#i talk shit but he does genuinely care about haruka

[desperatepleasures]

ugh I have chores to do but what I really need to do is lay down and think about harukan for at least 4hrs while listening to labrador by aimee mann on repeat

[lethesomething]

Yakuza and coping mechanisms

Yakuza has been my on and off hyperfocus for years now but also in particular the past month, so let's talk about it. And particularly, how many friggin coping mechanisms are in this game.

Disclaimer: I do literary analysis, not psycho analysis, don't come for me.

For all its silliness about fighting roomba's and disco minigames, the world that the Yakuza games is set in, is fucking brutal. They are, at their very core, crime drama's. People get murdered a lot, lives are ruined in various ways, a good third of protags spend large amounts of time in jail, usually for a crime they didn't commit. Most politicians and police are corrupt, racism is blatant and if you don't have a place in the very strict hierarchy of society, it's hard to get back on your feet (hence all the crime). I tend to read a lot of indictments of Japanese society in these games, partly because they are so clearly based on old school yakuza crime drama's.

This means that the characters go through some shit. And what's fascinating, is how they deal with this.

Spoiler warning for, uhh, almost all yakuza games except Song Of Life (since i never played that)

Pretending it's not real

Kasuga Ichiban

The direct reason I'm even making this blog post because he's the most blatant about it. Kasuga is Peak Himbo in that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he manages to take being beaten down Repeatedly and overcomes that with a sense of genuine good nature and optimism that is… honestly kind of hard to believe. The way he deals with any of this, is that he's a nerd who pretends to be in a video game. It's the whole premise of Yakuza Like a Dragon.

And to be fair, Kasuga suffers from an amount of mistreatment that makes me Very Angry in his stead. He has every right to be upset! He is literally homeless in the beginning of the game. If he requires the escapism of going around pretending to be in a jrpg to survive, more power to him. Especially since it works. Dude goes around helping people and making friends. Which is a good thing, because there's no way he'd make it out of Yokohama alive if he didn't have some back-up.

Side note: something similar happens to at the very least Majima, i think, in the admittedly non-canonical events of Yakuza Dead Souls. (yes i played it solely for Majima, no i do not recommend it, the game is garbage and you get more Majima in Zero anyway). In Dead Souls, Kamurocho is overrun by zombies. As a lover of all things Horror, Majima decides he may as well have a good time mowing them down like he's in an FPS while he trudges through the wreckage of society.

Self sacrifice

Mostly Kazuma Kiryu and  Saejima Taiga

If you hate yourself, at least try to be of use to someone. Let's be honest, a lot of the plot of Yakuza games is driven by self sacrifice or at least following some code of honor to its ludicrous ends.

Kiryu is the main example here. The game kinda glosses over this a lot, but he is, at least in Zero, a criminal. He goes around extorting money from businesses. He consistently solves problems through violence. It's kinda the point of the games. But he's also borderline a saint and 80% of the shit he gets into is because of his need to throw himself to the wolves for any person he cares about. He voluntarily does hard time for Nishikiyama, for one. He picks up a stray kid that he will now protect with his life. And it just goes on from there. See, Kiryu may be the famous Dragon of Dojima and the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan and all that, but he would very much prefer not to be? Dude wants to live a quiet life and raise some kids, it's just that he's the protag of a game series about how hard it is to say goodbye to the yakuza life. So the plot keeps finding ways to bring him back, usually as a reluctant warrior to save the Tojo clan or Haruka  or whatever. If he was a little less honorable, he could still be chilling as a taxi driver with an unreasonably hot girlfriend, I'm just saying.

Saejima is very similar, but somehow even worse? Much as I love the guy, he's an idiot. He suffers from the same loyalty and selflessness as Kiryu, but he doesn't even get a cute daughter out of it. He spends Twenty Five years in prison for a crime he (we later find out) didn't commit. He escapes months before his parole to solve the convoluted plot of Y4. Then Goes Back to Jail to atone for (again) a crime he only thought he'd committed, only to escape (again) when he thinks Majima, his sworn brother, got murdered in Y5. As far as i can tell he goes back to jail one last time to finish his actual sentence, and to like, protect the name of the Tojo clan or some shit. My dude. My friend. Come on.

As a side note, acts of selflessness are kind of a big deal in the Yakuza games and one of the main ways to tell if someone is a good criminal or a villain. Kasuga and his crew are pretty big on the whole 'acts of selfless kindness' thing. It also seems to be one of the traits of Daigo Dojima, whose whole being screams 'I don't want to be here but who else is gonna fucking do it'. But in the case of Kiryu and Saejima it's very much verging on reckless self-endangerment.

Fabricated identities

Majima Goro, baby!

The Yakuza games really love this one, but I'll start with the big guy, everyone's favourite character: Majima. This dude has seen some shit. We see him throughout several flashbacks and the span of the games, but most tellingly we see him in Zero, at his rock bottom hero stage. And he's intriguingly unlike the other times he shows up. This is a Majima that's recovering from torture and backstabbing, and forced to do some dude's bidding for scraps. He's a chained dog (pun very much intended) and he's about to lose it.

What's fun about Majima is that he has So Many of the traits in this list. He has a lot of the reckless endangerment and self sacrifice that his buddies Kiryu and Saejima have. He gave himself up a few times for Haruka, he keeps trundling back to save Tojo and Dojima, but there's also a whole other layer of … Flamboyance to him.

And while Majima probably started out as comic relief, the games make clear that it's not all he is, and we get several glimpses of 'old Majima' throughout the series. He'll be in the middle of a self inflicted fight and drop some wisdom, for instance. He acts erratically, he is blunt, violent, exuberant in his dressing up. When given a task his first thought seems to be 'how can i make this Extra', but that doesn't mean the guy is unstable. You don't become a successful businessman with a building company, or a patriarch of your own family, without being smart and strategic. A lot of classic Majima behaviour, i feel, is a case of a mask he constructed to hide the severe depression, that became more of a second nature to him. Majima is one of the clearest examples of 'do what you need to do'. He's a survivor, through and through. Somewhere in there is a decent human being, but Majima will kill people to survive in a harsh world. It just seems like he constructed an extra layer to shield himself from all that.

Joon-gi Han (Like a Dragon): This is more a case of stolen (inherited??) identity, but again, if you don't want to be you, just be someone else. In this case someone he admires. Again: super tragic backstory, questionable life choices. As an aside, Joon-gi is fun because he is both a deadly assassin with someone else's name and face, but also  a Knight stereotype who would do everything for his queen and I think that's neat.

Zhao Tianyou (Like a Dragon): Somewhat more subtle, but Zhao is also a dude that was at one point confronted with a Situation, namely 'oh shit my dad died and now I'm in charge of a violent gang'. And to deal with that he decided to construct a persona that gives exactly zero fucks. He is very joking and very avoidant but we do learn that a fair amount of his laid back attitude is just veneer. Dude in fact gives several fucks. You don't decide to give up the throne and become a homeless sidekick to Himbo Supreme because you don't care. You do it to stop him from getting ultra-murdered by the parade of heavily armored gangsters he keeps storming into.

Akiyama Shun (Yakuza 4-5): I debated putting him here, because part of me believes Akiyama is just kind of a dick. A dick I love as a character, but still, ya know. At least some of the dickish persona is a front, though. Akiyama is another one that just saw his life's work destroyed at some point, and decided that emotional detachment was the way to go. Akiyama is different because he was never actually a proper criminal. He was homeless for a bit, and then came into some money (through Extremely Convoluted Plot Means) and now he's a moneylender. And like Zhao, he mostly pretends to be completely devoid of feelings, while having a fair amount of feelings. Enough to get into like… fist fights. With actual gangsters. Who have guns.

Vice

Sex, drugs and everything in between

The preferred way for noir drama's to show someone is Going Through It, is by giving them a classic addiction and Yakuza isn't any different. It's why several characters are shown mournfully smoking, in particular Kiryu and Majima. Yes I know it's because it looks cool and harks back to old crime movie atmosphere. That doesn't make it a healthy coping mechanism.

Another obvious one, considering the setting of the games in several red lights districts, is erotica. Both Adachi, the ex-cop from Like a Dragon and Shinada, the ex-baseball player from Y5 and also my least fave protag ever, are both in various stages of obsession about porn, sex work and the likes.

Tanimura, the cop from Y4 has a pretty severe gambling problem in the actual canon, though gambling games and casino's are a general mainstay of the Yakuza series. It's just that when Kiryu interrupts his busy day of solving the convoluted intrigue du jour to gamble in an illegal underground casino, it's not a character flaw.

Also: almost everyone drinks ludicrous amounts of heavy alcohol in these games. Both in canon and as part of the gameplay. 100% ing the games usually involves drinking tons of whiskey, but the whole Ichiban crew, sans I think Eri, is shown drowning their troubles at various times.

Violence: I mean, that's kind of the game, but an unhealthy amount of characters consider fist fights to be a good way to resolve conflict, bond with people and generally reinvigorate themselves. Particularly Majima is shown to get a real kick out of doing damage and being beaten up. There's just a lot of reckless behaviour, which is what makes the games good.

Karaoke: fake it till you make it, man.

Extra note:

You'll notice there's no women on this list, and that's because honestly the game is kinda sexist. So while there's already Very Few women in the game, the ones that are present don't exactly have super complex characters.

Mukoda Saeko, the hostess from Like a Dragon, drinks like a fish but that's about her main flaw.

Other notable female characters are Kiryu's kid Haruka, Kiryu's love interest Sawamura Yumi (Kiwami) and Kamataki Eri, the business lady from Like a Dragon. They're all stereotypical Good Girls who have no flaws apart from indecisiveness and an unhealthy tendency for selflessness.

Saejima Yasuko is ever so slightly more complex: her main trait is self sacrifice. The story promptly fridges her for it.

[yuukei-yikes]

just rewatched mekakucity actors and. kano really just goes whole haruka on ene just because she said "someone gotta take care of shintaro" to TAKANE as her last words. my man kano just got triggered the moment she said shintaro and last word together 😭 AFTER ALL THE FUSS TOO HES LIKE "sorry for doing that but u were talking really stupid" ??? chill man get this dude therapy ene had a heartattack for no reason </3

EXACTLY I KNOW

kano is SO FUCKING MEAN TO ENE and it's never acknowledged😭 Kano's literally like u were just saying stupid shit and it pissed me off❤️ the stupid shit in question was ene telling him abt her feelings of herself dying and her 2 best friends dying and not wanting her third best friend to meet the same fate. THAT'S what was stupid and insensitive to kano. this bit in the anime has always annoyed me bc it moves kano from being morally gray to just being a full on asshole

like he already has these asshole tendencies to shintaro, but since kano acknowledges that shintaro doesn't deserve it and is a good person and kano's just being unfair, it doesn't feel the same. like kano's been in a situation out of his control since he's a kid and repeatedly keeps losing everyone he loves, he's trying to protect his family and simmering in his own guilt because of some really tough decisions that weren't really decisions. and he's just been so alone keeping horrible secrets to protect everyone and like. yeah he chooses shintaro to take it out on. it's not fair ofc but u can understand why kano does it and like i said KANO ACKNOWLEDGES that he's been unfair and shintaro's a really good guy

but the same isnt done for takane... i know its just a bit in the anime and the anime isn't particularly known for being Good at all but THE BRUSH OFF is insane. "u were just saying stupid shit" "ok ill forgive u cuz im older" like DAMN!!! and kano's also super rude to takane in his pov in the novels so it's worse. idk. like damn

ough its such an interesting bit too kano and takane have so much potential for being best friends but also for having an antagonistic relationship.... kano hating shintaro&takane basically just because they're too nice is rly funny. kano hates shintaro bc he likes him and he hates takane because she's like him but nice.

the post str conflict that scene could bring to kano&takane because takane forgave him and kano's overthinking like omg she's trying to be the bigger person ugh this is because im such an asshole etcetc like kano is hating himself and so focused on mirroring himself on takane that he thinks her easygoing attitude has ulterior motives and/or resentment and takane's just fucking living her life. kano trying rly hard to figure takane out bc she's a lot like him but there's something about her he just cannot decipher. that something is that takane is genuinely just really nice, and she forgave kano bc she felt like it, and yeah it sucked he did that but she knows what he's been going through and well whatever life goes on. this attitude is insane to kano so he keeps trying to make sense of her and he can't lol. takane is like kano in a lot of ways but he can't realise that she is EASYGOING something he's always Acted as but actually Isn't so he's like !?!?!??!

[xuanelle]

12 and 13 for ask game!

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

mirei park. do I understand why some people don't like her? yes absolutely. what she did to kiryu I can fully get bothering people, and I can understand people who don't like her because they don't like her relationship with majima (not that she's to fault for it but just more so the idea that majima would do that) but genuinely though gamerbrosTM are so fucking annoying about her that it made me like her more after finishing the game. if I have to see one more gamerbro say her getting an abortion was an awful thing for majima and centering his feelings when a woman has a right to abort a kid if she wishes to and also he was the one in canon who y'know. hurt her. and notably majima realized he fucking fucked up and left the very next day and never talked to her ever again. like I can get people who don't like her/the relationship bc they think it's ooc even though I think blaming her for it is :/ (I mean the relationship isn't something to like obviously I just mean more so how it affects how they think of her) but seeing people say she was wrong for aborting the kid and deserved to get hit fuck you and never talk to a woman irl ever again

and again these same people act like she's the worst character because she did that to kiryu but I've seen more general love for someya who was a y6 villain who was a piece of shit to his partner or just men who are worse then her but because she's a woman and is mean and does a fucked up thing in her first apperance she's the worst alive

and like this is the same series where mine yoshitaka is a beloved character and he destroyed an entire oprhanage because he wanted the land the orphanage was built on. and those kids were hurt by his men. but mirei who genuinely did seem to want the best for haruka's dream as an idol, who knows the horrors of the idol industry and the danger of rumours and y'know what happens to your idol career if people know you have a relationship with a yakuza finds out kiryu is Yakuza and gaslights kiryu into him thinking he's not a good influence to his kids and that he should leave and that if haruka wants to be an idol he needs to go is evil and a bitch. which. is wrong. she is wrong for this. but I'm saying the double standards here are fucking insane

like they're both wrong. they both fuck up but the thing is. they're both also given sympathy by the narrative. mirei and Haruka have a sweet dynamic she buys her clothes and plays games with her and does care abt her !!!! and mirei does do a lot less harm then mine who is a Yakuza patriarch!! but she gets all the hate for daring to be a woman who is mean and complicited and messy. like I get why some people wouldn't like her but the way gamerbros talk about her is fucking insane they act as if she's the worst character in the series (I've seen ppl say she's worse then fucking oda who y'know. trafficked women) is insane because g-d forbid a female character being given character traits the male characters in these games have.

anyway this really wasn't me talking abt why people should like her but I guess my answer is if you like male characters who are similar to mirei then well. why don't you like her (again her and mine r different but that's the closest comparison I got) ALSO her relationship with Haruka is sweet Haruka says she's like a mother to her and thats :")

worst blorboficiation

sigh. i've already said majima so i don't wanna say him again </3 but know he's the first one that popped into my head for this. anyway i guess my answer for this is..... damn my brain really really wants to say majima 😭😭 but i guess uh maybe marc spector. i think this is mainly a twitter thing but I've seen so many people talk abt marc as if he's just some badass cool guy and that he's that guy™ and such a surface level take of who he is and genuinely tend to ignore his past or the wrongdoings he has committed. or just. any of the complicated aspects of the character (the show made all of this way worse)

marc spector was a bad person who did horrible things and is trying to change and often ends up right back at where he started but depsite that, despite how much he hates himself he keeps trying to protect people, he keeps being a hero even when he earnestly believes the man behind the mask is anything but. and He has an addiction to violence that's completely and utterly unhealthy for him. and he admits to this. and yet people will see that and go marc spector is just THAT GUY™ and it's such a surface level take of him that I despise.

[vhenanshiral]

On the Topic of Seiya Kou.

This is a Sailor Moon post rather than a Dragon Age post. Shocker, I know, but Sailor Moon is another one of my loves. This will focus on the 90s anime adaptation of the manga. So do not come at me with “but in the manga,” because the 90s adaptation and the manga were incredibly different in multiple ways. Seiya will be referred to as she/her because the male form was a disguise. That being said, any interpretation of Seiya’s gender is valid and I love them all! Anyway. I see a lot of shit talking about Seiya and it’s honestly ... super tiring. So many of the “negative” points against Seiya are misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misrepresented for the sake of making her look like a dumpster fire. 1. “Seiya is creepy towards Usagi and stalks her.” Except ... she doesn’t. They meet by accident numerous times, and in fact Usagi even seeks Seiya out. They develop a friendship, and it’s normal and natural for friends to seek each other out. Usagi and the girls actually, literally stalk the Three Lights more than once during the season. 2. “Seiya thinks Usagi is weak because she told Mamoru to take care of her when they left.” This honestly makes no sense to me. It is repeatedly shown that Seiya admires Usagi’s strength, both as Usagi and as Sailor Moon. It is natural to want the people you love to be protected, and that does not mean that you think they’re weak and incapable of protecting themselves. Seiya knew Usagi was capable and strong because she had seen her demonstrate these traits multiple times. Throughout the season, Seiya repeatedly lifts Usagi up with her confidence in her capabilities. This is even before she knows she is Sailor Moon. Let’s not forget that when Galaxia kills all of the Inners, they ask the Starlights to protect Sailor Moon, so saying that Seiya telling Mamoru to take care of her means she thinks she is weak ... that must mean everyone else thinks she is too, right? It’s absurd. 3. “Seiya can’t take ‘no’ for an answer, always hits on her, and is constantly pressuring her into a relationship.” It is true that Seiya repeatedly quips about “having a chance” with Usagi. It’s also true that Usagi repeatedly reminds Seiya that she has a boyfriend. But it isn’t true that Seiya repeatedly attempts to coerce her into a relationship. It also isn’t true that she does it all the time. While she shouldn’t have done it even more than once (when she was unaware of Usagi’s relationship status,) it’s obvious from the context that she isn’t being serious. Seiya repeatedly making quips is an issue, and while those kinds of situations can and often do mean someone is being a “Nice Guy,” a predator, an abuser, etc., we know from everything that we see that it is not the case with Seiya. Let’s take the “date,” for an example: Seiya throws it out there (literally, just time and place and walks off) and Usagi willingly shows up the next day and is even irritated that Seiya is late. Usagi is not forced or coerced into the date; she retains all of the power regarding whether or not she shows up. She would not have gone if she didn’t want to. Actually, let’s look at these instances of Seiya hitting/making a move on Usagi. - In the “date” episode, Usagi thinks that Seiya is going to make a move on her. Some suggest that Usagi thinks she is going to kiss her, but the language, Usagi’s expressions, and her reaction to the truth seem to imply that she thinks Seiya is suggesting something more intimate. - In the episode with the beach monster when Chibi Chibi opens up the door and pushes Seiya over on to Usagi, Usagi is the one who, again, assumes Seiya is up to No Good, despite it being a complete accident and innocent on Seiya’s part. - In the episode where Seiya spends the night at Usagi’s because she’s alone and Seiya very nearly confesses who she is to Usagi while they’re in her bedroom, it is Usagi who believes that Seiya is going to confess to having a crush on her. - Later in that same episode, when they are hiding in the cabinet and Seiya again thinks about confessing her true identity to her, it is Usagi who thinks Seiya is about to suggest something intimate. In fact, throughout the season, it is everyone from Usagi, to the other girls, to single-episode characters, to even Luna who think that Seiya is going to suggest or attempt illicit activities with Usagi, and not Seiya. It is all but explicitly stated that Usagi is attracted to Seiya. Not just because of the implications of her assumptions, but also because she is scolded over it. In fact, Rei tells her that she needs to sort her feelings out. Haruka and Michiru forbid her from seeing Seiya because she has Mamoru. She may not love Seiya the same way, but she is attracted to her and she does love her (and Usagi being attracted to other people is not a new thing.) Let’s look at the softball episode, because it’s ... pretty problematic and people often point to it as being one of the episodes that paint Seiya as some creepy stalker who can’t just take a hint and tells everyone that Usagi is her girlfriend. It is Rei who thinks that Seiya training Usagi in softball is inappropriate (let’s remember that it is Ami who thinks that something illicit is going on with Seiya and Usagi in the bodyguard episode...) because Mamoru is Usagi’s boyfriend, not Seiya. It is Sonoko who insists that Seiya’s “relationship” with Usagi isn’t acceptable, and it is her that places the bet that if Seiya’s team loses, she’s not to associate with Usagi anymore. Seiya agrees because she’s competitive, hates to lose, has confidence in herself and Usagi, and knows that Sonoko is wrong. When Usagi tries to interject about the actual nature of their relationship (that they’re not dating,) it’s the girls who shush her because they’re expecting Seiya’s team to lose and that will give them the opportunity to make Seiya feel better. I want to touch on the “Seiya knows Sonoko is wrong” part. I think what a lot of people don’t think about is that when Sonoko placed this bet and openly stated her disapproval of Seiya spending time with Usagi, Sonoko was attacking Usagi’s worth as a person. She was openly saying that Usagi wasn’t good enough to be hanging out with Seiya in any capacity. Seiya took issue with this because she obviously believes and knows differently. She values Usagi as a person. Who is Sonoko to decide who is and isn’t good enough to spend time with her? Seiya is not approaching the situation with entirely selfish motives, unlike the girls who fed into the Seiya/Usagi romance for the hopeful eventuality of them being able to comfort Seiya after a loss when she’ll be forced to stop hanging out with Usagi. She uses this situation to help bolster Usagi’s confidence in herself. That doesn’t change the fact that the bet is stupid to begin with, but it is what it is. Oh, additionally ... Seiya doesn’t tell the school that she and Usagi are dating. Them dating is an assumption that Seiya simply doesn’t correct. It’s worth noting that if she did correct that assumption, it would feed into Sonoko’s declaration that Usagi isn’t good enough to be with Seiya. 4. “Seiya tried to make the rooftop scene about herself and used it as a way to try to take Mamoru’s place in Usagi’s life.” This whole entire scene is consistently misinterpreted and has all of the context ripped from it, because that is not what that scene is. No, it 100% was not the best time for Seiya to ask that question (and no, it is not “can I take his place?” that she says,) but people tend to forget that Usagi is not the only vulnerable person in this scene and it isn’t just about her. It is Seiya who triggers Usagi’s emotional breakdown on accident, and in these moments she is watching the person she loves crumble into pieces. The rooftop scene is about both of them and the context makes that clear. Up until this point, the only person who knew that Mamoru wasn’t keeping in contact with Usagi was Seiya. None of the girls knew, none of them. Imagine the amount of trust Usagi had to have in Seiya in order to share that incredibly sensitive information with her and with no one else, not even her closest friends. Usagi had told Seiya a whole 13 episodes before this one, and since finding out Seiya tried her best to make Usagi happy and to keep her mind busy. It isn’t until a few episodes after this that everyone including Seiya finds out that Mamoru is dead. So Seiya spends all of this time believing that Mamoru ditched Usagi when he moved overseas and that he’s a horrible boyfriend who obviously doesn’t care about Usagi. This is naturally hurtful to Seiya, who grows to genuinely like and love Usagi through the season. She cares for her and doesn’t want to see her in pain, which is why she does her best to help Usagi feel less alone. There is no point in the season where Seiya’s intentions are to maliciously shove herself into Mamoru’s place in Usagi’s life. She has no idea who Tuxedo Mask is. She had no idea that throwing the red rose - her own personal trademark - was going to trigger such an emotional response from Usagi. So here they both are on this rooftop in the middle of the pouring rain. Usagi’s breaking down over how alone she feels, and Seiya’s suddenly faced with the realization that not only did she cause this breakdown, everything she had been trying to do to help her wasn’t working and she failed again. She couldn’t save her system/planets, 99.9% of her people are literally dead because she wasn’t strong enough to save them, and she and the other two members of her team had no idea where their princess was or even if she was okay until the episode before this one. Immediately after the destruction of everything they knew, the Starlights had to flee to an alien planet with alien people, disguise themselves, and pander to a bunch of complete strangers that salivated over, stalked, and harassed them, all while searching for their princess  and fighting the minions of the person who ctrl+a ctrl+x’ed their home system. She had no time to process any of the unimaginable loss and failure she had suffered through. When people talk about the rooftop scene and about how Seiya “makes it about herself,” this is everything they’re forgetting. When Seiya is asking Usagi if she isn’t good enough, it isn’t Seiya trying to weasel her way in, it’s Seiya both coping with her own numerous losses and trying to remind Usagi that she’s there for her. In the end, Seiya is the one that Usagi credits with being able to get herself through everything she was dealing with.

[baalzebufo]

🔫😃 give us them monster au Majima deets I dare you /hj

I'm invested, I wanna know stuff, like; What was the interaction between Kiryu and Majima like after the reveal? How did Haruka find out? Was it because she lives with Kiryu or did Majima tey to keep her oblivious to it as long as he can because no.?

I WANT THE DEETS AND I WANT EM NOW

(ya don't need ta do nothin if ya don't wanna, take yer time, I just wanna show excitement with this :>)

THANK YOU for the interest I am constantly excited to talk about things and will 100% share what deets I have

(Update: this got... WAY longer than I anticipated. So im putting it behind a readmore. sorry for the wall of text I got very passionate suddenly!!)

disclaimer: I have very little solid 'canon' established and 99% of this will be stuff I make up on the spot cause thats just how I do these things

So, in my head this all takes place after the events of the first game- Kiryu's been to jail, gets out, 10 billion yen drama ect. I think it would be peak drama if Majima accidentally let slip during the fight at Shangri-la that he isn't human, he got so hyped up on the idea of a 'fight to the death' with Kiryu (which, lets be honest, was probably a bit of suicidal ideation on his part because he wanted Kiryu to utterly destroy him) that he couldn't control himself and Kiryu gets an eyeful of claws and teeth and horns. But because things are so fucking manic during that point in the game, Kiryu deadass writes it off as a weird hallucination/'this might as well be happening' because he has WAY too much going on.

it's only after the games finished and Kiryu settles down, decides hes going to adopt Haruka and is trying to get his affairs in order when he's like. Holy Shit What Was Up With That.

Majima hasn't shown his face around him since because he becomes convinced Kiryu seeing that means hes going to despise him and/or try to kill him so he crawls into his hole to mope about it and Kiryu has to genuinely jump through hoops trying to find where he is. He was concerned! Eventually he gets in touch with Nishida who is equally worried about his boss (he knows Majima's secret but is sworn not to tell anyone) so he just. quietly tells Kiryu where Majima is living right now and prays it wont come back to bite him in the ass

He goes, Majima initially attempts to be like 'haha you hit your head pretty hard down there-' and write it off like that but Kiryu is nothing if not persistent and eventually he has a little meltdown about it and finally just shows him. Majimas been in a super weird mental state since Shimano died and hes just like, at his breaking point, so he figures 'fuck it, if Kiryu hates me, whatever' at that point

OBVIOUSLY Kiryu doesnt, hes just like. dude are you okay

they have a long ass talk about it and what happened and it all sort of culminates in an awkward love confession because turns out wow you two REALLY care about each other, huh!

Majima also shares that hes only really still in the yakuza because he feels like its the only place he belongs, that a monster like him doesn't deserve anything resembling a normal life. its that conversation that starts him on the path to realizing he's not happy there tbh

Im SEVERELY rambling at this point but. after a lot of emotional catharsis between these two they promise to try to make something work. majima considers leaving the yakuza, and kiryus going to make a home with haruka. and while hes not ready to join them properly, just yet, he's... thinking about it. in the meantime, he's heard some cool stuff about construction as a business, and he's lookin' into it.

they kept it from Haruka for a while, mostly because Majima is super not comfortable showing people. He didnt spend a lot of time around her because he still felt guilty about the kidnapping thing, but eventually Kiryu pushes him to try to apologize properly and make amends. Haruka is obviously suspicious of him but, I think shes got a good judge of character when it comes to if someones being earnest, and its clear Majima wasn't acting of his own volition. (She blackmails him for lots of ice cream as an apology.)

Eventually she picks up on the fact they're hiding *something* because of how like, furtive Majima becomes when he stays with Kiryu and how he's almost never actually around, especially since he loves being the center of attention otherwise. So they brace themselves for it all to come crashing down when they tell her.

It honestly... goes fine. Maybe its just cause she's a kid and was way more willing to believe monsters exist, but it's not quite the 100% world-shaking revelation. It does set them back a bit and there's a lot of convincing that 'not all monsters are evil', but eventually she settles on. 'he's not scary. he's just kind of weird.' and you know what? majima will 100% take that.

(also she thinks its funny how he purrs when you touch his ears a certain way. he's like a big weird puppy.)

okay goddamn this post got long enough as is but. thank you again for the interest I have... so many words in my brain about this. Ideally id love to write a proper fic but im really not great at structured writing like that- it takes a helluva lot of a work compared to just infodumping into a big nightmare post like this. One Day.

I mad appreciate any and all interest though! Like, at its heart this is a hurt/comfort kinda au, and my end-goal is for Majima to realize being a monster doesn't mean he doesn't get to be happy or that he doesn't deserve to be treated like a human. it is vitally important to me that these two old sad men be happy together and build a better life lmao

[rakuraiwielder]

I'm working on your ask, but here's some for you: I, A, M, S, P, O, T

Ask prompt here: x

thanks puffin!! this is gonna be long and nostalgic eyy

I - HasTumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? 

I wouldn’t say “actively dislike” butthe toxicity of fandom on this website has sucked away most of my passion for Voltron lol. I used to really dig itthe first month or so after getting really into it when S2 aired. I still havean unfinished draft for a 7-parter rarepair fic //ey guess my fav duo ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)// sitting in my folders. don’t think I’llbe touching it any time soon though. im rather burnt out from this fandom, evenif I do still enjoy watching all the new seasons thereafter.

another is StevenUniverse ah a. (but in its and my defence, I wasn’t really into it anywaysas compared to other fandoms. the songs are still good, but I haven’t beenkeeping up with the newer Steven bombs, one part because of motivation, andanother because the thought of going into the tags to reblog contentintimidates the heck out of me pffft)

A - Ships that youcurrently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone hasOTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

(puffin this question is gonnatake up half the ask oh god)oh bOY where do I start hahahaha. there’s so many aph and fe callbacks hahaha few otps aside I really have too manycrackpairs and platonic friendship ride-or-die squads I would die for. theseare only a few really relevant ones from the top of my head-

OTPS:

Norway/Vietnam (Hetalia) – alWAYS. i dont talk about and reblog much aph anymore but i still think about these two frequently. they were my first and closestthing ever to an actual otp in all my years of knowing what an otp was gosh Ihope to write about them again soon. their dynamics are the peak of mypreferences.

MU(avatar unit)/Silas (FE Fates) – thechildhood friends + loyal knight and liege trope + a pinch of memory loss wasnever really my thing, but guess there’s a first for everything ha h a ah a….silas is too pure for the angst I put him through im so sorry ಸ ل͜ ಸ

Berkut/Rinea (FE: SOV) – the second that one cutscene of these two played I got1000% more invested in the story pffft. anyways rinea may be top tier fav andberkut shit tier fav, and their story tragic as heck (and I would also arguethat he doesn’t deserve her), but their genuine and honest love for each otheramidst the incoming death flags gets me every time

707/MC (Mystic messenger) – honestly they can either be a really good platonicdynamic duo or a solid otp. purely from the perspective of my own MC, theycomplement each other well; perfect balance of light-hearted teasing and asolid wall of comfort for each other.

Ray-Saeran/MC (Mystic messenger) – ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

(Other) Ships:

Seychelles/Iceland/HK (Hetalia) – they are good togetherromantically or platonically hahahaha. a good golden trio of kids

Russia/Vietnam (Hetalia) – their potential relationship and clashof character due to conflicting personalities fascinate me. a totally differentnoir vibe from norviet and one I hope to explore if I ever come back to aph

Nyx/Leo (FE Fates) – nyx ships are reallyrare but half of them are surprisingly sweet and poignant. Odin and Laslow tooare really sweet candidates to woo this jaded grandma’s heart.

MU/Laslow (FE Fates) – got to thank a wacky7-11 employee au dream I had for this one. but in the games their supportconversations are surprisingly thoughtful and low-key flirting which was notwhat I expected at all. wholesome.

Ham/Kai (MUxMU, FE) – remember when I said protag/protagships are the good stuff? yea h thatprincess tutu au is coming along swell

Alm/Celica (FE: SOV) – the rare main canon couple I love whodon’t die and get their happy ending (LOL this sounds really pathetic now thatI’ve said it)

Leon/Valbar (FE: SOV) – no one is surprised LOL. romantic orno, as long as leon is happy with where he stands with valbar and valbar ishappy with where he is im happy for them both

Conrad/Rinea (FE: SOV) – I know there are a couple of youreading this whos gonna give me that look but liste n; they could have met, and there is potential for them.(honestly this is just like another norviet situation where I put my 2 topfaves together for crackpair experimentation bUT IT WORKS I ASSURE YOU)

Zen/MC (Mystic messenger) – zen is so earnest that I can’t refute himhahaha. he also has a special seat in my mysme heart, since he was the firstroute I played and made me create content for the fandom proper

707/Jaehee (Mystic messenger) – they are rapidly gaining OTP status ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª aaaa nightmare flashbacks because justlike norviet they really are the rarest of crackpairs and have almost to no content(gonna get down to business and churn fic out one day). these two are moresimilar than they’d think too.

Cecil/Haruka (Utapri) – ahahaha a good ship from a guiltypleasure fandom

(Purely) Platonic:

Izuku/Iida/Ochako (BNHA) – the first golden trio of thisseries. I love them so much.

Vanderwood/MC (Mystic messenger) – they parallel each other. truly thebiggest ride-or-die duo I will support to the end of time

Zen/Yoosung (Mystic messenger) – zen is such a mother hen to yoosungwwwww truly wholesome

Chise/Ruth (Ancient Magus Bride) – platonic master/familiar-partner relationships where both of them care for each other so much to the point where they would die for the other are my one weakness. its the reason i love writing more fleshed-out pokemon aus and loyal dogs/animals in longer fics. anyways these two are good

M - Name acharacter that you’d like to have for a friend.

707. It would be a trip justknowing him. (apart from the memes. but my life is already 80% meme, honestlywhats the difference ahahaha aaa-) Just, I feel like it would be really fun tohang out with him and revel in his wackiness (even if that personality is afront, maybe one day when i finally get into his inner-circle of friends, I hopeto be privy and be a good listening ear to his truer, more sombre personality.)

On the other hand, myself-confidence and 2nd hand embarrassment will be directlyproportional to each other (And im 100% sure Seven is the kind of person whowill exploit that hAH)

S - Show us anexample of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

Every relevant character inMysmes is either a type of asexual (greysexual etc.), or on various points ofthe bi-spectrum. Yeah; even self-proclaimed, “straight-laced” Zen lol.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (wealways need more ideas)

Vampire/Selkie AU ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

a selkie whose skin gets stolen and hidden from a human man is forced to become his bride and taken back to his village. there, to escape the stares of bigoted villagers and the clutches of her overbearing and possessive husband, she takes refuge in the only place he would not go; the old holy church.

only, she finds she isn’t the first to occupy this place of solitude. the master of the church notices her soon enough, and when vampire recognises the ancient weave of magic that flows within her, he appears; intrigued for something other than a fresh meal.

(basically a deviation from the standard vampire (romance-ish) novels lolol plot bunny hit me pre-Christmas eve dinner/yesterday and sofar im digging it. still planning the ship and fandom though; it might very easily be OC-based)

O - Choose a songat random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

since 1 is never enough, hereare 4 songs I was listening to recently:

Little Knights, Nem feat.Noire : Zen/MC(a zen-ish song through and through)

over and over, Yanagi Nagi : Saeran Choi + 707&MC(more saeran-centric with interpretative lyrics and referencing to both ray andunknown personas)

Finding something to do, HelloGoodbye : 707/Jaehee(fits their “don’t go where I can’t follow” dynamic haha ow.)

Life will Change, Shoji Meguro + Benjamin Franklin feat. Lyn Inaizumi : Kai(mui) or Ham(let)(honestly the entire persona 5 ost is massive fe fates protag feels)

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons thatyou will die defending?

Not really. I’m a very flexible person when it comes tointerpretable lore and content, especially if it’s the type of HCs that thefandom collectively comes up with. Unless it’s a canon fact, I like to dabble orjust stay away from HCs in general. If I have to come up with some in my fics,then so be it. But most of the time these HCs are either super vague or onlyapply to the context in this particular piece or series of writing. Basically Idon’t mind switching HCs for charas frequently as long as it does notfundamentally change their own character. (HCs for hobbies and loves and habitsand relationships apart from their inner circle, etc. are all fine)

Honestly it just boils down to expectations lol I know myown limits, and I know not to be disappointed when canon updates end updebunking (popular) fandom HCs or my own.

[kamyyu]

muse questions: 1, 11, 14, and 17!

chloe dammit you made me go on a rant and this became so goddamn long wow

What makes you the most emotional about your muse?

everything lmao i am one ball of varying emotions about kamyu pffht. But i guess this ask means emotional in the ‘aching’ way (?)

Well, mostly, and I’m suuuure this is clear by how non-subtly i keep reblogging quotes that relate to her, his devotion & loyalty for his queen. Like. Listen.Camus loves his queen & country more than his own life. He ALWAYS puts her first, ALWAYS. He says this at the end of his all star route, too, that Haruka must understand that she’ll be the SECOND most important to him, not the first. (this is why after secret is bullshit when camus leaves his queen lmao)Camus is conceited and arrogant and really loathes almost everything not related to silk palace, and that’s because he always always ALWAYS compares things to silk palace/the queen, and nothing will ever come close to them – he’s always aware of how things are different from his country and because his loyalty & devotion is an INTEGRAL PART OF HIS PERSONALITY, he puts his country on a pedestal, meaning everything foreign is LESS: less beautiful, less organised, less charming, less intelligent, etc etc. Yes, Camus is a dick to everyone and is incredibly proud BECAUSE HE IS PROUD TO SERVE SOMEONE LIKE THE QUEEN. He’s the perfect knight, count, the perfect spy, knight, protector – anything, because he was raised to be one and he is almost boasting to others 'look what a great man i am, someone like me serves someone EVEN MORE magnificent than i’, etc; i’m not going to say he’s not an arrogant twat otherwise, but this arrogance is ALSO a way of serving his queen, it’s to make her look even more regal than she already is. Do you know why it’s so difficult for him to care about anything? This ^^^^!!! this ^^^all!!! Camus was BRED (yes you heard that right) to serve the queen! His very BIRTH was a political ploy to unite two houses! He was raised to serve her! His purpose in life is to serve her and he FIRMLY BELIEVES – no he MADE this a truth!!! No one can easily make him think otherwise, no one. One of my tags for him is 'o heartless man’ and you know what, he is. But it’s not because he doesn’t have one, it’s because he has already reserved his entire heart: all of his affection, friendship, love, devotion, he has reserved all of this for one person –who embodies one nation – alone, and he is set on keeping it that way.

So. What makes me emotional is how Camus will give his life for his queen and country. WITHOUT HESITATION. That’s something that makes me very (clenches fist) about him asjgdsjf. AND something that many people forget. There’s so much good angst to be had with Camus about this topic too, pfheh. Well. One day.

What do you hate about your muse?

Pfhah. Hate… such a strong word… I don’t think I hate anything about him because he’s my son. Even though he’s a nasty man… it’s impossible for me to say I hate anything about him. That only counts bc he’s fictional & my muse, though. If I were to meet him irl i’d hate his guts. He’s too strict. He’s rude. He’s conceited. I’d be scared of him and avoid him, probably, and talk shit behind his back. His princely guise would probably charm me but when i’d find out it’s all fake i’d be mortified and AGAIN avoid him like the plague lololol. But that’s a what if. It’s not the case. I love my son as I would any other son. He can do no wrong – or, he can, and i’ll scold him for it, but he’s still allowed to come home.

How would you describe your muse to someone about to meet them, in person, for the first time? 

'camus is a dick ok he hates all of us –look you’re going to think he’s hot and princely but dont fall for it he’s a fake ass hoe ok. don’t. just don– dammit.’

Why do you think you connect to your muse?

Why indeed. And, do I even? I can’t say me and camus are exceptionally alike in character. He’s hard-working, serious, driven, courageous, bitter &  of course a total bitch. I only share two of those six traits I’ve listed with him, and they’re probably the only ones of all the traits I can use to describe him. I can’t really say I connect with camus because he’s bitter like me, or a total bitch like me. I can’t say it’s because I admire him, either – not that I don’t admire him, I genuinely think he’s an incredibly admirable individual and he might have a nasty personality and is super demanding, but he never demands anything but perfection from himself, so… at least he’s not a hypocrite in THAT aspect. But I don’t admire him 'wow I wish I were like him’ way.

So, huh, what is it, then?I remember Russ teasing me a lot with his character when he only recently was introduced. I didn’t like him at all. Or maybe I did but I was too tsun to admit it, haha. I only really started liking him when I finished his route. It’s not really about connection, I think, but more that his route really appealed to me, and that unwavering loyalty of his (see above) – which explains a LOT about his behaviour – just really touched me. I cried during his route, lmao, when he was talking about how much he loves his queen. The fact that he’s a character who is so focused on professionalism, cold to everyone, keeping his distance… the fact that, in spite of what he appears, he has so much devotion and affection for his queen (and not even in a romantical way) and country, but is unable (& unwilling) to show the same type of affection for other characters? I adore it. Maybe I connect with his intense loneliness and isolation, and understand how that can make him so bitter. Maybe. Who knows? I honestly have no clear explanation for it.

In the end, the fact that he has an understandable reason for acting the way he does definitely did make it easier for me to connect with him. He’s a dick, yes, but I can see why. And I play him possibly like a huger dick than the canon wants us to believe he is (because utapri prefers to be sparkly and genki), but that doesn’t mean i think he’s a terrible person. Far from it. I mean I always shame him (he deserves it) in my tags, but really he’s capable of being a 12/10 great man. When he wants to. I believe in him

[frukgeneral]

C, S and X ;)

C: A pairing you wish you shipped, but just can't.

I have gotten into most ships after establishing this blog, but lately, I’ve felt annoyed with America and England. It’s mostly how America is portrayed as this smooth, sex god and England as submissive and like he doesn’t know about sex. He looks smaller than America, and like I guess that’s people’s cup of tea, but I really hate it because if anything, England is the one that has a lot more experience with sexual acts and other kinds of things, and America is the virgin that doesn’t know as much. I don’t hate the ship, some fanart is very pretty and I like the art style, but I don’t get into AUs or stories like that really popular one that people talk about (and yet I’m here like meh) nor do I have headcanons for them. I respect the people that ship it, but I don’t get into it. It’s annoyed me for some time and I’ve even come to dislike America because of the ship. Another thing is that there is this huge difference between the two that really feels unrealistic. I have an English friend, and I being American don’t understand some things she refers to and I have a hard time with “taking the piss”, mocking people, and overall making fun of others, plus there is a certain coldness that sometimes affects me. In turn, she doesn’t understand why we aren’t as sarcastic as the English and we genuinely like people or say things like “Awesome!” and she doesn’t understand it. One time I thanked her for something I thought was motivational from her part, and she asked me if she’d said something that angered me. So I have no doubt Americans and the English can get along, like my friend and I, but as far as having a wholesome relationship? It doesn’t feel likely to me based on these two characters. Plus, I feel America needs someone to compete with, like Russia. They can be very competitive and that’s what really sells that ship for me. America and England can’t particularly compete with each other because America can be a certain type of competitive where he needs to win 1st place for everything he competes in, but England wouldn’t particularly care after competing with other countries and settling colonies. England isn’t competitive to win accolades and honors and shit; he’s competitive so that his enemies don’t win, like he and France competing to see who gets more points in the Eurovision. He’s a petty competitor, and America is just a competitor to beat people because he thinks he’s the best. England needs someone who can take his fucking shit and take the piss out of them and in turn, his partner could take the piss out of him, which is what sells France and England for me because they are both equally pissed at one another, they can mock each other and they both know it’s just banter and only they get it as opposed to it looking like they abhor each other in other people’s eyes. And yes, they do hate each other, but they understand each other, they’ve known each other for so long that it’s just a natural part of their relationship and nobody gets to mess with them other than each other. England needs someone to argue with, and even though America can argue, it’s not at the level England would desire, which is where France can match his level; he’s equally bitter and angry and he knows how to push England’s buttons. America can push his buttons, too, but not in the way England would want. The more I get to know the English culture through my friend, more unlikely the relationship between America and England is. But they have nice fanart. 

S: What's a headcanon you have?

I have a lot of headcanons so it’s hard to say just one...A lot of my headcanons are shaped on my conversations with my English friend mentioned above, so I will mention one that I recently adopted. 

When Francis likes someone and he wants to show them, he sends them flowers and a cheesy love card attached to it. He’s sent a couple of bouquets to Arthur because he finds it romantic. However, Arthur isn’t a big fan of receiving flowers and he’d much rather receive any other kind of gift besides them. He’s told Francis (if you expect him to say thank you, you are going to be disappointed; he lectured Francis on why flowers are depressing as a gift because it’s what you get people who are dead, wow Arthur you’re such a grateful gentleman, you prick). So Francis has learnt not to get him flowers. Instead, he sends him random ass gifts like plants in their own pots or a cookbook on how to properly make French cuisine because we all know Arthur is a magnificent chef and Francis thought it’d be a lovely accessory to his well-kept kitchen. Francis does like receiving flowers, though, but he’s not gotten any from Arthur because he’s not romantic and well, he’d rather get Francis an actual frog instead of flowers, with a note attached saying “I found you in the street and you almost got run over, you fucking twat.” My OTP makes me so happy yet so mad at the same time, I hate them. 

X: 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms.

I answered this one, but I will paste it for you here. 

Mmm, I really love Kim and Ron from Kim Possible. Such a good relationship. I am also in love with Haruka and Michiru from Sailor Moon. Those two are my life and aesthetic because they’re gay and it’s canon and I’m canonly gay so I just really love them, I need me a Haruka. I also love Edward and Winry from FullMetal Alchemist. That was my very first OTP I wrote about and did a lot of fanwork for that ship and it kept me occupied for like 5 years and I still enjoy their relationship because it’s so wholesome (except for Winry hitting Ed with her wrench, I’ve never liked violence for persuasion and I get it’s a gag, but still, it’s the one thing I dislike).

I’m really sorry this took so long! Thank you for asking!