#Nakamura is always a joy to write

[lafleshlumpeater]

platonic!ethan nakamura x reader

warnings: some swearing from my side and mentions of rough pasts, bullying (?), brief mention of poison, lmk if there are more

THIS WAS REQUESTED BY @25rabbitswithakeyboard

Not proofread so there may be some mistakes, lmk if there are please x

ethan nakamura masterlist

This is my first time writing something on request, so if this is bad i apologise

Okay

Although Ethan had a bit of a

rEbElLiOuS arc, to put it lightly

He would always be such a good brother

Like seriously

Bro is soooo protective bc child of Nemesis

Your bff turns out to be a backstabbing snake?

Boy will help you plot your revenge in elaborate detail (thanks, Nemesis), and you two will bond over coming up with the most exquisite of excuses to use on Chiron about how a guillotine would be a fantastic addition to CHB

Your bf/gf cheats on you? They should not sleep peacefully from then on.

Straight after you tell him about it crying, he would give you a suffocating, brief hug and a kiss on the forehead before wondering if the Stolls will somehow sneak poison into camp for him.

Even if your s/o is perfect and the love of your life, Ethan is always wary of them

Like when your relationship started it was like: "Hey buddy, I just wanna talk" hides baseball bat behind back

But yeah

Soo protective

He loves and cares for you sm, and it's obvious in everything and everyday

Anyways

Let's get onto this actual request

I like to think Ethan had a bit of a rough childhood so he wouldn't want you to go through the same

Perk of Nemesis- he can see people's securities through just one glance

He took a look at yours and his heart softened slightly- it was obvious, you hadn't had an easy time, like himself

So after you were claimed he promised himself he would take care of you especially since you looked wary and slightly cautious from everyone

Especially after when you got claimed by Nemesis and some sneered in disgust and disapproval; it made his heart pang since the nostalgia he felt was uncanny

Including when your face lit up from the joy of being claimed unexpectedly quickly, but the smile faltering once you saw the expression of some of the other campers

And the confusion because wasn't getting claimed a good thing??

It was like seeing his younger self again

He wanted to comfort and befriend you straight away bc of that

And beat up all the campers who gave you menacing sneers once you were claimed

(But he settled with angry glowers)

But at the same time he didn't want to approach you too quickly because he had got the impression from you that you wanted to be in your own company

Especially when some other campers just looked down on you, you'd probably think he'd do the same

Plus bro is a bit buff and the eyepatch and all is a bit intimidating

(But he's really a caring sweetheart when you get to know him)

And when he heard muffled crying at night from the bed opposite him, he melted from sympathy on the inside bc it reminded him so much of when he first arrived at camp and he did the same- but no- one was there to help him

And he didn't want you to feel the same way

Because he had never had anyone to care for, and someone finally arriving

He went up to your bed and you immediately feigned at being asleep bc yk

Embarrassment

But he just silently grabbed a tissue and a glass of water, handed it to you, and just sat on the end of the bed and watched you wipe the tears

Poor boy, he was so awkward bc he was never great at comforting people

"Hey- it's y/n, right? Are you okay?"

Then both of you immediately thinking it's a bit of a stupid question

Bc you're OBVIOUSLY not okay

So you look at him accusingly and open your mouth

But before you can make any sort of comment, he just starts talking about himself

"You know, when I first came to this place..."

First he just talked about how the other campers reacted in similar ways once he got claimed too

But then he just continues to talk and talk about his experiences; about his first arrival upon camp, the battles he's been in, funny memories, about his childhood, and about your mother of course

Nemesis

At first he thinks you're not listening and was about to retreat to his bed once again in defeat, but when you had realised he stopped talking you turned your body to face him expectantly since you realised you guys had more in common than you originally anticipated

Rough backgrounds, treated as outcasts, the feeling of rejection

So obviously pleased, he carries on, pretending that he isn't as elated as he feels

Someone is finally listening to him, somebody actually cares

Who would've thought it would be the girl who he had acknowledged with a glance or two (initially) who would be one of the first to truly see him for him?

Ethan's surprised with himself; children of Nemesis (especially himself) take a long time to fully trust people

He doesn't fully know what drove him to trust you so much, maybe it was the way the other campers had reacted to you, or the knowingness of your gaze?

Perhaps it was just a "sibling" thing, and it was natural to feel some sort of a long- forgotten connection?

He didn't know, but he was grateful for whatever it was- for both of your sakes.

He finished with a small pep talk

"If you have any problems, come to me, okay? Especially if it's about the thoughts that go through your head... being a child of Nemesis can be pretty dangerous you know. Especially with our flaws, high ambition, competitiveness and all. Us demigods call it hubris. It can spiral out of control sometimes, especially when you don't talk about it with others. You know what, for now, stick with me. That's what siblings are for, anyway, right?"

And just finishes off with brushing his hair out of his eyes to seem less shady and offering a small, cautious smile

And first you're still a smidge cautious because why is he being so nice even though you just met?

Even if he was your sibling, you had never been that good with strangers.

Also, not gonna lie, he looked like he could beat you to a pulp if he wanted, with the visible scar that ran across his broad nose, eyepatch, dark shaggy hair and roughly carved facial features

His appearance reminded you somewhat of a pirate, especially with the heavy brows that made him look like he was in a constant frown yet at the same time, displayed a somewhat mischievous but deceiving, charming smile

But after a suspicious peer into his penetrating, yet genuine gaze, you know he's being as sincere and helpful as can be

Maybe this camp wasn't going to be a living hell- from then on, you knew that you'd have someone to rely on and trust

So you sniffle away the last of the tears and timidly smile back

And he just melted on the spot because he's so glad you can feel the emotions of being wanted and appreciated for you, even if he couldn't

And a magnificent, pure grin bloomed on his face, and you realised how tense he was previously

You literally felt his muscles relaxing, and it was only when you heard a deep exhale that you realised how nervous he was for the duration of the entire encounter

His smile before had been so forced and small as opposed to the one now, which looked so much more genuine and fun

You thought about how he looked a lot more friendly now, with a smile radiating friendliness compared to how he was scowling earlier when you had gotten claimed

"Oh, and, don't listen to those jerks from earlier, okay? They were just some vain Hecate kids. You know, because they're jealous of our powers, since we're the only ones who can overcome theirs'." (NO OFFENCE TO HECATE KIDS, ILY GUYS, IT'S JUST FOR THE FIC)

"Powers?" You immediately perked up; maybe this camp was going to be fun as promised by the centaur dude from earlier.

Ethan smirked again, mischievously this time, making his features look sharper but somehow endearing. "Yeah, when I was bored when I was recently claimed, they bullied me to no end. Whenever they used their magic to do anything at all, I used them as practice to learn how to neutralise others' powers. Used to drive them nuts every time. Whatever they were using magic for just stopped doing its thing. They went mad trying to find out who did it, they never found out though. It was like killing two birds with one stone- I used to get to piss them off, and I got to practice my powers on something. Maybe we should do that too- reliving some childhood memories would be cool with someone else- the good ones, at least."

You grinned, realising that the boy was not at all as intimidating as he looked- as well as at the fact that he wasn't scowling at you when you got claimed, it was directed at the Hecate kids.

You knew for certain, at that moment, you two had begun to develop a bond, and that soon you were both to be the absolute best of friends.

"Great, when can we start?"

"Tomorrow? We could also get you all geared up for sword training- and Capture the Flag next week, too."

You nodded in conformation. "Cool, tomorrow, then."

"Great. First, get some sleep though. Wake me up if you need anything, yeah?"

You nodded, realising that for the first time that night, a drowsiness had overcome you, and a deep sleep threatened to overcome you before you could even thank Ethan for his empathy

Just before he returned to his own bed, you called out:

"Ethan, right?"

He turned back a little at the sound of his name, and stopped walking. "Yeah."

"Thanks."

A smaller, sweeter version of his previous smile blossomed on his rough, chiselled face.

"For what? I did nothing."

Before he even finished the sentence, you were asleep.

He looked at your sleeping form, and affection rose up inside of him.

It was an unfamiliar sensation, but it felt nice, warm, even fuzzy. He decided he liked it.

Reassured by your sleeping state, he returned to the comfort of his own covers, and fell asleep with a rare, soft smile on his face, looking forward to the events of tomorrow that were to come.

sorry if this is crappy, it's my first time writing on request. If you see this, feel free to request :)

READ: this account stands with palestine, and so— i require everyone who interacts to educate themselves, and support/donate. READ THESE; 1 and 2, HELP HERE, BOYCOTT. silence is complicity, do not scroll past this.

[ciaossu-imagines]

nakamura rio + 🖌️ still from the misc ask meme!

This is another character I didn’t figure I’d get requests for, though she’s absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much for sending this in and giving me my first chance to really write for her, or this fandom in general, on here! I appreciate it and hope you’ll enjoy my thoughts on this!

Do they have any hobbies?

Rio has a lot of hobbies actually. There’s no lack of those on her side, though this is a more recent development for her. When she was younger, she wasn’t really given much room to have hobbies, to really find all these different things she just enjoys doing for the fun of it, or to devote her time to them. As someone considered a gifted child, a prodigy really, she was taught by the adults around her, though pressured might be more of a better word choice there, to really devote herself to more ‘worthwhile’ things, like her studies and gaining knowledge. Any hobbies she was allowed to have had to be things that would be deemed societally acceptable and worth-while and she wasn’t allowed to do them just for fun. Instead, she was kind of expected to just be incredible at them, with the pressure to be talented and amazing at these things often really ruining her enjoyment of them.

It’s not really until her middle school years, when she hits her rebellious phase, that Rio starts to really gain proper hobbies. I mean proper as in that these are hobbies that she truly enjoys, that give her joy or help her relax. Because she really wasn’t allowed to decide her own hobbies at a young age, I feel she’s someone who, through a lot of their middle school years, tries on different hobbies almost as someone would try on different hats. She’s not entirely sure, to be honest, what she’s going to like. She knows the things that she’ll either hate or just won’t enjoy, but as far as the things that she’ll like? No clue on her side, so she remains open-minded about trying out new things if there’s even a hint of interest in them on her part.

I think the only hobby that she has carried over with her from childhood is her insatiable love for music. She definitely comes across, to me, like someone who would’ve been taught to play an instrument at a young age. While she hated the pressure of having to play perfectly, and to only play certain types of things, she also found that she really enjoys music. She lets that enjoyment branch out then. She’s voracious in her music tastes, always searching out new songs, new artists, new genres. She’ll take any music recommendations people give her and will give them an honest try. She uses her music streaming platform’s recommendations all the time. She tries out local live shows of new artists or up and comers. The music she tries doesn’t even have to be in a language she knows – if it’s catchy, she still likes it despite not understanding the words (though if she likes the song enough, she goes and looks up a translation).

As far as music goes, I think she discovers two big loves in that area. She ends up finding out that she loves EDM. She also discovers that she kind of loves idol groups and boy bands equally. She’ll have her favourites from both (for example, she’d be a huge BTS fan), and then she’ll have her best boy/best girl from her favourite group.

Rio also does have an eye for and an interest in fashion. Not only does she like shopping for cute clothes and accessories, but she stays up to date with the latest trends. She has a couple of designers she absolutely loves, though she can’t afford them, and she watches the runway shows for them. She definitely has a Pinterest style board full of outfit inspirations.

A social person, Rio finds a lot of energy and joy in just being around other people. Left with too much solitude, she becomes lonely, bored, and unhappy. She’s one of those types of people who honestly do need regular social interaction to remain happy and upbeat. Hanging out with friends is something she spends a lot of time doing.

She’s also someone, though, who finds a lot of fun in teasing others. She always tries to do so good-naturedly, instead of being downright mean about it, so it remains mostly teasing instead of bullying. To her, teasing others is definitely something she considers a hobby.

I do think she’s a pretty big reader, finishing at least a book a month. It’s one of her quieter hobbies, the things she does late at night when she’s all alone to keep herself both occupied and to relax. I do think her tastes run more into more romance and erotica. For example, she has definitely read all the 50 Shades of Gray novels, along with some of the erotica on Kindle Unlimited, things like Diamond in the Dark, Heat Clinic, and others. She tends to really like romances that involve the supernatural (she would definitely be an omegaverse girl) and one of her favourite series is Women of the Otherworld.

[wavehq]

enjoy limitless possibilities here in celestire islands, gwen nakamura ( total drama ) and darcy olsson ( heartstopper ), where you can start the new life you've always longed for. make sure you read the checklist, as we'll be sending the discord link through ims! enjoy your new dream, ziggy!

( total drama, dupes not allowed. ayumi roux, she/her. cis woman. ) ——- hey, is that ( gwen nakamura ) hanging around ( celestire museum )? i wonder what life is like for them, balancing working as a ( twenty-three ) year old ( art history major / part-time librarian ) and ( playing the drums )? they’re notorious for being ( smart ) yet ( tough ), and i always seem to hear ( love will tear us apart ) by ( joy division ) playing whenever they walk past. they’re known around the islands for ( her inability to get excited over minuscule things ), and they’re associated with ( dyed hair, the colour blue, black combat boots, and writing in journals ). last we spoke, they were telling me about a vision they had… something about their biggest regret being ( not making amends with courtney ), but it must have just been a bad dream. // — [ ziggy, 23 / est, they/them. ]

( heartstopper, dupes not allowed. ariela barer, she/they, non-binary. ) ——- hey, is that ( darcy olsson ortiz ) hanging around ( celestire skate park )? i wonder what life is like for them, balancing working as a ( twenty-two ) year old ( bartender ) and ( skateboarding )? they’re notorious for being ( outgoing ) yet ( reckless ), and i always seem to hear ( matilda ) by ( harry styles ) playing whenever they walk past. they’re known around the islands for ( being the weird girl ), and they’re associated with ( beanies, hawaiian button-up shirts, skating through life, late night drives with friends and hoodies and jeans ). last we spoke, they were telling me about a vision they had… something about their biggest regret being ( thinking they’re not good enough ), but it must have just been a bad dream. // — [ ziggy, 23 / est, they/them. ]

[dreaming-of-assclass]

AssClass Christmas Fics: Part 2

Group 2 + Snowball Fight ☃️

This is so long overdue... *sobs*

So my original plan was to do all 5 fics during Christmas...and that failed lmao. This will be the last one since I had already started it and might as well post. It’s way too late to finish three other Christmas fics now haha. Don’t worry, the other groups will get time to shine in other fics I’m already planning UwU

_____

“Avengers, assemble!” Okajima shouted, before getting pelted in the mouth by a flimsy snowball. “Ow!”

“I already said, three times, that’s not our team name!” Nakamura yelled back, adjusting the baby blue beanie that sat atop her head. 

“Then what do you propose instead?” He challenged, wiping off the remaining bits of ice off his face. 

“I wanted to be the Heathers,” she replied coolly.

Okajima groaned. “No! That sounds lame!” 

“And you’re such a fake theater kid already,” Chiba chimed in with a snicker, easily dodging the snowball she tossed in his direction.

“Oh shut up, punk.” Nakamura stuck her tongue out at him, but her lips were curved up into an amused smirk.

“Can we just start already?” Sugaya sighed, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets. “My joints are starting to freeze, being out here.”

“Here” was referring to the empty park field that was a block away from Fuwa’s house. Of course, given that it was late December, the field was a wasteland of pure white. Snow rested heavily on the ground, reaching past their ankles as they tried to move around. The forest of barren trees that surrounded them carried the same pearly frost on their branches. 

The snow seemed to sparkle, just simply laying over the ground, or over the bare branches. A sheet of ice fully covered the pond that was across the long white field, closer to the playground. And the sky above them was an eerie yet dazzling shade of blue-ish gray.

Part of Sugaya wanted to grab his sketchbook and paints, and create a portrait of the natural beauty around him, ingrain it in both his mind and across his papers. But a larger part of him was freezing and tired and frankly not in the mood for a snowball fight at 8am. Why did he agree to this again? Whose idea even was this?!

“Aww, Sugaya is cold,” Nakamura mocked playfully. He fought against the urge to roll his eyes.

“Maybe you should’ve worn something other than just that thin jacket,” Hayami pointed out, rubbing her mitten-clad hands together. “No wonder you keep complaining like a little kid.”

“It’s for the aesthetic,” Sugaya mumbled, patting down the front of his jacket defensively. “Why is everyone attacking me?”

“Because you’re immature and unprepared?” Mimura offered with a smile, showing he wasn’t being serious. He laughed at the tired expression Sugaya offered. “Relax, we can get hot chocolate after this at my house.”

The artist relaxed a bit at that. “Sounds great,” he smiled. “Which of us geniuses came up with this, anyhow-?”

“Get into your teams now!” A loud voice entered the fray, and Sugaya glanced up only to smack himself in the forehead. Of course, it would be none other than Fuwa to instigate a war of some kind between her friends. A snow war, sure, but a war nonetheless. 

The violet-haired manga fanatic stood mighty, one foot propped up on a frost-covered large rock by the edge of the field. Her beloved sword was nowhere in sight, but no one would be surprised if she’d just hidden it for the time being.

The teams, chosen by Fuwa herself, were:

1. Nakamura, Okajima, and Fuwa

2. Chiba and Sugaya

3. Mimura and Hayami

She likely intended for there to be a balance, so a team could have one person with awful aim paired up with a Sniper. Or to have the team of 3, where they all had about average throwing skills. 

And then the snowball war was set to begin.

“This is gonna end badly,” Sugaya mumbled to himself five minutes later, as he crouched behind a makeshift snow fort that Chiba easily assembled.

“This is gonna be amazing,” Nakamura whispered in glee as she hid by a tree, a snowball already formed in her hands. 

And then it descended into chaos.

Snowballs flew across the park as the assassins-in-training attacked one another, dashing across the field with howls of laughter. 

Already eight minutes in, they were all covered with broken pieces of snow that had collided with their jackets. 

“Surrender now!” Fuwa shouted, a grin on her face as she raised her snowball threateningly in the air. 

“Never!” Mimura screamed from his position on the freezing ground, completely at her mercy. “I am the Fae Lord! I will go down in honor!” 

“I gave you a warning, and you refused it. Tsk tsk.” Fuwa shook her head in mock disappointment, ready to pelt him with the snowball. All of a sudden, a flurry of snow collapsed against the side of her coat. 

“Huh?! Who hit me?!” She demanded, dropping her icy weapon in surprise. 

A head peeked out from behind the snow fort. “Mimura!” Hayami called, already gathering another lethal snowball. “Run!”

He obeyed and made a run for it, nearly slipping on the snowy ground, all while dodging a flurry of snow aimed at him. Wow, must be from our training, he thought with a smile.

“Aw shit!” Mimura glanced up at the sound of Okajima’s voice and nearly fell over at the sight of the pervert completely covered in a giant pile of snow, that fell from the tree above him. 

Okajima had an expression of resignation while his partner, Nakamura, looked like she was busting a lung from her laughter. 

“Don’t just laugh! Help me!” Okajima pleaded.

Nakamura wiped a tear from her eye, her body still shaking with laughter. “Sorry kid, but I have to go win this thing.” She straightened up and flashed him a wink. “I’ll win for you though!”

“Nakamura, wait-!” But she’d already dashed away, back into the field, cackling maniacally in anticipation of attacking her friends.

Another half hour of fighting and fun passed by. There wasn’t a clear winner in the end, and it ended in a tie between Fuwa and Nakamura. But needless to say, all of the enjoyed themselves immensely.

“Ah, that was so much fun,” Nakamura sighed, gazing up at the wintery blue sky. 

All seven of them were laying on the snow-covered field besides each other, catching their breath and waiting for the adrenaline rush to wear off. 

“I’m glad we did this,” Hayami agreed quietly, smiling at her.

“See? I told you guys it’d be awesome,” Fuwa sighed, making a snow angel as she waved her arms and legs against the snow.

“Yeah, you were right.” Mimura laughed, copying her movements.

“Well, my ass is still freezing,” Sugaya chimed in, earning laughter from all of them. “But I will admit, I had fun.” He smiled.

Chiba smirked. “Oh, I especially enjoyed getting a free excuse to beat Okajima.”

“Oh, seconded.”

“Definitely.”

“It goes without saying.”

“WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS TREATMENT?” Okajima sobbed.

“We’re just kidding, you oaf,” Nakamura snickered, punching him lightly in the shoulder. “We actually kinda love you.”

“I mean, seeing that tree dump all of the snow onto you was the highlight of my year, but yeah,” Mimura added.

“You guys are the worst,” Okajima groaned. “I almost died!”

“You loveeeee us~!” They all teased him.

“Sure.” He rolled his eyes fondly. “But speaking of die, I think I will if we stay out here any longer. It’s so damn cold!” He shivered.

“Alright.” Mimura stood and stretched his arms out. “Time to get to my house for some hot chocolate and a Christmas movie. Which move do you guys want?”

“Home Alone!” Nakamura shouted.

“No, we’ve already watched that,” Chiba complained.

“Then...Home Alone 2!”

“No!” He yelled.

Fuwa chimed in. “I want to watch The Polar Express!”

“That one is boring.” Sugaya scrunched his nose. “How about Gremlins instead?”

“If I wanted to watch something about Gremlins, I’d just look at Kimura’s behavior for a whole day,” Hayami snarked.

Mimura chuckled and waved his arms. “Ok ok, guys calm down! These are all great suggestions, but let’s decide on one.”

“How?” Okajima questioned.

“Another snowball fight?” Fuwa suggested, a glint to her eyes as she grinned.

“FUWA NO-”

[chockmatsu]

IT HAS BEEN AN UTTERLY WILD DAY. for those unaware today (well, yesterday now) was the first day of sakuracon, which ray chase (karamatsu's english voice actor) is a guest at!! and BOY OH BOY. well, to start with, sorry (not sorry) for kara saying my name LOL but dw!! i will definitely make a version that ALL karamatsu girls will enjoy :)

okay so you know how i said i peaked when karamatsu's official english voice actor complimented my art

WELL. I WAS GONNA GO TO THE AUTOGRAPH SESSION FOR SURE TOMORROW, BUT I ACCIDENTALLY FOUND HIS TABLE FOR AUTOGRAPHS AT THE EXHIBITOR'S HALL. and it just so happened that i ended up being second in line for when he came back again. and my god. i put the karamatsu folder i was holding down on the table for a sec cuz i had a lot in my hands and ray sees it and me and instantly says OHH I KNOW YOU!! the person who did the karamatsu art i follow on twitter- the karamatsu superfan! LIKE HE RECOGNIZED ME INSTANTLY EVEN THOUGH I WAS IN COSPLAY?? and asked what i was there for and i said ok first off i gotta get a signed print, and he starts pulling out the print and the assistant starts adding it to the bill and he stops her and says "no no this is a gift" and he signs it with a message to me. and as hes signing he says yeah your video was so good, you're such a talented artist and even an animator!! what other skills do you have? and i was like UHH UHH I DRAW AND ANIMATE AND EDIT VIDEOS AND WRITE SOMETIMES... and he was like WOW you can do everything!! yknow we're always in need of video editors, i might be in contact with you about that later! WHICH LIKE WTF LMAO MY KARA SIMPING LEADING ME TO THIS POINT WTF WTFFFF

then i show him the lines i wanted him to say as karamatsu and ask if its ok that it's 2 sentences. AND HE READS THROUGH IT OUT LOUD AND i just immediately crumple to the floor screaming and hes like oh can i come over around (the table he's sitting at) to do this, and he comes over, and i give him my phone with the lav mic and hes like DAMN you even got the proper mic and all!! asks to see the line again, i try to switch apps on my phone, he sees my home screen wallpaper of me and kara, laughs, and then after looking at the line he records the bideo and its all i can do to not just cry on the spot right there. BUT I NOTICED THAT HE FORGOT TO SAY THE I LOVE YOU PART OF THE LINE, so i had to ask him to do it again and he got it right and i was just so happy so so happy. and afterwards he was like you're amazing can i give you a hug? and OFC I SAY YES AND WE HUGGED AND i was like OH YEAH i will have more stuff for you to sign tomorrow!!! and more money HEH and he said oh yeah yeah, like that art you made with yuichi nakamura right? yeah i saw on twitter it's awesome and im just 😭😭 also as a FINAL spaghetti sperg i was like OH YEAH UMMM i know this might be weird but would it be okay if i made a compilation of all of my hornyposting tweets that you liked and printed it out for you to sign and he laughed and was like hell yeah thats hilarious LMAO

WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY INSANE INTERACTION LIKE START TO FINISH AN ABSOLUTE FEVER DREAM, I WISH I WASNT WEARING COSPLAY DURING IT BUT I DID NOT KNOW THIS BOOTH WAS THERE!!! I WAS BASICALLY HYPERVENTILATING FOR AN ENTIRE HOUR AFTER AND JUST SPINNING AROUND AND RUNNING AND JUMPING AROUND IN JOY AND HONESTLY IM STILL IN DISBELIEF

[crybabysunflower]

Why I recommend people to watch this 'strange' anime

Introduction

To be honest I am actually not at all that much of a religious person so when initially I was recommended to watch this film by my friend, like many others similar to me, I was skeptical of it. More so because the unique concept weirded me out.

Also disclaimer, if you are someone who are not comfortable with their religious figure being portrayed in any comical sense whatsoever please refrain from reading my post

Saint Young Men is a slice of life, comedy anime movie based on the manga by Hikaru Nakamura whose plot centers around Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha, central figures of Christianity and Buddhism respectively, living together as roomates in an apartment in the Tachikawa region of Tokyo as they take a vacation of earth from their heavenly duties.

Why I recommend watching this anime

Its wholesome message:-

One of the central message of this movie is about finding joy in little, mundane things in life. The story depicts its main characters in various situations, situations such as going to an amusement park, going to the swimming pool, planning a surprise birthday party and many more. It shows us how little things in life can provide so much comfort, going on a walk with your friend, wishing a simple hello while smiling to your neighbours can create a positive impression in them because, in the end it feels good (as the neighbours remarked that these "weird foreigners" seemed like good natured people) . A vending machine can be fascinating, a sip of your favourite drink can revitalise your mind and body after a long day of hardwork (as remarked by one of the characters saying "we became ascetic for these simple pleasures while they were eating chips), giving a gift to your friend will not just make them feel good but also watching them being happy with it feels good as well. Going along with this message, it also tells us that these religious figures wont really mind not being the central figure of the festivals related to them (Jesus forgetting his birthday on christmas and instead enjoying the day like any other person, even getting excited about Santa Claus) they might just simply marvel at the beautiful world they have created. Further going more into this meaning, this movie tells us that even with the commercialization of these religious festival, the faith, the values the ethics persists (as depicted by how Buddha helped the mean child during the Mikoshi festival, despite being constantly bullied by that kid). This movie (and this series at large) instead of shaming people for indulging in "materialistic pleasures of life" tells us that faith has always been existing and will be existing forever.

Mixing references from religious texts with the story

In this movie, we see multiple occasions where references from religious texts related to both of the figures were made, the opening scene were the birds were collectively perching on Buddha's body, Jesus turning water into wine out of excitement, him also narrating about Walking on Water, their tshirts always having something written related to their respective faiths (as routinely noted by the cashier who is always curious about what kind of shirt they would be wearing on the next day). One of my favourite of such of these references was when Jesus was communicating with the yakuza and actually having parallels with that man (the yakuza ending up in jail because one of his gang members having betrayed him is no less similar to what Judas did).

Authors note:-

Since I haven't been writing for a long time, I have kind of lost my confidence in my writing and it was not only my friends recommendation which made me watch it but also because one of my favourite youtubers, Accented Cinema had recommended the same movie so I really had to watch it and, I am really thankful to both my friend and the youtuber for recommending me such a wholesome movie

[crystalpower]

🌙 the dream i always whispered will permeate / put a moonlight spell on your window / mood lamp, i will light you.

✨ repost and list 5 songs that inspire you to write your muse:

snsd / ❝mood lamp.❞

penthouse penthouse / ❝what u sippin’ on.❞

outkast / ❝prototype.❞

tom misch / ❝follow.❞

newjeans / ❝hurt.❞

🌙 & list 5 quotes that inspire you to write your muse:

❝ in this life, the proper way of living is to make use of both joy and suffering. they are both merely stimuli that the world presents to us. so by blending them skillfully within you, you can use them in a completely different way. if you want to be steeped in evil, you mustn’t forget good. ❞ — fuminori nakamura, the thief.

❝ no amount of love can cure madness or unblacken one's dark moods. love can help, it can make the pain more tolerable, but, always, one is beholden to medication that may or may not always work and may or may not be bearable. ❞ — kay redfield jamison, an unquiet mind: a memoir of moods and madness.

❝ emotion goes inside-out. emotional contagion, though, suggests that the opposite is also true. if i can make you smile, i can make you happy. if i can make you frown, i can make you sad. emotion, in this sense, goes outside-in. ❞ — malcolm gladwell, the tipping point.

❝ to be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow—this is a human offering that can border on miraculous. ❞ — elizabeth gilbert, committed.

❝ you are not supposed to be happy all the time. life hurts and it's hard. not because you're doing it wrong, but because it hurts for everybody. don't avoid the pain. you need it. it's meant for you. be still with it, let it come, let it go, let it leave you with the fuel you'll burn to get your work done on this earth. ❞ — glennon doyle, life unarmed.

✨ TAGGED BY: this is a re-up w. a new view, heaux. ✨ TAGGING: @enztonov​ @starfoam​ @nottownley​ @ebonyforged​ @hirsangels​ @expink​​ @meyvn​ @opportuning​ @celestieu​ @knightshonour​ @rennisaturate​ @escapedartgeek​ @brothersgrim​ @calmsought​ + if u wanna do it go ahead!! hehe.

[nerdy-bookworm-1998]

Bah Humbug

Pairing: Stucky x Reader Words:898 Warning: Fluff Summary: Request by Anonymous: “ Can we have a stuckyxreader oneshot inspired in the song "Humbug" by Owl City? Pretty please with cherries on top you wonderful little Santa (°3°) “ A/N: This is part of my 25 Days of Christmas Writing Challenge. For those that are interested, I still have 21 request spots available. Just send me a request for what you would like me to write along with the character. I will write for Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Legolas, Thranduil, and Kili. Feedback and reblogs are appreciated. If you want to be tagged in future works, just drop me an ask.

Two weeks before Christmas, Bucky and Steve are sitting in their room surrounded by wrapped presents as they tick off the names of all the people they had gotten gifts for. Scanning down the page they see that everyone is accounted for except for the most important person, their girlfriend. Glancing at his watch Bucky sees that it's still early in the afternoon, the stores wouldn't be closing for a few hours so they had enough time to go shopping and get back before y/n gets home.

Grabbing their jackets, gloves, wallets, and keys, they head down to Steve's Camaro and out onto the streets of New York. Deciding the mall would be their best bet, Steve makes it to the mall in record time. First up is y/n's favorite clothing store. As they scan the racks a  canary yellow scarf catches Steve's eye. He picks it up, letting the soft material flow over his fingers. "What about this?" he asks Bucky, who shakes his head. "She already has an entire drawer full at home," he reminds the blond. He puts it back down.

Next, they wander through the bag section of the store, examining a few different options before dismissing all of them. They walk through the rest of the mall but nothing seems to jump out at them. Ultimately they give it up for a bad job and head back to the tower.

In the common room, Sam and Clint are sitting on the couches, watching a Hallmark Christmas movie. The boys slump down into an open seat and let out a matching tired sigh. "Hey, why do you look like someone just stole your eggnog?" Sam jokes lightly.

"Bah humbug," Bucky grumbles.

"What's going on?" Clint asks more sincerely.

"It's y/n. We have no idea what to get her for Christmas. She's so incredible and loving. Her gift to be as perfect as she is," Steve admits.

"How about a gift card for Olive Garden? You know how much she loves food," Clint suggests.

"Nah, man, she's more of a Red Lobster kinda gal," Sam argues.

Steve and Bucky exchange an exasperated look as the other two continue bickering back and forth.

It's the day before Christmas and the boys still haven't gotten you a gift.  Sitting at the kitchen table, they scribble down different ideas before scratching them out and crumpling up the paper. The table is already littered with discarded suggestions. Steve suddenly sits up, a gleam in his eyes that usually spells trouble.

"What if we gave her our hearts," he suggests.

"Alright, you have officially lost it," Bucky replies feeling thoroughly confused.

"You know that the Smithsonian finally sent over all of your stuff from their archives, right?" Steve asks, getting more excited by the minute. When Bucky slowly nods, Steve continues, "I looked over the contents list to make sure they didn't miss anything. On the list was the locket that your dad gave your ma when they started dating. What if we gave that to her with a picture of the three of us inside," he explains.

"Do you know in which box it is?" Bucky asks, a slow smile spreading across his face.

Christmas Day dawns bright and clear. Friday had woken everyone up at 7 am for breakfast and presents. Everyone slowly shuffled in, still clad in their pajamas and yawning into their coffee mugs. Y/n was elected to play Santa's Elf and hand out the presents. The next few minutes are filled with the sounds of ripping wrapping paper and happy squeals of joy.

When y/n reaches a small box wrapped neatly in shiny red wrapping paper with silver snowflakes and a bright gold bow both men instinctively hold their breath. She reads the card attached to it first: We know our hearts are battered, bruised, and not very pretty but we'll always be yours. Merry Christmas doll. With love from your Bucky and Steve.

Blinking back tears she shakily tears open the paper and lifts the lid of the box to reveal a beautiful golden locket in the shape of a heart. Opening the clasp, she gasps seeing a drawing Steve had done of the three of them with their arms around each other at Steve's last birthday party while fireworks went off in the background.

Bucky starts fidgeting nervously the longer she remains silent. "If you don't like it, we can always get you something else. I know it's silly and corny and I'm so-" Bucky's nervous rambling is cut off by y/n launching herself at him, kissing him soundly on his lips.

When she finally pulls back for air, she turns to Steve to give him a similar kiss. "I love it, Bucky. And I love both of you," she reassures them with a large smile and tears in her eyes. "Would you help me put it on?" she asks, turning her back to them.

Bucky wastes no time in clasping the locket around her neck and letting it settle against the hollow of her throat. "How do I look?" she asks nervously as she turns back to them.

"Gorgeous," they breathe out together as they bring her closer to tuck her in between them, watching as the rest of their family finishes opening their presents and the snowflakes descend gently from the sky outside the windows.

Tags:

@mcdesij @spiderrrling @arrow-guy @interestedbystanderwrites @caplanreads @gwendelerynan @here2have-fun @bookscoffeeandracoons @bambamwolf87 @loricameback @rockrchick51 @love-nakamura @baebeepeach @timelordy-fangirl2 @jewelofwinter @caramell0w @jewels2876 @ladysergeantbarnes @notawritergettingtherethough @patzammit @fanfictionjunkie1112 @lumar014 @kirstie-evans-writes @robertdowneyhiddlesbatch @lil-lex1 @dragonrosegardens @bookgirlunicorn @shadymidge @kaithezaftig @that-place-called-middle-earth @marshyrebelcloud @rebekahdawkins

[keichan]

Running Through the Night  Tsukishima x fem!reader Part 5: After

You and Tsukishima have been friends for as long as you two could remember. With a very unexpected confession, how will this affect you two?

Authors note: So I’ve decided that this series will end at either between parts 8-10 but I’m not completely sure. I’m glad that you guys are enjoying my first series! I plan on writing a Tanaka SMAU in the near future with @pipsqweaks​ so follow us (:

Word count: 1737

Genre: college au, unrequited love, angst, best friends to lovers, fluff somewhere in there, mutual pining

Warnings: manga time skip!!! mentions of vomiting 

Send me a message or ask to be added to the taglist !

masterlist・previous・next

“So what’s got you like this Y/N?” Sugawara sat across from you in a ramen shop not too far away from Tsukishima’s apartment. You prodded the noodles with your chopsticks before you let out a short sigh. 

“Kei confessed to me last night,” You held your breath and set your utensils down before looking at Sugawara for his response. 

He grinned, “Really? That’s great! It’s about time that he finally confessed!” He clapped his hands together giddily. Your jaw dropped open. If it was humanly possible, you’re sure it would’ve touched the ground. He slowed down at your reaction, “Are you not happy about it?”

“Wait. You’re saying that you knew about it? What do you mean about time?” You placed both of your hands on the table and leaned forward. Sugawara’s expression slowly switched from joy to confusion.

“Yeah?...” he began slowly. “It wasn’t just me... Literally everyone knew.... Are you telling me that you didn’t?” He let out a nervous laugh. 

You leaned back dumbfounded in your chair and began to tap your leg rapidly. You shook your head at the table. “I literally had no idea, I was caught off guard about it.”

“Really? The whole team thought that you two had a thing for each other and was kind of just waiting for some kind of catalyst to finally throw you two together.”

“Are you being serious?”

“Yes. You two were inseparable. It was almost unnatural to not see the both of you in the same room. Y/N, even in your first year over high school, he was already head over heels for you. The times that you weren’t there, he’s... I’m not sure if it’s the right word for it, but tense. The high strung, cocky bastard that we all know. If he sees anything that displeases him, he has to make a comment. But whenever you’re there he isn’t like that he-“

“What are you talking about? He always has to make a comeback regardless. It’s not like he avoids it when I’m there,” you insist. 

Sugawara waves his hands, “No, no, it’s not like that. His insults are barely kinder, but he says it because he likes it when you tell him to lay off. Even though he might tell you to shut up or call you an idiot as a reply. Every time you would turn away, he always had this stupid smile on his face.” 

You buried your face in your hands mumbling, “I feel so stupid that I didn’t know.”

“So.. Are you telling me that you don’t like him?”

“It’s not that.. It’s just that when I think of everything that happened last night, it just is all starting to make sense. How could I be so blind.”

“Yanno, what’s kinda funny is every time a guy would confess to you in high school, Tsukishima would go out of his way to subtly bully them after you rejected them. He’d either bump into them ‘accidentally’ or flat out insult them with a ’So I heard Y/N-san rejected you. Hate to say it makes sense’ with his signature smirk.” He let out a light laugh. 

You followed with a dry laugh. “Yeah, that’s Kei for ya.”

“Speaking of, why did you always reject everyone who confessed to you? Some of the guys were pretty attractive.” Sugawara pondered out loud. 

You took a second to think about it. There was never really a reason for you to reject all of those boys your first year. You didn’t need a boyfriend since you had Kei. Wait.

“I just had the realization that the reason why I never said yes was kind of the situation of ‘well I already have Kei, why would I need someone else.” You laughed nervously before continuing. “Everything with Kei is so easy and so natural. Being around him is like breathing. I’m always at ease around him, I just never have had to worry. I mean yeah we bicker, but we’ve never fought. I guess I just never had a reason to see him in that light because everything from our childhood to now has been consistent. I don’t really know the point I’m trying to get at, but I do love him. Maybe I’ve subconsciously blocked all of these other people off because I knew it deep down. I just have never had a reason to acknowledge it.”

After you finished the sound of the other patrons moving around the shop enveloped the atmosphere again, setting you back into reality. Sugawara offered you a warm smile. “Do you think he’s taking it hard right now? What exactly did he say last night?” 

You slowly began to retell the events of last night. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw you glow brightly every time you said Tsukishima’s name. Sugawara and many other alumni knew that this was a long time coming. It’s just nice to see it all play out.

“But there is one thing he said last night that doesn’t really make sense. He said something like ‘I can make you happier than him’ or something like that. I have no idea who ‘him’ is supposed to be.” Now in a better mood, leaving room for Sugawara to speak, you began to start eating again.

“Well is there anyone you hang out with that happens to be a guy? From college or from high school” 

You shook your head. “I’ve been so busy. Earlier this month we had midterms, so I had to balance that and my part-time job at the market. I usually spend the time I do have with Kei and Yamaguchi or some of my other friends, but only once or twice. Since Yamaguchi and I have been planning Kei’s birthday party since it’s coming up in two weeks, I guess you could say that I’ve been spending more time with him since we’re trying to get everyone from high school to come. But I don’t think that Kei would be jealous of Yamaguchi. The three of us have been so close since middle school. It doesn’t make sense, right?”

“Actually, Y/N, it kind of does. It might be what pushed him over. Especially if you’re spending more time with Yamaguchi out of nowhere over Kei, it probably is coming off like you have a thing with him and you’re just not saying anything on the matter.”

You pointed your chopsticks at him, “I’m just going to assume you’re wrong until Italk to him. Is it cool if you take me back to his place? I just hope he’s home.” 

Sugawara nodded standing up, “Yeah of course! And don’t worry about the meal, it’s my treat.”

Tsukishima knew from the moment he woke up that your friendship wasn’t going to be there anymore. If it was it would be awkward and uncomfortable. You would avoid him like you avoided all of the other boys that confessed to you in high school. 

He got dressed and began to walk out of the front door. He saw you sleeping peacefully on the couch, beautiful as ever. He scrunched his eyes closed quickly. Dumbass, she rejected you, you can’t think like that. The thoughts overwhelmed him. The realization made him feel numb. He quietly exited the apartment and began driving to his captains house. He couldn’t confide in Yamaguchi, that was clear to him. Nakamura was the next best option. Tsukishima knocked on the door and was let in immediately.

“Are you okay, Tsukishima?” The captain grabbed the tall middle blocker’s shoulder, eyes laced with concern. Tears quickly slipped from the edges of his eyes before he wiped them with his sleeve. 

He tried to make his voice as steady as possible by slowing his breathing, but he was already choking back a sob. “I confessed to Y/N last night and she rejected me. She didn’t kiss me back, she didn’t say anything, she just left the room.”  Tsukishima sank against the wall. “I really lost her…”

Nakamura crouched down and rubbed his shoulder, “Tsukishima, it’s going to be alright. This is going to pass.” 

Tsukishima shook his head in a daze. 

“I’ve loved her all of my life. It’s not that simple and it will never be.” 

Nakamura stood up and walked to his kitchen. “I’m gonna make you some tea so hopefully you can get to feeling better. Y/N has never left your side and I don’t think she ever would.”

Tsukishima felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He fished it out to see you calling. Your profile picture was from Christmas a few years ago. You stand behind his sitting figure with your arms hanging around his neck. Both of you are smiling so big. His thumb hovered over the answer button but he didn’t click it. He couldn’t talk to you right now. His heart couldn’t handle what you were going to tell him.

He set it on the ground and took his glasses off in an attempt to wipe away his tears, but your phone call opened the floodgates. He pulled his knees to his chest and began to sob. His body wouldn’t stop shaking. Nakamura walked up to him with a mug of tea just to set it down next to Tsukishima’s cell phone. He wasn’t sure what to do besides say everything will be fine and rub his back. He didn’t know Tsukishima could emote like that. 

It wasn’t before long that Tsukishima got short of breath and began to choke on his sobs. “Nakamura, I feel like I’m going to be sick. I can’t breathe” Nakamura quickly nodded and led Tsukishima to his bathroom before Tsukishima threw himself over the toilet and began to dry heave, but nothing came up. It pained his captain to see him like this.

After a while once the tears slowed, Nakamura offered him a spare room to stay for as long as he needed. By that point he was so exhausted, he passed out immediately.

Upon waking up he had 27 missed calls and 51 text messages.

The most recent ones saying:

Y/N: Kei, I’m at your at your apartment right now

Y/N: Kei I really want to talk to you about everything, please come home.

Y/N: I’m so worried about you, please answer me

Sent at 10:17pm

Tsukishima didn’t go home that night

((a/n I’m not sure if everyone will agree on how I chose to write Tsukishima at this chapter, but I feel like if he truly thought he lost the opportunity with the love of his life, I’d think that it would push him over.))

taglist @pipsqweaks​ @pperapear​ @kapuching​ @luvmonie​ @bumbledunce​

@a-listaire​ @ysasian​ @kodzu-ken​ @montys-chaos​

[richincolor]

Everyone, please welcome Sarah Kuhn to Rich in Color! Sarah’s first YA novel, I LOVE YOU SO MOCHI, is out today, and we’re thrilled to have Sarah here to talk about it. If you’re looking to add a cute contemporary romance to your summer TBR list, start here!

Kimi Nakamura loves a good fashion statement. She’s obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals: bold outfits that make her and her friends feel brave, fabulous, and like the Ultimate versions of themselves. But her mother sees this as a distraction from working on her portfolio paintings for the prestigious fine art academy where she’s been accepted for college. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi’s estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life.

When she arrives in Japan, she loses herself in Kyoto’s outdoor markets, art installations, and cherry blossom festival–and meets Akira, a cute med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. What begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

I LOVE YOU SO MOCHI is your first YA novel. What were you most excited about writing for teens?

I love writing characters experiencing firsts, those amazing moments that give you that tingly sense of possibility, that feeling of your whole world opening up — first kisses, first trips to another country, first time facing a total existential crisis about your life. To be fair, a lot of my adult characters experience many firsts as well (as do I as an actual supposedly adult person)! But Kimi in particular gets to have maybe the most firsts of any character I’ve ever written — she’s someone who’s initially kind of scared of big new experiences, so writing her having all of those experiences and realizing that so much excitement and wonder can come out of them was a total joy. And maybe a good lesson/reminder for my adult self.

Kimi sounds like fun! Tell us more about her fashionista ways and her friends.

She is fun! In my totally unbiased opinion. It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with clothes and fashion — I love bright colors and patterns and experimenting with putting different outfit combinations together. Basically, I still worship at the shrine of my original idol, Claudia Kishi from The Baby-Sitters Club. But I’m really bad at sewing, mending, or anything that requires patience, so I thought it would be fun to create a character who shares my love of fashion but is also really excellent at sewing and makes all her own outfits. She’s kind of like a fantasy version of myself, with an added sewing superpower. And then of course she has her own Girl Gang, because all my books have Girl Gangs — her best friends are Atsuko, who writes a dating advice column (even though Atsuko is actually very cynical about love in all its forms), and Bex, who is dreamy and idealistic and wears cute dresses with mermaids on them. They’re a fun trio.

It sounds like Kimi and her (extended) family are having some difficulties in I LOVE YOU SO MOCHI. Can you tell us more about Kimi and her relationships with her mom and grandparents?

Kimi is extremely close with her mom, who came to the States from Japan for college and ended up staying there when she fell in love with Kimi’s dad, who is fourth generation Japanese American. Her relationship with her mom mirrors the one I had with mine — her mom knows her better than anyone and they kind of love each other more than anyone…but that also means they have the potential to hurt each other more than anyone. The grandparents in the book are Kimi’s mom’s parents — Kimi’s never met them because they disapproved of Mom’s choice to stay in the States. But they invite Kimi to visit them in Kyoto over Spring Break and after a huge fight with Mom, Kimi accepts. And as she gets to know her grandparents, she realizes there’s a lot more to her mother’s story than she realized. I really loved writing about three generations of powerful Japanese/Japanese American women. I wanted their relationships with each other to be prickly and not always perfect, but with so much love underneath.

I went to Kyoto a few years ago and loved it. Why did you decide to set I LOVE YOU SO MOCHI there?

Kyoto contains so many beautiful sights I wanted to write about: Fushimi Inari Taisha, the amazing shrine with those bright red-orange torii gates; the Arashiyama bamboo grove; Maruyama Park with all those glorious cherry blossoms. All of these were things I thought would inspire Kimi as an artist and budding fashion designer. I’d also read somewhere that Kyoto is a place for people who are passionate about making things, and that seemed perfect for Kimi and her grandmother, who also loves sewing and creating clothes. I loved including more obscure locations that got to the heart of that “making things” idea, like Misuyabari, this tiny, family-run needle shop that’s like 400 years old and sells these incredible handmade needles and sewing supplies. Oh, and finally, Kyoto has a pug cafe — which ended up being a very necessary location.

Can you introduce us to Akira and tell us a little bit about what draws Kimi to him?

Akira is an aspiring med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot at his uncle’s mochi stand. Kimi meets him because he’s doing this ridiculous dance, trying to attract customers, and she laughs too loud and he gets distracted and falls over. It’s probably the cutest meet-cute I’ve written. At first, let’s be honest, she’s drawn to him because he’s hot. But he also has this interesting quality about him that’s very attractive to her — he’s a weird combination of seriousness and goofiness, like he never gives anything less than 100 percent, but he also has a tendency toward dorky jokes that surprise her and make her laugh. Also, he takes her to Japanese McDonald’s, which is very romantic.

What 2019 YA books by or about people of color or people from First/Native Nations are you looking forward to reading?

So many! At the moment, I’m super stoked for OUR WAYWARD FATE by Gloria Chao — AMERICAN PANDA made me die both laughing and crying, so I can’t wait to read her new one. And WICKED FOX by Kat Cho — I’m always hungry for contemporary fantasy/romance starring women of color and this sounds absolutely perfect.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about I LOVE YOU SO MOCHI?

I already mentioned the pug cafe, right? I mean, there are a lot of cute animals and delicious food. Be prepared for that going in!

Thank you for stopping by, Sarah! We’re looking forward to your book.

Sarah Kuhn is the author of the popular Heroine Complex novels—a series starring Asian American superheroines. The first book is a Locus bestseller, an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee, and one of the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog’s Best Books of 2016. Her YA debut, the Japan-set romantic comedy I Love You So Mochi, comes out in June 2019. Additionally, she is currently working on a graphic novel about Batgirl Cassandra Cain for DC Comics. Sarah also wrote “The Ruby Equation” for the Eisner-nominated comics anthology Fresh Romance and the novella One Con Glory, which is in development as a feature film. Other projects include a comic book continuation of the cult classic movie Clueless, a series of Barbie comics, and a story in the recent Jem and the Holograms anthology series Dimensions. Additionally, Sarah is a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her non-fiction has appeared in The Toast, The Mary Sue, Uncanny Magazine, AngryAsianMan.com, IGN.com, The Hollywood Reporter, StarTrek.com, and the Hugo-nominated anthology Chicks Dig Comics.

[paper-mario-wiki]

hey yo my interview with that university i was talking about is coming up in 9 hours. im kinda stressing but also kinda confident, which i think is a good combination of things to feel.

idk why but i feel the urge to post the statement of purpose i gave to them in my admission so here it is. i think i did a good job makin myself sound like a smarty who should be given a cool visa

it’s a little late, but lemme know if i sound too up-my-own-ass while also bearing in mind that i had to make myself look like a Good Student To Accept, ya kno

A pursual of higher education has always been something I’ve wanted to steer towards in my life. Although there are plenty of jobs and opportunities that would more likely benefit from experience rather than a degree, I’ve come to find that through plenty of meditation and intrapersonal thinking that spending time at a college would be beneficial for me. When I say this, I mean that I’ve spent the past several years asking myself the question “what would make me happy?” and almost always coming to two things: Learning a new language as well as tightening my grip on my native language. This, combined with a longstanding interest in Japan and its culture, has led me to ILA.

I, personally, am very interested in writing, mainly focusing in the aspects of comedy, as well as short, digestible ideas and thoughts (if given the choice, I’d much sooner pick up a book of trivia than an encyclopedia). For these reasons, my interest in Liberal Arts is mainly invested in that of Literature and English. Allowing someone’s ideas to come to life in the mind of a reader, whether they be short or long, is an incredible and versatile tool. Discovering rules, techniques, and cliches of the language I speak is what I want to give my time up to. The prospect of travelling to a place where people from a variety of unique backgrounds come to study things like this is incredibly exciting to think about. This, of course, leads me to my next point: what about Japan, specifically, is so enticing to me?

For a very long time, likely a decade (if not longer), I’ve been interested in Japan and the aspects of its culture and history. The idea of a society which, at face value, seems to be similar to that of the western society that I have grown up in, yet subverts all expectations with a new set of unspoken rules, is so interesting to me. I hesitate to say “mysterious” when describing it because there is little-to-no mystery about it. I’d like to make it clear that I’m not interested in Japan in the same way that a child would be interested in a carnival sideshow. My interest lies, rather, in the idea of exchanging one culture, with all of its flaws and imperfections, for another culture that comes with its own brew of guidelines and problems, while also gaining or losing each of their respective benefits. I’ve spent time in Japan before, in Higashiyodogawa,Osaka, as well as Nakamura, Nagoya. During my time there I found myself feeling more at ease with a place than I have in a long time, even more so than in my own home. I feel that if I am to truly see if Japan is the kind of place I’d like to spend a lot of my life, I’d need a more full, residential experience, rather than being limited by a 2-week vacation in a space that I couldn’t truly call “my own”.

Additionally, while I am already able to use resources available to me in the US (dictionaries, textbooks, online grammar guides, and everything in-between), I won’t ever truly have a holistic Japanese learning experience unless I’m in an environment that wouldn’t allow me to slip back into the comfort of my native tongue whenever I’m not actively pushing myself. Learning a language is an important part of understanding a society and, more importantly in my case, incorporating yourself into that society. If I am to, as I said, have a full residential experience, I will absolutely have to learn the language in a natural setting. I have the building blocks, as I’ve been studying casually for a little over a year. Now all I need are the blueprints.

Throughout this entire statement I’ve been focusing on why I’d like to study at ILA. Now, however, I would like to take a moment to cover why ILA might be interested in having me in its alumni. For starters, I’m a very motivated person and when I attach myself to something I keep at it until it’s done. If I can do something in fewer sittings, I will. That said, I’m not a sloppy person when it comes to my work. I’ve been told that I’m very articulate and that I have the ability to put across complex concepts in a comprehensive way. Several of my teachers from all across my schooling career have told me that I’m very well suited to discussions, and I have a very solid, and sometimes even elegant way with words.

I also have a knack for coming up with unique ideas and interesting perspectives on things, which I feel could really show well in writing, and it has before. Through a popular blogging website, I’ve accumulated a large quantity of people - a number in the tens of thousands - who follow my blog and enjoy my ideas. This blog, as a matter of fact, actually helped fund my original trip to Japan. Through two months of campaigning, as well as doing voice-over work (a hobby of mine) for commissions, I was able to raise $3,500, which I used to take the aforementioned two-week vacation to Osaka and Nagoya. The platform also creates larger discussions and furthers the fleshing-out of any single kernel of thought that I might plant within it. This is, more than anything else, because I want to make people happy.

While I’m not the kind of person who would likely be seen on the cover of a medical magazine being celebrated as the founder of some super-medicine that could prevent a major disease, nor would I likely be seen as the head of a major rocket science corporation, I’ve found that I can still help bring people joy through my words. On countless occasions people have told me that I help them get through the day with my positive messages and jokes. The messages I’m most proud of, however, come from those who contact me telling me that I’ve convinced them that life is worth living, and that they should keep on trying. In those moments I know that what I’m doing is truly beneficial to the rest of the world, and it makes me incredibly happy.

I have high hopes for a future that might be waiting for me at ILA. Understandably, I already think about what it would be like, and what interactions I might have there. I’ve never felt as excited as I am typing this for what kind of experiences would come to me in this kind of academic setting. I find myself periodically watching the videos on ILA’s YouTube channel and thinking about how wonderful that would be for me. This kind of leap for me is something I’m very passionate about and, through my words, I hope that I’ve been able to convince you that my mind and heart are in the right place. Even more than that, I hope that I’ve been able to competently and understandably explain how and why ILA should consider me for admission this coming fall.

[daylflay]

It’s Always Darkest

Before the Dawn

“It’s always darkest before the dawn”; that’s how the old adage goes. Having said that, it’s currently pretty difficult for most of us to see past the dark. COVID-19 continues to spread (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-argentina/argentina-announces-mandatory-quarantine-to-curb-coronavirus-idUSKBN216446), the economy inexorably spirals downward (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/echoes-of-the-great-depression-us-economy-could-post-biggest-contraction-ever-2020-03-19), and my home state of California has just been put into lockdown (https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/03/19/newsom-orders-all-40m-californians-to-stay-home-in-nations-strictest-state-lockdown-1268248). The world is currently facing a crisis the scale of which arguably hasn’t been seen since said world was at war with itself, and for some, at least in America, that crisis started in 2016 when our current president was elected; for others, it started back during the 2007/2008 financial crisis; regardless of when the crisis started, the only path forward starts with labor. 

During the early 20th century, when industry was changing the nature of then-modern life, global conflict’s grisly violence shocked sensibilities, and the meaning of life in Western culture started being questioned by the masses, a group of writers/artists known as the Modernists rose to the occasion and attempted to encapsulate the malaise and spiritual unease of their milieu. Poets like Edward Arlington Robinson chose to focus on the cynicism of the moment, as portrayed in his poem, Richard Cory. At the end of Robinson’s poem, the titular Richard Cory commits suicide: “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head.” I’m personally a highly cynical individual, and can very much understand Robinson’s disposition, but in this particular moment of ours, amidst a pandemic, I believe there’s much merit in the antithesis of my usual misanthropy; I think it’s optimism that gets us through this, not the other way around, and that will take work in our current social climate. Ezra Pound was another Modernist, and famously cynical, but he did have a somewhat famous catchphrase that I think is helpful in spite of his problematic nature: “Make it new”. Though neither Robinson nor Pound achieved the success they desired via their poetry, both economically and otherwise, until their latter years, they still labored on and continued writing, because they understood the importance of what they were creating; they understood that the moment in which they lived demanded their sacrifice. In our current moment of crisis, when nothing is certain and everyone’s on edge, we have to take our usual misplaced hatred and diametric opposition towards each other and work towards transforming it all into something else; we have to make it new.  

The New

The idea of making something new can result in positive and negative developments, and Brooke Erin Duffy delves into some of the latter in The romance of work: Gender and aspirational labour in the digital culture industries. In Duffy’s article, she rallies against a new form of exploitative labor unique to the digital era: “While critical discourses of precarity and instability offer a decidedly bleak view of the contemporary labor market, individualist appeals to passion and entrepreneurialism temporally reroute employment concerns. That is, affective mantras like ‘Do What You Love’ shift workers’ focus from the present to the future, dangling the prospect of a career where labour and leisure harmoniously coexist. This illusory coexistence is well suited to descriptions of work in the culture industries, widely understood as environments where low pay and long hours are a tradeoff for creative autonomy”. I think Duffy’s ultimately correct in her assessments, but this present moment of ours compels me to momentarily disregard the nefarious implications of the modern labor market. I think that if you’re able to create entertaining content for people during this dark period of time, and you get to “do what you love” while doing so, then you’re providing a mutually beneficial service when people need such a thing most. It’s during moments like these that the best in people can shine through the ominous haze, and the individuals I’m tracking are (mostly) no exception. For the most part, the people I’m paying attention to are already professionally involved in media to some degree, so they’re not vying for employment on the same level the individuals Duffy refers to in her article are, but that makes their intent clearer to an extent.

Rick Wilson always makes attempts to simultaneously espouse his ideology while humorously attacking individuals on Twitter, but he’s also been posting a lot of entertaining memes/gifs recently. Just today (3/19/20), he posted two of them within a couple of hours of one another: One was a gif pulled from a South Park episode, which itself was a reference to the film The Human Centipede, and it read, “I wonder if Hannity likes the cuttlefish or the vanilla pudding.”; the other was an image of Donald Trump in a Star Trek costume, and it read, “Glad we have a space force instead of a pandemic response team”. Rick was not being incredibly nice to either Sean Hannity or Donald Trump, but the overtly humorous images are bound to brighten the days of folks that are rightfully upset with both Hannity and Trump for their respective roles in exacerbating the current crisis.

Mehdi Hasan is generally a solemn tweeter, which is sensible considering that his occupation as a journalist entails that he maintain a certain sobriety when communicating anything to the public. Mehdi’s approach to producing sunnier-than-usual content today involved (somewhat) praising a man he loathes, and bestowing loving and kind thoughts upon his children: In a tweet directed at Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Mehdi tweeted a link to a Clickhole (a humor/satire website) article whose headline read, “Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point”; in another of Mehdi’s heartfelt tweets of the day, only a minute separated from the prior tweet, Mehdi responds to a tweet by Time magazine editor Anand Giridharadas that read, ‘What have you watched, read, or heard in this strange, dark time that has given you comfort and joy?’, to which Mehdi says, “My kids”. It’s a nice moment from Mehdi, and a reminder of what’s important during times like these.

Like with most things in life, women, relative to men, have to deal with additional complications attached to their actions online, and that unfortunately remains true even when it comes to them trying to do moral and selfless things. In The Unwanted Labour Of Social Media: Women Of Colour Call Out Culture As Venture Community Management, Lisa Nakamura, like Brooke Duffy criticizes exploitative digital labor practices, especially germane to women: “Digital labour is ‘difficult to conceptualise’ because the internet creates new styles of labour: it not only traffics far more in the immaterial, it is also arrayed along new axes of production, new forms of compensation, and new forms of gendering and racialisation. It is this kind of labour that interests me. I am specifically interested in the hidden and often-stigmatised and dangerous labour performed by women of colour, queer and trans people, and racial minorities who call out, educate, protest, and design around toxic social environments in digital media.” All of the women I’m following fall into at least one of the aforementioned social/cultural categories, i.e., they’re all women of color, and one of them is trans. These women, even while being entertaining are still politically conscious, and just by existing on Twitter are making a statement while simultaneously making themselves vulnerable. Having said that, they still persist in generating entertaining content for everyone’s sake despite it all. 

Patti Harrison is trans and Vietnamese, and doesn’t hide either from her 100,000-strong Twitter following, so she’s someone whose very public existence is a powerful declaration of pride in of itself. On March 15th, and also today (3/19), Patti shared how she was spending her isolated time at home, in typically candid form: (3/15) “I am playing @AbzuGame right now on PS4 & it is really good also I am high and online! Love the websites on here. This tweet go viral now!”; (3/19) “Uh  oh…craft alert…I hand-painted these @Margiela tabi boots. And Per @tweetrajouhari I added an awful foot tattoo of Elsa from Frozen.” Patti, by simply sharing the details of her seemingly enjoyable time at home, invited her Twitter feed into her life, and she was happy to do so, which must’ve made a plethora of her followers feel markedly less alone with such a vibrant personality keeping them company virtually. 

Kashana Cauley is a black woman, who, like Patti, has upwards of 100,000 followers, which inevitably results in some negative attention, but she tweets on regardless. Kashana hasn’t been very active on Twitter recently, but when she does tweet, she makes it count, as evidenced by this tweet from March 15th: “Ask not what staying home on the couch can do for you, but what staying home on the couch can do for your country.” That tweet of hers was liked by over 100,000 people, which exceeds her follower count. The amount of people that it reached, and the amount of people who interacted with it, is astounding, and the amount of humor and joy she surely brought to those lives, even if just for a moment, is commensurately astounding.

Candace Owens, unlike the aforementioned women, is not exactly one to diffuse joy; in fact Candace loves doing the exact opposite. Her presence on Twitter is almost exclusively designed to anger people and start fights, which is why I’m so shocked that even she is attempting to lighten up the mood during this somber period of time. This is a tweet of hers from today (3/19): “I wanted to do panic buying, but then I checked my account. Turns out I can only afford to panic…#CoronavirusHumor…Lighten up folks.” If even Candace is willing to perform humorously in favor of the greater good, as opposed to inflaming tensions with her usual provocative rhetoric, then I have hope for the dawn.

The Dawn

In Of Modern Poetry, Wallace Stevens communicates the spirit of Ezra Pound’s directive to “make it new”: “The poem of the mind is the act of finding what will suffice. It has not always had to find: The scene was set; it repeated what was in the script. Then the theatre was changed.” Our global theatre has officially changed, and each and every one of us has a responsibility to work towards finding what will suffice in this maelstrom of ever-changing circumstances. For me, that means working on a script for a movie that has zero chance of actually existing (which means that I have zero chance of profiting off of any of this), because I’m just hoping that it makes someone out there smile.

In my last blog post, I imagined what a contemporary addition to George A. Romero’s living dead cinematic universe might look like. Personally, the act of simply thinking and writing about this silly, hypothetical project has brought me some sense of joy during all of this, and that’s saying a lot for someone as typically nihilistic as myself. I’m going to add to said hypothetical entry in Romero’s saga, entitled Gen-Z, with a speech delivered towards the end of the “film”. This speech is delivered by a Communications student at the university in Fullerton, California in which the living dead outbreak originated. A number of the university’s students have barricaded themselves in the campus, and are about to engage in a last stand against the hordes of living dead. Their survival is unlikely, so they’ve decided to gather one last time in an attempt to rouse one another before their climactic battle. 

This is the speech that the student delivers: “I remember my first official day on this campus vividly, but not fondly. It was the first day of the Fall ’18 semester, and I guess classes just let out because I saw what felt like thousands of people suddenly rush across campus. It was like the running of the Titans, and I was wearing orange. Or the running of the dead, and I was alive, as the case may be. College was never part of my plan, so I had never toured any university campuses, and I did not know what to expect. I kind of freaked out and started questioning all of my decisions, like: Why did I decide to attend a school with 40,000 students if I don’t even like small groups of people? And why did I major in Human Communication Studies if I don’t even like myself? It was overwhelming to me that I could be surrounded by people, yet feel so alone. Then I walked over to my first class, and I saw some of the same faces that I’m looking at today. Everything can be overwhelming when you feel like you’re alone, but what I started to learn that very first day, and what this major continues to teach me, is that I am not alone; none of us are. I have not had the pleasure of knowing everyone on this campus, but we have all walked this path together despite that: We have all been stressed out because of Finals, we have all battled personal demons, and zombies, we have all lived life with its many complexities, and we did it all together on this campus. To this day, I still do not like myself all that much, but that’s okay, because none of this is really about me; it’s about all of you. Look to your right, and to your left, and in front of you, and maybe behind you; that is why we do what we do; we fight alongside each other, for each other. In this era of social media, divisiveness, and the living dead, nothing is more important than empathy, and that is the core tenet of our work here. We have been trained to understand each other, and that means that it is incumbent upon us to help mend our fractured communities; our fractured country; our fractured world. It is going to be a lot of work, but it’s work worth doing, because we’re not just doing it for ourselves. As Zac Efron once said in the 2006 hit film, High School Musical: ‘We’re all in this together.’ Rest in peace, Zac, this one’s for you. Now let’s go kill some fucking zombies!”  

[dreaming-of-assclass]

Location

Just some train ride fun with Chiba, Sugaya, Okajima, and Nakamura. I love that dumbass trio (sorry Mimura ily) and Nakamura is always a joy to write. Might get a little angsty, mentions of unrequited love, also swearing. I’ve been thinking of this for a while, and decided to just write it. I’m currently working on the summer island shenanigans piece. xoxo

~~

“Jeez! This is awful!” Okajima cried as he shot up out of his seat, clutching his phone tight with wide eyes. 

“What is it?” Chiba asked nonchalantly in the midst of drawing blueprint plans on his phone.

“Cherry Bomb cancelled their Japanese tour!”

Sugaya furrowed his brow. “Who the hell is Cherry Bomb?”

Nakamura snapped her fingers. “Ohh, they’re a new idol girl group, right? From one of those small companies?” She chimed in.

Okajima nodded. “Yeah, they just debuted seven months ago. And I bought tickets to go to their Yokohama concert!” He wailed.

The train car was mostly empty, but the few people in there, particularly an old woman who frowned at the noise, were starting to look in their direction.

Chiba felt a spark of irritation and quickly shoved Okajima back into his seat. “Sit down! We’re in public, so dial back the pervertness.”

Okajima glowered and leaned the side of his face against his palm on the armrest. “Smut will save the world, I know it,” he said solemnly.

Nakamura burst out laughing as Chiba’s eye twitched at the remark. Sugaya looked like a mixture of bored and disgusted. “Saying shit like that is why girls despise you.”

Okajima simply sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “Hayami said that to me just the other day, actually.”

Nakamura’s laughter increased as she clutched her sides while the other two joined in. “Why am I not surprised at all?” Sugaya chuckled. “Dude, I don’t think she’ll ever be cool with you. Why keep trying?”

Okajima shrugged. “Honestly, the meaner she is, the more I’m turned on.”

“EW!” The other three yelled collectively while Chiba chucked a snack wrapper at his head. 

He scowled. “I don’t mean that! I mean... yeah, it’s kinda true. But I really do love how tough she is. She doesn’t take any bullshit.” A soft smile tugged at his lips as he looked down.

Nakamura gave him a small, pitiful smile while the other two went quiet. Okajima shrugged. “Well, we’ll never happen anyways. I know that. And that’s the worse part.” His smile faltered. “Liking someone so much and knowing they’ll never feel the same way about you.”

Nakamura’s face fell and she looked away, suddenly tense. Her attention was on the buildings that blurred past them as the train sped through Tokyo. Sugaya grimaced and felt a burst of guilt, while Chiba gently reached for Okajima’s shoulder. “Dude..”

Okajima’s mood changed in an instant, and he was back to happily grinning. “Ah, forget all that! One little crush won’t stop me from making eyes at every girl I meet! My plan was to go to the Cherry Bomb concert and seduce their main vocalist, Yumi.” His eyebrows wiggled in a suggestive manner.

Nakamura gagged. “And then she either hits you literally or with a restraining order.”

Okajima pointed a finger at her. “No! Then we start dating and get married when she’s 24 and I’m 19!”

“Sureee,” Chiba snorted, unconvinced. “Wait, what the hell? Why so young?”

“She’s an idol. That means her career is incredibly demanding towards women and puts emphasis on feminine youth in a shallow and a misogynistic way.”

The other three did a double take. “What?! How can you be so insightful towards women’s struggles like that, but be a horrible disrespectful pervert at the same time?!”

Okajima puffed his chest out. “I’m a man, dammit. A cultured and intelligent man, but a man all the same.”

“Please stop...” Sugaya muttered as Chiba launched another wrapper at the pervert’s head.

Nakamura grinned, stretching her arms. “Relax, guys. Just let him fantasize. Terasaka would get an 100% on a science test before Okajima even gets a kiss from a girl, let alone an idol.”

“Nakamura!”

Chiba smiled pleasantly, patting his shoulder. “It’s okay, man. It’s a big world and I’m sure somewhere out there, there’s a girl that won’t find you freakishly repulsive.”

“Screw all of you!” He groaned. “I don’t deserve this.”

“Oh, shit, our stop is here,” Sugaya announced, quickly getting up. The others stood as well, gathering their belongings and trash before stepping out onto the platform.

Suddenly, Nakamura nudged Okajima. “Oh my god, look over there. I think that’s the rapper of Cherry Bomb! Miya, right?” She whispered.

“What?!” Okajima’s eyes bulged out of his head. “You’re kidding, right? Ohh man, this is great! Where is-?”

Nakamura pointed behinds him. “Over there!”

He swiveled around so quickly, he almost got whiplash. “Mya-chan-!” He called, before stopping at the sight of a rugged elderly man, grumpily reading a newspaper. The man glanced up and frowned at him.

Okajima mouthed an apology and turned back to his laughing friends, his eye twitching. “I need some new friends,” he spoke with the most seriousness they’d ever heard from him. 

Sugaya threw an arm around him. “You love us anyways!”

Okajima rolled his eyes, a faint smile on his face. “Yeah, whatever.”

[mageinabarrel]

On the radiance of a certain anime.

At the end of Star Driver‘s premiere, the first closing theme, 9nine’s “CROSS OVER,” begins to play over the final moments of the episode. Takuto and Wako rest together in a giant stone hand, looking at each other. It’s the start of a crush. Wako’s stomach growls. The two teens laugh. Following on the heels of the show’s first mecha battle—lavishly animated by the perennially entertaining Yutaka Nakamura, infused with just enough feathery effect animation during the magical girl henshin-inspired stock footage, and fueled by glorious “Dazzling the Stage,” it’s a surprising moment in how it pivots from the grandeur of a giant robot underneath a rainbow sky into a much quieter, more intimate moment.

The ending sequence that follows, which serves as the show’s ending through episode 13, is magical. Fresh, warm, and (again) intimate, it serves as a model of characterization through peripheral storytelling. The sequence’s depictions of Takuto, Sugata, and Wako’s mundane after-school adventures simultaneously endear the audience to the characters and establish the closeness of their relationship—all without needing to take extra screentime during the episode proper. The repetition of this for episode after episode only serves to enhance the effect. It’s Wako’s can of soda, the summer rain, falling into the water together…

https://my.mixtape.moe/wpccxd.webm

“CROSS OVER” and the accompanying visuals are more than this, though. They are also—in tandem with the first opening—a very, very powerful statement of Star Driver‘s visual, sonic, and atmospheric aesthetic priorities. Star Driver is a well-told and well-written narrative, but it is also absurdly consistent in its aesthetic storytelling. Together, in written scene construction and visual direction and musical accompaniment, director Takuya Igarashi and scriptwriter Yoji Enokido have created a masterpiece evocation of the “summer of youth.” And while the show’s first OP and ED are, by nature, concentrated doses of this aesthetic, what is most impressive—and immersive—about Star Driver is the way it succeeds at maintaining this aesthetic code even in the midst of the world-ending adult machinations and mecha duels of its plot.

Forgive me if I’m a bit starry-eyed about this, but I was amazed. After all, this is a hope I’ve had for many anime in the past—that they would live up to the aesthetics of their opening and ending themes. Few, if any, have done it—but Star Driver does, and does so consistently throughout the entire series. I’m still agog, weeks later. It is one thing for a minute-and-a-half music video give the viewer the feeling of having been drenched in the lush tones of a passionate, gentle, and melancholic youth. It is another entirely for a 25-episode television anime to do the same alongside all of its other responsibilities. And to be clear, it’s not that Star Driver is so unique in its ability to maintain a consistent atmosphere, but that the actual show so perfectly resembles the sparkling aesthetics of its opening and ending sequences.

Obviously, the question is: How does Star Driver accomplish this?

An accidentally rhetorical question, since I’ve already given my answer: through scene construction, through visual direction, and through a gorgeous and well-used soundtrack.

The first of these—scene construction—is the most difficult to explain of the three. It would probably be easier to talk about how the setting of Star Driver, a closed system on a semi-tropical island in a perpetual summer, is a perfect choice. But I find it more interesting to consider how the way Enokido and Igarashi craft the episodes outside of the ritualized episodic beats (the shift into Zero Time, the ensuing duel, the aftermath). Consider, for example, all the times we’re shown scenes of Takuto, Sugata, and Wako eating together at Sugata’s place, or of Takuto and Sugata in the bath together with Wako talking to them from outside, or the encounters between Head and Sugata at sunset. The fireworks party. Going to karaoke. Walking on the beach under a star-studded sky. Meeting in the cafe, again and again. Eating in the school cafeteria. Or just hanging out around town after school.

There’s a recognizable coherency to all of these scenes, to the way they all fit together to illustrate the character’s lives through the tropes of a carefree high school life. They are typical high school things, shot through with that anxious sort of energy that possess the summers where you’re free, mostly, but not entirely. I have fond memories of meeting up with high school friends to play soccer at parks during the summer, and then going to get ice cream afterwards. The kind of feeling that you could stay out all day and into the night, with nothing you have to do. The repetitive, but comfortable feeling of doing the same things with the same people over and over again. Star Driver uses the common, mundane scenes of that kind of life. They form the foundation of the aesthetic.

Igarashi’s visual direction in Star Driver, then, builds off of this base—or, rather, works in conjunction with it. While I could write an essay just on how much I’ve come to like the way Igarashi’s style impacts the shows he directs (even when he only does the storyboards for a few episodes), the biggest thing that strikes me about Star Driver‘s visual personality is its use of color. Starting (but certainly not ending) with the primary colors of the main trio’s hair, Star Driver‘s color palette is delightfully bold.

Some of this is connected directly to the scene construction. Sunsets abound, and thus we get beautiful oranges (accompanied by dramatic lighting). A plethora of nighttime scenes on a tropical island mean we get the gorgeous deep blues of night, complimented by the sparkling stars. Shots during the day are often composed to highlight the rich colors in the sky and the plant life of the island. And this is to say nothing of the even more absurdly colored worlds of Zero Time, which are like the colors of the regular world in overdrive. The visual aesthetics of Zero Time sell the pattern. If Zero Time is then dramatized, metaphorized climax of the regular world’s story, then it ought to be the most visually charged as well.

Which is merely to say that the richness of the world’s color serves Star Driver‘s core aesthetic: A summer of youth, in which everything in life—love, sadness, tragedy, triumph—is vibrant, colorful, and alive.

So we come to the music, the thing that ties it all together. Star Driver‘s soundtrack is a fantastic, wondrously symphonic piece of work, a collection which grasps the sparkling essence of wonder, the comfortable rhythms of just hanging out, the grandiose explosions of mecha duels, and even the comedically theatrical mood of Kiraboshi. I’m no music critic, but even I can tell when a soundtrack is perfectly matched to a show—and the keyword is “richness.” The layers of instruments and even the sweeping scope of the overall sound all return to the same aesthetic the scenes and visuals offer.

Even as Star Driver‘s soundtrack ranges from acoustic guitars to organ solos to full-blown symphonies to dense echoing vibraphones (probably vibraphones), it maintains that core. Through sad scenes and happy scenes, dramatic scenes and mundane scenes, this remains true. No matter the variation, that same sort central feeling remains—that, even if a true “summer of youth” doesn’t always sound exactly the same, there is a lushness that ought to be there, a brightness. It’s intangible, almost impossible to explain properly. But it’s there.

I did say this was all “among other things,” right? How about our oft-maligned writer-director duo actually pulling a genuinely coherently thematic statement out of the show’s mess of character arcs, individual thematic threads, and randomly excellent throwaway life lessons? How about the sheer force of quantity of stunning animation, episode after episode? How about the the unbelievably charismatic cast—villains and heroes alike? The amazing emotional gravity of the love triangle between Takuto, Wako, and Sugata? The clever way layers to characters are slowly revealed, one by one, beneath their surface-level archetype?

All these qualities, and more, could be counted among Star Driver‘s merits. Certainly, these things were key to the enjoyment I had watched the show—and the enduring love for it I suspect I will continue to have. But, in the end, it is the way the aesthetics of Star Driver so perfectly evoke the summer of youth its first OP and ED imply that I have the most love for. To watch Star Driver is to be immersed, not just in the story, but in the feeling of its characters’ world. It is a fleeting experience that passes away after 25 episodes. But somewhere in there is a certain kind of light, a certain kind of passionate joy.

One might even call it “radiance.”

On the radiance of a certain anime. On the radiance of a certain anime.

[recentanimenews]

10 Anime To Inspire Your Summer Vacation!

Hey everyone, and welcome back to Why It Works! As we move into the last days of June, I hope you’re all making the most of these summer days, and possibly taking a break from your school or work responsibilities. But even if you’re not planning any sort of grand vacation for the summer months, it’s still possible to appreciate all the freedom of a trip from the comfort of your own home. How, you ask? Why, through the magic of animation, of course! Whether you’re planning an actual vacation or simply looking for a mental break from your daily routine, I’ve got a pile of recommendations for evoking the refreshing appeal of any given vacation destination. From the country to the sea and beyond, here are some the finest vacation-ready anime!

Off to the Country

For immediately evoking that idyllic rural mood, I’d highly recommend the excellent, long-running Natsume’s Book of Friends. Though it’s technically focused on a boy who can talk to spirits, and individual episodes run through fantastical conflicts in a style not far off from Mushishi, one of Natsume’s most vivid appeals is its incidental portrayal of life in the Japanese countryside. Natsume’s adventures with spirits ramble through forest glades and along abandoned train tracks, consistently capturing the majesty and charm of life in the country. Highlighting rural shrines, long country roads, and firelit festivals, Natsume’s Book of Friends stands as a warm love letter to a beautiful world.

Natsume is far from the only anime that demonstrates the charm and beauty of the country and small-town living. Flying Witch has a similarly fantastical premise, but once again, the show’s secret weapon is how well it captures the lived experience of its sleepy rural town. Laid-Back Camp foregoes civilization to directly celebrate the appeal of camping, highlighting both the refreshing solitude of solo trips and the cheery camaraderie of camping with friends. And finally, Dagashi Kashi might be billed as a show about candy and comedy, but my own favorite moments of the show capture the precise feeling of summer vacation in a small town, sweating with your friends as you bicker about how to spend the afternoon.

Off to the Sea

For the energizing joy of a visit to the ocean, I’d recommend a dose of Love Live! Sunshine!! Though it’s technically a sequel to the original Love Live!, you don’t need any experience with that series to enjoy this one - Sunshine!! introduces an entirely new set of characters, and more importantly, jumps to the coastal setting of a tiny high school on the edge of Suruga Bay. Through the course of its heroines’ attempts to succeed as an idol group, Sunshine!! consistently celebrates the beauty of this beachside town, with key moments always taking place on and around the water’s edge. The finer points of seaside living are articulated with energy and beauty, making Sunshine!! both an engaging drama in the abstract and a clear celebration of the sea.

Idols certainly don’t have a monopoly on the ocean though, so if you’re looking for more beachy good times, I’d also recommend Tsuritama. Focused on a group of four boys who come together through fishing, the show is a highlight from talented director Kenji Nakamura (Mononoke, Gatchaman Crowds), and demonstrates both his unique vision and the beauty of the ocean at once. And of course, you can’t celebrate the beach without at least one swimming anime, and Free! remains a terrific example of the form. Though it more often centers on swimming at regulation pools, Free! still finds time to celebrate its seaside location, with its gorgeous background art ably bringing its beautiful setting to life.

Off to the Great Beyond

Alright, so neither the mountains nor the sea thrill you. Well, how about a carefree safari in a magical park that fuses slice of life charm, creative worldbuilding, and a slow-burning scifi hook? I’m talking, of course, about Kemono Friends, which turned out to be an unexpected highlight of 2017. Though it was conceived as a tie-in property for a short-lived phone game, Kemono Friends’ director TATSUKI and his small, dedicated team ended up creating something truly wonderful, a charming story whose scrappy aesthetic features can’t suppress the natural appeal of exploring a sprawling zoo park with close friends. To be honest, Kemono Friends is a vacation all by itself - there are few shows I know that are more capable of resetting my headspace, and reminding me of the truly important things.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but there are plenty of other rewarding vacation-style shows, whether you’re looking for the heartening appeal of life on the farm or just a day trip out to an amusement park. I hope you’ve found a new show or two to check out among my picks, and please let me know all your own favorite vacation anime in the comments!

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Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now, and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

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[blazardragon]

What are your least favourite and most favourite Assassination classroom pairings?

You know, usually when I see a post or meme about fandom, Imust nod my head in embarrassment and agreement. I get absolutely ecstatic whenmy favorite characters appear on screen for even a single millisecond, and Ifeel like sobbing tears of joy whenever something good happens to them.However, one of the only things where I feel like I’m not on the same page asthe rest of Tumblr is pairings. I’m just not much of a shipper. Mentor/student,parent/child, and sibling relationships have always been the strongest forcesin my life, not romance, so those are the relationships that tend to capture myheart. Hence all the Asano family antics in my art. I’ve actually contemplatedmany times making artwork for this ship or that ship, but I get artist blockwhenever I try to actually make something.

A side effect of my lack of shipping is that arguments aboutOTPs and NOTPs confuse me. I know that chemistry doesn’t occur between everypair of individuals, but it doesn’t bother me to see a character paired withdifferent characters. I’m always happy to see my favorites interact with othercharacters since those interactions bring out different aspects of theirpersonality, so seeing a wide range of ships for a single character is excitingfor me, not anger-inducing. That being said, I do have a few preferencesregarding pairings, which you can read under the cut if you’re curious about myopinions, but they’re mostly based on character representation. It’s a littlelong though. I divided it into three categories instead of two: my mostfavorites, my least favorites, and my non-negotiable nopes  

My most favorites (andothers I like)

Anything featuring my favorite characters being happy to behonest. They can suffer a bit too, pain is part of what makes them who they areafter all, but as long as I see my favorite characters getting attention andlove (from both the character they’re interacting with and the writer/artistbehind the scenes), I’m as happy as a clam. The only exception is if the shipinvolves what I listed under my nopes.

Examples of ships involving my faves that I have had the privilegeto enjoy include:  

Gakuho x Karasuma:Since Karasuma is even more serious and reserved than Gakuho, I get to watchGakuho put some effort into this ship. Also, Gakuho teases Koro and Gakushuu inthe canon sometimes, yet even though I’m sure he would have done the same withKarasuma, who’s probably the easiest character to joke around with, it neverhappened. This ship fixes that.

Gakuho x Korosensei:I’ve always loved the way Gakuho calmly accepts Koro’s spazztastic antics inthe canon, so seeing that expanded upon is fantastic. The mutual respect theyhold for each other is also a big plus. Bonus points because Korosensei is alsoone of my favorite characters of all time.

Gakushuu x Karma:Where I get to see Gakushuu’s fiery side. I’m pretty competitive myself, so I likerivals in general. They can both challenge and support each other to do betteras equals.

Gakushuu x Kevin: Ilove how Kevin attempted to defend Gakushuu in the canon, so seeing this big,warm-hearted American boy bring Gakushuu’s feelings out a bit more makes mesmile.

Gakushuu x Nakamura:I like seeing Gakushuu interact with her because they’re both successfulacademically, yet their core values couldn’t be more different. Nakamura wantedto be normal, but Gakushuu wants to be as exceptional as possible, and thatclash of ideals is fascinating. I’m sure they could both learn a lot from eachother and grow to appreciate each side.  

But you could probably write a story about the Asanosand a cactus and I’d probably like it. I’m really not picky. None of these haveto be romantic for me to enjoy them either.

 There are a lot of ships I like that don’t need to involve myfavorite family as well. All you need to do is draw/write a healthyrelationship about any set of characters in AssClass and I’ll probably like it.Examples include:

Takaoka x GoD (2ndgen):  Two characters that I didn’t reallycare about in the canon. I didn’t feel like I had anything in common with them,nor did either of them ever inspire me to become a better person. That’s about theworst start a pair of characters could have in my heart, and yet there’s somuch fanart of them having fun together that the pair now feels canon to me. They’relike the friendly, happy newlyweds living next door, and I feel like I mustsupport them.

Mimura x Sugaya: There’susually at least one reason to like each student in Class E. In the case ofthese two, I always have a soft spot for artistically inclined characters. Watchingthem draw out each other’s creativity and inspire each other to keep reachinghigher is something that resonates with me. Maybe it’s because my sister is anartist.  

Terasaka x Takebayashi:Going to maid cafes together seems like a great way to bond. These guys share aunique common interest in spite of their physical differences, which I findquite compelling.

Yuuji x Nagisa:Yuuji really grew as a person after meeting with Nagisa, and I’m sure there’sroom for even more growth. They both seem like rather gentle people too, so readingabout them hang out and relax, whether as friends or as more, is prettyenjoyable.

There’s a lot more, but these are the ones I get to enjoythe most since they end up on my dash a lot ^^;

My least favorites (whichare still negotiable)

Gakushuu x Lea:  It feels weird to say this because I’m theone who posted the English translation of Korotan C, but it felt like Lea wasintroduced as a character solely to give Gakushuu a female love interest. I don’twant to be too harsh on her since she barely had a chance at character developmentto begin with, but I never got a chance to love this girl. I generally don’tlike forced relationships for the sake of having relationships, and it’s a forcedrelationship involving my orange son, so this is probably the closest I’ll everget to having a NOTP. However, if someone were to appear in the fandom and startwriting fics or drawing fanart depicting the growth of their relationship in acompelling manner, I could probably grow to like even this ship.

The only other pairing that comes to mind as one that I feelless than neutral about has more to do with one of the characters more than theship itself. In spite of the mutual respect established by Karma and Nagisa inthe canon, why is Nagisa treated so disrespectfully so very frequently inKarmagisa works? I’m sure that Nagisa would be able to protect and provide forKarma as much as Karma could for Nagisa. I don’t dislike Karmagisa as a concept,but I do dislike it when Nagisa devolves into a crying sex toy, and thathappens enough for me to hold a certain level of fear in my heart when I seefanfiction tagged Karmagisa. Have mercy on Nagisa.

Non-Negotiable Nopes(or NNNopes)

I love Gakuho. It’s been ten years since I’ve loved a characteras much as I love Gakuho, but boy oh boy, looking through his fanfiction islike stepping through a minefield. He somehow manages to cover all of my nopes.For example:

Teacher x Student:  I really like mentor/student relationships,but not THOSE kinds of relationships. Mentors are there to unselfishly supporttheir students, but adding sex/romance to their relationship adds an element ofselfishness that really shouldn’t be there. And yet, Gakuho keeps gettingshipped with Isogai.  This same line ofreasoning also applies to Parent x Child relationships.

Relationships withNon-Con:  I’m pretty much okay with anysituation if the characters are okay with it. Similarly, I hate reading thingswhere one of the characters doesn’t like it. Simple.  I’ve read some fics where Gakuho startsphysically torturing someone (usually Gakushuu, goddammit), and I nope out ofthere as fast as I can, but I still feel like I lost a few minutes of mylifespan.  

I’m not going to personally track down a person’s blog and sendanonymous hate messages to anyone for writing these. Exploring differentemotions, even the darkest, is probably a necessity for some people to understandand tackle their own darkness. It probably takes some practice to write aboutdark themes in a responsible way too, I’m sure (I’ve never written a fic so I’mactually not sure). But will I ever read any of these? NOOOOPE  

 Thanks for the ask :D  I hope it doesn’t feel like I dodgedthe question since I didn’t list any ‘most favorite’ pairings, but these are myhonest feelings on the subject. I like a lot of characters in AssClass, so aslong I feel like those characters don’t get horribly misrepresented, and aslong as they look happy together, then I’m happy too. And if it involves acharacter I love, I love it!