#Tsunashi Tokio

[ultraericthered]

A reprisal grander and more meaningful than the first time around. Takuto Tsunashi punches his shitty father IN THE FUCKING FACE.

I was losing it at this moment. Epic. Cathartic. Beautiful. Perfection.

[linkspooky]

CHOUJIN X, CHAPTER 41 HYENA

Hello, it's time to cover the climactic battle and rescue of Palma a recently introduced character who will probably turn out to be a major player considering the sheer amount of time that has been spent on this battle. This is also the first time we've seen the trio truly work together in a fight since they got separated before the time skip so there's a lot of interesting character and thematic moments to dig in here.

I think if there's any central statement that Ishida is trying to get across in this long drawn out fight scene it's that old cliche.

GOOD INTENTIONS LEAD TO HELL.

Tokio's mentor Sato reminds him of this. While he is trying to make Tokio into the successor of Sandek because of this heroic and selfless attitude he has, he's also the ahrshest critic of that same attitude. That no matter how hard he fights, or how beautiful the path he walks, or what his ideals are intentions are not outcomes.

The power of choices is a common theme in Ishida's works, often used with a railroad motif at the same time. We are capable of making choices, we are capable at switching tracks at critical junctions too, but oftentimes there are unforeseen consequences for our choices and because of that no matter how much you overthink a choice it at times feels like you've been railroaded into an unexpected result. There is always a choice and always a consequence, and sometimes these things aren't fair or just or logical.

Azuma makes a pretty clear reference to the train tracks monologue in Tokyo Ghoul when he's going to fight the scissor choujin to try and rescue Tokio. In both cases protagonists make a wrong choice that they are then locked into for different reasons. Kaneki correctly understands that Furuta might raid his home base, but instead of splitting his forces appropriately goes alone.

Azuma similiarly is told he can't handle fighting against a Choujin and to stay out of it, and goes anyway. In Azuma's case he's told straight up to his face that his intentions aren't as noble as he makes them out to be. Did he want to save Tokio because he wants to be the kind of person who save others, or did he just want to test himself because he thought being put in life threatening danger would activate his choujin powers?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions can mean two things, number one good intentions don't always lead to good results or number two people's good intentions aren't always as good as they make themselves out to be.

Tokio post timeskip is so far shown to be true to his good nature. However, he is an Ishida protagonist and Ishida doesn't really write straightforward heroes. There is a similarity between the two scenes as I mention, Azuma and Tokio both willingly choose to charge into fights that are far out of their depths and they're warned beforehand that while sitting and doing nothing might seem crueler it also might be the smarter choice and they might make things worse by intervening. Tokio is told that he was the one who asked to take the lead on this Opium operation and now he might throw it all away to save a random stranger by charging in with no backup.

When Tokio is fighting he's able to hear Palma's cries for help in her chaosified state because of their shared connection to Zora's blood and we see he is forcibly flashing back to critical moments of his life. The scene on his beach where he made the decision to leave his life and friends behind for one year and devote himself entirely to training. The memorial for the dead he left behind in his final battle where he beat the tyrannical choujin yes, but lost most of his allies.

The text are Palma's thoughts, but they are probably things Tokio highly identifies with because they're things he's said in his personal narrative before (I want to be stronger, I want to smarter, why am I weak? i can't anymore? Why? I can't give up) something that has even appeared to us in his internal dialogue right before the timeskip.

Palma is lamenting her fate, how weak, useless and helpless she feels and how it feels like nothing she did amounted to anything and begging for help while at the same time succumbing to her berserk state. Part of me wonders if Tokio is overinvested in saving Palma not because of some higher mind heroic goal, but because number one a year later he's still stuck with the feelings of uselessness he had on the beach from watching everyone fight and die for his sake. He's stuck with the idea that if he does not do everything on his own from now on that he'll revert to his old useless self.

Is Tokio trying so hard and so recklessly to save Palma because it's the right thing to do? Is he doing it because their psychic link makes him project his own feelings of uselessness and helplessness onto her? Is it survivor's guilt from all the people he couldn't save in Iwato?

Is it because Tokio like Kaneki hates being made to feel weak or useless so at moments like this he will act on his own and act recklessly so he can pretend he's in control. I think these chapters in general are setting up more for Tokio's character, at least to add a level of complexity because really importantly if Azuma had not shown up when he did Tokio would have completely lost.

It's also narratively interesting to me how this scene compares to when Azuma charged in blindly to save Tokio from the scissor choujin when he was warned against it. In that case Azuma's good intention truly did lead to hell because he got the worst result possible. Not only was he brutally cut in half and didn't succeed in helping Tokio at all, but he also turned into a Choujin and immediately brutally attacked the person he was trying to save. Azuma wanted Choujin powers too but when he awakens he's immediately told he's dangerous and needs to control himself.

Things just don't work out for Azuma narratively. That's always been the case since the beginning. The things Azuma wants get just kind of dropped into Tokio's lap. Tokio has more potential as a Choujin. Tokio awakens first. Tokio has spent years slacking off unlike Azuma who was a martial arts prodigy and overachiever, and in just one year of hard work Tokio has far surpassed Azuma. Tokio is Sato's star pupil, while Sato remarks to Azuma's face that Yamato Mori's quality of peace keepers is on the decline. Tokio is put in charge of a large operation when he speaks up against his superiors, whereas Azuma's attitude is keep your head down and listen to your superiors and he remains in relatively the same place.

Tokio is the protagonist so the story moves forward with him and it's about his growth, whereas Azuma is continually frustrated by both his lack of mobility and lack of growth. SO in this scenario where Tokio and Azuma basically do the same thing, run in to fight without backup Azuma's ends with this horrific scene of him turning against his best friend and even losing his status as "Tokio's hero" while Tokio gets to fly off into the sunset with Palma.

I'm not saying Azuma deserves better anything, I'm just observing that things work out for Tokio and they don't really work out for Azuma. Tokio keeps movig forward while Azuma stays in place and is oftentimes left behind. That's what Azuma long suspected and feared that if Tokio put the effort in that not only would he be on Azuma's level, but he'd be much higher than him.

It's why Azuma freaks out on Ely for not taking his side in the conflict between him and Tokio. In Azuma's mind at least everything he wants, Tokio just already has. Ely doesn't mind that Tokio ditched her for a year because she's more relaxed about those kinds of things. Not only is Azuma more sensitive he's also known Tokio for all of his life as opposed to Ely who only met him recently. From Azuma's point of view though the connection he's built up with Ely for the past year as her partner means almost nothing because he thinks she's naturally siding with Tokio, because Azuma fears Tokio's just naturally better. That there's something internally missing in Azuma that Tokio has and that fear makes him play stupid high school games with Ely. "Well, why are you on his side? You're supposed to be on my side" he yells in the middle of an important mission even though hes supposed to be the most mature and goal oriented member of the main cast.

Of course, there's the fact that Tokio didn't save the day in this situation because of anything he did specifically, besides making the decision to save Palma and not give up on that even when things were looking bad. No the day was saved because Azuma and Ely showed up and they were only there because Azuma considered Palma suspicious and was following up on a lead he established beforehand. It's Azuma's detectivework that brought them there, and luck to salvage things after they went south and Tokio wasn't strong enough to handle it, not anything Tokio did specifically.

It's still a pattern though Tokio tends to get good outcomes, and Azuma tends to make choices that lead to bad ones. I'm curious as to why this is though I don't think it's going to settle on a simple answer like Tokio good, Azuma bad.

Sato's heavy emphasis on "good intentions lead to hell" makes me think that the happy ending to this chapter mini-arc might get the rug pulled out of it at a later event. Palma turns into a hyena, and Azuma had a lot of connections to hyena symbolism early on in the manga.

Something tells me we might get a scene like this with Azuma and Palma at a later point, that the happy ending with Palma now might somehow lead to a tangled tragedy in the future. It might even be a romantic thing, because Azuma's jealousy over his perception that Ely is taking Tokio's sides has shades of romantic jealousy and possessiveness to it too. I'll talk about this theory more when I'm analyzing all the reveals in the next chapter though.

[crossoverheaven]

[lorbeerprinz]

ramblings: Head and Psychopathy (Part 1)

So a while ago I read the book Talking with Psychopaths and Savages by Christopher Berry-Dee and within the introductory chapters, he goes into great length detailing and explaining the states of mind known as psychopathy and savagery as a ground for the various case studies that are discussed further on in the book. Within those early chapters, he (relatively briefly) discusses the Psychopathy Checklist (CPL-R) created by Professor Robert Hare, a psychological assessment test to determine whether someone is a psychopath or sociopath. While both the author and the man he refers back to stress that this test is not supposed to be applied by non-professionals, I am still going to use it in the basic form that is presented in Talking with. Not because I’m a professional or I think I’m better than other laymen, but because the one I want to examine under these conditions is a fictional character and I believe in this case we can be more lenient. Nobody’s getting hurt. As you can see from the title, the subject of this examination will be Head. This is mainly because I think that while as a person, he’s absolute trash, he’s a really interesting character (i.e. a fictional being) to look at. In fact, just a short while ago someone on TV Tropes added “psychopathic manchild” to the list of tropes about him and while I have already discussed the “manchild” part in a different essay, I want to focus on the “psychopathic” part this time. Please note that all I have at the current moment is a list from Berry-Dee’s book that is simply that – a list. It doesn’t go into detail with any of these aspects, so I can only be relatively superficial with my assessment here. Additionally, we know nothing of Head’s early life (you’ll see why this is a bit of a problem) and even throughout the times we witness him, he stays a quite reserved, mysterious character that’s hard to really get behind. So apologies if this will end up sounding a little shallow, but I hope it’s entertaining nonetheless. Lastly, it should be noted that in general, not everyone who scores high on this checklist goes to become a savage criminal and in the same vein they don’t need a 100% match to be regarded a psychopath. My goal with this is simply to look at Head a little bit more closely as I noticed while I was reading the list in the book, my mind automatically was matching the checklist points with his behaviour, so I’m trying to see for myself how far I can get with this specific checklist-character combination. At the very least, I hope this is gonna be an interesting read.

The Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) by Prof. Robert Hare

Glibness/ superficial charm Fore sure. We all have seen how easy it seems to be for him to lure people to his side and make them stay there no matter the atrocities he commits, we have seen people falling for him in a romantic and platonic sense, whether male or female. Of course, he does have the good looks and aura of a high-class artist (with actual talent to boot) to pull this off. But he also doesn’t just have to rely on his manpretty, as he’s also pretty good with words, managing to rile up his fellow Kiraboshi members during many a speech. He carefully chooses what he says while still appearing honest (the keyword being appearing here) when he tries to wrap Sora and later Sugata around his fingers. Head is obviously no idiot and knows what to say to whom to make them believe he’s genuinely interested in them and their well being, but it doesn’t mean it works on absolutely everyone. Takuto saw right through his attempts at starting a manipulative conversation with him and not all members of Kiraboshi, even within his own faction, are fine with how he does things. And we as an audience know that once you peel of his outer layer of pretty words and youthful looks, what’s left is a man who broke himself in his attempts to right the wrong he believes has been done to him, and who is making everyone suffer along the way.

Grandiose sense of self-worth Quite a lot of it. Not only does he push himself into the underground organisation that would eventually become Kiraboshi and pretty much takes it over, he also displays himself as the center of it as long as they haven’t recruited Sugata, despite also trying to making it seem like an organisation ruled by fractions of equal importance that can gain power through working towards their combined goal. Most glaringly, however, is the fact that his reaction to not receiving the family mark from his father is to basically ragequit, run away and decide to screw over as many people as possible while aiming not for another method to get his bloodline’s mecha, no, it has to be the biggest, most powerful thing hidden on Earth. Which can kill everyone. And that’s apparently fine as long as he gets what he wants. He can travel back in time, after all. He doesn’t lose anything.

Need for stimulation/ proneness to boredom This is best shown in his interactions with Sakana-chan, where he keeps making her entertain him, be it through songs or, most prominently, a story. Once he gets bored of her story and dissatisfied with its message and ending, he throws her out and becomes rather listless for a while. Only when he starts meeting with (and subsequently tries to manipulate) Sugata, he becomes more active again, which could mean that he needed another, new challenge or distraction to shake off his listlessness. What stands out as well is that even with entertainment present, he appears to be rather bored or tired, often seen in his interactions with Sakana-chan, where he goes from one childish mood to the next while hardly managing to even lift himself up from his bed. Additionally, it appears as though after Shingo falling into his coma and Sora leaving the island, Head went through another long period of listlessness, evidenced by his own comments about his art and how he was about to stop painting altogether, not to mention we almost exclusively see paintings he made while Sora was still around, meaning he possibly did not really paint at all in the following fifteen years, and Ryousuke’s comments that he hasn’t seen Head laugh in ages. Only Sakana-chan and later Sugata manage to give him new stimulation and make him become more active one by one.

Pathological lying This one is pretty easy to talk about, considering that for most of the series, Head is pretty much living a life of lies by having taken on a fake identity. While he regards it as a pen name, the fact that the people around Southern Cross only know him by this name and are completely oblivious to his connection to Takuto (something that was in fact necessary to lead them on, as well as the audience) turns this more into a second identity rather than an artist’s name. And let’s not forget the fact that he hid the true goals and purpose behind Kiraboshi from his fellow members, possibly lied to Shingo about the significance behind his Cybody in connection to Head’s goals, possibly about his entire self. While we cannot catch the full dimensions of his lies and manipulations, he certainly appears to be a character for whom lies are a daily part of life as brushing teeth and eating breakfast are for others. And to give him kudos, since the other characters were unable to figure out what he was doing until it was too late, he seems to have the cunning and intelligence to keep track of his lies and keep them straight. Good on him…?

Cunning/ manipulative Well, I think I don’t need to say much about this. We all know how much of a manipulator Head is, preying on people’s feelings to exploit them in ways that give him what he wants while his victims might not even notice what is going on until it is too late (see Keito, for example). And while he doesn’t always use sex to further his manipulation, it seems to be a big part in it quite often.

(to be continued)

[maris-stella]

Haven’t done anything Star Driver related in way too long so I doodled my OTP ;A;”v

[idolish7-es]

3.15.5: Otra decisión

Yamato: ¿Ya no pueden presentarse en salas de música? Creí que les iba bien en los conciertos. Ryuu: Los conciertos en sí van bien, pero no teníamos muchas opciones de lugares en primer lugar, y las salas grandes están fuera de cuestión porque son caras... Sougo: ¿Y si buscan patrocinadores? Hay algunos que sirven para las presentaciones, ¿No? Gaku: Anesagi está en contra, porque los contratos no son justos. Nos dijo que podrían empezar a mandonearnos. Gaku: No podemos poner el destino de TRIGGER en manos de alguien que jamás ha oído nuestra música. Sería distinto si fuera alguien de confianza, pero ese no es el caso. Mitsuki: Su situación es muy diferente a la nuestra cuando empezamos. TRIGGER ya tiene una enorme cantidad de seguidores. Mitsuki: ¿Y qué tal un programa en internet? Nosotros conseguimos muchos fans así, y a la gente le encantaba participar por el chat. Tenn: Subimos algunas grabaciones de conciertos, pero si hacemos un programa así, podríamos recibir muchas preguntas sobre lo sucedido con nuestra antigua agencia. Tamaki: ¿Por qué decidieron ser independientes? Gaku: Lo decidimos con la agencia... Tsukumo los estaba presionando, aparentemente. Gaku: Quería usar a TRIGGER como ejemplo para demostrar su ambición de tomar control de toda la industria. Yamato: Tiene sentido... Y explica por qué ZOOL y los demás artistas de Tsukumo ahora aparecen en todos lados. Mitsuki: Intenté preguntarle a gente del personal, y aunque nadie les dijo explícitamente que no mencionen a TRIGGER y en su lugar promuevan a ZOOL... Mitsuki: Se volvió algo así como una regla no escrita que es mejor hacer eso para no meterse en problemas. Mitsuki: La gente puede percibir cuando tienen que dar un paso atrás para evitar acabar envueltos en nada. Momo-san dijo que es algo que se consigue cuando ganas autoridad e influencia. Yamato: ZOOL… Siempre hubo una gran demanda por un grupo que fuera así de rebelde y libre. A mí no me disgustan. Yamato: Lo que da miedo es que puede que acaben cambiando la definición de lo que un idol realmente es. Tienen talento, eso seguro, pero también son jóvenes, confiados y van en contra de la autoridad. Yamato: Mientras más se obsesionen con ellos los fans nuevos, menos atención atraerán los grupos viejos. Me preocupa que eso acabe dañando nuestra imagen también. Yamato: Por eso quiero que TRIGGER, un grupo que es popular entre los adultos también, regrese. Yamato: Así que, aquí tienen. Tenn: ¿Qué es este sobre? Yamato: Un viejo que conozco me lo dio hace poco. Seguro lo hace para sentirse bien consigo mismo y nada más, pero le alegraría que fuera puesto en buen uso. Ryuu: ¡¿Dinero?! ¡No podemos aceptarlo! Yamato: Necesitan poder rentar lugares más grandes, ¿No? No es mucha cantidad, pero debería ayudarles a pagarlo. Gaku: Idiota, no podemos tomar tu dinero. Nosotros también tenemos nuestros ahorros. Tamaki: Pero son independientes ahora, ¿No? Re:vale era, tipo, super pobre antes de debutar. Tamaki: Tenían un lugar muy pequeño en el que vivir, y aparecían todo tipo de cosas raras... Hongos. Cucarachas... ¡Fantasmas! ¡Ladrones! ¡Acosadores! Ryuu: ¡Mi casa no tiene nada de eso, no te preocupes! Mitsuki: Además, la mitad de esas cosas pasaban por su culpa... Gaku: Como sea, no aceptaremos tu dinero. Yamato: ¿Por qué no? No es como que tenga algo en lo que usarlo tampoco. Gaku: Ahórralo para el futuro. Que malgastes dinero así es la razón por la que los demás te llaman niño rico malcriado. Yamato: ¿…Y tú me lo dices, Yaotome Junior? Gaku: ¿Ah? ¿Qué quieres decir? Sougo: ¡No peleen! Um, si les parece bien, ¿Puedo usar este dinero? Mitsuki: Ya veo, eso también es una buena soluci-- ¡No, no, espera ahí! ¡¿Dónde crees que vas robándoles el dinero mientras ellos pelean?! Sougo: ¡Esa no es mi intención! Si me lo dan, creo que puedo hacer que aumente. Mitsuki: ¿Aumente? Tamaki: ¿Si le damos dinero a Sou-chan aumenta? ¿Puedo darte yo también? Tenn: ¿Como si fuera capital para una inversión? Sougo: No es seguro, pero puede que sea capaz de conseguir que esto sea suficiente para rentar un lugar grande. Yamato: ¿Puedes hacer eso? Sougo: He estado estudiando administración de activos desde que estaba en primaria. Me daban un millón de yenes y me decían que intentara duplicarlo en inversiones. Yamato: ¿Hay padres que le dan un millón de yenes a sus hijos pequeños...? Ryuu: ¿Cuánto lograste hacer? Sougo: … Gaku: Era solo un niño. Probablemente perdió una parte. Sougo: ...Antes de que les diga la cantidad, deben saber que, desde que dejé mi familia, ya no está en mi posesión. Gaku: Ok. Sougo: Doscientos millones. Gaku: ¡¿DOSCIENTOS MILLONES?! Mitsuki: ¡¿Tenías 200 millones de yenes?! ¡¿En serio?! ¡¿DOSCIENTOS MILLONES?! Sougo: Llegué a tener quinientos millones, pero me equivoque prediciendo los movimientos de fondos y acabé perdiendo trescientos millones... Es un tipo de accidente muy común. Yamato: Uh, estoy bastante seguro de que no. Gaku: Definitivamente no. Tamaki: Si TRIGGER quisiera hacer un concierto del mismo nivel de los de antes, ¿Cuánto costaría? Gaku: Verás... Le pregunté lo mismo a Anesagi, y la cantidad fue suficiente para que me diera por vencido. Mitsuki: ¿Cuánto? Gaku: Si el evento son tres días, no tenemos nada de publicidad, y ahorramos en todo lo posible, como mínimo serían setenta millones. Mitsuki: Podrían comprarse una casa con esa cantidad... Gaku: Sí… Yamato: ¿...Debería llevarme este pequeño e insignificante cambio? Ryuu: ¡Apreciamos tu intención! ¡Igual que la tuya, Sougo-kun! Pero no deberíamos depender de ustedes así. Yamato: Sí… Sougo: Lamento haberlos interrumpido así... Ryuu: Si Sougo-kun realmente quiere ayudar, nos gustaría pedirte otra cosa. Sougo: ¿Eh? ¿Qué cosa? Ryuu: Todos los lugares para conciertos están reservados hasta fin de año. Ryuu: Pero encontramos un solo lugar que tiene una fecha libre por cancelación. Gaku: Anesagi rechazó esa opción, ¿No? Ryuu: Sí, pero… Sougo: ¿Cuál es? Ryuu: Es fuera de Tokio, pero... El FSC Hall en Kyoto.  Sougo: … Ryuu: Nuestros antiguos patrocinadores de programa era el conglomerado de FSC. Ryuu: Pero ahora se niegan a rentarnos el lugar porque quieren evitar que parezca que nos apoyan. Yamato: Así que, creen que si Sou dice algo, les hará cambiar de parecer. Ryuu: La verdad, solo pensamos que sería bueno que eso pasara. Sin embargo, no es eso lo que quería pedirte. Ryuu: Sougo-kun. Dijiste que no entendía tu situación, pero aún así creo que deberías intentar hablar con tu familia. Ryuu: Luego de toda esta conmoción, y todas las cosas que pasaron antes, me di cuenta más que nunca. Ryuu: No te lo pido porque quiera que nos salves, pero antes de recurrir a métodos más drásticos... Ryuu: Me gustaría que pudieras sentirte cómodo diciendo "Intentaré preguntarle a mi familia." No sobre nuestro problema, sino sobre cualquier cosa. Sougo: …. Gaku: ¿Qué tiene que ver la familia de Osaka con el FSC hall? Ryuu: ¡Ah! ¡Ah- lo siento! ¡No dije nada! Sougo: Mi padre es el presidente de FSC. Gaku: ¡¿Qu-?! Sougo: Pero fui desheredado y ya no mantengo el contacto con él. Ryuu: ¿...Te parece bien seguir viviendo así? Sougo: … Ryuu: ¿No quieres volver a hablar con él, Sougo-kun? Quieres que tu familia te apoye, ¿No? Sougo: Yo…. Tamaki: ¡Y una mierda! Ryuu: Tamaki-kun… Tamaki: ¡Su familia le hizo cosas horribles! ¡¿Por qué tiene que ir a hablar con ellos?! Ryuu: No es por ellos, sino por Sougo-kun… Tamaki: ¡No les va a importar de un momento a otro! ¡Hay muchos padres ahí fuera a los que no les importa una mierda sus hijos! Tamaki: ¡Ryuu-aniki y los demás no tienen idea de cómo se siente! ¡Por eso pueden ir diciendo cosas como "llevarse bien con la familia es lo mejor"! Tamaki: ¡¿No, Sou-chan?! Sougo: Yo… Sougo: Nunca intenté hablar con ellos apropiadamente... Tamaki: … Sougo: En algún punto me rendí y creí que no harían nada más que rechazar mis sueños... Así que nunca me esforcé por comunicarme. Sougo: Como Nagi-kun dijo, para volvernos amigos tenemos que sentarnos juntos y esforzarnos por igual. Tamaki: ¿Qué diablos quiere decir eso...? ¡¿Por qué tenemos que esforzarnos nosotros?! ¡Ellos deberían esforzarse! Sougo: No hablo sobre tu situación, Tamaki-kun, esto es sobre mi... Tamaki: -Ggh, ¡No dije nada sobre mi familia! ¡Ryuu-aniki, métete en tus asuntos! Gaku: ¿Por qué te enojas? Tamaki: ¡No estoy enojado! Ryuu: ¿...Estás en contra de que Sougo-kun se reconcilie con su familia? Tamaki: … Ryuu: ¿...Crees que te dejará solo si lo hace? Tamaki: ¡Maldito! Ryuu: ¡Ah! Yamato: ¡Basta, Tama! Mitsuki: ¡No pelees! ¡Al fin pudimos ver a TRIGGER! Tenn: Yotsuba Tamaki. Tamaki: ¡¿Qué?! Tenn: Voy a ir a comprar algo. Acompáñame. Ryuu: ¿Tenn...? Tamaki: Tch... Ok. *cerrar* Gaku: ¿Estás bien, Ryuu? Ryuu: Sí… No quería hacer enojar a Tamaki-kun… Sougo: …Lo siento, Tsunashi-san. Ryuu: No, yo lo siento. Pero, piensa en lo que te dije, ¿Sí? Ryuu: Tu situación no es la misma que la de Tamaki-kun. Es obvio que te arrepientes de no haber hablado con ellos apropiadamente. Por el bien de tu propio futuro, considéralo. Sougo: ...Lo haré. Tamaki: … Tenn: …. Tamaki: ¡¿Qué?! ¡Si quieres decir algo, solo hazlo! Tenn: No. Tamaki: ¡No es como él dice! ¡No estaba pensando que sería injusto que Sou-chan se llevara bien con su familia! Tenn: Lo sé. Tamaki: Seguí buscando y buscando y cuando finalmente encuentro a Aya, ¿Que pasó? ¡No quiso regresar conmigo, sino que se fue con Kujou! ¡Las cosas no se arreglan con solo hablarlas! Tamaki: ¡Es culpa de Tenten y Kujou! ¡¿Lo sabes?! Tenn: Lo sé. Tenn: ...Lo siento. Tamaki: ...hgh….gh… Al final acabará lastimado, por eso debí advertirle... Tamaki: ...Tú, Aya... ¿...Por qué? Tamaki: Sakura Haruki... Mamá... ¿Por qué tuvieron que irse? ¿No podrían haberse quedado y ya? Tamaki: Dijo que me veía feliz en televisión... Qué estupidez... Tamaki: No… No sabe cuán solo me siento... Tenn: … Tamaki: ¡Idiotas! ¡Son todos unos idiotas! ¡Ryuu-aniki, Sou-chan, Aya, tú, todos! Tenn: ...Lo siento. Tamaki: ¡También hiciste sentir solo a Riku, eres un idiota! Tenn: …Lo siento. Tamaki: No quiero... Ya no quiero sentirme solo... Tenn: … Tenn: Le pondré un fin apropiado a todo. Te devolveré a Aya. Lo prometo. Tamaki: Tenten… Tenn: No puedo dejar que su sueño acabe. ¿Puedes esperar un poco más? Tamaki: ¿Solo... un poco? Tenn: Hasta el próximo verano. Tenn: Para entonces, me habré vuelto Zero. Tamaki: …

TV: ¡A continuación, un especial de canciones de amor perfectas para el otoño...! Haruka: Ya ni se escucha mencionar el nombre de TRIGGER. Deberían desaparecer de una vez. ¡Jaja! ¡Te lo mereces, Kujou! Haruka: … Haruka: ...Dijiste que podía superar a Zero… Haruka: ...Que sería tu hijo... *BWAAAAH BWAAH BWAAAAAAAAAAAH* Haruka: ¡¿Qué diablos es ese ruido?! ¡¿Qué estás haciendo, Ryou-san?! Ryou: Práctica de trombón. Haruka: ¿Ah? Ryou: Estaba viendo el programa de IDOLiSH7 Ryou: Y me dieron ganas de intentarlo.

Continuará...

-Todos los créditos a la traducción en inglés-

[aodite]

3. Character you’d marry.

Despite his I-WANT-TO-RULE-THE-WORLD personality, he still is very sexy.

[ultraericthered]

Tokio Tsunashi/Reiji Miyabi/Head Appreciation Post

Put in a blender every antagonistic character from every show that Enokido, Igarashi and Ikuhara worked on, and you'd get this guy.

[linkspooky]

Chouijn X, Chapter 38: Opium Thoughts

One of the longest and most eventful Choujin X chapters in awhile. There is a lot of worldbuilding to go through, and everything from the title of the chapter to the facts we learn about Zora’s backstory and how Chouijn powers work tie into some pretty heavy nihilism themes once again. Finally, we learn a lot about the Choujin X and how it could connect to both Azuma and Tokio as characters. 

1. The Opium of the People

Nietzsche famously rejected the religion, because of the values he believed it instilled in the public. 

“Religion is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of our soulless conditions.”

He wrote in his projected but never finished A contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s philosophy. Nietzsche’s critique on religion wasn’t really about whether or not god exists, but rather the effect christian values had on society as a whole.  

Christianity in Nietzsche’s account, emerged in the late roman empire in minds of timid slaves who lacked the stomach to get hold of what they really wanted and so it clung to a philosophy that made a virtue of their cowardice. He called this sklavenmoral (slave morality). 

It’s a recurring theme in nietzsche’s work, particularly in the first essay of his book On the genealogy of morality. Nietzsche believed that Christianity invented a moral system, to justify their own powerless in their society and unwillingness to go after what they wanted in life. Slave morality is based on resentiment - devaluing what the master values but the slave does not have.  Sexlessness turned into purity, weakness became goodness, submission became obedience, and not being able to take revenge forgiveness. 

In opposition to this slave morality was master morality, the morality of the strong willed. If slave morality is instilled in the masses by christianity, then master morality is created by one self. Master morality puts selfishness and pursuing one’s goals even above the so-called common good, something that Nietzsche doesn’t villify but rather encourages. 

"The noble type of man experiences itself as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, 'what is harmful to me is harmful in itself'; it knows itself to be that which first accords honour to things; it is value-creating."

Nietzsche, Werke in Dre Banden. 

One final lesson before connecting this to Choujin X, Nietzsche describing christanity as “opium” is important, because opium is famously a drug that people get addicted to, to avoid pain like morphine. 

Nietzsche avoided all narcotics and alcohol on top of that. He hated alcohol for the same reasons he scorned christianity, both of them numb pain, both encourage us to be fine with our lives for now instead of changing it for the better. Nietzsche encouraged people to never avoid pain and instead confront it head on. 

“How little you know of human happiness - you comfortable people. The secret of a fulfilled life is live dangerously, build your cities on the slopes of mount vesuvius.”

You can make a connection to Nietzsche’s aversion of narcotics, and the exposition this chapter that both Queem and Zora became opium addicts in order to deal with the pain of constant transformation, regeneraing wounds, and healing during their war against one another. 

Nietzsche belives the aversion to pain, and numbing yourself down will prevent you from living a fulfilled life, because pain is essential to life. In the story, Zora’s opium addiction is linked as a key cause for the slow loss of her own humanity. 

Which is why drugs are bad, kids! 

2. Tokio vs. Azuma

There are pretty significant leaps for Tokio in terms of character development in this chapter. For the first time Tokio wants to confront Zora head on and talk to her to answer her question, rather than avoiding it or running away from it like they did in their first conversation. 

Tokio also shows clear doubt in front of the current prophet / diviner of Yamato Mori. When she tries to tell him that Zora’s powers no longer function and there’s no point in speaking to her, Tokio’s pause indicates that he doesn’t fully trust that statement. 

This is clearly development on Tokio’s part, because in nietzschian philosophy accepting the decisions or morality of a higher power than yourself is what leads to complacency, whereas discovering your own morals and thinking for yourself helps you become a better person. The story even advocates for Tokio questioning the people above him as a sign of his growth. 

While Yamato Mori isn’t really shown to be an oppressive organization yet, there are some indiations that it might not be a good thing joining a collective group of Choujin all following law and order. At some point in the story we may explore the point of view of the opposite side, Batista and his allies who seem to be pursuing their own selfish goals instead of using their powers for the greater good. 

Either way, both of the prophets so far seem extremely dubious / untrustworthy, because in Nietzschian philosophy submission to a higher religious authority = bad. Zora is a cult leader who’s massacred her followers, and Tsukiko Mado ordered Sandek to do something as heinous as kill his own brother... and we don’t fully know if she’s being honest about Zora’s powers no longer functioning. 

This is just an aside, but for Tokyo Ghoul fans, Azuma is giving serious Arima vibes in this panel where Ely talks about how he’s currently been bringing in the law-breakers nonstop. Azama’s chouin power, is unsubtly a pair of handcuffs around his wrists connected to chains. Azuma’s current character reminds me a lot of one of my favorite discussions about Arima from Tokyo Ghoul: re. Fura pointing out that it’s not a good thing, that Arima flawlessly carries out orders like a machine without much struggle over his actions. 

At this point Azuma has integrated into Yamato Mori like a well-oiled machine, whereas Tokio is struggling on the outside of things and bouting the people around him. He’s also, once again to reference this Fura scene, extremely bothered by the death that’s happened around him. 

Tokio even rejects the poppy seed operation in front of everyone else, even though he’s not someone who really has the authority to do so. 

Finally, the chapter talks about three significant Choujin X who decided the fate of a great war in the early 1920s. There’s a parallel to the war Choujin in Azuma, and Sora / Zora in Tokio 

Azuma’s had visual symbolism connecting him to warfare in general, but also Queem specifically before, especially around the awakening of his powers. The story even implies that Azuma seems to have inherited his powers as the iron choujin because of his fixation with violence and warfare. 

 When he’s fighting against Tokio, the story even quotes the war choujin Queem.

While Tokio is the beast choujin who specifically inherited Sora’s wings. He can also use the same scythe / sword she’s shown using when combatting queem. Tokio is also the one who Zora believes is capable of inheriting her mark, and has the most potential of all the choujin’s she’s awakened by infusing them with her blood. 

Which puts them on opposite sides of the conflict, as the story even states that Zora existed to be the perfect counterbalance to Queem, with her allegicance with the third Choujin X being what pushed him back. 

So, once again even more foreshadowing that the boys are going to fight each other. Tokio abandoning Azuma without a word maybe the straw that broke the panels back in regards to their slowly decaying relationship over the course of the story. Azuma’s even depicted slowly walking away from Tokio  with his back turned to him on panel, and they haven’t even looked at one another on panel in two chapters. 

In Nietzschian philsophy avoidance = bad and Tokio’s still being avoidant in terms of his relationship with Azuma. Finally, I’m not actually sure what end of the conflict that each will end up on. Tokio is being more disobedient of Yamato Mori, and wants to see things from Zora’s point of view and he’s also the favorite to inherit her mark. On the other hand, Azuma is someone who is paralleled to Batista and who Batista has taken a certain interest in, along with all the other negative foreshadowing surrounding his character. I guess we’ll see as Azuma and Tokio’s relatoinship is one of the developments I’m most excited for. 

[crossoverheaven]

CROSSOVER PAIRS

Head/Reiji Miyabi (Star Driver) and Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin (Once Upon A Time)

[lorbeerprinz]

ramblings: Head and Psychopathy (Part 2)

Introduction and Part one HERE

Lack of remorse or guilt This, in my opinion, ties in somewhat with a point discussed later, about being unable to accept responsibility for one’s own actions and I don’t want to repeat much of it here. But even beyond that, it is quite obvious that Head is unphased by the fates and plights of his peers -- he seems to see no problem in aiming for a woman who is very obviously engaged and appears to feel no shame in manipulating the feelings and plights of those around him -- many of them young teenagers -- to further his own goals. The manga goes even further: he puts his relationship with Shingo right in Sora’s face (and like in the anime appears to completely lack an inch of understanding why she left) and has next to no reaction when Takuto, who he confronted with the sole purpose to kick his son while he’s already down, punches him with the remark that “mum[i.e. Sora]’s life turned out terrible because of [him]”.

Shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness) Yes and no, as it appears to depend on the person he’s trying to manipulate at the time. I have no doubt that his reactions to Sakana-chan were genuine, but when it comes to, say, Sugata, I do highly doubt it. Much of how he talked to him and how he reacted to him felt incredibly staged. However, I also do always say that this is a man who seems to have a knack of falling for his manipulation targets if he gets involved with them too far (which didn’t happen with Sugata due to the short timespan over which their meetings took place), so personally, it feels to me like while he probably does exhibit only superficial interest in his targets in the beginning, this changes the longer he has to deal with them. And this is, in fact, his biggest flaw and the reason why he ended up in this vicious circle of wanting Samekh’s powers to get the people back he wouldn’t have lost if it wasn’t for his hunger for said power in the first place. If he was able to put a clear, indisputable emotional boundary between himself and his victims, all of his plans would have gotten by much smoother (and he probably wouldn’t have fathered the one person who was able to thoroughly thwart his plans in the first place).

Callous/ lack of empathy Absolutely. A lot of it can be combined with his aforementioned lack of remorse/guilt, I would say, as an inability to see his own faults also means being unable to see (or consciously ignoring) the effects his own and other’s actions have on the people around him. He cannot grasp what went wrong between him, Sora and Ryousuke (and in fact, doesn’t even seem to care about Ryousuke’s role in all of this at all, as he only ever talks about Sora, while her fiancé is just… there in his eyes), doesn’t even seem to have an inkling that she was heartbroken or how painful the situation was for his friend. He hardly ever has any kind of reactions to the ongoings during cybody battles, be it positive or negative. Hell, he wasn’t even above trying to murder his own son (and later, the entire population on Earth) just to further his goals. It’s very clear that this man has no regards for anyone but himself, and he acts on these disregards, preying on people’s weaknesses to exploit them, physically and mentally harming the ones around him and generally being involved in a whole bunch of pretty scummy and downright criminal activities (kidnapping and attempted mass murder/genocide, just to name the most prominent ones) with no second thought as to how these actions or chains of events being set in motion might affect others.

Parasitic lifestyle This one is a little hard to tell in my opinion, but we might be able to make a case for it. After all, the main way of getting his way is by manipulating others into making them do the dirty work, best seen when he kicks back and disappears for a while during the Mizuno arc while letting the rest of Kiraboshi deal with the current ongoings. Only when Mizuno has been lured in and hers and Marino’s secrets exposed, he comes back right on time to destroy the West seal and claim this partial victory for his faction. And of course, after fighting Takuto he goes right back to letting the other Vanishing Age members do the dirty work for him (though it can also be strongly argued this in particular was a tactical decision).

Poor behavioural controls This one doesn’t quite seem to apply to him as much as some other points on this list, as he mostly presents himself as a cool, collected manipulator who has himself and his emotions in check and always finds the right thing to do or say in the right situation. Manipulating Kiraboshi? Be a dramatic show-off to give the kids the impression this organisation as a whole is important. Manipulating Sugata? Play the calm, well-spoken artist with a soft spot for beauty. On the other hand, however, he also has his moments of childish, situational decisions that are mostly seen when he abandons one person for another or because he doesn’t need them anymore (best seen with his treatments of Sora and Sakana-chan). And as mentioned before, his reaction to not getting his family’s mark is basically a ragequit. His calm cunning does mostly outweight this, however, so while he appears to have traits of this, it’s not that many in my opinion.

(to be continued)

[maris-stella]

Star Driver: 「The Two of Us」

Title: The Two of Us Type: Request -> fanfiction Fandom: Star Driver -kagayaki no Takuto- Year: 2017 Characters: Tsunashi Tokio (Head), Makiba Shingo Pairing: Head/Shingo Promt: "I’ve missed this”, requested by @hanbeiber Alternative Link: AO3 Summary: After a year of absence, Tsunashi Tokio had suddenly come back to Southern Cross island. One man had been waiting for him for all this time, despite all the warnings. Author’s Note: Thanks for the request sweetie, I’m always so happy to be able to write for a ship nobody else writes about. I love these two loser adults ;;  Parts of this fic are based on the other Head/Shingo fics I wrote; mind you, I don't want to establish my own kind of "post-series canon" in any shape or form, but given the nature of these characters it's hard to write anything within the actual canon of events...

★★★ 

Suddenly, he was there. Nobody had expected him.

Shingo had come home from another long afternoon in the hospital – almost a full year had passed since he had woken up from his long sleep, but because of that long time it had taken him, his body had enormous troubles readjusting to life. Regular hospital visits and ups and downs in his health had accompanied him throughout the year. But suddenly, the world stood still.

He had instantly realized something was different as soon as he had stepped through the door to his house – his borrowed house, as it was. At first, however, he had been unable to make out what exactly was wrong. Then he entered the living room.

“Hey Shingo, I’ve been wondering when you’d come back. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

The brunette could hardly speak. There was only one word that managed to form in his head and made its way out of his mouth.

“Tokio…”

 The purple haired man rose from his comfortable seat on the couch and smiled. It had been a year since Shingo had seen this smile the last time. He had missed it so much.

He wanted to reach out, to take that last step forward needed to close the gap between the two. He wanted to take him in his arms, like in those days so many years ago. But Shingo hesitated.

By now, he had heard all the stories about Tokio’s times as “Head”, had been informed about the things he had done and said, his goals and actions, had even spoken to Tokio’s son and his friends for a short moment. While he couldn’t condemn him as much as practically everyone else on this island, he had quickly understood that Tokio had never been interested in him as a person, only his mark and Synpathy had mattered. In the end, even Tokio had only used him and thrown him away afterwards.

This revelation had been incredibly hard for Shingo to stomach and it took a while for him to brush away the fragments of his broken pedestal and realize something else. Whatever Tokio had done, he couldn’t just erase his feelings for him. And it had been Tokio who had ensured his medical care, it had been Tokio for whom Shingo had fought his way back into life. It was hard for him to be sure, he couldn’t remember anything he had felt or dreamt during that long sleep, but he believed this had to be the case. No matter how many stories the others told him, he couldn’t hate Tokio.

But at the same time, he didn’t want to go back to how it had been in the past. He couldn’t go back to that. He didn’t want to be used again.

And yet, it was impossible to deny his feelings.

  “What’s up?” Tokio smiled his usual smug smile when he reached for Shingo. “Did I surprise you that much? I mean, this is still my house, after all…” He reached up, lightly caressed Shingo’s face with one hand.

“Giving you your mark back was the right decision. You’re as beautiful as always…” Shingo swallowed. He took a step backwards, tried to convince himself to get away, to not let it end like always. He didn’t want to be used anymore.

But he had been so lonely.

All over the course of this year, he had met new people, had been involved with some of the other Cybody pilots, had learned new things, but at the same time, he had felt just as lonely as always. He knew why. Because there was one person who had been missing the whole time. There was no use denying any of this, any of his feelings. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t stop loving him.

It was useless. Shingo gave in and closed the distance between them after all, throwing his arms around Tokio.

 His mind was full of conflicting thoughts. It screamed at him to not commit the same mistakes again, but also reassured him this was the person he had been waiting for all this time. He was alive thanks to this man, but also had almost been dead because of him. His heart was beating so fast it almost hurt.

Tokio did not return the hug in the same intensity, instead just put one arm around him lightly. The feeling of his hand on Shingo’s back felt so nice. This familiar scent was wonderful. Kiraboshi’s ex-leader took a deep breath.

“Ah”, he sighed, “I’ve missed this. I’m glad you’ll always be so wonderful…”

 It was really no use, Shingo could never escape him.

 The two men began moving, Tokio lead both of them back over to the sofa in a clumsy dance. They let themselves fall, the purple haired painter once again leading the movement in such a way that Shingo ended up sitting on top of his lap. Shingo buried his face into Tokio’s shoulder, took a deep breath of his familiar, sweet scent. He was still using the same cologne as he always had, didn’t he.

This was bliss, after all. But he was also afraid. “Tokio… I’m so lost right now… I don’t know what to do…”

 He heard his old friend laugh a little, the kind of laugh he had heard from him so often in the past and had over the last year realized it had never been his real, heartfelt laugh. He desperately wanted to hear that other laugh too.

“What a coincidence! It’s the same for me. I don’t know what to do anymore either…” He sighed and pushed Shingo away from him slightly, looked into his eyes. Shingo had missed these purple, shining, endlessly deep eyes so much.

Without any further word, they kissed.

Somewhere, far back in Shingo’s mind, a voice screamed at him again to not fall back into old patterns. This voice died down more and more the longer the kiss lasted, until Shingo couldn’t hear it anymore at all. He had never really cared to listen to it anyway. He had decided. He still loved him too much.

But he also knew his love was unrequited.

“So what about”, Tokio began, running one thumb over the brunette’s lips “we revel in our insecurities together? Share the time. Share the pain. Just the two of us…”

Another kiss. Tokio’s hands wandered down Shingo’s back. Their foreheads touched.

It was hard to form a good answer. On the one hand this was exactly what Shingo wanted, to be with him, for the rest of his days. Never in his wildest dreams had he even come close to this. But at the same time, he knew this was stupid – not only was there no guarantee the inhabitants of Southern Cross, the other ex-Kiraboshi members, would leave them alone, there were also glimpses of his insecurity raising inside his mind again. He didn’t just want to be used. But he loved him so much. There was no right answer here, was there?

 Shingo sighed. “Tokio, I—” The other man shook his head, placing a finger on Shingo’s lips. “Shhh, not now… I’m so tired from the long travel. Care to refresh me?”

No more words were needed. And somehow, Shingo was alright with that, that maybe this is what he should be doing. Stay here and care for Tokio’s wellbeing, just like he had cared for the sick man for fifteen years. He knew no other way to repay him anyway, nor did he have another place to stay. He was sure the fact that Tokio didn’t have any feelings for him would never change, but at least he could find a reason to stay here like this. A reason to be with him, a reason for him to exist.

This was the only chance he had.

Shingo took off his shirt.

There were so many things he wanted to tell Tokio, so many things they had to talk about, but those could wait. They had to wait. Right now, what counted was the feeling of his hands on Shingo’s skin, the lips on his lips, the soft sweet-talking.

Neither of them had anywhere else to go, no idea what to do. So they could really just keep being together like this. Maybe one day, Shingo would ask him for a talk. But now words were not needed. The only thing he needed was being here with him.

Just the two of them.

[idolish7-es]

3.9.1: Presagio

Kaoru: Parece que TRIGGER está consiguiendo menos y menos trabajos últimamente... Bueno, no significativamente, pero aún así. Kaoru: Les están ofreciendo más trabajos de una sola aparición que trabajos regulares. ¿Tal vez sea porque estamos cambiando de estación y los programas van a cambiar? Kaoru: Sin embargo, no nos ofrecieron ningún trabajo de CMs. Sousuke: Es porque estuvimos rechazando muchos de esos cuando le añadimos más fechas al musical de Last Dimension. Sousuke: Debes hacer que las entradas se agoten. Kaoru: Entendido. Pero, viéndolo de otro modo, me alegra que tengan un poco de descanso antes de que acabe el año. Kaoru: El año pasado casi ni tuvieron vacaciones... ¿Oh? Tenemos un invitado. Sousuke: … *abrir* Ryou: Oh, qué tal, Yaotome-san. Gracias por el regalo del otro día. Sousuke: …Vaya, el presidente Tsukumo. Felicitaciones por tu ascenso. El anterior– No, el antiguo presidente fue muy amable conmigo. Ryou: No sé por qué lo mencionas, pero no me molesta que te sientas en deuda conmigo. Como sea, vayamos al punto. Hablemos de negocios. Ryou: ¿Cuánto por TRIGGER? Sousuke: …

Ryuunosuke: Me pregunto si este lugar será suficiente... Ah, ahí está. Ryuunosuke: Buenas noches, Hanamaki-san. Seguro que Torao-kun ya te habló de mí, soy Tsunashi Ryuunosuke. Creo que nos hemos visto un par de veces por trabajo. Ryuunosuke: ¿Eh? ¿Y Torao-kun? Supongo que todavía no llega. Sumire: … Ryuunosuke: ¿Estás bien...? Te ves muy cansada... Sumire: Quiero... Volver al campo... Sumire: Quiero dejar de cantar... Ryuunosuke: …

Gaku: Buenos dí– ¡Tsumugi! Tsumugi: Buenos días. ¡Hace mucho que no nos vemos, Gaku-san! Gaku: Sí, cuánto tiempo. ¿Ya se calmaron las cosas en sus oficinas? Tsumugi: Sí. Ya terminé de entrenar a los nuevos, ¡así que al fin puedo volver a mi trabajo de manager! Tsumugi: Espero con ansias trabajar contigo una vez más, incluyendo el próximo teletón para la caridad. Gaku: Sí, yo tamb– Personal: Miren, miren... Personal: Dios mío, era cierto... Gaku: ¿Qué diablos pasa...? Nos están mirando fijamente... Gaku: Espero con ansias trabajar contigo, Takanashi-san. Si me disculpas, debo irme. Tsumugi: ¡Sí, muchas gracias! Gaku: …

Sousuke: Jaja, debes estar bromeando. Sousuke: TRIGGER es nuestra mayor estrella. Lo siento muchísimo, pero no aceptamos ofertas por ellos. Ryou: Producciones Yaotome no podría haberse formado como una agencia independiente sin la ayuda de Tsukumo. Si me rechazas, eso sería... Desagradecido, ¿no? Sousuke: Si aceptara, todos pensarían que Tsukumo nos obligó a nosotros, Producciones Yaotome, a ceder. Sousuke: Ambas opciones causarían que se propagaran muchos rumores desagradables. Ryou: Puede ser, pero no me importa eso. Si te soy sincero, lo único que quiero es asustar a todos al apoderarme de TRIGGER. Sousuke: … Ryou: Ya sabes, necesito que me teman para poder hacer todo lo que quiera. Lo haré de forma que todos sientan escalofríos recorriéndoles la espalda. "¡¿Qué?! ¡No puede ser! ¡No puedo creer que eso le pasara a Producciones Yaotome!" Algo así. Sousuke: …Tsukumo-san. Ryou: Todos se harán aliados de Producciones Tsukumo si Producciones Yaotome está de nuestro lado. Incluso los cuidaremos muy bien y nos encargaremos de que no acaben afectados. Ryou: Así funciona el poder. Al principio, estarán llenos de santurrona indignación. "¡Cómo se atreven! ¡Nunca los perdonaremos!" Ryou: Pero esto es igual a un juego de Othello. Mientras más personas se pongan de mi lado, todo ese coraje desaparecerá y se rendirán ante mí, uno detrás del otro. ¡Clink, clink! Negra, negra, negra, negra. Ryou: Dame a TRIGGER. No te preocupes, le daré mucho amor a tu hijo. Sousuke: Por favor, vete, Tsukumo-san. Sousuke: ¡Anesagi! Acompáñalo a la puerta. Kaoru: S-sí señor... Ryou: ¿Debo tomarlo como un no? Sousuke: ¡¿Tengo que deletrearlo para que lo entiendas, mocoso?! ...No, disculpa. Eso fue maleducado de mi parte. La salida está por ahí. Ryou: Vi una foto tuya el otro día, era de cuando acababas de unirte a Producciones Tsukumo. ¿Quién era esa hermosa joven a tu lado? Sousuke: Momo ya me habló de ti. Incluyendo el hecho de que solías trabajar en un negocio de naturaleza desconocida junto a matones. Sousuke: Espero tengas mucho cuidado con eso, para que no se vuelva un escándalo. Ryou: ¿Eres amigo de Momo? Ya veo, debes ser parte de su club de deportes también. Sousuke: ¿Club de deportes? Ryou: Ya me voy. ¡Gracias por el café! Sabía a mierda, tanto que me diste mucha lástima. *cerrar* Sousuke: ¡…Anesagi! ¡¡Tira algo de sal!! Kaoru: ¿Está seguro...? Sousuke: ¡Como si importara! Kaoru: Bueno, yo soy la que tiene que limpiar después, así que preferiría que no... Sousuke: ¡¡Yo aspiraré luego, apresúrate y hazlo!! Kaoru: ¡S-sí! Sousuke: ¡Y asegúrate de llamarlo y decirle que venga aquí en este mismo instante!

Productor: Ah, ahí estás. ¡Takanashi-san! Tsumugi: ¡Buenos días! Productor: Tengo un concepto nuevo para un programa en el que me gustaría que participara Yaotome-kun de TRIGGER. ¿Te importaría venir con él a cenar conmigo y charlar al respecto? Tsumugi: Oh, ¿un trabajo? Pero yo soy la manager de IDOLiSH7… Productor: Ah, sí, pero Producciones Yaotome rechazó mi oferta. Tú eres muy cercana a él, me di cuenta durante la fiesta del otro día. Si estás ahí, creo que podría aceptar. Productor: Sería una cena en un hotel de cocina francesa. Esencialmente eso, incluso podría irme antes de tiempo, de forma conveniente. ¿Qué te parece? Tsumugi: Lo siento muchísimo, pero negociar trabajos para artistas de otra agencia está fuera de mi jurisdicción. Productor: Aw, vamos. Solo debes ir y sentarte ahí, nada más. Tsumugi: Lo lamento, pero no puedo aceptar. Más importante, ¿qué idea tenías pensada? ¿Sería posible que IDOLiSH7 tomara la oportunidad? Productor: U-um…

Personal: ¡Corte! Revisemos el metraje. Gaku: … Estilista: Déjame hacerte un retoque rápido, Yaotome-kun. Gaku: Gracias. Estilista: Así queee... ¿Es cierto que te gusta la manager de IDOLiSH7? Gaku: *tos, tos* ¿De qué hablas? Estilista: Ya todos lo saben. ¿Quieres que te ayude a conseguir una cita? Estilista: En Tokio es muy fácil que te descubran, pero podría invitarla cuando estén grabando en algún otro lugar, lejos de la ciudad, y hacer que se quede un rato. Tal vez se diviertan. ¿Quieres? Gaku: … Gaku: Eso fue demasiado obvio. Estilista: ¿Eh? Gaku: ¿Quién te está pagando? ¿Es otra agencia? ¿O la prensa, desesperadamente buscando algo de qué hablar? Estilista: … Gaku: ¿Y si me divierto contigo? Quién sabe, tal vez seas de los que les gusta tener cámaras siguiéndole todo el día. Gaku: Dime, ¿cuándo será? Estilista: Perdón, perdón. Bromeaba. No te enojes. Gaku: Hm.

Momo y Yuki: ¡Buenas noches, somos Re:vale! Sousuke: ¿Tú también, Yuki? ...No recuerdo haberte invitado. Yuki: Qué frío. Estábamos juntos en el gimnasio reforzando nuestra resistencia para el teletón. Momo: ¡Yuki es súper guapo cuando se ejercita! ¡Incluso nadó 25 metros en la piscina! Yuki: Nadé 25 metros. Sousuke: Mi hijo hizo eso cuando estaba en primer grado. Sousuke: Te llamé para hablar de Tsukumo Ryou. Eres amigo suyo, ¿no, Momo? Yuki: ¿…Sigues reuniéndote con él? Momo: ¡¡No!! Sousuke: Momo. Quiero preguntarte algo. ¿Alguna vez hemos hecho deportes juntos? Momo: ¿Deportes? Creo que no. Te invité a jugar golf pero nunca viniste. Sousuke: Al mínimo indicio de que tú y yo nos llevábamos bien, Tsukumo me preguntó si estaba en el club de deportes. Momo: Ah… Es un grupo de gente que viene a hacer deportes conmigo de vez en cuando, son artistas y gente de la industria. Momo: ¡Jugando con otros puedes entenderlos mejor! Algunos se preocupan más por la atmósfera que por ganar, otros culpan a los demás por sus errores y otros tienen una perspectiva general muy buena. Momo: Y si te vuelves más cercano a ellos, puedes saber si pasó algo en el estudio con solo ver sus expresiones. Como, "Oh, aquél es ese tipo de persona. Cuidado" etc. Yuki: Ryuunosuke-kun y Mitsuki-kun empezaron el Club de deportes para idols junto a él hace poco. Sousuke: Ahí está. Momo: ¿Qué cosa? Sousuke: ¿Sabes por qué Tsukumo intentó acercarse a ti? Momo: No lo sé. Tal vez porque lo adulo incluso cuando me molesta. ¿Le pareceré divertido? Sousuke: No. Es por el Chiba Salon, la coalición de actores y jóvenes directores que nacieron de sus propios deseos de pelear contra aquellos que tienen poder en una industria opresiva. Sousuke: Gracias al Chiba Salon, las condiciones de trabajo mejoraron substancialmente para aquellos que habían estado a los pies de otros. Sousuke: Tienes una red muy grande. Debe haber confundido tu club de deportes como el Chiba Salon de esta generación. Momo: … Sousuke: Tal vez no esté confundido. Después de todo, solo dejas que entren personas en las que confías, sobretodo porque Re:vale no tiene el apoyo de ninguna gran compañía. Momo: Es muy pronto para que nos tenga en la mira. Somos una comunidad muy pequeña. Pero... Momo: Si tiene la impresión de que somos una organización que intenta oponerse a él, Ryuu-chan está en peligro. Sousuke: ¿Lo invitaste a tu club de deportes? Momo: Sí. Y lo hice nuestro coordinador de eventos. Sousuke: ¡Qué innecesario! Momo: ¡Ryuu-chan es inteligente! Sousuke: ¡Me importa un carajo! Sousuke: Hm. Como sea. Tsukumo ya no es la industria poderosa que solía ser. Aprovecharemos esta oportunidad para separarnos de ellos. Sousuke: Por como está Producciones Yaotome ahora mismo, y el ímpetu actual de TRIGGER, tenemos posibilidades de pelear contra Tsukumo. Momo: Te meterás en muchos problemas si crees que el Tsukumo actual es igual al antiguo. Aunque Ryou-san no lo parezca, es muy ingenioso. Sousuke: No es más que un principiante imprudente y engreído. Si nos presiona, convertiremos tu club de deportes en un nuevo Chiba Salon y contraatacaremos. Yuki: ¿Podrías dejar de hablar de los amigos de Momo como si fueran algún tipo de ejercito? Yuki: No te odio, Papi. Pero me gustaría que dejaras de pensar de forma tan egoísta. Sousuke: Eres la última persona de la que quiero oír eso. Momo: ¡Qué grosero! ¡Yuki es un caballero! Y estoy de acuerdo con él. Momo: Aunque tengamos posiciones y trasfondos diferentes, somos amigos trabajando juntos en dirección a una meta en común. ¿No? Momo: Si sigues pensando así, algún día te pasará factura. Y quienes tengan que pagar las consecuencias serán TRIGGER y todos los demás artistas de tu agencia, Papi. Sousuke: Siempre y cuando nuestra agencia continúe demostrando su dominio, él terminará viniendo a rogar a mis pies. No hay ninguna necesidad de que cedamos. Y lo mismo va para ustedes, Re:vale. Momo y Yuki: … Sousuke: TRIGGER los superará, y Producciones Yaotome superará a Tsukumo. Seremos los mejores de Japón. Sousuke: No tengo ninguna intención de cambiar mis métodos.

Continuará...

-Todos los créditos a la traducción en inglés-

[swirlyspectacles]

[ultraericthered]

And now Wako is on her own to fend off pseudo-sexual assault!

[linkspooky]

CHOUJIN X, CHAPTER 35 THOUGHTS.

Chapter 35 shows Tokio’s separation from his friends, and the themes of nihilism Ishida weaves into his manga. The central conflict between Tokio and his best friend Azama early on where one of them is referred to as the vulture and the other the lion is a reference to Nietzsche’s philosophy. The lion in particular is one of the three metamorphoses Nietzsche lists in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In this chapter, Tokio is embarking on his journey through those three metamorphoses which symbolize the three stages of life and development. 

1. The Wilderness

Thus spoke Zarathustra is a work in which Nietzsche expounds upon several of his key concepts, including the superman, self-overcoming, and nihilism. The main theme of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is the portrayal of values as either creative and life-affirming, or ascetic and conformist. 

The basic idea Nietzsche puts forward in his work is that all ideology, rules and morality of any given society are created rather than inherent. Which means morals and laws and commandments don’t come from gods, they come from human beings. They are the inventions of human beings and enforced by human beings. 

Nietzsche’s idea that there’s no inherent morality isn’t suggesting that morality doesn’t exist, or that there are no rules therefore you can do whatever you want, but just that you should not blindly follow the rules. Nietzsche refers to Christianity as the “old morality”, which someone has to shed away in order to be someone who can create their own morality. 

Which is why Choujin X primarily being a superhero manga, where characters with super powers fight villains, follow the law and save people as heroes of justice is such a good place for a Nietzschean dissection of morality. 

From the start Tokio is identified as a character who basically has no ideals, he begins the manga making no decisions for himself, and just copying whatever Azama does. 

Azama is a believer of justice unlike Tokio, who puts a lot of work into studying and martial arts because he believes in his own personal justice. Azama’s introduction in the manga is even the classic saving a woman from a thug attacking her scenario that’s featured in many comic book superhero stories, but what’s important about that scene is TOkio is the one who stumbles upon the woman in trouble and even though he knows he should do something he just sits there and watches waiting for Azama to come help. That says a lot about Tokio’s character, he has no morality or ideals he fights for he’s just a shallow copy of Azama’s ideals.  

If the central theme of Choujin X is what Choujin do with their superhuman powers, then Tokio despite suddenly being given power and more power than Azama. Yet, Tokio stays the same old pathetic and indecisive person. 

Which is why Tokio needs to go through these stages of metamorphoses, because up until this point in the manga he still had not developed any ideals of his own and instead borrowed from both Ely and Azama at the same time. He was still following the old values. Which makes sense why his separation from Ely and Azama is necessary for his growth into his own individual. 

Nietzsche’s three metamorphsoes parallel in Thus Spoke Zarathustra follows three stages. The camel, the lion, and the child. The first stage begins with the camel is suddenly burdened. Nietzsche gives several examples of what those burdens are, but it all boils down to self-examination.

“Why is it heavy? So asketh the load-baering-spirit; then kneeleth it down like the camel, and wanteth to be well laden. What is the heaviest thing, ye heroes? asketh the load-bearing spirit, that I may take it upon me and rejoice in my strength.” (Thus spake Zarathusra). 

 It’s hard to think for yourself, and it’s easy to follow others. This is the state Tokio was in just before he was told of his potential destiny as the one to stop the destruction of Yamato.

He’s still chained to another person’s belief system. Which is why while Tokio disappearing from Azama and Ely’s life is a little bit selfish and hurtful, it’s also something that was probably necessary for Tokio’s development as an individual. 

Nietzsche states the thing that camel does to move onto its next development is to separate itself from others and retreat into the wilderness. 

“All these the heaviest things the load-bearing sprit taketh upon itself; and like the camel, which when laden, haseneth into its wilderness.”

(Thus Spake Zarathustra)

Which mirrors the necessary journey that Tokio akes this chapter, to venture into the wilderness and separate himself from others so he can become strong and independent enough to carry his own burdens. In response to Tokio suddenly realizing that he has great power and potentially a great destinty to save Yamato as a choujin and because of that he needs to become someone responsible enough to carry those things.The next phase is the lion. 

Which is most likely the stage Azama is at right now. At the stage of the lion , you begin to create your own morality. 

All values have already been created, and all created values - do I represent. Verily, there shall be no “I willl” any more. Thus speaketh the dragon, My brethren, wherefore is there need of the lion in the spirit? Why sufficeth not the beast of burden, which is renounceth and is reverent? To create new values - that even the lion cannot yet accomplish: but to create for itself the freedom for new creating - that can the might of the lion do. To create itself freedom, and give a holy Nay ecen unto duty;for that, my brethren there is need of the lion. 

(Thus Spake Zarathustra)

Therefore, Azama who already has his own convictions and idea of justice was already at this stage, whereas until this point Tokio was only ever playing catch up to him. 

We see the chapter end with Tokio’s journey into the wilderness, because he needs the might of the lion to begin to create his own values and think for himself. The third stage would be child, where Tokio is essentially reborn as a new person, his own person rather than a shallow copy of other people. 

Which is why the ultimate goal in this manga is to become a “Choujin” (the direct translation of this word in Japanese is superman), which relates to the nietzschian idea of the ubermensch. 

Nietzsche puts forward we follows these stages of metamorphosis i order to create the ubermensch or superman. Having gone through an old morality, creative spirits can shed the influence of others and ultimately create a new way of being in the world. Such a new being would involve not only a new perspective, but a new set of values with their own rationale. 

“There was it also where I picked up from the path the word “Superman” and that man is something to be surpassed. THat man is a bridge and not a goal - rejoiciing over his noontiedes and evenings, as advances to new rosy dawns.”  Thus Spake Zarathsutra

Tokio’s journey into becoming the superman has nothing to do with becoming the smartest or the strongest, but learning to be his own person and think for himself without following others.