#how does this simultaneously feel like the strangest marketing decision ever but also like it appeals directly to me

[blueish-bird]

sad? Megumi Bus

[skaashis]

hunger. 

➤ you are miya osamu

wc: 2.7k 

warnings: food, op is hungry, miya osamu centric, manga & anime spoilers

note: I'm 1-2 days late to the funeral/party but pls accept this really short miya osamu character study (kind of. barely. There was hardly any studying as i’ve allowed the spirit of writing take hold of my hands for a solid two hours.) as my elegy/offering to haikyuu season 4’s finale and the 40 tabs of poetry & fics that crashed on me earlier this evening. 

You are Miya Osamu, seven years old, and eating in the new ramen restaurant that just opened up for dinner. The place was apparently highly-anticipated as it’s apparently the first Hyogo Branch for an infamous ramen chain that's apparently rated with two Michelin stars. The interior is traditional and neat. The walls, floor, and furniture are of finished wood in varying shades. The staff look old, the chefs look older. You, Atsumu, Pa, and Ma are seated with menus and gurgling stomachs, and walk out with takeout. Hands chained together, you all walk towards the parking lot and Ma lets out a squeal of satisfaction saying, “that was real good wasn't it, Atsumu, Osamu?” 

Atsumu being the dimwit brat he is, nods viciously as if his eyes aren't already drooping as a sign of an incoming food coma. He proceeds to say he’s reaaaaaaaal full! And how he really liked how soft the noodles were and how rich the broth was and how soft the noodles were. Ma hums in a smile then looks down to face you, asking you for your own opinion. You only shrug and say, “I’m full. Just not satisfied” 

Ma looks at you, mortified. Pa guffaws his lungs out and manages to wheeze out how you better be thankful that you’re out of the restaurant's vicinity for you might have gotten your first lawsuit at seven! You don't completely understand what he means but knows it's something bad. In the car ride back home, you stare out the window and wonder why. 

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You are Miya Osamu and think that Aran Ojiro is hella cool. He’s got a hella cool name, hella cool physique, and hella cool lunch he brings to school one day. They’re pancakes. Not really the ideal lunch meal, but hella cool either way because they’re nop ordinary pancakes. They’re corn pancakes, except, as Tsumu (his new name that you both proclaimed post-meeting Aran-kun) says after taking a bite, there’s no corn in it. It just tastes like corn. You pull out your own plastic chopsticks from your bento to take a taste as Aran explains. He says there’s something his mom puts that called ‘cornmeal’. Before you could take a piece, Aran halts you and shuffles for something in his lunchbag, only to pull out a mini tupperware of freshly chopped green onions. With glimmering eyes, he recommends that you try it out with the green onions garnished above before you take a bite. You nod, take his advice, and your mouth explodes with colors. It’s beyond sweet or savory or spicy or umami. Pancakes have always been either flat or fluffy alone, never so interesting and flavorful until now. 

Ma picks you and Tsumu up later that day and you ask her to buy some cornmeal and extra green onions the next time she goes to the market to buy groceries. 

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You are Miya Osamu and it's New Year’s. You’re also yelling at Tsumu too keep it up, who in return, is also yelling at you to keep it up. Ojiisan is chortling in endearment, Obaasan is cackling her lungs out. When the Mochi is finally done, you and Tsumu exchange glares with your arms folded in a huff. Tsumu mutters how you, Samu, is so stupid and dumb and slow, when you know for a fact that HE’s the one who’s stupid and dumb and slow. Obaasan, being the ever observant granny she is, hitches a brow teasingly and asks if her precious grandsons have changed their precious names into something else. You and (a)Tsumu splutter up a string of apologies and excuses, only for her to cackle once again, this time simultaneously hitting you both on the back as she does so. Ojiisan is the one to tell your Obaasan to calm down now as he distributes the mochi. 

Obaasan smiles with the softening of her eyes after taking a bite of the mochi and says it's good. Both your and (a)Tsumu’s hearts swell in pride. She then smiles with her dentures flashed in a wide, cheshire grin, adding how it could’ve used a little more oomph! She says it’s good because food is always good when you’re happy. And you’re happy when you make decisions for yourselves. And when you’re making decisions for yourself, you’re supposed to make a decision that you think will make you happy. You and Tsumu nod while reaching out for your own mochi and she’s right, it’s too soft. 

But you think, huh. It does taste a lot better. 

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You are Miya Osamu and firmly believe your brother is a curse. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. You’re the curse. Ma never told you who’s older or younger, and probably (likely.) (definitely.) for the best. Though, you’re also one half of the newly infamous Miya Twins™ (synonymous with: chaos incarnate) who have recently shaken the ground of the volleyball world. The other half of the Miya Twins™ is Atsumu, who puked in the bus before the first game in your first nationals that no one, everyone, would have expected you’d win. Of course, you only reach the semi-finals, but that alone is a feat in itself. Still, on the bus ride back to Hyogo, while your eyes aren’t swelling with tears anymore, they’re mapped with veins and your heart’s the one doing the swelling, but with distraught and a promise to give it your all until the very end as one half of the Miya Twins™. 

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You are Miya Osamu and the team that stands before you across the net is Karasuno. Whom no one, everyone, would have expected would come this far. They’re an amalgamation of rookies, geniuses, and straight up monsters. They’re an odd bunch but so is your team. You’re both standing in the court, in Tokyo, match being ingrained into the minds of every person watching whether live or through National Television that'll either last forever for them to talk to their grandkids about or just fleet away the next day. Either way, the memory of such alone is proof that they’ve come this far. So are the jerseys being drenched in sweat, bruises blooming on their forearms, and the muscles being more and more conditioned as each three centimeters of a second passes by. 

“Hey ‘samu? I’m startin’ to feel hungry.”

“Me too, ‘tsumu.”

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You are Miya Osamu, scarfing down on the third best gyudon you’ve had in your life. It’s served in the Tokyo branch of a well known gyudon chain and only the third best ‘cuz Ma’s is and will always be the best, and yours will be the second best because you’re seventeen and self-proclaimed one hell of a home cook. It’s third best probably because of the garnish or the beef’s quality or how well-cooked the rice is. Or the fact that you’re eating it right after a loss. Food is always better when it's used as comfort or a coping mechanism. If it’s decent and you’re feeling like shit, your brain always registers it as the best thing in the world for at least the next few days. But you’re smarter than Gin who’s ordering his third bowl because it's the best gyudon he’s ever had in his life. But also, food is always better when you’re happy, when you make a decision for yourself that you deem would make you happy. You’re not happy, but you’ve decided that you’re gonna be the junior Kita-san’s forever gonna brag about. 

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You are Miya Osamu and practice the next day is grueling. Even fiercer and vicious than the already fierce and vicious practices your body had been accustomed to pre-nationals. Not completely by coach’s order, rather by the hunger born as an aftermath from yesterday's events. It’s also a water break. The mere three minutes your body is given to repair its own muscles before another set of serves. Riseki mentions how yesterday, Kita went on another one of his strange speeches in the midst of the match. He reiterates how Kita believed everyone on court were monsters and all, that's really the bare minimum Riseki’s pea brain, in comparison to Kita-san’s argentinosaurus of a brain, was able to absorb. You nod and hum in acknowledgement, after all, you thought the same too at one point of the match. But now- 

Your gaze shifts over to ‘tsumu who’s across the gym and trying to create a heimlich by punching his chest. God knows what he’s choked himself up on again this time. 

-your face twists into nonchalance. Even from the other side of the gym, you feel tsumu giving you the stink eye as Aran’s obligatorily assisting him. It's probably the twin senses. The guy’s no monster. Even if he was, monsters are supposed to be terrifying. Like the ones scaring you from under your bed. Or crawling up from a well and out of the TV screen. Or dipping fingers along with a french fry into a ramekin of ketchup in a team outing, like what Tsumu doe— Ah. 

(Later that night, he does it again. He’s no monster, just a stupid fuckin idiot.) 

(A disgrace to humanity.)

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You are Miya Osamu, it’s the week after the last Spring High National Tournament, 1AM, and you should be asleep. Instead, you’re googling: what the fuck do retired athletes do when they’re retired. Your back isn’t aching and you dont smell funny yet, but you’re a teenager and tired and your brain whirrs in the strangest of times. The search results are blurry as like does a black hole, sleep succumbs and swallows you into itself. 

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You are Miya Osamu, holding your brother in a headlock. The catalyst to the impromptu wrestling match in the gym was you admitting to Atsumu that you’re no longer playing volleyball after highschool. Some delusional part of yourself hoped for some kind of peaceful talk. Y’know, with puffy gowns and smiles and chamomile tea. But Tsumu’s childish and you’re apparently a FUCKIN’ [REDACTED] [REDACTED] HORSE-CRAP-LOOKIN’ [REDACTED] BITCHASS [REDACTED] [REDACTED] SHITTY SCRUB. As per usual, you throw each other, yells (Communication between the Miya Twins™ was either inarticulate yelling or twin telepathy alone and nothing in between.), and punches around. There’s no real winner or loser in your quarrels as either Ma’, the coach, or Kita-san is always quick to end it. This time, when Tsumu yells at you that when you’re in your deathbeds, he’s gonna say that lived a happier life, you grin fierce, proud, in pain, and attempt to keep tears from streaming down your eyes. There’s no winner or loser to this fight as it doesn’t, and will never end until you’re on your deathbeds trying to deem who lived a happier life. 

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You are Miya Osamu, sweating profoundly, and the touch of the ball your brother set to you barely quarter a second ago is faint. The Twin Quick Attack, Minus Tempo. He gives you a look that says “are ya still thinkin’ about quittin’?” You slam the ball down along with returning a look that says “fuck yeah.” The ball creates a deafening echo as it ricochets off the ground. 2014 Spring High National Tournament: Inarizaki High School vs Karasuno High School (2:1)

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You are Miya Osamu, swearing you’re about to go blind because of the continuous flashes of cameras being sent your way in your graduation. Ma’ and Pa’ are in tears, so are a few of your classmates and teammates and juniors. Some people say that they wished highschool would never end but that’s a load of bullshit. Highschool sucked. Calculus sucked. Everyone many Some people sucked. ‘Tsumu definitely sucked. Playing volleyball— didn’t suck. It never sucked. 

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You are Miya Osamu and adult-ing sucks. Taxes, landlords, income— Never have been fond of economics and likely never will. They said that when you become an adult, you’re finally gonna be thrusted into the world of freedom and happiness. Freedom is for everyone, children and adults alike. Happiness on the other hand, is temporary and reserved for times like a good lunch, and only permanent for people swimming in bills and coins and gucci. You? You’re just some guy making equilateral riceballs for a living. The food industry is always a gamble. To make a name for yourself, you’ve gotta keep thriving. To keep thriving you require consistency in improvement. That means more branches, more flavors, and more investment while making sure the quality never drops. It's difficult and mentally taxing. It also makes the whirring of the ceiling fan seem louder than it should be, making you feel smaller, more alone, than you should feel. You take another piece of manchego and narrow your eyes into the list of potential new flavors you could sell. A high-pitched DING! from your phone causes you to lose the staring contest you’ve had with the sheet of paper in front of you. 

From: Kita-san 

I’ve prepared the rice for pickup. See you tomorrow, Osamu.

 You grin at the notification and text him a quick thanks. You stand up and flip the paper around in order to get read for bed. Something tells you you’ll figure it out somehow and soon. 

(you do. Spicy pickled cucumber onigiri is fresh and a well selling item in Onigiri Miya the moment its introduced.)

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You are Miya Osamu and firmly believe your brother is a menace, but also a nuisance. Yet here he is, likely (definitely) unaware of the splatter of soy sauce his cheek is smushed upon that you weren’t able to clean up from the former customer as he’s too immersed in his own personal venting. He’s whining on and on about how he can’t seem to perfect this new special serve he’s been working on for a while now. You’re familiar with this co called “special” serve he’s trying to pull off as it’s been the only thing he’s been texting you daily about. Because you’ve heard of it a hundred-or-so times and you were also supposed to close up ages ago, until he came waltzing in with that stupid pout and blonde hair of his. He’s a menace and nuisance but also your brother, so you offer him your own two cents and fresh onigiri. The night goes on with you both talking about Kita-san and life and the time Bokkun got his hand stuck in the pipe system back over in the MSBY dormitories. As you close up the shop and part ways, Tsumu yells at you saying he hasn’t figured out the serve yet, you yell back at him that he’ll figure it out somehow. 

(he does. he debuts the new menacing northpaw serve, entitled the “hybrid serve” the next match the MSBY have.)

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You are Miya Osamu and formally meet Akaashi Keiji for the first time. You recall him as one of the setters for Fukurodani, the highschool that often appeared in lists of participatory schools in the nationals as well as the former abode of your brother’s teammate, Bokuto “Bokkun” Koutaro. The dude’s nice. Probably needs more sleep, but generally nice. Seeing him and so many other people from highschool all gather up in Sendai for the match fortifies its already well-established significance. The crowd quivers and roars in awe as the MSBY win, some of shock, others of pride, many over at the Adlers side in goodbye to the sum of money they’ve pooled into bets. You quiver and roar in a grin, proud of your brother and the incoming flock of hungry customers coming over to your stand. 

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You are Miya Atsumu and your brother is Miya Osamu. No surprise he’s 60+ and still making those stupid equilateral riceballs of his. Probably because he’s got his life up together. Definately because he’s a FUCKIN’ [REDACTED] [REDACTED] HORSE-CRAP-LOOKIN’ [REDACTED] BITCHASS [REDACTED] [REDACTED] SHITTY SCRUB. You enter the shop and the doorway is no longer one you’d have to duck for in order to enter. The place is really neat. Sumiko-chan (16, working part time) welcomes you back and says Osamu-jiisan’s break is still in an hour or so. You wave her off saying you’re just gonna get a minced tuna and spring onion onigiris to go. She nods and tells you to wait for five minutes. You do so and in those five minutes, you watch ‘Samu smile as he’s heartily making those stupid equilateral riceballs of his out of rice and love and whatever the fuck each flavor requires. 

He’s probably happy. You're probably happier. But he’s definitely happy.

[noiseartists]

JUST LIKE HONEY (US): Bittersweetness and Light

Bittersweet melancholy drenched in voluptuous feedback: JUST LIKE HONEY's sound encompasses many inspirations ranging from Dream Pop to Alternative Rock and even a tad of Indie Folk.

The band has developed its own unique style of combining rumbling distortion, pounding rhythms, heavenly harmonies and eclectic songwriting into a sensual amalgamation of shimmering soundscapes.

The line-up is:

Darlene Jonasson: vocals, guitar

Bianca Yang: vocals, bass guitar, piano

Patrick Le Mar: guitars, vocals, songwriting

Ramita Arora: backing vocals

Steve Le Mar: drums, percussion

The music work to date is:

2018: Dreamland, album; The weight of stars, album; Blind, EP

2019: The wood room sessions, album; Slow lane, EP

Follow us to discover the band through an interview, as well as their music with music embedded readers and video sprinkled through this piece.

But first one of the best songs of this year:

How did you meet?

Patrick had envisioned the band long before its actual founding. The basic setup was crystal clear in his mind, however the individual pieces were missing and came together organically.

The only obvious pick was Patrick’s half-brother Steve on drums, whom Patrick had already been playing with in a band named Theme Park Rangers despite having been raised in separate families. The band of brothers provided the musical foundation, but the long sought-after lead vocalist was still out of sight.

Bianca’s addition was a kiss of destiny so to speak as she and Patrick had met coincidentally at the 2014 Glastonbury (UK) festival. There is some disagreement over what exact band they were watching, Patrick maintains it was Billy Bragg, but of course we’ll give it to Bianca who is positive it was Temples playing the John Peel Stage. It was that fateful encounter that sparked the eventual founding of Just JUST LIKE HONEY.

After some jam sessions with other musicians in early 2015, Darlene finally joined the band as the main lead singer and second guitarist. All had gelled together at last.

How did you come up with your name?

Is a common occurrence that a name or word pops into our collective minds, it could be a song or album title or some random piece of inspiration, and it tends to stick with all of us straight away, without the need for discussing or elaborating any further. Patrick and Bianca simultaneously said “Just Like Honey” at our first rehearsal and that was the end of that discussion right there.

Nobody ever looked back since. Unlike most bands that go through foot-long lists with loads of potential names of varying degrees of funniness or inspiration we were all on board with our first inspiration 100%.

The name may, of course, be seen as a hat-tip to The Jesus And Mary Chain. It might also refer to the character of our music, which is mostly sweet, despite the odd guitar noise. And yes, we are all very aware of the glaring and ubiquitous sexual connotation.

What is your music about?

All JUST LIKE HONEY does is about creating good songs. To us, songs are more important than the band itself. A good song should tell a story but at the same time not provide an easy giveaway of its meaning. A good song does not need a wall of sound to hide behind, although we quite often produce a huge wall of sound. That’s because we love noise.

What are your goals as an artist artistically/commercially?

Individual freedom and creating art are more important to us than being commercially successful. JUST LIKE HONEY will never change its sound or attitude in order to become more successful. If we stop being noisy for a moment that’s only because we want to assure ourselves whether our songs function without the noise. That moment led to the “Wood Room Sessions”.

Although we are not political artists in the narrower sense, we openly oppose the negative effects platform capitalism as for the music industry or what’s left of that industry respectively.

Today, streaming platforms like “Spotify” are exploiting the work of artists. We hate them. We are, of course, aware of the fact that making music as a profession does require the existence of a free market and your own ability to make use of the machine.

What are you trying to avoid as a band?

Rock music clichés, power chords, blues scale guitar solos. Well, obviously.

Why do you make the music you make? Is it in you? Is it your environment?

We make the music we love. It’s that simple. We can’t think of doing anything else.

What inspire you for the music or for the Lyrics?

Our songs are like a little window into Patrick’s soul because he is our songwriter. Most songs are based on true stories or occurrences, some reflect strokes of fate. e.g., the passing of a close friend, some deal with issues of the western society (e.g. the song “Goddess”), missing people, false prophets and lost memories (e.g. “Out In the Storm” and “Shorelines”), and others ponder on the odd everyday issue (e.g. “Velvet Skies”).

Those songs aren’t essays in the classical sense as they always leave wide room for interpretation, a dynamic that is further fueled by the use of a writing method called “écriture automatique” in French. It was invented by the French surrealist André Breton and may be loosely translated as “spirit writing”.

Interestingly enough we don’t have any real love songs. All attempts to write a love song ended up in tracks like “I Don’t Like The Girl I Am” or “The Strangest Boy” or “Heart Has No Place”. Those tracks are definitely not love songs in the classical sense although they were meant to be exactly that. It’s interesting because there is so much love in our life and yet it doesn’t quite find its way into our music, at least not in an obvious way.

Tell us what you are looking when trying to achieve your sounds. Do you experiment a lot or have a clear idea of what you want?

Although the sound was quite clear in Patrick’s mind even before JUST LIKE HONEY was founded, we actually do experiment a lot these days, taking all the different styles into consideration which make our palette of sound.

How about including a slide guitar solo where you wouldn’t expect it? Wow about having a reverse reverb on a chorus? We use a lot of different tunings on our guitars as well, a fact which makes us constantly inventing new ways of playing chords.

We have been jamming and improvising a lot recently. However, when developing new songs, it feels as if the songs themselves take a decision and guide us through the creative process.

Oddly enough more songs than ever have decided to fall on the noisy side recently. We therefore can’t help but to think we’re on the way of becoming a noisier band. It’s an interesting development, especially since it seems to be happening organically rather than as a result of a conscious decision.

Explain your songwriting process.

Patrick usually comes up with the basic song ideas, using an acoustic guitar for a first draft version. Chords, melodies and lyrics are added in Patrick’s studio somewhat simultaneously, feeding off each other in the creative process, even though the music is definitely exerting a stronger influence on the lyrics rather than the other way around.

Once this first step is completed Patrick pitches the song to the band in a second step, where a lot of refinement is added and everybody gets to chip in. In a third step Darlene and Patrick enhance the guitar tracks, developing licks and hooks to support the vocal melody.

We don’t look at one guitar to be the lead, both guitars are on equal footing and merge into the overall harmony. Quite often, Bianca’s bass is treated as the third guitar.

Describe your palette of sound.

A mixture of Alternative Rock, Post Rock and Dream Pop with a tad of American Folk, typically served with a lot of sweet guitar feedback.

Who would you want as a dream producer, and why?

We are actually already working with our dream producer, i.e. Patrick’s wife Karin Le Mar. Being an awesome musician herself, she is constantly challenging us. Beyond Karin, we imagine that working with Andy Bell of the British band “Ride” as a producer would be a dream come true.

If you could guest on someone else’s album, who would it be and why? What would you play?

We’ve been asked that question several times recently. The answer is “Ride” again. We admire their work. Spending time with the four of them in the recording studio would definitely boost our songwriting skills.

Interestingly enough both bands seem to regard the guitars and the vocals as equal instruments. We love that thought. If we had a time machine (the DeLorean type of time machine, of course) we would consider to meet “The Byrds” in the studio for similar reasons. [Editor’s note: some day that the Byrds’ ‘8 miles high’ may be the first DreamGaze song)

What musical skills would you like to acquire or get better at?

Just like everybody else, we are trying to get better every day. There is no specific skill, though, which we’d like to acquire.

Which other musician/artist would you date?

Ha-ha, sweet question! That would be Amelia Murray. She’d have a date with the four of us.

Is there a band that if they didn’t exist you wouldn’t be making the music you make?

In terms of an absolute condition we would probably not make music at all without the DIY attitude of Post-Punk. This is more about that “everyone can be an artist” attitude, of course, not about the sound in specific. As for the sound, we are obviously influenced by the 90s bands we love, e.g. Slowdive, The House of Love, Ride, The Charlatans, Mazzy Star, Galaxie 500, Codeine and also some bands of the late 60s. Also, there is a lot of The Byrds in our music. We are not intending to sound like any other band. We are actually unique. There, we said it.

You are from Canada, Germany and the USA, what are the advantages and inconvenient?

We don’t know. Each of us has been living in many different places in “the west” and basically it’s nice everywhere.

What are some places around the world that you hope to play with your band?

We’d love to travel Korea and Japan. We do have a lot of fans there for whatever reason. Also, Bianca speaks Korean, of course, and that could be of some help.

When is the next album/EP due?

We are about to release the “Show Lane EP” on SHORE DIVE RECORDS in November 2019. Nico Beatastic of SHORE DIVE RECORDS does an awesome job promoting the artists on his label.

Also, we love his label policy. All great British records labels as Factory, Creation or Sarah did have a certain sound and you knew what to expect to a certain extent. By the way, we have been back in the studio since early October, working on a bunch new songs. We’re in the flow right now like never before.

These new songs may become a regular album in 2020. Or even two regular albums. Who knows?

Some artists you recommend.

Please listen to Beach Bunny, Fazerdaze, Mandolin Orange and to our label mates Primitive Heart and Swimming Pool! You may be surprised to find Mandolin Orange on our list but without their inspiration we would not have recorded the “Wood Room Sessions”. We love American Folk as much as we love Indie Pop. Again, it’s all about songs.

Anything else you want your fans to know?

We will become comic book characters soon, isn’t that sweet? That’s because a friend of us, Kelci Crawford, is creating a comic book which deals with JUST LIKE HONEY.

Find Just Like Honey here:

Website

facebook

bandcamp

Thanks to the band for their kindness and hard work. Of course support them by buying their music and sharing this and their material on social media.