#and the fact that tsukasa has to be a leader

[project-sekai-facts]

Have the motion capture artists ever been credited? Do we know if the same person portrays the same character every time?

I don't think they're credited in game but I did manage to find them a few months ago. All the mocap is done by a company called Solid Cube. They post the mocap artists for each MV on their twitter account, but don't say who played who so I've only been able to work out the mocap artists for a few characters.

Rui is always played by an actor called Masaki Murakami. The only reason I was able to work this out is because Murakami is the only male mocap artist credited on the Sukina Koto Dake no Ii desu MV, and is credited on almost every other WxS MVs but only ones that feature Rui (Oki ni Mesu mama being the only exception I could find. Maybe he was sick that day). Murakami also seems to be the mocap artist for KAITO aside from MVs that have Rui in them, and sometimes for either Akito or Toya (no way to tell which one).

I think Kohane is played by an actress called Maimi Atarashi. She did a stream with Akina back in 2022 where they talked about 3DMVs. Also she's credited on Wah Wah World and the unit rep songs and she is credited on almost every MMJ MV but based on the fact she's credited for Romeo to Cinderella she's not the actress for Minori. I think she's also the actress for Emu, since she's credited on a shitload of WxS MVs including Sukina Koto Dake no Ii desu, alongside an actress that I'm like 99% sure is the primary actress for female vsingers.

I also think that someone called Jakko is the regular mocap artist for female vsingers, and she's the mocap artist for Blue Planet so this holds some weight. Jakko also did the mocap for Luka's Afterglow MV. Jakko is credited on an assortment of other 3DMVs as well, like Children Record (I'm assuming she plays An) and Tondemo-Wonderz (likely as Emu, considering Maimi Atarashi isn't credited)

Len seems to be played by an actor called Keito Okuyama. He did the mocap for Buta ni Natte yeah yeah and is credited on various other Len MVs, like Flyer! and Watashi wa Watashitachi wa (which he definitely has to be Len in). This guy is also credited on quite a few WxS 3DMVs, so it's safe to say he's the regular mocap artist for Tsukasa (in instances of Len and Tsukasa being in the same 3DMV, I'm not sure which one gets swapped out).

Due to Leo/need playing instruments, they have mocap actors who can play the instruments. One of these is actors is called Moe Hirakawa (not entirely sure if that's the right reading of Kanji) who upon looking her up turned out to be a drummer, so there's Honami. The others that are most frequently credited are Hiyu Tsukigami (who is apparently an idol but I couldn't find anything about her playing instruments), chloe (basically impossible to google), and Reika Kisumi who is actually an actress under Solid Cube. I believe Kisumi is the mocap artist for Ichika, since she's credited on the unit leader songs as well.

Also we can work out Kanade based on some cast lists for Colorful Lives. The credits for SEKAI list Keito Okuyama (Tsukasa), Jakko (Miku), Reika Kisumi (Ichika) and another actress called Kanon Ookawa. Ookawa is also credited for multiple Niigo songs, including the Kanade/Mafuyu/Miku cover of Cutlery, so yeah she's Kanade. For lives at least. Journey 3DMV credits someone named Yukari instead, but Journey live credits Ookawa again. More recent 3DMVs don't credit either of these people just to make my life harder.

Continuing with Colorful Live credits, Wah Wah World lists an actress called Yuuka Nakanishi alongside Jakko and Maimi Atarashi, so we can assume that Nakanishi is Minori. She's also credited for multiple MMJ 3DMVs, so it's incredibly likely.

That Yukari person I mentioned is also credited on a lot of MMJ 3DMVs and live choreo. I think she might be Shizuku. Sometimes Ookawa and Yukari are credited alongside each other in Niigo MVs/lives, and in those instances I'm not sure who is playing Kanade and who's playing Mafuyu.

I worked out some other stuff but this is long so just check under the cut for a speculative cast list.

Speculated cast list based on my findings (**not confirmed at all**)

(some have multiple actors as I've mentioned, I just listed the most frequent ones)

Miku: Jakko & various (3DMVs done by Jakko)

Rin: Jakko & various (her 3DMV was done by Maimi Atarashi)

Len: Keito Okuyama (definite)

Luka: varies (her 3DMV was done by Jakko)

MEIKO: Jakko & various (her 3DMV was done by Maimi Atarashi)

KAITO: Masaki Murakami & a few others (definite)

Ichika: Reika Kisumi

Saki: Hiyu Tsukigami

Honami: Moe Hirakawa (definite)

Shiho: chloe (definite)

Minori: Yuuka Nakanishi (definite)

Haruka: Akari

Airi: Maimi Atarashi

Shizuku: Kanon Ookawa & Yukari (in older 3DMVs and lives), Momoka & various (more recently)

Kohane: Maimi Atarashi (definite)

An: Mari Kasuga & various

Akito: Either Keito Okuyama or Masaki Murakami (both occasionally swapped for TACCHI)

Toya: see above

Tsukasa: Keito Okuyama (definite)

Emu: Maimi Atarashi

Nene: Akari & various

Rui: Masaki Murakami (definite)

Kanade: See Shizuku

Mafuyu: Either Yukari or Kanon Ookawa (older 3DMVs/lives), Suzuka & various (more recently)

Ena: Likely either Yuuka Nakanishi or Reika Kisumi

Mizuki: see above

Niigo MVs are the least consistent with their casts, so it is very hard for me to tell who is playing who, especially when some of the actresses seem to swap roles between MVs.

[myunghology]

﹒⪩⪨﹒⟡﹒ CINDERELLA

ᐢ..ᐢ﹒﹫ a heart that has been chasing.

‹𝟹 tsukasa suou x gn! reader (written in second pov, you/your used.), short fic. wc : over 1,000+ (not including this part).

ᶻ﹕→ [ inspired by this filipino song, link is the fil lyrics translated into eng, but play song while reading for best experience <3 ]

The red-haired male takes a deep sigh, before inhaling in the scent of fresh air he desperately wanted to grasp, opening his eyes and taking in the scenery of the garden of their school building.

He knows well enough he's getting tired, too tired to even keep up with his units schedule for this month. With what's going on in his family, who wouldn't be drained?

His feet drags him to the nearest place he can take a rest— a white gazebo. How pretty. He takes a seat, slouching his head down in obvious defeat.

What he didn't realize, was the person who he was currently sitting the opposite of.

You pause, seeing the unexpected male crashing down and obviously taking a toll on something. Taking off your earphones, you stare at him for quite sometime.

Tsukasa feels a set of eyes uncomfortably land on his figure, did he not notice anyone that was sitting here? He quickly sits up, your gaze meeting his.

Suddenly, now it's his turn to pause. The whole world feels like it's frozen as soon as you look at each other.

"Sorry." You mutter, why were you saying sorry? You ask yourself. Why were you saying sorry? Tsukasa asks internally.

You bow down slightly, standing up to excuse yourself, to perhaps give the unknown male some space. "Wait," He calls out, making you stop in your tracks.

"Can.." Tsukasa shakes his head, "I want someone new to talk to. Can you.. Please stay? I-if you have nothing to do.." He looks down, feeling ashamed to have even asked you to stay, for him.

You don't mutter a single word, but hesitantly sit back down in an uncomfortable silence between the both of you. "I don't see you here often," He tries to strike up a conversation, making you smile.

It felt like an arrow has just been shot through his chest as you smile, he quickly hides his face with the back of his hand.

The leader of Knights shouldn't be falling for someone who just gave him a single smile, it was improper. If he wanted to fall in love, he would've did it in proper time.

"Maybe because we're in different classes?" You state the obvious with a little giggle, before continuing. "But if you're talking about you never see me here.. Well,"

You hesitate for a moment, whilst he can feel his expression mirror your smile from how easily you can get along with people. He's always been weak to those kinds of people,

"Then maybe you just have bad timing? I'm always here." You tilt your head, a soft smile on your face. You're right, he didn't usually come to this place, anyway.

A place that had no type of memory to him, had just been given importance.

The male found himself often checking if you were there, to have conversed with you, more than he would have wanted to. The moment he saw you again and again, walking through the halls of the school with your friends— he will always, turn his head back.

A blush coats his face as he sees you, you've already turned your head back to look at him once more, before quickly turning away to focus where you're walking to, sure.

In these moments, finally. He has found what his heart truly desires.

He stumbles a little bit in his tracks when you smile at him once more, a view he'd kill just to see again. He's out of breath and he's weakening when he hears your laugh.

Ignoring that it was from the fact that he almost fell— but it didn't matter. Even if he fell, and he did. He fell, hard. But that's a different type of 'falling', now is it?

Even if he did fall, his heart would still be focused on how lovely your laugh sounded. He wanted to call out your name. Please stop, and please don't ever go away.

He makes a silent oath to himself, as he looks at your disappearing figure. You'll soon be his, just wait!

A push for the right words to come out of his mouth, as his right hand clutches his chest, struggling to even muster anything.

It's improper, for you to be the only one he can think of. Especially in the middle of a meeting. To the point where even Leo had to tell him to focus properly.

He feels like he's in a hazy dream, and his eyes are half-lidded. But even that won't stop him from thinking about you.

As the meeting ends, he sees you once again.

A smile and a wave was sent to his direction, he freezes. And as soon as you pass him, Ritsu playfully hits him with his elbow, as if to rub salt on the wound.

Just one look, and Tsukasa already knew. You're the one his heart is familiar with. Time is limited, and his heart is confused. But the show must go on.

He turns his head back, looking at the back of your figure, he feels the sudden urge to chase after you somehow. His senior pulls him back and shakes his head, and mutters; "Maybe think of a better time,"

Maybe he's right. Not now, especially not now.

But how can he ever stop himself? Just look at you. The sweet smiles you give him, the little giggles that come out of your mouth, just by the way you care.

He feels like he's going to melt whenever you're in his sights.

The way you cup his face whenever you know he feels down. You don't know how you even know, but you just do. The way he holds your hand protectively whenever you're crossing the street, as if you're a kid.

He notices the soft smiles you give him whenever he does so, and he can't help but wonder. Call him delusional, dumb, or what ever you want to. Maybe you do like him back.

High school love is stupid, really. But what if you two hadn't met at that gazebo? Well.. He's certain the world would have let you two meet again, for a different reason.

But for now, he'll bask in this feeling you're giving him.

myunghology : MY FAVORITE WORK SO FAR WOOOOO WE CHEERED

[demodraws0606]

People complaining about Tsukasa5 already are pissing me off, because like, it's so unbelievably obvious what this event is trying to do and the fact that people are so hung up on "urgh dur tsukasa strong why can't he do a wall climb".

Like, first of all, a lot of Tsukasa's strength has been used as comedy before and also it's never been said that Tsukasa could specifically do a wall climb before so people calling this a retcon or a stretch is really dumb to me.

Sure we can make jokes about it, but this is not like a serious writing problem or anything.

Also are we just gonna ignore the fact this event is literally just a reference to his 3rd event in a silly trenchcoat. Or the fact that this is obviously meant to be WxS's downtime and training arc to prepare them to face the loose plotpoints in the future?

His inner dialogue when chasing the ninja is very clearly a reference to the whole Pheonix thing, how he can't reach it no matter how hard he tries.

The wall climb is like an extremely fucking on the nose metaphor to him climbing over his issues as an actor.

THERE IS ALSO THE WHOLE THING THAT HINTS THAT TSUKASA CAN ONLY OVERCOME HIS PROBLEMS IF HE HAS HELP FROM OTHERS (AKA tsukasa would've literally BEEN INJURED, if it wasn't for the fact the troupe's leader was there).

In fact this literally followed an event aka Tsukasa 4 where he FAILED to do his role correctly.

It's almost like this event is meant to be a transition point between Tsukasa 4 and 6, where Tsukasa builds up the knwoledge on how to face his problems.

But no this is just mid event because it's very silly and "wow plot is stupid why can't tsukasa wall climb".

WxS fans are slowly just turning into VBS fans in terms of how whiney they're being i swear

[magicaii]

The fact that when tsukasa tenma experiences something highly traumatic he instantly zeroes in on what he did wrong to end up in that situation, drills into his head how to avoid experiencing something like that again in the future, and immediately tries to forget the event ever happening because it’s not only a reminder of his failure but the memory would also cripple his self value enough to hinder his ability to be the person people expect him to and move forward with a new lesson learned to avoid being traumatized again. The problem with this is that you can’t forget your trauma, because then you’ll never be able to fully process what happened to you and recognize what effect it has on your life and outlook. Tsukasa is never able to do this because he does his damndest best to completely erase the memory. When someone has trauma, it’s a completely normal response to come up with a strategy or solution to deal with the damage you’ve been dealt, whether it’s simply withdrawing from those feelings inwardly or acting outwardly in a way to make sure it can’t hurt or affect you again. The problem is that these aren’t healthy patterns, and you’re supposed to get help so that you can acknowledge what happened and move PAST it. Tsukasa is so adamant to pretend shit never took place that he is stuck in this horribly unhealthy phase with terrible mechanisms to get through it all, and since he never processes his trauma has even taken it to the next level by piling it on and on every time something new happens. Saki forced herself to smile because of me? I can never disappoint someone again. The audience didn’t enjoy our play? I said I wouldn’t disappoint people anymore, so I can’t believe I did it again, I have to double down now. The troupe broke up and it’s my fault? I let them down as a leader, I need to take on every burden by myself so that I’m the one solely responsible for everything and I will make sure nothing goes wrong again. Thing is, all these feelings are valid to a certain extent, there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to disappoint people and feeling remorseful when you make them upset. It’s just not good when you’re basing all your worth as a person on how well you live up to peoples standards. He’s so fixated on how well he “performs” that his behaviour becomes EXTREMELY erratic when he is faced with his own failure. Sometimes he straight up lashes out or retracts, both so different from his usual demeanour that people are utterly taken back to the point where even if they are concerned about tsukasa they find it hard to say anything because it’s almost like dealing with an entirely different person. I don’t know how to wrap this up but he’s so mentally ill and I feel that people overlook it a lot because he’s also a comedic character.

[lilis-doodle-dome]

Mafukasa swap au, with in game screen cap edits

Things that swapped:

- Parents level of overbearing (Tenma’s are incredibly suffocating, while mafumom is well intentioned but left mfy alone far too much)

- roles in the group (Emu is WxS’ leader, while Mafuyu is Niigo’s)

- appearance of Sekai (Tsukasa has a more monochrome/depressing vibe, while Mfy’s is fanciful and colorful)

- outward persona (Tsukasa is the golden boy, perfect at everything, well mannered, etc. while Mafuyu is outgoing, confident, helpful (even when it’s not asked for), etc.)

Things that did not swap:

- Gender, and therefore school’s they go to

- which group they’re in

- familial situation outside of parents (Tsukasa is still Saki’s older brother and the Tenma’s are still close with the Aoyagi’s, Mfy is still a single child)

- Tsukasa is still the one with memory issues, so Mafuyu is influenced by bad memories from her past from the get go instead of slowly remembering them (she is still completely unwilling to actually engage with said memories even if she remembers them though)

- Which VS’s they start with (Mafuyu is just miku, Tsukasa is Miku and Kaito)

Other important things: (if interested)

- Saki and Tsukasa’s relationship is a lot more strained, Saki has incredibly conflicting feelings about her brother and Tsukasa always has his front up, even around her, so they can’t have a proper conversation

- Toya also has a stilted relationship with Kasa, both the Tenma’s and his father tended to compare the two boys. So while he still looks up to Tsukasa, he has some reservations about weather his admiration is genuine or just feelings implanted in him from the adults. Toya’s much closer with Saki, as he visited her a lot in the hospital (initially at Tsukasa’s request)

- Mafmom is a single mom, and a doctor. Needless to say she is busy *a lot*, bcs of that she’s always needed Mafuyu to be self sufficient and responsible, far before the age one could reasonably except for a child. She still loves Mafuyu very much and always tries her best to give her daughter a free and happy life

- Rather than an actor, Mafuyu found her passion in writing poetry. She wants to become the best poet of all time, which is what leads her to writing lyrics for K’s songs. Only the best composer could possibly support the best lyricist after all!

- Mafuyu’s love of writing comes from remembering all the times in the past her mom would come home late at night, looking exhausted both physically and emotionally, mfy would stay up to see her and then the two would cuddle under the blankets and read together. In those moments it would really feel like none of the rest of the day existed and all those pains and anxieties would slip away from her mother as they were transported to another world in their stories

- some time into this ritual, mafuyu started writing her own stories for her mother, and while Mafumom said she loved all of Mafu’s writing there was something special about her poetry that completely dispelled all of mafumom’s bad feelings and just let her live in the lines of text

- after that poetry became mafuyu’s life, and her Sekai is built off her desire to help people feel better with her work.

- Tsukasa’s Sekai also doesn’t match canon mafuyu’s it’s not built off his desire to disappear, instead it’s his desire to be his own person and figuring out who he even is in the first place (the other three can enter his sekai due to their shared desire of wanting to be themselves without getting hurt for it)

- Tsukasa hopes that by acting, he might resonate with a role and it’ll help him learn more about himself

- since they’re in the images, fun fact, Ruikasa kizuna rank title is ‘charity case’ (in place of 1-2 weirdo wombo combo) due to people assuming perfect, golden boy Tsukasa only started spending time with Rui because Teachers were hoping he would keep Rui out of trouble and get other students to look at Rui more favorably (thus Rui is Tsukasa’s ‘charity case’)

- while kanamafu’s kizuna rank is ‘please take a break’ due to both of them trying to constantly get the other to take better care of themselves. Mafuyu always saying Kanade needs to eat and sleep rather than composing all the time, while Kanade is desperately trying to make Mafuyu realize that working all day and putting ‘110%’ into everything she does, is infact unhealthy and not ‘the work ethic every good writer should strive for’ (it is not working on either end, Kanade is too guilty and mafuyu is too deep in denial)

I have a lot for this au, but making certain things is,,, difficult. To say the least

[shiraishi--kanade]

Any thoughts on the fact An starts the vivid bad squad story and not kohane (the actual leader)? Could An have become the leader of VBS?

I've been thinking about this a lot, and basically, when I approach it from a "what were they trying to do here?", my answer boils down to this:

Kohane is obviously an audience self-insert. I'm sorry to all Kohane lovers hurt by the statement, but it's just true from a writing perspective (it doesn't necessarily diminish a character unless done badly). She is the newbie that's a newcomer to both the culture we end up exploring on Vivid Street; while the same can be said for other characters, especially Minori, who is also in the same position, Kohane is more unique because of the nature of VBS's story.

The said nature is the fact that VBS centers RW to an absurd amount, and a lot of said story is characters discussing it's impact and analysing it. So, obviously, we need to actually see what the talk of the town about - and though we don't fully actually "see" RW until as late as LUtF, that little An flashback in the beginning gives the reader a rough idea of what's going on, as well as who An as a character is.

Both are important - it acts as a hook to the main story and gives us a connection with An, a very important character who we, a Kohane stand-in, need to connect with in order to cheer for them and against Akito and Touya, who initially act as an antagonistic force. And we need to cheer for Vivids vs Rad Dogs because that's the only way the reveal of Touya's inner conflict and Akito's "caring side" is going to be effective and make you go "ah, what's why these two were briefly assholes" instead of just always knowing they were good and sitting there bored until they all team up. Even in the very beginning, when Kohane wanders into WEG, we already know who An is and that she's a good person, so we also cheer for Kohane to get closer to her. It gets you emotionally invested in the main conflict of the story. You get the idea.

Therefore, showing us RW was a necessary writing choice. However, Kohane was... Absolutely not there. Also, it would have not worked well for the audience to just wander around aimlessly and lost with Kohane. Honestly, because Kohane doesn't even know what she's doing with herself pre-main story, she has nothing to tell the reader in the opening - remember that she... Basically doesn't have a backstory, unfortunately. Choosing An to narrate the scene instead is a very obvious choice to come from that.

That's my explanation for this situation as a writer. As a fan, however, I find the idea of leader An to be very fun. I think she both has the potential to become one, narratively, in the same way Honami did - she, along with Akito, has served as VBS's "public face" for a long time, and was also the one who offered them to team up - and I also think that the idea for An to be a unit leader was on the writer's mind and then ended up being scrapped is also possible (likely to follow the Shounen formula and/or trying to avoid outright repeating personality archetypes for leaders, in which case An would resemble Tsukasa too much on the first glance, in contrast to timid Kohane). I'm honestly happy that scene exists either way, so as much as An being the leader would be very cool for me personally, as an An oshi, I'm absolutely content with her not being one lmao.

Thanks for the ask!

[kerizaret]

Any news on the Cyberpunk dead world au that you're willing to share? :3

HI HI SORRY THIS TOOK A WHILE!! But yes I do in fact have something to share!! It's about time I do!

In fact im taking this ask as an excuse to give a whole CPDW AU introduction!

The story takes place in the dystopian city-state of Shibuya, a huge closed off city isolated from the rest of the world. It's controlled by one government with extremely strict rules and ideologies, which seems particularly adamant on limiting people's creativity and self-expression. Its also very controlling

Rui is a government-hired mechanic there. His family are mainly responsible for building, programming, fixing and maintaining robots / drones / other small devices controlled by a system called "SEKAI" which serves the purpose of "maintaining order" in the city – patrolling, restraining criminals, offering help to citizens etc. These "forces" are controlled by a group of high-ranking government officials led by miss Asahina who the Kamishoros direcly respond to

Rui has figured out long ago by closely observing and helping his parents' work (who he knows were showing this to him on purpose), that the SEKAI System doesn't serve as a way of protecting the citizens, but rather of controlling them, constantly surveilling, creating a "perfect" false narrative, spying and eavesdropping in order to quickly silence anyone who might oppose the vision the government has

Knowing he's partially partaking in this as someone who makes the SEKAI tech, he's decided to revolt by himself by sabotaging his own inventions to break in the long run, going to peoples home's to fix their broken devices while secretly deactivating their hidden cameras or hacking them to spy through them on more important government supporters or officials. He has also managed to create a copy of Len - one of the highly intelligent government AIs capable of freely hacking into any SEKAI device, scanning its code and even controlling it - and created Rin who helps him in his secret work

Rui is aware that there exists some kind of an organised resistance in the city, since he often has to fix devices they broke and hears about their stunts from time to time. From his investigations it seems their activity has started becoming apparent a few years prior, not too long after the introduction of a new governmental program called "TV-fication"... Still, despite all this information, Rui hasn't been able to ever track them down before to find out more

It would seem, though, that he caught the eye of someone from the secret organisation "Untitled" after his most recent job...

That's the main premise!! The beginning relies heavily on Rui's pov at first but we'll learn a lot about other characters later as well, don't worry :3

Other important characters include:

• Emu, a journalist for her family's popular TV chain and member of a very influential governmental family

• Nene, a low ranking common worker and Rui's neighbour, though they don't talk much - not since Nene's parents have undergone the TV-fication process...

• Tsukasa Tenma, the beloved shining star of the Aoyagi idol industry and also the main propaganda machine of the government, spreading their message and ideals through his songs, in interviews and any media appearance (Rui hates his guts)

• Ena & Akito, Tsukasa's advertiser and on-set stylist respectively (as well as his reluctant friends), working for the governmental Shinonome advertising company

• Mafuyu, currently training under her mother to take her role as a leader of this "police" force in the future, owner of the KAITO AI

And others.... there's quite a few characters appearing in fact! But that's all for later :3 for now you shall get this!

(Also reminder I'm working on this with the wonderful @xxwelxx !! This would NOT have become such a big au if not for their help!!)

[accirax]

Mr. Showtime 2DMV Theory

The release of Mr. Showtime full and its 2DMV... oh my god. I’m back on my Tsukasa bullshit, so please allow me to talk about what I thought was the most interesting part of the 2DMV:

This part, with the jester boy on the moon with balloons. Please ignore the YouTube time bar I don’t know how to get rid of it While the entire 2DMV is gorgeous and bears rewatching one million times, it’s this part that stood out to me in conjunction with the lyrics. Specifically, the strings of the balloons stood out to me, after reading and participating in this post by @/getwonderhoyd. It discussed the symbolism of Tsukasa and the marionette strings in comparison to Mafuyu, and how their tight wind around his fingers implied the tight grasp he has on controlling his situation.

He has that same winding grasp on the balloons. But what are the balloons?

While not all of them are direct depictions of the Wonderland Sekai, many of them also are. The ones that aren’t all seem to be related to stories Tsukasa is featured in, specifically a lot of the girls’ events for some reason? The presents seem to be from On This Holy Night, I Sing; the mermaid tail from Mermaid Adoration; and the tropical climate from A Desperate Situation?! Island Panic!. The plane, I would imagine, is from their travels abroad in Popping In My Heart, and the candy clouds balloon could either also be that event or resemble the clouds in the Smile of a Dreamer cards. I don’t remember where the scary face could be from-- I would posit either a spooky Halloween face for It’s On! Wonder Halloween or the checkered pattern could imply the phantom thieves of A Gentleman Thief’s Thrilling White Day?!. 

Anyways, Tsukasa is clutching on tightly both to the sekai and his memories with his friends. Typical. But could it go deeper than that?

Again, the balloons are his memories. It’s good that he has them, considering his past history with memories. But here, we get some more interesting insight-- these memories are carrying the travelers. The travelers/stars are surely his troupemates, and Tsukasa believes he is carrying them with his memories. Sure, he’s carrying them with him through what he remembers, but as the leader, I think he believes that he’s the one carrying them forward. Not in a totally vain way, of course-- he loves his friends and thinks they’re all super talented, too. But there is one way that he specifically is undeniably carrying them... and that’s through the existence of his very own sekai.

That’s why his memories of prior events and the memories of the sekai are so combined. This other post which I adore by @/wondahoiii discusses how sekais are based off of repressed feelings. This makes the Wonderland Sekai, and the fact that it’s a neverending paradise based off of solely Tsukasa’s childhood memories, kind of terrifying.

Wonderlands x Showtime has had a lot of events recently about how much they don’t want their time as a group to end, even though it inevitably will. All four of them have lyrics here about wanting to avoid an ending, while Tsukasa is the only one shown acknowledging its arrival. But, down to the name, Wonderlands x Showtime and the Wonderland Sekai are connected. Since Tsukasa and Rui would have never made up without Kaito and Miku’s help, you could argue that Wonderlands x Showtime couldn’t exist without the Wonderland Sekai. So, in a way, when the members say they don’t want “it” to end, they could also be talking about how they don’t want the Wonderland Sekai to end.

What happens when true feelings are resolved?

If Vivid Bad Squad becomes a tight foursome without envy and insecurity and surpasses RAD Weekend, would they need the Street Sekai to practice in anymore? If Kanade really does write a song that can save Mafuyu, and all the members of Nightcord become mentally healthy, would they need advice from Miku, Meiko, or anyone else anymore? Someday, More More Jump will retire from being idols, right? Would the Stage Sekai still exist, even then?

And what about Tsukasa? If he became a mentally healthy person, one who could retain and potentially regain all of his memories, and make people like Saki smile... what would happen to the Wonderland Sekai?

There’s a certain fear in being the one-man show that fuels an entire universe.

Tsukasa will do anything to make the people he cares about smile. It’s literally the basis of the Wonderland Sekai itself. So, if the Wonderland Sekai makes Emu, Nene, and Rui smile, of course he would keep it open with all his power. Not to mention that, as reminded by the event story balloons, the Wonderlands Sekai is making his friends better people. Emu has people who unshakably care about her, Nene is overcoming her stage fright, and Rui feels understood and appreciated for the first time ever, thanks to the Virtual Singers inside the sekai. The Wonderland Sekai is making them better.

But at the same time, there’s a problem. As stated, the Wonderland Sekai consists of every happy childhood memory Tsukasa has repressed. For the Wonderland Sekai to exist, Tsukasa has to repress these memories, or else they wouldn’t be “emotions never expressed.” While I would never say that Wonderlands x Showtime was unhealthy for Tsukasa, it’s possible that, to a point, the Wonderland Sekai is. If he wants to reclaim his memories, he has to let the Wonderland Sekai go.

He has to be the one to bring about the catastrophic end.

It’s not just that Tsukasa wants to keep up a happy attitude so that no one will worry about him, or through some sense of pride at being the unshakable leader with masterful skills of pretending. It may be that Tsukasa is worried that if he shows even a crack, so will the world they’ve come to love. You know-- the one that Hasn’t Even Started Yet.

Which is why Tsukasa will never let go of those balloons. The ones that only contain memories of recent events; nothing about elementary school, or middle school, or even Saki and her heart-wrenching hospital trips. Living in the present, keeping things going, ignoring the past, is the only way to keep the Wonderland Sekai alive in his mind. Until closing time comes, Tsukasa and virtual singers like Luka will share this secret. Just like how Luka is constantly falling asleep, Tsukasa, too, will fall asleep on his own needs to ensure that he’ll keep the never-ending merry-go-round spinning. He’ll give up his own happiness for the betterment of others. He refuses to express his memories in words so that he can bear the burden of carrying the travelers by his side.

For the ultimate sacrifice... the show must go on!

[icedroppedinparasolcider]

so, i started thinking (which is already a dangerous task for me to do at any given time), and it lead to me asking a question: "Why is WxS Kaito in Solid Heart?" and it sent me down such a deep rabbit hole of realisation that i'm going to word vomit everything into this post.

so first, for the unitiated: during the second april fool's day event, the cast of project sekai was stuffed into a single school: the All Music Mikudemy (or just mikudemy from here forward), and organised into four classes, with one from each unit entering each class. cautious heart, with honami, haruka, kohane, tsukasa, and mafuyu; passion heart, with saki, minori, an, rui, and mizuki; solid heart, with shiho, airi, akito, nene, and ena; and pure heart, with ichika, shizuku, toya, emu, and kanade. but one additional part of it is that the virtual singers also got shuffled into these groups, with one from each sekai (two from vbs) entering the four classes: 25ji miku in pure heart, mmj rin in passion heart, vbs len in passion heart, l/n luka in cautious heart, vbs meiko in cautious heart, and wxs kaito in solid heart.

we know it's these specific versions of the virtual singers because of minor design details shown through their live2d models and the way they behave (or, for miku, it's really obvious she's from the empty sekai). rin having the stage sekai ribbon specificially, len wearing the uniform like he does his street sekai jacket, luka's sweater having the same blue accents and her wearing the same locket, meiko wearing the same earrings she does in the street sekai and using the kamiyama uniform's tie, and kaito having the same mustache pin he wears on his wonderland sekai uniform. there's also the fact these six are considered the "initial" virtual singers of each group and were part of the cast of the 2.5 anni virtual singer event. which was probably what decided who would be part of the mikudemy in the first place.

all of this established, i again ask the question at the core of this: Why is WxS Kaito in Solid Heart? the way he behaves aligns far more with the vibes of cautious heart, especially with the fact he's the initial virtual singer of tsukasa's sekai. his controlled, older brother air (if emu's "kaito onii-san" says anything) matches the way tsukasa feels and behaves regarding saki, that's certainly a large part of what formed kaito into the sekai in the first place. he's the leader of the virtual singer theatre troupe, he handles most of the directing for their shows, he functions as the "straight man" to the comedic natures of the wonderland sekai cast. everything kaito is aligns with cautious heart, not solid heart. so Why?

the short, and probably real answer if we assume colopale didn't put a ton of thought into an april fool's event, is that they otherwise wouldn't have a virtual singer for solid heart. none of the chosen cast fits the description of solid heart, most of them significantly worse than kaito does at first glance, and cautious heart already has two of the major "mentor" virtual singers in l/n luka and vbs meiko. the closest to a solid heart rep beyond what they already have would probably be vbs len, but i definitely agree that he's better fit for passion heart, for reasons i'll get into later as i answer the big question (including but not limited to: keeping len with rin).

but i think there's an actual reason behind kaito's solid heart placement, something i discovered by looking through the other virtual singers and why they fit the classes they've been assigned.

first, let's look at luka, meiko, and cautious heart as a whole, since i already have a short (by my standards) description of what makes cautious heart cautious heart on my blog as is, it's just more focused on why tsukasa's in it in particular rather than about the class as a whole. cautious heart is, by description, a grouping of natural leaders that handle those around them with great care and kindness, often to a point it begins to reflect poorly on their mental health (look at honami and mafuyu). all of them come from some level of "talent"—haruka is regarded as a perfect idol, kohane has a natural gift for singing, mafuyu's... entire story—but where this separates from pure heart, who carry the same trait, is the way this impacts their lives, starting in some way negatively. as their talent brings with it expectation, either from themselves (tsukasa and mafuyu) or the world around them (everyone else), and this expectation is something that weighs heavily on these characters. a massive central part of all of their themes is this expectation, the impacts it left in their lives, and how they move forward with this expectation. some of them leave it behind them (mafuyu), some of them chase with the dream of overcoming it (kohane and tsukasa), and some of them completely redefine what these expectations mean (honami and haruka).

if we look at l/n luka and vbs meiko, we can immediately see a couple throughlines to this theming: namely the factor of talent and leadership. luka is the senpai of the school sekai, having knowledge of all four leo/need instruments to a degree that she can reliably teach the members of the band how to improve throughout their entire story, and being the only one to genuinely test shiho's mastery of the bass earlier in the story. the role luka plays in the stories of leo/need's members matches the role honami plays in the relationships of the band, sharing that same unending drive to care and support the others in the group, something especially shown through her roles in Stella After the Rain and Live with Memories. vbs meiko is very much the same way for the street sekai, being the owner and bartender of crase cafe and holding a mentor role for the other virtual singers and members of vivid bad squad. she doesn't step in to assist with improving their singing until vbs get noticeably better, roughly halfway into their journey to surpass rad weekend, because not only does it provide opportunities for the other virtual singers to provide their input, but her teachings exist on a level above what the others offer at first.

both school sekai luka and street sekai meiko stand on a level beyond the other virtual singers in their sekai, and choose to offer their wisdom akin to a parent or a teacher rather than peer-to-peer like many of the other relationships with the virtual singers tend to be. they are leaders within their sekai, even looked to as such by those that made the sekai they're part of. perfect fits for cautious heart.

then there's rin and len. the former is really easy to assign to passion heart; stage sekai rin takes most after minori, if not clear by her being the least experienced of the six and her role in Hear Me! Hopeful Stage and Connected by Painful Hope (performing two different roles for minori and haruka respectively but they're both parallels to minori's own role in the idol group; rin's empathy and understanding for minori's struggle and the extra perspective she gives to haruka that she otherwise wouldn't have considered). everything about mmj rin connects back to minori in some way, and as a passion heart student herself, it was a given that stage sekai rin would be assigned the same class.

but len approaches passion heart from a completely different direction, something that adds a new perspective to the class and their stories. because on the surface, len would be better fit for solid heart: his relationship with akito is one of the core dynamics of the street sekai, he's constantly in competition with street sekai rin, and even to some degree with miku (mirroring the early dynamics between akito and an), and he played a major role in akito's chapter of BREAK DOWN THE WALL. most of the evidence points toward solid heart vbs len, but i believe the part that puts him in passion heart is the fact rin is a given to go there. because rin and len are a pair. they share a number, they're both kagamines, and across every sekai they have a special relationship that works as a motivator for at least one member of the sekai. and out of every group, it's vivid bad squad that puts the most emphasis on the importance of partnership. it's a massively central and unendingly important aspect of its story and the growth of its characters.

street sekai len takes this pairing of rin and len to an extra level, as their relationship is the example of vivid bad squad's partner dynamic. every time conflict arises between the two, it's ultimately born from wanting to be a better partner for the other; something that's directly paralleled across both the bad dogs and the vivids. entire plot points are built from the importance of this dynamic, the fact they are the most important people in each other's lives (not even in a shipping sense, this is just direct storytelling; to deny that fact is to deny the essence of the group itself), and that manifests itself into the dynamic of rin and len. a pair of virtual singers whose relationship transcends sekai. no matter the circumstance, no matter the personality they're given, they are partners.

and when you look at passion heart through this perspective, you can immediately see a pattern: every member of passion heart strives to embody a certain light they were given. saki with tsukasa, minori with haruka, an with nagi, rui with tom gray, mizuki with yuuki. and, within their own groups, their stories develop their characters through their relationships with others, having entire events around a particular, vitally important person: saki's Parallel Harmonies with ichika, minori's entire dynamic with haruka, an's entire arc from Bout for Beside You to Whip the Wimp Girl!!, rui's relationship with tsukasa after the main story, and mizuki's My Footprints, Your Destination and Our Escape For Survival for ena and mafuyu respectively.

passion heart is built around its relationships, the importance other people play in their lives and growth. to not include the inseparable pair of rin and len in that class would simply be a mistake.

this brings us back around to kaito and solid heart. what about wonderland sekai kaito connects him to the themes of solid heart? well, if school luka and street meiko are cautious heart students at the ends of their journeys, and street len is a new perspective on the meaning of passion heart, i think wonderland kaito is meant to be both of these things. because kaito is the solid heart connection to cautious heart, a representation of what they're capable of by embodying a class solid heart often envies.

wonderland kaito pulls a lot from tsukasa's character (obviously so, as a manifestation of his emotions), and tsukasa's story, despite himself being cautious heart, reflects the themes of solid heart. specifically the events On the Stage of Dazzling Light and Towards the Phoenix at the Sky's Edge. stories about tsukasa's struggle to perform as the actor he wants to be, the latter specifically putting him in a position of intense longing for a goal he feels is lifetimes away from him. yes, both of these are for the sake of the character he's playing, but that reflects perfectly in the stories of solid heart, who put their all into their work to achieve the goals they've set out for themselves, and will put themselves through the most difficult climbs just to reach the top of the cliffside. if the way his story presents itself wasn't better fit for cautious heart, and nene wasn't already a perfect solid heart student, tsukasa would be solid heart. and kaito, carrying such a major piece of tsukasa: his dedication to his craft, is the solid heart within tsukasa. the drive to grow, the will to keep pushing no matter the challenge, the willingness to try anything that might lead to success, even if they get hurt in the process. yes, he acts more like cautious heart, but that's the point.

shiho has always been an odd one when it comes to solid heart's themes. yes, they act like a member of solid heart (all the way down to the common mischaracterisation of them being an asshole, a universal trait of solid heart characters), but their story has always worked in contrast to the rest of solid heart. solid heart characters come from a position of inferiority, feeling the need to overcompensate and push themselves to their limits in order to "keep up" with the rest of their groups' capabilities. shiho has never had this struggle; they've always been skilled, the most experienced member of the band. shiho has an entire event, Don't Lose Faith!, that has ichika confront them about the fact they hold back to not outshine the other band members, so they don't glow too bright and take the glory for themselves. it's the opposite of what solid heart has always needed to do. because shiho, like kaito represents, is already there. their drive was uninhibited by their environment, save for the struggle to find a band they can participate in. their actual ability as a musician has never been hampered by the world, while the rest of solid heart run off the belief they're worse than their group because that's what the world has told them, directly or indirectly. shiho is the sunlight that solid heart is capable of achieving.

so wonderland kaito, much like shiho represents, is an embodiment of what solid heart can do with their determination to grow despite the challenges. because they look up to the cautious heart students, they're envious of their skills and talents. but kaito is the proof that they can be that.

that, i think, is why kaito is solid heart. the virtual singers are representations of these characters' feelings and aspirations, and wonderland kaito serves as an embodiment of the goals of solid heart. their mission to be like the cautious heart students that seem to have everything together. kaito shows them that it's possible by being like cautious heart but still solid heart.

[aeoki]

White Brim - Battle Royal: Chapter 1

Location: Villa Characters: Touri, Tsukasa, Eichi & Hiyori Season: Winter Writer: Akira

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ< End of February. At a certain villa owned by the Tenshouin family. >

Touri: Anzu~! Why are you stuck to the corner of the room like that?

If you’re confused about social etiquette, I don’t mind teaching you everything you need to know. Ehehe, it’s repayment for always looking after me ♪

Tsukasa: Anzu Onee-sama! You look pale. Perhaps it’s because you’re hungry as you haven’t eaten anything?

There’s no need to worry. I shall bring a basket of snacks for you! I’m doing this specially for you, Onee-sama – I wouldn’t usually do this sort of thing normally ♪

Touri: Grrr…

Tsukasa: Hmm?

Touri: Oh, look who it is~ Tsukasa’s here. So you came too, huh? Your whole presence is so unsightly that I thought it was some random person who had wandered in!

Tsukasa: What was that? Oh, isn’t that Touri-kun? My apologies, you’re so small you could barely fit in my field of vision – I couldn’t tell who you were!

Touri: You’re just someone poor whose only pride is your lineage…!

Tsukasa: You’re just a bean painted in gold…!

Hiyori: Alright now, you two! Could you both stop with the unfriendly atmosphere at such a lovely place? What foul weather!

Tsukasa: Huh? Uh, okay…?

Touri: Hiyori-sama! You decided to attend this time? That’s rare!

Hiyori: Indeed ♪ If anything, it’s only appropriate as the carefree second son of my family to indulge myself in parties and other pleasures, no?

I’d feel bad if I were to get in my older brother’s way, so I’d usually just decline and stay home, though.

He’s flooded with work this year and it’s uncertain whether or not he’d be able to attend.

Besides, this is a party to celebrate the establishment of ES – a large undertaking from the Tenshouin family – and the huge success of the largest event there, “SS”.

I was also the “general leader” of the “White Team” more or less, so of course I had to attend. After all, I’m sure the public sees me as one of the many players who played a large role in the competition.

Naturally, that goes for all of you as well. They’re all itching to hear about our stories of ES and “SS”.

In the financial world, ES has grown into a large entity that the world can no longer ignore.

Tsukasa: “SS”...

Touri: …………

Hiyori: Hm? It was a shame that Touri-kun didn’t feel well during the “SS” main battle, but putting that aside, why do you look so down, Tsukasa-kun?

I think “Knights” earned themselves a rather favourable position in the main battle, though?

Tsukasa: Thank you… It’s an honour, Hiyori-sama.

It’s true “Knights” performed in quite a magnificent manner.

We shared that day’s stage with “Trickstar”, who we had spent a long time practising with, so it’s all thanks to them that we were perfectly in-sync…

I’m proud of us for being able to perform and show the world that “Knights” exists.

However, the fact that we lost completely to “Crazy:B” during the qualifying round has left me feeling quite ashamed…

It’s difficult for me to let go of those feelings and be overjoyed that everything ended well.

Hiyori: Hehe. There couldn’t have been a unit that didn’t struggle from beginning to end.

“Eden” isn’t an exception, either. Things ended up being forcibly left unsettled and the “White Team” was experiencing defeat after defeat…

It felt as though our dignity as the ones who acted like the overwhelming champions was wounded.

As if they were thinking we were all bark and no bite.

Tsukasa: I don’t think that’s true.

Touri: Yeah. In our eyes, “Eden” has always been a unit that’s shining brightly in a faraway place – a unit that we’re no match for.

Tsukasa: That’s right. But to be honest, I was busy worrying about ourselves during “SS”, so…

I didn’t have the time to care about the other units or the public’s reaction.

Despite that, I was bombarded left and right with work, so I didn’t have any time to organise my thoughts, either. And while I was forcibly returned to my busy work…

It felt as if “SS” and everything that happened dissipated like a dream.

Touri: I know what you mean~ It felt like we were inside a dream the entire time, huh.

Hiyori: Ahaha. If anything, we should be getting our heads out of “SS” as quickly as we can in order to return to our daily lives. “SS” was an ephemeral dream – a slice out of the ordinary.

If we continued to be prisoner to that, then it would hinder our everyday life.

And this is also a party to forget all those things. We’ll blow away our fatigue by enjoying ourselves and indulging in some delicious food.

It’s all to provide the strength that will allow us to continue doing our best as idols in the future.

And in your case, Anzu-chan, as a “producer”. That’s probably why you’ve been invited despite not being nobility, no? Just a guess, though.

Eichi: You’re right.

Hehe. You’re always the one who understands me most, Hiyori-kun.

Hiyori: Oh, you’re here, Eichi-kun? I didn’t see you around, so I thought you had died in a ditch somewhere.

Eichi: …You always say those sorts of things with a smile on your face, but do you truly wish me dead?

Hiyori: Hm? Why, that would make me a very thick-skinned person indeed – I couldn’t care less whether you’re dead or alive!

Touri: …Huh? What’s wrong, Anzu? Why are you laughing?

What? Me, Tsukasa, Eichi-sama and Hiyori-sama all give off similar vibes? What do you mean?

I don’t really understand but I’m glad you’re laughing, Anzu~ I was worried since you looked so “dispirited”.

Hm? That’s your line, you say?

Hmm… I’d like to be able to smile and laugh innocently like I always have.

But that’s still hard for me to do right now.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤNext Chapter →

[thelunarfairy]

This is the first time that Teru sees Tsukasa, how do you think he will react?

Do you think he even knew about his existence before this?

Love your posts and would love to hear your thoughts about this

(Idk if I've already sent this, tumblr was acting weird, so sorry if i have)

Yes, you sent it twice hahaha but I'm only going to answer this one.

I think Teru must already know about Tsukasa's existence, but perhaps he's never seen him in person before. In fact, maybe he imagines that Hanako's little brother was still that little boy from the red house.

Maybe he never saw Tsukasa yorishiro, Sakura said they were avoiding Teru, so I imagine Tsukasa was doing the same.

I think they will end up working together to get out of this situation, we don't know what the trial will be like and what the punishment will be.

It would be funny if the big culprit was Teru hahaha

ah… this arc looks like it's going to be really long….

Will Hanako lose all the influence he has? He's the leader, isn't he?

Oh, thanks sweetie S2

[project-sekai-facts]

Okay, I’m about to go full Pepe Silvia on the August lims but here’s my insane prediction.

- Ever since the introduction of the two random lim reruns, one of the three reruns a month have had a character that ended up being on that month’s lim banner

- August’s reruns are cafe rec, Halloween 2022, and NY 2023, this means that one of the characters on the end of August lim banner should be Airi, Mizuki, Saki, Shiho, Kohane, Minori, Tsukasa, An, or Rin

- Kohane and Minori both have 7 lims so they can’t be lim

- Airi was lasts month’s lim so she can’t be lim

- Rin is on vs wl so she can’t be lim, and if Mizuki5 is MizuEna 4 stars, since one of them needs to be anni, the event would need to be directly after August lim, so she can’t be lim either

- This leaves us with Saki, Shiho, Tsukasa, and An as possible candidates for an end of August lim

With that, I’d say there’s two likely options for August lim:

- L/n hako lim - Most likely Ichika5, clpl has been obsessed with hako lims lately, between Saki and Shiho the one not lim here would be anni

- Tsukasa mix 3 - Clpl seems to be trying to get the leaders 3rd mixes done fast, also could be a easy explanation for the whole Kasa5 fiasco

I’d say An is much less likely since she’s 4 stars on the current event and has a chance to be anni, but there is a slim chance she could be August lim

Anyway that’s my prediction, I’m ready for clpl to completely destroy it, but they’re always really fun to make!

allow me to go full pepe silvia in return

the 'rule' you mentioned also applies just to the random rerun banners on their own, really seems like they're just asking for money from fans atp LOL. the only exception is July (intersecting melodies + CGO->ideal idol), though that's probably down to the fact they're running out of gachas to random rerun.

if we go based on the random rerun rule, then Tsukasa is indeed the only one who works. while he has one of the highest 4* counts in the game, it can easily be balanced by just not giving him another 4* for a while. he needs reward 2*s as well so you could easily just make him 2* on nene5 and call it a day. unless nene5 is october lim and then he has a good chance of being lim there instead of august. the characters we know can definitely be lim are mostly from wxs or l/n, so we've got connections there that make sense too.

alternatively yeah leoni hakolim is an option. i think the lineup is most likely to be ichika/saki/honami if this happens (or just generally though you could swap honami for a vsinger) mainly because saki cannot be reward card and leoni can't get another vsinger lim for quite a while, also this works to make shiho the anniversary lim. it opens up another opportunity to have another perm mixed event too since we skipped over a lot of slots that should've been perm mixed in order to balance unit events between WLEs. it'd be frustrating to have a fourth hakolim since april but if it happens it happens ig.

to go on a tangent (again) i've seen a lot of people predict rui/honami/mafuyu, which i think is an option but i feel like there's too much weighed against it. from a meta perspective it makes a lot of sense, like all 3 of them haven't had a lim in a while and are eligible for this gacha, plus storywise they all have connections, but that's about it. mafuyu and rui just had their kizuna and it still feels off to me that they'd give them that just before an event rather than after when they would have a more fleshed out relationship, plus honami and rui were both featured prominently in rise as one only a few months ago, and the game tends to avoid rehashing mixed event lineups so close to each other (i mean we did have minori/shiho on two mixed within 5ish months but shiho was only a small role in wedding).

yeah i think the most likely events will be leoneed hakolim or a lim banner featuring tsukasa (for money). or they could do the widely predicted rui/honami/mafuyu banner or totally pull the rug out from underneath us and do something like an ichika/nene focused event (you could probably still put tsukasa here tbh).

[sankatsuka]

My Personal Journey with Project SEKAI: How Haruka Kiritani Changed My Perspective on Life

I recently watched a heart-touching video on Omori, and it inspired me to want to express my own feelings about the special place Project SEKAI has in my heart.

I hesitated to share this because of how deeply personal and depressing it is and would leave a bad taste in the mouths of people who want to enjoy Haruka (and Tsukasa) without the lens of depression. But I really want people to take Project SEKAI's writing more seriously instead of treating it as some trauma complexity competition. It would be nice if this could resonate with some people and give some hope to them.

I don't consider myself a victim of ableism, but my struggle is objectively about ableism - so my personal answer may be triggering and something people would not agree with/be able to live with.

TW for ableism and suicide ideation.

For all my life, I suffered from feeling like everyday was empty and was like dying, but I was never comforted for it and thus came to the delusional view that everyone was the same and going through this. 'All of us are trying to become someone we aren't because the world won't accept us for who we really are, so of course I shouldn't expect comfort,' or so I thought. But there was no story that could clearly express this pain - I have felt it several times in fictional characters I'm drawn to, but it was sadly never the focus of the story. Because of this, I always dreamed of creating a story that could strongly express these feelings so all of us can open our eyes to it and not have to suffer alone anymore, and it's what kept me going for years. That is, until I found Wonderlands x Showtime from Project SEKAI.

When I first read the unit story, I recognized a lot of Tsukasa's behaviours and lit up - this was it. This was the story I had always been looking for.

I thought it was a given everyone would have perceived Tsukasa the same way I did. He was the leader character who was trying to become someone else: the framing of 'chasing stardom = couldn't stand life living as himself' couldn't get anymore obvious than that. These were the feelings that drove me to write A True Star as the seeds were so obviously planted but the writers just weren't sowing them. But the fandom was a wake-up call for me that not everyone suffered the same way and could see it, especially as Tsukasa became more and more forcibly fitted into the comfort sunshine boyfriend stereotype by the fandom. Even the people who were touched by my writing had vastly different views from me. It taught me that people are different and feel things differently, and suddenly I no longer knew what I wanted.

Mafuyu was never relatable for me, because I could never relate to being in so much pain to the point of not feeling guilt when people want to help you. For me, everyday was just dull - I could smile and laugh genuinely along with people, but something just felt missing and it made me feel dead inside. I kept aiming to become good at something so I could feel whole, but the motivation was just never there. But what was most painful above all, was the fact that I felt no one ever took my tears and emotions seriously, no matter how much I tried to express myself. This is what I could only perceive in Tsukasa and WxS at the time, and fuelled me into writing A True Star.

But I started feeling more and more guilty and selfish of my feelings for Tsukasa because of Curtain Call. Given the angst, more fans would probably be wanting to see a focus on Rui instead of Tsukasa. I also believed that the writers should be focusing on Rui, because if it made the fans happy, then they SHOULD write Tsukasa off as his fandom oversimplification so as to not overshadow Rui. Tsukasa's pre-established angst and Rui's apparent angst in Curtain Call just couldn't coexist to me without ruining the message and impact of the other. I decided my feelings were just self-pitying exaggeration and shouldn't be captured, and people who related to me should stop living that way. Because of that guilt, I found myself unable to write and draw the things that used to make me happy. I spent a long time paralyzed because of this, crying and suffering everyday from feeling that the dream I had for the longest time turned out to be stupid and there would never be anything fun for me to look forward to. A day didn't go by without me contemplating suicide. This was why I quit Twitter.

But I still couldn't let go of my feelings no matter how hard I tried to - I wanted to see my dream. I wanted to see it touch the hearts of people, for them to realize how painful it was being this way, that my feelings and those like myself were never an exaggeration.

In that same period of time, when I was begging my body to move and do something productive and not be like this over a fucking fictional character, going to counselling and reading all sorts of self-help articles to get over it - I briefly recalled Haruka's story. I finally understood how she felt: being unable to do what you love as you can't help but feel you're just an unwanted burden to others. Even if there are people out there who enjoyed your works, it doesn't matter because you're a fake and there are other better people out there who have more meaningful things to say than you. But even so, you can't let go. She gave me the answer to my dilemma in Painful Hope: to forgive yourself for being different and needing comfort in your own way. Even if it's not a big deal to others, it most certainly is a big deal to you.

Haruka Kiritani surprisingly broadened my perspective on life. I had never understood her character at the start, thinking she was just the stereotype of a responsible girl. I always thought I was a certain way - exaggerated like Tsukasa, but in reality I was far more simpler and pathetic than that. I just felt overly responsible for everyone's emotions for how painfully sensitive I am to people and my surroundings, that I never thought enough about expressing myself. That if I made someone unhappy, something bad would happen. And the big problem was, I believed I always made people unhappy for being different.

Wanting to be saved by the dream of the entire world acknowledging your suffering and being there for you? I only then realized how delusional it was and how it just made me look farther away from myself and worsened my life. How about using those strong senses to just be present and appreciate every moment of being human and alive instead? Enjoying the happy times with all your heart, letting yourself just feel the pain when someone hurts you, live everyday looking forward to more encounters that would enrich your life... Maybe along the way, you may even miraculously find something that completes you. (I LOVE YOU IF!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CHANGING ME YURRY CANON AND HARUKA KIRITANI!!!!)

It isn't about discarding your suffering, it's about acknowledging reality: there are so many people living in the world, it can't just be the way you need it to be for your happiness - but you can change. You just have to live for something that you can attain for sure, like facing the pain and emptiness of everyday for what it is and having hope for happier days. (My favourite anime of all-time Gintama captures this sooooo well, delusion vs reality, how both of them are equally important - please watch it. Now don't get me started on how strongly similar Project SEKAI and Gintama are--).

Besides, I wouldn't want people to change for me. I love them for who they are, and I was just blinded running away thinking no one would ever want me around as me. But now, I live trying to face the reality that there will be people who care and want me to be happy. I'll live with the pain of people not caring about me so I can fully experience those happier times when they come. And just because people don't care doesn't mean they're terrible people - the world is huge, there are too many options and choices for people to make.

Even if life is always so painful, there are times it's still so fun. I just can't let go after all.

Haruka Kiritani is the reason I stopped entrusting my ridiculous dream to Tsukasa and I'm not in as bad a place mentally anymore. I was just delusional like Tsukasa was, thinking achieving your dream would change everything and make you finally feel wanted and enough (lol, the meta is crazy). I'm grateful the scenario writers didn't give me what I wanted right away with Tsukasa - because then, I wouldn't have noticed the beauty in Haruka's writing. I'm pretty confident that WxS is definitely going in the direction I dreamed of (the same message I wanted to convey in A True Star), but it doesn't really matter much to me anymore now.

I can't go along with dreams of being saved anymore. I understand wanting them, I really did. But right now, what's more important to me is the love people have for me in the present, even if it's imperfect, flawed and hurts so much. I don't ever want to be saved if it means turning a blind eye to people who want me around and failing to respond to them as I've been doing up till now. I'm still not fully understood, which is why it hurts - but as long as I respond as seriously as I can, things might hopefully change someday. I've always been loved, and I want to cherish that. It's because of that I can no longer muster the emotions and anger to write A True Star anymore.

I slowly started realizing more and more similarities in Haruka too. There was such a small detail in Towards The Dream of That Day (Focus 3) that meant the world to me: the small moment where a young Haruka expresses discomfort with the crowd. Can you imagine that this sensitive girl who gets tired from crowds is now a top idol?

"...But there were so many people, I think I might be a little exhausted."

It didn't even hit me when I read that part, but I had a memory just like that with my own mother which slipped my mind. It's probably happened so many times my family had to take care of me in crowds in the past. But I had been so immersed in the delusion that I could overcome anything, that I completely forgot I was always the shy, fragile young girl to my family.

We have both always been loved and seen by people around us, but we just don't feel good enough that we end up trying to become someone else. It also doesn't help when your family thinks you can grow out of it - but if they love you, they will try to understand and you will feel that love if you're present. This is a big reason why living in reality is now so important to me - to properly respond to my loved ones, so that we can someday see eye-to-eye. And not to forget, to be able to smile and have fun with all my being once again.

More recently, it finally sunk in that I have always been terrible at smiling. I hated taking photographs because I could never get it to look the way I want it to, because no matter how hard I tried to smile, it just couldn't turn out natural. My mother has always pointed it out ever since I was young, but I didn't acknowledge it because I knew I could smile more naturally if I was in the mood - which is true... it isn't even autism, because when I'm talking about or doing something I love, I would be smiling and laughing so hard that my friends and family take notice. Just like Haruka and penguins, and when idol activities and times with her friends are genuinely exhilarating and fun.

A big problem we likely have is a form of neurodivergence that makes the normal world too boring and understimulating for us. And it's really a struggle - constantly being understimulated to even hold normal conversations, and then there's how most of our loved ones wouldn't get it because of how different we are.

And finally, there's Haruka in Precious Memories.

(I... can smile like this too.) (It seems somewhat different from when I'm at work...)

"...Thank you for giving me such wonderful memories, Saki."

How she realized she should cherish and preserve every moment in her life from Saki is so, so important to me. Even with friends, even if she's not always fully happy, she can have times she would find herself smiling so happily without realizing it.

It hammers in the realization I came to because of her character. After all, I ended up like this, unaware and self-hating, because I kept taking my own emotions and people's emotions towards me for granted. I was already happy just spending time around family and friends, but I couldn't fully immerse myself in it because of how hard I constantly was on myself. And the cycle of anger went on as people couldn't understand why I was so hard on myself. This is the power of Project SEKAI, just because she too couldn't move at all at one point - Haruka Kiritani helped me understand myself so much better and navigate life in a healthier, wholer way, embracing both the joys and pains of life. (Well... I still do run away, but I'm working on it...)

Shiho also became an incredibly important character to me because of the message in Stick to Your Faith that supplemented Haruka's character. I never thought to think of it that way, that there were things you couldn't let go of but it's okay to care about people's feelings at the same time. As someone with unique interests and who takes things a little too seriously, it was the words that I really needed to hear. I don't think we are similar enough to share even the same motivations though, but Shiho's values have definitely lit a way forward in my self-discovery. It's embarrassing to be so impacted by a story that isn't serious to most people. But truly, to Colorful Palette, thank you for writing Haruka Kiritani. Honami, Shiho and Tsukasa were all equally as important in making me realize the true weight of emotions and their impact on you. Project SEKAI made my dream come true in MORE MORE JUMP, in a far different yet better way than what I expected. I hope that this post would make people realize that Project SEKAI characters are more human than tropes. I was once blinded by tropes too, which made me miss out on how beautifully written Honami was - it really, really takes time to grow out of it. I'm tired of people attributing angst and depression only to Niigo when that's just a part of life and everyone has at least experienced it once. The sudden shift in atmosphere in No Seek No Find? A song about life and death in Kashika? Utsuro wo Aogu literally meaning 'looking into the void'? The constant themes of escapism in Emu commissions?

Each character is so strongly human in nature, that you can just understand the emotions they're feeling in the moment and why they feel that way. The narrative won't spell it for you, the characters are all unreliable narrators - you need to immerse yourself in both the story and the commissions and understand it yourself. You need to read all the unit stories to understand the writers' approach to emotions. Even if it doesn't make sense to you, it might start to make sense the more you learn about yourself and the people around you - because the writers have put in their actual emotions and experiences into writing and planning the character.

That is the beauty of Project SEKAI to me. I hope someday, instead of a cringey angsty teenage story, people could come to appreciate the human love and care put into its characters.

Finally, I end this love letter to Project SEKAI with one of my most favourite lines in If:

"Singing won't save your life or anything. But I want to sing for your sake."

"Even if this life of mine has no worth, the world is still beautiful. So let's live."

[amyyythestarry]

CHAPTER 109 OF TBHK!

I love how Tsu’s feet is just kicked up, like always. I find it so hilarious because people are calling him fruity💀.

Fruity a** pose.

Him and his brother, omg.

The bestie look, the look of secret telepathy I knew I would see it from them. I really want to see it from the Yugi twins too. Like, twin telepathy, then saying stuff at the same time/doing something in sync, maybe as humans people get them mixed up or they swap for the day. I always imagine them just being silly stereotypical twins.

Yes Teru is pissed.

Also Mirai not being able to read is funny to me.

In an au where they are alive, in my aus where they are all in the Near Shore, she just has dyslexia.

Tsu’s smug smile, enjoying his ambiguity and unknowing-ness. Just a drama king in disguise and wants to mysteriously introduce himself.

Mr. B**ch. Step forward.

Jesus.

They for real called him out. Can’t even claim it’s bs.

I didn’t realize this before, but the fact Tsukasa is surprised is really funny.

Because if you think about it, Hanako has been acting more like how he was as a human, ‘Amane’, than he is as a supernatural, as ‘Hanako’. Being embarrassed for himself.

The Amane Tsukasa knew was not perverted, and if he was then he probably kept that to himself, instead of Hanako, who outwardly acts as a perv.

“Amane, you want to do pervy stuff?” - 🫢

Tsukasa, as the very non-perverted person he is, must actually be shocked that his dear old twin brother would be and want to do such a thing. Maybe not disgusted like Teru and Akane obviously is, but since that’s not a part of Amane he know he will hold this in his memory bank. Now he knows you’re a pervert Amane. He’ll probably never let you ‘live’ this down.

She just a little baby, she can’t even reach over the thing!

Her first time in court she was only 3 years old.

I wonder when she’ll turn back to normal?

I love love love Akanene, I’m sorry y’all.

But c’mon, HE’S DEFENDING HER, STICKING UP FOR HER, WANTING HER TO WIN HER CASE.

Platonic or not, they are the sh**.

In the MangaUp translation it said “Do you really think I’m a sociapath?” ( Or something like that ) He definitely is.

Not Tsu saying he would. Everyone’s reading him like an open book, omg. 😭

Akane has nothing to say.

The way he just smiles silently, looks up to see if his fellow criminals will defend him, even a little. Not even Nene did though.

C’mon Teru, Akane was expecting a message of love. Whatever, they’re the yaoi ever.

Pose of innocence.

Then rats himself out.

He can’t help his brutal honesty.

The word ‘smithereens’ is something I don’t want to hear.

Feed him to the owls is crazy.

I love characters who talk in first person when addressing themselves. Doesn’t Tiara also do that?

Totally random, but Tiara and Mirai would be besties.

And Tsu smiling without concern.

I cannot be the only one who is dissatisfied that something didn’t happen to him?

Like really, we could have seen what the Tsu of TBHK future was, we could have seen him disappear/die. And I love him with all my heart, but you cannot admit that that would not be a plot turner, or exciting to see something bad happen to him.

He just had to use that little sprinkle of hope, the power of what? F**king friendship? Loyalty to carry out his job? From thin air.

He’s still amazing though.

Was he yelling as Amane, the caring big brother, or Hanako, the leader of the mysteries who used his twin powers to predict what Tsu was going to do and knew it was going to lead to something bad? Maybe both.

Also, is this just a general warning, or will this have consequences later?

Signature move I guess.

Jii-san. Says the person who doesn’t care for supernaturals, calling the supernatural that tricked and got him involved with the school mysteries, ‘grandpa’..

Let us just hope Akane will survive the next chapter ok?

I wonder if his body is actually different from his human body though? Does he actually have gears inside of him? Or is Tsu just making assumptions.

But, wasn’t he in Clock Keeper form when he got a hole stabbed in his chest in the severance arc?

Oh god.

Whatever, I’m just gonna place my bets that Tsukasa will somehow be stopped. Probably not by Akane though, he’s the weakest school mystery and can’t even stand a chance against Teru.

Nice chapter, I was honestly expecting jail time.

[hypn0sssss]

I'm new to Tumblr but I really wanted to share this unit swap I made!

(Fun Fact, these were all made with a wheel)

Marionette's Theatre

A band of four students looking to escape the crushing expectations placed onto them.

-Shizuku (Main singer, Guitarist)

-Mafuyu (Synth, Lyrist)

-Touya (Drums)

-Akito (Bass)

Sekai: Puppet Show Sekai

A rather small stage. If you look past the curtains, you can see a faceless audience looking at the stage. On the right side of the stage, there's a ladder. If you go down the ladder halfway, you'll find a backstage area with props and costumes. If you go down the ladder all the way, you can walk through the crowd. The Sekai is made of all of the band members' shared feelings.

Starting Virtual Singers: Miku & Len

Sugary Sweet!!

An idol group looking for a way to achieve their biggest dreams.

-Emu (Leader)

-Saki

-Shiho

-Nene

Sekai: Candyland Sekai

Sweets and sugar as far as the eye can see! Everything is made of candy, from buildings, to trees, to the ground itself! The main building is a small castle made of various candies, where the virtual singers are most commonly found. The Sekai is made from the shared feelings of all of the group members.

Starting Virtual Singers: Miku & Meiko

Shatter Gold

A street music group looking to show people that they are more than the box they are put in.

-Rui (Leader)

-Tsukasa

-Haruka

-Kohane

Sekai: Live House Sekai

A bright live house. There are hundreds of stages throughout the Sekai, along with DJ booths and even some instruments throughout the Sekai. The faceless crowd is loud and rowdy, especially during a performance. The Sekai made from the shared feelings of all of the group mates.

Starting Virtual Singers: Miku & Kaito

Bright ☆ Reflect

A theater troupe with the goal to cheer up anyone who needs it, including their own troupe members

-Ichika (Leader, Songwriter)

-Mizuki (Costume and Makeup)

-Airi (Script Writer)

-Ena (Set designer)

Sekai: Mirror Sekai

Everywhere you turn, there is a mirror. A majority of the Sekai is a maze of this body length mirrors. However, there is a common area with mirror walls where the virtual singers hang out. The Sekai is made from Mizuki's feelings.

Starting Virtual Singers: Miku and Ren

Diminishing Shine

An online music group made of people who have lost hope.

-Minori (Leader, Artist)

-Honami (Lyricist)

-Kanade (Composer)

-An (MV editor)

Sekai: Abandoned Park Sekai

A playground that is rusty due to not being used. Around the playground is a large field. Everything is a dull color, from the grass the the playground itself. The only thing that isn't dull is the sky, which is always a starry night sky. The Sekai is made from Honami's feelings.

Starting Virtual Singers: Miku & Luka

Yep, that's it! However, if you want to check out more, here's the AO3 like for the series that has more info and oneshots about it!

[narukape]

20230126 — dates and disdain

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EXTRA FUN FACTS:

— SEIZA (星座) is a stupid pun. it's the ES equivalent of the texting app. (figure out the meaning if you want 🙈. it's super obvious i swear)

— as you can see, [name] has mao as their lock screen :D! ritsu can be partially seen but he hasn't recovered his wallpaper privileges after the incident with eichi yet. no limelight for him in [name]'s heart (phone).

— @/ouno is tsukasa's priv.

SYPNOSIS— Photographers are known to have quite the eye when it comes to beautiful sights— being naturally drawn to every opportunity of catching good visuals on their camera. [name], a famed photographer that is currently affiliated with Ensemble Square, is no exception. Truly it's no wonder that they fell for the prettiest sight of them all; Tsukasa Suou, leader of Knights.