#nihon touitsu

[theashenphoenix]

山口祥行 // YAMAGUCHI YOSHIYUKI 日本統一 関東編 1 (2023)

[refinedstorage]

[shishitsu-week]

The prompt for the fourth day of the Shishitsu Week 2024 that will take place in March is “Actor AU”.

As soon as Yokoyama watched the "Nihon Touitsu" movies while he was writing Gaiden, he inmediately thought of Yamaguchi Yoshiyuki as Tsuruno and Motomiya Yasukaze as Shishido.

[04tenno]

There may be more faceclaims in Gaiden than you expect!

All prominent members of the Watase Family shown so far co-star with Motomiya and Yamaguchi in the Nihon Touitsu (Unification of Japan) franchise as members of Yamazaki Ichimon.

Nihon Touitsu is produced and written by Motomiya and was hugely influential in the making of Gaiden according to Yokoyama (notably, Shishido and Tsuruno were written as role- and personality-swaps of Motomiya and Yamaguchi's Nihon Touitsu characters), so check it out if you can!

[wafflespodagon]

[todayisafridaynight]

A Little Late and the way you already picked up on it despite not really hardcore seeking out ninkyo (yakuza-genre) media says enough, but I wanted to second that it is absolutely true queer appeal is inextricable from ninkyo as a whole. That's why RGG is the way it is!

If Nakano and Motomiya--both incredibly prolific ninkyo actors, with Motomiya producing+writing for+leading the biggest series out there right now, Nihon Touitsu/Unification of Japan--can sit down to talk, describe ninkyo as a genre about men falling in love with men, the "ultimate BL," and carry on without missing a beat, I think that speaks for itself. And like, they're not wrong at all--even if it was a little tongue-in-cheek and even if the subtext is rarely intentional, many if not most ninkyo stories are fundamentally about love.

Why that matters is because ninkyo specifically portrays the idealized version of the yakuza--"ninkyo" translates to "chivalry." There's very little that could be considered ideal about being a yakuza nowadays; that much is explored in non-ninkyo yakuza media. Of course there are the universal ninkyo themes of being able to make something of yourself from nothing, of defending the defenseless, of fighting back against injustice from the wrong side of the law when the "right side" isn't serving you, but at the core of many of these stories, there's one thing in particular that makes it worth it to be a yakuza.

Ninkyo depicts a world of extremes--often unthinkable to an ordinary person--which the characters are willing to bear so long as they can keep the only people who truly recognize them in their lives, and so long as they can have it reciprocated. To trust others and to be trusted in return, as Mine says. For them to go to those lengths for a fundamental human desire resonates with queer people in a world that asks for so much resilience from them just for existing. I think this is also why the stated reason Mine fell in love with Daigo was simply because he saw him as a man.

It's not always as clear-cut what kind of love it is as with Mine, but I don't think it's done cynically like you see in actual queerbait. I'd say it comes from an earnest place, raw and without self-consciousness. I think the blurred lines and openness to interpretation are also a big part of the appeal. Not just in the obvious sense of being presented with these intense bonds that are open to interpretation, but I can imagine there's also comfort to be found in the depiction of love that's hard to define in exact terms and in recognizing it doesn't always need to be defined in and of itself.

To some degree, within the history of ninkyo, I think RGG and Nihon Touitsu genuinely revolutionized how openly these topics are discussed. Ninkyo has always primarily been a genre of film, and even with Nihon Touitsu being a direct-to-video series, if you're queer or a woman or both, it's common to feel like you don't belong in the ninkyo space. Going to theaters or renting tapes or DVDs without feeling judged--or apprehensive about the content's depiction of queerness and/or women--has often been trickier than it had to be.

It's specifically the accessibility and culture around video games and online streaming, as well as the relative privacy and ability to curate your circles, that has allowed for these series to reach fans like that--so much so there's even a term for women who got into ninkyo via interpreting it through a queer lens, ninkyo joshi. Nihon Touitsu is actually what popularized that phenomenon in recent years.

There's also something to be said about RGG and Nihon Touitsu as media and the people behind them being more welcoming towards queer and/or female fans than a lot of ninkyo is in general. You won't ever catch me saying RGG doesn't have a history of queerphobia and misogyny, but at the same time, I think demonstrating they could handle characters like that respectfully went a long way, in addition to RGGS having a pretty good track record as a workplace. Similar deal with Nihon Touitsu and Motomiya doing his best to gear the series more towards a general audience and his commentary on multiple occasions agreeing his and Yamaguchi's characters' relationship reads as a BL. Even if that's as far as it goes, it does mean something to be acknowledged.

Anyways uhhh do you think Mine was an OG ninkyo danshi... like A Ninkyo Joshi But A Guy... I feel like if you're living in Japan, especially in an area with a lot of actual yakuza activity like Minato as Mine does, you'd only really come away with the romanticized ideals about the bonds between men Mine has from ninkyo... personally I just think it'd be super funny if he was an OG ninkyo joshi who transitioned into a ninkyo danshi, like when gay trans guys have a "fujoshi phase"... the call was coming from inside the house etc etc...

thank you for the history lesson on the yakuza genre, its relationship with queerness and people being able to acknowledge those undertones, and jp society's relationship with the genre. its great that big names in the genre are making it more socially accessible to everyone and not making it feel limited to a certain group of people :)

bout mine being a fan of the genre before. Being A Part Of The Genre so to speak tho, i think its a fair assumption to say he was a fan. if he wasn't beforehand, then seein them blokes sacrifice themselves for daigo def made him one lmao

[watasemasaru]

nihon touitsu english subtitles that don't exist save me, nihon touitsu, save me nihon touitsu english subtitles that don't exist

[theashenphoenix]

山口祥行 // YAMAGUCHI YOSHIYUKI 日本統一6 (2014)

+ Bonus:

[04tenno]

Do you by any chance know how western audiences can watch Nihon Touitsu?

I'm glad you asked!

The absolute best way would of course be to wait for us to finish subbing it in English! I'm around two thirds through with my draft, which will hopefully be made available on November 14 (to be replaced with the final at a later date), the same day as the release of the upcoming manga adaptation. That should be enough time for a decent amount of people to start Gaiden, meet the Watase Family, and get interested in the series that heavily inspired the game.

For Western fans who have a grasp on Japanese or are used to watching Japanese films raw or simply can't wait either way, 1-20 are available on VK! There's more beyond that but it's missing most of the 20s and 30s (for reference, Yokoyama watched up to 30 before he made the decision to cast Motomiya and Yaamaguchi, but I think he's caught up now.) 1-46 and some of the spinoffs are also free from time to time on Abema with a Japanese VPN.

Feel free to send me a follow-up ask if you'd like to be notified when the subs are up!

[theashenphoenix]

山口祥行 // YAMAGUCHI YOSHIYUKI 日本統一 関東編 第 1 話 (2023)

[04tenno]

4 12 20 and 24 for Shishido :^)

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

I spend most of my time with media that could easily have taken place in the RGG universe so I'm limited on Interesting Settings and Situations to Put Characters In but tonally, if I wanted to keep his background and core character traits, I think something like Fear and Hunger (specifically Termina) or Darkest Dungeon would slap.

Not that he hasn't been through enough horrors but I love the psychological/survival aspects and I'm familiar enough with the lore and workings of those settings to be able to picture Shishido in them... also I simply think physical manifestations of the psyche are epic and although Silent Hill fits the bill I just feel like historical settings would make for a more distinct Shishido...

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

He's on the Motomiya diet... loves sweets... loves meat... hates most veggies... very picky eater...

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Tsuruno bro this is not a QUESTION 😭😭😭😭😭 but I do like to think he'd hit it off with Ryuji and RGGO's Kagami... the OGs... lol...

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

LEGALLY I cannot say Yuto Tamura from Nihon Touitsu because he is in fact based on Yuto Tamura from Nihon Touitsu so I will say Guts from Berserk :) I dunno the thought crossed my mind randomly while playing and then my friend made the comparison too... so it's real to me...

[04tenno]

11. Any RGG character that you want to date?

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

Nah I'm aro

[shishitsu-week]

Here is the prompt list for the #ShishitsuWeek2024 which'll take place from March 4-10!

Check down below to see the japanese & chinese prompts as well as the guidelines and other information!

We also made a carrd which contain several contents related to the week

GUIDELINES

Everyone can participate in the week. Just make sure that you use the hashtag #ShishitsuWeek2024 and mention us on twitter / tumblr (shishitsuweek / shishitsu-week) so we can retweet your entry. We also have an Ao3 Collection to collect the shishitsu works submitted for the week.

We accept any language and any type of media: it can be fanart, fanfiction, photos, edits…

However, we do not accept AI or plagiarized submissions.

Regarding the "Actor AU" prompt: Although this prompt is a direct reference to the actors that give voice and face to Shishido and Tsuruno, we do not promote shipping between real people. You can use this prompt to make reference to their movies in which they appear, the most known being Nihon Touitsu.

Either way prompts are open to interpretation and there isn’t a specific way to work with them, so please just have fun with the prompts!

Different interpretations of the ship are allowed: it can be romantic or platonic, but as long as the works focus on their relationship you can submit your entry to the week.

NSFW submissions are allowed as long as they're properly tagged, blurred using twitter and tumblr options or hidden in specific websites (eg: privatter).

We will be answering questions on both Twitter and Tumblr (ask box)!

CREDITS

There are several people who have helped the week. Without them, the shishitsu week wouldn't have been possible:

PlasticMajima ; credits for the prompt lists graphics!

Irisiña ; thanks for translating the english prompts to chinese and japanese!

and thanks to betheantagonist for helping to build the carrd!

[todayisafridaynight]

Not related to ANYTHING but the Yamaguchi girlies have been talking about this manga and theorizing the yakuza dude was based on Yamaguchi and/or his Nihon Touitsu character (not even unlikely since there's a mangaka who based a character on Motomiya and is now working on the official NHT manga lol)

Conspiracy Theories Aside I saw the cover and was IMMEDIATELY reminded of half the manga you talk about on here so I wanted to show you :)

It's called A Story About an Offline Meet-Up Between an Otaku and a Yakuza and it's only got a fan-translation (one that's REALLY far behind, at that) but it looks cute to me idk... I also like the Aoki-lookin' plushie...

O MY GOD IVE ACTUALLY READ THIS MANGA HELP it's such a cute manga... funny enough i actually see a lot of people say the main yakuza looks like tatsu from WotHH....

[todayisafridaynight]

YOUR FRIEND WAS SO WRONG FOR SAYING IT'S WEIRD TO FIND ACCENTS ATTRACTIVE 😭 Unironically the Kansai accent is one reason I prefer the Omi to the Tojo... like the Omi cast is kinda cracked In My Opinion if I were to compare the two as a whole but the accent and associated characterization do a lot for them...

That's also one reason I'm SO excited for Gaiden since MotoYama have only done Kansai accents once or twice, and they used to be so bad at it the writers for Nihon Touitsu rewrote their characters to be from Yokohama instead of Kobe LMAO sounds like they nailed it in Gaiden though... And Lest We Forget Miss First Summer Uika her voice as Akame still makes me soooooo 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

TO REWIND TO JO I think it was actually such a missed opportunity not to have him be from Kansai. Not just because I think media should stop doing Tsutsumi like that (And They Should), but there's genuinely some super interesting interplay you could do with his background and characterization. Sayama immediately came to mind with how she feels the need to suppress her accent to be taken seriously, but you can hear it when she's fully relaxed.

Jo already does a great deal of suppressing himself, right, so I just think it would've been a great way to subtly add to to that. Also interesting specifically because of his "backwater scumbags" comment which to me absolutely reveals overt prejudice specifically against people from Kansai... and y'know, he's like, he's Omi but as far from the heart of the alliance as he can be... For What...

I can see his parents moving from Kansai early on, perhaps even before he was born, and him growing up speaking Kansai at home. Coming to hate the sound of it because of his family life, finding it harsh and uncouth, getting rid of every trace of it he consciously could. Maybe getting shit from his dad over it if he was still living at home. Maybe feeling justified later down the line if he ever worked any service jobs or even when he joined the Tojo, since having a Kansai accent is detrimental because you'll get mistaken for Omi...

Literally so much to chew on with the willful erasure of his identity and self-hatred turned outwards And Everything compared to him just randomly being really good at the accent (<- I will admit this is funny as hell)

she said it was problematic in some veins at some point SO <3 i can only tell you whats going on in her dome <3 omi favoritism is mad valid as hell tho like TRULY they're just all a unique bunch even aside from their accent... love to the tojo crew but like... only like three of you are truly memorable... and your most memorable dude Has A Kansai Accent like GIRL--

it'll be fun to see more kansai bitches added to the cast on that note :) fun for my ears in any case YATAA

BUT YAYA THATS EXACTLY WHAT I HAD IN MIND WITH JO BEIN FROM KANSAI DAS EXACTLY IT LMAO i just think it woulda been neat... he's already got layers to him Both Metaphorically And Literally why not add another one to how he speaks.. also so i can hear ttm speak kansai more.. ANOTHER thing fun for my ears....

[todayisafridaynight]

I think this is some sort of politician/secretary AU of Nihon Touitsu? Anyway Hisho may have been the secretary Aoki needed but Tamura is the secretary Aoki deserved

i just think if aoki got punched in the face once or twice or every other week he'd be a more tolerable guy <3<3<3