#Meiji and Beatrice

[waluigisgaybf]

I forgot just how many of my OCs have siblings holy shit.

In the tags I just counted 13 different OC sibling groups.

[dragonomatopoeia]

i saw the new miyazaki movie and i have a lot of thoughts. also i took notes almost the entire time. however since the word count on those notes is Bonkers i will not be organizing them or writing a cogent thesis at all. so i'm dumping everything from my notes app directly under a readmore.

War setting-framing-imagery apparent immediately

Conscription propaganda

research use of flag/choice to not depict symbol of imperial power when depicting time period. commentary from well-versed historians/animators?

Elderly women first characterized and animated to look unnerving as they swarm around the canned goods— reflection of mental state of perspective character?

heron flying directly out of rising sun over shinto lantern— came out of the decrepit european tower- broken wooden sword

Practice sword emulating father? Inheritance

Mass of fish and frogs swarming and compelling mahito to “join us” in apparent parallel to conscription imagery

Imagery of father’s shoes dividing natsuko and mahito’s

Father is the foreman of a war machine factory— child is at odds with agricultural volunteers

Bribes school for mahito’s exception from school- parallel to father’s own exception from war?

Self-reliance/ insistence on creating weapons/ stealing through more difficult means and bribing male figure while eschewing aid of female caretakers— still emulating aunt/stepmother in choice of weapon

Was too concentrated on training in weaponry to worry about natsuko

How to Live 1937- transition point into accepting help from elderly maid and searching for Natsuko. inheriting guidance

fecemi la divina potestate- dante’s inferno reference? Divine power made me

dante inferno beatrice and virgil? heron virgil figure?

Class and bloodline codified. inheritance again

Heron from wall design in mystical library that caused greatuncle to “lose his mind”. Power of art and representation? How to Live and its influence

Eyes in the sun motif in the center of the tower— closeup of heron’s eyes.

Heron’s power represented with water. Mother’s death- fire

Rose shattered— phantom of the opera reference? Organic material frozen as a rigid unchanging representation

Multiple paintings evoked- isle of the dead, ships, the plains, pilgrim looking over the mist

All of those who seek my knowledge shall die- at gate on isle of the dead

Rejects Kiriko’s help initially and attempts to send her away, but the representational world kiriko becomes a mentor figure, and he implicitly accepts the protection of the elderly women as guardian dolls

Kiriko is a very hot woman but there are a lot of mixed ideas about overfishing and humanitarian relief that are also tied up with what appear to be Soldier metaphors

The usual antiwar sentiments are here, but the framing of imperialism and imperial projects are difficult to untangle. Might be due to protagonist’s perspective? Confusion of positioning and coming of age. War and colonial project as inheritance?

The departure of the small figures/ letting the dead go

Death as a ship— departures

Eating as provision and care vs eating as predation and consumption

Water as illusion and death (eternity?) vs fire as vitality and ephemerality. Protection.

Kiriko’s outfit depicts wheels

Father prioritizing production over family/ Explicit depiction of war proceeding

Okay so explicit parallel of bomb with a Structure destroying surrounding life right before the meiji restoration— nature intrudes and the granduncle builds a european style tower that consumes those who go near

Father arms himself and dresses in symbols of imperial power/ stuffs chocolate and a sword in his suit while holding an explorer’s lantern

“The one who made the hole has to fill it”

Using a knife to cut fish or to mend the beak or to craft a new weapon

Flight imagery in different contexts— heron/ departure of the dead/ fire flight

Guard birds have lanterns/ constrained fire as opposed to the free burning flames

Parakeets- caged birds

Birds and consumption

the attempt to fight against imagined or fantastical danger that becomes ridiculous within the context of the real- parakeet soldiers become real/harmless parakeets

New life within a grave— cycles of death and rebirth

Natsuko’s morning/mourning sickness within the context of her grief Literally forced away from Natsuko by grief and representations of death that are then burned away by the power of her sister’s love and the thing that eventually killed her

Attempting to bridge the gap of rejection and being pushed away with acknowledgement of familial connection and a willingness to approach one another

The master of the tower continually evoked through famous western masterworks

The hallway of chiascuro- classical columns

Tapping at the geometric shapes. It’s literally a Study. His study is made out of artistic studies

God i wish i remembered the actual names of these paintings instead of just being able to recognize them

Evil greatuncle is the antagonist of slay the princess

His power of eternity comes from literal stone. Inorganic and thought to be unchanging, but subject to entropy

He imagines a world that is not subject to death and in this way disrespects the dead. His tools of study and construction are made from tombstones. Literally using the dead as building blocks

Stone and water are used to sharpen blades. Sharpening as an act of fighting against entropy

Food is a huge focus— plenty available for the parakeets, but the pelicans are starving. The shades cannot hunt for their own fish. In reality the people are desperate for canned food and rations

The parakeets eat people and display slavish devotion to their king. They all bear arms

Occasional staging like a Shakespearean play- hamlet moments

Silence when focused on the granduncle. Sound of wind when camera shifts to mahito

A tower built with malice toppling, an empire built upon graves, resentment for the frailty and mishandling of a structure leading to the parakeet king hastening its demise and destroying it with a symbolic weapon

Sincerity and death as interlinked concepts

Self-inflicted wound as representation of malice The granduncle trained in england and brought ideas back. Isolated self from family in pursuit of perpetuity and… art? Empire? Imperial control and its manifestations through art? Inherited ideas

Miyazaki’s antiwar sentiments always seem to be filtered through the understanding of those dwelling within or benefitting from the empire’s power

Mahito does explicitly refuse the building blocks of empire/ imperial tools and reject the project/ inheritance with reference to his own capacity for malice. Gestures at self-inflicted wound. Implicit acknowledgment that empires cannot exist without malice? Seems too narrow/individually focused, but may be symptomatic of a story that is simultaneously attempting to be about family, art, and empire. Inheritance as throughline

I do think Miyazaki should retire for real this time and make time to bond with his grandson instead of trying to transmit a lifetime of lessons through a symbolic art piece maybe

[mathsandwhiteroses]

Tiara Predictions: Japan to United Kingdom

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will be in the UK on 25th to 27th July for a State Visit. The trip will focus on Japanese-British diplomacy, history, biomedical research, museums and biodiversity.

And now to the predictions…

The tiara I want Masako to wear: Imperial Chrysanthemum Tiara. This tiara is reserved for the Empress and Masako is yet to wear it so it’d be lovely if she debuted it today. It was last worn by Empress Emerita, Michiko in January 2012 for the New Year’s Reception.

My prediction: Meiji Scroll Tiara. Masako has only worn this tiara since becoming Empress so it’s a fairly safe bet. It was last worn by Masako in January for the New Year’s Reception.

The tiara I want Camilla to wear: Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik. I need this tiara to be worn! So stunning, it’s literally a wall of diamonds and I have a feeling it would suit Camilla so much. It was last worn by Queen Elizabeth in March 2015 for the State Visit from Mexico.

My prediction: Oriental Circlet Tiara. The only tiara that was designed by Prince Albert that still belongs to the British Royal Family (and my personal least favourite), I think this would be a suitable tiara for the State Banquet as it’s suitably large, historic and ornate for a visit from the Emperor. It was last worn by Queen Elizabeth in 2006 on a visit to Malta.

The tiara I want Sophie to wear: Aquamarine Ribbon Tiara. I will admit that I haven’t liked the way that Sophie has styled this tiara in the past so I just want to see it with big hair at the front to hide the gap or for Sophie to have re-worked it. It was last worn in October 2018 for the Dutch State Visit.

My prediction: Her wedding tiara. I’ve mostly chosen non-colourful tiaras for everyone else so Sophie’s only all diamond tiara matches that. It was last worn in June 2019 for the State Visit from the US.

The tiara I want Birgitte to wear: Iveagh Tiara. My favourite Gloucester tiara. Aside from Queen Victoria’s Sapphire Tiara, this tiara is probably the one that I wish Queen Mary would’ve kept within the main family line. It was last worn by Birgitte at the CHOGM reception in 2018.

My prediction: Cartier Indian Tiara. This tiara is large, sparkly and will suit the other tiaras on display. It was last worn by Birgitte in November 2022 for the State Visit from South Africa.

While I don’t think any of the following will be at the banquet, in the unlikely event that one of them does attend my predictions are as follows:

Catherine, the Princess of Wales: Lotus Flower Tiara (but I’d love it if she wore the Sapphire Sunburst Bandeau)

Princess Beatrice: York Tiara

Princess Eugenie: Greville Emerald

Princess Alexandra: Ogilvy Tiara

Princess Michael of Kent: Kent Festoon

[canmom]

Let’s read Umineko! pt. 5

[pt. 1] [pt. 2] [pt. 3] [pt.4]

The story so far

Various members of the ludicrously wealthy Ushiromiya family have gathered on their family’s remote island for the annual ‘family conference’. Family patriarch Kinzo is dying, his vast fortune is up for division and all his children want a piece. Kinzo himself doesn’t care, despising his children and now only obsessed with seeing the smile of the mythical witch Beatrice one more time.

Among the servants of Kinzo, the youngest, Kanon and Shannon are finding them scapegoated and abused by both the other staff and their employers. Kind old Kumasawa is the only member of the staff who’s sympathetic, but she says she can only observe the heartbreaking situation.

Eva, her husband Hideyoshi, and her brother Rudolf, with tacit support of her sister Rosa and Rudolf’s wife Kyrie, have accused eldest brother Krauss of embezzling funds from Kinzo to cover business losses. Krauss’s wife Natsuhi, whose status in the family is much less secure since she is a woman and not a direct descendant, reacted furiously to the accusations, and as a result has been attacked so viciously by Eva she fled the room in tears. Kumasawa once again says she can only observe.

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware, their children Battler, George, Jessica and Maria are on their way down to the beach...

Notes from my friend...

My friend added some context to the history of the Ushiromiya family discussed in the last post...

the meiji era in particular is a turning point in japanese history. prior to this, during the bakumatsu (a civil war between those who wanted japan to remain isolated and those who did not, and felt that the Emperor one way or another was being taken a fool, and resulted in part in the move of the capital from Kyoto to Edo (present day tokyo)) the west was seen as a horrific threat to japanese culture 

you may have heard of the shinsengumi and/or the ishin shishi; these are two of the most familiar patriotic groups during the bakumatsu. shinsengumi were pro isolation and remaining in kyoto, while the ishin shishi were for opening borders. contrary to popular western storytelling, the shinsengumi weren't anti-emperor 

the ishin shishi as you might have guessed, won. the borders opened, the capital moved, and japan essentially began to catch up with the west 

this time frame would have been IMMENSELY lucrative for any merchant class family, which is where this ties into your liveblog

during meiji, the status quo was upended. no longer were samurai the social elite, but merchants, especially those who were able to procure new western novelties and technologies 

even if they had to take out a loan soon after, they would have experienced an economic boom prior to that and likely helped secure their loan

^^;'

i don't particularly know much about the era before the bakumatsu or after meiji, at least not from a japanese perspective, but their family is a long line of merchants who were respected, and likely increased that during and after meiji

Beach times!

On their way out, Battler once again notes the portrait of Beatrice, and the long ‘disturbing’ epitaph written underneath. They speculate it’s a cryptic riddle towards the location of the family’s hidden gold, and that Kinzo will give up the head status and gold to whoever solves it.

Battler relates a story of how Kinzo raised his funds and gained trust of other capitalists in the first place: “One fateful day, I encountered the Golden Witch Beatrice.” Kinzo claimed to have summoned her through his research into magic and demon-summoning, and exchanged his soul for fortune and honour. Beatrice gave him ten tons of gold, which he could use as collateral on his loans. This gold is still said to be hidden somewhere on the island.

There follows a discussion of the plausibility of a sponsor, whether ten tons was actually ten kilograms, and the market price of gold. Then on how much the fortunes they discuss are actually worth. Battler says in narration that a lifetime’s wages are 200 million yen, and ten tons of gold - estimated at 20 billion yen - would be worth 400 years of wages assuming the portion of life spent working is 40 years.

In short, they conclude that it’s unlikely that so much gold would be sitting in one place, and speculate the ‘witch’ of the story was just a very wealthy woman, whose ‘magic’ was just her ability to predict Kinzo’s success and possibly guide his investments such as funding the Korean War. George even speculates that the name Beatrice is a modification of her real name by the West-obsessed Kinzo.

Battler ruins this otherwise fairly interesting discussion with another creepy sexual harassment joke.

Maria is not best pleased with the dismissal of witches.

I was curious about chronology here, and it turns out, in the 1980s, Japan was in an ‘anime boom’. Notable shows in the few years up to 1986 included a lot we now call classics, such as Nausicaa, Dragon Ball, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

As far as witches are concerned, Kiki’s Delivery Service would be released a few years later in 1989, but magical girl anime was well established by this point: the first magical girl anime apparently dates back to the 60s. Wikipedia mentions that in the previous decade, “Mahōtsukai Chappy (1972) and Majokko Megu-chan (1974–1975) popularized the term "majokko" (little witch) as a name for the genre”.

Maria wants to be a witch when she grows up. I approve.

We learn that Kinzo’s infatuation with Beatrice did cause some friction with his (still unnamed) wife.

The kids continue to the beach, and it’s back to the adults. They are, guess what, also talking about gold. Eva and Rudolf claim there is evidence Kinzo really did have a large quantity of gold, and showed it to a respected company president. Krauss alone maintains that it was a scam that paid off, and there wasn’t real gold. Eva turns this into a dilemma:

The accusers offer Krauss a way out: they will let him investigate father’s assets in return for admitting he found the gold, and giving them each a share. Apparently the 20 billion yen estimate of its value is dead on, since Krauss uses it without question. But to give Krauss an incentive, they say 50% of the gold should go to the successor to the Urishomiya main family, the rest split evenly between siblings, so Krauss would get 12.5 billion.

...except I can already see that is not ‘to Krauss’, but ‘to the successor’. There’s a motive for murderin’ if ever I saw one.

Of course, if the gold doesn’t actually exist, they’re basically demanding 2.5 billion each, with the threat to examine Kinzo’s finances if he doesn’t comply.

They additionally demand 10% of their portions within the next six months, whether or not Kinzo is dead.

Krauss summarises the actual deal being discussed so obliquely:

They also say the agreement will overrule Kinzo’s will, if he writes one.

Krauss agrees, because it would be an anticlimax if he didn’t, on the condition that if one of the other siblings finds the gold, they must turn it over to him. They accept, because clearly none of them actually believe this gold exists.

The narration steps in to explain what was pretty clear from the dialogue: they’re blackmailing him with the threat of doing him for embezzlement.

The narration then rather belabours the point that Krauss surely has a plan to get out of this. He insists on an amendment...

“I am very poor” says the man in the tailored suit in the mansion he lives in, and is redeveloping. My mum teaches horseriding, and some of her clients are disgustingly rich. Having strange notions of being “poor” is definitely in character.

Krauss hits back at Hideyoshi...

Gotta say, despite the tendency to belabour points, the author writes shady capitalist doubletalk extremely well.

In case you’re wondering, the narration takes the opportunity to explain that Hideyoshi runs a fast-food chain that he ‘started from nothing’. It also explains some things I didn’t really understand on the ‘how does capitalism’ front:

But stockholders have the right to interfere with the running of the company to protect their investment. The narration underlines that the stockholders can vote to replace the management, so if someone gains majority stock, they can seize the company.

The narration continues that companies defend themselves by having employees or other allies buy many stock certificates, but Hideyoshi failed to do this. Now someone is buying up stock trying to get the other stockholders on board with a takeover, and the stockholders have realised this and are demanding huge prices to prevent Hideyoshi from buying back stocks.

The narrator underlines the underlying point:

(this isn’t really a Marxist point necessarily, but like, I had to put him in there)

In short, as the game states in all capitals just in case we somehow missed the implication, Hideyoshi needs money very urgently.

Krauss moves on to target Rudolf, who’s apparently on trial for some kind of violation of rights in the States. (Employee rights? Sexual harassment?)

Do you think this game might be making a point?

Apparently a ‘corporate giant’ was accusing Rudolf’s nonspecific ‘niche’ company of ‘violating their rights’. The game is being unusually coy about the nature of this trial. In any case, Rudolf was being pressed to settle out of court. So he needs money too!

Or as the game puts it again...

And why does Rosa need money? She doesn’t play capital like the others, but she ‘cosigned’ something because of what Krauss calls her ‘softhearted nature’. The game doesn’t really explain.

So yeah, now Krauss has the upper hand, because he knows the more he stalls the more desperate the others get.

Krauss’s voice actor does some splendidly evil laughs. 

We cut to Kanon, who is reporting on the negotiations to Kinzo in his study. Kinzo finds the whole thing amusing, and then starts talking about whether his ‘great miracle’ that will apparently resurrect Beatrice will come before they solve the riddle.

Apparently he put up the riddle to increase risk to him and therefore increase magic powers. It rather reminds me of that Discworld ‘one in a million’ thing. He claims the more people attempt the riddle, the more powerful his magic to resurrect Beatrice will be. He tells Kanon to attempt the riddle too.

Kanon repeats the “I am furniture” line when Kinzo offers him sweets. Kinzo doesn’t bother to tell him otherwise. Dick.

Downstairs, Nanjo and Genji are also discussing the riddle. We get the full riddle at last:

Behold the sweetfish river, running through my beloved home of old. You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key.

As you travel down it, you will see a village. In that village, look for the shore the two speak of. There the key to the Golden Land sleeps.

You who laid hand upon the key must journey as follows to the Golden Land.

On the first twilight, sacrifice the six chosen by the key. On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close. On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name. On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill. On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill. On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill. On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill. On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill. On the ninth twilight, the witch revives, and none shall be left alive. On the tenth twilight, the journey ends, and you shall reach the Home of the Gold.

The witch shall praise the wise, and bestow four treasures.

One shall be all of the Golden Lad’s gold. One resurrects all the dead people’s souls. One even revives all the love they possessed. And one for the rich to eternally rest.

Rest in peace, my beloved witch, Beatrice.

Yeah, I can’t make head or tail of it lol.

Fortunately, the Cousin Gang knows more about Japanese rivers, and suchlike things. They’re probaby wrong about a lot at this point in the story. Still, speculation leads them to the Hayakawa river in Odawara where Kinzo grew up, and Odawara Castle at its mouth.

From there, Sogakishi in Odawara has the character for ‘shore’ in its name.

But then they doubt Odawara, because Kinzo was from a distant branch not touched by the Great Tokyo Earthquake.

Judging by the conversation here, the naration about Kinzo’s past probably wasn’t narrated by Battler, but by the omniscient narrator.

They go on to consider the rest. They count eleven sacrifices. For the record, this game has 19 named characters including Beatrice. They consider the rest of the described events.

Maria shows everyone drawings of witches. She sounds like a budding comic artist. Maybe she’ll make the next big magical girl anime.

Shannon tells a Beatrice story that’s been passed down between the servants of Beatrice playing minor pranks. Battler makes sure to let us know how Very Skeptical he is, even if he’s trying to console Maria.

Maria gives Battler and Jessica magic protection charms. Battler has to tell us how he thinks they’re cheap and plastic. He manages to suppress his inner jerk and avoid arguing with Maria, and accepts the emerald-scorpion anti-magic charm.

Shannon is making friends with the Cousin Gang at least. She seems to be in a bit better spirits.

They go in as the weather worsens, and we get a protracted scene of searching for a particular rose to satisfy Maria. She’s a convincing small child, for sure. Rosa joins them and is so messed up by the intense negotiations earlier that she takes it out on Maria, hits her, and says some very cruel things. Battler tries to intervene (I guess he can be an OK guy sometimes) and Rosa tells them all to piss off. Battler intervenes again when she starts to seriously hurt Maria, and takes some of Rosa’s anger, superficially about Maria’s manner of speech.

George, incomprehensibly, takes Rosa’s side - calm as ever but clearly not caring about the actual physical violence? I realise it’s only recently that corporal punishment of children has become taboo and maybe it’s a societal thing, but when an adult is beating up a nine-year-old who cares about the reasons?

go-fuck-yourself-george.png

After talking about the attempted sexual assault scene with @alchymistryandcoldsteel, I no longer assume the author intends these characters to read sympathetically. Instead I think he’s making a point about how abuse is enabled by social structures and engenders futher abuse, and expect as Battler’s character is developed he’ll see these ideas challenged.

Already, this is blatantly presented as rationalisation for an immoral choice.

Right, that will wrap it up for now. Got to go!

[waluigisgaybf]

THIS TOOK ME A HOT SEC, and I totally feel like I somehow cheated because theres 3 sets of siblings so there doesnt appear to be much variety 😳😳😳 heres the picrew!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH @numbaoneflaya for tagging meeeee- Literally the only person I can think of rn tag is @the-rxven-king????

Alphonse Overa | Avie Overa

Meiji Redgrave | Beatrice Redgrave

Nigel Maevrie | Reid Maevrie

Miris Tabris | Cassian Surana

(Rip cause Bea is only 10 but I couldnt make her look younger, and extra rip for me purposly giving Meiji fun anime hair so no option looked right)

[waluigisgaybf]

Aw man I gotta do more with my last DnD boy meiji- I miss him sm and he was a very good vent character- also just fun drawing a shitty little fuck head cat boy