#Me: let's read the next Tsubasa chapter

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY - Journal #6: Route 0 Days 67-80. [MASSIVE SPOILERS]

//Yeah, I wanted to play as much of this game as fucking possible. Pumped as hell because I'm for sure at the home stretch now.

//I distinctly remember some people who read my previous journals didn't give much away, but they were telling me that I was really gonna enjoy this next portion of gameplay.

//And you guys were definitely right about that. The Moko chapter of this route and the horrific imagery we saw of that definitely got my heart racing, but this was an emotional pummeling of its own.

//It interests me that the more we go along and the closer we get to Day 100, the worse things seem to get for us.

//One of my biggest highlights of this section is that it actually reprimanded a lot of the problems I had with the Tsukumo Twins and their initial character arc in the story, even though Ima, for reasons we covered at the end of the last journal, is mostly absent for this one.

//But I digress. We've got some shit to cover, so let's just get into it, and as always...

DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED/SEEN THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY. I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT VERY SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS AND MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE GAME.

//So let's get started:

DAY 67:

//To give a quick recap as to where we left off, things have kind of brutally hit the fan.

//The group is reeling after the devastating loss of Moko, only for things to get worse the next morning. The captured Invader escapes under suspicious circumstances.

//The crisis deepens when the Tsukumo Twins go missing. Kako returns alone, injured, revealing that the Invader escaped with Ima, a new team member who had just begun fitting in.

//Worse yet, the group is trapped inside the school by surrounding flames, with broken fire extinguishers and no way to escape or resupply.

//For now, it's up to Tsubasa to prepare the Fire Extinguishers so we can go after Ima and potentially save him, but again, I wasn't holding my breath. This game has clearly shown that it's more than willing to kill off its main characters with reckless abandon. If Ima came out the other side of this as a corpse, I wouldn't even be surprised.

//Leave it to Kodaka to cut character arcs short, hahahaaaa...

//Anyway, today was another day of just Free Time, so not much really happened. However, I was curious whether or not the Report Card had changed now that we had confirmation that Moko was dead. Because she did appear in the file once she joined the group.

//Turns out I was right, because Moko's character sprite in the Report Card is darkened. Which...yeah, she's basically never coming back I guess...

//Interestingly, Hiruko still isn't blacked out, which suggests that MAYBE she could return? But it's been two months now since she went missing. I'm not holding out for a hero.

DAY 68:

//So Darumi gained the ability to read minds and see through the fourth wall!

//In other news, as expected, Kako is depressed over losing her brother, so she won't leave her room. Tsubasa is still trying to fix the extinguishers, but it's pretty challenging work, even for her.

//However, on top of all that crap, we now have another NOTHER problem! As Nozomi comes into the cafeteria and...collapses.

//Now, I kind of saw this coming, because Nozomi has been working herself to death trying to take care of "Moko" and now she should be winding down, but curiously, she mutters that her condition has something to do with "rejection symptoms."

//Takumi, Kyoshika, and Kurara take her to her room, and she's gonna be bedridden for a while. And unfortunately, these two clowns STILL for some reason think Takumi wants to have his way with her, so they're guarding her, and he can't ask her for any follow up questions.

//Nozomi already let her guard down enough to tell Takumi that the circumstances on which she joined this war are a bit different from the rest of us, so of all people, he's the one she's most likely to choose to open up to. But so long as Takumi is being cockblocked by these two, it'll be a while before we get our next Nozomi Lore DumpTM.

//So yeah, more Free Time ensues.

//I actually got a little miffed with this one, because right now, I've been trying to focus on leveling up my social stats/grades so that I could get it to a high enough level and upgrade my equipment. Like my traps and potions and stuff, because I'd like to have some of these in a higher quality.

//However, while getting the stats is simple enough, I don't currently have enough resources to craft/upgrade them. Which means I need to go on another search mission to get what I need.

//But on top of Nozomi being indisposed, meaning I can't as readily go out and get the materials I need, since my healer isn't here to keep the party spick and span like usual, but even if she was here, I can't go out anyway because the EXTINGUISHERS ARE BROKEN!

//The ONE TIME I actually WANT to go on one of these missions, I can't! GREAAAAT!

//It's especially bad when upgrading the thing I REALLY want to boost, which is the Spring Traps.

//No, not THAT ONE!

//Spring Traps, since I haven't brought it up yet, are craftable devices you can use in battles that let your characters bounce to distant areas on the battlefield with no movement cost. Really useful if you need to get someone around, however they are very limited in supply and need to be upgraded to get more, just like every other special equipment.

//But these one's are SO EXPENSIVE! Not only are they resource heavy, but you have to have Level 3 in Social Studies, Gym, AND Linguistics in order to raise them to a level higher than 2!

//WHY!? And why those three stats in particular!?

//Eh whatever...this sucks...I must be turning into Gaku because I have the worst luck in the world.

//Anyway, we end the night with another Karua scene and...this is the last one we have for what feels like a WHILE. The game even points out that this is the last one we see.

//And we actually don't get much from this one. We just see Karua taking care of a stubborn Takumi who is sick in bed. Apparently, so is his mother.

//Most of Karua's scenes in the game tend to hint towards situations that happen to Takumi in subsequent days of the story. For example, the first one was of Takumi finding Karua after she got lost, and then the very next day, needs to employ those same skills to rescue Eito from a difficult predicament.

//And then we have the scene of them at the fast food place, where Karua asks Takumi what he'd do if she woke up one day and didn't know who he was. Subsequently leading to Takumi meeting Nozomi for the first time, who seems to be Karua with amnesia.

//This one's a little different because this time, it's NOZOMI who's sick, not Takumi. So the connection is not too clear this time.

DAY 69:

//THERE IS NO FUCKING WAY YOU MADE A SPECIAL UNIQUE MORNING ANNOUNCEMENT TO CELEBRATE DAY 69!!!??

//This is normally the part where everyone (myself included) would make a really unfunny joke and say "nice" or some bullshit! But these jokes write themselves!

//Sirei's English Voice Actor in these scenes sounds like he's struggling to read these lines with a straight face, and is even laughing in the middle of it. I don't see why else he would let out those sudden breaths like that. But hey, the man does his job right.

//And hilariously, as Sirei says in this clip, for today and TODAY ONLY, the background music that you hear every day in this game is replaced by a rock and roll cover of it.

//AWESOME! lmao!

//At the same time though, is this an implication that the BGM, at least when we're inside the school, is canon? I'm...not sure what to make of that honestly.

//Anyway, today was actually a lot better in terms of the group's mood, largely because Kako made her grand return.

//...much more quickly than I thought she would. I seriously was thinking she might up and vanish for a few days, but no, just the one.

//Kako reveals that after their battle with the Imposter Moko, she and Ima made a promise. Should one of them died during the war, the other wasn't allowed to follow them into death.

//Apparently, it was a reversal of their old vow.Originally, they swore never to be apart, having only ever relied on each other and distrusting outsiders. But their time at the Academy, and the compassion they received despite their past behavior, changed their perspective.

//She also shares that the night before, she had a dream, or rather, a memory, of Ima from their childhood. In it, he told her that isolating herself and crying wouldn’t fix anything, and that nothing would get better unless she took action.

//Remembering this gave her the strength to keep going, and now she's more determined than ever to find and save her brother.

//Takumi even points it out in the scene, but it feels a lot like his own dreams/memories with Karua.

//And in the back of my mind, I'm thinking maybe something is happening to us that is triggering these memories. Maybe it's related to the Hemoanima or something, but it seems convinient that Takumi, Kako, and Shouma all had dreams/memories about their past that have proven to be very relevant to whatever current situation we are in.

//I'm willing to bet the rest of us are having these same dreams, and most are just not talking about them.

//I really like the character progression with Kako here. And it bounces back on Ima in some regard as well. Previously, most of the scenes the twins got, which wasn't that many because they weren't frontline fighters for the longest time, most of their scenes had Ima be the dominant character in them.

//It sucks that he's gone, but at least it gives Kako more space to actually be a character independent of her brother, even if her motivation is still to rescue him.

//And she's very slowly encroaching best girl territory now that she has a chance to flaunt her (not physical) stuff.

//She immediately proves to be a massive G, as she gives Takumi the opportunity he needs to talk to Nozomi, by asking him if he can help her carry some water to her room. Apparently, Kako had a vision that not only was Nozomi in trouble, but that Takumi helped her out of it. So she gives him the chance to get by Kurara and Kyoshika's oppression and talk to her.

//The girl is a legend, but unfortunately...said talk doesn't go too well.

//Takumi earnestly wants to help Nozomi, but Nozomi feels like she's being pitied because she happens to look like Karua. Despite his insistence, and despite her willingness to open up to him, and despite the fact that she's really badly sick, she doesn't cave to him, or tell him about her symptoms.

//During today's Free Time event, I wanted more of Kako, so I spent some time with her. There was this really funny scene where she admits that she's trying to figure out who in the academy she would kill and how if she were to commit serial murder here.

//It's okay though; it's for a novel she's writing.

//I'll be completely honest. I haven't spent all that much time doing hangout events in this game. I probably should, but when it comes to increasing stats, they're pretty nonessential in comparison to just giving gifts that the characters like.

//But the downside is that it means I miss out on awesome conversations like this one, and the one where Kurara threatened to shoot Gaku. Which is a bit disappointing.

DAY 70:

//Day 70, which means we only have one month left, and we're basically done with this school. Feels kinda surreal that we're at the home stretch now.

//And with it comes some good news, and some bad news.

//The good news is Tsubasa successfully managed to repeat the fire extinguisher, which means we should be able to leave the school again.

//The bad news is we can't rescue Ima, because we need to school bus if we're going to catch up with the invaders that took him, we need the school bus. And even though Tsubasa was able to repair the extinguisher on THAT, the bus itself is still currently out of gas.

//Thus, Takumi, Eito, and a very enthusiastic Kako head out with the new pump to get some.

//Standard exploration mission here and we achieve our goal, but THANK GOD my FLAME LEVEL FINALLY WENT UP ONE!

//Does this thing only get stronger every month!? I've seen this shit go up to at least Level 6! Is there any way I can make it better myself, or do I just wait for plot progression?

//Someone please genuinely tell me. I don't want to be playing this game wrong.

DAY 71:

//I got really scared when Sirei's morning announcement got interrupted, but thankfully there was no alarm. Just Kako showing up, super excited to rescue her bro.

//She's adorable~

//But yeah, like Kako says in this dialogue box, we go to hold a strategy meeting in the War Room for what we're going to do about rescuing Ima and recapturing the prisoner. Fortunately, we already had a plan set in motion.

//Apparently, Yugamu had a hunch that Shouma might try something suspicious with the prisoner, like helping her escape, so as a precaution, he secretly planted a transmitter on her.

//He doesn’t reveal exactly WHERE he hid it, which is more than a little unsettling...but it at least gives them a way to track her now that she's gone.

//What's more important though, is he explains that he kept this move to himself because he suspects there might be a traitor among them.

//FUCKING FINALLY someone says it out loud!

//Even if it's just a hunch, it's such a goddamn relief to hear that someone else is starting to realize their group could be under attack from within!

//I should also mention here that interestingly, Eito was the first to dismiss Yugamu’s theory, which is a little too fast and defensive for comfort.

//Now, with Ima in enemy hands, a strike team has been assembled to rescue him. Takumi, Tsubasa, Kako, and Shouma will be the ones heading out to face whatever threat is out there.

//Hi yes, hello, HOW?

//Daddy wants to drive the bus today~ Daddy wants to drive the bus~ Little bit of daddy bus drivin'~ Daddy wants to drive the bus~

//Also, real talk, why does this CG on the bus look like it was drawn by a completely different artist in a completely different style? This looks like a painting!

//So yeah, we get on the bus, and Tsubasa drives us all the way to where the prisoner's signal is being transmitted, BUT-

//It leads us...to an ENEMY BASE.

//We don't have sufficient enough firepower to storm this place and rescue Ima, so we currently have no option but to retreat and inform the others back at the school.

//Which...I kind of call bullshit on? We've fought this many Invaders in WAY fewer numbers. Four people, which is what we HAVE, is typically what we use for scouting parties?

//Eh, plot says no.

//I was really worried at this point that Kako might do something reckless, like storm the base herself, but thankfully, she seems to have more common sense than that. So we table the issue for the next day.

DAY 72:

//I gotta say, I do love it when you get to see the characters talk war strategy. It really makes the situation we're in feel more authentic, especially when we don't have Sirei, Hiruko or Nigou here to instruct us.

//But suffice to say that things have gotten a TAD complicated.

//The problem we face currently is we need as strong a strike force as we can muster to raid the enemy base and potentially rescue Ima if he's there, but at the same time, we can't leave the school defenceless either, which means the team is gonna have to split up for now.

//It takes a bit of discussion, but Takumi, Shouma, Kako, Eito, and Takemaru all agree to go fight the Invaders at the base, leaving Darumi, Tsubasa, Gaku, Kurara, Kyoshika and Yugamu to defend the school.

//However, it's not all doom and gloom, as Kurara sends a message to Takumi revealing that Nozomi is willing to speak to him.

//I do love it when Nozomi gets to be the plot girl. As I've said a few times before, I ADORE the worldbuilding and lore of this game. It's not something Kodaka really does with Danganronpa a lot, and when he does, it's usually in his less-impresssive projects (DR3 and Ultra Despair Girls) but DAMN is he good at it in this game! Tribe Nine too as a matter of fact.

//Takumi goes to meet Nozomi, and kicks off the conversation by telling her that he's no longer comparing Nozomi to Karua, true connection be damned. I know for a fact that this isn't gonna be the end of the mystery though, even if Takumi doesn't keep searching for it.

//Especially because there's an interesting little scene here when Takumi finally namedrops Karua to Nozomi.

//I think there's a little bit more to her reaction here than her just reacting to Takumi bringing it up. I think the name is familiar to her, even if she doesn't quite know why.

//But we don't get any more details on that in this conversation. We DO however, get a pretty hefty lore dump on the truth behind this war! Including Nozomi confirming something that I had GUESSED a long time back!

//Something that, I'll be honest, WAS pretty obvious, but even so, score!

//I'm effectively about to paraphrase what she said, purely because I'm super into this lore. So I hope you guys don't mind.

//Nozomi begins her explanation by finally revealing the truth behind her mysterious illness. The “rejection symptoms” she previously mentioned are actually her body reacting negatively to the Hemoanima within her. Essentially, her own blood is rejecting her.

//Until now, everyone, including Takumi, believed that Hemoanima was simply the result of their blood being altered when they stabbed themselves with their Infusers. They were told that the Infusers themselves were tools that allowed them to access their Class Armor and Weapons.

//But Nozomi explains that this understanding is incomplete. If Hemoanima were just a byproduct of the infusers, then anyone could use it.

//The reality is that the infusers don’t create Hemoanima, they AWAKEN it. They only work on individuals who already possess a rare type of blood that contains dormant Hemoanima.

//Everyone at the academy, including Takumi, was chosen precisely because they carry this special blood. Which is exactly what I predicted when I played the prologue for this game.

//This rare blood type is called "Cryptoglobin." A term coined by Nozomi’s mother, who was a leading researcher on the subject.

//Cryptoglobin is no ordinary blood. It has bizarre, almost supernatural properties that can’t be explained by current medical science. It can shift between liquid and solid states at will and reacts directly to the host’s emotions, especially aggression and willpower. In essence, it’s combat-adapted blood, seemingly designed for warfare.

//HOW CONVINIENT!

//Nozomi’s mother conducted her research at Kamukura General Hospital, which, while appearing to be a normal hospital, was actually a covert Cryptoglobin research facility.

//This ties back to a memory Shouma once shared, where he recalled seeing everyone being treated like test subjects at that very hospital. The experiments aimed to infuse Cryptoglobin into ordinary people, but most attempts failed, with Mrs. Kirifuji's subjects consistently suffering from violent rejection symptoms.

//Now that Nozomi herself is experiencing those same symptoms, which in itself confirms she was one of the experimental subjects in her mother’s trials. Though she did say before that she was one of her mother's experiments, and now we finally have context for that line.

//The very power that lets her fight is also what’s slowly killing her. This is why she’s always been hesitant to use Hemoanima in battle, though the demands of fighting the Invaders eventually forced her to draw upon it, and triggered her condition.

//Worse still, Nozomi admits she doesn’t know whether the rest of the group was born with Cryptoglobin or had it successfully implanted by another, more advanced experimenter. As far as she knew, she was the last surviving subject, meaning Takumi and the others' origins, and the truth of their abilities, are still largely a mystery.

//We get a lot more information about how Nozomi fits into this dychotomy of plot dumps later, but there are other things to cover here.

//Unfortunately, there’s no known medication that can effectively treat Nozomi’s rejection symptoms, or at least, none that’s currently available to us. However, there was one method she and her mother previously experimented with that showed temporary success.

//One of Cryptoglobin’s more disturbing traits is its cannibalistic nature. It has the ability to absorb other Cryptoglobin to increase its own power. Essentially, the blood strengthens itself by consuming more of its kind.

//Takumi quickly connects the dots, as this is basically what we've been doing to the enemy Commanders every time we beat them. We absorb their Hemoanima, or rather their Cryptoglobin, and they end up as blackened mummies as a result.

//So we've been unintentionally harnessing this cannibalistic feature of Cryptoglobin the entire time, absorbing the blood of fallen enemies to enhance our own power.

//However, this also comes with a chilling confirmation that the enemy Invaders ALSO possess Cryptoglobin. Which suggests a direct connection between the Invaders and the experiments that created the Special Defense Unit.

//However, Nozomi can’t shed any light on this connection, since her mother never mentioned anything about Invaders during her research, leaving this piece of the puzzle frustratingly unresolved.

//My personal theory at the moment is that all of us are secretly part of the Invader's species ourselves, or that we're at least a cross-breed between regular humans and Invaders. The latter theory would explain why we transform into uniforms, while the Invaders turn into giant monsters.

//Returning to Nozomi’s treatment, in one of their more desperate trials, her mother injected her with additional Cryptoglobin in an attempt to force-feed her blood with more of its own kind.

//The result caused the rejection to stop, at least temporarily. The theory is that her blood, when given more Cryptoglobin, stabilized by absorbing and integrating it into itself. It wasn’t a cure, but it worked, for a time.

//This is enough for Takumi though, and he comes up with a plan. If absorbing a Commanders Cryptoglobin will stop Nozomi's symptoms, then the only choice is to take her with us to the enemy base when we raid it, hoping to find and fight one of them, then have Nozomi get the killing blow on it.

//As it turns out, Nozomi isn't the only one coming with us either.

//After Nozomi declared she would be joining the vanguard, Kurara had Kyoshika tag along with us to serve as Nozomi's bodyguard and protect her.

//Which I am MORE than happy about because Kyoshika is at least a solid 40% of DPS on this squad. She's constantly heralded as one of the best units in the game when it comes to damage dealing, and I can indeed confirm this to be the case.

//Takumi, Nozomi, Eito, Takemaru, Shouma, Kako, and Kyoshika board the bus and head out toward the enemy fortress, ready for what could be their most critical mission yet. Once we arrive, our next big battle ensues.

//The operation kicks off with a unique challenge that we haven't actually seen yet. The goal is to eliminate all visible enemies in a SINGLE TURN using strategically placed explosives scattered throughout the battlefield.

//Basically the closest we get to a stealth mission in this kind of game.

//Also, because she's still suffering from her rejection symptoms, Nozomi enters the battle already slowed and slightly injured. Which is not good for her, because Nozomi has very little health to begin with.

//Also, at this point in time, I was wondering that if Nozomi was having a rough time with her ailments, why she didn't just use her healing abilities to get rid of them, lol? She literally cures every stat condition in the game, including stun!

//Then again, the hemoanima abilities themselves are what's causing it, so I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't work.

//Once the "stealth" section ends, the real battle begins. The team unleashes everything they’ve got.

//What follows is a grueling boss fight against a surprisingly menacing enemy commander. The commander pushes them hard, but thanks to smart team coordination and relentless stacking of damage thanks to Last Yell, we eventually overwhelm him.

//Seriously dude, Last Yell makes this game SO EASY! I sometimes worry about using it because it just means the battles aren't a challenge anymore.

//Nozomi lands the finishing blow—her first time dealing the final strike to a commander. And thankfully, absorbing the Commander's power does the trick, and her rejection symptoms vanish. It’s not a permanent fix, but for now, it buys her more time.

//In more unfortunate news, Ima doesn't appear to be in the base after all; but OF COURSE HE'S NOT! It was stupid to even assume that things were gonna work out and we were just gonna get him back that easily.

DAY 73:

//The search for Ima lasts all night, but there's still no sign of him.

//Fortunately, we don't return empty handed!

//UNfortunately...we don't return empty handed.

//Eito finds a mummified corpse drained of it's Cryptoglobin inside a small room of the base. A very unexpected surprise, but fortunately, it's not Ima's body.

//But it IS apparently the body of the Invader Commander with purple hair that we captured!

//STOP KILLING THE HOT GIRLS!!!!!

//Sorry! I'm a little MAAAD!

//Well, there goes my potential 16th party member. I wonder how this might change on the other routes honestly, because her having a character icon on the map CANNOT have been a coincidence.

//Eito claims that another enemy commader must have done this to her, but is confident that Ima isn't dead yet, otherwise we would have found his corpse here too.

//Everyone seems to agree, but...did they already forget what happened to Moko? Why is nobody coming to the conclusion that they're going to invaderize Ima just like they did with her?

//I mean, later on they say that the ability the Commander used to copy Moko was an ability unique to it, but that doesn't mean they can't do similarly terrible things to him.

//And we do actually see that later, but...spoilers. Anyway, in the meantime, we've got no choice but to hea back to the school, which has been fine in our absence thankfully.

//One other thing I want to mention here is that Shouma goes into a bit more detail about why he felt such a kindred spirit for the enemy Commander, and treated her so nicely.

//Shouma acknowledges that, yes, the enemy commander was technically our...well...ENEMY. But that doesn’t stop him from feeling genuine sympathy for her.

//While she was held captive, he remembers hearing her cry through the night, as if she desperately wanted to return home. It struck a chord with him, and he started to wonder if she had something, or someone, waiting for her, just like all of us do.

//He reflects on how everyone in the group continues to fight because they’re driven by the hope of returning to someone they care about at the TRC. Whether it's family, friends, or the life they had before, they’re all fighting for the same reason. To protect what matters to them. Shouma believed the Invader might have shared that same longing. He dared to hope that beneath her alien nature, she had something relateable.

//Kyoshika, however, coldly dismisses the idea. She insists the Invaders aren’t human in any sense and therefore can’t feel things like longing, grief, or love. Clearly still very hung up over how they treated Moko, which is more than fair.

//But Shouma pushes back. If the Invader was truly devoid of emotion or self-preservation, why did she surrender in the first place? Why cry? Why beg for life?

//That kind of desperation, he argues, doesn’t come from programming. It comes from a WANT to survive, and to return to something meaningful. He had hoped that if he could bridge the gap, learn her language, and understand her thoughts, he could uncover the truth behind her actions and perhaps find common ground.

//But now that she’s gone, that fragile possibility is lost. Her death has left him full of conflicted emotions. He didn’t just want to spare an enemy—he wanted to understand her. And now, he never will.

//Like...I LOVE Shouma in this scene. And there's never been any point more where I've just wanted to give the guy a hug!

//What he's saying is correct, and entirely fair, and yet everyone is coldly dismissing it (or at least Kyoshika is) like a bunch of warmongers. And he seems to be the only one with any genuine empathy or understanding that this war appears different to both sides.

//He understands that we are the bad guys to the Invaders just as much as the Invaders are bad guy's to us. And yet in the end, he himself is so self-loathing that he settles on himself being the one in the wrong.

//It's just painful, man. I feel so much for Shouma in this whole situation, just as much as I do for poor Kako. I know this is an impossibility at this point, but I wish Shouma would find it in him to put himself first for once.

DAY 74:

//MORE LORE YIPPEE!

//Before we get into that, there's a few things to mention.

//First off, is Yugamu the only smart one here? Why is HE of all characters the one bringing up all the points I make?

//A couple days of him missing, and his disappearance literally happened the DAY AFTER we found otu Moko was an Imposter, and yet Yugamu is somehow still the first person to bring up the possibility that they might somehow screw with Ima, or make him an enemy or some shit!

//Granted, he does specify in this scene that they couldn't use Ima the same way they used Moko because he's pretty sure only one Invader, the one we already killed, had the power to copy our abilities. But that doesn't mean none of the other Invaders have abilities that are SIMILAR. Or at least similarly fucked up.

//On a lighter note, I notice that Takemaru has been crying a lot in these scenes recently, and it's funny that every time, he always comes up with a different excuse as to why he's crying.

//But yeah, that aside, Nozomi suddenly asks Takumi if she can come by his room later, and when she does, she finally gives us a lot more context on the story she fed us before about her condition. Not so much on the war itself unfortunately, but more of an explanation as to why she's here and how.

//First of all, as we kind of got hinted at before, unlike the rest of the group, who were recruited or forced into joining Last Defense Academy, Nozomi enrolled willingly. And she had two deeply personal reasons for doing so. First, to carry on the dream she shared with her mother, and also to seek revenge for her mother's tragic fate.

//Her father had died in a car accident when she was very young, and her mother, though loving, was almost never home due to her demanding work (which is the same case for Karua as we know.) But when her mother WAS around, she would confide in young Nozomi, sharing details of her research like they were secret stories meant only for the two of them.

//These intimate talks became the only real connection Nozomi had with her mother. Through them, she learned about the devastation caused by World Death, the truth of the Tokyo Residential Complex being a subterranean shelter, and the grim reality that humanity’s days were numbered unless drastic action was taken.

//Nozomi basically knew all of this stuff even before Nigou told the Second-to-last Defense Academy group, and before they told the rest of us.

//At the time, Nozomi didn’t understand the full implications. She just saw her mother as a hero, someone working tirelessly behind the scenes to save the world. But as she got older, those bedtime stories started to take on a darker tone. She began to grasp the depth of her mother’s desperation and the ethical gray area of her research.

//Her mother devoted everything to the project: her time, her health, and eventually her relationship with her daughter. Her life's mission was to unlock the potential of Cryptoglobin to make humans capable of wielding its power.

//But when her experiments began to repeatedly fail, and management cut off further testing, her mother made a fateful decision. When Nozomi was in the upper grades of elementary school, her mother sat her down and asked Nozomi to become her test subject. Not out of malice or cold ambition, but out of desperation and love twisted by purpose.

//Shockingly, Nozomi agreed. At the time, she felt proud to be useful, proud to help her mother’s dream come true, and above all, glad that this meant they’d get to spend more time together. She admits that she was essentially brainwashed, convinced by her mother’s idealism and her own desire to matter.

//On a day when the hospital staff were off-duty, Nozomi accompanied her mother to the lab, and they attempted a transfusion of Cryptoglobin into Nozomi’s own body. Her mother clearly struggled with the ethics of experimenting on her own daughter, but Nozomi, young and naive, didn’t see the problem at the time. In fact, she remembered those days fondly, not for the pain or danger, but for the rare moments she got to be with her mother.

//However, the procedure didn’t work. As the experiments went on, Nozomi began to show increasingly severe rejection symptoms, and her health started to deteriorate. Despite the setbacks, her mother continued to push forward, until everything came crashing down.

//Just as Nozomi entered high school, her mother took her own life.

//She left behind a note containing fragments of her remaining research and final thoughts. According to the note, Cryptoglobin was meant to be humanity’s salvation, and a tool to fight back against what her mother referred to as "the enemies of mankind".

//Enemies we can now assume are the Invaders.

//She believed that if she could create stable Cryptoglobin carriers, those people could stop World Death and ensure humanity’s survival.

//But despite her years of work and personal sacrifices, the higher-ups abruptly shut down her research. They never explained why. No final review. No closure. Just silence. After pouring everything into her mission, and risking even her daughter’s life to complete it, Nozomi’s mother found herself abandoned and discarded. It BROKE her.

//Nozomi wasn’t just heartbroken when she found out. She was just furious at the cold, uncaring system that chewed up her mother and spat her out.

//After her mother’s suicide, Nozomi couldn’t just move on. Grief gave way to obsession, and she found herself repeatedly sneaking into Kamukura General Hospital, desperate for answers. She wanted to understand why the administration had suddenly cut off her mother’s research, and why the project that had consumed her mother’s life was so abruptly shut down.

//During these covert visits, she discovered files and restricted data revealing the existence of a newly-formed Special Defense Unit composed of teenagers who possessed the power of Cryptoglobin.

//I.e. Takumi and the others.

//Whether they were born with it naturally or someone had succeeded where her mother failed didn’t matter. What mattered to Nozomi was the grim realization that she and her mother were no longer needed. The project had gone forward…just without them.

//Digging deeper, Nozomi learned that the mission of these Cryptoglobin-powered teenagers was to destroy the enemies of humanity and, ultimately, save the human race. Exactly the goal her mother had spoken of with so much passion and hope.

//But then, a thought occurred to her: what if she could continue that dream herself? What if, by joining the Special Defense Unit, she could prove her mother’s work had been worth something after all? Maybe then the people who had shut her down and effectively killed her would be forced to recognize her contributions. Maybe Nozomi could redeem her mother’s legacy.

//On her final trip to the hospital, fate presented an opportunity. While sneaking through a restricted area, Nozomi stumbled upon what we currently believe to be a transport chamber housing Takumi and the others, unconscious and sealed in pods, clearly being prepared for deployment.

//Without hesitating, she climbed into one of the empty pods and hid. The next thing she knew, she had arrived at the Second-to-last Defense Academy, alongside Kurara, Yugamu, Moko, and Kyoshika.

//However, Nozomi chose to keep everything she had learned, and everything she had done, to herself, with Takumi being the first and only person she confided in about this. She felt that the others were angry about being dragged into this war, forced to fight without their consent as humanity’s final defense.

//If they found out that Nozomi had entered this world willingly, knowing what it meant, they might see her as complicit in the system that enslaved them. Worse, if they learned her mother had been one of the researchers responsible for the Cryptoglobin program, they might suspect her of being involved in the conspiracy itself.

//Nozomi didn’t want to risk being ostracized, especially not after everything she had gone through just to be there. But at the same time, the deception weighs heavily on her. Every time she sees how broken, afraid, or angry her friends are, she feels the guilt tighten around her.

//I just really like the way they handled this scene. The dialogue is great, the lore is incredible, and the emotions are real. And I'm really hoping it pays off in these final few days.

//One other interesting thing we find out here is that Nozomi has no recollection of the TRC getting attacked by the Invaders. Which is odd, but at the same time, this is the second time we've seen this phenomenon.

//Hiruko claimed she'd been fighting off the Invaders for a long time before she arrived at the school, which is why her stats were so much higher than ours. Yet Takumi and the others never knew about it.

//But this also made me think about another thing that happened MUCH MUCH earlier on in the story, which I kind of didn't pay much attention too at the time, but with that scene of Hiruko and now this one with Nozomi in mind, it takes on a bit of a different meaning, and it's this one:

//At the time, this really does just feel like a mistake Sirei made, because it's not too out of character to him. But when I watched NicoB play this game, he picked up on it, and thought there was more to it than this.

//At the time, I thought he was reading between the lines a little too much. But now, looking back, I'm not so sure.

//Did the fight at the TRC not happen then? That could have very well been a VR simulation or something, since we know we have the tech for it. But then what do our families think happened to us?

//I really have no clue what this plot is setting us up for. I hope the payoff is great when we get closer to Day 100.

DAY 75:

//Another Free Time day today, but there are a couple things to note.

//First of all, Yugamu has been spending a strange amount of time away from the cafeteria in the morning. Hell, for most of the day, he's locked himself up in the bio lab, and I discovered at some other point that I can't even take him out for exploration missions.

//Same for Nozomi, even though she's doing better, because she's locked up in there with him.

//Good news though. I knew today had to be the day it happened, but we finally got more VR missions.

//Albeit only one, and the BP increase is only slightly higher than before, but hey, I'll take it. Especially since it gives me more of a chance to use Ima now that he's...indisposed.

DAY 76:

//I only have one real highlight for today, and it's not really a good one. The breakfast conversation this morning was honestly really awkward.

//Kurara is feeling uneasy about how close Nozomi and Takumi have gotten recently, and she's both confused and upset that Nozomi would be involved with Takumi, whom she still sees as a creep.

//Eito tries to defend Takumi by reminding everyone that he already has Karua back at the Tokyo Residential Complex. However, this backfires when Kurara recalls that Takumi once said Karua and Nozomi resemble each other, leading Kurara and Kyoshika to accuse him of projecting Karua onto Nozomi.

//Meanwhile, Darumi wants us all dead just because we’re "normies."

//Also, I'm stupid, because I didn't realize until this point that Kako and Ima aren't actually high-schoolers yet. They're still both middle-school age, and it wasn't until Kako said so here that I figured that out.

DAY 77:

//Okay, so first of all, before I say anything else about this day...

//How!? How is that already a thing!? Why do you guys know what sunscreen is!? You HAVE NO SUN!

//Can someone actually explain this to me, because this is fucking with my brain! Takumi didn't even know what the MOON was before coming to Last Defense Academy!

//Like, they must have SOME kind of substitute for the sun in the TRC, because Tsubasa and Takemaru wouldn't be that tanned if there wasn't, but even so, is it ever actually explained anywhere? Like in one of the books? Have I missed it?

//Other things of note. For both today and the previous day, Takumi tells everyone that he and Nozomi have become close friends, but every time he does, Nozomi looks a little downtrodden. I guess she's being friendzoned because she thinks Takumi likes Karua?

//Alsom Gaku and Eito are up to something. Which I don't like, for obvious reasons.

//I'm gonna be honest, this day was SHIT. I did NOT have a nice day today.

//Despite knowing it was probably a bad idea, I decided to go exploring today, even without Nozomi at my side. My flame level had increased, unlocking new areas and giving me access to more content, so I figured I’d take advantage of the opportunity.

//Unfortunately, that meant leaning heavily on save scumming just to keep my party alive, and I had to reload more times than I care to admit.

//In the end, it was all for nothing. I gathered a ton of loot and resources, but none of it was remotely useful. I was specifically looking for tech-related items, and somehow walked away with everything BUT that. It was frustrating, exhausting, and honestly kind of demoralizing.

//I finally threw in the towel and decided I won’t be venturing out again until Nozomi is back and available to join me. Without her, the whole thing was a nightmare, and not one I’m eager to repeat anytime soon.

DAY 78:

//Can someone tell me why 78 is a special number? Or is the game just trolling me? Because I am genuinely curious, and it feels like it could be a number of things, yet none of them feel right.

//So yeah, Eito and Gaku apparently set up a special festival in the gym for Kako to enjoy herself at, since she's been super depressed the whole time since Ima went missing, and has just been putting on a brave face the whole time.

//Kudos to Gaku for being a nice guy thinking about others for a change, even if he did screw up the music. But again, I got really nervous with this scene because it feels like Eito and Gaku forgot what happened the last time we gathered everyone together was.

//I'm talking about when we had a barbecue and we woke up two days later to find out all our food had been burnt. What's stopping that from happening again?

//In fact, why HASN'T that happened again? If we lose this batch of food, we're royally screwed! Whoever did it could easily just do it again, even if it took a while.

//Then again, I guess there's more of us to keep track of now, so it's not gonna be that easy. By coincidence, Shouma is the only one who avoided getting drugged last time.

//Kako is cute in this scene as always.

//Honestly, I really don't have much to say about the festival itself. Nothing really happens, we just get to cheer Kako up a little bit.

//The only other meaningful moment during the festival comes when Nozomi opens up and confesses that part of her feels deeply sad. They’ve created something special here, and the thought that they can’t stay like this when the 100 days are up weighs on her.

//Takumi listens and then admits that, for better or worse, being drafted into this war has become one of the most defining chapters of his life. Even though they’ll eventually return home and go their separate ways, he tells Nozomi he genuinely wants to stay connected, to remain friends with everyone, no matter what the future holds.

//I couldn't really focus on all this though because I was shitting myself, waiting for something to happen. But nothing really did. Some of us slept in the hall because we partied all night, but everything was fine-

DAY 79:

//I SPOKE TOOO SOOOOOOOOON!

//We woke up after spending the night sleeping in the gym, only to discover that the school is under attack! The Invaders have broken in, and the alarm didn't even sound!

//We obviously can't fight them off without our Hemoanima, so we need to get to the War Room and grab our Infusers. As Darumi puts it, the game has now shifted genres: it’s basically a stealth game, and our current objective is to make it to the war room without being spotted.

//I'm not gonna lie, this segment is INTENSE! And it genuinely gave me the heebie-jeebies! You can't pause the game, you can't check the map, and the rising heartbeat sound that signals an enemy is nearby does a great job of cranking up the tension. It’s GENUINELY nerve-wracking.

//Thankfully, I managed to get there in one piece. I first I thought that during the festival, someone had fucked with the alarm system while the rest of us were having fun, which means we now have to keep an eye out for enemy attacks ourselves, making things even MORE difficult for us. But thankfully, the alarm system seems fine.

//Turns out the invaders breached the school by tunneling in from underground. There's a huge swarm of them, and only four of us are on the field to begin with—Takumi, Gaku, Kurara, and Kako. Darumi splits off from us to go clean the Invaders that got into the school building out, and to wake up the others who went back to their rooms.

//Soooooo the odds are not in our favor.

//Good on you, Kyoshika!

//We also get another transformation sequence here, this time from Eito’s perspective, which we've already gotten once before, and I wasn't expecting to see it again honestly.

//This actually made me wonder if there's a possible route or alternate storyline where Eito becomes the main protagonist instead of Takumi. The way the scene plays out definitely plants that seed in my head.

//The good news is the rest of the squad shows up not long after, though I didn’t even realize Yugamu was missing at the beginning of the fight. That tells you how chaotic everything was.

//Also, CHRIST, this battle is NO JOKE! Even spamming the everloving fuck out of Last Yell to persist through the rounds, it’s surprisingly tough and drags on longer than expected, lasting for 5 rounds, which is the longest any of these fights have been so far.

//But when the invader commander shows up, and the situation gets even worse, because...

//WUUUH-OOOOH! Who could have seen THIIIS COMMIIIING!?

//Yeah, it seems to have somehow absorbed Ima into itself, which is… unfortunate. To make things even more difficult, hitting the commander directly causes damage to Ima, so we’re forced to hold back until we can come up with a strategy that doesn’t hurt him.

//Kako is getting absolutely steamrolled by the narrative, just like how Nozomi was. She's been depressed for basically this entire chapter, and everything’s coming at us so hard and fast, and the game isn’t pulling any punches.

//Yeah, I alrea kind of said it, but this was, without a doubt, the most hectic, chaotic and overwhelming boss battle we’ve faced so far. The first three rounds were tough enough on their own, but things went off the rails in round four when both Takemaru and Kyoshika were suddenly absorbed by the damn thing, just like Ima.

//Then, FINALLY, Yugamu makes his entrance. Turns out, the entire time he was missing, he’d been developing a bioweapon specifically engineered using the commander's DNA. It’s designed to target Commanders only, which means we could potentially use it to neutralize the enemy without harming our absorbed teammates.

//In a shocking twist, Nozomi is the one who ends up delivering the poison. She sacrifices herself, allowing herself to be absorbed by the commander in order to get the bioweapon into its system.

//To be honest though, I was a little confused on first watch of this scene, and I would appreciate some clarification. I actually thought Nozomi had taken the poison HERSELF and used her own body as a vector. I’m still not 100% sure, since that part is kind of ambiguous. Maybe she was just holding the poison when she got grabbed, or maybe it was all part of her plan.

//Also, despite the buildup, the actual climax of the fight was oddly...anticlimactic...

//Mostly because Last Yell is so fucking busted, it ended things quickly once the setup was in place.

//I decided to let Kako land the final blow; after everything she’s been through, it felt right to give her that moment of closure.

//Still, I have to say, the BP reward for this fight was seriously underwhelming. Five full rounds of combat and all the emotional carnage, and we end up getting like...2000 something?

//Unfortunately, the victory is bittersweet. We managed to defend the school and survive a seemingly hopeless battle, but the aftermath is rough. Takemaru and Kyoshika are a little woozy, but ultimately fine after getting free.

//Ima, on the other hand, has been inside the commander too long. His DNA had begun fusing with the creature’s, and while Yugamu’s bioweapon did its job, it worked too well. It targeted Ima as well because of the genetic overlap.

//Ima himself is, SOMEHOW, still alive, but he's indefinitely comatose, and his body is slowly decaying. Because his DNA has been screwed with, we can't bring him back with the Revive-O-Matic either.

//Unfortunately, because none of us are really doctors, nor can we properly heal (WHY DOES NOZOMI NOT USE HER FUCKING HEALING CANNON ON HIM TO FIX HIM OH MY GOD-) our only real option at this point is for Yugamu to do some Robocop shit on him to "Bring him back." in VERY BIG quotation marks.

//Surprisingly, Kako is okay with Yugamu doing this with her brother's corpse.

//Kako makes it clear that as long as there's even the slightest chance to save Ima, she's willing to take it, no matter the cost. She tells Yugamu that she doesn't care what Ima ends up looking like, whether he comes back scarred, altered, or inhuman. If the alternative is letting him die, then it’s worth trying anything. Death, to her, is the only truly irreversible outcome.

//Yugamu, however, to his credit, doesn’t sugarcoat the risks. He warns her that even in the best-case scenario, Ima won’t be able to return to his original form. His body, and possibly his mind, will be permanently changed. And in the worst-case scenario, he could end up as a twisted, mindless creature, unable to speak or recognize anyone.

//But for Kako, even that is preferable to complete loss. A flicker of life, no matter how broken or altered, is still something. It’s still him, in some form. She says she’s willing to take that risk, and shoulder the consequences.

//If, when it’s all over, Ima wakes up and feels horrified by what he’s become, and if he begs for an end, Kako promises she’ll be the one to do it. She won’t let anyone else bear that burden.

//She even adds that, knowing Ima, he’d much rather die by her hand than be killed by the Invaders. And honestly? She’s definitely right about that.

DAY 80:

//Yugamu takes Ima into his "care" and starts modifying him into a new body. We'll have to wait and see exactly how that stuff turns out.

//Nozomi explains during breakfast why she chose to deliver Yugamu’s poison herself, because she mentioned previously that "only she could do it."

//Yugamu mentioned that his poison works by attacking specific cells in the Invader's bodies, but Nozomi suspects that that cell is Cryptoglobin. That means the poison could be deadly to the entire team as well, and we even see it when Takemaru and Kyoshika get out from beign absorbed. They fall sick for a little while.

//Since Nozomi's Cryptoglobin behaves differently in her system, she took the risk, as she figured she had the best chance of surviving long enough to make sure the poison reached the commander without putting the others in danger.

//Free Time came around, and I chose to stop here for today.

Conclusion:

//It was late when I stopped playing. I'd already crammed in hours for this part of the story, and I didn't want it to end! I was so hyped to see what would come next, but I HAD to STOP!

//This game, as I've said before, is so addicting. I loved everything that happened in this part of the story, particularly the fights, which were among the more extreme we've had so far, and the lore dumps surrounding Nozomi, and why we're actually here.

//My takeaways:

Kako has very quickly joined Nozomi and Kurara in the best girl's squad. She was handled really well in this part of the story, and I'm having tons of fun with her. She's so cool and cute.

This arc fixed a few of the problems I had with the twins and their arc earlier on in the story, even though Ima isn't physically present for most of it.

Yugamu got some chances to shine in this part of the story. I love Yugamu, and I think he's really interesting, but the problem is he hasn't been given much of a chance to shine on his own just yet. Not even now. I feel like there's a lot more to him; we just haven't seen it.

The fights are super intense now, and I love it, but at the same time, Last Yell is making them a little too easy in the final parts.

I feel like all the characters are at a point in the story where I like them all a lot, with no real problems with any of them.

This part made me feel bad for both Kako and Shouma; the latter over the loss of the prisoner and his genuine reasons for feeling sympathy for her. I hope in other routes, we have a chance to save her and make him happy.

//Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I love this game. To no surprise. I'm having so much fun as we get closer to the end of this route. Stay tuned for more!

-Mod

[lonelypond]

NicoMaki, HonoKotoUmi, Love Live, 4.3K, 4/4

Summary: Honoka makes a decision as the rest of the crew rush to her aid.

Mighty Fine Shootin', Chapter 4

Twenty minutes before

The wagon with dynamite was slowing Tsubasa down. They were in sight of the railroad tracks and could see the smoke from the approaching train. Frustrated, Tsubasa had dismounted and taken over the reins of the wagon, urging the cart horses faster with curses and slaps. It seemed to be working, at least from Honoka's perspective. So she had a hard choice, do something while they were on the move, before actual contact with the train. To wait would be endangering too many innocents. And Umi and Kotori. Honoka wished no one ill but Tsubasa had made bad choices over and over again. Today, there would be consequences. Honoka slowed her horse, letting fellow members of the gang pass her. One gloved hand rested on the handle of her Colt pistol, relaxed so as not to draw attention. Honoka would briefly have the element of surprise. She hoped she'd read the signs and signals right. A glance at the plume of smoke from the train. It was getting closer. No more delay. Her hand hesitated. It gritted too hard against Honoka's nature, a sneak attack. The dynamite wasn't going anywhere faster than her bullet would find it. And Honoka wasn't a cold blooded killer.

"Hey, Tsubasa. Better jump."

Kira Tsubasa's head swivelled and chilly green eyes locked onto Honoka's, opening wide as so many little hints swarmed into a realization about why she'd never found out the identity of the marshal. Right under her nose. Like the dynamite. And then Tsubasa leapt through the air, rolling into a landing.

One snake strike motion and Honoka's gun was out and two bullets headed to the load of dynamite in the wagon. Barely even a breath before a searing heat pulsed outward with a huge, concussive noise, throwing riders off horses, other horses stumbling back and rearing. Forewarned, Honoka controlled her horse, steering her clear of the chaos. And then the riders came out of the trees, a very familiar voice calling out, "U.S. Marshals. Surrender!"

Yukiho. Yukiho had gotten her message. A flash of fawn colored hair caught Honoka's eye. Kotori? No, her mother, retired Deputy Director of The Marshals, who'd recruited and trained Honoka, Yukiho, and Umi. A gunshot kicking the dirt next to her horse focused Honoka back in the present. Where had Erena and Anju gotten to? Tsubasa wasn't getting to her feet. Still too close to the wagon to be unscathed. Honoka spotted orange hair running to where Tsubasa had likely landed. Anju. Honoka laid along her horse's back, minimizing her profile. Erena had probably found cover in the chaos, ducking back into the trees, probably on foot, the better to scramble out on a branch and use her sniper skills.  Bullets were whining by everywhere. Honoka spotted Yukiho to her left with Director Minami by her side. They were returning fire, while pushing the scattered bandits toward the central wreckage of the wagon. Honoka rode to Yukiho's other side.

"Glad to see you."

"Hey, sis. You sure do know how to send a signal."

"There's a sniper somewhere. She'll probably be after me."

"Get cover. Now." Director Minami ordered.

"You're a big target, sis."

A bullet tore through Honoka's hat.

"Darn it."

Yukiho leaned over and pushed Honoka in the direction of the closest cover, "Just go."

Honoka chivvied her horse, hurrying to reach a less exposed location.

###

Eli hadn't seen Nozomi in a couple of hours. Time to tip up her hat, lean back, and lose a few hands to ease her absence from the table.

Pair of fives. Not a great hand. She let herself frown and pushed a dollar chip forward.

"I'll take three."

Dealer obliged. Eli stared at her full house, keeping the frown. Raises went around the table, gamblers eager to get some of their stash back. Eli was about to oblige them. 5 to her. "I'll see your 5 and raise you…" hesitate, bite lip, give off hurried air, "two."

"You're bluffing. I'm in."

Neither of her remaining rivals raised so when it came back to Eli she laid out her initial pair.

The pale man next to her snorted, "That the best you got? Flush." He laid 5 clubs on the table. "They might not be pretty but they get the job done, Miss Russian."

Eli knew he'd slipped the ace of clubs out of his worn sleeve. Once upon a time, she would have shot a hole in his hat and slit his cuffs. Now she sighed, an envious smile at his good fortune.

"Da, ya got me. Time for a dinner break." Eli pushed back from the table, making sure to swivel her hip so her pistol hit the table, to discourage anyone from joining her.

A boom. The train rocked. Nozomi. Where was Nozomi? Eli shoved through to the aisle and started running. She pulled up when she saw Umi, both hands raised to block her.

"Where's Nozomi?"

"I sent her to get the horses. We've got to stop the train."

"Why? The explosion was behind us."

"Honoka will be out there, alone. We have to hurry."

"UMI!" Kototi skittered around Eli, going straight for Umi, throwing her arms around the sheriff's waistcoat.

"Kotori, let me breathe."

Eli shook her head. "You stop the train. You have the badge. I'm going to help Nozomi."

Umi considered. "All right. Bring the horses to the locomotive. There's at least two bandits. Nozomi knows who they are."

Nozomi with two bandits. Eli didn't wait to listen to anything else Umi said.

###

Nozomi held the shotgun almost lazily. But anyone who could read people would have been warned by the narrowing of her eyes. The bandits misread the situation, choosing threats.

"I gave you your cigs. Let us through."

"You're not taking any horses."

"It's two to one. How are you going to stop us."

"Easy. I'm gonna let you go." Nozomi cocked the gun, raising it to her chest. "Just step off the train and I won't follow."

"You won't follow. Like we're supposed to be scared."

A smile. Cold. "That's the best offer you'll get on this train. I'd take it if I were you."

"NOZOMI!" could be heard from behind the door. Then before anyone could react, Eli broke through, reading the situation in an instant and tackling the bandit who had their gun on Nozomi. Knee on their chest, Eli had her pistol out and pointed at the bandit's face, "You're under arrest."

Nozomi had stepped closer to the other bandit, rifle cocked, pointed at their temple. "Drop your gun."

Metal hit the ground. Nozomi kicked it away. "I told you that was the easy way."

"Nozomi?"

"I'm fine, Eli."

"Thank God."

"Where's Umi?"

"Stopping the train." Eli looked Nozomi over and seeing no wounds, relaxed. "You'd better get the guards. We'll have to restrain these two and leave 'em."

"Just let me cuff this one so she can't cause you any trouble." With a strength that surprised her captive, Nozomi had her wrists chained around a post in under a minute. "I'll be right back." Nozomi winked, "Don't have too much fun without me."

"Nozomi."

Nozomi laughed, "Sorry." She kissed the top of Eli's head. "I won't be long, love."

Once Nozomi was gone, Eli growled and casually connected the bandit's head to the floor of the train as she adjusted her hold on their shirt collar. They swallowed back their complaint when they read the murder lurking in blue eyes.

"Stay still."

"Yes'm."

"Good."

###

The engine room was hot and crowded, impatience thick in the air.

"Stop the train." Umi demanded.

"I can't."

Unlike the train, Umi had no intention of stopping. "Are you the engineer? Is this train equipped with air brakes?"

"Yes."

Umi moved closer to the controls. "Which of these activates them?"

The grizzled engineer pushed back, "You don't know what you're doing. There are bandits out there."

"And I am here to help stop them. Pull the brake."

The engineer glanced to his partner, who started to reach for something to use as a weapon.

Umi pulled out her badge, "Sheriff Umi Sonoda, working with the Federal Marshals. There are two bandits on this train. My colleagues have probably transferred custody to your railroad police."

"Why didn't railroad security warn us?"

"We set a trap for the A-Rise gang. Only the actively involved law enforcement officers knew."

A chin scratch. An easing of the engineer's posture. Kotori stepped forward, "Please listen to Umi, sir. We're needed. And we need your help."

Umi had never witnessed anyone turn down Kotori. This engineer would not start a new trend. He reached for a lever, then hesitated. "Does it have to be a full stop?"

"We need our horses."

He nodded, then turned to his younger colleague, "Better get up there, Jimmy."

"Yup." And the brakeman headed for the roof of the car next in line.

"Thank you." Umi's sincerity eased the mood.

"Just nail those bastards to a tree. I lost good friends in a raid last year."

"We will do our best."

A shared glance, a nod, and the train shuddered to a stop.

###

Erena hadn't been able to resist a shot at Kousaka, that traitor. Marshals were everywhere, circling her team, herding them, disarming them, now about to set up a perimenter. She could see Anju's ginger hair, bent over Tsubasa, thrown several yards from the wreckage. Maybe Tsubasa was still alive…Honoka hadn't had the grit to do her job thoroughly. Erena spotted two marshals heading in her direction. She'd have to flee, gather whoever she could find, and get set up in a hideout for winter. A chance to rescue her friends might come but only if she escaped. Walking her horse quietly through the trees, she hurried to reach a spot out of the sight of the marshals so she could mount up.

###

Maki had switched to automatic mode, her muscles urging the horse faster, her mind racing through most likely injuries due to explosives. Unless someone had made rudimentary triage efforts, Maki was in a desperate race against blood loss. She could smell the acrid smoke and blood and gunpowder. Must be close. Ahead of her, a rider directed their horse across the trail Maki was on. She pulled up Midnight, angry.

"Get out of my way. I'm a doctor. People might be dying."

"No one is getting through. We have it under control."

"Are there injuries? I can help. Don't be stupid."

Maki heard horses behind her. Nico. And Rin. Rin would get her through. She urged Midnight into a turn.

"Rin. Tell them I'm a doctor."

Rin was out of breath and holding her badge in front of her, "Let her through. Is Honoka okay?"

"Hoshizora! Good to see you. We were afraid you might be…"

Rin glanced over her shoulder to Hanayo. "I'm fine. Let Maki through."

Maki pushed Midnight to a trot.

"I'm with her. Don't try to stop me." Nico's voice snapped from next to her.

This was better. Maki could make a difference now. And Nico, Rin, and Hanayo had her back.

###

Maki could read an accident or battle scene automatically. Bustles of activity, lines of fighters or rescuers, riderless horses moving in dangerously erratic patterns. Her eyes were drawn to oases of quiet, the almost hidden patches where silence and blood mingled, tears often in the mix. About fifteen feet from the still burning wagon, Maki saw a stillness and dismounting, she grabbed her waxed canvas roll from the saddle and headed for her first patient, not paying attention to warning shouts or passing bullets. Nico cursed, grabbed several blankets, and jumped down, grabbing Midnight's reins, tossing them at Rin and Hanayo.

"Tie the horses somewhere safe. I'm going after Maki."

Hanayo gulped, but nodded with more confidence than she felt. Horses were a problem she could manage.

"You got this Kayo-chin. I'm gonna find Honoka."

"Be careful, Rin."

Rin cheerfully saluted and searched for a fellow Marshal, Sugar calmly following Rin's lead. Hanayo dismounted, patting Cream, "We'll be fine, girl. Let's see where we can wait." Cream's lead rope in one hand and Midnight and Rose's in the other, Hanayo headed for the treeline.

###

Anju hissed as Maki shoved past her to kneel next to an unconscious Tsubasa.

"Get away from her."

"I'm a doctor. Be quiet."

A rough hand on Anju's shoulder pulled her away from Tsubasa and Maki. Nico had her gun and knife confiscated in less than a minute.

"Yazawa."

"Anju."

"Tsubasa's gonna…"

"Tsubasa's lucky to be alive. How come you're not in cuffs?"

Anju shrugged. Nico figured the marshals hadn't registered her as a threat. And with Tsubasa wounded, maybe she wasn't. Nico wouldn't be taking any chances. Not with Maki completely absorbed in examining the patient.

"Where's Erena? Is she in custody."

Anju didn't respond, watching Maki's face for any clue as to Tsubasa's condition.

Maki had her kit unrolled. "Is there any hot water?"

"Take these blankets." Nico shoved them past Anju. "I'll start a fire."

"Is she dying?" Anju whined.

Maki tucked a wool blanket around Tsubasa, using a second as a pillow, gently moving Tsubasa's head with the smallest motions. "You did well stopping the bleeding." Maki glanced to the wagon, the fire almost burnt out. "She's far enough from the blast zone that we might not be dealing with internal injuries. But these lacerations," Maki pointed at Tsubaba's forehead, "indicate she hit her head, as does her unconscious state."

"What does that mean?"

Nico was half listening as she gathered kindling and larger sticks, stacked them, and ignited her tinder.

"Probable concussion. No way to know how bad the damage is until she regains consciousness."

"Can't you do something?"

Ignoring her frantic audience, Maki had her stethoscope earpieces in, the bell on Tsubasa's chest.

"What's happening? Is she breathing?" Anju pressed, panic rising.

"Leave Maki alone. She's a good doctor. She'll save Tsubasa if she can. She saved Nico." Nico grabbed Anju, pulling her to her feet. "Help Nico find something to heat water in."

"I want to stay."

"We're going." Nico had left her rifle in its saddle holster but she had her pistol. Drawing it got Anju's attention and agreement.

###

Chaos. Honoka had lost her horse somewhere and knocked out, cuffed, or tied up so many members of the A-Rise gang she'd lost count. Her feet were sore, every time she went to rub her eyes the sight of her soot blackened hands stopped her. She needed water and a break. Where had Yukiho gone?

"Honoka!!!"

Umi? Honoka spun, suddenly lighter. Umi, hat flying off her head, was running toward her, Kotori right behind. They were here. They were safe. Umi's strong arms wrapped around her, Kotori's tears dropping onto both their shoulders.

"Honoka." Kotori sobbed.

Honoka felt strong enough to pick them both up but she knew that was just adrenaline surging at the touch of her lovers.

"You're all right." Kotori's hand was on Honoka's cheek, golden eyes searching for wounds.

Honoka grinned, shaking herself, "I need a bath but I'm fine, Kotori. How did you get here?"

"We heard the explosion. Captured the two bandits on the train, turned them over to the railroad police. Then stopped the train and got off." Umi held Honoka close for a long minute, then stepped back. Honoka grabbed her hand.

"You're not getting away."

"Can we help?"

"Kotori's mom's in charge."

"Mama!"

"Yeah. I didn't know if you'd make it so I took a chance and snuck out and telegramed Yukiho. She and Kotori's mom brought a bunch of marshals."

"I am very glad you were not facing A-Rise alone."

"Me too. Especially after I set off the explosion."

"You did what?"

"I couldn't let them get to the train. I knew you were on it."

"Honoka." Kotori's voice was soft.

"Honoka." Umi's was accusatory.

"I'm fine."

"You're lucky."

"Lucky to have the two of you." Honoka wrapped her arms around their shoulders. "Let's find Kotori's mom. I need some grub."

"And we can assist ongoing efforts."

"That's my Umi." Honoka laughed, "Did you two have any fun at all while I was gone, Kotori?"

Kotori started to tear up.

Honoka felt panic for the first time that day and rushed into an apology. "I'm sorry, Kotori. Don't cry. I'm fine. I'm coming home. Please don't cry."

Umi had almost chucked Honoka on the back of the head but restrained. "Then resist the urge to ask disturbing questions."

"C'mon, let's go."

"Lead the way." Umi's heart eased as her stride matched Honoka's. On a parallel course, Kotori between them, reunited, all safe, their love solid. They had built a home and family on this foundation.

###

Eli finished shaking a marshal's hand as she turned over three members of the bandits to the authorities. A special locomotive with two rail cars was coming from Denver with additional marshals and railroad police to pick up the captured gang members.

"You look tired, Elichi." Nozomi swung in, sliding her arms around Eli's waist.

"I am. Had to ride those three down."

"Where's your horse?"

Eli pointed vaguely north, "Left it with one of the marshals. Have you seen Umi?"

"She and Kotori found Honoka and went to talk to Kotori's mom. She's the retired Deputy Director Of The Marshals."

"I know."

Nozomi giggled, "Spent some time in her office?"

Eli shrugged. "Let's just say, I'm sure she'd be a bit too interested in anything I've been up to."

"But you're a blacksmith now. And a stalwart of the community. Umi relies on you."

There was something in Eli's eyes, something hidden, something haunted. There had been too much crossover with her old life these past few days. Eli loosened the bandana around her neck. "Is there any food around for a hungry rider?"

"Actually, Hanayo's got a nice little set up."

Eli smiled at that, "She's probably got rice cooking in at least two pots."

"Good guess."

Eli shifted her gun belt, "It'll be a nice touch of home."

###

Nico had left Anju with Umi and taken on the job of gathering the horses that were milling around riderless. She found a small clearing and put one of the younger marshals in charge. As she gathered more mounts, Maki's near constant movement was a distraction, the doctor stomping through camp, triaging the wounded, dealing with the most dire cases first. Nico finally had to focus on her own task and leave Maki to hers. Several A-Rise members had been close to the explosion; Maki setting a few fractures, cleaning and stitching wounds, stabilizing patients for transport and administering painkillers. Tsubasa remained unconscious so she was carefully moved to the area where the wounded were being prepared to be transferred onto the train.

"Nico!!!" Rin's voice rang out, distracting Nico from the feedbags she was putting over horses' noses.

"Something happen?" Nico asked.

"You got to come eat. Kayo-chin's made curry. She sent me to get you and Maki."

"Have you seen Maki?"

Rin shook her head. "Nope. Haven't been everywhere yet."

"Nico will look. Take over here."

"Sure." Rin grabbed the feedbag, petting the horse's blaze, "Hey, buddy."

Nico went back into the main area, now much more organized. She didn't immediately see a redhead. She did hear Honoka.

"Umi, you've got to convince her. There'll be a doctor on the train. She looks so exhausted."

Nico pivoted, heading for Honoka's voice.

"NICO!!! You're alive!" Honoka rushed Nico, lifting her off the ground. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Nico's glad too. Now what were you saying about Maki?"

"She's sleepwalking, can't keep her eyes open."

"Where is she?"

Honoka pointed to the left, "She was heading for the wagon last I spotted her."

Nico touched Umi's forearn, "I'll get her to take a break."

Umi nodded, "I think you could. Honoka and I need to go over some details with Director Minami. Will you be going on to Denver?"

Nico hesitated. She'd planned to go, to testify, then head further south to see her family. But the memory of the last time she'd seen Maki kept revisiting, the doctor bent with exhaustion, her steps a forced, weary shuffle, not a confident stride.

"Do you need Nico to testify in court?"

Honoka and Umi shared a glance, "We can take a sworn statement from you, say it's to keep you safe and anonymous."

"Erena's still out there." Nico muttered.

"She'll be more focused on Tsubasa." Honoka drew a line with her heel, "And me."

"Erena saw me. And Tsubasa knows where my family lives."

"Don't worry about it, Nico. The marshals will take care of your family. And the gang is probably done for the winter, if not longer. Maki's not sure how much brain damage Tsubasa might have suffered. She was awfully close to the explosion."

"You saved lives Honoka." Umi said softly.

"I know but…"

Nico decided not to third wheel. She had an emotional crisis of her own to resolve. "I'll find Maki; you find Kotori."

"Thanks, Nico. You're good people. We won't forget that."

Honoka held out her hand. Nico shook it, surprised at the relief Honoka's simple words allowed her.

###

Maki had to sit. No one thinking sensibly would pick the still warm, burnt out husk of an exploded wagon but Maki was cold, the wagon still had enough sturdiness that she could lean back against it, and at the angle she chose, it protected her from the sight of most of the camp.

She closed her eyes, leaning forward into her knees, her head resting on her arms. The noises had quietened. No shots, no shouts, just distant movement, conversation, things and people being dragged, horses snorting their opinions and requests at any passerbys. She could hear friends, sometimes a voice almost familiar spoke her name, but Maki just drew further into her shell. She had no intention of replying. She did not wish to be found. She'd done good work, saved lives, saved limbs, but after, there came the heaviness, the words trapped in her chest, the energy it took to even listen to a question. She had none for responses.

Boots in front of her. Maki glanced up. It was too dark to see the expression on Nico's face.

"Brought you some food." Nico crouched to hand Maki a tin cup full of what smelled like curry. "Not as good as Nico's but it'll warm you up."

Maki inhaled. Warm. Spices smelled good. Curry over rice; Hanayo had obviously taken over the campfire for the dinner shift.

"Nico's been rounding up the horses, feeding them."

Maki snorted. Maybe Nico should have brought her dinner in a feedbag.

"C'mon, eat." Nico tapped Maki's cup, "Nico's been watching you. You haven't had a break."

Maki forced a spoonful of curry into her mouth, the spicy warmth stimulating saliva and hunger. The cup was gone in less than ten bites.

"Here's a hunk of biscuit."

Maki wiped up the last of the curry.

Nico nodded, and sat herself next to Maki. "So is this a good spot for stargazing?"

Maki chewed. Nico was leaving. She was here to say goodbye. Maki had been listening for the train ever since Honoka had announced its existence late in the afternoon. Surely tired was what was prickling the corner of her eyes with tears, not this last small moment with Nico.

"Nico has some cookies left when we get back to our horses."

"I don't want cookies."

"Of course you want Nico's cookies. You love them, your daughters love them, Nico…"

"Stop." Maki could hear the train now. "You'd better get going. The train's nearly here."

Nico's eyes had adjusted to the low light. She could read the unhappiness in Maki's expression and turned the Doctor toward her, one hand sweeping up Maki's cheek.

"Don't cry."

"Too tired for this. Leave me alone." Maki growled.

"Lean on Nico."

"You're leaving." An accusation?

No response. Nico seemed to be blinking, biting her lip, thinking. Thinking was a rare look for Nico, Maki realized. Moments of honesty and scheming flashed across Nico's face with a rapidity that made any singular mood difficult to catch. Maki could feel Nico's fingers though, a gentle warmth against her cheek.

"Nico can't leave you."

"I am very capable…"

A brusque, bold press against her lips derailed Maki's argument, stealing her breath.

"Nico?"

Another kiss.

"Wait. Please?"

Nico didn't pull back. Maki could still feel her breath against her lips but that was the only pressure. Nico was kneeling, one hand tangled in Maki's hair, the other sliding behind her neck.

"What about your family?" Maki's heart was racing so fast, Nico was so near, practically sitting in her lap.

"Mama will understand." Nico sounded so calm.

"Huh?" How could there be anything calm about this moment?

"Mama" kiss "will" kiss "understand" kiss "Nico can't leave the smart, pretty, kind doctor and her smart, cute, kind daughters." Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.

Maki's eyelids were fluttering, her exhales were three times as fast as she could take in air, Nico's weight everywhere, the sounds and their surroundings starting to swirl…her fingers gripped Nico's back, pulling her in, holding her tightly, Maki's face hidden in Nico's shoulder while she willed her breaths to slow, her face fever hot.

"Maki?"

Nico sat back. There was space. A break of contact. Maki opened her eyes. Cool. Stars. Nico's smile.

"You're staying? Really?" More prickles as tears dropped to cool the fever of her cheeks.

"Nico is right here." Kiss. Again.

Maki sagged, everything that had happened that day a weight of weary that she had expected to carry alone.

Nico deftly altered their position, adjusting so Maki could lean against her shoulder, Nico's arm keeping her close. There was a whisper, both a promise and a demand.

"Nico is taking care of you now, Maki. Get used to it."

So bold. so silly. So presumptuous. So strong. So warm. Maki had no idea how any of this had happened. Or how Nico had managed to wrap a blanket around them.

The locomotive announced its arrival with a whistle. Maki tensed.

"Right by your side. Not going anywhere without you." Nico pulled her closer, Maki relaxing enough to yawn. "Time to rest, Maki."

Questions and conversations would wait. And that first star Maki just noticed could keep tonight's wish. If you could photograph a feeling, Maki would make a print of this moment, right now, to remember this dizzying, intoxicating sensation as the world tilted Nico-ward and Nico caught her.

A/N:

It's been so difficult to get the characters to cooperate. Or maybe I was the difficult one, considering paths that characters would never take. But I like how this arc wrapped up. I'm planning to eventually continue the story using some of this year's Yeehawgust prompts. Thanks for reading!

[meimi-haneoka]

Hello, Cinzia! How are you doing? I have two things I wanted to talk to you about but first let me start by saying thank you for your translation correction posts! I have a habit of reading both translated and original Japanese versions side by side for comparison and my lord… the amount of errors the official translated version had is astounding. So thank you for having the fandom's back on that!

Okay so the first thing I wanted to talk about is the fandom's (understandable) disappointment over the conclusion chapter. But I have a theory on why this might feel disappointing. You see, I also happened to come from the Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire fandom and right now it has been 13 years since the release of the last book and everyone has been waiting patiently for it. In the mean time, the fandom has come up with A LOT (and I mean A LOT!!) of theories on how the characters are going to develop and eventually how the books are going to end. This is fun because it keeps the fandom alive. But the biggest con is that the theories are so wildly out there now that everyone deep down knows no one's gonna be satisfied with the ending the author will give us because we have extrapolated too much in this past decade. While we in the CCS fandom didn't have to wait that long, I still think a lot of us had come up with theories while waiting for the next release and maybe because we were basing them our past experiences with Tsubasa and xxxHolic, we assumed that was road to go. Personally, I loved the ending Clamp gave us. I always love a little open ending because then we get take that ending to our little sandbox and make our own stories. But best of all, if the story hasn't ended, IT MEANS WE HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE THEM AGAIN IN THE FUTURE :D!!! Isn't that exciting?? You're absolutely right about how the ending isn't going to please everyone. Because that's literature! The creators of The Matrix once said that art is never stagnant. People will come back to it years later and find something new to relate to and have a newfound love for it!

For my second thing I wanted to share!! As someone who grew up with CCS and now coming back to Clear Card as an adult who has gone through Life™️, I realize how much easier it was for me to pick up on the darker undertones of Clear Card. KAITO WAS NOT OKAY FROM THE TIME HE WAS INTRODUCED!! Like that boy had 10 different alarm bells ringing every time he spoke. And the thing that made me realize that is something from my own life experience. Akiho's past as an abused child is also very easy to pick up on and not something you need to read between the lines. Like it was RIGHT THERE! So idk why people deny that they had miserable lives. Kaito isn't a villain per se. He's an antihero. And even if he was (let's just say it for the sake of it), Clamp's villains are never one dimensional and the same goes for Kaito too. He just needed help. But coming back to my main point, I wonder if Clamp had intentionally gave us a more mature theme for Clear Card, knowing that most of their readers are going to be adults who grew up with the original CCS. The idea of "everything that I can and can't do make me who I am" is so IMPORTANT to remember!! The feeling of lack of self worth haunts all of us. There are many things that Sakura can't do either and that's okay because she has help. AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO ASK FOR HELP!! We cannot do everything on our own (looking at Kaito) and that's okay! This is how Syaoran shows his love too. He knows he is limited (as we all are) but there are things he can do to help Sakura. We always have to remember that because life isn't easy to go through alone. (knocks on Kaito's head)

I'm looking forward to future stories revolving our favorite gang. I wonder if Akiho will travel to meet Eriol some time too. Anyway, I feel like I have taken too much of your time. Thank you for everything you've done for the fandom and if you choose to reply to this message then thank you for that too! Have a nice day :D

Omg hello new follower!! Where were you hiding all this time?? 😂😂 I LOVED receiving your ask and it brightened my day, thank you very much!! See, people, this is someone who gets it 👍 (as I know all my affectionate readers do!! I just need to show off all of you because, among the sea of complaints, the fandom needs to see that there are ALSO lots of people out there who understood Clear Card correctly, and it's not a nonsense story to everyone like they think it is).

Your first point is absolutely logical and I also think that's one of the reasons why the "final" chapter wasn't going to satisfy each and everyone in the fandom: that was just plain impossible from the get go, but adding all that you so cleverly explained here, yeah it was just bound to happen all the more. I still think, though, that if you paid attention, understood the story and the characters correctly along the way, the theories that you as a fan could've think of weren't going to be that far from what actually happened. I managed to foresee a lots of events (some more precisely, some less precisely, some I did completely accidentally) and that's not because I have powers or because I paid CLAMP for it 😂😂 but just because I "listened" to what the story, or rather, what CLAMP were trying to tell me through the story. I picked up the signs and for the most part didn't let them trick me with the red herrings, and even when I made theories I always kept quite "flexible" in case canon didn't go that way (there's also plenty of stuff that didn't go as I thought). The only thing I was always sure about is that this would have had a happy ending. For the all the characters. And yes, open endings can be a present to the fandom, especially the creative one! Moreover, it's an easy way to get back into the series later, in case they want to continue it.

And for the second point....oooh, I know. I KNOW. God, it's always been so clear, especially when they started to show his past as a kid and the fact that he fed himself energetic bars as a "meal"? Or when they said that everything tasted the same to him? That's beyond messed up for a kid and it was immediately clear that he had enormous problems behind that smily mask that he was showing to everyone. Those are clear symptom of depression and god only knows the degree of abandonment Kaito lived in, in his childhood. The fact that he was literally snapped up by an Association of criminals doesn't mean that they intended to raise him or that they were interested in his wellbeing.

The people who deny that Akiho and Kaito had a childhood made of abuse only do so because if they didn't, then they would feel forced to feel empathy and pity for them (lest they appear as insensitive), and they don't want to, because they had already decided they were obnoxious, malicious and unwanted characters a long time ago. Cause their background of abuse is very very clear, especially for Akiho. It's spelled out clearly multiple times. They couldn't go further than what they did because it would've been too jarring for a story like CCS (and I've seen the disturbed comments of a part of the JP fandom, already as it is).

So yeah, Kaito is an antihero at best, or a "reluctant villain", a trope I have seen once in a post on instagram. It fitted him completely. He villainized himself towards everyone else (Sakura & Co.) in order to achieve his only goal, even if that wasn't really in his nature. But he did, for Akiho's sake.

And yes yes yes to all the rest that you've said!! One of the most important lessons we got from Clear Card is that it's important to ask for help when you need it, that you shouldn't take everything on your shoulder......and if you notice that a friend is struggling, don't ignore them but extend a helping hand, cause they probably don't have the strength to ask for help.

I also really hope that we can see our favorite gang in the future, and I keep in my heart a little hope to see Akiho/Kaito/Momo in Holic too!!

Thank you so much for this ask and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of my posts!! 😁❤️

[airlock]

tag someone you want to know better

aw hey, I hadn't seen one of these dash games around in a long time! thanks @demoiselledefortune for tagging me!

Favorite color: green! specifically, deep, bluish, emerald-like greens.

Last song: technically My Hero by Foo Fighters, since yesterday I was watching them perform on live TV

Last movie: Catch Me If You Can, which is still a nice flick but I'm not sure my mother noticed that she already showed that one to me and my brother once before--

Currently watching: so this previous holiday seemed like a good time to finally embark on one of those long-form watchthroughs, right. anyway, 100+ chapters of old-ass anime here I go; I'm watching Captain Tsubasa and making fun of Wakabayashi on every opportunity

Currently reading: not the texts I'm supposed to for uni, that's for sure

Currently working on: lately I've been in a vicious creative slump, but when I manage to get something moving forward, it's usually another piece of my overly ambitious preparations for the next poll tournament over at @fevotinggauntletreal

Current obsession: over the past month, I got to spend a fair bit of time either reliving the PS2 Mortal Kombat bonanza, or playing Ozymandias, which is a new historical 4X strategy game I picked up on a steam sale and which rules

everyone's welcome to have a go even if they're not tagged, of course, but as for who I'm actually lobbing the ball to here, let's see! how about... @asexualglimmer, @bi-naesala, @hypergammaspaces, @phantasyhalation, @purplespacefairy, @restoration-lady, @sparrow-va, @sukimas, @sunshades, @toastyboobs, aaand 10 sounds good I'd say!

[completeoveranalysis]

[?]

I WENT ACID TOKYO FISHING

I was looking for confirmation for the Fai thing I was talking about in the last post, but I found other things too!

Fai’s magic means that he can tell who is a clone right away. So, confirmed: he knew about Sakura right from the start. 

(It also means he won’t be able to tell anymore moving forward, since his magic is all gone, but like how likely are we to meet a brand new character at this point in the story who is secretly also a clone?)

(... statistically it’s still pretty high)

RE: Fai in the previous post

Hey remember that? When Sakura wasn’t breathing, but she was fine? 

Because her body is artificial!

Xing Huo’s magic circle is the same as Clow Reed’s - because she is a clone of Sakura, Clow Reed’s daughter, as well as it echoing the fact that it’s also Sakura’s initial magic circle in Cardcaptor Sakura. (The spoiler reason for this is also consistent with the logic here, but I’m not going to casually spoil Cardcaptor Sakura just in case)

SEE ALSO: Xing Huo’s decision to help Lava Lamp definitely makes sense considering that she’s a Sakura clone, but also her level of power! She was excluded from the ‘failed clone’ category Evil Wolverine tossed around last time, so her level of power shows that she was a much closer match to Sakura’s initial skillset - which explains why she has the strength needed to do the ‘Teleport to Yuuko Ichihara’ spell, which only the magically strongest people in the multiverse can pull off. She can also only cast it once, like some others (ie, most people who aren’t Fai)

Evil Wolverine says it’s “only natural” that she decided to help Lava Lamp. Again, most likely because she is originally a Sakura clone. 

But now that she’s betrayed him, he’s adding her to the pile of ‘failures’ who he can’t use like he wanted to. (ie, like empty puppets, which she has now proven she is not)

Evil Wolverine mentions that he can’t reliably create clones that have the same level of power as their original. In this context he means Syaoran, but it also explains why there were just so many failed Sakura clones - because he just really just can’t pull them off that well, so it’s an uncommon occasion when they turn out as perfect as our Sakura! (And also why Xing Huo was closer to success, if not all the way there)

(Do you think he had failed Syaoran clones running around at some point too?? Can I see them???) (Or was Syaoran much much easier to replicate since he’s not as hyper powerful as Sakura?)

And this is just emphasising the tragedy of the Syaorans :’D 

Where even the fact that Lava Lamp has to fight Syaoran at all is heartbreaking, because he has a deep connection to the soul Syaoran was building and DID want to be friends with him the whole time!

And now he has to watch Syaoran stab Sakura, meaning Sakura is stabbed by (a) someone who looks exactly like himself, (b) his failed attempt to help Syaoran secure his soul and become his own person, and (c) someone he desperately wanted to be friends with. 

Which is :’) all around

[tsubasaclones]

my life if i never found sailor moon stuff on that one kids craft site in elementary school

[masterofdemise]

MFB: Solar Swap AU, What Does it Mean To Be Legendary?

I had a new idea for this AU and it completely spiraled so behold. I’m going to talk about one of the biggest events in this AU (that has no comparable event in canon Fury) and how it sparks a change in the side of good (and evil).

If you prefer to read on AO3, the link is here:

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/42298515/chapters/119563858

JOHANNES VS CYCNUS

Johannes versus Cycnus is not long after Beyster Island, when moral for the good side is quite low. Even with the good side having some legendary bladers like Pluto, Gingka, Herschel, Keyser and Rago, they also have yet to find Kyoya after the event of Atlantis Island (equivalent to Mist Mountain arc), Ryuga still shows no interest in helping them and Chris is revealed to be a legendary blader, but he’s working for Dynamis. Some are continuing to train (Gingka, Masamune, King who has just joined them), while others are moping (Tsubasa is seriously questioning his value to the team right about now). During this dead period of nothing really happening, Pluto and Johannes decide to go on a walk together to take their minds off of the unlucky string of events. In the meanwhile, Cycnus is still panicking and stressing over his recent loss to Rago during the Atlantis mission. Dynamis was not too pleased with Cycnus’s failure and insisted he catch his breath before getting any new orders. Desperate for Dynamis’s praise and wanting to prove himself, decides it is time to act on his own. Cycnus misinterprets Dynamis’s views on Pluto and thinks that if he kills Pluto on his own, Dynamis will be proud of Cycnus.

During Pluto and Johannes’s walk, Pluto worries about Johannes tagging along after he has got hurt trying to protect Pluto despite Pluto being the legendary blader. Johannes fires back and says that if anything, he is not doing a good enough job protecting Pluto. Before they can say anymore, Cycnus launches his bey directly at Pluto to take him down. Pluto is about to counter attack to protect himself but before he can, Johannes intervenes and chooses to battle Cycnus instead. Pluto is horrified and knowing how powerful Cycnus is, begs Johannes to not fight him in his stead since Cycnus is a very powerful legendary blader but Johannes doesn’t listen. Cycnus is annoyed and tries to attack Pluto again but is blocked once more by Johannes. Johannes, as Pluto’s bodyguard, refuses to allow any harm to come to Pluto.

As the battle heats up and they throw more and more insults at one another, Cycnus is so fed up, his pride so damaged, that he also threatens to harm Motti, who he has seen at Olympus Corp conversing with Yuki (she is a double agent and works on her own to eventually help out the WBBA later but Cycnus doesn’t know she is actually betraying Olympus). Cycnus hints that Motti is a traitor, but Johannes doesn't really care for that part and tells Cycnus that "No matter what, Pluto and Motti is my family, if she's being stupid then I'll set her straight. Even if she can be an idiot, she is my sister and I won't let a loser puppet like you lay a finger on her". In the end, Johannes wins as Cycnus runs away in shame.

How though? Isn’t Johannes not a legendary blader while Cycnus is? Let me explain. Legendary nladers are indeed more powerful than regular ones, but not by a lot. Regular Bladers still have the potential to defeat legendary bladers if they do not have a strong will or spirit and this is most clearly displayed in Johannes versus Cycnus. Johannes wins because his motivation to protect the people he loves (Motti, Pluto) is far stronger than Cycnus’s one-sided admiration for Dynamis, which isn’t even that strong because his pride hinders him and Rago challenging Cycnus’s beliefs has left Cycnus in a twisted and confused state. Cycnus cannot win because deep down, his blader spirit is next to nothing when compared to Johannes because Cycnus doesn’t know what he really wants for him or Cygnus. Johannes doesn't just protect Pluto because it's his job, or protect Motti because he is obligated to as her brother, but because he genuinely loves them both and wants to protect them of his own volition. Johannes knows exactly what he wants from himself and its to protect the people he loves so he can preserve the things they have.

Johannes versus Cycnus largely affects both the allies and all the villains in their approach in stopping or trying to revive Nemesis.

THE EFFECTS ON OLYMPUS CORP

Dynamis returns from successfully cursing and kidnapping Rago after a rigged battle where Dynamis cheated, and Yuki returns from Beyster Island with the good news that Chris is the final legendary blader they need. The two of them congratulate the other as they are a step closer to reviving Nemesis. All is going well until Cycnus barges in with injuries from his fight with Johannes. Cycnus tells Dynamis everything and apologizes for failure to kill Pluto. Dynamis is enraged that Cycnus acted without consulting him and even tried to kill his main rival.Dynamis calls Cycnus “useless” and an “idiot” for fighting them and still having nothing to show, especially after Atlantis where Dynamis had to bring Rago himself to make up for Cycnus’s first failure. Dynamis has never wanted to kill or purposely cheat against Pluto because as much as he fights with his rival, he also heavily respects him and wants to be the one and only one to defeat him. So when Dynamis hears that Cycnus tried to take him down in such a manner, Dynamis is furious at this act, especially since Cycnus is the legendary blader in the situation and despite trying his hardest, still lost.

Yuki, slightly concerned over Johannes since he is Motti's brother, asks how Cycnus lost to Johannes of all people. Cycnus also then reveals how he threatened Motti the same way he did to Pluto. Yuki has been friends with Motti the whole time outside of work so he feels a lot of concern since he cares for Motti a lot. While Yuki just calls Cycnus an idiot in the room, in reality, he is terrified and worried about putting Motti in danger whenever she goes into the Olympus Corporation building. Even though Yuki never really listened to Motti telling him to stop working for Olympus because he was so dead set loyal to Dynamis before, now he is feeling conflicted. He knows Dynamis would never threaten Motti because she is too much of an “insignificant flea” in his plans to change anything, now he has to worry about Cycnus going too far and hurting his “best friend”. This feeling of doubt and uncertainty lingers inside Yuki until he eventually betrays Dynamis in the end after Nemesis is revived successfully. This doubt also spreads to the Beylin Fist, who also can’t really condone such harming of innocent people (Motti) in such a manner after rumors spread of Cycnus’s failure.

THE EFFECTS ON THE ALLIES

Johannes defeating Cycnus is a huge revelation and realization for the allies because it proves to everyone that it is possible for non-legendary bladers to defeat powered up legendary bladers. Anyone can be a powerful blader, even without bonus legendary powers, because it's about spirit and passion, not just skill and some magic flying rock.

One of the two people who were most affected by their losses against the legendary bladers are Masamune and Tsubasa (Ryuga and Chris respectively). Masamune is the most obvious one and not much changes from canon since King still gives him that sunset speech (with just a tiny bit of adjustment to fit the AU). Tsubasa however, is a different story. Tsubasa was tasked with finding legendary bladers and was kept away from his friends for a period of time. When all the legendary bladers were found and he was not one, he became frustrated with others and himself. Why were people like Cycnus and Ryuga selected as legendary bladers instead of him? Was he not responsible enough, strong enough, did he not have enough spirit? Tsubasa in his disappointed state, is unable to enjoy any of his training sessions because he is starting to base his worth on the fact that he was not a legendary blader. He begins to forget about his blader spirit, until Johannes comes back victorious.

When they first met, Tsubasa did not view Johannes highly as he saw him as overly reckless and chaotic. After Johannes defeats Cycnus however, he gains a new found respect for him. Tsubasa asks Johannes how he did it and beat the impossible. Johannes bluntly responds, “I just won.” Tsubasa tries to find a reasoning for this by asking if Johannes cheated or used some sort of trick but Johannes tells Tsubasa that his reasoning is the sound of someone who is “weak and just tries to find excuses”. Tsubasa yells at him for the insult but Johannes clarifies that he’s not talking about his skill, but his willpower and confidence in himself. Tsubasa still confused, Johannes has to remind Tsubasa on what blading spirit really means. If you already admit to yourself that you can’t fight the legendary bladers, you have already lost. Johannes, not much of a motivational speaker, tells Tsubasa that the title of legendary blader doesn’t mean anything other than their role to form the barrier, and that he is still just much of a powerful blader as the likes of Gingka and Kyoya. Tsubasa realizes that his love for Beyblade does not and should not change just because of a star fragment. Tsubasa later converses with Gingka and when he realizes that Gingka still sees Tsubasa as a worthy rival despite the power difference, Tsubasa finally has his motivation returned. Tsubasa tells himself that when Nemesis is finally defeated, he is going to keep striving for his best and to continue helping out with the Beyblade scene so that others can continue to pursue their dreams too.

Other non-legendary bladers like Toby Zeo, and Benkei also have a boost in motivation, not just in their hopes of saving the world from destruction, but also in the way that it really isn’t impossible for them to eventually catch up to and rival their legendary blader friends. They don’t need to give up on their dreams of being the strongest bladers because they have just as much potential to achieve that title as other people do.

Despite all the recent losses that the protagonists have to suffer through, the group realizes that there is still hope, this hope being their blader spirit and fighting passion. With things finally starting to look up, they all prepare to head off into the end game to stop the revival of Nemesis.

[lilover131]

Chapter 68 Analysis

It’s new chapter time!! And boy, was this a good one! I haven’t been this excited about the next chapter in quite some time, but that’s how you know for sure that we’re definitely in the climax of the story!

Also, this gif totally was my vibe while reading this chapter. 

Without further ado, let’s delve in! 

Call it Tsubasa PTSD if you wish, but seeing a absolutely adorable color page always has me worried that something bad is about to happen. Lmao! CLAMP has a tendency to give us these really heart warming pictures before crushing our hearts, but I’m going to have faith that there is a different meaning here. Perhaps this is to remind us of Syaoran’s promise to not let Sakura become unhappy. Or perhaps it is also a reminder of what Sakura said when she made the new Mirror card. She said she wished she could look in the mirror and see herself the way everyone else does. And in a way, Syaoran becomes her mirror in this chapter, but I’ll delve into that a bit more further into this analysis.

 The chapter starts off very similarly to the ending of chapter 50 where Momo narrates and asks what happiness is to her, and how it is that she can always believe everything will be all right even during times of hardship. ‘Alice’ comes to on a gondola-like boat moving down a calm stream between two huuuuuuge shelves containing thousands of books (I wish I had a library like that). I love CLAMP’s landscape designs once again, but the incorporation of the trees is quite nice here. It gives the vibe that this library is not just full of books but is alive.

The Red Queen asks ‘Alice’ whose voice she heard and asked if it was something important. Something flashes across her face that indicates that perhaps for a moment, a brief moment, Sakura is starting to remember who she is. The smile in particular feels much more like herself than the character of ‘Alice’. And it seems practically confirmed that she did have a brief glimpse of self recognition based on ‘Mr. Cat’/Kaito’s brooding expression and clenched fists. Lol!

 Kaito seems most displeased and doesn’t hesitate to let Momo know he doesn’t appreciate it by asking her not to give Sakura any more hints. He also reminds her that she’s supposed to not assist the characters in the book. Momo explains that it’s ‘narration’ she’s helping move things along by facilitating and not assisting in any way. Lol. Kaito gives his usual smile at her scolding, which is so weird on Syaoran’s face, and I feel this is his way of covering up how irritated he actually is by this. Hahahaha. He lets Momo know he’s still not particularly happy about it, but decides to let it go for now so they can continue following them.

 ‘Alice’ comments on all the books surrounding them, and the Red Queen states that books are incredibly important in this land, and that they have always been there for her. As we know, it was shown many many chapters ago (our first glimpse of Akiho’s past) how she had no friends as a child, and books were her only friends, so it seems almost like a flash of the real Akiho here. She’s still in there, though not out quite yet.

 However, these books in this library are no ordinary books. The Red Queen explains that each book holds a person’s memories and serves as a record. They contain a person’s feelings, hopes, and even the magic they created. I am totally creeped out by this because we know Akiho’s Clan (aka the Squid Clan or Asshats), performed a spell on Akiho so that she would absorb the contents of all grimoires that pass before her and engrave them on her very soul. She is an artifact meant to absorb magic, so all of these books….are potentially magic and memories she’s stolen (unconsciously I’m sure) from people. And that’s absolutely horrifying to think about. I figured she had absorbed a lot of magic from people, but that is way more than I ever imagined, so it’s no wonder why she’s so close to breaking!

 This also brings another theory to mind. Since we know they are in the Alice in Clockland book, I find this fascinating how when Akiho tried to absorb Sakura before in the pool chapter, it was pages of a book that sprung from her feet to capture her to ‘bring her magic inside the book’. And now that we know what else the Alice in Clockland book contains (memories), this leads me to believe that the book isn’t just something that Akiho owns, but is a reflection of her own soul. And currently, it is writing Sakura’s story within it to ‘record’ it too (this is a theory, so I’m not stating anything definitively here).  This might explain why Akiho can read the book when no one else can, why she dreams of the stories within its pages, why Kaito seems to be so invested in Sakura’s life and history, and even why Momo said before that they were synchronizing. What if Sakura’s story and magic are being written inside of the book that is Akiho’s soul? The one that was considered a ‘blank book’ by her clan before. What if they actually turned her soul into a book so it could literally be written upon?

Sakura seems confused by the name of the book, as she still is recognizing herself as ‘Alice’ and asks Akiho if she is the Red Queen. She states she does not remember who she was before she came to Clockland, but that she remembers she had a very special person and that ‘Alice’ has a name more befitting of who she is. The Red Queen begins to lift her veil, and it seems in that moment that she has returned to being Akiho and is bringing Sakura back to remembering her own self. @meimi-haneoka​ also mentions in the Japanese version that the font changes in her speech, which collaborates with Akiho coming back to herself (strong girl!).

 However, it seems it wasn’t needed as Syaoran comes to the rescue, shouting her name loudly and cutting through the world to get to her (I love how the cuts reveal book pages. Guess Syaoran skipped a few chapters. Hahaha). Kaito is quick to respond to this interruption and he applauds him for managing to not get kicked out of the world by the trickery he pulled earlier using Mirror. He states that only one cat can be here right now, and he lunges forward to try and grab Syaoran. But suddenly, Syaoran seems to vanish in his grip and the light left behind zooms behind Kaito to..Syaoran? That’s right everyone, Syaoran fooled Kaito using Mirror, and I am absolutely living for it. Like, I am so proud of my boy, I can’t even. What a freaking 1000 IQ move.

Sakura calls out his name, indicating she is fully herself now, and Syaoran apologizes for his late appearance (not that he needed to, since he totally made up for everything in that moment). Sakura shakes her head and gets emotional (man, I would too) about how she couldn’t remember who she was until he called her name (which is exactly why Kaito wanted him to stay away!). Syaoran continues being cool af by telling her that she will only ever be Sakura to him and no one else, which seems to reassure Sakura that everything will be okay. It’s almost like he was telling her “I will always help you find your way back”.

Kaito returns to his usual form, but potentially not by his own doing? He states that Syaoran didn’t just retrieve the Sakura card version of Mirror, but that he also dispelled the illusion created by the new Mirror. It’s unclear if Syaoran forced this change on his own or if just happened by default due to Kaito’s ‘attack’ on him. Momo had mentioned before that even the slightest of magic tricks could ruin his disguise, so it’s possible.

 Syaoran is looking up at him rather intensely, and Kaito starts to analyze Syaoran again, praising him for a moment at his magical growth, before stating personal details about him. I swear to god, Kaito get so chatty when he’s around Syaoran, and I find it so fascinating to observe. I speak a lot more on this particular subject in my post titled “Syaoran and Kaito Analysis” which you can find here.  It has definitely been observed by me and others that Kaito particularly likes to bring up details about Syaoran’s life to him, and it’s unclear exactly why he does this, but it’s entirely different from how he interacts with other people, and I love it.

 Technically, he mentioned Syaoran’s mother and her divination skills once before, but since time was turned back the last time they fought, Syaoran actually doesn’t remember this conversation, so it is a bit of a repeat now. However, he does actually say something not entirely confirmed before but now is. He confirms for us that Akiho’s clan (the Asshats) takes particular interest in the Li clan and despises them due to their connections to Clow Reed. Now, this was implied before in Akiho’s first backstory chapter where the clan was ranting about Syaoran’s birth and how they felt they were being beat by the Li Clan due to Akiho being the only child of the same age and having no magic of her own. It was very likely this anger over Syaoran is what stirred them to do what they did to Akiho, but having Kaito confirm this just gives it another creepy factor. I mean, in a nutshell he just told Syaoran “I know this information about you because this magical family who hates your family stalks the ever living shit out of you”. Being “famous” to a clan that hates you is not a good thing at all. Not good indeed….

 But Kaito doesn’t say much more and flashes his pocket watch, claiming that Syaoran cannot stay here. His pocket watch looks more broken than ever, a metaphor for his life, and it really seems he doesn’t have much time left. Syaoran, not sure of what is coming, uses Mirror to copy Flight, and OMG THE RESULTS ARE SO FREAKING COOL. SYAORAN, WHY ARE YOU SO COOL IN THIS CHAPTER?!! He forms really cool looking wings made of glass, which resemble the glass pieces that stem from the Mirror card’s back, and Flight respectfully goes to both Sakura and Akiho. I was seriously wondering how much Mirror would be able to help him last chapter, but holy moly is he making amazing use of her.

The chapter ends with an intense stare down between the boys and Syaoran making a declaration that he will definitely bring Sakura (and Akiho implied too in the Japanese version) back with him, which obviously goes against Kaito’s master plan. It seems obvious the next chapter is going to include an epic fight between these two again, and I cannot wait!!!

I also cannot forget to mention Akiho’s sudden quietness once Syaoran appears. Her lack of reaction and the fact that CLAMP specifically keeps her face concealed has me incredibly concerned that she’s gone into ‘book-mode’ and that will certainly complicate matters in the next chapter if so. GOD, I’M SO EXCITED.

 Anyways, I’m very much looking forward to the Christmas chapter, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!!

[psychewritesbs]

The Seven Luminaries III

I love CLAMP manga re-reads. The story changes so much from one read to the next and there’s all these new layers to peel back that you may not have been aware of the first time.

The Ouroboros

Ok so I have to wonder about the symbolism here because both the Ouroboros (snake that eats its own tail) and the moon are cyclical symbols. Especially the Ouroboros representing a cycle of death and rebirth.

I’d been wondering if CLAMP uses alchemical symbolism and here’s my answer.

Anyways, it’s almost like CLAMP is saying that the apocalypse is a cyclical fated event that we’re moving through. And because of this I kind of have to wonder how many times different incarnations of Kamui and Fuuma have been acting out their fate as twin stars.

Yuzu

This girl is such a breath of fresh air.

Arashi falling in love with Sorata

But like...

She’s not having it with his bad jokes.

Sorata... read the room!

Ok no but, in all honesty. I love that Sorata brings up the idea of accepting his fate as part of Team Heaven.

And even when he knows it is in his fate to be a seal and to die for a woman’s sake, Sorata still wants to have some sort of agency or free will in the matter.

But this kind of reminds of how in trc Yuko tells Tsubasa, Fai and Kurogane that making a certain choice is in line with the fate that Fei Wong (I can’t remember his name for the life of me) has foreseen. Something like that. 

So it almost feels like even if Sorata thinks he has free will over the matter of who he falls in love with, does he really? 

If anyone epitomizes the idea that you can’t decide who you fall in love with is Subaru. So.... 

Dammit CLAMP... way to get deterministic while trying to harp on the idea that the future is not yet decided.

As a side note, I can’t get over the symbolism of the dragon in Shinkai Makoto’s Tenki no Ko (Weathering with You), and how similar it feels to how x portrays the Dragons of Heaven in certain panels.

Rolling head count: 4

I THINK this is No. 4... the first 3 were in the first 3 chapters.

Let’s play a game: take a shot for every rolling head in x! Ok on second thought that’s a terrible idea...

Hinoto’s wish

Me: I’m going to focus on fuukam on this x re-read

Also me: obsesses about Hinoto

Ok so given what we saw in the last chapter (Hinoto being called out for only revealing information that is convenient for her, plus the lengths she goes through to avoid Kamui finding out he can choose to join Team Earth), plus what we know about her shadow self having less than benign intentions, I have to wonder about what is in it for Hinoto if the status quo is preserved.

The thing about Hinoto is that symbolically, she’s meant to look like she’s got good intentions. Her moral compass is never put into question and as an audience we just assume she’s “the good one” since she looks the part and wants to “save this world.” 

This is especially poignant when looking at her in contrast to Kanoe who is sexy and clad in black. Again, CLAMP did it with Zagato, they made him look like a stereotypical villain only to find out he was just protecting Emmeraude from her fate. 

So what’s in it for Hinoto if the status quo is preserved? Does she really just selflessly wish for humans to live on?

Kotori

Hmmm... I like how Sorata asks Arashi to protect Kotori because he knows Kamui will want to protect her. I swear everyone and their mom is meddling with and trying to influence fate.

But going back to Hinoto seeking to preserve the status quo, it’s not just her and Sorata, but Kamui’s mom too wanted him to make a specific choice. A choice that comes back to Kamui’s only connection to his heart--Kotori and Fuuma.

Yay Subaru!

Me: I’m going to focus on fuukam on this x re-read

Also me: impatiently waits for Subaru to show up.

These breadcrumbs give me life.

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: The Anime (pt. 1)

I could go on and on about these two and I think I will, just because I don’t often see people talk about the analysis behind them. The meta I have seen about them has included a perspective that equaled the anime and the manga and I don’t think that’s an accurate way of viewing their relationship.

The anime is a different species than the manga, something that frequently happens during the adaptation from page to screen. Since they’re so different, I’ll analyze them separately.

There's going to be many parts to this so I'll keep a table of contents right here so people can more easily navigate (though you can also read through the "let's talk about natsumikan: the anime" tag on my blog):

Anime Analysis

Part 1: Exposition & Episode 7

Part 2: Episodes 8, 9, 10, & 11

Part 3: Episodes 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17

Part 4: Episodes 18 & 19

Part 5: Episodes 20, 21, & 22

Part 6: Episodes 23, 24, 25, & 26 & Conclusion

The anime makes changes, as anime adaptations often do. The most outstanding changes are appearance related, as Natsume now has brown eyes instead of red, in addition to other characters who have hue-shifted eyes and hair. But there are also story changes, and I’ll be focusing on the changes that occur, specifically in regards to Natsume and Mikan and their relationship.

For one, their relationship starts evolving much earlier in the anime. I think it’s pretty undeniable that in the anime, Natsume started liking Mikan at the end of the dodgeball game. That scene never happened in the manga, but in the anime, it’s a crucial step in making sure nothing seems too sudden or forced.

The anime is 26 episodes long. If Natsume only starts liking Mikan after she saves him during the Reo Arc, then we’re already halfway through the show when positive feelings between the two appear. On the other hand, the feelings develop more slowly in the manga because there’s more time to properly develop the relationship in a more drawn out way.

My analysis will start with the anime, because it’s shorter and easier to discuss.

Exposition

It’s impossible to say that the anime was completely loyal to the manga. It very frequently couldn’t be, because it needed to fill in time in episodes or give closure early before the manga even addressed it (Natsume’s backstory in the anime, for instance, is vaguely referred to and implies deviation from the manga).

The most obvious difference between the manga and the anime from the get-go is visual. Not only do they have differing art styles (I don’t dislike the anime style but Higuchi Tachibana’s art style is so distinct and unmistakable while the anime’s isn’t so unique), but the setting is also different.

While the manga started in the depth of winter, the anime starts off in summer/fall. It always struck me as odd that while the first page of the manga has Mikan running after Hotaru in full winter-wear, the anime starts off warm and idyllic. You could almost think of that as a general warning for the difference between the anime and the manga. After all, while the anime has a reputation for being a cutesy and upbeat story about friendship and magical powers, the manga is much darker and discusses many morbid and depressing themes that can and WILL fuck you up. Warm vs. cold seems like an accurate difference, though I don’t think that was intentional.

We see way more of the village life in the anime, including Mikan’s efforts to keep the school from closing. This is a welcome change because Mikan’s passion to keep the school open is nothing compared to her friendship with Hotaru, and even after the school is saved, she runs away to see her friend, even if it means she goes to another school. The manga doesn’t imply that Mikan knew already about the school’s fate, and since she is always so preoccupied with Hotaru anyway, we don’t really get the impression that she cares very much. To Anime!Mikan, Hotaru is more important than saving the school, something she was so passionate about she rallied to get signatures. It’s an extra scene to prove just how much Hotaru matters to Mikan, and to show even more how selfless Hotaru was to go to Alice Academy, since she knew how much the school mattered to Mikan.

“Sign my petition to get a Gakuen Alice anime reboot!!!”

My boy Natsume is only introduced properly in the second episode, when we actually see his face and he speaks. His appearance is different from the manga’s too. I’m not sure if this was to appeal to a younger audience or what, but Natsume’s eyes are changed to brown instead of their iconic red, something that was always my biggest peeve about the anime adaptation. His hair is also somewhat purplish instead of entirely grey/black and, although this does bother me a lot less than the eyes, I wonder why they made this change when other characters have black hair. It might have been to differentiate him from Hotaru, another main character with black hair, though I’ve never had issue in the manga telling them apart.

His first interaction with Mikan is a lot more pleasant in the anime than in the manga, although that’s not really saying anything. Mikan’s skirt simply falls off and Natsume draws attention to it, rather than the unpleasant events that took place in the manga. This different event makes it a lot easier to support a relationship between the two of them right off the bat. They are still antagonistic but it’s not as terrible as it is in the manga. This makes it easier to establish romantic feelings earlier on, and might have been changed in order to achieve just that, or possibly also to appeal to a younger audience. Maybe both? Who knows.

“You can’t sit with us!”

With Natsume presented the way he is in the anime, it’s easier to make the claim that he’s simply a good guy who acts the way he does to protect people. And it’s true! He is! But he is also so much more. In the manga, he’s a more complicated character. Although he is a good person, he still requires character development, which is something he does go through, and something I’ll talk about more in his meta analysis later.

Most of the events at the beginning of the anime parallel the events of the manga. Mikan goes to Alice Academy at the same time of year, Natsume shows up with an explosion, Mikan has to go through the Northern Woods, she discovers her powers in her fight with Natsume, etc. Some of the continuation from episode to episode is different than the transitions between chapter to chapter, there’s extra scenes inserted to fill up time, and some of the exposition seems strangely presented (in the anime, Mikan finds out more about the school when she finds Narumi and Iinchou waiting for her at a tea party, which is…. Super weird…), but all in all the information and events are mainly the same. The big differences start with the dodgeball episode.

“Look how happy she is. Makes me wanna barf.”

Episode 7 vs. Chapter 9

I love the dodgeball episode. I feel like for the most part, the anime does deviation from the manga pretty well. With the last arc as an exception, I generally enjoy their changes and additions to the plot. The anime has to be different, has to progress at a different pace, has to introduce topics at different times. They have an episode to fill, and less time to build relationships. Natsume and Mikan are both different characters in the anime but it’s very subtle and has to happen due to the fact that the anime is shorter and seems more designed for younger audiences, in addition to wrapping up before the manga could explore more of the story.

Anyway, let’s talk about the dodgeball episode. AGAIN THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THE MANGA THE SAME WAY so when discussing NatsuMikan as a concept, the anime events cannot be treated the same as the manga events. A lot of people maybe forget that the manga is very different than the anime when it comes to this episode. I see the two media conflated in plenty of fanfics, where seventeen year old NatsuMikan reflect on the dodgeball game from their youth that changed everything, and I get it because the anime version of the dodgeball game is cute! It's shippy! It's fun! But it doesn't happen in the manga the same way.

There's a similar trope with the sakura tree, which I can only remember from the anime, and yet it's such a fundamental aspect of NM fanfic it might as well have played a vital role in both anime and manga. Nothing wrong with any of this, of course. I'm just making it clear that my analysis will cover the two media as separate for the sake of a cohesive essay. Separating them in fanfic is far less important.

This look could probably kill someone. I’m surprised Mikan is still alive, TBH.

The chapter’s focus is Mikan starting to feel more at home in Class B, making friends with her once-hostile classmates, but the episode is more preoccupied with Natsume and Mikan’s perspectives on each other. While in the manga, the game ends with a tie and Mikan accidentally hits Hotaru in the face with the ball, the anime draws out the game to fill an episode and to introduce an evolution in the way Natsume sees Mikan. The first part of the anime episode is Mikan introducing her friends to her new senpai, Tsubasa. After she invites her friends, we see Natsume glowering at her and promptly ditching the next class, saying to Ruka that he can’t stand being in the same class as her. This addition to the plot already foreshadows that their relationship will change in some way by the end of the episode.

Tsubasa tells a frustrated Mikan that if she wants Natsume to be less unpleasant, he’d need to release some of his toxic energy. Thus, the sporty Mikan introduces the concept of dodgeball to the unwelcoming class. When they finally agree, Natsume gives one condition: that they play with the notorious Alice Ball, which is powered by the thrower’s alice (a detail absent from the manga). This Alice Ball is particularly terrifying with the threat of Natsume’s dangerous fire alice. Mikan also needs to get more people on her team, another aspect absent from the manga. While in the manga, Mikan only had her few friends on her team (including a wandering Ruka) and this ended up playing to her advantage, the anime has a humorous plot of Mikan tracking players down for her team, including a fake mustache she makes with her pigtails (she’s so cute, I love her), paying Hotaru to be on her team, and blackmailing Ruka to participate. This was mainly to fill time, but it makes the dodgeball game more important as well.

In the manga, we don’t see how the game ends, just that the teams tied and that everyone in class is having fun and bonding. In the anime, more emphasis is put on the “Mikan vs. Natsume” aspect, so a tie like the manga’s would be anticlimactic. Thus, the anime concludes the dodgeball game with Mikan and Natsume being the only kids left on the court, and Natsume not using his alice when he throws the Alice Ball. Even Hotaru leaving the game is something she does out of boredom instead of injury, further separating the other characters from the plot. It’s about Natsume and Mikan, and everyone else is mostly a side character. (Though Ruka also plays a vital role to this episode AND chapter, and it’s at this point that I think he started developing real feelings for Mikan as well. So when it comes to the anime, he and Natsume fall for Mikan around the same time, but in the manga, Ruka likes her first and the “he liked her first” argument for Natsume vanishes, though he never had that “advantage” to begin with.)

“Thank you!”

Natsume wins (something that shocked me at twelve years old) and is ready to walk away with his handy “tch” and all but Mikan thanks him for not using his alice and he goes off on her, demanding to know why she’s still smiling despite her loss. She says she’s happy that he had fun and was involved with the rest of class for once, and that in a way that means she wins. For Anime!Natsumikan, this is it. This is the turning point. “I just wanted you to be happy and have fun,” is what Mikan might as well be saying. “Really, this was all for you!” It’s sweet and it’s thoughtful and I don’t think Natsume ever imagined he’d be on the receiving end of her kindness, especially after all their beef. Manga!Mikan would probably not say these things to him, even if she meant them, for the sole reason that Mikan is stubborn and holds onto her pride, especially when it comes to her early relationship with Natsume, but Anime!Mikan is much more forgiving and much more willing to extend an olive branch, like in the dance episode. In any case, Natsume starts falling right then, and it’s obvious too, because he is pissed, and even more angry because he’s not even mad at her. He’s angry with himself for his change of opinion. This is the girl he was fully content to hate forever and yet here he was, starting to like her. Not ideal.

This scene, something so crucial to the development of Anime!Natsumikan, is completely absent from the manga. In the manga, Natsume still dislikes her by the end of the game although he does have fun.

He's not angry, just disappointed. In himself.

I’m not going to say one is better when it comes to starting up NatsuMikan because they’re very different creatures and I actually thoroughly enjoy both.

Anyway, the NatsuMikan after episode 7 is almost the same as in the manga, but the events carry a different weight since we know Natsume likes Mikan now (even if he would never admit it).

Summary

I hope this first part was interesting, and that it introduced the idea of Anime!NatsuMikan as being a little different from the manga's version. Yes, it is more or less the same story, but with so many thematic and plot changes, they take a different form as well, in a perhaps more subtle way, kind of like a slightly canon divergent fanfic. Fanfic where Natsume starts liking Mikan a bit earlier on in the story.

Next Part ->

[quanxui]

andro!!! do you have any favorite mangakas?

hi kaia! i have lots!! i really enjoy reading manga and reflecting over my feelings with it hehe also, warning! i've rambled here so it's long hahah!

the first on my list would be ONE, the creator of one punch man and mob psycho 100! some don't like his art but i like it! i'm currently reading the ones he's drawn. it mixes well with his wholesome-ish writing! i'm obsessed with his stories, the way he can turn something so shounen/fantasy/adventure into a slice of life that makes me feel like i've healed or learned a really good lesson (shounen/seinen)

Tatsuki Fujimoto comes in second! he's known more as chainsaw man's mangaka but i've read almost all his oneshots and his other series, fire punch. i don't know how to explain this but his works can be quite vulgar/indecent (so um beware!) but it doesn't give off those ecchi vibes you know? they just feel normal and aside from his fascinating storytelling, i love that about his works! one of my favorite oneshots of his is about two sisters in an art school and the younger one had painted a nude of the older sister, and as a rule of the school, they would display the best painting for a month i think. and i thought id find it repulsive (you see i even try to read things i think i might hate haha) but it was somehow sweet? (shounen/seinen)

i find Jun Mayuzuki's after the rain and kowloon generic romance's very impressive too!! especially the way she wrote after the rain, a story about a 17 year old girl who's in love with the manager from her part time job, a 40 something divorced man. i dont want to spoil anything so all i can say is i really recommend reading it! i've watched the live-action, and am about to watch the anime. jun mayuzuki's art style is something to praise too!! i'm no good with art critiquing but i love her backgrounds so much! also, her kowloon generic romance gave me wong kar wai vibes!!! everytime i read a new chapter, an 80s citypop song would play in my head, too! (shoujo/josei)

next is Robico!!!! her popular work would be my little monster! but i haven't read that ^^ instead i've read an anthology by her and our precious conversations. i love love love her art style and her writing!! but what i love the most are the dialogues! they're not philosphical or anything supreme, but they're just normal conversations. i guess it must be because i miss going out and having actual face to face conversations with people that's why i've fallen for her dialogues. oh and i’m at awe with her oneshot collab with the mangaka for death note!! (shoujo) 

Tsubasa Yamaguchi is blue period's mangaka. i really enjoyed blue period because i was reading it while i was stressing over what i wanted to do after i graduated highschool. i never realized i've run out of time and i had to make a decision already, see? and reading blue period really comforted and calmed me! since tsubasa yamaguchi has also written the manga, i really really feel thankful for her writing! i love her art too! i've said this a lot of times too, probably, but i really love the shadows in her art! (seinen)

Kyoko Okazaki! myanimelist calls her one of the mothers of josei manga! her art style's attractive to me too! but what's more attractive are her characters!! her works contain fashion, homosexuality, drugs, sex (an awful lot, here’s an article i recently read about her). idk, i love the way she can write and draw these kinds of stories during the 80s. she rocks! (shoujo/josei)

there we have it, my top 5! recently though, i've been admiring the art in skip to loafer by Misaki Takamatsu! i like the expressions and the neat lines! i also like Kon Kumakura's female characters and art style, but you'll barely find translated versions of her works. and Akimi Yoshida, creator of banana fish! i've read a few 80s to 90s manga and sometimes their art style is a bit too messy and crowded for me but i love love hers! it's neat! i haven't read banana fish tho, i've read kisshou tennyo!

thanks for sending me an ask that let me ramble this long >.< enjoy!

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Flashback time! And maybe the rest of the chapter, depending? Eh, we’ll see when we get there. 

Also, 100 follower hype! I did not realize how fast I would hit that number, so thank you all so much for coming along on this wild journey with me! <3

[No. 9 - Deku vs. Kacchan]

An Gremlin. 

Katsuki is prowling through the halls, pissed as hell, while also thinking about how defiant Izuku has been recently - both with the middle school scene where Izuku said he’d be going to UA, and the much more recent moment of Izuku telling him he’s the Deku who always does his best. Katsuki thinks of him as a pebble as we transition into the past.

Young Katsuki calls out how Izuku can’t do anything, and then we see him showing off by keeping a ball up in the air with his feet while Izuku and others watch on in awe. 

I get the feeling that Izuku had been trying to do it and failed, either getting bopped in the head with the ball or slipping and falling on his face in order to get that smudge across his forehead.

Anyways, Katsuki mentions how Izuku can be read as ‘Deku’, with one of the others (I think the kid with the extending neck) being impressed that he can read kanji, which Katsuki mocks with a ‘what? you can’t?’ 

Next comes a back and forth between flashback and narration - young Katsuki noting how ‘Deku’ means ‘someone who can’t do anything’ while the other kids are impressed and Izuku quietly mutters to knock it off, followed by current Katsuki wondering why Izuku can’t understand. We skip to another scene of Katsuki skipping rocks, with his record of seven, while Izuku is shaking as he admits he got no skips at all, then narration on Katsuki wondering why Izuku is such a loser. 

(Also here you can already see Tsubasa’s wings coming in, only to be full sized in the next panel.)

Another scene skip to when Katsuki’s explosions come in - already impressively showy - with the teacher complementing it and saying he could be a hero with a flashy quirk like it. Katsuki says it makes sense, since he’s awesome and better than everyone else. We get a fade out on the flashback temporarily as we see Izuku and Katsuki tromping through the woods, Izuku complementing Katsuki’s quirk and hoping for his own to come soon, while Katsuki says that no matter what he gets, it won’t be better than his own. 

We get a brief peek at current Katsuki turning a corner, calling Izuku a pebble again, and then we return to the past. The other kindergarteners gossip about Izuku’s lack of quirk and their pity for him while Izuku himself is completely lost in his own head, practically disassociating. You can already see how the kids gossip around him while he’s isolated and alone; Katsuki looks on and considers Izuku ‘not awesome at all’.

(-River scene river scene river scene river scene-)

Your options:

Take the hand

Regret later <==

But in full seriousness, this is actually pretty interesting as a scene. We see Katsuki acting as leader, full of confidence as per usual, up until he slips - and in that moment, we can see his face and his shock and fear. The others are shocked that he fell in, looking over the edge to see if he’s okay. Tsubasa notes that Kacchan’s strong, so he’s probably fine, and the kid with the stretchy fingers tells Katsuki to get back up there. Katsuki’s narration rants that he was just fine and that it was no big deal while his younger self rubs at his head and agrees that he’s okay.

In the next panel, we get Izuku down in the river with him and offers his hand, asking if he needs help, if he can stand, and hopes that he hadn’t hit his head. Young Katsuki gets pissed, while the narration asks why Izuku had looked at him that way. 

The next two panels transition back to the present, Katsuki recalling Izuku’s rescue of him with similar eyes, and then to the current events with Katsuki looking super emotionally constipated (shocker) as he mentions again how he’s better than Izuku. Almost like he’s not confident about his superiority anymore.

Anyways, we move onwards to Ochako having just found the room with the bomb and Tenya. She thinks about how she needs to stay hidden until Izuku shows up, only to get confused at whatever Tenya is muttering about. Which turns out to be about the exercise! He notes how Katsuki’s tendency towards troublemaking means the exercise is perfectly suited to him, while Tenya himself needs to also take on the role of a villain. He notes that he brings shame to the family name, he must commit to the training since it will help him become a better man. And then we get this:

A fucking dork. I love him so much. And Ochako can’t help but laugh as well at how serious he is about it - which unfortunately gets her caught by him, much to her embarrassment. He calls her out, and then states that it was within his calculations once Katsuki ran off. And since he knows her quirk works by levitating objects she touches, he countered her by cleaning up the entire floor of any possible objects she could use against him. With an evil laugh, he declares that her tricks won’t work there and that she’s miscalculated, while she cringes and notes that he’s really getting into it.

We shift over to Izuku, who’s still waiting in the same spot. He thinks about how Katsuki knew Izuku was reading him, so led with a kick instead. With his guard up, it won’t be easy to get past his defenses, so Izuku needs a strategy. Ochako calls him over the headset, letting him know Tenya found her and that she’s inching back, but… 

Izuku asks where she is while Tenya approaches her, the latter thinking about how he doesn’t want to get rough with her. 

(Interesting that this is not the last time we’ll obviously see the ‘don’t be rough with her’ that others seem to believe versus cases like Katsuki who take her entirely seriously - and Ochako herself, who proves as time goes on to be a very determined and capable hero in her own right.)

Ochako tells Izuku she’s in the center of the fifth floor, which Izuku notes is right above him. He also notes that there’s not much time left, and the villains win with the timer running out. He thinks about how he doesn’t want to lose here, while Katsuki shows up with a show of his gauntlet (which is fucking HUGE what the hell) which he states is loaded up. 

He stares down Izuku from the other side of the corridor, asking why Izuku isn’t using his quirk, and whether he’s mocking him. Izuku is startled, and Katsuki is pretty fucking manic at this point. Izuku is sweating as he thinks that it’s now or never, and that he can do it. He tells Katsuki again that he’s not afraid anymore, and Katsuki starts mentioning that ‘Izuku probably knows this from his stalking’ before going into the details of his quirk - that the sweat glands on his palms secrete ‘something like nitroglycerin’, which is how he makes his explosions. 

Izuku is confused why Katsuki is bringing it up, while Katsuki locks and loads his right gauntlet. He says that if the support company honored his design requests, the gauntlets have been storing that fluid. All Might catches on to what’s about to happen, and tells Katsuki to stop it, asking if he’s trying to kill Izuku. 

Jesus fucking christ, Katsuki, Izuku had nowhere to dodge to with that! 

Tenya and Ochako struggle to keep their balance as the building shakes. Kirishima is freaked out himself and thought it had just been practice, while All Might is is shocked and worried about Izuku. Izuku is in the middle of the debris, just half a foot to the side of the huge hole blasted in the wall, and pants as he sits up to stare at Katsuki with newfound fear, wondering (much like us) why they gave Katsuki that kind of firepower.

⇒ Katsuki: Go completely fucking unhinged.

Well then! What a panel to end a chapter on, yeah? This definitely isn’t a face that ends up in Izuku’s nightmares or anything. But hey, probably only for the next few days, which is good, right?

(cough)

Anyways, see y’all next time for the conclusion to this fight (I think), with only a bit more until we get to the USJ and our first introduction to the greater plot of the series!

[meimi-haneoka]

Thank you so much for everything. Yes, real life gets hectic and unfortunately, it will be more hectic for me for a while soon. ;-; Hope everything is going fine for you now. As for the chocomint post, hmm, I don't remember the exact chapter number (probably 60/61/62-ish?) but it had Lilie and Kaito in it and because I had never picked up Clear Card as I wanted to binge read/watch it, I was left very confused as to who these two were once I began coming across them in Tumblr. The reason I even came back into the CCS tags because I am actually taking a hiatus from Boruto (yeah, I will confess that I am one of the rare few who went straight from Naruto to Boruto and actually enjoys its sequel). Boruto right now is in a "let's torture the protagonist" phase ala Tsubasa style and it's actually becoming painful to read (actually good writing, it makes you squirm and feel pained for Boruto, he is shaping up to be one of my most favourite shonen protagonists). I am thinking of keeping my hands off it for a few months for binging purposes and thought why not check out my first preteen/nearly teen OTP. And yeah, I come back to find that it is nearly in its arc end. And then I search tags and of course, I find very confusing and disconnected things, especially with random chocomint references, and people being very critical about a lot of things. I totally understand the valid criticisms now that I have caught up but I admit that I did enjoy a lot of things in Clear Card as well and I am looking forward to watching season 2 on weekly basis just because of this. I wonder when that is going to be aired because I can't find any info regarding it beyond its production announcement.

And now I can proceed to reply to this ask of 20 days ago 💦 I'm sorry, but I reaaaaaaally wasn't in the mood to write anything, back then.

Thank you for explaining how you reconnected with the CCS franchise and how you found my blog! 😆 AH yes, our main chocomint sponsor Lilie 😂😂😂😂it makes me laugh so much everytime I think about it...

Now that the manga is ending, I can start working again on the long list of posts addressing many topics, and one of those (I think it'll actually be my next one in line, after the one I did of the literary references) will precisely be not only about the significance of chocomint inside the story, but actually all the food and all the handmade stuff. Yes, they're there to bring a very special message and not only to waste time in the plot. 🙂

And yes, we're all waiting for more info about the sequel of the Clear Card anime, because ever since the announcement on April 1st they haven't said anything else. I expect we'll hear something along with the release of the next chapter, the final one!!

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapter 243: OgataOgataOgataOgataOgataOgataOgataOgataOgataOgata

Oh yes, finally some much awaited Ogata backstory!  Ah, I feel alive again - well that and I can finally work half days which is a vast improvement from working from home in a make-shift office in a spare room which includes my cat’s litter box.   This is a dense chapter, so I’m going to analyze it alone and also - Ogata.

Chatper 243 is titled “Superior Privates” and it clearly is setting up conflict between Usami and Ogata.  We have Usami’s face framed by Tsurumi and Ogata as the men tattooed on his face running but never able to meet.

I have to admit it took me a bit of staring at it to get the joke.  I also think there is a Captain Tsubasa reference in here as it looks like they are playing soccer, but that is a series that I know little about.

The title page also has a rifle and a hammer and a horse in the background implying the vastly different ways that Ogata and Usami have for killing other people or living things.

The chapter starts out with Usami using his *ahem* rather intimate method for trying to find the serial killer while Kikuta tries to make small talk with him.  He remarks on how Usami’s methods are odd and it leads him into mentioning Ogata.  He states how he thought that there was something wrong with the superior privates.  Kikuta says this calmly and his eyes are shaded a bit and his eyes are narrow.  I think Kikuta is trying to get a rise out of Usami or see how he really feels about Ogata.  Usami is not happy that Kikuta has put him in the same category of weird with Ogata, he doesn’t want to be lumped in the same category as Ogata.  Now keep in mind that we are reading an English translation so that is what I have to work with but Usami both refers to him as a bastard and I get the feeling that it is both a literal and a descriptive way that Usami feels about Ogata.  He even uses very interesting language of ‘snot-nosed spoiled little punk’ which in English implies that Ogata has much more in common with Koito as it reads to me that Usami sees him as a spoiled rich kid (something that we know Ogata certainly was not).

Kikuta seems to partially ignore Usami’s statement and continues to state that he was the best marksmen in the 27th and that Tsurumi gave him ‘special attention’.  Again, this statement seems to be baiting Usami and he quickly and angrily responds yelling that Ogata was just a glorified walking firearm, and he’s Tsurumi’s number one. 

This leads Usami to give Kikuta information to prove that he’s better than Ogata and that Ogata is not important.  I read this exchange to be an expression of Usami’s jealousy of Ogata and he is here to set the ‘record’ straight.  This is interesting as we know that Kikuta was working with Ogata for some time as they were the ‘Russian’ kidnappers of Koito in 1902 in Hakodate.  Usami must know that Kikuta and Ogata worked together, but we still don’t have a time when either of them joined the 27th.

Anyways, Usami brings up 2nd lt. Yuusaku Hanazawa and he reminds Kikuta that he died during the battle of the 203 Hill.  Which he then transitions to when Ogata was recovering in Otaru from being beaten up by Sugimoto and dumped into the river.  Ogata is in bed, he’s groaning and he says Yuusaku-sir which is one way to translate Yuusaku-dono.  So while in pain and potentially dreaming, Ogata has mentioned a very distant and respectful way to refer to Yuusaku.

This has such a strong callback to chapter 165 when Ogata has the fever dream and he links Yuusaku to Asirpa as being a pure idol for a cause. 

Now let’s stop and pause here - many readers of the manga have always thought that Ogata is a cold hearted bastard who feels no remorse for killing at all.  Ever since I read chapters 164 & 165, I have always felt for Ogata and I read it to be the glimpse into the fact that Ogata did have second thoughts about what he did and he had doubts and possible guilt.  I started writing meta because of how strongly I felt about Ogata and I have thought that he is a very complicated and fascinating character.   This scene here in 243, gives much more evidence to how Ogata feels about Yuusaku’s death, that he does feel guilty as he is haunted by Yuusaku and it makes chapter 164 and 165 make so much more sense.  Keep in mind when he has his melt down on the ice floe with Asirpa, he’s haunted by Yuusaku again there so more evidence of his feelings of confusion, anger, and guilt.  He wasn’t just haunted by Yuusaku in 164 and 165, he was haunted by him all the way back in the beginning of the manga’s current events timeline.

Okay, back to the flashback.  Ogata isn’t alone saying his half-brother’s name in a detached fashion, but Usami is watching over him and he mocks Ogata by repeating “Yuusaku-dono” and Ogata then stares at him, now awake.  It is a typical blank Ogata stare back at Usami.  It is clear that Usami wants to get a rise out of Ogata from the start with his aggressive body language.

Usami then drops the ‘bomb’ that Ogata said the name of his brother that he killed and he follows it up with Ogata being a weakling.  This implies that Usami sees this as an admission of guilt about Yuusaku’s death and that Usami doesn’t feel guilty about killing others.

Kikuta seems surprised that Ogata may have killed Yuusaku and Usami is certain based on the fact that Ogata is the only person who could snipe that accurately.  This implies that they actually performed an autopsy on Yuusaku which I do find curious as they were in the middle of a trench warfare situation.  But I am no expert on battlefield autopsies.  I would have thought that they didn’t pay much attention since, well they were in the middle of a battle but perhaps the fact that he was an officer they felt it was more important to at least note how he died.

This then leads to an interesting comment from Kikuta.  He makes it clear that Ogata would have no reason to kill him and he follows up with the fact that they seemed to get long well. The next panel is a flashback with Yuusaku trying to be friendly with Ogata and he’s literally trying to merge with the wall to escape his attention.  Now when I first saw the raws and read two rough translation from @goldenkamuyhunting​ and inori, I was like, seriously?  Come on Kikuta the body language is so obvious that Ogata wanted nothing to do with Yuusaku.

So I dug around to find a similar type of panel for a character’s expression in profile like Kikuta and I came back to this one here.  We have Ogata hallucinating Asirpa as Yuusaku as he looks stressed and a bit deadpan but he’s definitely surprised by what he’s seeing.

When I then look at Kikuta’s expression, I think he’s also surprised at the obvious fact that Ogata is not happy with Yuusaku.  Therefore, I think Kikuta is lying to Usami.  He knew that Ogata was uncomfortable with Yuusaku but plays it cool when talking to Usami at this moment.

There is also this helpful tweet from Sei Kobiyama:

He highlights that the fact that Ogata uses such formal language with Yuusaku also shows a clear separation of Ogata from Yuusaku. Keep in mind that in 103, it was stated that Yuusaku would refer to Ogata as “older brother” while we know 100% now that Ogata called him “Yuusaku-dono”.  This shows that both men were defining their relationship based on their own prerogative.  Ogata never saw Yuusaku as a brother, he kept the relationship professional.  Yuusaku wanted an older brother and thus he used the language towards Ogata to make their relationship familial. 

Therefore, I think that KIkuta is smart enough to read between the lines and see that the brotherly relationship was one way and unrequited.  I know you are clever man Kikuta, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt and that you are playing Usami in this conversation.

Usami continues to explain to Kikuta why he believes that Ogata killed Yuusaku.  The flashback goes back to the battle for the 203 Hill.  This is directly after the flashback from 165 when Ogata is sniping Russians from the trenches and Tsurumi approaches him and updates him that there is a new plan.  He is to not kill Yuusaku as he is an inspiration to the men in battle as a flag bearer.  Ogata replies to Tsurumi as he uses the bolt action to eject the expired shell as he blankly replies to Tsurumi.

Chapter 243 starts off with this scene where Noda copy-pasted Ogata into the trench from 165 but added Usami in.  Usami is asking Ogata if Tsurumi told him that it is better for him to not kill Yuusaku.  This means that Usami was also aware of the original plan to kill Yuusaku along with Ogata.  What is interesting is that Usami then repeats that Tsurumi used the lines that “if Yuusaku is out of the picture Hyakunosuke’s father will show him love” and via Hanazawa’s love for Ogata, the 27th can control Hanazawa.  Usami adds in that this is a boring option; I find this hard to read as is he thinking Ogata controlling Hanazawa is boring or if this is how Usami is expressing his jealousy that Ogata is required to control Hanazawa thus giving him more Tsurumi love.

Ogata replies that Tsurumi has decided to use Yuusaku’s role as a pure idol as a way to inspire the men in battle.  Ogata looks reflective as he says this, he clearly understands the power of an idol such as Yuusaku and this is before he has his conversation with Yuusaku on the battlefield.

Usami clearly disagrees with Ogata’s read on Yuusaku, he angrily states that he’s just using his father’s position to gain respect from others and he already hopes that Tsurumi doesn’t give him more glorification that he deserves.  Keep in mind that 164 was when Ogata tried to get Yuusaku to destroy his purity by having him visit with a prostitute in a brothel but it failed.  Tsurumi read this as an indication of Yuusaku’s purity and his nobility, which Ogata clearly disagrees with.  Ogata had first hand evidence of Yuusaku’s attempt to fulfill his father’s wishes. 

What is interesting is that when Usami speaks to Ogata, his back is to him and we see Ogata’s eye from under the hood of his cloak and then we see Ogata frowning just a bit as his eyes look rounder than normal.  I really think that Ogata at least is beginning to observe that Yuusaku’s purity may be a part of his character but he’s still unsure if he’s doing it as a dutiful son or if he’s doing it for himself.

The flashback jumps to sometime later and we see Ogata having a conversation with Usami.  At this point in time, Ogata is stating a hypothesis that Yuusaku is presenting a false image of himself.  He states that if the false front is removed, Yuusaku will be shown to be the same as everyone else, and Tsurumi will change is mind about him as an idol of purity.  Ogata states that everyone is the same deep down.  He then asks Usami if he feels bad when he kills a Russian solider and Usami replies that he doesn’t.  Ogata continues with the rationalization that those who die on the battlefield die b/c of their own fault, that they are inept and therefore they die and Usami just agrees again with this statement.

The bottom right panel is more important as it shows that Ogata is setting up his ‘test’ for Yuusaku with Usami, you see Ogata to the right, Usami to the left and a third figure being dragged between them.  It looks like Noda made a goof in the final panel as Ogata’s hood is now down on his cloak but it was clearly up right before then.

Ogata continues his verbal thesis as he states that the love from one’s parents doesn’t change how you turn out.  Usami agrees.  Usami came from a 100% loving and friendly household and he’s our most twisted member of the 27th.  Ogata came from a completely broken home and he tries to rationalize that is why he can kill.   This allows Ogata to state that, he’s correct and if he and Usami are the same despite different household he’s not strange.

Some period of time passes and Ogata goes to find Yuusaku and test him with the Russian POW.  This means that we need to recall what happened in chapter 165 where Ogata brought Yuusaku to the POW here.  I always wondered who else was involved in this ‘test’ as Ogata does not look like the kind of guy who could carry a Russian POW to a random place to hide him and stage him for Yuusaku to encounter.

With his hood heavily drawn and no longer wearing his military cap, Ogata asks him if he’s killed a single person.  This leads to Ogata’s observation that Yuusaku doesn’t even use his sabre which other flag bearers will fight with in battle.  Ogata asks if he’s using his position as an excuse so that he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty by killing.

Yuusaku is clearly nervous about this accusation.  Is this actually in part the truth of Yuusaku’s own personal beliefs?  This leads to the ultimate Ogata ‘test’ he asks him to kill the POW.  Note that Yuusaku refers to Ogata as brother while we know that this entire time Ogata is using Yuusaku-dono again showing the gulf between them.  He questions if Yuusaku is trying to stay innocent by using his position and he presses him that he wants to see him kill him.

This is then repeated with Usami narration on page 7.  The text box is Usami stating that Yuusaku was truly pure and we see Yuusaku walk away from Ogata.

We have to remember between Ogata handing the bayonet to Yuusaku and then Yuusaku leaving a LOT more happened.  Yuusaku explains that he’s upholding the role that his father told him that he must play.  That he must go above and beyond the expectations of most flag bearers.  It is his job to alleviate the inevitable guilt that soldiers will feel as a result of their actions.  Ogata questions his statement about guilt and that people only act like they feel guilty.  This reply makes so much sense as we now know that right before this happens, Ogata was talking with Usami about how all people are the same deep down.  It doesn’t matter if they came from a loving family or a broken family, they are the same and that they can kill and NOT feel guilt. 

Ogata’s statement that everyone is the same as me, is with the huge caveat that Usami says he’s the same as Ogata.  This conversation ends with the incredibly awkward brotherly hug of one direction.  Yuusaku looks like he’s even crying from his left eye has he embraces Ogata, while he stands there unresponsive.  Yuusaku is certain that Ogata does have feelings and will feel guilty and he emphasizes that he’ll understand one day.

The hug scene ends with Ogata blankly staring off as Yuusaku hugs him and we can see a small foxhole in the trench that we saw before.

Going back to 243, we see Ogata address what first appears to be no one (clearly not the Russian POW) and it reveals that Usami was in the bunker/foxhole the entire time!  This means that Usami witnessed the full awkward brotherly hug and the statement from Yuusaku that people must feel guilt over killing.

Ogata then states that if he kills Yuusaku and it shows that his father loves him, it will demonstrate that Yuusaku could have become just like Ogata.   And he asks if Usami agrees with him.  Of course, Usami emerges from the bunker to state that he completely agrees with Ogata as the Russian POW still remains hog tied between them.  We get the final panel of Yuusaku collapsing on the battlefield.

The conversation returns briefly to the present as Usami tells Kikuta that Hanazawa instead became depressed over the loss of his legitimate son and never even bothered to look up Ogata.  The next statement is unclear to me, “So he was feeling all miserable and upset because Yuusaku died while he was still pure and good.”  This could be about how Hanazawa felt, but it could also refer to Ogata, and that Ogata was upset as he was never able to prove that Yuusaku wasn’t pure.  Or is this referreing to both Hanazawa and Ogata making their responses to Yuusaku’s death the same?

After this is said, Kikuta decides that he doesn’t have time for this and leaves Usami behind to lay on the ground in the afterglow.

Usami then thinks more about his conversation with Ogata in the hospital.  He tells Ogata that he knows he’s involved in the rebellion in the ranks and that he’s one of the people who has been stirring up discontent. 

Usami inquires if it has to do with Ogata’s role in the death of Hanazawa.  Usami can’t see how Tsurumi could do something that makes him unhappy.

Usami’s recollection then reveals that he was the carriage driver when Ogata met up with Tsurumi after he killed Hanazawa and staged the body.  We see Usami biting his lip seething with anger as Tsurumi dotes upon an unemotional Ogata.  This the leads to more information, at somepoint, Tsurumi gets out of the carriage and leaves Usami and Ogata alone.  Tsurumi damn well knew he was able to rile Usami up, just like what happened with Usami and Tomoharu at the dojo.

Usami then quotes Tsurumi, “You’ve been left behind Ogata, so I’m sure everyone will support you.” this leads Usami to ask Ogata if his goal is to become the leader of the 7th and if this was the reasn he agreed to be the member of the 27th to kill Hanazawa.  This implies that Usami at this point in time thinks that Ogata wanted the power and status of becoming the next Hanazawa of the 7th. 

Interestingly, Ogata stated that he accepted the job because he had to ask Hanazawa things before the end.  This implies that Tsurumi’s plan to kill Hanazawa could have gone to others in the 27th and knowing that Hanazawa was a marked man, Ogata’s opportunties were liminted to get his own personal questions answered.

What is interesting is we see here now in 103 that Ogata’s mindset about children is different than his previous conversation with Usami.  First off, Hanazawa tries to rationalize that how Ogata responded to his mother’s mental illness was the same that Hanazawa felt towards her.  We know that her mental status was already poor around the time that she gave birth to Ogata and Hanazawa never came back for her.  Ogata then highlights that children can’t choose their parents.  His theory has shifted that if love exists, he is a child who grew up lacking love and therefore he’s lacking something fundamental and it is unrelated to social status.

This is different than what he had when he spoke to Usami.  At that time Ogata felt that he and Usami were the same, they could both kill regardless of the fact that he grew up lacking the love of his parents when Usami was clearly loved.  After Yuusaku’s death, Ogata’s opinion changed, he now sees himself in a different category than Usami.  His words make it clear that he, himself is lacking something fundamental due to his upbringing.

He uses this as the transition to reveal that he shot Yuusaku on the battlefield with the intention of getting Hanazawa’s attention.  Ogata wonder if this was an event that might allow his father to love and accept his other son.

This lead to what is one of the most bittersweet panels of the entire manga where he asks if there was a ‘blessed path’ for himself as well.

Hanazawa makes it quite clear that Ogata is ‘lacking something [fundamental]’ and that he should go to hell.  Hanazawa’s dying statement is pretty clear, if he could kill his mother, his brother and now Hanazawa he was a broken individual who lacked love.

With time and perspective, this confirms for Ogata that he is lacking something fundamental.  He was able to get the words from his own father thus creating a self-fullfilling conclusion. 

What this does tell us, is that Ogata wanted answers more than anything.  He’s an intelligent man and all of these flashbacks are beginning to show how he’s trying to rationalize who he is, how he became the adult that he is.

So when we return to this part of the page, it makes so much more sense.  Ogata had to ask Hanazawa questions before Tsurumi made sure that he was dead.  Usami then immediately thinks that this is a power play on Ogata’s part to get more attention from Tsurumi.  Usami is thinking “Ogata volunteered to kill his own father - he clearly wants Tsurumi’s love!”

Ogata replies after a brief hesitation that this is not the case.  Usami just looks at Ogata with his angry rabbit face.

Usami decides to stir the pot more and he tells Ogata the true purpose of why Tsurumi wanted Hanazawa dead, the Manchurian Railway (Mantetsu).  Usami then decides to try to rile up Ogata by saying that Tsurumi didn’t want Ogata to kill him so that Ogata would be in Tsurumi’s good books but that Ogata’s father was preventing Tsurumi’s own plans in regards to the Manchurian railway.

Usami then thinks back to when he approached Ogata in the hospital as he tries to rationalize why Ogata was a part of the rebel element.  He thinks Ogata is upset that he killed his father to gain Tsurumi’s love, to show his loyalty, but instead Ogata was just a simple tool to allow Tsurumi’s plans for the Railway to proceed.

Usami tries his best to rile Ogata - he killed Yuusaku and he didn’t gain his father’s love, he killed his father but didn’t gain Tsurumi’s love.  Therefore, Ogata is bitter and angry and full of spite since no matter what Ogata has done, no one has loved him.  I think that Usami is partially correct, Ogata did these actions to see if he could gain the blessed path.  He killed Yuusaku to see if Hanazawa would approach him, but deep down, I still think Tsurumi ultimately wanted Yuusaku dead and I still think in a way, Ogata thought he was saving Yuusaku from being killed by another member of the 27th in the future.  Say Yuusaku survived the war.  It was clear as soon as he heard about Tsurumi’s plans he’d be dead.

With our new information that Ogata wanted to ask Hanazawa questions ‘before the end’ implies that again, Ogata knew that Tsurumi’s plans required Hanazawa out of the way.  Ogata needs answers to his questions about the nature of his own guilt and his need to be loved and recognized.  To me, by volunteering to be the person of the 27th to kill Hanazawa, it was the only way that he would be able to talk to his father.  His father was a dead man walking with Tsurumi’s plans and if say Tsukishima had killed him instead, he would have been left wondering if the ‘blessed path’ would open up for him as a result of his father recognizing him.  That fact that Hanazawa completely ignored Ogata’s existence after Yuusaku’s death clearly bothered Ogata and he needed to hear those answers.  It is terrible that he could only get his answers in such an extreme situation but it was Ogata’s only option and if there is something Ogata is, it is hyper-rational.

Usami tries to push Ogata further by tearing him down as he explains why Ogata became a traitor.  He states that he’s a “piece’ in Tsurumi’s game, just like Koito is a “piece”.  Thanks to inori for clarfying on discord that the translation refers to them as shogi pieces; as shogi is similar to chess, I think it is safe to make a leap that this implies that members of the 27th are pieces with different abilities and therefore, some are more useful and valuable while others are less valuable. Usami really goes for the hurt by comparing Ogata with Koito as we know that Koito and Ogata never got along even when Koito was a young officer in training.  He thinks that Ogata’s ego got the better of him and this is why he became a traitor.  He says that his ‘overwhelming’ love became ‘overwhelming’ hate and he states that Ogata knows exactly what he means and he sees Ogata for what he is.  This is interesting as we know that Ogata has changed his opinion on love and around the time that he killed Hanazawa he didn’t believe in ‘love’ as a concept.  It is clear that Usami never realized that this shift occured in Ogata’s thinking.

Ogata finally whispers something in Usami’s ear that we don’t know.  Ogata then smile as he replies to Usami’s shogi [chess] anology.  He calls Usami’s hypothesis a delusion and if they are to see members of the 27th as shogi/chess pieces, Usami is the cheapest piece on the board.  Ogata’s insult likely means that Usami is a simple pawn (or whatever the shogi equivelent of a pawn is, I should know this after watching “March comes in like a Lion” but it clearly didn’t stick in my brain).  If we are to follow a chess/shogi example, I’d say that Ogata’s interpretation hurts Usami deeply, by implying he’s a worthless pawn, he’s disposable and not important to Tsurumi.

This clearly does the trick as Usami pulls out his bayonet to stab Ogata and we see his veins on his face bulging out, a direct reference back to when he killed Tomoharu.

However, just like with the poor Russian doctor, Ogata clocks Usami in the face with a bedpan.  Ogata, using bedpans to beat people in the face since ~1907.

The next page then shows us how Ogata was so effective when he escaped the hospital in Akou.  He hit someone with a bedpan, and sprinted off barefoot in hospital clothing.  This flashback has many parallels with what happened in the hospital.  Usami refers to both Ogata and Koito as similar pieces and we learn that Usami told Ogata to investigate the Mantetsu before this happened.  On Karafuto, Ogata manages to have the Russian doctor hit Koito with the revolver and he also hits Koito with it.

Usami at somepoint wakes up and another man checks in with him.  Usami states that Mishima is following Ogata and it implies that Usami is smart enough to realize if he let Ogata go, he’ll lead them right to the other rebels.  Usami is upset that he was called a cheap piece by Ogata.  Of course I’m not surprised that Ogata knew exactly what to say to Usami to piss him off, he is always watching.  Usami is not a piece, Ogata, Koito, Tsukishima those men are pieces but Usami is special.

And yes, for good measure his is the scene after Ogata called Koito a bon-bon in Russian he told him about the South Manchuria Railway and to investigate it as it would explain that Hanazawa’s death was suspicious.

Chapter 210 has Koito’s whole, I’ve connected the dots Tsukishima and Tsurumi may have been involved in Hanazawa’s death!  This lead to Tsukishima revealing to him that Ogata was the one who killed Hanazawa.  Just like Usami, Tsukishima projects his own issues onto Ogata’s behavior as he also thinks that Ogata became upset after he killed his father even though Tsurumi gave him exactly what he [Tsukishima] wanted.

Tsukishima also re-interates his own theory that Ogata is working as a spy for Central Command which came up during his shoot out with Ogata in Yubari.

Therefore, a really major theme is that Usami and Tsukishima both think that they know what Ogata wanted from Tsurumi with their own issues projected onto Ogata’s behaviors.  It is clear from Usami’s flashback that Ogata wanted something else that we the readers know but Usami doesn’t know because he didn’t hear the conversation between Ogata and Hanazawa. 

What this also shows us is that Ogata’s motivations are not what others think that they are and he clearly has his own agenda.  We’ve known for sometime that he has his own agenda and now we can see it is partially driven by his own need to answer some pretty basic philosophical questions about the nature of love and how people are raised and if this is connected to the ability to kill and to feel guilt or not.

Back to the chapter, we have Usami now alone, abandoned by Kikuta, doing his ‘thing’ as he says that Ogata will come to Sapporo to interfere with Tsurumi’s plans and he’s clearly upset by it.

The chapter then wraps up with an update on Ogata’s marksmenship.  Ogata sees a duck, takes aim and fires.  I like how the final panel shows an emotionless Ogata pull his rifle back before the next page reveals the result.

Like any good cat, he comes bearing a gift for his current servants.  He holds up the duck to display and offer to Hijikata and Ushiyama.  With full on smug cat expression, he explains that he’s finally become accustomed to shooting with his left hand.

He looks like such a happy cat has he lifts the rifle off his shoulder.  Hijikata then asks if this implies that the sniper has completely recovered.  Ogata looks quite contimplative as he replies “No.  . . .”

The answer is defined by his final full page reply.

He can only be called a sniper when he snipes a person.  He’s now holding the rifle left handed indicating that he’s ready and he looks so confident.

Based on the fact that Usami predicts Ogata’s involvement in the search for Jack the Ripper, and that Ogata has now stated his ready to become a sniper again. It looks like Ogata’s sniping will begin again in Sapporo and Usami will be involved.

And with that our chapter ends.

As a card carrying Ogata fan, I was so happy to read this chapter!  Ogata, I have missed you sooo much and I’ve been waiting for more background for your mysterious motivations.

1.) Ogata feels guilty about killing Yuusaku.  The fact that Ogata said “Yuusaku-dono” in the hospital, the fact that he was being possessed by Yuusaku in chapters 164 & 165, the fact that when he was talking to Asirpa, he was talking to Yuusaku on the ice floe; all of these events show us that he does have feelings of guilt in regards to his actions.

However, I do not think Ogata’s guilt is because Yuusaku was his half-brother, it is clear that Ogata did not want Yuusaku’s love or attention as it likely made his already miserable life in the 27th even worse.  We know that Ogata was bullied due to his status as an illegitimate child (chapter 169).  From Ogata’s language around Yuusaku he saw him as a pure idol.  A man who was shaped to become a pure idol by his father and he was the dutiful son that Hanazawa expected from him. 

The pure idol concept is a connection that Ogata made himself between Yuusaku and Asirpa.  When he wakes up from his fever dream in 165 he knows that in his mind, Asirpa is a pure idol that Wilk shaped to lead the Ainu and ethnic minority groups into the future.  We as readers know that Asirpa’s personal value to not kill is something that she developed herself and it wasn’t something that Wilk told her to be or do directly.  But Ogata doesn’t know this, he assumes this from his own interactions.  That is why when he has his meltdown on ice he begins to talk to Asirpa like he picked up his converation with Yuusaku with the Russian POW from chapter 165. This is why Asirpa is a bit puzzled herself, Ogata is speaking her in terms that she doesn’t quite get since she is not Yuusaku but in Ogata’s mind they are cut from the same cloth and therefore in a way almost the same person.

Both Asirpa and Yuusaku were raised by important men who had a clear destiny laid out for their children.  Yuusaku was the dutiful son who was placed into a ‘pure’ job as a flag bearer even though he likely knew it would result in the loss of his son’s own life.  If Sugimoto can make the connection of Asirpa to Joan of Arc and he only read it in a shoujo magazine, we know that Ogata clearly knows of such examples as well and he learned enough from Kiro and Sofia about Wilk to know his motivations. 

I’m guesing he may have been able to see Wilk’s conversation with Sugimoto at Abashiri before he shot him as well, Wilk flat out tells Sugimoto that he raised Asirpa to be a guerilla fighter for Ainu independence.

Or Ogata already knew this and his time on Karafuto only confirmed his thoughts.  It doesn’t really matter, what we know is Ogata thought for sure that Wilk trained Asirpa to be the pure idol for Ainu independence.

What I’m really trying to hammer home is that Ogata, seeing Asirpa’s own personal code to not kill implied to him a need for her to be a pure Ainu idol, just like Yuusaku was a pure Japanese military idol. 

And Ogata clearly has indicated he doesn’t like how these men groomed their children into becoming pure idols who lead others into battle.  Those others lead into battle, such as himself, are supposed to feel better about their guilt of killing others as their idols remain pure.  But Ogata thinks that this is utter bullshit and that there are no pure people.  To cope with all of the trauma from his own life, he has to tell himself that people don’t feel guilt and that people are not that great.

Yet, the two pure people he has met both wanted to connect with him.  Yuusaku wanted so much for him to connect with Ogata and be his brother.  Now, Yuusaku was a next level dumbass in this regard as he clearly was making Ogata very uncomfortable, likely making his position in the 27th worse than it already was and in a way, his desire for an older brother was quite selfish.

Asirpa accepting Ogata and caring about him really throws him for a loop as she is not related to him, nor is she Japanese.  Perhaps, @goldenkamuyhunting​ and I’s crazy idea that Ogata is mixed race may play a part of this if Ogata is part ethnic minority from Karafuto.  It would make his connection to Asirpa more of a familial/genetic type again making him more uncomfortable. 

Yet, it is clear that he comes to accept her attention and he clearly cares about her on some level.  So when she tries to pull the same “purity” crap on him that he feels Yuusaku did he snaps.  I think what started it was when she told him she “There’s not a single thing I can trust about you!” He really lost it then as all these other people have lied to Asirpa and she trusts them but the one time he lies to her she knows immediately and rejects him.  And she had accepted him.  It hurt him. 

Ogata gets his wish when Asirpa accidentally shoots him.  His twisted smile, to me, indicates that he was like “Yes, she shot me!  There are no pure idols in the world.  My hypothesis is correct!”

This therefore, at that point in time shows Ogata that if only Yuusaku had more time, he too would have lost his purity if given the right circumstances. 

What I’m more curious is where this leaves Ogata standing in at the present in the manga.  We don’t know what he was thinking after he was injured, but I’m sure there were more fever dreams and deep thoughts about philosphical contimplations about the meaning of love, purity and family in Ogata’s overactive mind.

Did Ogata escape the possession of his soul by Yuusaku in chapter 165?  Or with the admission of his guilt in 243, does it mean this was a self-imposed ‘possession’ which was removed by Asirpa shooting him in the eye and he lost his sinning eye. 

It is also interesting that he replies to Hijikata that a sniper needs to snipe other humans to be called such, will he actually snipe to kill or will his sniping style change with  the loss of the eye and the guilt tied to it.

The fact that we still have yet to see Yuusaku’s full face implies to me that his guilt still remains and when Ogata confronts that guilt, we will see what Yuusaku actually looked like.

And this long first point is to conclude that Ogata feels guilty for killing an ‘innocent’ like Yuusaku, not because he was his half-brother but due to his commitment to what was expected of him by his father.

2.) Our interpretation of Ogata almsot always comes from another character’s interpretation of Ogata.  Throughout GK, Ogata has been framed in a rather unique fashion as a character.  Most of what is said and believed about Ogata is based on what other characters say about him and how they act with him. 

Sugimoto sees him as a traitor and can’t be trusted, though likely it is due to the fact that Sugimoto feels that he has betrayed others and he even goes on to betray Asirpa for 200 yen to Tsurumi.

Koito first sees him as an ungrateful son, and the son of a wildcat.  Therefore, Ogata is out to con others.  He may also think that Ogata should love his father as a second son, because he learned that his own father (Koito Sr.) loves him as the literal second son.  He later learns that Ogata killed Hanazawa and he has not given us any indication what this means to him.

Tsukishima sees him as a man who was angry at his father for hurting him.  When Ogata was given the chance to kill his father, Tsukishima thought it would have given him peace and a place in the 27th to continue to live off of Tsurumi’s sweet lies.

Usami sees Ogata as an individual who wanted Tsurumi’s undevoted attention and love.  Just as Usami gained love from Tsurumi through violence, he saw Ogata perform despicable acts to his half-brother and father but those did not get him Tsurumi’s love.  Ogata is just like Tomoharu in Usami’s eyes, another person taking attention from Tsurumi away from him.

Tamai saw Ogata as a capable solider and reliable.  Unfortunately as a member of the bear death trio we learn little else about how he saw Ogata as Noma and Oda seemed less keen on Ogata.

Hijikata knows he’s an unusual man who was under Tsurumi and as much as he deflects, he knows that Ogata has an intelligence background.  He keeps Ogata as far away from him as possible and makes Ogata travel with the other groups while he tries to figure out Kiro’s background.  Hijikata likely knows that Ogata has his own plans and he’s not going to tell him for sure.

What this has done for many readers of the manga is that they take what these characters say and do and use that to form what they also see Ogata to be.  But really, we have a bunch of unreliable narrators telling us who they think Ogata is, not who Ogata actually is.

When we examine Ogata’s own actions independent of what everyone else thinks, we see a different picture.  Ogata is an intelligent military man who pretty much calls things as they are, figures out things quickly, thinks on his feet and can command small groups of people effectively.  I really don’t want to belabor this point, I’ve written tons of meta about why I think Ogata is an interesting and capable character.

3.) Ogata is a philosophical guy.  This drives his interpersonal behaviors and likely is a coping mechanism with his poorly developed childish emotional maturity.  The flashbacks in 103, 164, 165, 243 as well as many things that Ogata have said throughou the manga or done all point to a man who is mature as an adult but who never got beyond basic child emotions. 

What is really interesting is that we see what Ogata is thinking, he asks others for their inupt, he finds more people and asks them questions which then allows him to change what he is thinking as he gets more information.  He is clearly constantly thinking and changing how he feels about family, love, guilt from killing.  The issue is that all of his behaviors are through a rational and logical thought process.  Sadly, he is not taking his emotions into his questions since he doesn’t really know what to do with his own emotions. 

We know that he does feel guilt from killing at least ‘innocent’ people and this may be where his self-control came from.  Think of when he was with Nikaido trying to snipe Tanigaki.  Nikaido didn’t care about Asirpa’s Huci and Osoma, but Ogata wouldn’t hurt them, he only wanted Tanigaki.  His character’s behaviors scream out that he wants to be loved and accepted by someone after a lifetime of bullying but he doesn’t even know how to go about it.

4.) Usami is super messed up.  I just felt that this makes a good point.  Usami is fucking nuts.  This chapter just gives us more information that Usami has his mindset and he sticks to it = Tsurumi loves him, he loves Tsurumi and he will be Tsurumi’s favorite.  Obviously, he’s indicating there will be an Ogata encounter.  Usami better be careful as Ogata’s sniping skills are back.

5.) Kikuta is likely relaying information to Ariko and Central Command perhaps.  As I stated when I first read the chapter and saw Kikuta’s remark about Ogata and Yuusaku, I was like, wtf Kikuta are you blind?  But then if you read the beginning of the chapter, Kikuta is gently nudging Usami to talk.  He drives the entire conversation and as Usami is so emotionally invested in it, he says so much that he likely shouldn’t.  This is exactly how Ogata got information out of Sugimoto when they first met in chapter 5.  Both men have worked in intelligence and they easily pull information out of others before they even realize it.  The fact that he asked Usami his opinion of Ogata makes me wonder if Kikuta knows more or he started asking Usami about Ogata as Ariko told him Ogata was in Sapporo with Hijikata and got injured somewhere.  Ariko was shocked to see Ogata as he thought Ogata was dedicated and loyal to Tsurumi. 

The fact that Kikuta literally left Usami alone in the street ‘investigating’ means he could be going to do his own intel exchange and he doesn’t have to worry about Usami snooping on him.  If Usami was supposed to keep an eye on Kikuta for Tsurumi in Sapporo, he’s doing a shit job. 

Well that is all that I have for now.  Apologies for the long meta, but it was so interesting and I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of points.

[completeoveranalysis]

[28]

~

Warning! This post contains spoilers up to chapter 170 of Tsubasa (and Chapter 71 of xxxHolic). Please skip this if you have not read that far. 

Please also make no comments about what happens after that point in either manga. 

~

I already knew this was coming, this shouldn’t be able to make me cry. 

BUT THAT ASIDE. THIS MOMENT FOR KUROGANE? OOF. 

Especially after all the complicated things happening between him and Fai in Outo. Especially after he clearly cares about Fai, and tried to tell him this in his frustration of not understanding him, and accidentally made Fai believe he hates him. 

In this moment, Fai died thinking Kurogane hated him, and in the same way that Kurogane’s family died before his eyes as a child. 

This moment is ROUGH. 

I have to say, even though the narrative kind of shuffles the ending of Outo under the rug and quickly moves on to the next story arc before any traumatic wounds can be addressed on screen, I think this is a key moment (if not THE key moment) that influences how Kurogane acts in the bigger arcs moving forward. 

Here in Outo, Kurogane had to live with the knowledge that Fai was (potentially) eaten alive by oni for HOURS before learning otherwise. To Kurogane, this happened - Fai died. He lost him. 

So when Fai is on his death bed in Acid Tokyo there is no way Kurogane is just going to let that happen again. He already LOST Fai once, and now he has the chance to prevent it? Of course he’s gonna take it! Oh, he has to be game for the rest of his life? That’s nothing compared to what losing Fai was like. 

And the same thing happens again in Seresu, but turned up to a hundred. There at the end of Fai’s storyline, with the world collapsing around him and every part of Fai’s narrative pain already wrapped up and over, Kurogane once again gets to watch as Fai is about to die. 

But he didn’t let that happen before, and he SURE AS HELL isn’t going to happen in Seresu either. 

And just as easily as he became game for Fai, he sacrificed his sword arm without hesitation. Because losing Fai was worse. 

In Outo, Kurogane got to live in a world where he still had the violence he loved but Fai was dead. And it shattered him. 

There was no way he was ever going to pick his arm and future violence over Fai - he already HAD that, and it was one of the worst moments of his life. 

An arm for Fai was an easy trade, all things considered.

[manonisamelon]

catch up tag game tag nine people you’d like to catch up with or get to know better tagged by @rohesiawrites thanks!!!

favorite color? millennial pink, black

currently reading: fics wise i'm reading some hidekane (so much pain to fix) I have a book called le signal by maxime chattam i started that i need to pick back up and i'm also planning on reading the owari no seraph manga cause i need more

5 songs I’ve been listening to: dark side - blind channel

exile - taylor swift ft bon iver

paralyzed - NF

hear our prayer - tsubasa reservoir chronicles soundtrack

unravel (acoustic version) - TK from ling tosite sigure (while thinking about tokyo ghoul s2 ending because i like to make myself suffer apparently) last movie? i went to see cruella last sunday it was great i enjoyed it! Loved all the costumes especially! it was better than what i expected going in!

sweet, spicy, or savory? either sweet or savory it really depends on the days like sometimes i'm gonna be give me cake all day other i'm gonna be like chicken nuggets craving. But i can always eat sushi so i guess savory? The one thing that i know is that i can never do spicy my mouth is weak i don't like it being on fire.

tea or coffee? Teaaaaaaaaaa i love green tea the most. Jasmin green tea is the shit i also have a caramel green tea one that's awesome. I have so many teas!! also infusion for the late afternoon/night to be able to sleep. I do like starbucks drinks coffee from time to time (like so much milk and sugar coffee is just a light aroma) but mostly tea.

currently working on: ... i could lie and say next chapter of be careful what you wish for but... i'm thinking about it a lot but i'm not writing anything so it doesn't really count. I am thinking about doing a gifset for a specific scene from tokyo ghoul so let's see if that ever happens? don't have any edits i'm working on so if anyone wants to send request feel free maybe it will inspire me.

tagging: @tabbytabbytabby @grenadinepeach @glittercake @lovelylittlegrim @sofiaaaa0 @lomittz @theodorerr @theellana

@rosesraeken @thorin-is-a-cuddler @artbyraeken and anyone who wants to do this!