#but its complicated yano

[phoneybeatlemania]

Hi Phoney! Love your blog, you're so knowledgable about the boys❤ Id like to ask you if you could recommend some beatles books? There are dozens (hundreds?) of them and i have no idea which ones are worth picking up and which ones are trash. Peace and love✌😎

Hiya anon! Sorry you sent this in February and im only just answering, hopefully it pops up on your dash anyway tho

So Im pretty sure Erin Torkelson Weber said theres upwards of a 1000 books written about the Beatles, which means obviously theres a lot to get through. Honestly, having read quite a few, there are none that are going to be 100% unbiased, 100% truthful and 100% satisfactory for everyone, but heres a few that I think are worthwhile:

1. A Day In The Life: the Music and Artistry of the Beatles by Mark Hertsgaard

Personally I really enjoyed this book when I read it. Its not the most insightful book about them out there, but I think its a solid starting point for anyone new to Beatles-lore, and the way he writes about the music I found to be quite endearing.

2. And In The End by Ken McNab

As someone who is especially interested in the “breakup era”, this book is pretty useful in establishing a timeline of events for 1969. It goes through the year month-by-month, and I remember there being quite a few niche pieces of information in here, that you might not find in most other beatles books.

3. The Beatles Off The Record by Keith Badman

Theres 2 of these books and id recommend getting a copy of both if you can! They’re both effectively a transcription of quotes and interviews from the band, so it isn’t really a book that you’d sit down and read. But it is useful to keep a copy on your shelf, and you can turn to virtually any page and find something interesting to discuss.

4. Beatles ‘66: The Revolutionary Year by Steve Turner

I read this book originally to answer an ask I got about 1966, but I dont think I ever actually got round to answering it in full. Either way, I did learn a lot about them during this year, and similar to McNabs book, because its centred on a specific year it does offer a few pieces of information that might get overlooked in broader biographies.

5. John Lennon: The Life by Phillip Norman

Im going a bit against the grain here, and I know a lot of people would disagree with this recommendation, but I don’t personally believe this book is as bad as a lot of other people might. Norman definitely is someone you want to read critically, but I do also think he’s had the opportunity to speak to many beatle-adjacent people, and there are things we can learn from this biography. The problem I think is that he can be quite heavily biased, and a lot of his sourcing can be questionable. But again, just read it critically to the best of your ability, cause there are imo some relevant pieces of info in here.

[byneddiedingo]

Hisashi Igawa in Pitfall (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1962)

Cast: Hisashi Igawa, Sumie Sasaki, Kazuo Miyahara, Kunie Tanaka, Sen Yano, Kei Sato. Screenplay: Kobo Abe, based on his teleplay. Cinematography: Hiroshi Segawa. Production design: Kiyoshi Awazu. Film editing: Fusako Shuzui. Music: Toshi Ichiyanagi, Yuji Takahashi, Toru Takemitsu.

Hiroshi Teshigahara's first feature film, and the first in his trilogy of collaborations with writer Kobo Abe that also includes Woman in the Dunes (1964) and The Face of Another (1966), is a fascinating blend of documentary realism and fantasy, a murder mystery and a ghost story. Set in the coal-mining region of Kyushu, the southernmost of the Japanese islands, it follows a miner (HIsashi Igawa) who travels around looking for work, accompanied by his young son (Kazuo Miyahara). He is surprised one day to be offered a job by a company he had never worked for before, hired on the basis of a photograph he didn't know had been taken of him. When he reports to the location he finds only a deserted village, whose sole resident appears to be a woman (Sumie Sasaki) who runs a candy shop. She explains that the mine shut down after a cave-in, and that she's owed some money and is waiting there for word from a man she knows. When he sets out to look for whoever summoned him there, he is followed by a man (Kunie Tanaka) wearing a white suit and carrying a briefcase. Unnerved by this silent follower, he begins to run, but the man at first keeps pace with him and then draws a knife from his briefcase and stabs the miner to death, then tosses the knife into the nearby marshes. Returning to the village, the man gives the shopkeeper a large amount of money and gives her detailed instructions on what to tell the police when they arrive, including a precise description of the murderer. And then the fantasy begins: The miner's ghost arises from his corpse and discovers he can't communicate with the living. Moreover, when the police and reporters arrive at the crime scene, they identify the victim as Otsuka, the head of a miners' union working nearby. Otsuka (Igawa) is a doppelgänger for the murdered miner. And so the complications mount, as we learn that Otsuka's union is at odds with a rival union headed by Toyama (Sen Yano). More deaths take place and other ghosts appear, some, like the miner, filled with frustration that they can't help reveal the truth about their murders. Finally, the only living person who knows what really took place is the miner's young son, who has witnessed the various murders. But the film ends with the orphaned boy setting out on a road that extends off to the horizon, carrying his secrets into an unknown future. Hiroshi Segawa's eloquent black-and-white cinematography and the minimalist, percussive score composed by Toshi Ichiyanagi, Yuji Takahashi, and Toru Takemitsu -- the last-named, a frequent collaborator with Teshigahara, is credited as "sound director" -- give the film its fine, nervous edge.

[x0401x]

Given the Movie: TV Guide Interview

Nakazawa Masatomo: “Both Eguchi-kun and Asanuma-san are reliable people, so I didn’t feel nervous during the recordings!”

Eguchi Takuya: “Asanuma-san himself is a bundle of talent.”

Asanuma Shintarou: “Nakazawa-kun has, if nothing else, tolerance.”

The TV series “Given” aired in 2019, portraying the youthful drama of young people having a heart-to-heart through music. It became a hot topic by depicting the love circumstances of mainly Mafuyu (Yano Shougo) and Ritsuka (Uchida Yuuma), while its continuation, “Given the Movie”, was finally released on August 22nd after having the release postponed. We had the main cast of the movie – Nakazawa Masatomo, Eguchi Takuya and Asanuma Shintarou – discuss inside stories about their mental state, the recordings and the movie’s highlights.

——The story of “Given the Movie” centers around Haruki (Nakazawa), Akihiko (Eguchi) and Ugetsu (Asanuma), who are played by the three of you. How was it when you heard about that?

Eguchi: I was simply happy, like, “So they’re going to depict it that far!”. I felt that I was looking forward to the condition of the adults’ romance, which is a bit removed from the high school romance of Mafuyu and Ritsuka.

Nakazawa: I was surprised, and at the same time, a bit anxious. There are many things in my life as a voice actor that I am experiencing for the first time through “Given”... but both Eguchi-kun and Asanuma-san are reliable people, so I didn’t get nervous during the recordings!

Asanuma: Ugetsu didn’t appear in many episodes of the TV anime, but in the movie, I got to read the preliminary narration for the first time. At the same time as I got to personally feel that I was in a position of main, I also felt the high spirits of the production team, so I was also quite nervous at the beginning (laughs).

——After the TV series, Haruki, Akihiko and Ugetsu gradually change. Mafuyu’s existence is indeed big.

Nakazawa: In the TV series, Haruki, who was in a position similar to caretaker of the band members, took notice of Mafuyu’s talent and was influenced by Mafuyu’s song, so the feelings that he had been avoiding to look until then were portrayed as steadily growing bigger. Besides, he also felt impatience at Mafuyu’s sudden growth spurt and created a complex. As always, he is in the role of being swayed around in the movie too (laughs), but his emotions become unclear, so the amplitude of his character grows a lot.

Asanuma: Ugetsu is a genius violinist, and it is exactly because he is a genius that he doesn’t turn his eyes towards things other than music very often, but through coming in contact with the song of another genius, Mafuyu, he starts having interest in them. Ugetsu, whom nobody can grasp, changes even more upon coming in contact with Mafuyu, who speaks out his thoughts straight up, so I think this is also one of the highlights of the movie!

Eguchi: If I had to say it, it might be that Akihiko’s change starts from the movie. He seems like the kind of man who’s insanely good at swimming with the tide, but in the movie, the moment he confronted the issues he was deeply involved with, I felt a change in that his capability of dealing with things worsened... The one there is the awkward and realistic Akihiko. During the recordings, I tackled Akihiko while thinking that I should, in a good sense, skillfully destroy what he had become until that point.

——Then, were there any changes to everyone’s relationships from when the TV series and when the movie’s recordings ended?

Asanuma: There wasn’t much of a change, right?

Eguchi: Because, although the TV series and the movie have different forms of display, what we have to do doesn’t change. But maybe we managed to record more relaxed and enjoyably for the movie. I personally feel that we have managed to create something good. Also... I remember that the taiyaki they gave us as snacks were delicious!

Nakazawa: Yeah, yeah! They were tasty.

Asanuma: The sweets that (the author) Kizu Natsuki-sensei bought for us were delicious too.

Nakazawa: True, true... If it goes on like this, the fact that the snacks were yummy will turn into the main topic of the inside stories (laughs).

Asanuma: That might be bad (laughs).

——Then, was there any moment during the recordings in which you have sensed each other’s talent?

Asanuma: Nakazawa-kun has, if nothing else, tolerance. Haruki does, too, so he might be the one who is closest to the character he plays out of the three of us. He envelops you warmly no matter what you do, so you find yourself thinking, “I wanna try causing him trouble” and, “I want him to spoil me”.

Nakazawa: So that’s what you thought of me! I’m happy!

Asanuma: This was my first time participating in a BL series, but when I found out that Eguchi-kun was the one who would play Ugetsu’s partner, Akihiko, I was very relieved. After all, Eguchi-kun also grants a feeling of security with his precise acting.

Eguchi: You say that, Asanuma-san, but you’re a bundle of talent yourself, so I always felt that the way you clad yourself in the air of a genius when you’re playing Ugetsu was amazing. I sometimes think, “If I were playing another character, how would I perform them?”, but frankly, your interpretation of Ugetsu surprised me.

Nakazawa: Right! Asanuma-san’s Ugetsu feels like a different kind of existence. The feeling that he silently oozes out his aura is honestly so cool.

——I am looking forward to watching the movie even more now.

Nakazawa: I believe that the story of how these three people who have listened to Mafuyu’s song will show their feelings for one another is told in a very natural manner. I want people to enjoy it by all means.

Asanuma: People have nothing to lose when they are high schoolers, so they convey their feelings straightforwardly even when it comes to romantic love without thinking about the consequences, but when they turn into adults and accumulate experiences, they come to know feelings of inferiority and complexes, so they end up learning how to deal with others by distancing themselves from them. When they do that, the forms of romantic love naturally change. I see the phrase, “I’ve become an adult” in many works, but I think “Given the Movie” literally depicts the romance between three people who “have become adults”.

Eguchi: That’s right. The taste of the romance changes in comparison to the TV anime. It’s the kind of series that makes you think, “Human beings are such a pain, so complicated”, but taking all these points into account, it also makes you go, “Human beings are great”. By all means, I want people to watch it!

[ofcowardiceandkings]

What do you mean by post-game house? :s

oh , OH sorry !!

thats just me being flippant about my own ideas like people know what im talking about at all times lol

basically, i was originally just gonna do one art piece for Link's house in Breath of the Wild - but me being me - after about 4 seconds i decided to make it complicated for myself :L

i completed this isometric work a few weeks ago of what Link's house looks like as its represented in game, because i wanted to practice making (and key part: finishing) isometric art again ...

[insert some waffling about worldbuilding]

simply put, Link's house doesn't match it's floor plan - which is fine !! the design of the house in Hateno is for specific uses by the player !! .... but WHAT IF IT DID THOUGH

so when ive (at least mostly) done the things im working on now, i'll be backtracking to house art where i'm going to kind of smush a few worldbuilding ideas into one.

FIRST and most immediate is to have a house that matches the floor plan lmfao ... this is actually pretty easy to fix since Link's house footprint is a clone of one from the other side of Hateno that DOES fit the floor plan, and it's very cute. this is also partially dictated by like ... living needs lmfao like washrooms and functional kitchens ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SECOND, that while on his travels i refuse to believe Link didn't hoard weird trinkets and other junk !! look at his fuckn inventory the lad just magpies everything lol ... cool rock from the top of a mountain? nice. cute pot plant from Lurelin ? yes. funky little Goron board game ? of course. wood-bound Rito recipe book with feathers on the bookmark ? absolutely. literally anything he could reasonably salvage from Zelda's quarters ? without question.

THIRD, which also kind of plays into the second, as it stands we kind of have to assume that the most logical thing after BotW would be for Zelda to just ?? go stay with Link ??? even if she wants to get to working things out right away she needs a minute to deal with like ... everything .... its not even from a shippy standpoint, i mean she could theoretically stay with Impa but her closest bond is to Link, and Purah lives in the same town sooo ??? what would it look like with her stuff there too ?? not that i'd imagine she would have a lot of stuff but yano ... something for her to do when she's relaxing, her clothes, her notes, a few bits of scavenged ancient Sheikah junk to muck around with ... Just Zelda's Stuff ;3;

so yeah ... post-game house .... Link's Hateno house but with evidence of use throughout and after BotW :')

right now im probably gonna do a floorplan D&D style and also another isometric because im an unstoppable gremlin har har har watch me GO

[gdwessel]

The New Beginning in Hiroshima Night 2 - 2/11/2021; Recap Of KENTA On AEW Dynamite 2/10/2021

The second of two nights in Hiroshima took place earlier today, in what was a humdinger of a show, it turned out. You can see it now on NJPWWorld.

- 2/11/2021, Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall (NJPWWorld)

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG] d. Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd (Sabre > Kidd, ZSJ Style Wristlock, 8:51)

Tomoaki Honma, SHO [CHAOS] & Master Wato d. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] (Wato > Kanemaru, La Carretera, 8:07)

Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] (Naito > Yujiro, Destino, 9:54)

Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano [CHAOS] DCO EVIL & Dick Togo [Bullet Club] (1:27)

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] d. EVIL [Bullet Club] (DQ, 5:41)

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] © d. Jay White, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] (YOSHI-HASHI > Loa, Kinkoji, 27:01) - Goto/Ishii/YOSHI-HASHI succeed their 3rd defense

IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championships: Kota Ibushi ©© d. SANADA [Los Ingobernables] (Kamigoye, 27:51) - Ibushi succeeds his 2nd IWGP Heavyweight defense - Ibushi succeeds his 2nd IWGP Intercontinental defense

Ibushi and SANADA showed mad respect for one another post-main, and I swear there is a himbo unit coming with those two and SHO. Afterwards, Tetsuya Naito made his way to the ring, to challenge Ibushi, but ONLY for the IWGP Intercontinental belt. This would be the first time since Night 1 of WK14 that the IC title is defended on its own, if it happens, as Naito, whose relationship to that title can best be described as “complicated,” does not want to see the two belts actually unified, as Ibushi wishes. We don’t have the Castle Attack lineups yet, but something tells me we know the main event of that series.

The biggest surprise of the evening was seeing YOSHI-HASHI get the pin to retain the Comedy titles for CHAOS, denying GOD of being double champions. I mean, let’s face it, the belts are way below Jay White anyway, but it was a good angle with Ishii as his nemesis, and they’ll probably resume it for Castle Attack or the New Japan Cup coming up anyway. YOSHI-HASHI then challenged GOD for the Heavyweight tag belts, I would assume with Goto as his partner. This soft push of YOSHI-HASHI is one of the biggest, and oddly, most charming, booking turns since lockdown ended.

Okada/Yano v. EVIL/Togo went to a very quick double-countout between Okada and EVIL, with EVIL taunting Okada he can beat him anytime, so Okada called him on his shit and demanded a match right then. The bell rang, and Okada won by DQ when Dick Togo attacked him. This isn’t over yet etiher, see previous comments about Castle Attack and New Japan Cup.

The second and third matches were changed, likely to reflect Los Dos Peligroso’s challenge of Ishimori/Phantasmo from yesterday. At least Master Wato got a make-up win over Kanemaru out of it.

Last night’s edition of AEW Dynamite was the first official AEW TV programming since the co-promotion with NJPW began in earnest, and boy did it, as JIm Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur all mentioned NJPW 5 times within the first 60 seconds of the broadcast. Within 20 minutes, Jon Moxley cut a promo that recapped the IWGP US Heavyweight challenge feud between he and KENTA for the AEW audience who may not follow NJPW.

The main event, which was AEW World Champion Kenny Omega & KENTA v. Mox & Suzuki-gun alumni (who got namedropped in the match) Lance Archer in a Lights Out tag match, was a pretty fun watch, with some crazy spots in the Daily’s Place kitchen area, as well as a killer running double foot stomp to Moxley from the stage by KENTA. Omega got the win on Archer, hitting a One Winged Angel after assistance from “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows (literally, they had to help Omega lift Archer up). As the cameras faded, KENTA continued to beat on Moxley.

No word on if there will be anything furthering this angle next week on Dynamite, however we do know that KENTA will be on NJPW Strong tomorrow to respond to Mox’s promo from last episode, as well as Young Lion excursionee Ren Narita returning to the program, so check that out.

The tour is over, and there’s a tour starting Sunday, but no lineups are out for that yet. The show will be from Tokyo Korakuen Hall, so I am guessing that’ll be on NJPWWorld. If you are jonesing for some puroresu before then, this coming morning at 2:30am EST / 1:30am CST, FITE TV will be showing Pro Wrestling NOAH’s big return show to Tokyo Nippon Budokan after being away for many years. The main event has relevance, as 58-year-old-with-replaced-knees Keiji Muto challenges Go Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight title. If Muto wins, he will become only the third man in history, behind Kensuke Sasaki and Yoshihiro Takayama, to have won the GHC, the IWGP Heavyweight title, and AJPW’s Triple Crown. That said, I think it would be a horrible idea booking-wise to do so, so despite being one of the biggest Keiji Muto marks ever, I’m hoping Shiozaki retains the title to continue his epic run. The show will run $20 on FITE.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 1/4/21

Black Clover, Vol. 23 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – Given we came to the end of a very long arc last time, it makes sense that there’s a lot of goofy comedy before we start the next arc (which has a timeskip!). Fortunately, Black Clover is pretty good at being dumb and goofy in a shonen way—I’ve said before that it’s ripping off every single shonen series in the world, but it’s not doing it badly. Therefore we get a lot of silly love confessions, and priestesses who wear spiral “nerd” glasses like Mousse from Ranma 1/2. Oh yes, and Asta is not executed—for now. They still think he’s totally evil, though. Hopefully fighting a devil may help to change that opinion. This has become one of the longest-running Jump series now, and it’s easy to see why it’s still going. – Sean Gaffney

Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Vol. 1 | By Kodama Naoko | Seven Seas – Another yuri series from this author, this book starts with one of our heroines fleeing to the countryside after her boyfriend gets her best friend pregnant. She’s there to teach (and boy, her class could use some lessons in “don’t slutshame and don’t bully”), but she’s also staying with a young woman who’s raising a kid alone after her whole family was killed. The two are seeming opposites, but turn out to possibly have much in common. The yuri so far here is just a drunken kiss, but I’m sure there will be more to it. That said, the series seems content to introduce its cast and then start to simmer things to a slow boil. That’s good too. I want to learn more about this village. – Sean Gaffney

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Everyday Misadventures!, Vol. 1 | By FUNA and Yuki Moritaka | Seven Seas – I was expecting this to be a 4-koma sort of volume, but it isn’t. Instead it’s just goofy comedy chapters without the ongoing plot that we get in the normal series. So you get things like Reina trying to learn to cook, and Mavis getting hit on by women again, etc. The usual stereotypes apply—Pauline has large breasts, Mile is… well, Mile, Reina is hot-headed, etc. There’s also a flashback to Adele’s experiences at school, where it turns out that all the school’s “Seven Mysteries” are just her being stupidly overpowered. No one should get this who’s not a fan of the original, but those who are should be quite pleased. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 14 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – Most of this volume is trying to rescue everyone from the evil village “god” and his even more evil minion, who is unfortunately more overpowered than most of our team. On the cool side, most of the rest of the group gets un-petrified after recovering their bodies from the ocean floor, thanks to the power of Taiju being really strong and really dumb. On the less-cool side, Kohaku and Ginro are now petrified, though frankly that’s a good thing in Ginro’s case, as he was bleeding to death. This is probably the biggest villain that Senku and company have had to face before, so it makes sense that he’s finally taking a very dark step (as he himself says) and bringing guns into this world. Great fun. – Sean Gaffney

Eniale & Dewiela, Vol. 1 | By Kamome Shirahama | Yen Press – I was told when I saw who the author of this series was that I should not expect it to be much like Witch Hat Atelier, and that’s an understatement if anything. Oh, the art is still amazingly gorgeous, but the content is very much designed for those who enjoy the dynamic of, say, Gabriel Dropout. An angel and a demon are best friends despite sniping at each other the entire volume. Eniale is a bit of a featherhead. Dewiela has a bit of a temper. Together, they get involved in Very Wacky Situations. How much you enjoy this will depend on how wacky you find the situations. I found it fun, but I think I would enjoy it better in a magazine chapter by chapter than in volume form. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 13 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – This series about four couples—heavily overbalanced towards two of them—finally comes to a close by going back to its leads, as Riko’s mom is moving due to her job and… is NOT asking Riko to come with her. Yes, the final volume involves everyone trying to self-sacrifice the most, with lots of tears and angry words. Of course we know that Riko really needs to be with her mom, even if they may not have the best relationship, which of course means that she and Kai are now far from each other. Fortunately, it’s the final volume, so this can be resolved with a flash forward to college. This was a solid series, but I’ll remember it for Takaya and Ayumi more than anyone else—in fact, possibly just Ayumi. – Sean Gaffney

I Love You So Much, I Hate You | By Yuni | Yen Press – Ayako Asano and Saori Fujimura are both accomplished, successful career women working closely with each other at their company. But outside of the office they’re even closer—they’ve actually started sleeping with one another. Two women becoming romantically involved isn’t so much of an issue, but the fact that Ayako is both married to a man and is Saori’s boss poses some significant problems. I Love You So Much, I Hate You is a mature manga dealing with some mature themes. Initially, there are definite imbalances in Ayako and Saori’s relationship, each woman approaching it from a different starting point and hoping to get different things out of it. However, over the course of the volume their needs and desires begin to align. But it’s not easy for either of them for a variety of reasons; granted, a relationship that starts out as an affair is bound to be complicated. – Ash Brown

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 5 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – Nanase and Dr. Tendo are a couple now, so, inevitably, we must introduce the rivals. This volume gives us the first one, a rich young man with a medical condition who cynically says that people only care about him because of his money. He runs into Nanase, who is, well, herself, and falls head over heels in love with her. I was impressed how the author took this old-standard josei manga trope and simply… had the leads act like adults. There are a few misunderstandings and small fights, but there’s no huge blowup or breakup, mostly as Dr. Tendo is very familiar with who Nanase is. That said, Nanase still has self-image issues, and the cliffhanger implies a stronger rival on the way. Maki Enjoji is always good. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 17 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – While we’re still dealing with the consequences of Miyuki and Kaguya dating, the series really has gotten very good at the tiny little jokes. Including possibly the DARKEST ‘in between chapters’ gag I’ve ever seen, where Iino talks about how she enjoys pain as it makes her “feel safe.” As for Chika, I think she has realized that the author increasingly doesn’t know what to do with her. She probably does not have a big character-building arc like the other four, so she’s essentially the goofy one that annoys people, something she is catching on to. Though the funniest chapter in this book features Karen invading the main title from her spin-off manga—still sadly not licensed—and almost getting everyone arrested. – Sean Gaffney

Practice Makes Perfect, Vol. 3 | By Ui Hanamiya | Kodansha Comics (digitial only) – This volume has our lead couple finally going all the way, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. For one, the first time HURTS, and even successive attempts are nine parts pain to one part pleasure for Nohara (who, amusingly, is still trying to handle this in a “sports” way, as is Yano). There’s also the fact that Yano thinks that Nohara is going to break if he tries to be anything but super super gentle, which… also is not helping, though it leads to the volume’s best joke. Fortunately, the next volume is the last. Unfortunately, it appears that we’re going to get a “hey, the girl I love spends her days surrounded by hot guys!” chapter. Still, this Rated-R manga is still a lot more fun than I expected. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

[kolmogorov-is-sad]

Otoñal by Raúl di Blasio. Ice watercolor of Yuzuru Hanyu.

Yuzuru Hanyu’s 2018/2019 season SP analysis by Yulena translation. Source: pt1, pt2.

“The origins of my skating come from Russia. For that reason, I want very much to deliver a strong performance here. Both tomorrow’s and today’s programs have a connection to Russia. [Tatiana] Tarasova helped to choreograph the original “Otoñal” program. I am very grateful to the person who created the choreography and watched me standing, and also [Natalia] Bestemianova and [Igor] Bobrin, who had helped me with choreography for the “Romeo and Juliet” program. I am overwhelmed with emotions just because such people have awarded me with standing ovation. I saw Tarasova as I approached the jump, and Bobrin was in the guest seat of the arena clapping on his feet. Thank you very much” © 

                                                 –  interview after the SP at Rostelecom Cup 2018

Musical arrangement of the 2018/2019 season’s short program for two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu is one of the piano piece by Raúl Di Blasio. Both of his programs this season go back to his origins and the starting point of Yuzuru’s career, to his childhood dreams. They are also an immense tribute to the skaters he’s considered his idols since his early days - Johnny Weir and Evgeni Plushenko.

According to Yuzuru’s own words Johnny Weir’s “Otoñal” is one of the programs that left the greatest impressions on him in his skating life. 

“The arm positions during spins, the softness of expressions, the way to pick up nuances and move to music, landing positions and so on, it was the music of the programme that led me to perform with attention to each of these details.”   

 –  Public practice in Toronto,  30.08.2018

Having seen Johnny’s performance as a child Yuzuru listened to this music while imitating his idol and dreamed of creating his own program.

“I was stunned by his neutral androgynous beauty that he as a man could present, that was his main charm. At that time, I couldn’t see and evaluate jumps by GOE right away, but the smoothness on the landings, beautiful positions on the exits, precision of jumps placement to the music – all that was made meticulously. First of all the landing. And that smoothness. Of course, all those things captured my attention. I clearly remember how I wanted to jump and skate just like that.”

  –  Public practice in Toronto, 30.08.2018

The choreographer for the new short program once again was Jeffrey Buttle. From Brian Orsers’ book “Team Brian”:  

"Yuzuru has incredible creative chemistry with Jeffrey Buttle and Shae-Lynn Bourne. You may say that it eould be hard for him to work with anyone other than those two. Yuzuru has his own jump entries that fit the way he moves, and comfortable timing of choreography is very important for him. Even his quads flow out of steps, he keeps an image of the perfect form in terms if speed, that step and curve angle in his head. He needs a choreographer who could share his attention to details, so unique for the skater of his level.” 

When Jeffrey learnt the name of the composition he first of all ask about Yuzuru’s associations with the music. He answered: “Something like reflection.” “Otoñal” means “autumnal” in Spanish.  Autumn as a memory from the past and reflection on the passing time, dreams and origins. That was the chosen theme for the choreography of the program, from the starting to final poses.

“And for him, Autumn is sort of a time of the year for reflection and about looking back. Almost a time of nostalgia? And I think it was so appropriate given what he accomplished and everything that happened last year. Choreography itself begins with… for me when I think of nostalgia, I think of looking through an old family photo album, so the very first movement is him opening that album.”

         –  Jeffrey Buttle, interview after Public practice in Toronto 30.08.2018 

The main idea of the composition lies in the travel in time and calling (обращении к ) to the personal story in figure skating. In the starting pose according to the Jeffrey’s idea Yuzuru opens the album with memories of the past. And so the skating choreography, musical and compositional structures of the program, distribution of the elements all go back to the origins and show great respect to the people that had influenced Yuzuru’s path.

The content of the program includes two quad jumps, one executed in the combinayion wioth the triple toe loop and a triple axel: 4S, 3A // 4T+3T, FCSp, CSSp, StSq, CCoSp.

The choreographic structure (composition) of the program was evolving during the first three competitions of the season.  

 1. The structure of the program has been changed that stood out as uncommon and unusuala and uncharacteristic for Yuzuru positioning of all the jumping passes back-to-back in the single block. That was a decision taken by Yuzuru and Jeffrey together because that distribution would allow to incorporate jumping and not-jumping elements (step sequence and spins) most harmonically in the musical structure. The jumps from the entry to the exit are executed one after another (bam-bam-bam ©), then comes a soft musical transition to two spins and the emotional explosion of the step sequence at the end of the program. “[...] Stillness versus the tempestuousness of the steps.” ©

In the first half of the program with gentle subtle music the jumps are done effortlessly softly and smoothly, when the emotions are expressed with the second half via the spins and sequence.

Originally the center element of the program – 4T+3T combination – was planned in the first half. But “it is all meaningless unless it allows to win.” © So after the very first competition of the season (ACI 2018) sports competitiveness and desire to win took over, and the combination was moved to the second half of the program.

This change brought corrections to the original choreography and composition: the entry to the 4S became more complex, the transition between two spins and sequence changed, and new skating transitions were added between the 3A and the 4T+3T entry. Before the Rostelecom Cup 2018 the entry to the triple axel also changed and new transitions between triple axel and combo were added once again.

Despite the move of the combo to the second half the jumping passes remained in one block that the most intricate skating choreography in between the elements and on the entries/exits mode possible. The notorious strategy of Yuzuru is based on the idea that the jumps are one of the performance parts. If they are done perfectly the program gains better fluidity and continuity of the movement from one element to another, and seems complete. More than that, Yuzuru is set to present the program in such a manner that the sound of the take-off and the landing themselves would enhance the выразительность of the quite musical intonations. 

“Also, the sound — shu! —of the edge when taking off, the sound — pa! — of the landing. I want to make [this program] such that even these sounds can be felt, as a part of the expression.”

                                       –   interview for Figure Skating Life vol 15 (10.10.2018) 

  2. Positions of the jumps and spins changed in the pattern of the program, with the latter becoming more multidimentional. The quad salchow (together with the trajectory of the entry) have been moved to the right part of the rink. Compared to the previous short program (Chopin Ballade №1) the triple axel and the combination placement changed. Th eboloved axel now is executed on the trajectory along the long board of the judging panel with additional chic, the combo went from right to the left side from the judges’ perspective. The camel spin went to the left side, the sit spin with the change of foot – very close to the left short board, and the final spin – to the center of the ice rink.

  3. Due to the placement changes after the ACI there also came the changes in the structure of the step sequence, it became shorted by 4s and the complicated steps and turns counting to the levels of difficulty became more “packed” together.

   4. Some of the difficult variations of the basic positions in the sit spin and the combination spin counting to the levels of the corresponding spins were changed. With that the variations are not just executed to earn the levels but also to choreographically enhance the interpretation of the music with precise and flashy accents with hands movements. The distinguishing qualities of Yuzuru’s programs is the prevailing skating choreography as the principal mean of interpretation; the continuous flow with various connecting elements and steps contributes to the wholeness and creates multiple dimension to the composition. This is accompanied with the special choreography of diverse upper body and arm movements. And the unity of both the skating transitions and the space choreography throughout the program makes the unity of the music and the skater’s performance stand out. It expresses the intonations and reflects the changes oh the tempo and the nuances of the phrasing. .

With the changes of the composition after the first competition came the changes of the arrangement of the music.

Right after the ACI 2018 Yuzu contacted sound producer Keiji Yano asking him to make corrections to Otoñal for the purpose of moving the combo. It is a known story that Yano-san has rearranged the track for SEIMEI more than 30 times following Yuzuru’s requests. This time he also confessed: “His orders were precise as usual. This time too, [his instructions] were detailed, as always. It was a test of my skills.” At the beginning of October Yuzuru received the new arrangement and started to training according to it.

Musical structure of the program and its collaboration with the composition:

Intro

(from the starting pose to the beginning of the combo entry (transitions – entry – 4S - exit – transitions – entry – 3A – exit – transitions). 

The program starts with some low piano harmonies turning into gentle and quite intonations at the beginning of the new phrase. This transition is choreographically translated with Ina Bauer and highlighted by the smooth lines and movements of the skater. This part is based upon two melodic phrases (like nostalgia and look back into the past).

Development 

(transitions – entry – 4T+3T – exit – FCSp – transitions – CSSp) 

Transition between two musical parts is highlighted with a series of twizzles. The combo entry coincides with separated abrupt low accords. Emotional tone and intensity grow stronger throughout the whole entry and reach the highest point at the moment of combination with both jumps landed on the beats. The transition from exit to the camel spin separates the two musical phrases. The new one has a contrast of intonations. And the momentary transition evokes images of the grim autumn sky with simmering clouds suddenly broken by a ray of sunshine, of nature coming alive under this warm light. But surely “everyone will see something different” ©. The phrase ends with another set of low accords at the transition to the sit spin with change of foot.

Culmination 

(StSq - CCoSp) 

This is the most passionate and emotional musical part with strings introduction  at the beginning of the StSq. The dynamism of the music increases and results in more energy and expanded scope of the movements during the step sequence execution. At the end of the sequence the strings die out and the final combination spin is set to the piano part that has a smooth transition to the ending pose and concludes the program in a beautiful way. All three music parts are intricately tied with the choreographic structure and create an integral image of the program, in which the music is not born by the fingertips on the piano keys but comes to life with the blades touch on the ice. Each musical phrase is accompanied with amazingly arranged choreographic accents. 

The elements and skating transitions connection to the musical phrases comes as follows:

The starting pose with elegant turn of head to the side of extended arm as the call to the past and reminiscence of the bygone days. 

The begining of the program consists of melody in five low separeted harmonies with piano accords. There is a turn on the first accord and a movement of both arms on the second harmony in the posing.

A LFO waltz three turn with accentuated lobe of the exit and a crossed step RBI/LBO on the beat (third accord), direction change forward, running step, chasse LFI/RFO and direction change right on the note (forth accord), lingering and accentuated crossover and two more crossovers on the final fifth harmony. Delicate and slightly reversed choreography of this part is connected to the laconism of the musical phrase. Then Yuzuru softly stands in the Ina Bauer (with elegant arms movement) that unites the first part to the second and also marks the beginning the solo 4S entry: accentuated waltz three turn LFO at the start of the phrase – backward power three turn RBO – inside spread eagle – RBO backward power three turn – 4S.

The element in the while fit the music phrase and in its length: a difficult entry to the jump, an exit after the landing and skating transitions right after are all executed in three measures of the musical phrase. The first measure starts with the entry steps and ends with soft and almost silent landing; the exit into counter - Ina Bauer for the second measure; skating transitions after the exit of the jump fit the third and final measure. Holding closer to the notes ©

The difficult exit from the landing lobe to the RBO counter (such exit from the quadruple jump in the only one in the field of men singles) with smooth transition into the inside Ina Bauer. Then comes direction change forward, LFO three-turn, LBI/RBI broad step with both arms movement on accent at the end of the measure. Softness of the piano sounds during transition to the Bauer is choreographically enhanced with graceful turn of the head and arms going down smoothly.

The accentuated crossover (with prolonged exit lobe), crossover, RBI/LBO chasse and to the fading sounds of the music Yuzuru goes into the outside spread eagle. This long SE set is executed with emphasis on the soft movement up of the head and the right arm that highlight the laconism and gentleness of barely audible sound on the verge of two musical phrases.

“He can make the most pregnant pause nothing moment be so memorable [...]”                                       

                                                          –   David Wilson, Japan TImes 21.08.2018

The beginning of the new musical phrase is marked with elegant change of edge in the spread eagle with arms softly going up on the note. The following skating transitions, difficult entry to the triple axel, the jump itself and the difficult entry are all in harmony with the musical structure: LBI/RBO chasse and accentuated RBO choctaw, change of foot, RFO/RFI change of edge, RFI swing mohawk, accentuated LBI/RBO chasse with right arm soft moving as if touching the piano keys and a crossover at the end of the measure. 

The entry to the 3A fits the second measure of the phrase: RBO choctaw – RBO/LBI crossed step – LBI/LBO change of edge – LBO/RBI crossed step – LBO counter at the end. The jump has a difficult exit on the lobe of exit – RBO twizzle – RFI three-turn – mini-Bauer – that fits the extension of the musical rhyme. Holding closer to the notes ©

His triple axel is not just a jump. It’s art. An element perfectly integrated in the choreographic pattern of the program and presented as organic ending of the skating on the entry and natural premise to the skating on the exit. It is remarkable that the skating transition after the landing is executed in two motions with inartificial pause (on the three-turn between a twizzle and a Bauer) at the end of the phrase to the fading music. Such an absolute harmony in movements is hard to put into words. It is complete fusion with the music, when the rhyme of the steps and turns on the entry/exit and the jump itself matche the music beats.

“Hanyu’s triple axel is a jump of an outstanding beauty with natural and effortless timing.” ©  Elvis Stojko

The exit of the triple axel precedes a transition of steps and turns musically inserted in the additional measure: crossover, LBO choctaw, accentuated RFI bracket, RBO/RBI change of edge, RBI/LBI broad step going into posing, crossover. Smoothness of this transition execution set to the final musical phrase of the first part demonstrates excellent interplay of movements and blade and the music.

The second part starts with musical phrase of changing intonation that is choreographically expressed with a series of twizzles and skating transition: crossover with accentuates arm movements – LBO choctaw - crossover -Jackson (composition step). Musical tone changes with increase in intensity and accentuated piano accords coming in at the start of combination jump entry, the change marked with arms movement. Skating transitions on the entry are following the increasing dynamics and executed in accordance with such. The combination itself takes a special place in the composition of the program; it highlights the intonations of the phrase precisely. Holding closer to the notes. ©

Direction change forward – LFO three-turn with great flow and body and free leg move on the exit – inside besti squat –  crossover with direction change forward – LFO counter - LBO/RBI crossed step – direction change forward – LFO three-turn – 4T+3T.

“He studied all the phases of the jumps in every detail and does them in one breath.” ©  Kurt Browning

This combination was executed [at Rostelecom Cup 2018] just ten meters away from me and was truly impressive, both light and powerful, fitting the general mood of the program. Yuzuru flied by the boards in a whirlwind and practically slammed a spread eagle on the exit in to the ice as if in a statement: “I’m Yuzuru Hanyu, I’m strong, I’m confident, and I crave for victory.”

A direction change forward and a FCSp entry are executed to the change of musical intonation at the start of the new phrase. This new musical theme is choreographically presented with a block of two spins and a skating transition in between. This is the most graceful and the airiest part of the program especially contrasting with the combination jump. Light and elegant touch of color in the music watercolors…

Features of difficulty of the spin:

Difficult entry (arabian)

Difficult camel variation (upper);

Difficult variation of the sideway camel spin (catchfoot) «ring»;

8 turns without a change of position («ring»)

The difficult variation of the basic position execution is perfect.

The spin is wonderfully fit the musical structure of the program: –  the Arabian jump on the entry highlights the change of phrases and intonations; –  the landing of the Arabian is placed right on the start of the beginning of the new phrase; –  the change to the difficult variation of the camel spin “ring”  at the start of the second mesure and the execution of the variation in two measures; –  exit from the spin highlight the start of the next measure.

Intricate hands gestures in the difficult variation positions throughout the spin enhance the musical accents: –  arms being raising and fists clenched at the end with subsequent arms movement down with palms unclenched to the accent at the end of the measure; –  undulating soft up and down movement of the left arm in the “ring” position with hand reaching out at last right to the accent; –  almost indistinguishable gentle movement of the left hand then elegantly going down that highlights the beginning of the next measure.   

The end of this measure has very musical exit out of the spin with smooth and soft movements of both arms and head. Skating transition before the sit spin with change of foot fits in the next measure: exquisite bracket step going into lightest toe steps with direction change and half-dropped arms – as if running through the piano keys © This stunningly musical and delicate transition between the spins is one of my personal favorite moments of the program.

The sit spin with change of foot (CSSp) execution enhances the change of mood and highlights built-up of the emotional intensity as the culmination draws closer. Features of difficulty:

difficult entry  - “windmill” (illusion spin);

jump in the spin without change of foot (flying sit spin);

change of foot (from right to left);

difficult variation of the sit spin (sit sideways);

difficult variation (sit behind).

The maximum number of features of difficulty the sit with change of foot can receive for spinning on one foot equals two. This condition is fulfilled: two positions are executed on the right foot and another two – on the left. Thus the spin receives level 4. The spin is excellently inserted in the musical canvas of the program, the execution growing more dynamic in accordance with the music changing: –  difficult entry to the spin is executed right on the start of the piano passage accompanied with low piano accords at the end of the second part; –  “spinning” into the basic sit position on the passage; –  accentuated jump in the spin and the change of foot;

Melodic accents in the spin come with arms and hands movements in difficult variations of the basic positions and precise choreographic features: –  touch of both hands to the face in the basic sit spin position on the note; –  accentuated right hand touch to the cheek in the difficult body position of the “sit sideways” variation that influences the balance; –  right hand movement on the resounding low accord during the difficult variation “sit backwards”.

Yuzuru completely controlled all the space of the Megasport Arena. And the audience seemed to feel that as one, and responded with thunderous applause on the last two positions of the spin. Yuzuru wasn’t skating the program, he was telling his story. It seemed that music was emerging from the blades meeting the ice and his hands moving softly, as Yuzuru dissolved in the performance. During the program mood changed from quiet melancholy of the first half to passions raging on the combination jumps and then to the overwhelming happiness of the step sequence. How proudly did Yuzuru toss his head bursting into the sequence with a radiant smile! He skated like there was no tomorrow, giving his all to this performance, and involuntary tears came streaming down my cheeks. Ow happy, inspired and free he was at that moment! I haven’t seen enough of that ©

The Step Sequence

Toe steps L/R/LFI, broad step LFI/RFI, twizzle RFI ccw (2 turns), three-turn RFI ccw, turning choreographic movement (steps) of 720 degrees ccw, chasse LBI/RBO, choctaw RBO ccw, choctaw LFI cw, half flip cw, mohawk LFI cw, twizzle RBI cw (2 turns), half flip RFI cw, mohawk LFI, twizzle RBI cw (2 turns) - rocker RBI cw - counter RFI cw - crossed step RBO/LBI, change of edge LBI/LBO, crossed step RBO/LBI, change of edge LBI/LBO, choctaw LBO cw, broad step RFI/LFI, mohawk LFI cw, hydroblade (right on the final of the musical phrase), one-foot axel (in which Yuzuru basically flies up at the beginning of the new musical phrase), chasse LBI/RBO, mohawk RBO, crossed step LFO/RFI, bracket RFI cw, cross roll RBO/LBO, lobe LBO with free leg swing, loop RBI cw, falling leaf cw, bracket LFI ccw, crossed step LBO/RBI, direction change forward, rocker LFO ccw – counter LBO ccw – loop LFO ccw.

Scheme of the Step Sequence

Table of difficult turns and steps of the StSq:

Features of difficulty of the StSq:

Following turns and steps are cunted towards the features: two clean choctaws (cw and ccw), two rockers (cw and ccw) two counters (cw and ccw), two brackets (cw and ccw), two twizzles (cw and ccw), two loops (cw and ccw). All in all 12 difficult steps and turns.

All 6 types of difficult steps and turns are executes in both directions (clock-wise and counter clock-wise), that satisfies complexity criteria, maximum level of the StSq is 4.

Rotations in either direction (left and right) with full body rotation covering at least 1/3 of the pattern in total for each rotational direction (see scheme). Feature counted.

Use of body movements for at least 1/3 of the pattern (arms, head, thighs and upper body work is definitely enough). Feature counted. 

Two different combinations of 3 difficult turns on different feet (first on the right, second on the left). Both are executed with a clear rhyme within the sequence. Feature counted. 

Thus all four features are counted towards 4 level of difficulty.

The element as a whole is wonderfully implemented in the musical canvas. The timing and scale of elements (e.g. hydroblade, one-foot axel, Ina Bauer) compliment the rhyme and beats. Every step and elements also enhance the precision of interpretation and highlight the phrasing. The same can be stated about the choreographic accents during the execution that fit the rhythmic pattern: steps and turns at the start and the combination of hydroblade and one-foot axel executed on the change of phrases, the second combination of three difficult turns that coincides with the end of the phrase, the change of foot right after the final loop at the end of the measure and distinguishing the end of the sequence. Movements suit the mood and style of the music and also become a mean of interpretation. The final combination spin CCoSp is entered through the “traveling came” at the beginning of the new musical phrase to highlight wave-like changing intonations of the final part. Features of difficulty of the spin: Camel spin

change of edge in the camel spin from inside to the outside;

difficult non-basic position;

Change of foot (from left to right)

difficult variation of the sit spin (sit forward “a-la Johnny”)

difficult variation of the upright spin (“scratch spin”).

In the combination spin all the three basic positions are executed: camel, sit and upright. Four difficulty features are used. For the combination spin with change of foot the maximum number of features attainable equals two for each foot. This requirement is fulfilled (two position on the left foot, two – on the right). Thus the spin is level 4.

Change of positions in the spin on the left foot by the measures: –  change of edge in camel spin – transition to non-basic position – change of foot and transition to the difficult variation of the sit spin on the beat – difficult variation “scratch” of the upright spin on the fading of the melody at  the end.  Choreography is accompanied with the intricate hands and arms movements in the spin to even further express the musical accents:

–   accentuated choreo during the camel spin: –   undulating hands movements in the “pancake” position; –   gentle left hand gesture in the upright spin.

Transition to the final pose that mirrors the starting one, symbolizes the flow of time. The only fascinating difference: in the starting pose Yuzuru turns his head in different direction. His eyes seem to be fixed on the future, on new hopes and dreams. Everything continues to…

Johnny Weir, interview for Number 966, 22.11.2018: 

“Yuzuru used some elements of my program that looked very harmonic. At the same time the program became something personal for Yuzuru, he skated it in his own style, that touched me very much.Yuzuru did everything in order to fully express the music. And if I showed it as soft and gentle sadness, Yuzuru demonstrated his fierceness and the brilliance of the composition. Music just as people is versatile, and Yuzuru and I showed different interpretation sides of the same melody. His talent became obvious even in his childhood day, but he have grown up to be the athlete I couldn’t even imagine. Yuzuru became so unbelievably strong, and despite the injury conquered his second Olympic title. I never thought I would live to a skater so strong. To everyone who doesn’t know him personally I can say that after all this time his compassion for people and his humanity haven’t changed in the slightest. He’s famous all around the world, and yet his modesty and approach to people remain the same as they were on the day I’d met him for the first time.”

Translator’s notes:

* the original article was published in order to celebrate Yuzuru’s 24th  birthday, as was this translation, belated as it is. Hope you’ll be just as happy as you deserve for inspiring so many people all over the world with your skating, your talent and your heart, Yuzuru!

** some quotes were unfortunatelly translated from Russian (credits to Аnna Zamotayeva and Evgenia Mitrofanova) where the original wasn’t available. Considering that some quotes went from English to Japanese to Russian to English, nuances may be lost in translation. If you have sources with original (either Japanese or English) quotes, I would be happy to improve the text.   *** if you have any questions or suggestions concerning technical skating details, chances are I messed up in the translation, and it was not a problem of the original, so please, contact me first. Also, none of the photos belong to me, and if you would want your picture taken down, I would do so right away.  Thank you!

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 29 Day 16 Review (Aug 8th 2019, Kagawa, Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium)

B Block

Toru Yano vs. Taichi  *

Jeff Cobb vs. Tetsuya Naito  ***1/2

Hirooki Goto vs. Jon Moxley  ***1/4

Juice Robinson vs. Jay White  ****

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi  ****3/4

Photos.

The B Block rolled into Yokohama for its penultimate show of the tournament, at it was a strong day of action, though not the best by any means, it did have a tremendous main event. Toru Yano beat Taichi via countout in a total comedy match. Realistically, this was horrible; they did nothing, and the inventive finish saved it from being a DUD in my opinion. Taichi stalled forever, Yano tried to leave but was jumped in the entrance way by Kanemaru (so it seemed as though Yano’s plan was to just leave and take the loss. Ok then). Taichi wrapped Yano up in the ring apron, but YTR made it in at 18. They passed a corner pad around for a while, Yano ripped off Taichi’s pants, and Taichi sold it like he was naked. Taichi scored a near fall with a Gedo Clutch after sending him into the exposed buckles, then they ended up outside, where Yano gave Kanemaru and Taichi a double low blow, rolled them up into the ring apron, and won by countout after a calamitous 5:04. This was total nonsense, but it was amusing enough. Tetsuya Naito beat Jeff Cobb to the surprise of no living soul. This was a very good match, which was carried by Cobb, surprisingly enough. I haven’t really mentioned the deterioration of Naito over the past the year, but it has been abundantly obvious that the guy is not what he once was. I’m a big fan, but his matches just aren’t at the level they were a couple of years ago. Like even the best of them, it seems all those devastating head drops he was taking have caught up with him. Cobb’s power moves were the highlight here, including a spot where Naito went for Destino, but Cobb caught him on his shoulders, and threw him in the air and Naito helicoptered to the mat. Naito worked over Cobb’s knee early, and Mr. Athletic did a really good job of selling it throughout. Naito turned a second rope power slam attempt into a frankensteiner, but Cobb popped up, only to eat a Satellite DDT and a reverse rana. Cobb fought back with a big clothesline, then went for Tour Of The Islands, but Naito turned it into Destino for a near fall. Naito then followed up with another Destino to take the 2 points at the 12:47 mark.

Hirooki Goto, dark horse that he is, once again played spoiler, giving Jon Moxley his third consecutive loss. I’m not so sure about this booking as he (much like KENTA in A Block) went on an undefeated tear early, only to come a cropper in the later stages. If nothing else it tells an interesting story in that both guys were making their G1 debuts, and weren’t prepared for the toll it took on their bodies as it wore on, so succumbed. This may be the story, or I may have just made it up. Anyway, this was a very decent, hard-hitting little match, which was kept brief (8:38) and fast paced, though Moxley is noticeably slower than he was at the start of this tournament. They exchange hard forearms and lariats, before Mox took it to the ground, locking in a kimura, then transitioned into a jujigatame, but Goto escaped and ran into a Moxley Lariat, and the Regal Knee Trembler for a near fall. Goto hit an Ushigoroshi out of nowhere, then they nailed each other with double clotheslines, before Goto floored Mox with a headbutt. Moxley blocked a chest kick and hit a Double Arm DDT, rolled through and tried Death Rider, but Goto turned it into another Ushigoroshi, but instead of dropping Moxley across his knee, he dropped him down on his feet and hit the surprise GTR to take the win.  As I say, this was good, but would have benefitted from a few extra minutes. Jay and Juice’s match next was going great guns, a heavy story based match with great selling, until it turned into the usual ref bump japes at the end, which really brought it down a bit for my liking. White worked over Juice’s leg all match, running it into the ring apron, barricades and chairs, and Juice battled back, wrapping both of Jay’s legs around the ring post in retaliation. In the ring, Robinson hit a Jackhammer, but his knee was too damaged for him to hit it properly. Switch Blade dumped Juice over the top with the Saito suplex, which obviously made him land on his injured leg, and he barely beat the count back in. White with a Uranage for a near fall was followed by a Sleeper Suplex attempt, but Juice elbowed his way free and hit the Full Nelson Bomb for the double down. After Juice locked in a version of the crab, White hammered the leg to free himself, then locked in his TTO submission from earlier in the year, but Robinson made the ropes. After hitting the big Left, Juice tried Pulp Friction, but Gedo jumped on the apron, and Jay pushed Juice into referee Red Shoes. This is were the wheels came off for me. Gedo slides a chair in, Juice commandeers it. He tries Pulp Friction on the chair, but Jay scapes and Juice lands on the chair. Jay then destroys Juice’s leg with the chair, then locks in the TTO again as Gedo rolls Red Shoes in, just in time for Juice to tap out at the 23:01 mark. White gave Juice Blade Runner in the post match for good measure.

And the main event between Genichiro Tenryu’s favourite sons; Ishii and Shingo was predictably fantastic. Though this is a nitpick, it felt a little long to me. It went 22:41, but had it have been a 15 to 17 minute slugfest, it most likely would have been a ***** classic. In that sense, it reminded me of some of Ishii’s amazing bouts with Honma. This was a hard-hitting war, which started by dodging each others signature spots, before throwing those bombs. They decimated each other with hard chops, forearms and Lariats in glorious fashion, before throwing each other around with suplexes. They exchanged the Tenyru chop and strike sequence in the corner, and at some point, Ishii’s cauliflower ear started bleeding from the forearms Shingo was giving him. The Stone Pitbull hit his super impressive top rope superplex for a near fall, before peppering Takagi with those Tenryu style kicks to the head, and scored another near fall with a folding press Powerbomb. Shingo escapes a Brainbuster attempt, and hits a Pumping Bomber, followed by Noshigami and the sliding Lariat for a near fall of his own. Ishii turns Shingo inside out with a massive Lariat for a near fall, then drops him again with a headbutt. Ishii tries the Sliding Lariat, but Shingo dodges it, and scores a near fall with Made In Japan. Ishii blocks a Pumping Bomber, then hits a series of Lariats, followed by the sliding version for a near fall. Ishii with another Brainbuster attempt sees Shingo counter into an Emerald Flowsion for the double down. The Dragon fires back with a Pumping Bomber, but Ishii shrugged it off, hit an enzugiri, and again turned Takagi inside out with a massive Lariat, but Shingo kicks at one! The place goes crazy now as Shingo nails another Pumping Bomber, but now Ishii kicks at one. The hit double Lariats, before Takagi floors Ishii with one final big one, and gets a great near fall with another Pumping Bomber. Shingo signals for the end, and hoists Ishii up in to the match-winning Last Of The Dragon to take the two points and end an incredible war. After the match the two traded headbutts whilst on the mat, and Ishii was escorted out, whilst Shingo cut a promo to end the show. Even though he’s eliminated form winning the G1, the win cements Takagi getting a NEVER Title shot at some point, and I’m all for this. I don’t think I’d ever get bored of these two battling each other. 

So with us heading into the final day of Block action on Sunday, the standings are moderately less complicated than before, but still somewhat convoluted. So, White, Naito, Moxley, and Goto all have 10 points, with Mox holding a tiebreaker over Naito, White and Goto both holding the tiebreaker over Moxley, and Naito with the tiebreaker over Goto. Whereas Ishii needs to beat Taichi on Sunday and needs Goto, Naito and Moxley to all lose in order to make the final, and YANO (God forbid) needs to defeat Jeff Cobb on Sunday, and needs Ishii and Goto to both lose, whilst only needing White and Naito to go to a double DQ to win, so I’d say he’s a long shot.

NDT

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Kimi Ni Todoke, Episodes 4-6

Round 2, Electric Boogaloo! In which the show sadly reveals some aspects that don’t work as well as they could, and I consider the complicated gap between personal taste and objective metrics.

The Pitfalls of Communication

If there’s a theme that emerges over the course of this apparent first major arc, it’s the idea that communication is hard, and it’s easy to mess up what you’re trying to convey when you’re not able to just say outright exactly what you mean. Yoshida and Yano’s friendship with Sawako is placed on rocky footing by a series of failed attempts at communication from both parties that end up leaving them confused as to what the other actually wants and hurting because of it. It takes a crisis point and a Herculean effort from everyone involved to set things straight, culminating in a really beautiful outpouring of emotions from Sawako. It’s the kind of utterly genuine, heartfelt conclusion that would normally have me bawling in my goddamn seat if handled correctly, and this show definitely had the pieces in place to rip my tear ducts wide open.

Yet as powerful a moment it was, I didn’t end up crying. And the reasons why are neither easy to explain nor entirely fair to the show itself. So let’s talk about that.

Personal Taste

The hardest thing to do while reviewing media is figuring out how much give and take there should be between objective observations and personal preferences. I’ve struggled with that a lot while figuring out the best scores to hand out to the various shows I watch. Kyoukai no Kanata, for example, could have easily been an 8/10 for me, but I bumped it down to a 7 as an acknowledgement that as much as I got swept up in it, parts of it definitely didn’t work by any stretch of the imagination. Ditto the Chuunibyou sequel, which was definitely a lot more disjointed and unfocused than it should have been, yet still managed to hit my weak spots thanks to being a sequel to one of my favorite anime ever.

Point is, this shit can be hard. And it’s been a while since I’ve had this hard gap to square. The simple fact is, I am not a fan of stories or plot points where drama is caused by an easily avoidable complication, even when that complication is justified in-universe/completely in-character. The entirety of the drama in these episodes could’ve been solved if Pin hadn’t shown up at the exact moment when he did to drag the girls away from hearing what Sawako meant by not considering them her friends. Despite how good the character conflict ends up being as a result of this miscommunication, it can never shake the feeling of being forced to happen by plot necessity rather than as a result of the characters themselves. And some of that’s definitely on me. Maybe it’s because of my own struggles with communication in the past, maybe it’s my Aspergers which, among other things, really fucks with my head when things don’t seem fair or rational, but seeing such a massive problem that was one tiny coincidence away from not being a problem in the first place doesn’t sit well with me.

And what’s weird is that one of my top 3 anime of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion, is so good precisely because it explores this failure of communication in such great detail. I talk a lot more in depth about this sort of thing in my re-watch here, but short version, everyone’s inability to communicate what they really want and need from each other is part of what makes the tragedy of its characters’ degradation so powerful (especially Asuka, who is my favorite fictional character of all time precisely because her specific struggle almost exactly parallels my own). But that’s not quite the same, because there’s no one moment in Eva where a five-second wait would have solved everything, no moment where it’s not the characters themselves choosing to keep their intentions hidden for their own self-preservation. Failure of communication isn’t a thing that randomly happens in Eva, it’s a state of being for pretty much everyone in the cast. And I’m not saying Kimi ni Todoke had to follow this template exactly, but if it had couched the misunderstanding in a character choice rather than a plot coincidence, Sawako’s final heartfelt plea to be friends might’ve actually gotten the tears flowing.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. Maybe if the show hadn’t done such a good job of presenting Yoshida and Yano as dealing with the rumors in a rational way, even going out of their way to avoid the usual pitfalls these characters might have fallen into (seriously, Yano literally said “let’s hear what she’s really talking about” before Pin showed up), it wouldn’t sting as much. Honestly, the mere fact this arc’s conclusion still affected me despite everything is a point in the show’s favor, all things considered. But I hope there’s not going to be too much more of that, because this show is still an absolute delight, and I’d hate for it to get bogged down just for having stuff that doesn’t usually work for me.

Silence Could Speak Louder

Of course, another thing that could help Kimi ni Todoke moving forward- and a criticism that I’m much more confident of- is trimming down Sawako’s inner monologue. I’m not necessarily opposed to the idea of having a constant window to her thoughts; “Show, don’t tell” may be a rule for a reason, but the stylistic choice of staying firmly in her head to tease out what she’s feeling beyond her still limited means of expression is a good idea in theory. That said, I can’t help but feel the entire thing is just too much for its own good as is. We’re allowed so few moments of silence in this show because in the moments where no one’s talking, we’re always hearing her voice to fill in the space. And the fact of the matter is, Sawako’s thoughts aren’t complicated enough to warrant that much attention.

I can say that with certainty because while we hear her thoughts constantly, they’re not always new thoughts. She keeps coming back to the same phrases and ideas over and over again, repeating and reiterating in a million words what maybe fifty solely new words and a judicious use of meaningful silence would convey so much better. There’s only so many times I can hear her thank Kazehaya for every single step forward she takes before I start wishing for her to just shut up and confess to the big doofus already. The trade-off for being subjected to an unending stream of thoughts is that each thought should feel, if not new, at least like it’s adding something new to the table. I don’t get that from Sawako’s thoughts. How much more effective would some of these moments be if they were allowed to play with just the background music and ambient sound effects, the silence letting you soak in the atmosphere of what Sawako’s feeling without it needing to be explained to you? At this point, we’re comfortable enough with her as a character that every scrap of her thought process doesn’t need to be spelled out to us.

Look, I’m still really loving this show, and I don’t want to give the impression otherwise. The moments that work still really work, and the warm fuzzies are still going strong. I just hope these flaws aren’t signs of things to come.

Odds and Ends

-”Not guiity!” Oh my god yes rational handling rumors yes please in my face

-”Triple pure white!” You ain’t wrong, girls.

-”Isn’t she too specific a fetish?” askdjhasjdhaasd what the shit Pin

-NOM THE ROLLED OMLETTE

-”When did I become some sort of slave driver?” lol

-Get you a bestie who’ll match your cry eyes.

-Okay, I’m in love with Sawako’s VA. She’s so fucking expressive.

-’WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SHOW UP RIGHT THEN?!” YOSHIDA I LOVE YOU

-Yoshida’s brother is king.

-”This is a private party.” get shrek’d Pin

-”That’s so unfair...” SUCH A SOFT BOI

[x0401x]

Screen+ Interview with Yano Shougo and Uchida Yuuma

“I was very, very happy to watch the continuation of ‘Given’ as a fan!”

Originally scheduled to come out in May, “Given the Movie” was finally released on August 22nd. Mafuyu, Ritsuka, Haruki and Akihiko can be seen on the big screen. The story of this work has its spotlight on Haruki and Akihiko, as well as on Akihiko and his roommate, Ugetsu. How will things go for Mafuyu and Ritsuka, who are in a band with Haruki and Akihiko? We have talked with the person in charge of Mafuyu’s voice, Yano Shougo, and the one in charge of Ritsuka’s, Uchida Yuuma, about the movie, which was a much awaited continuation of the TV series.

——“Given” was broadcasted back in 2019 as a TV anime. How were the reactions at the time?

Yano: I could feel that there were fans of the original work from all over the world. Fans from other countries said they liked my acting and my voice, which I was truly grateful for.

Uchida: When the casting was decided, I was told that the original work itself is very much loved, and when my participation was announced, many comments saying, “I’m looking forward to the broadcast” reached me. I keenly felt the high level of the expectations.

——During the time of the TV series, the fact that it was going to be “Noitamina’s first adaptation of a BL comic” became a hot topic. Did you have any particular feelings about this back when you were working on it?

Yano: I had next to no knowledge of Boys Love, so I tried reading the original work first of all, in order to see what kind of series it was. In doing so, I felt that the series really cherished a vibe that seemed to have been cut off from daily life. As I kept on reading, I found myself inserted into that world in a natural manner, as if I was actually there.

Uchida: I did not have much enthusiasm regarding the Boys Love part. If I had to say it, it was a series that depicted the machinations of people’s hearts in a sensible way, so I put an emphasis on pursuing this with care. What turns out to be the key point changes depending on each series, so I gave proper thought to what the most important part of this work was in that sense, and performed while hoping that I would be able to express it.

——What were your impressions when you heard that this work would be shown on the big screen?

Yano: I was overjoyed to be able to play Mafuyu again and very, very happy to watch the continuation of “Given” as a fan.

Uchida: During the phase of the TV anime series, I had heard that it would lead to a movie. That the things depicted in the original work were planned to be depicted in a movie too. For this part, I was always conscious on the inside that, on top of my performing for the TV anime, the story was going to be portrayed up to that far.

——What were you careful of and what did you keep in mind when playing Mafuyu and Ritsuka?

Yano: I was conscious of being a high school boy. Mafuyu has a complicated past where he lost someone who was important to him, so a gaping hole opened in his heart and he was in the dark, unable to take even one step forward. But when you see him talking to his friends and playing basket with a smile in his daily life at school, you find that he is a normal high schooler. As he absorbed himself completely in music, I thought he was a high school student living youth itself. 

Uchida: Ritsuka is not very good at expressing himself with anything other than a guitar, so I made sure to properly feel the difference in sense of closeness from when he talks to his bandmates and when he talks to Mafuyu. And also the sensation that “he’s in there”, as part of the series, so to say. There are quite a lot of scenes where the conversations overlap naturally. I aimed to carefully pursue the sensible aspects of those parts, as well as the mood of the exchanges and such.

——In this movie, there is a close-up on the romance between Haruki and Akihiko. From your point of view, how is the nature of their relationship?

Yano: Haruki-san is like a lubricating oil within the band, so I think there is a side of him that ends up pushing down his own feelings. Akihiko-san lives the way he wants to, so they mesh, but they are not in gear at all when it comes to their love lives, and I guess this comes with “understanding each other’s feelings” as adults. From the perspective of the viewers, I belive Haruki-san is in the most emotionally easy-to-relate position, but I think Akihiko-san’s existence only establishes itself because Haruki-san can strongly impact him. I think Akihiko-san is the only one for Haruki-san, and all the more, Haruki-san is the only one for Akihiko-san.

Uchida: They can rely on one another and probably respect each other in some aspects, but they are people who have a kindness that they do not put into words, as well as an unfairness that they purposefully do not speak about, so I have the impression that they “can’t say things straight”. They are still at an age where they just barely graduated from college, but they are grown-ups when compared to Ritsuka and Mafuyu, so looking from where I am now, I think this sense of distance in which they are unable to frankly express that they long for each other is “well, something that would happen”. As expected, we start worrying about all sorts of things as we get older.

——Please tell us the highlights of “Given the Movie”.

Yano: The presence of the person named Murata Ugetsu, whom Akihiko used to date and continues living with despite breaking up, is pretty big. He is a prodigy like Mafuyu and adores both music and Akihiko-san to death, but his music will be ruined if he keeps up like that, so he chooses to throw away Akihiko-san. Regardless, he is unable to throw him away, so they are stagnated in the same spot all along. I think that Ugetsu, who wants someone to understand his feelings and pain, is very similar to Mafuyu. There is a song that the band Given plays during the movie, and it is obvious that they want to deliver the song to somebody, but there is a part of it that I sang while putting my feelings towards Ugetsu in particular into it, so I think people can enjoy the movie even more by linking up with the song as they watch it.

Uchida: From the TV series, it carefully portrays the sense of distance between one person and another, as well as relationship values. Even if there is not that big a meaning in every single thing, there is nothing in vain, and the accumulation of this moves the hearts of those two. I think “Given” is a series that literally embodies the fact that the accumulation of small things transform into colossal feelings. If you watch from the TV series all the way to the movie, won’t you be able to enjoy it while sensing the developments of their feelings even better?

——Please give a message to the fans who have been waiting for the release all this time!

Yano: Thank you very much to everyone who eagerly waited for “Given the Movie”! The TV series was about a high school duo, but this tone is centered around the adult group that consists of Haruki, Akihiko and Ugetsu. I think the parts where they react to love will be, from start to finish, a time where your chests will tighten. I think there are aspects of it that anyone can feel a connection with, so please watch over them warmly.

Uchida: It would be great if everyone could watch the members of Given as they embrace all sorts of feelings and try to change little by little, as well as the beauty of their changing. There are also scenes in this work that cleanse your heart. By all means, go enjoy it in the big screen!

[bluewatsons]

Maria Ociskova et al., F*ck your care if you label me!: Borderline personality disorder, stigma, and self-stigma, 59 Act Nerv Super Rediviva 16 (2017)

Introduction: According to recent results, a significant number of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and general public show negative and stigmatizing attitudes towards patients with toward borderline personality disorder (BPD). Such attitudes may manifest in negative thoughts and harmful or discriminating behavior towards people with this disorder.

Method: Studies were identified through the Web of Science, Medline, and Scopus databases, including resources within the period 1990–2014. Additional references were found using reviews of relevant articles. The search terms included “borderline“, “stigma”, “self-stigma”, “therapy”, “treatment”, “psychotherapy“, and “psychosocial treatment“.

Results: The stigmatizing beliefs of the professionals and the general public are common in the case of the patients with BPD. Health care professionals tend to be more prone to stigmatize the individuals with BPD than lay population. People with BPD come across serious difficulties, such as unstable emotionality, impulsivity, low threshold of frustration, and following issues in social and occupational functioning. These problems are inevitably present the patients’ contact with the health care professionals. Insufficient supervision of the therapeutic process and lack of sufficient competence in the work with the patients with BPD can lead to the clinicians’ stigmatizing attitudes and behavior. In these cases, the health care professionals often use derogatory expressions to describe persons with BPD, such as “treatment resistant”, “complicated”, “demanding”, “dangerous”, “manipulative”, and “attention seeking”. Negative attitudes among psychiatrists, other physicians, nurses, psychotherapists, and health care administrators support the marginalization of BPD within the systems of mental health care.

Conclusion: Substantial development in the empirical and practical knowledge of the patients suffering from BPD challenges the stereotypical labels of the individuals with this disorder. Continual supervision may offer a solution in the case to case scenario of the stigmatizing professionals. The fundamental questioning of the marginalized status of patients with BPD is also required.

Introduction

Psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, other physicians, and general population often perceive borderline personality disorder (BPD) negatively. The stigma of those, who suffer from BPD, is more extent and severe than the stigma of other psychiatric diagnoses (Aviram et al 2006). We have an adequate understanding of the stigma processes among patients with serious mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar affective dis- order, and major depression (Barney et al 2006; Yanos et al 2008; Margetić et al 2010; Latalova et al 2013). However, the understanding of the role of the stigma in the lives and treatment of the patients with other mental disorders is lacking.

The stereotyped imagery of the psychiatric patients comes from deep-rooted prejudices and conservative interpretations of the psychiatric disorders. A response to the social environment and culture, which results in a conclusion “this person suffers from a mental illness“, is called a labeling reaction. The label of the mental disor- der may then lead to stigmatizing attitudes and behav- ior towards the labeled individuals. The stigma of those with mental illnesses manifests in various negative ways that others treat the patients, mainly on the level of the close interpersonal relationships. Besides these individ- ual and micro social levels, the stigma also influences the macro social level as it affects the position of the psychiatric patients and psychiatry itself in the society (Prasko et al 2011). It is society, with its evaluation of what is normality that represents a cornerstone of the stigmatization process.

The understanding of the causes of psychiatric disorder plays the crucial role in the labeling process and subsequent stigmatization. It can be divided into several categories: the presence of a disorder might be presumed to be due to a character flaw (such as psy- chopathy, mental inferiority, weakness, perversion, or amorality), organicity (hereditary burden, brain dis- ease) or situational influences (a consequence of highly stressful events, grief or suffering). The patients with BPD, who often act noticeably in public, are labeled by the lay community with pejorative terms like “freak”, “having tantrums”, “hysterical” or simply “weird”. The general public holds certain expectations when meeting a person with BPD. They may expect that the individu- als with BPD keep their distance, are rather cold and show dysfunctional behavior. However, they usually do not consider them being “dangerously mad” (Aviram et al 2006). Also, society itself keeps a distance from these patients (Markham 2003). General population often prefers to believe that the origin of this disorder is based on personality flaws and traits, and this is why they tend to expect that the afflicted “should make some effort and change,” eventually “should be reeducated” (James & Cowman 2007; Ociskova et al 2014).

BPD is characterized by instabilities and dysfunctions in affective, behavioral, and interpersonal domains. Extreme affective instability often leads to an impulsive and self-destructive behaviors (Prasko et al 2010a). It is true that the patients with BPD exhibit impulsive aggression, self-mutilation, self-damaging behavior (e.g., promiscuous sex, substance abuse, reckless spending, overeating), and dissociation (Pastucha et al 2009; Latalova & Prasko 2010). Aggression against themselves or others is one of the core components of BPD. Such behavior can present a trigger of stigmatization in the therapy. Indeed, high level of stigmatization of the patients with BPD is connected to the counter- transference (Prasko et al 2010b). As the un-reflected counter-transference is one of the most frequent causes of the damage resulting from the psychotherapy (Prasko et al 2012), this kind of stigma present one of the issues that require more theoretical and empiric attention.

Method

Studies were identified through the Web of Science, Medline, and Scopus databases by including resources within the period 1990–2015. Additional references were found using reviews of the relevant papers. The search terms included “borderline“, “stigma”, “self- stigma”, “therapy”, “treatment”, “psychotherapy“, and “psychosocial treatment“. The search was completed by repeated use of the words in different combinations without language and time constraints. The articles were collected, organized by their importance, and key articles itemized in reference lists were investigated. Reference lists of publications recognized by these procedures were enriched by manually tracing the relevant citations. The report also includes information from books referred to by other reviews. This article is a review.

Stigma and self-stigma in borderline personality disorder

The labeling process is common in the cases of the patients that are traditionally said to be difficult to treat. This is the case of the individuals with personality disorders, mainly with the borderline type. The persons with borderline personality disorder do not deal only with the symptoms of their disorder but also with social stigma and self-stigma. Negative social attitudes toward people with personality disorders might lead to missed opportunities for education, employment, and housing. Pejorative expressions to describe individuals with BPD such as “treatment resistant,” “complicated,” “demanding,” “dangerous,” “manipulative,” and “attention seeking” are frequently used (Aviram et al 2006).

Studies of psychiatric stigma have mainly concentrated on public attitudes to the patients. Because stigma presents an ultimately private experience and these attitudes and beliefs vary in their influence on the individuals, current studies can only provide an approximate guide to how stigma affects the patients with mental health issues. Bigger focus on personal experiences of the psychiatric patients would be beneficent for better understanding what the patients struggle with, what obstacles they come across, and how stigma affects their interpersonal relationships and self-view.

Stigma is an umbrella term that consists of three main components: ignorance (a problem of the absence of knowledge), prejudice (an issue with attitude) and discrimination (an issue with behavior). Stigma can be divided into three subgroups – social, structural (institutional), and internalized (i.e. self-stigma) (Livingston & Boyd 2010). Self-stigma happens when individuals assimilate social stereotypes about the condition they suffer from. Personality traits, which once formed a core of a personality, recede into the distance and traits, which are stereotypically attributed to the group of stigmatized individuals, become dominant in self-concept. Changes in behavior, which also adjust to the stereotypes, are a part of the picture, too.

The self-stigma develops in a three-part process. The process starts with an individual who notices unwelcoming or opposite reactions from others and becomes aware of the stereotypes that led to the inadequate approach. The stigma internalization continues in the second phase during which the person agrees with the stereotypes and believes that they are legitimate. The internalization is completed when the person applies the stereotypes on oneself (Corrigan et al 2011). The consequences of the self-stigma manifest on various levels – there can be present an increase of dysphoric emotions, reduction of self-esteem and overall quality of life, and anxious anticipation of the adverse actions of others. The afflicted person might prefer to withdraw socially, develop phobias and depression, maladaptive behavior, or a change in identity (Livingston & Boyd 2010; Camp et al 2002). A progressive model of self-stigma contains these four steps which lead to decreased self-esteem and hope: appreciation of related stereotypes, agreement with them, applying the stereotypes to oneself, and following suffering from lower self-esteem (Corrigan et al 2011).

Stigma forms unique barriers if stigmatized individuals internalize perceived prejudices and are persuaded that such beliefs are entirely correct (Corrigan et al 2002). For example, internalized stigma predicts deterioration of morale among psychiatric outpatients. In a research of Ritsher and Phelan (2004), internalized stigma led to increased levels of depressive symptoms and reduced self-esteem at 4-month follow-up, when controlling for baseline levels. In our study (Ociskova et al 2014) of a mixed group of patients with anxiety disorders, depression and borderline personality disorder, the degree of internalized stigma positively correlated with substance use and tendencies to give up when confronted with the stress. Self-stigma was also significantly negatively connected to self-directedness (one of the traits in Cloninger’s theory of personality), pathway thinking (a part of Snyder’s cognitive theory of hope), an ability to plan solutions to stressful events, and ability to find positive elements in them to support inner growth. Internalized stigma was significantly positively associated with a degree of dissociative symptoms, too (Ociskova et al 2014).

Relatives of the patients with BPD also deal with stigma (Trosbach et al 2003). Family members often worry about stigma and discourage patients from seeking early psychiatric intervention. Thus, when diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, it is not only a patient, who has to get accustomed to the fact, but also his or her family. It is no surprise then that close relatives tend to keep the borderline diagnosis as a secret. Relatives might come across specific experiences and prefer to apply certain coping strategies in expectation that they could avoid stigmatization and shame. They may have a tendency to isolate themselves or hide the patient’s symptoms from the “outer world”. The psychiatric disorder is perceived as a secret that cannot be shared.

Specific personality traits that increase the risk of the development of the self-stigma across the spectrum of the mental disorders are a higher level of harm avoidance and lower level of self-directedness and persistence (Margetić et al 2010; Ociskova et al 2014). Self-directedness and persistence both resemble Snyder’s cognitive theory of hope that is based on an assumption that hope flourishes from the ability to establish goals and realistic pathways to achieve them and to dispose of an appropriate amount of willpower to endure possible complications (Snyder 2000). It has been shown that people with the internalized stigma, including the individuals with BPD, have lower levels of hope compared to the non-affected persons (Snyder 2000; Ociskova et al 2014). They expect in advance that the goal cannot be achieved and that it is beyond their abilities to live a satisfying life (Corrigan et al 2009). The patients, who develop internalized stigma, also prefer emotion- focused coping strategies and tend to avoid interper- sonal contacts (Yanos et al 2008; Rüsch et al 2009). Such attitudes may contribute to a non-adherence in treatment and lead to a worse overall prognosis.

Stigmatization and therapeutic care for borderline patients

Stigma may affect how physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers perceive and tolerate the behavior, thoughts, and emotional reactions of the patients with BPD. It might lead to tendencies to minimize perceived symptoms, increased suffering, and aggressive behavior from the patients’ side and overlooking strengths from both sides – patients’ and professionals’ (Aviram et al 2006). A considerable number of the individuals with borderline personality disorder prefer to adjust on their own or to rely on their families rather than seek a mental health professional. Fear of stigmatization is one of the reasons why individuals suffering from borderline personality disorder fear the psychiatric diagnosis in such magnitude that they might actively avoid seeking adequate support.

In society, people tend to distance themselves from stigmatized persons, and there is the evidence that many physicians, including psychiatrists, may emotionally detach themselves from the patients with BPD. This distancing may be particularly problematic in the case of the people with BPD, who are extremely sensitive to expressions of rejection and abandonment. They may react negatively (e.g., by dirty critique, harming themselves or withdrawing from treatment) if they perceive such behavior (Aviram et al 2006).

We might be inclined to believe that the general population shows the larger amount of readiness to stigmatize than the health care professionals. Surprisingly the opposite is true, especially in the borderline patients. The individuals with BPD face considerable problems, both regarding their symptomatology and functional status, as well as in attempting to achieve professional help (Kealy & Ogrodniczuk 2010). Attitudes of many psychiatrists are paradoxically more tolerant towards psychotic patients than borderline ones. These attitudes are largely shaped both by university education, where a greater emphasis is being put on the most severe mental illnesses and by first work experience when young graduates typically work in intake departments and meet mainly psychotic patients.

A psychiatrist can put a label of “a difficult patient” on a person that he does not find likable, is not able to create a therapeutic relationship with or is criticized by. Such therapist often speaks about the patient in pejorative terms (“a borderliner,” “a psychopath”). Many clinicians understand the diagnosis of the personality disorders as a synonym for inevitable therapeutic failure and resign in advance to the possibility of therapeutic change. It is a stereotype that stigmatizes these patients, as it denies them a sufficient level of therapeutic care. The patients with BPD typically receive multiple medications (often in high doses), although it is not indicated for this group of patients and it is not sure that “reasonable and predictable results” might be achieved (Gunderson & Philips 1995). When doing research with the decision to include patients with comorbid BPD, this decision can confound the results of pharmacotherapy studies aimed at the treatment of the depressive and anxiety disorders. They drop out of the studies frequently because of non-compliance, or they respond poorly to the treatment (Turner 1987; Persons et al 1988). Therefore, more and more designs of the studies put this diagnosis in the exclusion criteria. This leads to a current situation when there is still little information about a treatment that could be successful when treating a borderline comorbidity. Also, this vicious circle helps to keep stickers of non-treatability of the individuals with BPD.

Pervasive negative attitudes among psychiatrists and other clinicians, nurses, health care administrators, and policy-makers also maintain the marginalization of the individuals with BPD within psychiatric care. The patients with BPD may be viewed as not suffering from a valid disorder, being only a minority of the medical population, and being a constant drain on care resources (Kealy et al 2010). These beliefs may rationalize the lack of proper psychiatry services. The labeling can also be found among general practitioners. Pejorative labels serve as a defense of a physician who explains by them a failure in treatment or reluctance to treat the person more intensively. It seems that the more a psychiatrist labels patients, the less is a treatment successful, and the lesser scope of patients a therapist can help (Prasko et al 2011). Attitudes of psychiatric nurses are the most frequently studied group in this field, followed by samples of different mental health clinicians, and psychologists and psychotherapists (Sansone & Sansone 2013). Interestingly, there is no study of psychiatrists as the particular group.

Psychiatric nurses’ view on the patients with BPD

Mental health nurses are often in a contact with the patients with BPD in both hospital and community set- tings which is why so many studies focused on them (Fraser & Gallop 1993; Cleary et al 2002; Markham 2003; Markham &Trower 2003; Deans &Meocevic 2006; James & Cowman 2007; Woollaston & Hixenbaugh 2008; Ma et al 2009; McGrath & Dowling 2012). These studies account nurses’ perceptions of the patients with BPD being strong, manipulative, and destructive in their behaviors and disposing of the ability to split staff (Aviram et al 2006; Woollaston and Hixenbaugh 2008; Ma et al 2009).

Psychiatric nurses’ view the individuals with BPD as tough cases with unpredictable and interpersonal relationships, poor impulse control, affective instability, and self-injuring behavior. The suicidal or self- harming reaction is one of the core diagnostic criteria in DSM for BPD, and management, and recovery from this personality disorder can be difficult, complex, and challenging. The symptoms associated with BPD are often dramatic and emotionally upsetting (e.g., splitting, stalking behavior, rage reactions, self-mutilation, and suicide attempts). Many professionals find these patients difficult to treat and exhibit low empathy towards them, as such behavior may adversely affect the patients’ relationships with the nursing staff (Stuart & Laraia 2004). Also, it is reported that the patients with BPD tend to induce high levels of aggressive feelings among staff members (Holmqvist 2000). In contrast, nurses are more likely to react with sadness, guilt, and self-critical feelings towards patients with psychoses and with empathetic feelings towards patients suffering from neuroses. Nurses also consider the individuals with BPD to have a higher degree of control over their negative behaviors when compared to patients with other mental disorders (Markham & Trower 2003).

In an Australian study, Deans and Meocevic (2006) found that 65 psychiatric nurses working in both inpatient and outpatient settings reported negative emotional reactions and attitudes toward the patients with BPD. The majority of the participants perceived the persons with BPD as manipulative, with nearly one-third of the participants reporting that such patients anger them (Deans & Meocevic 2006). McGrath and Dowling’s (2012) study explored registered psychiatric nurses’ interactions and their level of empathy towards the patients with a diagnosis of BPD. Four types of beliefs about the patients emerged following information from this quantitative research: “challenging and difficult”, “manipulative, destructive, and threatening behavior”, “preying on the vulnerable resulting in splitting staff and other service users”, and “boundaries and structure.” Lack of empathy towards these patients was evident in the majority of the participants’ responses (McGrath & Dowling 2012).

Response to the patients with BPD of different mental health professionals

Some studies have examined clinicians’ responses to the patients with BPD using study samples that consisted of several different professional disciplines. Cleary et al (2002) in their study of management of the patients with BPD focused on the attitudes regarding the treatment of these patients, experience, and knowledge about the disorder in the health staff. They showed that 80 % of 229 employees found dealing with the BPD patients to be moderate to extraordinarily difficult; 84 % of the staff felt that dealing with them was harder than dealing with other patients groups (Cleary et al 2002). Similarly, Newton-Howes et al (2008) examined the attitudes of a mixed group of the mental health clinicians toward the patients with personality disorders. Using a survey and the interview approach, the researchers found that the participants believed that the patients with the personality disorders were harder to manage than other groups of the patients.

Krawitz and Batcheler (2006) surveyed 29 mental health clinicians from inpatient, crisis, and outpatient services regarding their attitudes toward the patients with BPD. Using a self-report survey approach, researchers found that defensive approaches were common among the applicants. Indeed, 85 % admitted that they were practicing the care in a style that was not in the best interest of the patient (Krawitz & Batcheler 2006).

Commons Treloar (2009) examined a mixed sample of 140 mental health clinicians using an open query method: “Please provide some comments about your experience or interest in working with patients diagnosed with BPD”. The respondents showed that the patients with BPD generated uncomfortable feelings within them. Also, the respondents acknowledged specific negative emotions, including feelings of frustration, failure, and feelings of being challenged. The respondents also perceived the patients with BPD as manipulative and time-consuming and believed that such patients have poor coping skills, engage in frequent crisis behaviors, and have difficulty interacting with others appropriately (Commons Treloar 2009).

Bodner et al (2011) also focused on a mixed group of mental health clinicians practicing in public institutions (n=57) regarding their attitudes toward BPD. Using a self-report survey of cognitive and emotional attitudes, the researchers found that psychologists scored lower than psychiatrists and nurses on adverse judgments, whereas nurses scored lesser than psychologists and psychiatrists on empathy. This is in accordance with the studies focused solely on nurses that found low empa- thy of nurses towards this group of patients (Deans & Meocevic 2006; McGrath & Dowling 2012).

Finally, Black and colleagues (2011) examined 706 mental health clinicians regarding their attitudes toward BPD. Using a self-report survey method, nearly half of the sample showed their inclination to avoid the patients with this disorder. Psychiatric nurses had the lowest scores on overall understanding attitudes toward patients with BPD, whereas social workers had the highest ratings. Psychiatric nurses also had the lowest ratings of empathy toward the patients with BPD (Black et al 2011).

Responses of psychotherapists to the patients with BPD

There are only three studies focused on the answers of psychotherapists to the patients with BPD. In the first research, Servais and Saunders (2007) surveyed 306 clinical psychologists, who were asked to rate their responses to the patients with depression, borderline personality features, and schizophrenia. The psychologists reported distancing themselves from the patients with the borderline personality features. These patients were perceived as dangerous, and nearly half of the respondents believed such patients to be undesirable (Servais & Saunders 2007). Bourke and Grenyer (2010) performed a study with 80 Australian psychotherapists. The authors interviewed and elicited narratives from the participants regarding their views of the patients with BPD and the patients with major depression. The researchers found significantly more negative attitudes toward the patients with BPD. Also, the psychologists felt less satisfied in their therapeutic role with such patients. Finally, in a German study, Jobst and colleagues (2010) examined 174 psychotherapists working in Munich. The participants were presented with a brief case report followed by several queries. Findings indicated that these psychotherapists often experienced anxiety and demonstrated prejudices when working with the patients with BPD.

The professionals’ reactivity may be self-protective in response to actual behavior associated with the psychopathology. However, as a consequence of this reactivity, partly deriving from stigmatizing attitudes, it is harder to work with the patients with BPD (Aviram et al 2006). When considering that human communication is always two-way, it is not surprising that the self-protective behavior and overall reactivity of professionals exacerbate maladaptive behavior of the patients. The results are a self-fulfilling prophecy and a vicious cycle of stigmatization to which both the patient and the therapist contribute. There is a possibility that the stigma associated with BPD can have an independent impact on poor treatment outcome with these patients.

Lived experiences of the patients diagnosed with BPD

Over last 20 years have the lived experience of BPD patients been occasionally in the center of attention (Kaysen 1993; Miller et al 1994; Nehls 1999; Byrne 2000; Castillo et al 2001; Fallon 2003; Holm & Severinsson 2011; Rogers & Dunne 2011). The patients with BPD have reported feelings that they were living with a derogatory label, with self-injuring behavior perceived as manipulative, and having restricted access to the adequate care because of this (Byrne 2000). According to the patients, health care providers held predetermined and unfavorable opinions of the patients with BPD, and they spoke about the experience as if being labeled and not diagnosed (Byrne 2000). Some patients talked about being frightened of disapproval or rejection, particularly from their therapists (Miller et al 1994). Nehls’s study (1999) also confirms that the patients often feel judged (Nehls 1999). Regarding living with the diagnosis, the patients described hopelessness and self-injuring behavior as a short-term strategy to relieve painful emotions and tensions. The patients with BPD also described the health care staff being unwilling to tell them the diagnosis (Fallon 2003). The perception of the patients that there is the unwillingness to tell them the BPD diagnosis is also reported elsewhere (Castillo et al 2001).

Discussion

The goal of this review was to explore the current knowledge regarding the stigma and self-stigma in the individuals with borderline personality disorder. The overwhelming majority of the papers has pointed to gloomy attitudes and emotional reactions of the professionals toward the patients with BPD (Sansone & Sansone 2013). Some authors clarified that such results suggested that mental health professionals are too judgmental and prejudicial to these patients, in contrast to psychiatric patients with other mental disorders. The individuals with BPD tend to show maladaptive interpersonal behaviors that tend to elicit negative reactions from others. Perhaps these findings largely reflect a natural human response to the complex behaviors of these patients. The systematic guidance of mental health workers by supervisors is needed in order not to harm the patients, especially when staff disposes of such high levels of counter-transference (Prasko et al 2012).

Conclusions

Borderline personality disorder is characterized by significant negative emotional, interpersonal, and behavioral symptoms. The patients with BPD tend to experience difficulties in their relationships with others, in the family, at work or school, and mental health professionals. Comparing the various groups of the mental health professionals, the nurses tend to perceive the individuals in the most negative and judgmental way. Proper education and continuous supervision are needed to manage the negative counter-transference and subsequent stigmatizing beliefs and behavior of the mental health workers.

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Given Movie: MantanWeb Interview #2

Nakazawa Masatomo on “having nothing but empathy for the wavering Haruki” and the “precious series” that he had confidence in.

“Given the Movie” (directed by Yamaguchi Hikaru), the theatrical adaptation of the TV anime “Given”, originally a popular BL (Boys Love) comic, was released on August 22. The voice actor Nakazawa Masatomo-san is the one who plays Nakayama Haruki, the bassist and mediator of the band Given. After Nakazawa-san – who voices someone as good-natured and easily swayed by his surroundings as Haruki – talked with his co-star, Asanuma Shintarou-san, about how “Haruki did what he could to become who he is. He’s good at looking after other people”, Nakazawa-san himself started having compassion for Haruki, saying that he felt “nothing but empathy” towards him. We asked Nakazawa-san about his feelings regarding “Given”, which has been his first challenge as a regular in a TV anime, and about its appeal.

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◇ “Haruki isn’t just a good person.” Fumbling around for balance during the recordings.

“Given” is a comic by Kizu Natsuki, currently being serialized in Chéri+ (Shinshokan). It portrays the drama of young bandmates coming into their own. The TV series started on 09/07/2019 in the late-night anime section of Noitamina, broadcasted on Fuji Television and other channels, depicting a romance between the band members and high schoolers Satou Mafuyu and Uenoyama Ritsuka. “Given the Movie” is about the bitter and heated love between the trio that consists of Haruki, a graduate student who has been in love with Kaji Akihiko for a long time, Akihiko, who has continued to live with his roommate despite the fact that they are ex-boyfriends and keeps up a half-hearted relationship with him, and the genius violinist, Murata Ugetsu.

Nakazawa-san describes the TV series that depicts the love of two high school students as a “youthful drama” and “Given the Movie”, which depicts the story of three people who are called the “adult group”, as “a model of realistic romantic love”.

“This work is about the conflict of the adult group trio. Things are a bit complicated, because this can no longer be called ‘romance’. It has twisted over time and gradually became more of a special case, so to say. The story depicts how to disentangle it in a very sensible way. The TV series was about ‘falling in love’, but from this point onward, when they start thinking, ‘I want to properly touch and get close to him’, the things they have to do in order to achieve that begin to show, as one would expect. This is what I deem to be the story of ‘Given the Movie’.”

Haruki is a character who acts as a go-betweener for the relationships of the band members and is good at taking care of others. In this work, we can see Haruki being conflicted upon personally witnessing the growth of the band’s high school duo and displaying intense emotions when clashing with Akihiko, whom he is in love with, as well as his true thoughts.

“Most people simply started being called ‘adults’ as time passed, and have things they think about in secret, as well as their own issues. I believe Haruki is not just a good person, but an ‘adult’ who has the attitude of a good person.”

Nakazawa-san claims that, while performing Haruki, “There was absolutely no emotion that I couldn’t understand. Rather, I have nothing but empathy for Haruki”.

“Haruki might be able to get by working with music, but it’s not as if that’s the only path he can go. Being in the middle of bandmen like Mafuyu, who is a prodigy, and Ritsuka, who is intense and on-edge, makes him realize that he’s not the same as them. When I compare myself to the people working around me, who are sharpening their talents, I also find myself thinking about how ordinary I am. As expected, that’s frustrating.”

Nakazawa-san saw himself overlap with Haruki, who has worries within the band.

“When creating something together, what we actually have to pay attention to isn’t who is skillful and who is adept, but rather whether the individuals we are performing can exist within the world of the series while keeping a proper balance. If I were standing there as one of the members, what I have to do is obvious. Until the first recording, I had also been fumbling around a lot for balance, so that I could properly reproduce Haruki within the worldview of ‘Given’. So that I could successfully adjust and match my acting with the acting created by Yano (Shougo)-kun, Uchida (Yuuma)-kun and Eguchi (Takuya)-kun, who voice the other band members. This was a challenge for me, and while I didn’t have any experience in comparison to other people, it was a chance that I had finally earned.”

◇ Haruki and Akihiko’s hottest scenes and sensing each other’s acting.

“Given the Movie”, centered on Haruki, Akihiko and Ugetsu, depicts the characters’ mentalities in a sensible manner. Nakazawa-san cites the part where Haruki speaks out his mind about his feelings towards Akihiko as a scene that left a particular impression on him when performing.

“There is a scene where the Akihiko, who Eguchi-kun voices, reaches his limit and starts talking as if whatever happens, happens, and the drama of this scene had a strong heat, a desperation to it. I felt that my acting was not enough for it, so the sound director gave me a push on the back with, ‘You can go beyond that, can’t you?’ and then I got his approval after the next take. It has left an impression on me, and I guess it was the most passionate scene for me.”

He says he could often “perceive” things from the other person’s acting.

“There is a so-called emotional route that we have to express in order for the characters to reach an outcome within the story, and this is influenced by the reading comprehension we have cultivated until now and the experience we have been earning, so the script is like a preparation test for me. The power to perform through listening to and feeling each other’s voices is something expected of us, so I wanted to correspond to that, is what I felt.”

Nakazawa-san describes the appeal of “Given the Movie” as “a series that gives people a push on the back”.

“Anyone will be gently touched by the things they wound up forgetting with time or left behind without being able to do anything about it and receive a push on the back with an, ‘It’s all right’. Everyone can walk on by accepting the respective paths through which they have been living; that’s what I think this series is about.”

The series also became something special for him.

“This is the first anime for which I was approved in the audition, and many miracle-like things have been happening to me with ‘Given the Movie’ as well, such as being able to star as the main character and having several opportunities to be interviewed like this. The series has become a precious one for me, as it made me able to have a little bit of confidence in how I’ve been until now.”

The Haruki that Nakazawa-san performs has a charisma that makes you want to cheer for him before you can think. What will be the outcome of his love and what kind of path will he proceed to in the aftermath of his troubles? We want to watch over this in the theaters.