative figure in ren’s life where one was lacking. there is no sexual element to their relationship, though ren had a slight affection for him at first that was quickly realized to be a more fondness. 

goro’s appearance changes often, mostly his hair color. he goes from natural black through shades of brown and blond often, wanting to keep himself from being noticed too often. he acts as a part of the underground.

he comes off pretty cool, collected, and in control. he has all the chips in favor, the deck is stacked, the game is rigged. he tends to give the illusion that power is shared, or that he’s out for everyone’s best interest, but he typically has his own interests at heart. he will do whatever fits agenda. if helping benefits him, he’ll help. if not, he typically won’t intervene. he finds reasons to do things that might not directly benefit him, but those are solely motivated by personal interest. he has a soft spot for children, and tends to be aggressive with offenders that are dangerous to children. this is ren’s best selling point honestly.

WHAT DID REN DO BEFORE THERE WAS A PERMANENT LOCATION / DURING OFF-SEASONS?

when the club wasn’t completely profitable as a full-time position, ren definitely learned early to work around the law. japan’s prostitution laws allow for a lot of loopholes --> read about japan’s laws on prostitution and what sex workers do / where they work to get around these laws. 

>>>> “ Prostitution in modern Japan, as defined under Japanese law, is the illegal practice of sexual intercourse with an 'unspecified' (unacquainted) person in exchange for monetary compensation,[1][2][3] which was criminalized in 1965 by the introduction of article 3 of the Anti-Prostitution Law (売春防止法, Baishun Bōshi Hō). ” <<<<

this leaves the door open to other acts that sex workers can engage in outside of ‘sexual intercourse with an unspecified person’. that basically means they can’t engage in traditional sex with strangers for money, but could have paid sex with an acquaintance. this does not mean they cannot perform oral sex and other sex acts that are non-coital are permitted to be paid for by unspecified persons. there is a term for the industry that i’ve come to understand is like an overlaying term for many different places with different business called ‘health’.

in ren’s case, he’s used this as a strong argument for having paid sex with clients as they are ‘in his realm of acquaintances’. he meets his private connections via the locations he’s worked at, primarily shining!.

ren kept a small string of locals that came to the pop-up location in his black book to keep a small revenue coming in from 19-21. shining! is a running business with four walls by the time he’s 22, to which these connections grows, and he becomes busier ‘moonlight’. however, from 18-21, he did work at a few other locations to supplement cashflow. he has also temporarily returned to some of these gigs shortly after kyosuke was born, and during his transition between apartments ( to which he is currently living at 27 ) .

ren’s options, in comparison to hina’s, are a bit more limited in being hired in what one could consider a “legal establishment”. a lot of his work is reliant on his customer base from shining! and other connections. so when he wasn’t working at shining! or meeting with regulars off the clock ( or ‘friends of’ his regulars ) , he acted as a male equivalent of what’s called ‘delivery health’ which is basically a type of call girl. ironically this is what ren transitions to full-time after leaving shining!, having built up a solid customer base as he follows his former #2 host**

** this host, sho, is a major connection in ren’s life. ren hired sho at shining! to be the genki type. despite their initial differences, rne and sho realized quickly their opposing appearances and personalities could make them more money together than apart. they’ll host together or bounce off each other ( “see how mean ren is to me!” or “see how difficult sho makes my job” to play sympathy ) , which quickly moved to them hosting after hours together. individually they do well, but together there is more profit. they also have an affair together on and off. **

SO WHERE DOES HINA FIT INTO THIS? SHE’S A HOSTESS, RIGHT?

she is! hina met ren when the club was a pop-up, coming to be hosted after constantly having to host. ren understands, as he’s done the same. their connection was pretty quick. 

before hosting, hina’s first job as a sex worker was as an onakura, and she did that for six months while trying to work a few part-time jobs. finding herself, similarly to ren, unable to rise above her circumstances, she quickly quit that to pursue more money.

for a short period she worked as a call girl, but eventually found hosting to be her saving grace while still remaining in the industry. she was given the opportunity by a friend who was a hostess at the time, and had suggested she apply. cleaning herself up, hina excelled quickly, and is quite good at her job. 

where she used to moonlight for $$$, she now gaslights ren for cash due to their connection as mother / father to their son. he always obliges. there is love in that love-hate.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

how it all boils down --> both hina and ren are essentially sex workers, though ren is more into the realm of prostitution than hina is. he is the primary caretaker for their son, and his mother, and thus his financial burden is far greater. 

a big reason he leaves his manager position is because a) it’s not going anywhere and b) he can’t let sho leave without him. now that he has a clientele that’s more than several individuals, he can work effectively as a “man on call” and get a larger pool from there. his services are more open, more direct, and not under the guise of ‘hosting’ anymore. they still fall into being advertised within the legal confines, but he’s still in the red light district: at the end of the day, ren is ( and has always been ) a prostitute. there’s nothing wrong with that, and in reality he really is the one that has the hardest time coming to terms with the technically terms for his career. he’s only doing what’s been the oldest profession in the book, and he’s filling a niche that’s more saturated by men wanting women and not women wanting men ( or men wanting men ) .

over time, ren has definitely acted outside of the law, but he mostly does what he can to stay within the legalities forced on him. the reason ren got into this wasn’t originally to go full-in, more needing some quick cash after he had to drop out of university and take care of his mom. from there, it sort of just spiraled, and he was in situations he was either too young or naive to understand, or was just making bad decisions. by the time he met hina and got her pregnant, there was no way ren was going to get out.

he traditionally hosts women more than men, though he sleeps with men and women rather equally with men being a slightly larger margin. there is a stigma of gay men living openly, and he provides comfort as a temporary lover. they can pretend he is their own / their boyfriend for a night.

while most of his female and male partners, for their own reasons, seek him for comfort and sex, others have been more violent. it’s no shock or secret that, especially acting independently without shining! to back him, ren has found himself in trouble, or just some extreme sexual situations.

he’s been hit and choked, which is not uncommon, to full on beaten up. he takes it as some clients just like it rough, and he’s there to provide them whatever kink they pay him to indulge. his motto is: i like what you like. a husband has walked in on him, but didn’t seem surprised. he’s been with couples, has been passed around, and basically is keen to do whatever he has to leave the situation still able to go to the work the next day as ren / come home at night as yori ( kyosuke’s father ) .

** at some point during their time together at shining! through their time post-shining! that ren pursues some cam-work with sho. he usually is masked as they do ‘live-streams’ where they perform with / on each other at the discretion of the chat. this is an on again / off again type of deal, though they typically do well, and get a good portion of views from westerners **

[spiritmaiden23]

NAME: Amber GENDER: I be Girl  EYE COLOR: Dark brown  HAIR COLOR: It’s naturally dark brown BUT RIGHT NOW IT’S DYED A DARK HONEY BLONDE, it looks more red due to the red undertones in my hair which Shook me but I like it! People can’t tell what color my hair is so I’m a bit of a schrodinger’s blonde right now ha!  RELATIONSHIP: I am happily........!! Single! HA! Not to sound stupid corny but I’m just happily living the “bachelor” life right now hoho!!  ZODIAC: Libra 

FAVORITE COLOR: PASTELS!!! And black ofc ofc  FAVORITE SEASON: Growing up it used to be Summer when I lived up north not so much now moving to hell state where it’s hotter than Satan’s Asscrack, but fall is my forever fav season! A shame the four seasons don’t exist here ;v;  FAVORITE PLACE: The beach! Really any places with water I can swim in because I am literal fish FAVORITE HOLIDAY:  Halloween ! FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS IS HARDER THAN IT SHOULD BE I REALLY AM LIBRA TO THE CORE this is like asking what my favorite food is... I can’t decide so to not fry my brain cell I’ll just go on ahead and say Chrono Trigger and call it a day ;v; I have a soft spot for classic SNES titles ;v;  LAST SHOW/MOVIE YOU WATCHED: DEMON SLAYER HELP THE BRAIN WORMS ARE TAKING OVER 

WHAT’S YOUR HONEST OPINION ABOUT YOUR MUSE? Oh this meme finna make my followers hate me because I don’t shut up about Elf. But my honest opinion is that sky as a concept was a very refreshing version of Princess Zelda. I love how... freeing she feels to write due to how casual she is when compared to ALTTP Zel. It helps that she’s genki and that I love genki along with cheesy anime protags who rely on power of love, friendship and hope. It’s the warm hearted messages behind those protags for me. 

WOULD YOU DATE YOUR MUSE? CRIES HELL TO THE NO!! OG LOZ WIFEY WILL ALWAYS BE MIDNA SO MISS MIDNA IF YOU’RE OUT THERE...... MY DMS! 

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE KINDS OF THREADS? I LOVE ALL SORTS OF THREADS HJKA but adventure ones with fun plots and developments will always be my go to!! And despite me dying all the time, I do love cute fluffy ones. Or just chill, fun threads! I’m fine with almost anything that seems fun to write and makes me motivate to write now that I think about it!

ARE YOU A SELECTIVE ROLEPLAYER? Bro yes. It’s easier this way.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MUSE? 

YEAH WILL SMITH POSES TO BOTH MY ZELDAS. Sadly, I am not shy with showing my bias. Sky and ALTTP Zel are my favorite muses I’ve played as during my five years into my rp career. 

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO JOIN THE FANDOM?.

UH! Well, back when the community was more alive I wanted to join because LOZ is my childhood and I love the series to bits man! I’m rarely in fandom spaces, RPC seems... tame compared to forums or god forbid the innocent scroll through youtube comment section where brain cells go to die. I won’t touch on the hell that is twitter rpc because yo.... I tried... 

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF STAYING WITH THE FANDOM FOR A LONG TIME?

Man I’ve been here since I was five, I’m not leaving this hell hole any time soon. As for the RPC itself? It may be small and very dead compared to 2015 however, I’ve met some of the nicest people here who are incredibly talented! It may not be big, but I like the LOZ RPC and I don’t see myself going until... I get bored that is! (It helps that crossover is what I like doing most to keep the muse alive despite semi-dead fandom ;v;) It’s a shame because twitter rpc is more alive than here but good lord I love myself too much to go back there. 

[paulisweeabootrash]

Retrospective Review: Rewatching Azumanga Daioh as an Adult

This may seem hard to believe if you are a younger reader or one who got into anime only recently, but there was once a time when recommendations spread by word of mouth, it was absolutely commonplace for anime seasons to last longer than 13 episodes, and the vocabulary of the anime fandom wasn’t nearly as full of internet-originated in-jokes.  A time when the internet-savvy congregated on forums dedicated to specific topics instead of social networking sites, and the imageboards that generate so much of the internet meme landscape were just starting to take off among lonely nerds as an obscure haven for perverts, racists, and assholes instead of the role they have today as… uh… well... a well-known haven for perverts, racists, and assholes.  A time when there was no such term as “weeaboo trash” because that Perry Bible Fellowship comic hadn’t been published yet, let alone used for that meaning.  It wasn’t some golden age, but it was different, and today I’m taking a self-indulgent trip back to the end of that period, when I was in high school in the mid-2000s.

Azumanga Daioh (2002).

1. Why is this show important to me?

My introduction to anime consisted mostly of Pokémon and Sailor Moon, and took off with scattered episodes of several other shows that aired on WB and Cartoon Network, which were generally driven by action and combat.  I can’t remember the circumstances or even who did it, but someone who owned, or perhaps pirated, a copy of Azumanga Daioh must have shown me a few episodes at some point.

Here was a show that had been on the leading edge of the moe trend a few years earlier, and although certainly available, such things were not yet common.  Moe has, of course, taken over a large chunk of anime since, to mixed reception since it can range from innocently delightful to extraordinarily creepy.  Azumanga is close to the innocent end of the spectrum, and absolutely delightful (as, BTW, is the author’s current ongoing manga series Yotsuba&!), with a softer, cuter art style than I was accustomed to and instantly-lovable characters.

It was clearly in a different genre and had a different sensibility about how to make a show, too.  It had few repeated or filler elements, unlike any of the shows following the “monster of the week” formula.  It was broken up into several vignettes per episode — a practice that I was familiar with from the format of many Nicktoons, but while American shows with that format told multiple self-contained stories, the short segments here were typically parts of larger episode-long stories, often focusing on different parts of the same event or different anecdotes about the same character.  It showed us, the foreign audience, something about life in Japan, and at least for me was the first time I’d heard of distinctly Japanese school practices like applications for public high schools, students cleaning classrooms, or the particular kinds of seasonal festivals they have.  It lacked story arcs driven by overcoming some enemy and instead was driven by character relationships themselves and the instantly-relatable experience of school.  It was an encounter with something utterly different — and it made an excellent first impression.

Eventually, I bought a copy of the complete series of the manga it’s based on.  Azumanga Daioh was originally, well, a manga, written by Azuma Kiyohiko and originally published in the form of a 4-panel comic strip that ran in the magazine Dengeki Daioh.  See, it’s Azuma’s manga in Dengeki Daioh.  Azuma manga, Dengeki Daioh.  Azumanga Daioh.  Ha.  Clever.  Anyway, in there, I encountered largely the same characters and interactions, a mix of believable school life and quick gags, just presented in a different format.  I eventually got the DVD box set of the show, too, and I’ve rewatched a few favorite episodes several times, but this review is the first time I’ve revisited the whole series in years.

2. Who are all these people?

Rather than focusing on a small core friend group like Three Leaves, Three Colors, another much more recent adorable high school slice-of-life I greatly enjoy (and should maybe review?), Azumanga has a pretty large ensemble.  Most of them are students and the “story arc” such as it is follows them through three years, from entering to graduating from high school, over a single 26-episode season.  So rather than cover a plot synopsis, I think it would make more sense to dive into specific characters and their relationships.  The show its at its funniest and sweetest with the dynamics of certain combinations of the main characters, and there are a lot of combinations available.  Covering all of the recurring named characters approximately in the order we meet them (except a few characters who show up only in an episode or two each and another classmate named Chihiro who shows up on the periphery as a friend of Kaorin), let’s look at the relationships that stand out:

Yukari and Nyamo: Yukari Tanizaki, the English teacher who is the homeroom teacher to most of the cast, is unprofessional and insensitive from the first moment we see her, traits which are elaborated in later episodes into a sort of impulsive over-the-top-ness that clashes with the fact that she actually is a pretty good teacher.  Emphasizing her less-serious attitude, students even refer to or address her by her given name (although the subtitles exaggerate this a bit by consistently calling her “Miss Yukari” when she’s usually just addressed as “teacher”).  Minamo Kurasawa, the gym teacher, is a long-time friend of Yukari.  She and Yukari (who calls her “Nyamo”) were even classmates at the same high school they currently teach at.  In addition to being central to the gym class/sports-related episodes, she’s also Yukari’s more caring, approachable, and professional foil, which sets up interactions where Nyamo tries to be helpful and manage situations in the face of Yukari being antagonistic (and, outside of school hours, drunk) towards her and the students.  Yukari in particular prods at Nyamo’s sore spots: being single and having done embarrassing things in high school.

Tomo and Yomi: Tomo Takino is 100% genki girl.  I mean, come on, she’s the illustration for the TV Tropes article by that name.  She’s not only enthusiastic, but loud, intrusive, and pointlessly competitive to the point of being just plain mean.  She’s the kind of person who might mature into a less competent Yukari if she burnt out a bit.  Koyomi Mizuhara, on the other hand, is much more serious and self-conscious, and although she still genuinely is Tomo’s friend and goes along with some of her silliness, she barely puts up with Tomo’s teasing and flurry of bad ideas.  She is the Nyamo to Tomo’s Yukari, complete with Tomo enforcing a nickname on her, so she’s almost always called “Yomi” throughout.  Yomi is much more considerate than Tomo, too.  This often comes out in Yomi scolding Tomo’s insensitivity, but it’s also seen less directly when they are giving Chiyo (more on her below) birthday presents — Tomo offers first a joke that doesn’t go over well, then a magic wand she apparently expects Chiyo to believe will make her grow taller, which Chiyo dismisses, while Yomi offers a book which Chiyo enthusiastically accepts and says she expects to enjoy.

Osaka, Tomo, and Kagura: Ayumu Kasuga is a distractible and soft-spoken transfer student from Osaka whom Yukari, Tomo, and Yomi pester with misinformed questions and assumptions about her home city.  Tomo, naturally, saddles her with the nickname “Osaka” as if that is her entire identity.  The nickname quickly catches on, with even Yukari calling her that instead of her actual name in class.  She is accepted as a friend by the other students who still consider her eccentric and baffling, but not annoying or embarrassing like you might expect.  (In fact, the other girls react more and more to Tomo as the annoying and embarrassing one.)  During the second year of school,  she bonds with Tomo and Kagura (introduced as a star athlete from Nyamo’s homeroom during the first year, she becomes a major character in the second year) over their similar incredible forgetfulness and poor academics.  Yomi calls them “bonkura”, translated as “knuckleheads”, and the three of them adopt the name for themselves as they study together — an idea which is doomed from the outset.  The three of them together, or any two of them, play off each other wonderfully.

Chiyo and Osaka: Chiyo Mihama, a child prodigy who is only 10 years old at the beginning of the series, is so academically gifted it can upset and embarrass her classmates, but on the other hand is naive, and not just because she’s a child.  She is in fact clueless about the outside world.  She fails in the first summer break trip (ep. 5) to understand that the other characters’ families are nowhere near as rich as hers, and in the second summer break (ep. 14), even after a year and a half of being around high schoolers, she entirely fails to understand Nyamo’s off-screen explanation of “adult relationships” (kids innocently being oblivious to what sex is seems to be a common basis for jokes in Japanese media).  Chiyo being five years younger than her classmates — and on the other side of puberty from them — also makes her lag far behind them in athletics.  On the one hand, this makes her very self-conscious and afraid of being a burden on her classmates in team activities, and on the other, it sets up a running gag of Chiyo and Osaka teaming up to be by far the worst pair of athletes across the board.  Oh, and Osaka’s dream about Chiyo’s pigtails in the New Year’s episode is one of the weirdest and most authentically dreamlike dream sequences I’ve ever seen.  Although maybe that just says more about my own dreams than about the show.

Sakaki and Nobody (or, Multiple Kinds of Unrequited Feelings): Sakaki is considered effortlessly cool and somewhat intimidating — Kagura calls her a “silent lone wolf” — but she’s not big on that reputation.  Students openly admire her, especially for her athletic talent, and treat her with distance and respect by almost universally calling her “Miss Sakaki” (since this is apparently her family name, not given name).  She does not enjoy this treatment, but is also too private (and perhaps too insecure) to complain about or discuss it.  She is indifferent to sports despite excelling at them, and doesn’t even recognize Kagura when she proclaims herself Sakaki’s rival, presumably because the first-year sports festival just didn’t stick out in her memory the way it did in Kagura’s.  Despite calling it rivalry, however, Kagura quickly inserts herself into Sakaki’s life in a friendship that Sakaki responds to more with quiet tolerance than reciprocation.

Kaorin, meanwhile, mistakes Kagura’s one-sided friendly rivalry for a very different kind of attention, and accordingly treats her one-sidedly as a romantic rival (although she does eventually calm down about it).  Kaori (family name not mentioned), usually addressed by the more affectionate “Kaorin”, is shown at first to ambiguously admire Sakaki, but it quickly becomes clear that she is infatuated with her.  And, despite the insistence of many fanfic writers since, Sakaki never catches on to this, even with Kaorin gazing dreamily at her while dancing with her, or clinging to her arm while posing for a picture together.  I'm sure, given how over-the-top she is, that Kaorin’s unrequited feelings are supposed to be funny, but I find it sweet and sad and end up rooting for her.

Sakaki and Cute Animals: Sakaki is not unfriendly, or even very socially inept, though.  She gets along well with the main cast, especially Chiyo.  But she is aloof, not just because of shyness but because she has a secret love of all things cute, especially cats and dogs, and gets caught up in her own thoughts about cute things.  Although she loves animals, they don’t necessarily love her back.  There is a series-spanning running gag with a cat in the neighborhood whom she repeatedly tries to pet, no matter how many times it bites her for doing so.  In fact, in that very same episode where Kagura declares her rivalry, the strongest emotional reactions we see from Sakaki are horror directed at Kagura for scaring that cat away and, later, being moved to tears by a story she’s constructing in her head about another cat while Kagura is trying to talk to her.  Sakaki’s thoughts on cute animals also yield a second running gag: "Chiyo's dad".  An orange cat-like doll (evidently some kind of character or mascot in-universe?) that appears numerous times in the background early in the show appears in Sakaki’s New Year’s dream and introduces himself to her as Chiyo’s father, so Sakaki refers to the doll as “Chiyo’s dad” for the rest of the series without explanation, much to the confusion of the other characters.  While he’s an inanimate object in the background before the dream, afterwards he appears as alive and magical, sometimes in Sakaki’s imagination and sometimes intruding into the real world as short transition clips between scenes.

Kimura vs. Everyone (mostly Kaorin): Last and certainly least, let’s consider Mr. Kimura, the literature teacher.  Within a minute of the first time we the audience see him, Tomo asks him why he became a teacher and he blurts out that it’s because he likes high school girls.  Which a group of creepy boys in the class call “brave”.  Ugh.  This presages chronic inappropriateness of varying levels from Kimura — from unsolicited suggestions for cheerleading uniforms to hanging out during gym class to watch the girls swim to heaping unwanted “favors” on Kaorin, to whom he is obviously attracted.  Beyond the increasing variety of his inappropriateness, he doesn’t really develop as a character.  He is, interestingly, shown as an otherwise decent person outside of school, but this is not portrayed as excusing him.  Rather, it’s made clear that his creepiness is contextual, and his role throughout the series is consistently as a grotesque comic relief, not a sympathetic character.  Kaorin even consciously tries to improve her opinion of Kimura because his wife is so nice, leading her to believe that this means Kimura himself must have good points to deserve someone like that, only to be immediately shown otherwise.  We the audience are laughing at him, not with him, and at some points are genuinely upset at him on the girls’ behalf.  Or at least, I hope that’s how the rest of the audience takes him.

3. Yeah, but there's some kind of progression, right, even if it's not really a story arc?

Again, it's not the kind of show that has an overarching goal or conflict.  The goal, such as it is, is the characters' graduation from high school.  The topic of what they'll each do after graduating comes up several times, as you might expect, but isn't that much of a plot point.  Not all of the main characters even have clear plans laid out that we know of, but the plans we do know about match their established personalities well.  Tomo changes her mind repeatedly between several half-baked ideas.  Osaka decides at the last minute to try to become a teacher based on Chiyo straining to think of something fitting Osaka's... unique way of looking at things.  Chiyo is perhaps overconfident, planning to study abroad in America despite being only 13 when she graduates.  Sakaki anonymously showed interest in veterinary school early on, but didn't discuss it with her friends until much later, after she started showing her weakness for cuteness in front of them.

The main progression that happens is some evolution in the characters' relationships and attitudes.  There is of course the progression from strangers to friends among the main cast, but also some character development growing out of things that started as gags.  Osaka, for example, begins as the butt monkey of the class, but by the end of the first year, she is very well accepted by her classmates, and she even gets along particularly well with Tomo, who was originally shown teasing and stereotyping her the most but has now toned it down a bit.  Nyamo’s miserable singlehood, previously a running joke, leads her to open up to the idea of trying matchmaking instead of dating.  Sakaki becomes more willing to express her love of cute animals in front of the other girls, starting with Chiyo, and her running gag experiences with the hostile cat play out to a resolution when she adopts, of all things, an endangered wildcat which is the only cat that doesn’t bite her, then has a final encounter with the hostile cat where she tries to make amends.  Chiyo's academic talents were met with light irritation and mockery at first, but by the end, her new friends are grateful for her help and rise in applause when she is recognized for her grades during the graduation ceremony.  Kagura relaxes her Tomo-like tendencies more and more, and shows a degree of gratitude and sentimentality towards her new friend group that would’ve been shocking when she was first introduced.  Even Tomo, usually the show's last bastion of immaturity, shows tiny bits of improvement: self-reflection and regret during a serious conversation with Yomi over what American audiences would call "finding your passion", and later leading the applause for Chiyo.  To compare Azumanga to Three Leaves, Three Colors again, it’s true that this show doesn't go into as much depth in character relationships as that one despite running for more than twice the number of episodes, but I don’t think that’s a flaw in Azumanga so much as a combination of Azumanga’s larger main cast, gag comedy focus, and choice of a different “zoom level” on the main cast’s lives.

The show itself evolves a little bit, too.  As it goes on, more episodes have segments that flow together and they contain more references to events in previous episodes.  By the last few episodes, with graduation looming, it almost feels like it has become a conventional plot-driven show.  The shift from shorter to longer segments, shorter to longer jokes, etc., is seamless — and pretty typical of comic strips where perhaps the author hasn’t “figured out” their own characters at the beginning.  Surreal elements also get more common, like the “Chiyo’s dad” running gag and increasingly-elaborate looks into what characters are imagining.  As I recall, these changes reflect the stylistic evolution of the original manga, but... uh... my copy of the manga is with my parents at the moment so I didn’t check myself on that.

4. How is it different in retrospect?

As I said, I first saw this in high school, so I was about the age of the main cast.  Perhaps this was one of the things that made it so enjoyable.  The characters seemed relatable, and I lacked the aversion to depictions of ordinary life that some people had because I didn’t have a particularly negative high school experience despite being decidedly uncool.  (I was, in fact, neither interested in being cool nor in being self-consciously uncool, and was content with the set of people I got along with.  I was never really an angsty teenager so much as a sad one.)  My experience of the show is, if anything, even greater appreciation now.  Some of that difference comes from knowledge and some from aging.

I’ve become a bit less of a poser and/or snob about some things since then.  I’d seen a lot of obviously-atrocious dubs growing up, and they really put me off the idea that anyone actually cared about dubbing into English well.  Since then, I’ve lightened up a bit, partly because it seems like nowadays distributors do a lot less 4Kids-style butchery of shows when they’re translated and partly because I’ve realized that there is plenty of bad Japanese voice acting, too, so sometimes the English version is just plain easier on the ears.  So I’ve watched this mostly in the English dub this time around (some episodes in both to check the different versions of specific jokes) and I really enjoy it.  The voices are character-appropriate and the English lines fit the lip movements better than the original Japanese voice track while only rarely resulting in rhythms and stresses that sound unnatural in English, which really impresses me.

Just from the sort of vocabulary one picks up by being weeaboo trash, I occasionally notice differences in meaning between the dialogue and subtitles when watching the sub version.  And I even picked up on an interesting translation choice for a joke I hadn’t noticed before.  When Yomi tells Osaka that Chiyo is a child prodigy in ep. 2, Osaka responds comparing Chiyo to a boy she knew growing up, resulting in her expressing a different misunderstanding in each version about how the boy was described by adults.  In the English dub, Osaka says something about him “smarting off”, the joke being she thinks that means he’s smart.  In the English subtitles, she says he was “precocious”, to which Yomi says she doesn’t think that meant he was smart by calling him that.  This time around, I finally caught that the Japanese dialogue there clearly uses the phrase “otoko no ko”, insinuating that the boy is a crossdresser and/or gay.  Even though I don’t understand the full Japanese joke, the implication is clearer than it was in English (because I, um, also didn’t think of the double entendre on the word “precocious” until now), as is the degree of the misunderstanding.

I appreciate now how many scenes are psychologically-savvy.  Just in the episode in which the main cast of students move up to their second year of high school, we see two scenes that just click with me as “yes, people do this, and I don’t know why we don’t seem to notice it!”.  I mentioned above Kagura wanting to compete more because of the sports festival while Sakaki thinks nothing of it at all, which hinges on the simple difference in the sports festival having been a memorable event in Kagura’s life but not Sakaki’s.  That episode also features a scene in which Tomo eggs on her classmates to eat their lunches early because it’s a thing that (according to her) second-years do, which sets up Mr. Kimura to arrive the room for literature class, see everyone eating, and therefore assume he must be the one who has the time wrong and go back to the faculty lounge for his own lunch.  This tendency to defer to others in decisions in our own lives, not through peer pressure per se but through assuming that something done commonly or confidently must be correct, is just something I don’t see portrayed or acknowledged much in Japanese or American media.  And I love it.  For those two scenes alone, this is one of my favorite episodes in the whole series.

As far as the characters, I still find the students charming and relatable, and I’m willing to bet that everyone knows someone like most of them in real life.  They fit Japanese character archetypes to a certain extent, but are also developed enough especially in their interactions with each other that they come off as realistic to me.  So they hold up well.  But mainly, I find I have much more appreciation for the teacher characters as an adult.  I can think of times when I’ve been the Yukari in a situation, whether that means being overbearing and inconsiderate when I think I’m being funny or whether it means or digging through a messy desk swearing that I know exactly where something is before creating a landslide.  And I can think of times when I’ve been the Nyamo accidentally antagonizing the Yukari by trying to be helpful.  I even appreciate Kimura, not because I think he’s relatable or a good guy, but because he’s distressingly realistic.  His creepiness comes at the same time as genuine competence and, as far as we are aware, a normal and functional home life.  It is widely-acknowledged yet never stopped by the administration, even though it ranges from unprofessional obnoxiousness to genuinely alarming sexual harassment.  Kimura is unfortunately plausible and all-around frustratingly topical.

Revisiting these characters, I’ve also realized something about myself.  When I first watched this show (and read the manga), I got a serious crush on Osaka.  She would go solidly in the “endearingly pathetic” column if I were to evaluate her that way, and she also reminded me at the time of a few different confidently strange and spacy people I went to high school with.  And then, getting older, I realized…  She’s endlessly distractible by trivial things.  She asks weird hypotheticals and follows odd tangents to other topics.  She often misunderstands people.  She’s hopelessly unathletic and clumsy.  Oh no.  I'm the Osaka of my circle of friends.  So, uh, that’s a thing that happened, and I have no idea what to make of it.

Azumanga is relaxed, wholesome, and hilarious, and its characters and major events are believable even when highly stylized for comedic effect.  When it's not in hyper-simple comedy mode, the art can be downright beautiful.  It’s clearly an artifact of its time given, for example, the lack of cell phones (even basic ones) and persistence of film cameras, but that kind of aging happens to any show.  The situations are still relatable despite not being topical, which makes me think — or at least hope — that this can last well into the future as something new audiences find worth watching.

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W/A/S Scores: 8 / 3? / 3

Weeb: There are lots of little things that will seem odd if you go in believing that Japanese school schedules and activities are the same as American ones, but anime is so saturated with high school comedies nowadays that it is much less weeb now than it was then to expect that background knowledge.  Many non-school things like flower-gazing or the fact that seasonal fairs in Japan have different activities and expected clothing than in American ones will seem distinctly foreign but understandable to a naive audience, while a few episodes might need some looking up to “get” because they expect audience familiarity with things still obscure to most Western audiences, like lucky dreams in the New Year’s episode or the yōkai in the second culture festival episode.  Mostly, familiarity with the conventions of other anime or of Japanese culture will enhance enjoyment but aren’t strictly required to enjoy it.  The art style sometimes shifts for specific gags to a particular style of minimal-movement chibi characters on very simple backgrounds which is more at home in the 4-panel comic world in which Azumanga originated (and in pre-moe-era comedy anime, or at least the few I've seen) than in other manga formats or newer anime, creating an additional small hurdle even for those with different Japanese media exposure.

The show runs into more of a barrier with hard-to-translate jokes than anything else, leaving the viewer the choice between replacement jokes with similar general ideas in the dub vs. the occasional feeling that there should be a joke but you’re not quite getting it in the sub.  One particular joke that they made no attempt to adapt ended up being utter nonsense in both the sub and dub unless you get that "Mr. Yukichi" refers to 19th Century Westernization advocate Fukuzawa Yukichi, who is on the ¥10,000 bill, and I gave the show an entire extra point on the Weeb scale just because I had to look that up.

Ass: Unless you’re Mr. Kimura, probably no “ass” score at all as far as sexualizing the characters, but there is the occasional sexual joke or implication.  Even the obligatory beach episodes aren’t fanservicey in the way or to the degree that a contemporary moe high school show often is.  Probably the single most sexual-looking thing is characters holding their skirts down in the intro, which is tame by comparison to anything released in the last decade.  Kimura, however, does make the show unsuitable for audiences… well… younger than the show’s main cast, probably.

Shit (writing): I have very little problem with the bulk of the content.  I think the show works and the characters are relatable and delightful.  But I do have some gripes about translation, mostly in the dub.  Although I still maintain the dub is unusually good in acting and synchronization, they do take more liberties than I’d like with changing jokes, and the dub and sub both lose some subtlety in how characters address each other, as mentioned before.

On top of that, there are some odd localization choices in the dub.  For example, the way Yukari, their English teacher in the original Japanese, is not portrayed as teaching a foreign language at all in the dub, while still making a big deal of her foreign language skills outside of class, or how characters repeatedly say “taiyaki pastry” in the dub instead of just establishing once for the English-speaking audience that taiyaki is the name of a specific style of pastry and using the name “taiyaki” from then on.  Also, I know this is very small and specific, but I noticed a place in ep. 17 where they inserted a strained pun in the dub where there was intentional awkward silence in the sub, so that’s just… weird.

Shit (other): The animation is often sparse, and although this is usually fine, it does sometimes come off as cheap.  The biggest problem visually is that the DVDs I’m watching have noticeable and pretty frequent combing, which I was able to reduce but not eliminate by fiddling with video player settings.  On the other hand, kudos to the director for hitting a sweet spot on shots that are lingered on or actions that are repeated for “too long” (e.g., Nyamo demonstrating chopstick use, or any of the scenes of Chiyo and Osaka failing at sports, or Osaka trying to wake up Yukari) because they end up hilarious when they could have been tedious.

Oh, and I love the soundtrack.  Some people may also find the frequent use of recorders annoying, but those people are (1) wrong and (2) not writing this blog.  The soundtrack is appropriately lighthearted and/or relaxing.  The opening theme “Soramimi Cake” is catchy and accompanied by an opening credits sequence that decently shows who the main characters are.  But “Raspberry Heaven”, the ending theme… ah… the sequence accompanying it is a beautiful dream and the music is movingly bittersweet for reasons I lack the music theory background to articulate.  Like, this is a really weird example, but it conveys my feelings: have you seen Soylent Green?  You know the scene where Sol is listening to a medley of classical music while he’s being euthanized?  If the last thing I ever heard were “Raspberry Heaven”, I would die totally content.

Content Warning: Kimura.

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Stray observations:

- I think Kaorin may have been the first unambiguously gay character I saw in any anime.  Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura would’ve beaten Azumanga to the punch with representation, but I grew up on the butchered-for-pearl-clutching-audiences versions of those shows.

- Kimura has, incidentally, produced one piece of lasting weeb culture.  While trying to save his illustration for a proposed magical girl cheerleading outfit, he drops a picture of a woman.  Tomo picks it up and wonders out loud who it is.  Kimura responds, in heavily-accented English, “my waifu”.  So… yup.  We have him to thank for the whole waifu/hasubando phenomenon.  Or, well, the terminology, since attraction to fictional characters is probably a phenomenon as old as fiction itself.

- More of a fun fact than a stray observation, Kuricorder Orchestra, who collaborated with Oranges & Lemons on the Azumanga soundtrack, recorded two Yotsuba-inspired concept albums, which are also adorable.  They’re hard to come by in official copies, but I can’t help but notice that nobody seems to be stopping anyone from uploading them to YouTube...

- The background music in the cheerleading scene in ep. 6 is the “Grandpa Polka”, a.k.a. “The Clarinet Polka”, which fans of various other weird geeky media may recognize as the melody for the Candy Mountain song in “Charlie the Unicorn” and/or as the song between “Love Shack” and “Pump Up the Jam” in Weird Al’s medley “Polka Your Eyes Out”.

- My junior high, oddly, did have sports festivals somewhat like those depicted in anime, but I don’t hear much about other American schools doing similar things.

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Cells at Work

I’m sure all of us have a nostalgic soft spot for the cheesy, tryhard “edutainment” videos we were shown in grade school, those slick, corporate-crafted products that tried to make learning fun through catchy songs, broad characters, and a forty-year-old corporate executive’s understanding of what was hip with the kids these days. Yeah, they were obviously made on the cheap by people well aware of the empty, vapid nature of what they were constructing. Yeah, they were almost painfully dated pretty much from the get-go. But there was a kind of charm in that tackiness, how obviously fake and focus-grouped the entire affair was yet still pretending to be something genuine and worthwhile. Stuff like BrainPop’s Tim and Moby was so obviously pathetic in such surface-level ways that you couldn’t help but root for its success out of pity. Sometimes, the underdog spirit presents itself in the most bizarre ways. So I can’t fault Cells at Work too much for wanting to capture that same energy in a much more positive light. Edutainment at its best, like, say, Bill Nye the Science Guy, was able to become part of our shared cultural language, an eccentric offshoot of a usually dull schooling system that injected some much-needed life into our maturation. Frankly, we could use more Bill Nyes in the world right now, educational tools that can actually make their audiences engage with the material in a memorable, entertaining manner. Sadly, as valiant an effort as it makes, Cells at Work just doesn’t have the spark necessary to elevate itself to that level. It’s a spirited half-measure that does its best to keep the proceedings engaging and informative in equal measure, but the longer it goes on, the weaker its grip on your attention becomes, until you’re forced to realize that some nostalgia is best left in the past.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the inherent gimmick at play here is too simple to leave a lasting impression. Cells at Work plays like every other Burger King Kids biology tape your bored teacher threw on when he ran out of steam; it’s a thirteen-episode exploration of the inner workings of the body, how the various cells carry out their daily tasks, how the various systems function, and how the entire apparatus responds to various external threats, with the cells themselves as the personified characters making up this world. And the unique selling point is that all the characters are some form of basic anime archetype. So the main protagonist is a Genki Girl red blood cell who’s easily flustered and confused, but tries her hardest regardless, and her closest friend is a white blood cell in the form of your typical stoic-but-with-a-heart-of-mushy-affection deadpan. They’re the main POV characters through which we visit the countless other cells and systems over the course of the show, including the brash, knuckleheaded Killer T cells, the busty, dreamily airheaded, “ara ara” onee-sama Macrophages, the adorable kindergarten Platelets, the blushing twin-tail tsundere Eosinophils, and the many mincingly villainous bacteria and viruses who try to invade the body and take over. And as momentarily fun as it is to see the educative nonsense of our youth realized with the goofy faces and spirited performances that define the anime aesthetic (Kana Hanezawa stars as the red blood cell, doing a typically excellent job), it doesn’t take long for the lack of any additional context to wear out that charm.

The issue with edutainment is that it’s distressingly easy to focused too much on either the education side or the entertainment side, to the point where you throw off what should be a delicate balance and bury the point under too much nonsense or too little reason to care. People can tell when they’re being pandered too, and it doesn’t take much for a well-meaning work to come off as either overly preachy or trying too hard. Cells at Work isn’t the most egregious example of this lack of balance that I’ve seen, but it does exemplify how easy it can be to run into problems with it. Most of the information regarding the body’s functions and systems is communicated in long, drawn-out exposition dumps from an unseen narrator, rather than coming from the characters themselves. Often, the show will just completely pause the action for the narrator to explain the exact nature of the issue at hand, killing the pacing right as the tension’s ramping up. Meanwhile, the actual narrative action is all about teamwork and coming together to take down massive threats in the most basic way imaginable, with very few character arcs that aren’t haphazardly stapled on. The education and entertainment are at odds with each other, and the inconsistent direction only exacerbates those problems further with moments of haphazard editing that make the show’s world feel sloppily constructed. Good edutainment delivers information in such a way that you never have to question its methods, and I fund myself questioning Cells at Work’s methods fairly frequently.

Which is a shame, because there are elements I quite enjoyed here. The overall design sense is really strong, from the instantly striking character models that make every cell feel unique to the massive, sprawling megacity that represents the body and all its systems. There’s interest to be had in just visiting every location and seeing how the design team realized this particular function, from the bubbling acid pits of the stomach to the close-knit call-and-response network of the T cells to the looming shogunate palace of the heart, complete with repetitive gongs as the heartbeat. I also appreciate how visceral and violent the show can get, despite its overall goofy atmosphere; nature is a violent place, even on a microscopic level. Germs are dispatched in showers of blood, massive abrasions suck in countless cells to die, and enemies are rife with body horror and creepy protrusions. It adds a welcome edge to a genre that’s usually far too staid for its own good. And the central dynamic between KanaHana and her leukocyte friend is a lot of fun, playing off their basic archetypes to bring out the best of both of them. There’s a better, more creative show somewhere in here, one that took more chances and developed more of an identity, and I wish we’d gotten more of a chance to see it.

In the end, though, I can’t hate Cells at Work, or even think it’s particularly bad. I’d even say it’s among the better attempts at successful edutainment I’ve seen, though the bar is ridiculously low there. It’s just not good enough to hold up to closer inspection, not smart enough to make for a worthwhile exploration, not ambitious enough to leave an impression, and not unique enough to be worth the effort. And I give it a score of:

5/10

Well, at the very least, it gave us the platelets, so I can’t complain too much.

[athyrabunlord]

Tuning

Prize for Manny, who found me in a SIF score match! Sorry this ended up more like Maru-centric + 3rd Years instead of Azalea as per your request (๑≧౪≦)てへぺろ oh and some subunit shenanigans A/N: This blip took place some time after Aqours finally had 9 members, and they just started their subunit activities. Characters: Hanamaru+ 3rd years (Azalea + Mari), and cameos of the rest Words: 1,826

Hanamaru couldn’t help but wear a huge smile as she hurried down the hallway. She used to go straight to the library after school, content to just immerse herself in the fantastical world of adventure, romance and even sci-fi.

But now, she had something even more amazing to look forward to! Every day, there was a new story waiting for her to unfold. How could she not be excited?

Certainly, it was hard at first to get into shape, but all those exercise and training were worth it. The fatigue and sense of accomplishment felt really good, especially since she never partook in such strenuous physical activities before, being the bookworm she was. The more stamina she built up, the longer she could enjoy singing and dancing with her wonderful friends at Aqours!

She felt proud to be able to support Ruby, reconnect with her old friend Yoshiko, and bond with the kind senpais.

Her steps faltered a little as she realized what the club activity was for today. In their previous group meeting, it was decided that they would start the subunit practice. No wonder Ruby was whisked away so suddenly after the bell chimed. Hanamaru only remembered hearing You and Chika’s excited voices, and Ruby’s confused squeak.

“Come on, Ruby-chan! Let’s go already~”

“Now now Chika-chan, you didn’t have to drag Ruby-chan. But yes, let’s full-speed ahead!”

“Um, it’s okay, I’m happy to-”

“Genki Zenkai~?”

“Day!” “Day!” “ Daaaaaaay!!!!”

“Pikiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!”

Right, CYaRon! even had their song title already.

Yoshiko had also excused herself when they met up with Riko at the stairway, stating that she shall go on a manhunt for their elusive shiny Director. Except the self-proclaimed fallen angel used the phrase ‘traverse through the hellfire of Phlegethon, where the shiny demon queen lurks within the depth of Tartarus’. Guilty Kiss was quite distinctive indeed!

Hanamaru giggled quietly. She was certain that her two best friends were having a great time with their respective subunits. Trepidation washed away her light mood as she reminded herself that she had yet to really connect with her Azalea team. She got along with the second years just fine, but she was rather nervous about being alone with Dia and Kanan. Without the moral support from her peers or even the enigmatic blonde who had similar wavelength as Yoshiko, Hanamaru felt intimidated.

She was distinctly aware of her shortcomings whenever she thought about Dia and Kanan. They were tall, beautiful and confident. Of course, she’s only heard good things about the two senpais, whether from Ruby or You and Chika. Their successful performance of Mijuku Dreamer and the subsequent lives certainly made her admire how dependable they were. The student council president organized Aqours’ activities, while the friendly diver designed their training regime.

Dia was the push they needed to get through a session, stern yet also gentle as she was, while Kanan was the vigilant brake that determined their rest intervals, even though she appeared laidback most of the time. They complemented each other well, and they certainly looked out for their kouhais. Although, they did slip into childish bickers sometimes with Mari, who knew just when to light up the atmosphere and help her two friends relax.

Hanamaru pursed her lips in resolution. Ruby would surely encourage her to do her Rubesty, and so she shall try her hardest to reach Dia and Kanan’s level.

When she arrived at the clubroom, where Azalea’s meeting was to be held, she was surprised to find another visitor. Mari was sitting beside the closed door with a small smile on her face, her back leaned against the wall and her eyes closed in relaxation.

Was she napping? Just as Hanamaru stepped closer, she heard a symphony of voices inside the clubroom. Her eyes widened at how harmonious the tune was, of how Dia’s husky and steady voice blended with Kanan’s rich and blithe tone. It was a song she had never heard before, and it must be an incomplete one too for the two girls slightly changed the pitch and lyrics intermittently.

Still, the brunette found herself entranced. “Zura…”

“Ara, Hanamaru-chan?” Mari was gazing at her amiably, and patting the spot beside her in invitation. Curious, the younger girl sat down and peered at her.

“Nice surprise, isn’t it? Kanan and Dia used to this back then, to hone our songs,” Mari’s features were soft in nostalgia. “I would give them the first draft of the melody, and they would brainstorm the lyrics. While I’m off refining the music, they would sing in trial segments like this. Sometimes they even come up with the choreography as they go. Once we’re somewhat happy with our respective parts, we would convene and finalize the song together.”

“That’s incredible zura. I had no idea that was how the… um, first generation Aqours was like.”

Nowadays, the tasks were more evenly distributed amongst the members, so Hanamaru couldn’t imagine just how the third-years managed when it was just the three of them. Whenever she worked on the lyrics with Chika, the sunny leader often expressed her relief at how much better it was now compared to how they had to complete Daisuki Dattara Daijoubu.

“Hmm? We never mentioned it? Well, don’t tell Rikocchi I used to be the composer~ I want to surprise her and Yoshiko-chan later~”

Hanamaru chuckled at Mari’s feline-like grin. “And the costumes?”

“Oh, we all work on the outfits together! Usually, Dia would come up with the designs, I would have input with the fabrics and accessories, and Kanan would put them all together. Ehehe, shiny, aren’t they?”

There was such fondness and pride in Mari’s voice, though the sparkle in her eyes already spoke volumes. Hanamaru was pleased to learn about her seniors, and the fact that they worked meticulously to finalize a song made them so much more relatable.

They fell silent for a moment, both enjoying the sonorous voices behind the closed door. “I love listening to them - they inspire me to improve the music, especially knowing how hard they try to refine the song.”

Hanamaru recalled what Chika once said to Dia and repeated the same words with a soft smile. “Mari-san really loves Dia-san and Kanan-san ne?”

“Of course! And I’m sure you understand what I mean~”

“Ah, there she is!”

Yoshiko was huffing as she approached them, irritation evident in her fearsome but cute scowl. Riko, looking exhausted, was close behind with the three confused members of CYaRon in tow. Mari sprang up the moment Yoshiko made a pose and lunged in a wild dash.

“Ha! Your chokehold technique isn’t going to work on me, Yoshiko-chan! Not to mention, you’ll have to catch me first, ciao~”

Like a shooting star, the shiny Director soon disappeared from eyesight, much to Riko’s frustration.

“Mou! Stop it you two! Can’t we just start the meeting already?” Unfortunately, her plea went unheard.

Chika suddenly grinned, her expression full of mischief. “Ah, Shiitake came to join us!”

“Yeeeek!!”

Riko jolted in reflex, knocking into Yoshiko who stumbled forward just as the door opened.

“What is the ruckus-” Dia poked her head out just in time for the younger girl to collide into her. As they sprawled on the ground in a painful heap, Ruby worriedly crouched beside them and tried to help. Kanan soon came to their rescue and easily untangled them. You was exasperatedly reprimanding the not-so-apologetic looking Chika, but also coaxing Riko not to strangle their leader.

As Hanamaru watched the chaotic scene before her, a revelation slowly dawned upon her. Mari was correct - she did understand what the older girl meant.

She loved everything about Aqours.

She cherished every moment with her friends, and wished to contribute to the group as much as she could to show just how dearly she adored them.

“Hnff! The great Yohane shall accept your challenge, O Golden Star. I will capture you! Come, my little demons! Lily and No.4, keep an eye out for possible ambushes!”

Dia deadpanned at seeing how accepting her little sister was with the ridiculous nickname. Yoshiko, Ruby, Chika and (a very irked) Riko soon left the area. You sent them a sheepish look before shouting “Yousorou~” and chasing after them.

“Goodness, this is why I was against how the subunits are divided. Someone needs to keep an eye on Mari-san,” Dia’s voice was severe, yet an imperceptible smile belied her true thoughts on the matter.

Kanan chuckled in agreement before turning to look at Hanamaru. ““I hope Mari didn’t trouble you too much.”

Hanamaru resisted the urge to shrink under the tall senpais’ gaze and replied a little defensively.. “S-She didn’t. We were just chatting zura.” She blinked in realization. “You knew we were here the whole time?”

“Well, Kanan-san and I did not know that you were here as well, Hanamaru-san,” Dia’s tone softened as if sensing her unease. “But yes, we knew Mari-san was here. That is why we want to work even harder so we do not disappoint her.”

At those words, Hanamaru found herself relaxing and smiling up at her fellow Azalea members. “Hehe, you didn’t disappoint her at all. She.. no, we both loved it zura~”

“That’s good to hear!” Kanan patted her on the head, a gesture that pleasantly surprised her. “Alright, we have a lot to do today, Maru.”

“Indeed, we would like you to revise the lyrics with us,” Dia also gently smiled at her then.

Hanamaru felt rather silly about her apprehension earlier. She would surely find her place with these two kind senpais, so she had better not let them down.

This was a whole new chapter in her story and she couldn’t wait for more!

=========================

“Ganbatta tte owaranai (I’ve never stopped trying my best)~ Son’na… hmm...”

Hanamaru paused and jotted down a few things in her notebook while humming the next segment. She tried again with a new set of lyrics but shook her head with a pout.

A hand teasingly prodded at her cheek. “Now now, Maru, don’t wear a frownie.”

“But Kanan-chan, you’ve already finished the first verse… I need to finish mine so we can fine-tune the chorus part.”

“There is no need to hurry. Patience is the key,” Dia also wrote down a few phrases, her expression thoughtful. “Perhaps we could…”

The three of them shared a knowing glance and began to sing. They adjusted their pitch accordingly as they went, and after Kanan finished her part, Hanamaru followed with ease and instinctively picked the lyrics from the page full of ideas.

“Son’na koto mo aru Mission~ (In this Mission) Tasukete agetai, kono uta de~ (I want to help you with this song~”

Hanamaru beamed at her friends, who returned the gesture just as excitedly. Their third subunit song was coming along quite nicely, just as their first two songs had.

They were Azalea, and efficient teamwork was one of their best points.

Yes, this is where I belong zura~

[taihorror]

June 30, 2018: HES week and GIRLS’ PARTY

This week, H Elementary brought much happiness to my little life here on High Five Island. I’m surprised I haven’t blogged much about them, because they are my favourite school--I have a soft spot in my heart for the tiniest elementary school of only 10 precious, sweet, funny, adorable, strange, kind, friendly kids. They’re just such gentle children. I can’t think of any more superlatives, but yeah.

Visited the school on Friday, amidst the pouring rain. So worth it, though, as cheesy as it sounds, to see their smiles :) That day, they were hosting the 5+6th graders from I Elementary, and English class for that grade was cancelled. I was invited to join in the fun, and it was. We made curry and played this fun handkerchief game and dodgeball while waiting for the curry to cook.

Then it was class with the 2nd+4th years (no 1st and 3rd years, cries). M-chan was so excited to see me at her little sister Yo-chan’s party which I’d been invited to by way of the HS ALT whose wife is a mutual friend of her mum and I. That was wordy. But it was so cute. Her mum is the cutest. Last year, she wrote me notes she had M-chan pass me, and gave me a cake because I attended M-chan’s dance recital. She’s so kind and bubbly :)

And today I went! It was amazing. They live in Rice Town, which I’d always been curious about. It’s a quiet, kinda isolated fishing town with lots of abandoned buildings and about three families living there. I think today I figured out exactly whom those three families are haha. 

On the drive there... So pretty. We also drove through this forest of pines and it was just... so magical. Ugh, I can only speak in cliches now, because it’s true.

This is where it’s at in Rice Town.

So it turns out, M-chan’s dad is a fisherman! Learnt a lot about their lives, and was secretly super happy because one of my goals was to make friends with fishermen. Mission accomplished. He was really friendly and tried to speak English a lot and asked a lot of questions about Singapore, which I really appreciated. 

M-chan is the oldest of four girls, so as expected, it was an adventure. Added to two adorable sisters also from HES who came to play, it was just awesome. Her sisters are so different, and all equally cute and smooshy. The youngest, K-chan, loves to dip her hand in everything (including M-chan’s drink, twice--the yelling was the most hilarious thing in a while) and play “mystery chopsticks”, in which she played with everyone’s chopsticks while we weren’t paying attention and caused confusion about who they belonged to. The second youngest, H-chan, was so shy at first but became super genki as the evening went on; she did a cake dance which was so adorable. And she was so offended at the other ALT putting cushions on his head, haahha. We played UNO as a team and her little “uno” was so cute... And the birthday girl, Yo-chan, was a super chill little lady whom I look forward to meeting next year in HES as a first grader :) She delivered a self-introduction in English with perfect hatsuon, ok. And M and M were hosts of the party. SO CUTE. I’m dead with the cute. M-chan accidentally drank my umeshu, and she made the most disgusted face ever. It was... You guessed it. Adorable.

And the food... we had so much food. Delicious tai sashimi caught fresh by the dad, karaage, salad, temaki zushi, takoyaki, and cake all made by the mum. So pampered. 

Sigh. I feel so happy and warm now. So touched that they would include us in this special day. Goto people are truly the warmest, kindest people I’ve met, really. A typhoon this way comes, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better to lift the spirits.

P.S. I wonder how Hina Matsuri is like in their household.