#flips through my kanji dictionary

[queenofnohr]

maybe sui……………

[phykoha]

Okay but all the codes over at @madmutts are so freaking cool my little arg loving heart is quaking atm 10/10 (and also furiously flipping through an old kanji dictionary to figure out what the eye one means I am not qualified for this)

Heheheh

I'm a big fan of weird codes and arg elements (Gravity Falls my beloved) so I've been having an absolute blast. Glad to know you guys are having fun too!

[chibitantei]

@gentlemanthiief sends:

⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ LET THE OVERSHARING BEGIN

Naoto talks about her PAST NO CAP | Open

“Well, I hope I don’t bore you to tears with some tidbits about my past. Have a seat because I’m sure this will take a while.”

Where to begin? From the beginning, perhaps.

“For as long as I can remember, I held a great desire to become a detective. One could say it was overwhelming, because when I say I couldn’t imagine myself in any other occupation, I meant it. My parents and grandfather had said that I didn’t have to be a detective. I could be whatever I wanted, but I refused. It didn’t matter if I could modify devices or fix them, it didn't matter if I was half decent at playing the piano, I wanted to be a detective. So they relented, and began teaching me the basics.”

She paused, and took a sip from her glass of water.

“On some of their cases, I shadowed them, but they didn’t allow me to look at any images. I remember when I first read an officer’s report, the amount of kanji I had never seen before took me by surprise. I had to consult my father, and he teased me about my inability to understand a full paragraph without asking him for help. Since it damaged my childish pride, I decided to prove him wrong and begin studying kanji ahead of what my classmates were learning. My teacher had to ask me to stop using such advanced kanji when writing because none of my peers could read it.”

In hindsight, perhaps this was one of the reasons why they bullied her. Didn’t really matter now, or what they thought of her.

“My parents and Grampa drilled me in the basics, how to tail a suspect, what I could learn from a footprint, what luminol reactions did and so forth. It was only for a few hours a day, but I wanted them to keep going, to teach me everything. When they said I could take a break, I ended up reading books from my grandfather’s study. He had plenty of detective novels, but there were books on psychology and other things a detective would find useful. More importantly, he had dictionaries. I remember flipping through the Kōjien and Daijirin to make sure I understood the complex kanji my self studies didn’t cover. The amount of English loan words also made me consult a Japanese to English dictionary, and it was the start of me practicing English.”

Wasn’t this something a supervillain would do? Monologue about their past before the final, decisive battle?

“But what good were learning the basics if I couldn’t put them into action? So I played games with them, or ‘special training’ as I preferred to call it then. It wasn’t just me solving the crime, it was also about me causing them. If I could understand the thought process of a criminal, then it would help me catch them. You can argue the portion where I pretended to be Moriarty would help with nothing, but I was convinced it would then. Everything was fine for a while, but then...”

Years after the fact, something she should have gotten over was still too difficult to—

“Their deaths were on the news, at least for a while before they faded into obscurity, but during that moment, when I wanted to forget, it was impossible when almost every news outlet kept talking about them. And then they were forgotten, but I couldn’t let go. I bit my tongue when Grampa said I should live with other relatives. I didn’t want to burden him, but after three tries, we both knew that I couldn’t be with anyone else but him.”

It was always best to gloss over those parts. Always.

“I don’t know what else to say after that. I never talked much to my peers at school, they never liked me, so I stopped talking to them altogether. I read the detective novels in Grampa’s study. I was much quieter, Grampa and Yakushiji could tell. On rare occasions I would ask if I could help with a case, but he would say no. It left me feeling disappointed, and I wondered if he thought I wasn’t capable of being a Shirogane detective all along. I don’t know what changed his mind, but one day, he invited me to his study and began to explain the details of a case he was working on. Looking back on it now, it must have been easy for him to solve, but he listened and encouraged me to share my thoughts, and before I knew it, I’d solved my first case. I was so proud, and that moment was when I felt that there was an end to the numbness I’d felt after my parents died. After that, I became Grampa’s little helper. During one case, I pointed out a clue he said he would have missed. He must’ve only said that to make me feel better, but at the time, I thought I found something he hadn’t.”

And then...

“Then it was time for me to go out on my own. He still has to be the one to officially accept since he’s the current head of the family, but other than that, I would go out and solve those cases on my own. They’d take me around Japan, and sometimes I’d return to an empty estate because Grampa was elsewhere, solving a case in a different place, even overseas. We’d have a few arguments, but I can’t imagine a family that doesn’t have any. And you know the rest.”

She’d skipped a couple of things, minor details no one really cared about, but that was how it usually went, wasn’t it? Only share the bigger picture, skip those inconsequential additions one could live without. “I think I shared enough, haven’t I?”

[flieder-house]

wish i had some japanese guy sitting next to me while i painstakingly flip through my kanji dictionary trying to play Light Fantasy so I can have some help if I don't understand something

[radio-4-is-static]

casually flipping through my kanji learner's dictionary to look up a word and–

[flawlessruby]

loook what I got 👀

[beewolfwrites]

And When I am Formulated, Sprawling on a Pin - Chapter Fourteen: Half-Sick of Shadows

Hello again! This is instalment 14 of my Chishiya x OC/reader fic. You’ll also find it over here on AO3 too. 

Thanks for all the support so far, and all of the people who have gone through every chapter and liked them. It means so much to see that you’re enjoying this <3 

childlikeempress/mercipourleslivres - I have a feeling you’ll get this chapter title :D 

--------------------------------

By the time we made it back to the Beach, Kuina and I were too tired and overwhelmed to bother with the everlasting party. The teenage boy clung to my side, thanking me repeatedly for saving his life. I tried to tell him that there was no need, that anyone would have done the same, but I had to force the words out. It wasn’t true.

In this world, you’re supposed to look out for yourself.

He promised me he’d repay the favour, but I just shook my head and smiled, telling him to survive instead.

I retreated into my room for the rest of the night, and immediately hopped into the shower. The water swirled, washing away the remains of the pinstripe tent, the red water, yellow eyes and leathery skin.

Don’t focus on it. Don’t think about it.

The stained red scrunchie bobbed on the surface of the water as it spun towards the drain.

My legs collapsed beneath me. Sinking to the to the bottom of the shower, I finally wept.

------------------------------------------

The next morning, I awoke with a splitting headache. My eyes were pink from the night before, and my hands stung, irritated from the metal pull of the wire and the weight of the teenage boy. It was tempting to stay in bed and dream away the blood and guts of the Borderlands. But there was something I needed to do.

‘Don’t you want to thank Chishiya?’

Back then, Kuina’s words had been a lifeline, cutting through the fear.

Sitting up in bed, I took the copy of Wuthering Heights out of the bedside drawer, flicking through the pages. It was all in Japanese, meaning it was illegible to me. But there was something else; one of the page corners was turned over. Flipping to it, I found that a line of the text had been underlined in pen.

Did Chishiya do this?

It seemed unlikely, although he could have done it with the intention that I would translate it. It was impossible to tell, since he was such a closed book. But seeing the words acted as a reminder that I still needed to find him anyway.

Kicking back the covers, I got up and dressed, and while I still felt half-dead after the game, I somehow felt more confident approaching Chishiya. When I finally left my room, it was nearly noon, and I had a pretty good idea as to where he would be.

The hotel was mostly quiet as I slipped through the halls, following the same path Kuina had led me just days before. Having memorised every turn, I eventually came to the doors that opened up to the roof. A cold gust of air sent goosebumps across my skin, and rubbing my arms, I spied the hunched figure sitting, one leg bent, near the edge. Just seeing him alive and well was a huge relief.

He didn’t turn or react as I sat beside him. ‘I didn’t see you yesterday. How did your game go?’

There was silence at first, before he spoke, half-teasing. ‘So you’re speaking to me again? I see.’ When he realised the words had no effect on me, he added, ‘Eight of Diamonds – it was nothing.’

For him, it was nothing. Personally, I would have struggled with an Eight of Diamonds. Knowing myself, I’d second-guess every move. Chishiya didn’t elaborate on the game, or even speak at all.

‘Aren’t you going to ask about my game?’

He was idly watching the pool-goers splashing around and having fun, but his expression was apathetic. ‘I already know. Kuina told me everything.’ He glanced briefly at my reddened hands ‘Apparently you saved a boy. It was a stupid move.’

To someone like you, it would be.

‘I disagree. He lived because of it.’

‘And if he dies in his next game, then it was a waste of time,’ Chishiya berated. ‘It’s pointless to risk your life for a stranger.’

I spun around to face him fully, crossing my legs beneath me. ‘Okay,’ I challenged him. ‘What about if it was you down there? You’d want someone to save you.’

The question was shut down immediately. ‘That’s different. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to end up in that situation.’

I pouted. He wasn’t technically wrong. It was hard to picture Chishiya scared and hanging upside down on a tightrope. If anything, he wouldn’t hesitate to cross it. But he did get nervous. That much was clear from the Two of Spades game, when I’d felt his heart thudding as his arms tightened, pulling me into the darkness.

And now, as my eyes traced over his deadened expression and the thin hair that stirred in the breeze like spider’s silk, I couldn’t stop the question from slipping out. ‘And what if it was Kuina?’ I paused, whispering, ‘or me?’

Now I had his attention, as his lips twisted in that cruel, cruel smile that used to make me shudder. ‘Do you really want me to answer that question?’

No.

The answer was already clear, and for some unknown reason, it hurt.

I don’t want you to say it out loud.

I swallowed, instantly regretting bringing the subject up. ‘You were wrong, by the way... about what you said before.’ This prompted him to lift his brows in mock surprise. ‘You did end up in a similar situation. Both in the Tag game… and in the Two of Spades. Your injury… how is it?’

During our argument, it hadn’t been the right time to ask, but better late than never. I unconsciously reached for him, as if trying to make sure he was okay. However, Chishiya’s hand darted out, catching my fingers in a tight squeeze.

‘Don’t.’ His tone was icy, and it was the first time I’d seen him grow so cold.  

It hurt, seeing him so reluctant to let me in. But to him it was a moment of weakness, a reminder that he had lost control of a situation, even if only for a second.

‘At least tell me you’re okay.’

‘I’ve already told you it’s nothing.’ He clasped my fingers harder. ‘It shouldn’t matter to you anyway.’

I pulled myself free, rubbing my fingertips where they’d turned white and red. ‘That’s not true. I care, and that makes it relevant to me.’

For just a second, I thought I heard him begin to call me an idiot. But then he stopped. ‘You care too much about things that have nothing to do with you. You should focus on what’s in front of you.’ It was fleeting, the way his eyes washed over the bruises on my ankle.

I see.

It felt nice, knowing that in his own abrasive way, he was telling me to watch out. ‘You know what’s strange? Niragi hasn’t bothered me again. I thought he’d have killed me by now.’

Chishiya sighed. ‘That’d be too easy, and not as much fun.’

So Niragi did have his eye on me, but he was biding his time before coming after me again. It was a wonder he seemed to think that by attacking me, he’d be getting to Chishiya. Their rivalry had nothing to do with me, and Chishiya had all but confirmed moments ago that he wouldn’t even risk his life to save me in a game. Coming after me was pointless.

But that’s not what Niragi thinks.

‘It’s only a matter of time before he tries something again. You should watch your back,’ Chishiya warned. Then his face stretched into that familiar, all-knowing smile. ‘But you didn’t come up here to talk to me about Niragi.’

He already knew. He must’ve been waiting for me to track him down.

Mixed feelings swirled within me; embarrassment that he’d so easily predicted my behaviour, annoyance over the fact that he’d been smugly waiting, and something else I couldn’t identify.

Warmth, perhaps?

No, that wasn’t the right word.

‘I’m sorry.’ The words came out in a whisper. Grimacing, I cleared my throat and spoke up. ‘I want to thank you for the books, but I also want to apologise. Everything you said back then was true.’ The words were hard to admit, even to myself. ‘I’ve been living in a hole all my life and I got too used to it. And now the world seems terrifying. But if I survive here and make it back, I know that nothing my dad does will be scarier than these games. I’ll try and make my own freedom from now on. So, thank you… but also, I’m sorry.’

I waited for a response, some kind of acknowledgement. Anything. Instead, there was a rustle of clothes as he stood and began walking to the door. My heart froze over, and I blinked at the empty space beside me.

Did I say something wrong?

‘Antiseptic ointment and gauze,’ I heard him say, before the roof door swung shut.

I was alone, with nothing but the breeze and the distant laughter from the patio below. Looking down at my reddened hands, I smiled, finally understanding.

-----------------------------------------

It had been three days since our conversation on the rooftop, and I had been following Chishiya’s advice, using supplies I’d borrowed from the medical room to treat the irritated skin of my hands. The bruising around my cheek, neck and ankle had faded to a fainter yellowish brown. Kuina kept telling me that we’d find a way of getting back at Niragi for what he did, although I knew she wouldn’t want to do anything drastic without Chishiya’s input; she was just as nervous around Niragi as I was.

I spent all my time pouring over the Japanese language textbook and trying to translate the opening sections of The Metamorphosis. Twice, I’d picked up Wuthering Heights and attempted to make sense of the underlined words. But it was hopeless. There were complex kanji I didn’t know how to pronounce, meaning they were impossible to search in the dictionary I had, and Google was no-go in the Borderlands.

Closing the book yet again, I rubbed my temples, trying to ease the headache brewing after hours spent squinting at different characters.

I should just ask Chishiya.

I hadn’t seen him much since the rooftop, as he was always busy with executive work. And even now, with the late afternoon sun beating through the windows, there was no guarantee he’d be free to talk. But it was worth a shot.

That’s it, I’m going to go ask him.

Pulling on my hoodie, I picked up the copy of Wuthering Heights and left my room. The hallways were pretty quiet around this time, as people were either downstairs enjoying the party while they could, or tucked away in their rooms getting some last-minute sleep before the long evening ahead.

Heading down the hall, I tried to remember where Chishiya’s room was. I had only been there once, after Kuina had given me directions, but at the time I’d been nervous and distracted by the argument that ensued. The hotel was like a maze. No, not a maze – a labyrinth. And his room was hidden somewhere behind one of these identical doors.

I’ll know when I see it.

Rounding a corner… I immediately froze. At the end of the hall, Niragi and his thugs were dragging a man by his bloodied scruff. When the man thrashed wildly in their grip, they stopped to kick him in the ribs and jaw, sending speckles of blood up the wallpaper.

Niragi was a sight. The nail marks down his cheek had scabbed over, and beneath his right eye was a faint purple bruise from where I’d kicked him in the face.

My limbs stiffened in place. I couldn’t move.

And even when his eyes lifted, widening with fury as they locked onto me, I couldn’t move.

He began striding towards me, jaw clenched and hands readying his rifle.

Run, run, run…

As if struck by electricity, I bolted back the way I came, shoving past the occasional person I ran into. Niragi’s footfalls were close behind me. He was following fast, and I could hear his growls.

‘You fucking bitch, get back here!’

The words sounded faint and close at the same time. Everything was close but far away, and my legs had turned to rubber. I spied a familiar looking door and threw myself into it, panting hard as it closed behind me. Outside, Niragi’s footfalls grew closer and closer… then further and further away.

He was gone. At least for now. My relief was cut short when it became clear where I was.

Sitting on the bed with open first-aid kit, gauze held delicately in one hand, Chishiya was completely shirtless. His side was swathed in old bandages, spotted with red. And he was staring at me.  

‘Get out.’

[academian-rhapsody]

Mikuyami’s Giant Guide to Self-Studying Japanese

If you’re like me, you’ve always wanted to be able to switch tabs while you’re watching anime and still be able to understand what they’re saying. Chances are you’ve watched enough anime to know a few words here and there and even understand a sentence once in a while, but you’re still not anywhere close to fluent. To get fluent, you’re going to have to do a lot more than watch anime. This is what this guide is for. Japanese isn’t an easy language to learn, and knowing which resources are good is important if you want to learn it properly. While the resources are the focus of this guide, it’s very important to read the stuff I’ve written about them. I know the walls of text look scary, but just trust me.

Note: all resources listed are completely free unless otherwise stated.

And yes, all the links in this guide will open in a new tab when you click on them. You’re welcome.

For now, let’s start with the basics - Hiragana. Hiragana is the first thing you should learn and teaches you Japanese pronounciation, reading, and later on, grammar. Here are a few good resources for learning it:

Websites:

Really, the only website I’d recommend (that’s completely free) is Memrise. Memrise is great for learning Hiragana/Katakana and vocab. It’s used for other school subjects like math and science, but I’d say it’s the best for learning languages. You’ll learn words and characters quickly, but it’s important to do it for 10-20 minutes each day. HOWEVER: While Memrise is an amazing vocab resource, it isn’t optimal for grammar at all. It’s also important to know which courses are good and which ones aren’t.*

Phone apps:

Kana Mind - This is by far my favorite resource for learning Hiragana (and Katakana!). When I decided to start learning Japanese, I wasn’t sure where to start, so I just downloaded some simple phone apps. I’m glad I did - this app is extremely easy to use and I quickly learned Hiragana. Just like Memrise, though, you should review the characters for 10-20 minutes fairly often.

TenguGo Kana - A lot more information is covered in this app. While Kana Mind is good for learning the characters, TenguGo is good for learning about the characters. It also includes Hiragana and Katakana charts for quick reference.

Memrise - Yes, Memrise also has a phone app! It works just as well as the website (in my opinion).

Kana Draw - Learning the stroke order for Hiragana is important, and this app teaches you just that. It’s very simple, but again, you should practice consistently.

Very important: You should also practice writing Hiragana! With correct stroke order, of course. All that’s needed to do this is a pen and paper. This chart shows the stroke order for all the Hiragana, but you shouldn’t look at it constantly - it’s more of a quick reference thing, and you won’t learn as well if you rely on it too much.

Really, you don’t need any fancy resources to learn Hiragana! You shouldn’t be spending any money to learn it, either. What I’ve listed should suffice. Hiragana is straightforward and you don’t need to do anything but memorize what sound each character makes. Most of these resources also cover Katakana, which is what you should be learning next.

*In Japanese, there’s a formal way of speaking and causal way of speaking. Some Memrise courses only teach formal, and while that’s important to learn, so is casual! There isn’t really a good way to tell you how to distinguish formal courses from casual ones, so for now I’ll just say… trust your instinct. That’s terrible advice, I know, but just focus on learning vocab and be aware that you still have to learn either causal or formal.

Because most of the Hiragana resources I listed also include Katakana, it’s time to move onto the more scary stuff - grammar. No, we don’t need to start learning Kanji quite yet, as the Kanji can be read with the Hiragana sounds (that’s why Hiragana is so important to learn). You’ll need more resources to learn grammar, but the go-to man for this is…

Tae Kim.

This guy has a special place in my heart. His Japanese grammar guide, guidetojapanese.org, is arguably the best free Japanese guide out there. I’ve gotten more out of this one site (it can be purchased as a book too) than out of every other resource I’ve used. He provides videos as well as explanations and examples. However, it helps a lot to take notes and copy examples down for future reference. To give you an idea of what I mean, here’s a page of notes I took in a simple composition notebook: Of course, there’s no format you have to follow while taking notes - just do whatever makes sense to you and what helps you. Taking notes also gives you practice with writing characters. The great thing about Tae Kim’s guide is that it gives polite examples as well as casual examples (as you can see from my notes). Also, throughout the guide, you learn plenty of vocab and even Kanji. While this guide covers Japanese grammar really well and could be the only resource you’ll need, sometimes you need more examples or explanations.

This website is kind of like a wiki for Japanese grammar. I haven’t had much experience with it so I can’t say much about it, but it provides plenty of examples and explanations, and is broken into different levels so the easy grammar stuff is separate from the more complicated grammar. The content is contributed by other people (which is why it’s like a wiki), so there’s lots of stuff to look through.

Now comes the wall in the Japanese language: Kanji. This is where a lot of people stop learning Japanese because they get scared off by it. Yes, Kanji is scary and you’ll have to learn a lot of Kanji to become fluent in Japanese, but now that you’ve come this far you might as well keep going. Since there’s so much to learn with Kanji, you’re gonna need fancier resources and sometimes - sorry to say - ones that you have to pay for.

iKnow! is overall a great resource for learning Japanese. It provides a tutorial on how to use it, and helps with Kanji, listening, etc. I gave it a try and really liked it - it’s very organized and spends extra time reviewing the words/Kanji you have trouble with. The one downside to it is that you have to pay to use it. There’s a free trial, which you can actually learn a lot from, but if you really wanna learn vocab/Kanji then you’re gonna wanna get the membership.

Anki is available as a phone app and downloadable program as well as online (but the program should be the first and most used). It’s like flashcards - you’re shown a Kanji, and you have to know what that Kanji means. You then “flip” the card to see the correct answer. I’m calling them flashcards, but they’re just called cards and sets of cards are called decks. You can make your own cards, but decks can be downloaded from Ankiweb. Anki is completely free and I’ve heard lots of good things about it.

Tofugu is a site dedicated to learning Japanese and Japanese culture. It has plenty of information about Kanji readings, Kanji stroke order, etc., and even provides other resources for learning Kanji. While it doesn’t provide vocab, it’s good for learning about Kanji.

EDIT: I’ve recently discovered a phone app called KanjiSenpai and it has quickly become my most favorite resource for learning Kanji. You can learn tons of Kanji using this app, and it even teaches you the stroke order of each one (tips for guessing a Kanji’s stroke order can be found on Tofugu). In addition, it keeps track of how long you studied each day. I’d highly recommend this app for learning Kanji.

Other Resources

Sometimes you need to look up a Kanji’s stroke order, or maybe you just wanna learn more about Japanese culture. This part of the guide is for random resources that help with Japanese or provide information about it.

Jisho.org Basically a Kanji dictionary. You simply search for a Kanji, and the meaning, pronunciations, and stroke order for it can be found. I refer to it a lot, sometimes when reading Tae Kim’s guide and other times when I’m just curious about a Kanji.

Maggie Sensei This website has information about Japanese culture, manners, mini Japanese lessons, and more. I’d say it’s more for intermediate Japanese learners, but there’s still a lot to be learned regardless of how much Japanese you know.

Youtubers There’s quite a few people that track their lives in Japan through vlogs. These videos provide tons of information about Japanese culture, and sometimes there’s videos about learning Japanese. My favorite person that makes these sorts of videos is kanadajin3. She has lots of videos about Japanese culture and provides tips about learning Japanese for all levels of learners. Another Youtuber I’d recommend is jyuusankaidan. She basically does the same thing as kanadajin3, but also includes vocab from her videos in the description. Finally, Medama Sensei makes videos mainly about Japanese society. Though his channel doesn’t seem to be active anymore, his videos were very interesting to watch.

Anime Yeah, okay, I said anime isn’t good for learning Japanese, but that’s only if you want to become fluent in it. There’s still a lot you can learn from watching anime - that is, if you listen carefully and pay attention to what the characters are saying, how they say it, and when they say it. If you really wanna test out how much you’ve learned, try watching a non-dubbed version of the anime and see if you can understand what everyone’s saying. This can also help you learn faster and get used to how Japanese sounds.

Japanese Songs Something I’ve only started doing recently is taking a few lines of lyrics from a Japanese song and learning them thoroughly. This means learning the meaning of all the Kanji in those lyrics, learning how to write them (thank you Jisho.org), and learning how to pronounce everything (find the Romaji lyrics). This obviously helps with learning multiple aspects of Japanese.

As a final little note, I’d say that the most important thing to do in order to learn Japanese is to just keep at it. When I started learning Kanji, I was overwhelmed by the fact that each Kanji had multiple pronounciations, but as you learn more, things start making more sense. I’ve definitely noticed a lot of improvement in my understanding of Japanese. So, always try to stay motivated in your studying!

Well, that just about does it for this guide. If you know of any other good resources that I didn’t list, feel free to add them onto this post. Also, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me an ask! I’d be more than happy to answer your question. I’m no expert and I’m still far from being fluent in Japanese, but I’ll do my best to help you.

Thank you for reading and happy studying!

[rigelmejo]

I was comparing the amount of furigana in my mangas (aimed for preteens and teens) versus the Parasite Eve novel):

School rumble (a ton)

Death note (I’m baffled today by how much I can read now compared to years ago last time I tried? Hanzi knowledge does in fact help apparently. Also I did NOT remember this many furigana in Death Note but dang it sure will help me learn the kanji readings!)

Parasite eve (some furigana but clearly a lot more kanji the reader is expected to know, I’m guessing it was aimed at an older teen to adult target audience?)

Anyway all this showed me thru a brief flip through is I can read a LOT more than I could last time of my manga. When I last studied Japanese Before, I could read for very basic main meaning of very simple slice of life manga. I mean REALLY basic “overall grasped the main point of that chapter” but genuinely no finer details. I couldn’t even tell if people were ordering food or what or saying to do something unless I pulled out a dictionary. Now I can follow individual scenes main ideas (and some details - though obviously unknown kana words and grammar and some iffyiness on kanji of unknown words leaves me without full details)

No I haven’t tried reading the book yet I KNOW I don’t have enough words for that!

[ld-pandamao]

Tuesday, May 26th, 2020—Breaking down language-learning supplements

           I am getting more sleep than I have in a long time, but somehow it's more of a struggle to climb out of bed when I hear my alarm. I used to be able to jump out of bed, and joyfully begin my day without one, so I am not sure what is happening here.

           Anyway, today I am going to review foreign languages.

           First, I need to start forcing myself into returning to my previous regimen. Secondly, I wanted to analyze why some of the resources that I do not favor—Duolingo and Drops—are so highly acclaimed. Perhaps their success may be attributed to their price tag—people are always more attracted to free things.

           Perhaps another factor is that they inspire persistence. With the acquisition of almost any skill, practice and repetition are crucial. Although both break down the languages so much that it seems impossible to learn them in a reasonable amount of time, their simplicity makes the task less daunting every day. It minimizes hesitation.

           Both have a streaks system. Drops has a very game-like system, and the way it introduces vocabulary makes one feel accomplished under the guise of tremendous progress—more on why that system seems inherently flawed to me later. Duolingo utilizes a similar disguise, but I feel like it may be slightly better at spaced repetition. I think Duolingo's main attraction might be its leaderboards. The world tends to underestimate the wonders of competitiveness, but at least Duolingo does not.

           Together, these three systems keep the consumer returning each day to "learn" new words and aspects of the language. However, the assertion that everybody "learns" seems slightly dubious.

           Of course, I am not attempting to denounce them. In fact, on an ideal day, I would probably have used both for around fifteen minutes. However, as I have stressed many times before, I firmly believe that they are supplements.

           They are useful when learning a foreign language, but they are not the only way to learn.

           Honestly, with the proper dedication, a dictionary and detailed grammar guide would be sufficient for learning a language. The keys have always been active recall and spaced repetition.

           Those two techniques are famously proven to aid in memory, moreso than brute-force memorization or rereading or highlighting or summarizing or flipping through flashcards without attempting to mentally answer them first.

           Active recall is about seeing the question and forcing yourself to answer it before you access the answer. I feel as if Drops fails on this because it usually asks for recognition—shows one picture and four words or vice versa and asks for the user to match the correct word with the picture—and while it does have spelling, it is a quite simplistic system and it is not useful for languages like Japanese, which has complicated kanji that would take more time and effort to memorize.

           I feel like both Drops, Duolingo, and Memrise may have failed on spaced repetition, but more on that later.

[minstr3lsong]

Mystery of the evening: I was flipping through an old notebook and stumbled across a page in Japanese. That’s not unusual, especially given that the pages around this one are dated to my senior year of college. The mystery is what the hell any of this means. The title(if that’s what that is?) and the short quotes on the previous page are about atomic bombs. Again, not unusual, given the research paper I was writing at the time. But the passage on THIS page, doesn’t seem to be talking about atomic bombs, at least by name. The little bit that I can parse out is too poetic to be my own writing. There’s almost no kanji, and even less punctuation. A cursory google search for the text didn’t bring up any results. I hate Past Me for leaving so few clues. I guess I have a date with my dictionary tomorrow morning.

[yokoozuan]

Sayonara Amerika Sayonara Nippon: The Global Roots of Tadanori Yokoo’s Visual Language

Just a quick note before we get going: I can not speak or read Japanese. While Tadanori Yokoo was infamous and influential in 60s and 70s art and design circles, very little has been written about him in English. Much of my research consists of googling the kanji spelling of his name, 横尾 忠則, combing through Japanese internet archives, and translating as best I can. There are a few online translation tools I use. For a no frills Japanese-english dictionary, I use Weblio. To translate sentences and phrases, I use JIsho.org. And to translate the text within Yokoo’s work itself, I use Google Translate’s “word lens” feature on my phone. When I point my camera at Japanese text, the app translates it as best it can. None of these methods are perfect, but with a proper fact checking, they do offer a glimpse into Yokoo’s work I wouldn’t otherwise have.

For the sake of context, I’d like to discuss Yokoo’s background, his early influences, and his nondescript career as a graphic designer before he took the contemporary art world by storm in the mid 1960s.

Tadanori Yokoo was born in 1936 and grew up in Nishiwaki, Hyōgo Profecture, a modest working class town in south central Japan. As an infant, he was adopted by relatives, an elderly, working class couple who owned and operated a kimono silk wholesaler.

Yokoo began drawing almost immediately, first copying illustrations from children’s books, similar to the ones below:

Growing up in, as Yokoo remembered later, “premodern” Nishiwaki,  a place of simple, old world, “nativist” values, had a profound effect on his pop-art aesthetic. Similar to Lichtenstein's comic strips, and Warhol’s soup cans, Yokoo found endless inspiration from the everyday images of his Showa-era youth.

Yokoo loved kitsch, and specifically remembered the labels his parents attached to the wholesale silk they sold. The charming designs on these labels blended traditional Japanese design, with Western themes and motifs. Yokoo’s work would do much the same, elevating the quaint and benevolent to the outer reaches of the avant garde.

Another influence from Yokoo’s childhood were Menko cards. Menko was a children’s game where cards made of thick paper or wood were slapped down to flip over an opponent’s card. Menko cards featured famous samurai, sports heros, and movie stars, and also display a growing western influence on Japanese culture post WWII.

Yokoo had no formal artistic training. Yet, needing money to support himself after high school, he landed work as a graphic designer. He learned design principles and printmaking techniques on the job, first working for a printing company, then a newspaper, and  finally an advertising firm.

During these years, Yokoo absorbed the aeshetics of modern design. He gravitated towards the bold, playful, and innovative work churned out NYC’s Push Pin studios. Yokoo was especially influenced by the work of Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser.

Here’s a Selection of Seymour Chwast’s work in the late 50s and early 60s:

And a election of Milton Glaser’s designs from the same period, pre-1965:

Later, when his prints were displayed in America, Yokoo in turn inspired the designers at Push Pin, as seen in Push Pin’s 1969 anti-war ad. 

Regional success in graphic design led Yokoo to move to Tokyo in 1960, where he was hired by the premier design firm in Japan, Nippon Design Company, or NDC. Tokyo at the time was experiencing a youth revolution in politics, arts, and music, similar to the hippie counterculture in the United States. The forward thinking ideas Yokoo encountered in Tokyo would inspire him to rebel against the forms of modern design and empower his transformation from respected graphic designer to ground breaking contemporary artist.

But before his emergence as a singular artistic voice following his first gallery showing in 1965, Yokoo capped his pre-fame graphic design career at NDC with his work on a design campaign for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Yokoo was one of nearly a dozen of Japan’s top designers to work on the seminal graphics for the games, which was a seen at the time as symbolizing Japan’s resurgence and modernization following WWII. The graphics were quirky, and sleek, and hugely influential around the world. Most notably, the design campaign was the first time simple male and female pictograms were used designate gendered bathrooms. These graphics were soon adopted by the British Rail in the UK as part of a major modernization program and corporate re-branding, which soon became universal symbols

“Facilities label” as part of Tokyo Olympics design campaign:

Typical symbols of Male and female bathrooms:

More on that can be found here: https://lookingfortokyo.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/graphic-design-and-the-64-tokyo-olympics-just-look/

Thanks for reading. In my next blog, I’ll be looking at Tadanori Yokoo’s seminal prints from the late 60s. Until then!

[yuriplisetsk]

since I was talking about languages headcanons, let me share an actual fav of mine: Yuuri actually started studying Russian when he first fell in love with Viktor (’s skating).

A starry eyed little Yuuri, glued to the small bulky television in the living room of the onsen, watching the recording of a young Viktor’s Junior World Championship in Bulgaria, his ponytail whipping around as he twirls and cuts the air in a perfectly executed jump; there’s nothing more Yuuri wants than to be like him, to know what this person made of starlight looks like inside. How can this beautiful angelic boy do what he does, how is it even possible to glide so effortlessly on the unforgiving ice when all Yuuri can do is fall and cry and bruise?

So he starts info dumping, collecting scraps of rare skating magazines, reading article upon article about him and interviews; but then again, there’s only a certain number of them that’s in Japanese, a little more in English, of which Yuuri’s knowledge is still wonky at best. Most of them are in Russian, because you know, Viktor is Russia’s prodigy, so of course. It’s not easy to find them.

Their dial up connection cable whirrs ominously and sucks money and energy, but he doesn’t desist, finds some approximation of a skating fan site with grainy images and pages and pages of minuscule writing, so much it makes his head hurt. Even then, he doesn’t give up. Yuuri is twelve, and stubborn, so he goes to the library and brings home a dictionary, sits down in front of their outdated computer and squints at the screen, flips through the yellowed pages and reads, painstakingly, his vision going fuzzy in between kanji and cyrillic. It’s not the best, but it’s all worth it when one day he realizes he actually can recognize some of the words without even cracking open the ratty dictionary.

When Yuuri is eighteen, he places his heart and dreams in Detroit. He slices himself open and drips red on the pavement of the rink, strips his feet raw and never stops thinking about the force that drives him, locks a wish too big to be contained into the small space between lungs and ribcage. He signs up for a Russian Language course.

When asked, he tells Viktor he had to choose an extra class to take in college. He doesn’t tell him about the little kid hunched over a shitty dictionary at two am begging to know more about his idol (he’ll tell him, a whispered confession in the middle of the night, but now it’s too much, too early). He doesn’t tell him that he knows exactly what he’s doing when he brings a tub of ice cream home and Viktor beams delightedly, exclaims “that’s my favourite!” Yuuri smiles, replies he had a hunch it would be. The old article is clear in his mind, a stolen piece of memory of a Katsuki Yuuri that wanted nothing more than to know exactly what Viktor Nikiforov’s favourite ice cream flavor would be, not knowing there’d be a time where it would become as simple as asking. Viktor laughs, makes grabby hands at it. “I love you,” he sighs wistfully, wrapping his lips around the spoon, and Yuuri flushes, takes a spoonful too, feeling incredulous and warm.

The wish that was trapped inside crawls up his throat and takes off in a huff, no more than a whisper. It has no use now, for it’s fulfilled, at last.

The ice cream tastes better than anything he’s ever had.

(It’s strawberry.)

[kyotohub-ktv]

金貨 | The Idol Watch

A few months prior...

Tozai, Some time around 9PM

Laughter filled the room, mixed with the unmistakable sound of glasses noisily clinking against the bar top. Mr.Inoue sauntered to the door to click off the neon sign that read ‘open’. The manager shook his head as he turned to make his way back, a smirk spreading across his stubbled face as he eyeballed Okita rummaging through Tozai’s liquor selection.

“I could have sworn we got all the rats out of this place.” Kenji said jokingly as he slid behind the bar, ominously towering over the teenage boy. “Ah, I think you missed a big one.” Okita teased with a conniving smirk, pointing at Mr.Inoue, causing the older male’s eyebrow to twitch. Mr.Inoue folded his arms as he replied to the mischievous blonde. “Normally I’d wring your collar for that, but since we’re celebrating… I’ll let it go, now move your ass.” Okita chuckled again, bolting his way to his beside his band-mates.

Except for one...

“Speaking of celebrating… where the hell is Shino?” Nami questioned the group as she glanced at the time on her cellphone. “Hmm…” Wataru held his chin in thought before he spoke. “He’s probably on his way with Gin or something.” As they pondered their frontman’s whereabouts, the chime of entry bells caught their attention.

“Speak of the devil.” Okita exclaimed as Gin and Satsu strode inside.

“Yes. Evil incarnate himself has arrived. You rang?” Gin said sarcastically as the pair headed for a seat at the bar. “Ah, Yes... On your journey from hell, did you happen to see Shino anywhere?”

“You mean he’s not here?!” Satsu exclaimed with utter disappointment.

The threesome shook their heads before Wataru replied. “We thought he’d be coming with you guys.”

“He might be on his way with-...” Gin paused as Satsu already retrieved his cellphone, quickly sliding his fingers across the screen before pressing the device to his ear.

“Oi… Satsu!”

“...”

All eyes watched as the phone continued to ring.

“...”

“It went to voicemail…”

“What the hell? We can’t celebrate the recording wrap without him!” Nami said as she twisted her face into a pout.

“Nonsense!” Mr.Inoue shouted as he blindly began pouring a liquor concoxion into a shaker. “He’s just going to have to catch up when he finally decides to show up.”

Meanwhile….

Shino swiftly uncapped a bottle of water, nearly chugging the entire thing in a single sip as he sat hunched over in the recording studio. He gasped for air as he swiped his arm across his mouth and adjusted his headphones. His finger ridgedly made its way to the audio play button, pressing the key as he bit his lip with focus and determination.

♪♫♪

You’re an ocean’s tide.

You crashed into me like a storm.

Beautiful ocean’s tide.

You left me like the summertime.

You drifted away after fooling my trust, leaving without saying goodbye.

So far away that I could never see you again.

♪♫♪

Shino pinched the bridge of his nose as his digit slammed on the control panel, ceasing the audio from assaulting his ears again. During the past several hours he’d probably heard those lyrics tugging at his conscious over a hundred times by now.

“I must be fucking crazy...” The frustrated boy cursed out loud to himself as he peered over at his notebook that rested on the wooden stool beside him. His bloodshot eyes scanned the writing on the page as his knee began to bounce restlessly.

SNOW’s self-titled album was finally complete, after nearly a year of literal blood, sweat, and tears. Yet here he was, torturing himself over his own fucking self consciousness. On the night of the wrap party on top of that. The song was meant to be a release of his deepest thoughts into the universe, a call out to a faceless memory. A melody made for the listeners own determination.

That was until that distant memory burst to the forefront and his life stopped making sense.

The vocalist pulled the headset to rest around his neck as he pulled the notebook to his lap and clenched his pencil in his grasp. The page had become tarnished; scribbles and markings tainting his beloved lyrics while his poetic prowess continued to dwindle by the minute. As his gaze scrutinized the words he’d written, he sighed into the air.

♪♫♪

You came to my side silently.

You didn’t need my permission.

You approached me unprepared

And sang with such a beautiful voice.

I thought this was special and I dedicated myself to you, believed in you.

When I opened my eyes after giving away all my trust,

You had washed away into the ocean like the sand.

 You’re an ocean’s tide.

You crashed into me like a storm.

Beautiful ocean’s tide.

You left me like the summertime.

You drifted away after fooling my trust, leaving without saying goodbye.

Far away so that I could never see you again.

I couldn’t see ahead because of my tears and grew tired from missing you.

My heart had dried up like a fish out of water,

I was so broken and I shut everyone out.

The world’s most beautiful lie is forever.

The world’s most beautiful promise is also forever.

You’re an ocean’s tide.

You crashed into me like a storm.

Beautiful ocean’s tide.

You left me like the summertime.

You’re an ocean’s tide.

It’s okay that it wasn’t forever.

Beautiful ocean’s tide.

I know I’ll be okay after you drifted away.

You crashed into me and showed me I could live, 

even though you left me behind, leaving tears.

You’re an ocean’s tide

Beautiful ocean’s tide

Beautiful ocean’s tide

♪♫♪

His heart wrenched as he finished his countless examination of those damn lyrics. Ocean’s Tide was undoubtedly his most cherished song on the album, if not his favorite work to date. Unfortunately, there was no way in hell he could bring himself to bare his truth now that Daichi was reintroduced into his life, albeit being clear now that Daichi had no idea who he was, or worse, didn’t care. 

Another frustrated sound pushed through clenched teeth as his conflicting thoughts tore at each other, twisting the vice that pressed at his temples even tighter. Should I just leave the lyrics after all? Would Daichi even hear the song?

What if he knew the song was about him?

Shino’s stomach did violent somersaults at the mere possibility, causing him to clutch the fabric of his t-shirt. His body’s reaction was all he needed to make his final determination.

He needed to do something about this damn song tonight, even if it means the whole band would rip him a new one.

...とんとん (tap)

...とんとん (tap)

He tapped his pencil anxiously against the surface of his notebook, the sound and speed mimicking the likeness of his beating heart.

“If I my damn heart wasn’t fluttering so much, maybe I could make some progress....” Shino spoke out freely as he usually did when he was alone. Suddenly, his rapid pencil jittering came to a halt.

“Fluttering….” The boy repeated in a hushed whisper, the word lingering like a bait and hook. Gradually, his hand began to move, scrawling down the word in all its variations. Kanji, Hiragana, English, the whole page began to resemble a nonsensical makeshift dictionary, nostalgic of his journals from his childhood.

“Butterfly…”

He whispered to no one but himself as he lifted his pencil from the written Kanji.

“You’re a butterfly…” Shino sang in a gentle vocal, the words still not quite sitting right.

“Close... But-... How can I-...” He stopped himself before diving back into his notebook.

♪ “She’s a butterfly...” ♪

And the lyricist within the frantic boy began to arise from the depths of despair as he flipped the page. It’s blankness was inspiration, much like his thoughts gaining clarity.

Within the next 10 minutes, Shino had the newly branded song on paper. Now all he had to do was record the vocals, and if he were lucky, no change in the instrumentals necessary.

A few hours later…

Tozai, Possibly Midnight.

Shino had made a quick stop by the apartment to change his sweat-stained t-shirt before he finally made it to Tozai.

“I bet everyone’s pissed…” He thought as he cautiously pushed the door of the dive bar open, preparing himself for a verbal attack from his friends and bandmates.

“SHINO!” A collection of voices called out amidst the door chime from the crowd consisting of his little Yoba family.

“Well, well, well.. Look who finally decided to show up!” A plastered Mr.Inoue teased as he raised his glass in the guy’s direction.

Shino self consciously rubbed at the back of his head as his bandmates came barreling over. “Shinoooo~ We thought y-you *hic* freakin’ d-*hic* died or something!” Nami slurred, her face brimming with a drunken smirk.

“Yeah, Shi-.. We were pretty worried!” Okita laughed between his words as he slung his arm around the tall boy’s shoulders. A much awaited sense of relief washed over him seeing that his bandmates had certainly gotten far too drunk to be that upset.

“So where were you, big guy?” Wataru was the first to question as he lazily tossed his arm around Shino’s other shoulder.

“It’s… a long story.... Maybe I’ll fill you guys in after I catch up.”

--

His grip on the microphone loosened and his hand collapsed at his side as the song came to its graceful end. Wataru’s final piano notes echoed throughout the stage as the spotlights dimmed on their cue, sending the lightly panting Shino into darkness. For that brief second, he could finally allow himself to think before the eruption of applause broke out across the audience.

Like a raindrop splashing atop his cheek on the hottest day of a Seikyo summer, a feeling of regret suddenly came pouring out down.

What if I had the nerve to keep the lyr-... 

Like a roll of thunder, Shino’s band-mates had made their way from behind their instruments in a matter of seconds to join him at the center stage. Being as energetic as ever, the group came crashing against him, bumping their fists and shoulders with their infectious carefreeness that put him at ease for the moment. While the singer softly smiled at the group, he felt a purposeful nudge from Nami, her head gesturing towards the direction of applause. Hesitantly, the guy snapped to attention and poked his head towards the microphone. As the storm in his consciousness prepared to surge, he managed to get out a few words of gratitude.

“Thank you everyone, from the bottom of our hearts…”

Another swell of acclamations graced the group following Shino’s statement before they gave their final bows and headed from the stage. The sound of Kenta K and Mitsuri’s praises and bantering faded into a muffled echo as they dashed behind a curtain for a few seconds to recuperate.

“Ho-..ly-... SHIT! Shino, that was amazing!” Nami congratulated as she pulled the silently tormented boy in all directions, followed by Okita’s turn to partake in the game of Shino tug-o-war. Shino put on his best face as usual, wrapping his arms around the rambunctious pair’s shoulders in a brotherly fashion before he nodded at the quiet Wataru to get his ass over there.

“It wouldn’t have been much without you guys…”

Wataru shook his head as he bumped his fist against the vocalist’s chest. “You’re damn right, I think we all kicked some ass out there.”

The guy was right. The performance couldn’t have gone better, yet the rain clouds that brimmed with hesitations and regret was still steadily approaching. After all the trouble he’d put himself through on that sleepless night in the studio, not to mention the days he agonized before going through with his decision to ease his conscience.

As his performance soared from one crescendo to the next, not a second went by that he wasn’t picturing the boy he’d met on the beach. The one that still remained somewhere hidden in the notes that poured from the deepest places of his heart. The little Daichi that could possibly still remain in that scowling boy that probably glared at him from the gallery.

Would he still look at me like that if I-..

“Now it’s time to see what WISH is all about…” Nami interrupted his thoughts in a curious voice, peeking her head to attempt to get a view beyond the curtain. Just then, the small clip-board holding woman from earlier appeared; this time with a smile across her face. “Y-you guys were pretty great..” Quickly, she cleared her throat, shedding away her fan-girl moment to remain professional.

“Alright, follow me to the gallery. The next performance begins in 5.”

Shino sucked in a tepid breath through his nose to brace himself for what he’d have to deal with next. The vocalist made long and slow strides behind his band-mates as they made their way to the viewing gallery adjacent to the stage. His heartbeat began to throb in erratic rhythms as he perched himself at one of the four bar stools. Already, Okita and Wataru were making their idle comments of observation as they anticipated WISH’s performance.

“Look at all that equipment Kagayama has in front of him!” Okita blurted out as he tapped his hand against the quiet Shino.

“He’s gunna be using all of that?” Wataru questioned in response to Okita’s statement.

Shino couldn’t bare bringing himself to look up; even the sound of his name made his fingers twitch. With his averted gaze, he noticed a pair of shoes approach him as he suddenly felt a plushness hit his cheek.

“You were really amazing, Shino.” Satsu enthused as he applied a few touch-ups to his anemic complexion.

He managed to chuckle, glancing up as he timidly replied. “If I get anymore flattery, I think I’ll drop dead…”

The tall makeup artist shook his head, laughing as he retrieved a small comb from the styling bag at his hip. “Well, in that case, you were total shit.”

“Thanks, Satsu, that really helps too.” The boy said sarcastically just before a voice called out in the distance.

“A minute to live!”

As Satsu shifted to continue his touch ups down the line, Shino got the perfect view of center stage. Reminiscent to them a few moments earlier, WISH huddled together with their arms interlocked.

He swore he’d rather do their whole performance again in nothing but his boxers than sit through this performance. It was certainly not that he didn’t enjoy WISH’s music, but rather for the sake of maintaining his fleeting composure.

About a month before WISH had officially been signed to MUSE’s label was when Shino first heard of their existence. During one of Mr.Inoue’s drunken ramblings, he’d blurted out that MUSE was interested in a five member group and were most likely going to sign them. Shino simply shrugged before the guy heeded him with a warning. 

“Now-.. People are ‘gunna t-talk*hic*.. There’s a lotta people out t-there that’re ‘gunna compare you guysh-... Probably pit you kids a-against*hic* each other..”

His slurred forewarning was a complete mess, but he got the gist. Shino never didn’t care for what the media said, or negative comments from uneducated assumptions. The only way he’d accept the term “rival” is if they’d personally gave him a reason to.

Competition? Maybe. 

Admiration?

There wasn’t a damn thing Shino could criticize even if he wanted to. WISH’s music instilled a sense of wonder and possibility that he felt not many artists could produce these days. The uniqueness of their theme, the raw and authentic sound of the vocals; and most especially the lively instrumentals. Shino savored the mystery behind WISH until the very day he’d seen them in the auditorium.

Somehow it all made sense after the fact㇐ He wondered how he didn’t realize it was Daichi in the first place, even though he knew that would’ve been impossible.

“Alright! We’re going live in 10…”

Like a pulse, the producer began the countdown, accelerating Shino’s pounding chest into overdrive.

“5..”

His hazel eyes anxiously lifted to the stage, watching each member charging to their mark with adrenaline obviously pumping through their veins.

“3”

Shino stole the chance to fixate his gaze as Daichi slid behind the mixing board, noting his electric violin resting within arms reach.

“2…”

The blonde’s posture was relaxed and ready, his fingers moving with purpose as he pressed his headset firmly against his ear.

“1…”

“And now! Introducing our next performance!” Kenta K announced with his enthusiastic voice.

Mitsuri followed her co-host, her voice leading with anticipation.

“Please welcome..”

The pair spoke in unison as they gestured towards the group, as if eyes weren’t already glued to the stage.

“WISH!”

The audience came to a silence as an ambient melody took reign over the room, setting the tone for the performance. The strum of Inari’s guitar oscillated between Kirra’s bass tones that penetrated the chests of its listeners. Each other worldly sound lingered with Ryu’s echoing back vocals for what seemed like an eternity before fading into a pause that left the room lock and loaded with anticipation.

Inari’s opening riff kicked the song off into it’s lively core. The synthesized beat from Mina’s drum pad picked up the momentum, the electric percussion tapping in intricate patterns that Shino couldn’t help but tap his feet to. Ryu’s energetic movements commanded the stage as he marched from one side to the next, wrangling the attention of everyone in the room as their eyes follow his every step. His excitement was so infectious it made Shino wonder if he could have that kind of stage presence. Kirra’s bass became the backbone, caressing every note as her body swayed in time with her lithe fingertips.

Then there was-…

Shino’s body reacted instinctively as he leered forward in his chair, his silver eyes lidded as he watched Daichi confidently grasp his idle violin. It was like watching the end of eclipse when the blonde rested the instrument under his chin. The lights dimmed to an ambient blue against the blackness of the audience, swirling orbs of white cascaded around the stage like shooting stars. An aura fell over the entire room when the bow struck the strings like when the sun meets the horizon㇐ even SNOW could feel it.

The cold-eyed boy that Shino had become acquainted with had melted away like his emotions had been resting dormantly until he had music flowing from his fingertips. Suddenly, he felt the radiating heat in his chest flourish up his neck and settling on his face with every fiery tone.

He noticed the way his back arched into every mastered movement of his bow. How his stance shifted each time he tossed his head back when breezing through the vigorous chord progressions. It was obvious he was born to be there. The passion that exuded from the blonde when he owned the stage left Shino’s heart edging for more.

It was incredible how just watching the guy on stage had made him lose all inhibitions as he couldn’t take his eyes off the blonde for a second. Whether he was flipping his stage pedals, adjusting something at the mixing board, or simply brushing the hair from his face. The guy was utterly mesmerizing just fucking standing there.

The contrast between the person he saw on stage and the boy that scowled his way through the halls of KPA was bittersweet, yet his fascinating was steadily piquing.

What kind of person is he now… His thoughts began to roam again as the chorus of the song took over. Shino knew the only way to find out… was to actually try and talk to him. Even still, just the idea of that made his throat run dry.

As the song came to it’s climax, Ryu sauntered off to the side of the stage, leaving his echoing vocals in his wake. All eyes in the room where now on Daichi, and the guy knew it by the way his confidence planted his feet firmly at center stage. His fingers moved so effortlessly across the strings, sending the song to new heights as the solo captivated those lucky enough to hear it.

He’s… Shino thought as a shiver ran its way up his spine, sending the hairs at his neck to stand on end.

The boy’s lips parted just enough to sigh with a whisper.

“Amazing…”

It was obvious that the entire room was left energized by the electric solo by the cataclysm of applause that radiated from the audience in the aftermath. It took just about all Shino had to keep from cheering himself, causing him to realize he’d been gripping the edges of his seat nearly the entire performance. As the song started coming to its vibrant close, the vocalist began gaining back some of his self awareness. Finally, he took his eyes from the stage, glancing over at his band-mates. Luckily for him, they seemed to be just as preoccupied with the performance to notice he’d might as well of been drooling the whole time. With the final strum of Inari’s guitar, the uproarious screams and chanting had already begun as WISH had certainly left their mark on that stage. 

Shino finally loosened his fists, now feeling that previous sense of nervousness prickling at his fidgeting fingertips. His eyes began to roam frivolously, only making passing glances over the members of WISH as they came together at the front of the stage.

Kenta K’s voice rang out, quelling the applause as he attempted to speak over their cries.

“Oh.. My… God!” He said in his enthusiastic voice. Even for his TV personality, it was obvious he was impressed.

Mitsuri followed suit, clapping her hands together in a way that would rival an american cheerleader.

“Woooow~ What a performance, Am I right!?” The woman rallied the audience once again before she turned to give the members their chance to speak.

As Ryu breathlessly spoke into the microphone, Shino felt a tap on his shoulder. Startled, the guy spun his head around to see the rest of SNOW beckoning him from the gallery as they were led backstage.

“Come on, Shi!” Okita mouthed as he gestured him to follow. As Shino quickly lifted from his chair, he couldn’t help but take one last glance at the stage.

I gotta say something to him…

Anything...

[fayrinferno]

Dragonslayers (quick research)

@drkstars-art, @gurakruor  

This will be long, but interesting, I promise! 

So, @drkstars-art‘s post made me curious about what more I can find about the ryuugekitai/dragonslayers, which are, as many things in Escaflowne, quite a mystery to the Western fandom. And now I know how the people who deciphered hieroglyphs must have felt.

First of all, there was an image from Escaflowne First Fanbook with several familiar and less familiar faces and handwritten notes by the character designer, Nobuteru Yuuki. 

The little notes are hell to decipher as you know (even if I had the actual book instead of a scan, I fear it would not help a lot), so I had to change my usual methods a bit.  

Instead of searching kanji-by-kanji, this time I could mostly decipher just one-two kanji in the group. Then I searched for words including said kanji and picked the one that reminded me most of the particular Yuuki “calligraphy”. Take these with the grain of salt. If I didn’t get lucky with some of them, I would have probably given up. Including screenshots so you can compare yourself. I’m giving you the dictionary forms directly. 

And introducing:

理論家 theorist

おちょうし者 flip; luck-pusher; frivolous person; person who readily chimes in with others; person who gets carried away easily

one kanji I could not decipher, then

"親友"  close friend; bosom (old, intimate) friend; buddy; crony; chum

*UPDATE: やたら明るい helplessly bright/cheerful

 遊び好き pleasure seeker; playful person

好戦的  (a) militant; (a) belligerent

皮肉屋 sarcastic person

This one was funny, because at first I only got  肉屋 (butcher) and was like ??? Was Dalet extra bloodthirsty?

面倒くさがり / めんどくさがり  person who tends to find most things bothersome

So not a butcher, more like Nara Shikamaru.

よい子 good boy; good kid

Aww Gatti, I thought Chesta was the one... though maybe there was no Chesta yet in 1995 and this Gatti went through mitosis to create Gatti and Chesta.

I also tried to translate the comment by Yuuki above this picture, it says something like the Dragonslayers were inspired by “grammar school (gymnasium)”, (I suppose basically a boys’ elite school) and the relationships in the same class, with the lower classes etc.

Then I went to the Escaflowne Settei Collection artbook (the one I translate the pages from). Nothing new there. But there is a picture of Miguel which says: 

Dilandau’s subordinate, Miguel

I considered he is his second-in-command, but I don’t think this supports it too much. He is also, strangely, not marked as a Dragonslayer. 

Finally, I checked the Newtype Filmbooks. And there (book 1, p. 69), we find the same image as above (sorry I don’t have a scanner here, if somebody was really interested, I could take a photo), except:

inked 

the curly, darkhaired guy (who looks suspiciously similar to movie Ryoun) is blonde, just like in the series...voilá

Chesta is standing on the far right next to Gatti.

Accompanied by this interesting bit:

Two people stand on Dilandau’s sides as attendants/escorts (this is Megane-senpai and blonde Ryoun). The four others are particularly skilled youths from inside the squad, who pilot Alseides (Alseidi?) and sortie with them.

So there! Quite satisfied with what I could find out just within a day, to be honest! Didn’t look like much success at first. Hope you’ll enjoy, too.

[iasfuturekings]

I'm sorry if you've been asked this before but: what program(s) do you use to design the clan symbols and aesthetics?

That’s no trouble at all! In reality, looking up this stuff took some time and effort, so I’d love to make this stuff more accessible to more people who want to look more into this.

The family crests aren’t exactly my original design or work, rather they were pulled from various sites that archived these crests. The only one I designed onmy own was the Ishiyama crest, but all I did was replace the star with a plum flower. My favorite site was kamon.website, but the site died somewhere during winter break, but parts of it have been archived on the Wayback Machine. There are other sites that list kamon, too, but it really helps to know how to search in Japanese. I’m not very well versed in kanji at all, so I rely on Google Translate and Wikipedia to help figure out which characters mean which.

Most of my work is done on Photoshop, but the crests themselves were outlined and finalized on Illustrator because I like to keep scalable versions of the crests to avoid awful blurriness if I resize anything. An easy trick to use is the Image Trace feature, which calculates all the outlines for you. Then I export a large version of the crests to .png files to use in Photoshop. Then it’s just layer masks upon layer masks and meticulous organization by folders to keep everything together.

As for how I did research on the clan symbols (the names, meanings, and history), it took a lot of online wandering, but I based most of my interpretations from a book called Symbols of Japan by Merrily Baird. It’s a great book that is literally a sort of dictionary on flowers, myth, and objects as well as the cultural context behind them. Really cool stuff to learn, like how sakura isn’t a common choice for a family crest since it symbolizes life’s ephemeral nature (fallen sakura petals can be taken as a metaphor to warriors killed young). Reading through the entire book was really fun, and it’s given me a better appreciation for the culture and served as a small guide for me when choosing what to put together for the aesthetic posts.

So here’s a list of what I used for the most part. As for the books, try not to splurge money on them. I found these books at my university library and made use of my status as a student to borrow them. Plus, I’m pretty thankful my university let me renew it for four months straight!

Mon (emblem) - A Wikipedia page to get you started on what family crests are. It’s the most basic and most easily accessible thing to begin your search with.

Symbols of Japan by Merrily Baird - A nice one-stop guide to thematic motifs in Japanese art. A little tricky to cross reference with Internet sources, because sometimes the names aren’t the same and actual Japanese spelling isn’t provided. You may have to do some legwork to find those out for yourself.

Japanese Design Motifs: 4,260 Illustrations of Japanese Crests by Matsuya Piece-Goods Store - A ridiculously humongous gallery of family crest designs. The issue I have with this book is that it’s really hard to find stuff if you can’t read Japanese at all, so I suggest going through this after you read up on your symbolism so you know what to look for. There are some translations, but they’re very sparse and crammed at the very beginning and involves a lot of page flipping.

kamon.website - A site that features a lot of high quality pictures of kamon. Unfortunately, the site has shut down since late December, but the Wayback Machine still has a copy of it and some of its other pages. This site was great for me because they used to offer .png and .ai versions of the files, saving me a lot of grief on Illustrator. The only categories that were featured last time were weather, cosmology, and flowers, but it’s still worth a look.

kamon18.com - Another site that lists kamon designs, and is an even bigger collection than kamon.website. This is entirely in Japanese, so Google Translate is your friend, or you can find on the page by searching the actual words. The images aren’t as high quality as kamon.website, but they are defined enough for a quick Image Trace on Illustrator.

Sanada Maru - A taiga drama that aired last year in 2016. While it’s still there, each episode has a summary page as well as high quality screencaps from each episode. They’re great for aesthetic posts if you want something from the Sengoku era. There’s tons of these pictures on Pinterest for easy collecting, but this is the main source, so go here for the full experience.

Pixabay & Pexels - Some nice open source image sites to use for stuff like flowers or typical Japanese scenery. They don’t always have everything, but they get the job done.

Pinterest - A bit hesitant to suggest this but it’s a pretty useful site, although finding the right key terms and boards is tricky. For example, one of the pictures in the Amachi post is of a geisha dressed as Tomoe Gozen, but it took me several redirects to find it. If you’re especially stumped, you can refer to these boards I put together for personal reference.