#Naoki Hattori

[footballmanageraddict]

Pentagon Pursuit | Part 12 | Niigata's All-Time Record Goalscorer

Sometimes in life, Robaato Rasamu mused, you can achieve too much, too quickly. Rasamu was in a pensive mood as he reflected on his Albirex Niigata side’s huge overachievement in the 2027 J1 League campaign. Indeed, their 3rd place finish led by a bunch of exciting young Japanese players had sparked interest from big teams across Saudi Arabia and Japan. However, the flip side to that was that…

[coralsunspear]

My dear Kenji.

[f1pictures]

Naoki Hattori  Coloni - Ford 1991

[morning-after-nightmare]

evil villain men are assigned the yee yee ass haircut and a built in love for turtlenecks

[plankos]

the guy

[brokensoulmates2000]

20th Century Boys and understanding Fukubei

TW: spoilers of 20th century boys.

Btw, my native language is not English so beware any mistakes :)

I like Naoki Urasawa's work. A lot. And I like noticing parallels. A lot too. So it's interesting to see how many of the ideas he used in 20th Century Boys pop up in Monster. The most important one probably being the identity problems his antagonists face.

You see, Johan and Fukubei share more than style. They are both men that barely understand themselves. Johan is a monster with no name and Fukubei is a man with no face. Their poor identity stems from the context they come from: one faced the aftermath of war and was the result of scientific experimentation, the other one lived through an era of hype for future progress that could never live up to its expectations. Now, in this... meta? Rambling? I'm not gonna do a deep dive on Johan cause there are far better essays analyzing him. I'm just pointing one of the many similarities between 20th Century Boys and Monster cause it's fun and I need an introduction before I dwell unto my subject: Fukubei.

On one of the first times he's introduced, he's showing his back to us while answering a question from his follower. Right there, he says he's Collins. We'll see this point being repeated over and over with him finally discussing it in far more detail the night he's killed in the science room. He's Collins because he was so close to the moon but never got the change to walk on its surface. He was overlooked and forgotten. No one ever paid attention to him.

It's clear what Fukubei wants: attention and recognition. The first person who notices him and spreads his story about the expo is Kenji and without him knowing, he gives Fukubei the thrill he was looking for: the feeling of being alive.

That's how Kenji became an important part of Fukubei's journey. He wants to be like Kenji and he wants his attention. I won't go into detail about their relationship cause I want to dedicate it its own post, but this is enough info for now.

To be honest I’m a bit inclined to believe Fukubei wanted friendship, but instead absorbed others. This all thanks to his poor grasp on his identity: he doesn't know where he ends and others start.

Also, let's note that Fukubei doesn't identify with either his name or Hattori. When he meets Sadakiyo, who is confused what to call him, Fukubei replies he should only call him friend.

And in that point the term "Friend" encapsulates Fukubei's emptiness. His lack of connection to his identity that it would only get worse as time went on.

This manga is full of motifs. One of the most important being the teru-teru bozu which captures the complex relationship between Fukubei's sense of self and his lies. The teru-teru bozu is introduced as a symbol of deception and tricks. Later we see many panels of Fukubei identifying with it.

Also -and this is me using the opportunity to share all of the screenshots I took of this manga- let's see when the narrative parallels him to the teru-teru bozu.

Just like Fukubei says when Sadakiyo asks why not draw a face on the teru-teru bozu: it's scarier without one.

There's a pretty big emphasis on how lies impact Fukubei's identity. They are there to compensate for his lack of identity. He believes his own lies and he later identifies with them so much being called a liar offends him. Again, let's see his reaction when Donkey calls on his bluff, and when he says to Manjome what he wants.

And...

Now, Fukubei refuses to acknowledge that the world is out of his control. Let's look at his death scene. How surprised he is of his own mortality. Another example is in chapter 172, one from his pov when he says "My dream is not a dream. It is not a dream, because it really will happen.” Look at the refusal to face the world.

Before I deep dive into a question I have about Fukubei, I would like to talk about the meaning of lighting a candle in the science room just to pay attention to Urasawa's amazing use of symbols. When Donkey steps into the classroom, he reveals Fukubei's miracle to be a trick. When Yamane waits for Fukubei in the classroom to kill him, he reveals him as a liar. Both Yamane and Donkey are men of science, lightning a candle in the middle of the darkness to dissipate the illusions and bring back reality.

Also, they both killed Fukubei in a way. Donkey by ruining Fukubei's miracle and Yamane straight up killing him.

In the science room Fukubei "died" and Friend was born. Friend is this persona, this literal mask people with shaky identities use to hide behind it. After Donkey ruined Fukubei's act in front of his group, Fukubei takes refugee in Friend. Friend is on top of the chain. He is the leader of the cult, the world president, the one who foresees the future. And by merging with him, Fukubei validates his own existence through the validation of his tricks as this persona.

And this mergence was doomed to happen. To hammer the importance of lies for Fukubei's identity before becoming Friend, let's see this panel of Yamane in the science room.

I know many people are intrigued about Fukubei's Friend, but I like Fukubei's backstory more. Especially when we start talking about The Hanging Hill, and a question that pops up while reading that part. Why can't Fukubei see the real ghost?

There are many ways to interpret the scene. The most logical being that maybe this part is there to remind us of Fukubei's inability to see the truth. But was this inability predetermined? Did he develop it? Does this mean that because he can't see the truth, his path was doomed to only see lies? How much agency would he wield in that case? From this reading, some readers might infer that Fukubei is probably mentally unwell. Personally, I'm not a fan of diagnosing characters with something. Maybe because if the story doesn't explicitly say what the character has (in that case, I can judge or seek others to judge how accurate the representation is), the writers code their characters with an agglomeration of characteristics from different mental disorders. Honestly, I won't dip my toes in these waters. Just a thought that occured while reading.

By the way, what Kenji, Occho and Sadakiyo saw in that room was a noppera-bo: a faceless ghost.

In case I forget this in my next essay about Katsumata, it's interesting how just like him, Fukubei had to die before Friend was born. Kinda highlights the unspoken importance of personas in this manga and its influence on the world.

Finally, this leads me to the heart of this post and the next ones: 20th century boys take refugee in Friend. Behind his mask, these men hide their fickle identities and their disillusionment of the future by trying to turn it into what they desire it to be. One of the most important themes in the manga are the acceptance of reality and the process from childhood to adulthood. Will you hide from reality and force the world to bend to your desires? Or will you accept the world as it is and take responsibility for your actions?

One last thing: I love how Urasawa tears down the image of Friend and shows how pathetic and sad the lives of those men behind the mask were. And all of this without justifying their actions. Urasawa doesn't let Friend's lies captivate the reader. He shows the ugly truth behind it. Many times in media, we mistify evil. Maybe because it is in its very nature to be mistified or maybe its in ours to mistify it. Either way, we understand what caused the birth of this persona and maybe for all us, 21st century people, this is the best advice we can receive from someone from the past century.

[anna-luria]

and stealing your identity

[how-to-be-an-idiot-101]

New thing i’m gonna be doing

so i will be doing some updates and head cannons with my ocs since i’m being more active on this app. All of my ocs are for MHA and i have a total of 100 ocs. here is the list of them:

Akari honoka- 

Arata nakamura- 

Himari machiko- 

Hana hinata- 

Hideaki sadeo- 

Itsuki tomoharu- 

Kira emiko- 

Kiyomi kokoa- 

Kobayashi rora- 

Lilly flores- 

Minoru naoko- 

Mistura misturu- 

Nobu noburo- 

Rekkusu tsuchida- 

Rufu naoki- 

Ringo shig- 

Sakiko sayo- 

Sousuke kaharu- 

Waku miyabi- 

Yuki yutaka- 

Amestsuchi hamakawa- 

Chiyo hoshi- 

Hitomi mei-

Haruto tsubasa- 

Izumi kazuno- 

Kana koemi- 

Kyoji okimoto- 

Maeno abe- 

Makiko souta- 

Midori maui- 

Michio norio- 

Mitsuzuka kazetani- 

Miyu toshiaki- 

Ryuu norio- 

Shigochiyo kumanosuke- 

Takehide yaginuma- 

Tama shuji- 

Toya tsuneo- 

Tobei katsuragi-

Tsuramatsu yoshiteru- 

Akabashi genbu- 

Akamatsu eiji- 

Akimoto miki- 

Bashira hachi- 

Chikakazu adachi- 

Genjiro haruki- 

Harumi ayame- 

Jenpei kaichi- 

Karin kiyo- 

Kota tetsuya- 

Manami ren- 

Minato ichika- 

Nao miki- 

Riku honoka- 

Rui shichi- 

Sakura akiya- 

Sumiko yoroizaka- 

Wakana murayama- 

Yochi ayame- 

Yukio kazuno- 

Hachiro seito- 

Hattori kaito- 

Kioshi suzuki- 

Kimko hairi- 

Kouki asahi- 

Masato kikuchi- 

Mas lmai- 

Saburo miki- 

Suguru osako- 

Hotoke zenaku- 

Azami kazumi- 

Danuja haruka- 

Masumi kura- 

Kenji seiji-

Ryuichi saturu- 

Sakiko toki- 

Satou takahashi- 

Takara sora- 

Tsuki seiki- 

Yoahino shun- 

Akumu chi- 

Kazuna kaeke- 

Minori nobuyuki- 

 Osamu rokuro- 

Raiden sora- 

Rin fuyu- 

Tor yumi- 

Torao yasha- 

Yami kuro- 

Yoru akuma- 

Hideo honoka- 

Yutaka miki- 

Hotaru ayame- 

Ito mori- 

Keiko emiko- 

Keita shitara- 

Sato kobayashi- 

Saki ayame- 

Shimizu matsumoto- 

Yuina honoka- 

so these are all of my characters name’s some of them are still in the processes of being devolved, but feel free to request a headcannon. p.s. ill update you guys of the characters development.

[weebuibu]

All about anime in India

Indians are actually not new to anime; many people may not have realized but they’ve been watching it since their childhood. The famous anime Dragon ball-z, Naruto, Bayblade, Pokemon and even Doraemon and Ninja Hattori are actually Japanese animated series.

The misconception that Japanese anime is just “Cartoon” and is meant for kids is extremely wrong. I agree that anime’s like Doraemon or Ninja Hattori is targeted for children but Japanese anime industry is more than that. 

It’s a huge industry! name any genre, and you’ll find a lot of anime series under that. Nowadays, because of the OTT platforms streaming anime’s, the audience in India is more familiar and are watching, and appreciating them. 

This industry has created several masterpieces that has actually been adapted by many foreign movies. For example, the movie Inception directed by Christopher Nolan is actually inspired by Paprika a 2006 film directed by legendary Satoshi Kon, the movie Ghost in the Shell directed by Rupert Sanders is remake of an anime movie with the same name. These movies were extremely good, I recommend watching it. 

I got into watching anime because of my friend who insisted me to watch Death Note. For my little brain, it was a really intense anime with much psychological study and amazing characters. I never knew that animated things could be such intense, in India we have cartoons like Chota Bheem, Mighty Raju, Motu Patlu etc. I was lucky enough to grow up in the age where the most popular cartoons (which were anime series, but back then I didn’t know) were Bayblade, Pokemon, Digimon etc. These anime’s were more focused on children under the age of 15. But a series like death note which is targeted for 13 and above, completely blew me away. I was getting introduced to a whole another genre. Ever since then, I have explored a lot more anime’s. While some were disappointing, others and majority of them were just masterpieces. Like “Ghost in the Shell” a steel body with the brain of a human, it explores what it really means to be an individual. Another example, one which is my favorite “Monster” written by Naoki Urasawa, is like a psychological character study involving many characters, and all of them are important! as the story progress we see, and empathize with them. Like Johan Liebert, one of the main characters with very less screen time, yet the most important character. He’s a product of psychological experiments done to him when he was a child by the govt to turn small children into perfect soldiers, or Dr Tenma the one who believes in equality of every life yet, wants to eliminate Johan. Another interesting character called Detective Lunge, who’s addicted to his job, and avoids his family because of that. And Eva Heinemann who was initially Dr Tenma’s fiancé but later breaks up with him and blames all her failures on him, she becomes alcoholic, develops hatred towards Tenma yet helps him in several instances, even though we know the bad side of all these people but it’s made in such a way that we are compelled to empathize with them, all of them are very well studied. That’s not it, the story has several sub-plots, all of them are like a philosophical study. It explores the evil and good, human rights, free will, hatred, loneliness and many more. All this is told in a unique way. Another anime called “Paranoia Agent” focusing on Mass Hysteria with such an odd storytelling, every episode new and has different protagonist, its chaotic to watch and of course, is a brain twister. These all anime series are amazing and absolutely worth a watch. We can see the effort put in by the creators and the music composers as well. 

Now, you may want to ask if anime’s are so good, then how come its banned in so many countries? Well, there’s always good and a bad side. Sure, there are a lot average and garbage anime as well. But anime’s which are good, should not be overlooked! But we should also address the bad side of it. There’s a lot of anime series with mature content in it, the real reason they get banned anime is because of the sexualization of female characters which resembles as an under 18. These anime series are not mainstream but there is a fair amount anime which features characters who has child-like characteristics and is been sexualized. 

This type anime comes under their own genre. But it still falls under an offense. Some countries have been trying to control that as well, by banning only problematic anime’s or all anime series. Some people came up with the argument that since, they’re not real characters it should not matter, if they consume that type of content that does not necessarily mean that they are pedophiles. Personally, I’m not convinced with this argument. But everyone has an opinion. 

Obviously, this problem should be handled and all anime shouldn’t be banned since these types of anime does not represent all anime. There are a lot of gem out there that everyone should watch or at least attempt to watch or even if it’s not a gem anime is just generally creative and fun to watch 

[otome-is-my-life]

Routes

Here I’ll compile a list of all the routes I’ve played along with which game they came from. I’m definitely missing a lot but only because it’s been so long since I played them and cannot remember which routes I have and haven’t played. Enjoy ig

Current Routes:

Vincent (IkeVamp)

Masamune (SLBP)

Motonari (IkeSen)

Completed Routes:

Ikémen Sengoku:

Nobunaga Oda

Ieyasu Tokugawa

Masamune Date

Mitsuhide Aketchi

Yukimura Sanada

Sasuke Sarutobi

Mitsunari Ishida

Hideyoshi Toyotomi 

Shingen Takeda

Kennyo

Kenshin Uesugi

Samurai Love Ballad: PARTY:

Yukimura Sanada

Ieyasu Tokugawa

Mitsunari Ishida

Kenshin Uesugi

Nobunaga Oda

Mitsuhide Akechi

Hideyoshi Toyotomi

Kageie Kakizaki

Shigezane Date

Ikemen Vampire:

Leonardo da Vinci

Napoleon Bonaparte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Isaac Newton

Jean d’Arc

Cinderella Phenomenon:

Karma

Rumple

Rod

OZMAFIA:

Axel Pure Love (vs. Caramia)

Scarlet

The Amazing Shinsengumi: Heroes In Love:

Soji Okita

Hajime Saito

Shinpachi Nagakura

Wizardess Heart+:

Elias Goldstein

Klaus Goldstein (+Sequel)

Randy March

Joel Crawford

Glenn Qing

Leslie Roseblade

Zeus Brundle

Klaus II

Hiro Tachibana

Modern Cinderella: (Discontinued)

Zack Wright

Rudolf Oak

Robert Moore

Lost Alice: (Hiatus)

Luke Estheim

Kyle Knock

Joker Braze

Sidd Rex

Chronus Carlyle

Spinner of Tales

Blood in Roses: (Hiatus)

Alfred

Daniel

Rogan

Finn

Ioannis

Destiny Ninja: (Complete)

Goyo

Enya

Mizuki

Benkei

Hattori

Hyunga

Yoshitsune

Hyosuke

Sohma

Destiny Ninja 2: (Discontinued)

Kaito

Kikyo

Shiroya

Hattori

Ran

Love Tangle: (Hiatus)

Ryan Gray

Cody Gray

Miguel Hernandez

Nolan Zarek

Naoki Hozumi

Carlo Mazza

Timo Salminien

Princess To Be: (Discontinued)

Ryo Kiryu

Souta Shinohara

Cafe ma Cherie: (Discontinued)

Alex Rhondhurd

Luca Lindburg

Love Ice Rink: (Discontinued)

Hayato Misumi

Kisara Izumi

[footballmanageraddict]

Pentagon Pursuit | Part 11 | Seven-Way Title Fight

#FM24 #PentagonPursuit Part 11: Seven-Way Title Fight. #J1League newcomers #AlbirexNiigata find themselves involved in a title fight with Japan's big boys. But can they secure continental qualification for the first time? Read here:

Albirex Niigata were off to an absolute flyer in Robaato Rasamu’s first season of top-flight football. They found themselves 2nd in J1 League after 18 games but, with injuries and a heavy schedule stacking up, it would be a major challenge to maintain that form. They were mid-way through a tough schedule of eight matches in 27 days through May, which continued against several teams in the top…

[leenaevilin]

[Update]『イナズマイレブン アレスの天秤』THE STAGE～疾風迅雷～ (inazuma eleven ares no tenbin the stage ~shippuujinrai~)

the show will be running from May 1st, 2020 to May 31st, 2020 (Tokyo) @ Mixalive TOKYO Theater Mixa

Cast:

Sugiyama Mahiro as Inamori Atsuo (稲森明日人) Hatakeyama Shion as Kozoumaru Sasuke (小僧丸サスケ) Sukegawa Magura as Gouji Tetsunosuke (剛陣鉄之助) Kawamura Reo as Michinari Tatsumi (道成達巳) Nakahara Hiroki as Mansaku Yuuichirou (万作雄一郎) Kobayashi Reo as Kirina Hiura (氷浦貴利名) Genma Tesshin as Hattori Hanta (服部半太) Katou Masato as Chou Kinun (趙 金雲)

Inaba Takumi as Haizaki Ryouhei (灰崎凌兵) Yusa Wataru as Kidou Yuuto (鬼道有人) Nakata Ryouta as Mizukamiya Seiryuu (水神矢成龍)

Komatsu Yuu as Nosaka Yuuma (野坂悠馬) Niimi Naoki as Nishikage Seiya (西蔭政也)

Nanbu Kaito as Gouenji Shuuya (豪炎寺修也)

homepage natalie 2.5news enterstage

[leenaevilin-birthday-calendar]

[September] J-Actors Birthday Calendar

♪ September 1st

◎ Akatsuka Atsunori 赤塚篤紀 1975

◎ Daigo Koutarou 醍醐虎汰朗 2000

◎ Miyazaki Shouta 宮崎翔太 1989

♪ September 2nd

◎ Katou Keisuke 加藤慶祐 1988

◎ Kitamura Kento 北村健人 1993

♪ September 3rd

◎ Ikeoka Ryousuke 池岡亮介 1993

◎ Kobayashi Ryou 小林涼 1990

◎ Miyashita Yuuya 宮下雄也 1985

◎ Miyazaki Shuuto 宮崎秋人 1990

♪ September 4th

◎

♪ September 5th

◎ Ueda Keisuke 植田圭輔 1989

◎ Wada Masanari 和田雅成 1991

♪ September 6th

◎ Fujita Rei 藤田玲 1988

◎ Ichikawa Tomohiro 市川知宏 1991

◎ Konishi Seiya 小西成弥 1994

♪ September 7th

◎ Yamazaki Kento 山崎賢人 1994

♪ September 8th

◎ Tsukayama Hisanao 津嘉山寿穂 1994

◎ Yaguchi Sora 矢口空 1985

♪ September 9th

◎ Katou Mao 加藤真央 1987

◎ Marukawa Takayuki 丸川敬之 1983

◎ Satou Yuusaku 佐藤友咲 1990

◎ Shinzato Kouta 新里宏太 1995

◎ Takemura Hitoshi 竹村仁志 1987

◎ Yokota Ryuugi 横田龍儀 1994

♪ September 10th

◎ Kamiyama Ryuuji 上山竜治 1986

◎ Maniwa Ryousuke 馬庭良介 1986

◎ Matsuda Shouta 松田翔太 1985

♪ September 11th

◎ Ino Hiroki 猪野広樹 1992

◎ Isomura Hayato 磯村勇斗 1992

◎ Masao 真佐夫 1986

♪ September 12th

◎ Lansbury Arthur ランズベリー・アーサー

◎ Masuda Yuuki 増田裕生 1979

◎ Sasa Tsubasa 笹翼 1995

◎ Tabuchi Rui 田淵累生 1995

♪ September 13th

◎ Hattori Muo 服部武雄 1989

◎ Kuge Kyouhei 久下恭平 1991

◎ Matsuda Ryou 松田凌 1991

◎ Seto Yuusuke 瀬戸祐介 1985

◎ Wagou Shinichi 和合��一 1986

◎ Watanabe Kazuki 渡辺和貴 1985

♪ September 14th

◎ Akisawa Kentarou 秋沢健太朗

◎ Ishigami Ryuuya 石上龍成 1996

◎ Ishizaka Isamu 石坂勇 1962

◎ Kitano Satsuki 北乃颯希 1995

◎ Narimiya Hiroki 成宮寛貴 1982

◎ Sunahara Kensuke 砂原健佑 1990

◎ Toman とまん 1993

♪ September 15th

◎ Kihara Rui 木原瑠生 1998

◎ Maeda Tsuyoshi 前田剛史 1990

♪ September 16th

◎ Maeda Taishou 前田大翔 1995

◎ Yokohama Ryuusei 横浜流星 1996

♪ September 17th

◎ Aoyama Souta 青山草太 1979

◎ Fukuyama Seiji 福山聖二 1990

♪ September 18th

◎ Sorihashi Souichirou 反橋宗一郎 1987

◎ Tachibana Ryou 橘りょう 1991

◎ Washimi Ryou 鷲見亮 1979

◎ Yamada Yuuki 山田裕貴 1990

◎ Yamamoto Yuuhei 山本侑平 1987

♪ September 19th

◎ Suzuki Masaya 鈴木雅也

♪ September 20th

◎

♪ September 21st

◎ Katou Shou 加藤将 1992

◎ Takasaki Shouta 高崎翔太 1988

◎ Tomida Daiki 富田大樹 1987

◎ Udagawa Tsukasa 宇田川宰 1994

♪ September 22nd

◎ Takenaka Ryouhei 竹中凌平 1993

♪ September 23rd

◎ Kimura Ryou 木村了 1988

◎ Matsukawa Takanori 松川貴則 1991

◎ Takagi Kyoushirou 高樹京士郎 1986

◎ Yoshizawa Tsubasa 吉澤翼 1994

♪ September 24th

◎ Adachi Hideaki 足立英昭 1993

◎ Imata Taira 井俣太良 1975

◎ Yanagisawa Takahiko 柳澤貴彦 1987

♪ September 25th

◎

♪ September 26th

◎ Tanaka Naoki 田中尚輝 1995

♪ September 27th

◎ Masuda Tomoya 増田朋弥 1996

♪ September 28th

◎ Arisawa Shoutarou 有澤樟太郎 1995

◎ Hagio Keishi 萩尾圭志 1994

♪ September 29th

◎ Kunogi Takashi 久野木貴士 1986

♪ September 30th

◎ Nishijima Takahiro 西島隆弘 1986

[kinkshame-this-asexual]

Ayu x Naoki

9 - I REALLY like this ship and it should be/is canon!

cute library dates ahoy

(actually a mix of 7&9 but ill just put 9)

[plankos]

This is the truth

[sambart93]

2018.10.26 and 29 Teito Tantei Kitan Zigomar [Review]

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4

CAST and CHARACTERS

Hiroya as Z (Zigomar / Jigoma) Hattori Takeo as Mikasa Yumenosuke (Private Detective) Ebihara Yuka as Mutou Yuuko (Kidnapped by Zigoma) Hanaoka Meika as Hanasaki Mayuko (Mikasa's Assistant) Kadono Sho as Kitamiko Saburo (Chief Policeman) Tanaka Hiroki as Sumi Arata (Newbie Policeman) Oda Toshiki as Hira Tarou (Journalist)

Adachi Yuna as Tokage (meaning 'lizard' - Phantom Theif) Sawada Maria as Ando Ayako (Opera Singer)

Umehara Saeri as Aikawa Tamako (Tetsujiro's Girlfriend/Wife) Kuroki Kiko as Doi Shiori (Adopted Sister?) Tatsuya Yuu as Kobayashi Tetsujiro (Saved by Mikasa. Admires Mikasa.)

Working For Zigomar:

Hinagata Ui as Tsukishiro Tei Ogura Eriko as Sunaga Tokiko

Working for Fukiya:

Maruyama Raiden* as Gondawara Kouzou Odagiri Masayo as Harukara Meiko Souji Masato as Hitomi Hirosuke Kamidochi Kanki as Naoki Osamu

Terumi as Fukiya Kiyoshi 

W Cast:

Kai Chiaru / Oota Saki as Saito Kanoko (Yuuko's Maid) Ashikaga Itaru / Oda Shunpei as Mifune Saburo (Powerful Politician, Yuuko's Husband) Ihara Yu / Umeda Shohei as Tsujioka Fumisuke (Works for Zigomar)

*DAMN that's a REALLY good name!

*

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: My expectations for ASSH are always high and they ALWAYS met! They always make such amazing stages that are pleasing in so many ways! This stage was just as high quality as their previous ones; great in-depth amazing story with characters that you just want to know personally and in-depth - seriously, every single one of them I got very attached and/or interested in ! -, the darkness and the themes of the story was great, they always have a message that leaves you thinking, the costumes were well made and the theme was super interesting; and as per usual I was left wanting more, wanting another installment! I loved the messaged for this play which was very much 'how do we decide whether a character is good or bad?' because every character in this stage is flawed, every character in this has their reasons as to why their actions are justified, each character has a charming point that makes you believe their motives are the right ones. I just love that ASSH always poses such questions in their stages and has these types of characters. In true ASSH style, it is not a happy ending. They keep it partially raw and real and dark! The characters that stood out to me the most were obviously Zigomar and Mikasa, but I also got super invested in Hanasaki, Hirosuke, Naoki, Gonda and Kitamiko! I wanted to know so much more about them and their character scenes and arcs are great. Espeically for Gonda and Hirosuke; their arcs were GOLD. I was so invested and so affected by their storylines. I really hope we get a next installment, especially with the random mind-blowing reveal we get at the end of the play, and I am sure they'll find a way to kind of 'undo' what happens at the end so they can make a second stage out of this. It seriously deserves one and I seriously want one! Thank you ASSH for consistently producing and giving me great, solid stages! Rating: 9/10

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SPOILER REVIEW

I have no idea where to start with this, as per bloody usual, but I shall try!

Aesthetics 

First I loved the visuals of this stage; I love how the stage looked, I loved the costumes (and how all of them except Zigoma had words on parts of their costumes which were lines from the script); I loved the ending where letters dropped from the ceiling and onto the floor; it was very visually appealing. Although ONE actress did have boots on and at the beginning they were not equal length and OCD me found it very annoying xD but she soon fixed them by the next time she came back on stage.

Story

The Main Plot is: A guy who calls himself Zigoma is running around killing politicians and the police force want to know why and want to stop him before he kills anymore. Also during his first political kill, the kidnaps the wife of the politician and a private detective has been hired to find and save this now-widow. But what is unveiled is so much more...

This show actually had two versions; the Detectives Side and the Bad Guys Side which means there should be a scene change or two between the two shows.

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I really enjoyed the story; I loved the discussion and themes of ‘who is right?’ and ‘Is everyone’s individual motive justifiable?’. And we had the mystery of ‘who is Zigoma?’ and ‘why is he doing it?’ and ‘why does he do it?’ which gave some really great punches and revelations. Also the plot twists and the shocker ending were just perfect! I did not see some of them coming and that ending really was a great cherry on the top of the cake! But I won’t spoil it too much right now.

One question/theme that runs throughout the play is whether Zigoma’s motives are justifiable or not. And we get to one part of the play where Mikasa comments ‘I think he’s just doing it for fun. Just because he can.’ but later one Zigoma expresses his desire to change the political climate, to change those in power, almost like a Guy Fawkes (info here) type of character. But then right at the end, when all hope for Zigoma escaping is gone, he cracks. He starts to laugh insanely and then yells at Mikasa ‘you were right! You saw right through me! All along I was doing it just because it’s fun!’. This somewhat internally breaks Mikasa because he didn’t want to be right; he wanted a more logical reason as to why Zigoma did what he did. It’s such a good moment and it really makes the audience think: was Zigoma lying in this moment of insanity? Was he killing off politicians because they were simply shitty, corrupt politicians? Or was he really just doing it because he could? Also, it makes you think, if he was doing it because those in power were corrupt, doesn’t that then make him a hero and not a villain? This theme really messed with my brain and really made me think and I LOVED IT!

There is another scene in the play, that also makes you question Zigoma’s motives. Right at the beginning there is the very first murder of a politician (Mifune Saburo) which everyone thinks Zigoma did because the body discovered was covered in a towel that had the mark ‘Z’ on it. But then at about the mid-point of the story, we learn that in fact the maid of the house had killed the politician because he was not only abusing his wife but was also raping the maid, and she has finally had enough and killed him. However, that night Zigoma had actually come with the intention of killing him anyway so he tells the maid to tell everyone ‘this was my kill!’ and so left the flag on the body. We also find out later that the reason why Zigoma kidnapped Mifune’s wife (Mutou Yuuko) after the murder, is because they actually were original betrothed to each other before she got forced into her marriage with Mifune, which is just like ‘he saved her?! he protected her?! He still loves her?!’ so again, it creates all these questions and such in your brain that you just have to think through and make a decision on. Also once Yuuko realises who Zigoma is, she takes his side completely and helps him out, so she too still has feelings for him! Just waaaahhh?! But then in another twist of fate, right at the end he kills her anyway!! To which I was like ‘waaaahhh?!’ even more!

I adore the ending so much; not the fact that everyone dies at the end, but how it’s visually shown. They die due to a bomb going off, destroying the building they’re in (again, very Guy Fawkes like!), and just as they all drop dead, letters from the ceiling fall down onto their bodies, and the flags at the back of the stage drop down too. I absolutely loved this visual touch! It was amazing and beautiful.

Another plot twist that had me like ‘HOLY HELL! WHAT?!’ was at the very last scene. But first, some back story: the very first scene of the stage is the actor for Hira Tarou, explaining the backstory and setting of the story. Then IN the story, we meet Tarou who is a very good journalist who just happens to know that Mikasa and co. are trying to stop Zigoma. Because Tarou has some inside sources, they let him join their adventure and story. So we don’t really suspect him for the most part, but we do have one moment in the play where Mikasa asks ‘how do you know all this (secret) stuff?’ and Tarou simply replies ‘well I have informants in the police’ and they just brush it off. But right at the very end, when everyone else is dead, on the floor, on the stage, Tarou comes to the center to finish the narration of the story; he reveals (right at the end!!) that he is in fact Edogawa Ranpo, shuts the book in his hand, black out, stage finishes. I was like ‘wait... he’s.... EDOGAWA RANPO!?!?’ again, MIND BLOWN! I did not see that coming at all! And it was such a good, juicy and powerful reveal! It was so good!

Characters

I really liked how everyone got involved in the main story, and I loved all the different ‘factions’ within the story too! We had about six different groups within the story. We had the Detective and his sidekick alongside the police; Zigoma and his posse of followers; bystanders who get super nosey in the Detective’s business; A trio friendship between Meiko, Hirosuke and Naoki; An ambitious opera singer and a Phantom Thief who somehow get caught up in it all without meaning to; Kiyoshi and his clan of servants. I think those are the six main groups. So you can see the big dynamic difference between some and the similarities between others.

The richness and depth of these characters you get from them even though we barely spend two hours with them on stage is just amazing. I fell for some characters so quickly and so hard! I was completely invested in every single one of them! I seriously don’t understand how ASSH consistently makes big casts, but still manages to make every character so rich and different! I don’t understand how we haven’t had a mass crossover of character traits yet in any of their stages! It is just amazing! Characters that I automatically loved just because I love the actors were: Zigoma and Arata. Characters who completely won my heart over throughout the play were: Tokage, Hirosuke, Mikasa, Kitamiko and Hanasaki! I loved all the characters to be honest but the MVP, the one who I ended up completely loving and rooting for and took a lot of my attention was Hirosuke! I don’t know why; maybe because he was visually pleasing, but also his character development was so great! I also loved his relationship with some of the characters! Just... I need to go into spoilers to flail about this boy! So are you ready?

So the main story with Hirosuke is that he and his two close/best friends (Meiko and Naoki) decided to work for Fukiya so that they could have a better and less poor life. But it turns out Fukiya is the worst, and Fukiya orders Meiko and Hirosuke to murder Naoki because he discovers that Naoki is trying to trick and betray him. So while Meiko begs him not to kill Naoki, Hirosuke does it anyway. This obviously breaks his heart and tears him apart. Later on we see Meiko asking Hirosuke to stop following Fukiya, to leave with her and it get away from all this but Hirosuke follows orders, ‘this is for the better’ and shoots her dead. This obviously destroys him too and after killing her. I loved seeing the internal struggle that he had within himself; does he follow his boss? does he follow his heart? does he follow his friends? does he put power over friendship first. I love how we see it eat him from the inside! And that is why he is my favourite! I also love the little scene he has with Tokage at the beginning; she’s the phantom thief who’s being stealing things for Fukiya, but she has never shown her face - she always has him at gun point or knife point, forcing him to look the other way and never see her face. And the beginning of this play, he says ‘just once, could I see your face?’, but it’s not until right at the very end when all the characters have gathered together, that he finally gets to see her, and you can see how happy he is! I love the friendship/slight-romance we have between these two.

Relating to those three, there is a butler, Gondawara, who works alongside Hirosuke and Meiko, and also tries to protect them (and others) many times. I absolutely adored him. He had such a short role but I love how he protected Saito Kanoko and then persuades her to eventually tell the truth about Mifune’s death. He was also the one who stood in the way of Hirosuke and Tei, trying to get Hirosuke to come to his senses and giving him a chance to run away but this ultimately leads to Gonda’s death. He was such a sweet character and I’m so sad he died, and so quickly too!

Gonda’s death is thanks to Tei who has a short but very interesting story line! The girl is addicted to Opium. And once on the opium, she becomes absolutely obsessed with killing. So much so that she attacked and killed Gonda. The cops also try to stop her by shooting her in the leg but because of the drugs, she doesn’t feel it and instead just starts dragging herself across the floor. She finally drags herself back to Zigoma and her crew, but Zigoma deems her insane and that she has lost the real reason why they are killing people, so Zigoma kills her.

Of course, I can’t talk about the characters without talking about our young, new detective Arata, who also goes by the nickname of ‘Suspender-kun’ because he always wears suspenders! He was adorable! He was a fresh, raring to go new detective and I absolutely loved his relationship with his boss, Saburo! They were such a hilarious comedy duo! And Hiroki/Arata on his own did a damn good job being funny and hilarious too! Also Saburo himself was hilarious as a solo artist!

Let me tell you about their ridiculousness: In the very first scene where they introduce themselves, Saburo is completely over the top and takes off his jacket and just drops it on the floor, then later on Arata throws it back to him but he lets it drop. The timing was absolutely perfect and was absolutely hilarious! Another scene is when Arata decides he’s going to seriously help and Saburo finally calls him ‘Arata’ instead of ‘suspender-kun’, so he gets really happy and really dramatic and holds himself against a wall, and Saburo comes over and comments ‘you idiot’ before slapping him on the butt xD

Another character I enjoyed was the Tantei’s assistant: Hanasaki Mayuko. She  was an adorable dork!! I absolutely adored her! And she really shone during her adlibbed comedy scenes! Not only did she get the crowd laughing, but even Mikasa’s actor Hattori was having a hard time keeping a straight face at times xD She was so cute and funny and sweet and adorable! I really liked her! One scene that stood out to me for her: Hanasaki and the Youkan (a thick, jellied Japanese dessert made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar)! Kanoko brings Youkan to the detective as a thanks for saving her and for all their hard work on trying to find Yuuko. But turns out Hanasaki LOVES youkan so she tries to eat all of it through various ways, either offering to Mikasa (who she knows will say no), and quickly trying to eat another piece straight after. But because of this, natural comedy came out where she was trying to say her lines while her mouth was full of food xD also trying to be like ‘oh Mikasa doesn’t like youkan. DO YOU? No you don’t! Didn’t think so! More for me!!’ which was so cute.

Speaking of Mikasa, about part-way through the play, there’s a flashback-slash-fever dream where Mikasa is talking to Zigoma, and Zigoma is like ‘what’s the real reason you became a private detective instead of a policemen? You know deep down the real reason why!’ so that makes me think maybe his father had died on the job and that’s why he became a mysterious private detective instead? Or was his father corrupt as well as the police force at the time? So many questions!

One plot twist that I really enjoyed was the reveal that Tokage and Ando Ayako were actually sisters!! When Ayako starts yelling ‘Onee-san // Big Sister’ at one point, I was like “OMG THEY ARE SISTERS?!?!?!’. I totally didn’t see it coming! Especially because, for most of the play Ayako is horrible towards Tokage and is very cold, almost as if they had never met and just got off on the wrong foot straight away! But later on we learn that they do care for each other and they had to pretend not to know each other, in case Tokage ever got caught because she didn’t want to endanger her little sister. I was MIND BLOWN.

There is another twist where Aikawa actually betrays everyone and was working for Zigoma the whole time. Unfortunately I had already cottoned on a few scenes before hand that she was secretly in on it. I don’t know how I knew but I just felt like ‘there must be some other reason why this family of three are in the story’ and there are scenes where she’s left to protect Shioro at time, and Shiori is DUMB AS FUCK, so I wouldn’t put it past Shiori to not notice what Aikawa was up to and too dumb to realise when Aikawa had gone off to plot or make something. So I naturally figured either Shiori was pretending to be this dumb, stupid sister, or Aikawa was a secret mastermind or Tesujiro was pretending to admire Mikasa so he could set him up. I knew something was going on with those three.

Other Notable Moments/Scenes

In true ASSH style we had the whole cast dancing during the opening song. Luckily, Hiroki on the far left when the dance opening song starts.

There is a slow motion fighting scene which I thought was so cool!!! I really enjoyed the slow-mo moment. Also we got live singing! Ando Ayako’s actress Sawada Maria actually sang the opera songs live to us and she also sings the ending song live which is amazing! Her voice is very, very good!!

I really loved how Saburo and Mikasa decide to team up at the end even though they had some differences throughout the play, but for the greater good (!) they team up in the finale!

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Some things that specifically happened during my First Show (Detective Version):

I was first row and on the very last seat to the left. The gap between my feet and the stage was practically 0.1cm! So I was super duper close to all the actors! Which was for the most part absolutely terrifying (especially during the fight scenes). However, it did have it’s good moment which I will list right here: towards the end of the show, Hiroki gets into a fight which causes him to get thrown and pinned against a wall. That wall was RIGHT in front of me and my head was at the perfect level for Hiroki’s waist, which means that his butt was right in front of me!!!! Also he smelt really nice xD another moment was the final showdown between Tantei Mikasa and Zigoma, they were fighting and again, they slammed against the wall right next to me!! I was parts freaking out and parts overwhelmed and overjoyed xD

We had a double curtain call, and the ending aisatsu was by Hanasaki who was totally cute and she got very shy and couldn’t remember what she wanted to say. But everyone was giggling at her adorableness xD She was stood next to Hiroki and they were both so cute alongside each other!

Of course it was filming day!! When do I never go on filming day?! xD I am ALWAYS at filming day!!! xD

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Second Show (Bad Guy Version):

I went to the senshuuraku (the finale) of this show! They really went all out on the comedy in this final show! Hiroki got hit so hard by Saburo that he started laughing to the side of the stage. Then later Saburo went to pull and release his suspenders and pretended to it the first time, but on the second time he actually let go and it was really hard. Hiroki was rubbing his chest in pain.

Maybe I just didn’t notice in the first show but I feel like in this show, the three people working for Zigoma got their moment of explaining what they wanted and why they joined Zigoma. Maybe this was the scene especially created for this version of the show, or maybe I just missed it the first time round. But I loved getting to know where they came from, their backgrounds and why they joined him.

Another Higawari (daily change) was Gonda saying an Acrostic Poem for Ji-Go-Ma. In the second show, he got a huge round of applause after his Ji-Go-Ma poem because it was just too funny and very good. Unfortunately, I do no remember it *cries*

I also noticed in this second show that there is a moment where Arata and Hanasaki fall in love for a moment after she accidentally touches his arm and that motivates him to help Mikasa on his case some more xD

While in the first show we had Saburo just complete miss catching his jacket through his own lack of calculations, this time it was through Hiroki’s fault; Saburo couldn’t reach far enough to grab his jacket from Hiroki’s throw, it was hilarious.

Another higawari is when Saburo is trying to talk to Arata but Arata get’s super angry straight away: Saburo: Let’s go brat. Arata: *super angry* What did you say?!?! Saburo: Let’s go you brat! Arata: *calms down* Ohh I didn’t hear you! Saburo: *shock* IS THAT WHY YOU GOT MAD?! The scene ends with Hiroki asking Saburo to slap his arm, and they did this wave with their arms before walking off stage xD

In both shows, when Zigoma first appears in front of Yuuko in her house before kidnapping her, he walks in with brandy in a brandy glass and drinks it. In every other show the glass has been half full so it was easy for him to drink. BUT, in this final show Zigoma walked on stage with a GLASS FULL of brandy, and it took him a while to finish it. It was obvious who’d seen the show before because we were the ones cracking up as soon as he walked on stage! So as you can tell, they really went all out on the comedy in this final show! It wasn’t being filmed, they might as well do ridiculous shit and have fun xD

Just before the youkan scene, Hanasaki is in the kitchen making a mess, but then walks on stage and she uses a crashing noise to her advantage. She kept replaying the crash music as Mikasa tried to talk. She tried so hard to get Mikasa’s actor to burst out in laughter but didn’t work; we (the audience) were all dying though.

It was a triple curtain call where we got an announcement for the next stage (the next installment of KimiSaga - review here)!! In March!!! I was (and am!) so excited!!

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GOODS

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And that’s everything! Sorry it took so damn long to get these reviews out (and I’m still a shit ton behind!) but bare with me xD