#same Koroku same

[scarskelly]

Koroku's 😬 face while Endo discusses his broken hand.

[videogamedogbracket]

Bracket (Round One)

First off, big thanks to Challonge for making this bracket so easy to generate! (Also, yes, I'm sorry about the tiny text.)

We'll be starting off Round One with the matchups furthest to the left, which will be split into four groups. Group One is going up at the same time as this post, and the next groups will be posted in order once the previous one is finished.

Here are the Round One matchups:

Group One

Angelo (Final Fantasy VIII) vs. Toby (The Great Ace Attorney)

Rush (Megaman) vs. Flippy (Toontown Online)

Lesser Dog (Undertale) vs. Spot (Nintendogs)

Riley (Call of Duty) vs. Blanca (Shadow Hearts: Covenant)

Sergeant O'Fera (Cuphead) vs. K.K. Slider (Animal Crossing)

Dribble (WarioWare) vs. Barkley (Cassette Beasts)

Gab (Zero Time Dilemma) vs. Randy (Wobbledogs)

Group Two

Dr. Potan (THE DOG Island) vs. Ai (Puyo Puyo Tetris)

Colonel Ruff (Brawl Stars) vs. Mame (Yakuza)

Repede (Tales of Vesperia) vs. Aesop (The Flame in the Flood)

Umbra (Final Fantasy XV) vs. Pepita (Trauma Center: New Blood)

DD (Metal Gear Solid V) vs. Fondue (Rhythm Thief)

Polterpup (Luigi's Mansion) vs. Flash (Jetpack Joyride)

Ren (DRAMAtical Murder) vs. Rusty (Rusty's Real Deal Baseball)

Group Three

Annoying Dog (Undertale) vs. Boomer (Far Cry 5)

Hewie (Haunting Ground) vs. Isabelle (Animal Crossing)

Moonless (Fear & Hunger) vs. Elena (Spiritfarer)

Pryna (Final Fantasy XV) vs. Amaterasu (Okami)

Koromaru (Persona 3) vs. Dogamy and Dogaressa (Undertale)

Pickle (Papa's Pancakeria) vs. Digby (Animal Crossing)

Ppodae (Lobotomy Corporation) vs. PaRappa (PaRappa The Rapper)

Group Four

Missile (Ghost Trick) vs. Hot Dog (Skylanders)

Boney (Mother 3) vs. Pizza (Chicory: A Colorful Tale)

Taroumaru (Genshin Impact) vs. Brown (Rule of Rose)

Satty (Breath of the Wild) vs. Interceptor (Final Fantasy VI)

Rukey (Pyre) vs. Sam (Sam and Max)

Koroku (Suikoden III) vs. Rex (Fallout: New Vegas)

Lord Arcanine (Pokémon Legends Arceus) vs. White Beast (Guardian Tales)

I don't have much else to say that isn't self-explanatory, but I will make one thing clear about this tournament. Propaganda for your faves is allowed, and even encouraged, but any rude or disparaging comment about another participant will result in an instant block. Please just be civil and uplift your favorite without tearing down anyone else's, okay?

Happy voting!

[atopearth]

Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi Part 4 - Yamanami Keisuke Route

I've always liked Yamanami so I am curious about this route! Lmao at the mechanical doll he made to serve him tea. I definitely think it's more terrifying and I can see why Serizawa thinks it's weird haha! Alike Suzuka though, I think seeing Yamanami so happily talking about it makes me smile. LMAO when it started laughing creepily, legit died at the face, and then it exploded🤣 Glad to know Yamanami is undeterred. It's so funny how even Hijikata is concerned and thinks that Yamanami's inventions are going to wipe out the Shinsengumi one day🤣 Yamanami being convinced into teaching children both knowledge and the sword was nice, because he was conflicted considering the way the Shinsengumi operates and kills people so he feels inadequate to be teaching children, but if not him, who will educate these children? I think it would have been so cute if Suzuka and Yamanami could just peacefully teach these children forever, especially since Suzuka finds teaching enjoyable too. It's too bad that it'll end tragically.

I think what I really like about Yamanami is that he really enjoys and is passionate about teaching children about the current state of affairs and events, teaching them of knowledge they should know and informing them of things they should be aware of in hopes that they can be the future and change things. That incident with the Aizu samurai mistaking the Tosa samurai for a Choshu samurai and injuring him was wild, because the Tosa samurai committed seppuku to prove his innocence and that led to the Aizu samurai to commit seppuku to take responsibility for that death! Honestly, a very drastic reaction, not that I can't understand considering the implications on his honour etc, but life is more than honour and I think things could have been solved more amicably without having two people die for a "mistake". Yamanami really delves into everything and anything! Suzuka having fun with his handmade kaleidoscope was cute, it is pretty cool to be fair though hahaha, I used to be so fascinated by those as a kid! I think it was very sweet of him to make that just for her despite him being sick and everything that's going on, really shows his appreciation for her. I don't blame Hijikata for being..disappointed in Yamanami in a sense with what he's teaching the children. He's advocating and teaching them that violence isn't the only way in life and that if you can solve things without violence, then that is probably the better way, and this contradicts the Shinsengumi's way of life that they're living everyday. I think I agree with Hijikata in that Yamanami's blade hasn't dulled but his spirit/heart has. He obviously doesn't feel the same anymore and quite frankly seems to enjoy and want to live a life where he can teach children to live lives knowing the choices they can make which do not have to stem from violence. Yamanami is too gentle of a soul to continue a life of just fighting.

Koroku is so adorable. Not only does he work hard in both his studies and his swordsmanship, but he tries his best to truly understand Yamanami's thoughts and ideals, especially when it came to thinking about what strength is. I like his answer that "even if you don't win, as long as you protect someone with your sword, you haven't lost". He's a kid but he understands the reason for wanting to win rather than be fixating on the win itself. Aww, Suzuka helping Yamanami stretch was cute, I like how happy they look in the CG. Honestly, I was already sad before in other routes when Koroku died, but actually getting to bond with him in this route and having to see him killed like that, I even more so can't blame Yamanami for choosing the path that he did. Koroku sincerely believed in Yamanami's beliefs, admired him, and wanted to be like him and in a sense it was because of that, that he died. It's not Yamanami's fault at all because it's the fault of the adult who could so cruelly take the life of a child, but you can't stop Yamanami for feeling responsible for it especially considering how much he also cherished Koroku. When Yamazaki said "there are things and people will never be able to give up on... Even if it puts them on the path to destruction", it aptly described Yamanami's future and I can't even say it's something Yamanami should give up on. It was so saddening to watch what a terrible human being the samurai who killed Koroku was, a true waste of space who destroyed a bright future. It's totally not worth it to have Yamanami lose his life for killing this guy and so unfair. My heart honestly broke hearing the children's pleas to Yamanami that they still want to learn from him. Yamanami could have taught them so many more things if he didn't die. It's truly not fair. I feel so bad for Suzuka. She didn't even know that Yamanami was going to commit seppuku until basically the day of it. I find it so cruel that Yamanami never properly told her and only gave her the bit of time before his death. It was so sweet to hear how much he loved Suzuka but yet so cruel that she has to live on being the only one who remembers and thinks of the future they could have had peacefully teaching kids and living together, envisioning that future just hurts my heart so much and makes me cry. I should have expected that Yamanami would write a letter to Suzuka but it still hurt me knowing that he wanted to give her a letter one month after his death telling her about the kids. It was natural for her to take over Yamanami's school after all.

Overall, even though I already knew the outcome of Yamanami's story, the route didn't fail to still break my heart. Watching over Yamanami's change of heart from living a life of fighting to contemplating about a life that prioritises ways of life that aren't focused on violence was thought provoking especially considering his position as General Commander in the Shinsengumi whilst carrying this doubt. I enjoyed watching over him and Suzuka teaching the kids and living happily doing that because it really showed what their future could have been like. Every time I think of Koroku, my heart hurts because he was such a kind little soul full of life, a future and a strong desire to improve his own and his country's future. I can never fault Yamanami for making the choice that he did because I think I would have done the same even if it hurt everyone around me, because the moment Koroku died because of him, there was never any choice to do anything but avenge his little soul that didn't deserve any bit of the pain he had to experience. I would never be able to forgive that Tosa samurai who killed Koroku, and I would never able to forgive myself for allowing such a thing to happen. In a sense, you could say it was inevitable and that's exactly why Yamazaki really didn't want to tell Yamanami. It was tough to see Yamanami and Suzuka confess their love to each other right before he committed seppuku but I think Suzuka appreciated knowing of his love towards her and the children which is why she wanted that love to persevere in the form of her becoming a teacher, taking over his school and teaching the children left behind who still wanted to learn so many things. The ending was expected but nevertheless sweet, because it really goes to show that Yamanami's desire to give children the choice to learn both studies and swordsmanship and not focusing on just violence was a belief Suzuka would pass on to the future generation and I'm sure they're in good hands.

[daeva-agas]

For all the manga and anime and movies and novels claiming that Nobu hires people by merit, you don’t really have solid proof that it’s true. Only Hideyoshi and his brother are nobodies from who knows where. For the most part the other vassals that we know anything about are at the worst jizamurai, so they're usually not nobody. 

Akechi may or may not have gone broke and become poor at some point, but he's still someone from a good family. Wealth or lack thereof doesn't really change your nobility status. There’s a difference between “helping a broke noble restore his status” and “raising up a total bum from nowhere to become an important person”. Takigawa from Koga was also believed to be jizamurai. Hachisuka Koroku's background depends on who's talking, but he's either an associate of the Ikoma or someone from another clan.

Like, sure, maybe you can argue that there’s so many vassals who we don’t really know much about, and maybe those are also originally dirt poor farmers, but you still can’t prove it either way. It’s cute to make uwu scenes for fiction or whatever, but after 10 trillion times, it gets a bit boring. 

Other similar “legends” seem to be completely made up scenes from modern day novels too. Like "often plays with village kids". Yeah, he had the reputation of acting weird downtown, but it's usually with his own pages from the house (such as Toshiie). Not that he hangs out with the dirt poor farmer boys. Doesn’t stop like Every Single Damn Anime/Manga/Game to still repeat it for the nth time though.

Producers, every single time: “We’re trying to do something new here!!” Movie/drama/anime/manga: *still uses the same old cliches that’s been done for 50+ damned years*

YES I’M SALTING

Even though these stupid tired tropes do nothing for Nobu's character, and is not even true so why keep repeating them? Japan just admit that you don’t like change. Your “new” stuff are just “let’s randomly insert utterly weird twists for shock value” 

Supportive Mama Tsuchida Gozen would have been an interesting element. I won’t hear people say “but then there’s no conflict”. CONFLICT CAN HAPPEN IN OTHER WAYS NOT JUST “WAH MY MA IS A BITCH”. Hell, Nobu being a sheltered little prick is actually a pretty revolutionary concept. That’s why he acted weird in the funeral. His dad is dead but he isn’t ready to be the heir, he panics, he falls apart, he has no idea how to rule. THAT’S a conflict. I think it was done in one of the old manga that I saw in passing once, don’t even remember its title, but it’s so old I don’t think the general non-nerdy public remembers. If a new production were to run with that I dare wager that people would be totally shook to see it and go “ooh aah unique~!!!”. I was pretty shook when Voltage ran with a “very nice but distant/uninvolved mama” Tsuchida Gozen :/ 

The Ikoma are like, Tsuchida’s distant cousins right? How about a plot where the mum is the one who set him up with Kitsuno or whatever. Or if we don’t wanna do the concubines angle in otome or whatever, just have her help broker an alliance, since the Ikoma were actually vassals for some other branch of the Oda. They’re not originally Nobu’s vassals.

Also Nobu being a sheltered rich kid is like, can be a source for rulership issues. Maybe he doesn’t understand how the common citizens feel or thinks. He might think that just showering people with money is good enough. And then his vassals come in saying, no no no my lord, this is not how you do things. Especially the (presumably) kinda less-high-class vassals like Takigawa. Or even the Ikoma vassals, who are involved with merchants. They maaaybe don’t really get the peasantry, but they might know things about the middle class. The Oda get their money from, well, trade. They deal with actual cash, not grain tax. 

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Propeller Opera 1 Review

Author: Koroku Inumura (author of Toaru Hikuushi~/A Cetain Pilot’s~ series)

Illustrator: Shizuki Hitomi

Label: Gagaga Bunko

Release Date: 18 September 2019

A war story with a focus on sky battles with a well thought-out setting and two leads with a lot of chemistry. I struggled with following along with all the military/aircraft terminology but I ended up liking it due to the interesting story. Recommended for people who enjoy war/military stories.

Story:

Genre: M/F romance, war & military, airships

The story starts with a proposal from a 10-year old boy to his childhood friend and princess of his country. When asked whether he loves her, he responds that he wants to marry her for her position, not for her herself. This goes down about as well as one would expect and his family is forced to move to another country. Since then, the two have only met once but are reunited aboard the airship Fubuki which is set to go to war with another country.

First off, I am obviously not the ideal person to read this novel. Japanese is not my first language and I struggle with things like war and aircraft terminology because I just don’t have enough experience in the language. So while I understood enough to knew what was going on, I’m not going to be able to enjoy the sky battles the same way that a more experienced reader is going to enjoy it. That is to say that I really can’t talk much about that aspect of the book with as little knowledge on the subject. It seems to be well-researched (the end of the book has a list of resources that the author used) and this is not the first series that the author has written that focuses on war and aircrafts and they’re obviously passionate about the subjects so I think people who read the novel for that aspect won’t be disappointed. It’s such a major aspect of the volume that I feel bad that I wasn’t able to enjoy it more. Maybe I’ll give it a reread in the future.

War/Aircraft elements aside, this was a pretty interesting first volume. The two leads have nice chemistry and the writing style was very smooth. The story was interesting and a lot of thought was clearly put into developing the world. It didn’t make me want to read more but I liked it and I can see why this author is quite popular.

Character:

Izaya and Kuroto are the leads. I personally found them to be too perfect to be really interesting but their chemistry made their interactions fun to read anyway. I did end up quite liking the side character Rio who is another one of Izaya’s and Kuroto’s childhood friends. She has such a bubbly and cheerful personality that it was hard not to like her.

Recommended for:

If you’re into war and military stories and/or have an interest in airships, then this is the book for you.

I’m not sure if I’ll be reading volume 2 or not yet, when it comes out. I liked this volume but I think I’d be better off learning some more military/aircraft terms before I read more. I would like to read some of the author’s other less militaristic stuff though, like Yagate Koisuru Vivi Lane as I’ve heard good things about it. Next up is Sekai no Owari no Encore 8

[vintage1981]

#FlashbackFriday: Godzilla 1985

Godzilla 1985 is a 1985 kaiju film directed by R. J. Kizer and Koji Hashimoto. The film is a heavily re-edited American adaptation of the original Japanese film The Return of Godzilla, which was produced and distributed by Toho Studios in 1984. In addition to the film being re-cut, re-titled, and dubbed in English, Godzilla 1985 featured additional footage produced by New World Pictures, with Raymond Burr reprising his role as American journalist Steve Martin from the 1956 film Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which itself was a heavily re-edited American adaptation of the 1954 Japanese film Godzilla.

Both the New World Pictures and Toho versions serve as direct sequels to the original 1954 Godzilla, with Godzilla 1985 also serving as a sequel to Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. The same adaptation techniques used to produce Godzilla, King of the Monsters! were implemented with Godzilla 1985, with the original Japanese footage being dubbed and edited together with the American footage. The film retains the original musical score by Reijiro Koroku, while also integrating portions of the score for the 1985 Canadian film Def-Con 4, composed by Christopher Young.

Godzilla 1985 was met with mostly unfavorable reviews upon its release in the United States. Like Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, much of the nuclear and political overtones featured in the original Japanese film were removed from the American version. Godzilla 1985 was the last Godzilla film to be distributed theatrically in the United States until the release of Godzilla 2000.

[animewithairplanewings]

とある飛空士への恋歌

The Pilot’s Love Song (lit. Love Song for a Certain Pilot) is a series of light novels written by Koroku Inumura.  The TV anime adaptation was directed by Toshimasa Suzuki, written by Shinichi Inotsume, and animated by TMS for the winter 2014 season.

The series follows Kal-el Albus, his class mates, and the rest of a city as they ride a flying rock in soft exile to try to find the legendary End of the Sky.

Allow me to start out this review by saying that this was, when it was first coming out, the first anime that I ever saw based so heavily around airplanes.  As such, it has a special place in my heart.  So while the plot may be a bit iffy and some of the themes are questionable, that’s not what we’re here for anyway.  This is an airplane anime through and through.  I was hooked with the opening scene, and every episode had some good flying in it, even the class-ramen-shop-for-a-festival episode.  If you are feeling down because of anime that don’t have planes, this is a good one to pick up.

Love Song takes place in the same universe as The Princess and the Pilot, and, while the events take place after the plot of the movie, it is not necessary to view Princess first (though there is a good Easter egg that I missed the first time I watched the show because I had not yet seen the movie). It does, however, mean that the world is the same: magic, kingdoms, and high-tech World War II style aesthetics to the airplanes (Seiichi Nakatani being the mechanical designer for the series).

The main aircraft used in Love Song is the El Halcon, a two-seater tiltwing (erroneously called tilt-rotor) training aircraft.  It features an open cockpit where the pilot sits, and farther aft a station for a navigator/observer.  Being a training craft the El Halcon has no in-built armaments, and though there appears to be a railing to mount a heavy machine gun around the aft seat for the most part the cadets are shown using a rifle as their only means of defense.

The Laguardia comprises the main aerial force of Balsteros Republic, and the plane that the cadets are training to fly.  Essentially it is a more powerful version of the El Halcon, with an enclosed cockpit and stronger engines, though the only armament appears to be a machine gun mounted at the open aft seat.  There are a few other minor changes to the body to differentiate them, such as the El Halcon’s V-tail being inverted on the Laguardia, or the Laguardia having vertical stabilizers behind either engine.  Both are amphibious, recharging their hydrogen fuel cells in the oceans, a plus considering that Love Song shows the planet to be even more of a water world than was suggested by Princess.

While I do not like the tiltwing design of the El Halcon as much as I do the traditional, fixed-wing design of many of the other airplanes in the series, beggars can’t be choosers, and it does let them do some interesting things with character interaction and grand battle tactics.  Unfortunately aerial combat in this anime often goes a few steps beyond “highly suspect;” simply put there is no way you can convince me that a group of kids armed with rifles can take out a squadron of supposedly boom and zoom fighters, especially when the cadets are taught to bunch up.  It should make for a scene reminiscent of a western’s wagon fort, with the tension that that imparts, but in this context it just ends up making the enemy look laughably incompetent and the cadets that survive armored with plot rather than wits or skill.

The Pilot’s Love Song takes home 4.5 out of 5 Airplanes for some darned good flight sequences, even if it tends to eschew the reality of aerial combat a bit too much for my taste.

[nicht-alles-gold]

I drew Koroku first then decided it would be fun (?) to try and draw the rest of the dogs in the same way but without looking at the first picture again. I’ll do my OWN palette swap.

[shakuhachi-kataha]

映画「虚無僧変化」

youtubeで見つけました。　

　

　

　

時代劇に出て来る虚無僧はみんなこんな感じなのでしょうが、実在のとはかけ離れた虚無僧ぶりが面白い！

　

　

　

Komuso Henge　

　

　

　

あらすじ

　

　

第一部

徳川末期、北海道宗谷にある幕府の北辺警備隊勤務の小川達之助が江戸へ帰る日の近いのを喜びつつ親友の隊員江見主税と海岸を歩いていると、函館の豪商立石十兵衛の密輸品をかくしてある小屋を見つけた。十兵衛は警備隊長小野田喜内となれあいでロシアと密貿易を行っていたのである。正義の士達之助は十兵衛を面責した。事の発覚を怖れた喜内は江戸からの命だと称して隊員の一人を残すことにした。くじを引くと達之助にあたった。彼は足軽友三と残ることになった。皆が出発した後で喜内から贈られた酒を飲んだ友三は毒死した。達之助は喜内等の陰謀を覚り、すぐ後を追ったが疲労で倒れた。達之助を救ったのは謎の虚無僧月心であった。一方函館に着いた主税も喜内等の酒席の放言でくじのからくりを知り憤ったが、反って喜内の一味、清水源次郎や斎藤帯刀等の闇討に会い海中に落ちた。しかし主税は今は没落した函館の豪商北海屋の一人娘お雪に救われた。江戸には達之助の恋人で主税の妹芳江が待っていた。また主税には愛人の芸者照吉があった。一方函館では、十兵衛が主税の生存を知り、その生命を狙っていた。主税の身辺を案じたお雪は、別のかくれ場所に彼を移そうとした。だがその途中を十兵衛の手下に襲われた。そこに突然現われたのは虚無僧姿の達之助と月心であった。十兵衛は短銃を落して逃げた。三人は十兵衛の監視の目をごまかして津軽行の船に乗りこんだ。お雪も同じ船に乗った。お雪を慕う北海屋の若者小六も乗った。月心は津軽に渡ると一行に別れた。お雪は主税から、主税の妹の芳江が達之助の許婚者だときかされてがっかりした。お雪は達之助を恋していたのだった。彼女は達之助に復讐を思い止まって、自分を連れて松前に帰ってくれともいった。達之助は肯んじなかった。嫉妬にかられた小六は短銃を奪って逃げた。

　

At the end of Tokugawa, Tatsunosuke Ogawa, who works for the northern guard of the Shogunate in Soya, Hokkaido, was walking along the beach with his best friend, Emi, while joyfully returning to Edo. At that time, he found a hut hidden by smuggled goods from Hakodate's wealthy merchant Ishijubei.Jubei was smuggling with Russia in association with the guard captain Kiuchi Onoda. Tatsunosuke, a man with a strong sense of justice, blamed Jubei. Kiuchi, who was afraid of discovering the matter, decided to leave one of the members, calling it a life from Edo. When I drew a lottery, I hit Tatsunosuke. He will remain with Yuzo Ashigaru. Yuzo, who drank the sake given by Kiuchi after everyone left, was poisoned. Tatsunosuke woke up to Kiuchi's plot and immediately followed him, but collapsed due to fatigue. It was the mysterious Komuso Gesshin（月心） who saved Tatsunosuke.On the other hand, Emi, who arrived in Hakodate, was indignant when he learned of the lottery plot by Kiuchi and others, but on the contrary, he met Kiuchi's crew, Genjiro Shimizu, and Saito Bando and fell into the sea. However, Emi was saved by Oyuki, the only daughter of Hakodate's wealthy merchant Hokukaiya, who has now fallen. Tatsunosuke's lover and Emi's younger sister Yoshie was waiting in Edo.Meanwhile, in Hakodate, Jubei learned of Emi's survival and was trying to kill him. Worried about Emi, Oyuki tried to move him to another hidden place. However, on the way, he was attacked by Jubei's minions. Suddenly appearing there were Tatsunosuke and Gesshin in the form of Komuso. Jubei dropped his pistol and ran away. The three of them boarded a ship bound for Tsugaru, fooling Jubei's guard. Snow also got on the same ship. Koroku, a young man from Hokukaiya who longs for snow, also got on board. Gesshin broke up when he crossed Tsugaru. Oyuki was disappointed to hear from Emi that Emi's younger sister Yoshie was Tatsunosuke's married man. Oyuki was in love with Tatsunosuke. She asked Tatsunosuke to stop revenge and take her back to Matsumae. Tatsunosuke didn't agree. Jealous, Koroku robbed his pistol and ran away.

　

　

こちらの動画は第一部のみです。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC6DXFUhBjI&t=2209s

（しかしこの映画のサムネイルが、何ゆえこの人なのか、は甚だ疑問…）

　

　

　

　　

それはさておき、けっこう虚無僧カッコいい笑。

　

　

　

　

しかしながら、かなりの脚色ぶりなので、ここで注釈しときます。

　

　

　

　

主人公、小川達之助が海辺で尺八吹いてます。

くじ引きの罠にはめられ、北海道に残る事に。

一緒に残ることになった足軽が、警備隊長小野田喜内の仕組んだ毒入の酒を飲んで死ぬ。

　

　

左に見えるのは現地のアイヌの人ですね。江戸の侍が敵の船を追っ払うためにに北海道に行ってるということですが、時々登場するアイヌは現地人というより、土人扱いで酷いものです。（私事ですが、私は生まれ変わるならアイヌになりたいくらいアイヌの生き方に憧れて尊敬しているので、この侍たちにはすごく腹が立つのですが…。恐らく���の映画が、虚無僧界隈では知られていないのは、差別的表現が含まれるため公共の場での上映やレンタルも無いのでしょう）アイヌ問題も理解していただいた上で、虚無僧にスポットを当てていき���い思います。

　

達之助海まで船を追ってきたが、力尽きる。その時、どこからともなく尺八の音が聞える。

背中に尺八ささってます。これも浮世絵によくある粋なスタイルってやつですね。

呼び竹吹いて応答してみる。

なんと虚無僧、北海道で焚き火してた。

一人なのに天蓋被ったまま。

原則、虚無僧は二人で行動するのは決まりだったそうな。

月心といい、目黒の虚無僧寺から来たそうな。

なんやかんやとあり、虚無僧姿で戦いです。

天蓋したまま格闘はホントは不可能です。

この月心、悪い商人に鉄砲で打たれそうになったら、自分の尺八を投げて見事商人の右腕に命中、銃を落としました。そこで鉄砲を商人から奪う！

尺八は投げても武器になる！

　

　

　

そして、無事に江戸に揃って帰れる事になりました。

最後はどこからともなく、仲間の虚無僧がぞろぞろ出てきます笑

お話は第一部のみなので、続きが見たいところです〜。

　

　　

　

　

...

[yourgamecheats]

Nioh 2 – The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement double boss fight

What’s a ridiculously hard boss fight between friends? This is how to take down both Shibata Katsuie and the half-Yokai Hachisuka Koroku at the same time during The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement boss fight.

After you’ve made your way back through the waterwheel village, you’ll find your two friends scrapping in the forest clearing where you beat the Kamaitachi.

This battle is absolutely nuts. It’s…

[gravediggerslocal]

Monster Mania: Music From The Classic Godzilla Films (1954-1995)

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Randy Miller Official Site Monster Mania: Music From The Classic Godzilla Films (1954-1995), Varѐse Sarabande 1998

Up until 1998, American Godzilla fans who wanted to listen to the uninterrupted music from the films they love had very few options. Unless you were able to import albums directly from Japan, the selection was limited to Neil Norman & His Cosmic Orchestra’s decidedly bouncy covers of “Monster Zero March” and the classic Godzilla theme from the Greatest Science Fiction Hits series. One of the few good things about Tristar’s so-called Godzilla movie was the wave of products associated with the Japanese films which flooded the stores to cash in on the hype. One such release was Varѐse Sarabande’s Monster Mania: Music From The Classic Godzilla Films (1954-1995). It was originally promoted under the same “Godzilla Classic Themes From The Classic Films” and some CDs bearing that title seem to have been released, but apparently Toho made them change the name for some reason. But that isn’t the important part. You’re reading this to see how the new recordings compare to the original versions used in the movies!

The drum footfalls of “Godzilla-King Of The Monsters (Main Title)” are not quite the same as you hear in the film, but the power of the composition is still there. It’s highly enjoyable despite such small differences. The rousing and militaristic “Destroy All Monsters (March)” clearly shows off its musical influence from Akira Ifukube’s previous work. Not that it makes the music any less great. As you have probably guessed from the title, “Godzilla Vs. Mothra Suite (Main Title, The Letter, Song Of Mothra, Mothra March)” is a combination of several compositions in a single track. The main title portion devotes equal attention to Godzilla and Mothra. The musical sense of power represents Godzilla and the light fluttering notes are obviously supposed to represent Mothra. The soft piano work wonderfully compliments the sadness of “The Letter” portion of the track and despite it being an instrumental, I can practically hear the lyrics of the Mothra song. The chimes were also a nice touch. The last portion is a Ifukube military march with touch of his classic Godzilla theme. Taking a break from Ifukube, we move on to Reijiro Koroku’s “Godzilla 1984 (Main Title).” The opening cymbal crash and moody, low notes help the track’s overall melding of bombast and suspense. The drumrolls are a great touch as well. I also enjoyed the piano work of the pleasant “Godzilla 1984 (Love Theme).” As the original Japanese soundtrack for King Kong vs. Godzilla didn’t get released in America until 2006, the inclusion of “King Kong Vs. Godzilla (Godzilla Revived/King Kong Transport Operation)” was a real treat for G-fans back in 1998. As expected, they opted for the heavy material rather than the Lyman-esque jazz tracks. The second half of the track is one of my personal favorites. It has such a busy feel and splendid use of percussion and horns. The way Takayuki Hattori’s “Godzilla Vs. Space Godzilla (Main Title)” makes use of drums reminds me of something from the James Bond franchise. While we’re on the subject of that particular film, “Godzilla Vs. Space Godzilla (Love Theme)” offers the listener a quieter moment. I only wish it had been spaced out further from the other love theme on the album.

Masaru Sato’s “Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster (The Departure From Retch Island)” brings us both the feel of south seas adventure and confusion for those who had seen the island’s name translated as either “Letchi” or “Retchi” over the years. Although it’s not quite the same as original, anyone who has seen the film could easily identify what movie it was from just by listening to it. Akira Ifukube returns with a vengeance for his final Godzilla outing with “Godzilla Vs. Destroyer (Main Title/Destroy Hong Kong)” and includes his trademark use of steady drums implying heavy footfalls while “Godzilla Vs. Destroyer (Requiem)” is appropriately soft and mournful. “Son Of Godzilla (Godzilla & Minilla)” is pretty darn close what’s heard in the actual film. It’s goofy and light, with just touch of menace that leads so nicely into the guiro-filled “Son Of Godzilla (Kamakilas).” Since I have already expressed my affection for the original, I’ll just say this is different enough to be distracting. Koichi Sugiyama’s “Godzilla Vs. Biollante (Main Title)” is both heavily inspired by Jaws and calls back to the opening theme for The Return of Godzilla. The soft and beautiful feel of “Godzilla Vs. Biollante (Biollante)” is presumably a reference to Biollante’s rose form. “Godzilla Vs. Biollante (Super X-2)” owes a LOT to John Williams’ Superman theme. The evocative piano and drums of “Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (Opening & Attack On The City)” are coupled with bassoon work to create some perfect Ifukube moodiness and “Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (Terasawa & Emmy/Goodbye, My Home Town)” offers plenty of sadness thanks to its expert use of flute and string work. The rousing “Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (Main Title)” has plenty of callbacks to classic Godzilla material. Speaking of which, aspects of “Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (G Force March)” should remind listeners of what they heard earlier in the album. Listening to “Godzilla (Requiem)” makes me appreciate “Godzilla Vs. Destroyer (Requiem)” so much more. Its occasional usage of chimes are a touch I had completely forgotten about. The drums and cymbals of “Godzilla-King Of The Monsters (Reprise)” come back for one more glorious time. After a lengthy wait, we get what seems to be another reprise…until the electric guitars kick in for a secret track! It’s a cover of Blue Öyster Cult’s “Godzilla” by Black. Its use of metal-style vocals is an interesting touch and it makes for a fun way to close things out.

Conductor Randy Miller and his orchestra have done a marvelous job covering a range of material that (more often then not) goes toe to toe with the originals. It’s all to easy to get lost in the overall spectacle when trying to focus on the music while watching the movies and listening to them like this allowed me to fully appreciate the music for what it was. I recall some reviewers complaining of being able to hear the musicians breathing but I’ve never noticed it. Although many soundtracks from Godzilla films have since been released in America, there are still plenty of reasons to track down a copy of this. Tracks 3, 5, 8, 9, 12-16 and 18 still have yet to be released in their original form in America and this album is the only way to experience what things might have been like if Akira Ifukube had recorded his work in stereo. Considering how Toho made an ultimately failed attempt to rework some original monaural recordings into stereo for the Shin Godzilla soundtrack, it looks like this album will remain the only way to do so for quite some time. It’s also an interesting time capsule of sorts. Note only are some of the translations “off,” but this came out at a time before Toho really put its foot down about the 1984 Godzilla being referred to as The Return of Godzilla and before the name Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was settled on. But in the case of the latter, the album does have the benefit of the film having not having been released in the States at the time. But I can’t complain too much seeing as how I opted to use Amazon’s version of the track names, which combine the title of the film with the title of the tracks themselves, rather than just use the track names from the back of the CD case. The liner notes offer a nice look at the history of the Godzilla franchise and the various musical influences and techniques present in the selected tracks. If you pay close attention to the album credits, you’ll even spot a credit to the band Black regarding their hidden contribution! It’s currently out of print but you can find it at a reasonable price if you look around. Hopefully Varѐse Sarabande will reissue it now that Legendary has boosted American interest in the Big G.

[daeva-agas]

A while back I did a long-winded analysis on Hide’s death poem. Gosh, I really wish I can talk to a historian to ask why the museum wrote tsuyu as つゆ even though the text on paper looks more like 津ゆ. TL;DR: Just basing on the visuals, what the text looks like to me is: “Tsuyu to ochi, tsuyu to kienishi, Waga mi kana, naniwa no kotomo, yumemi no yume”. 津ゆ is not actually a word, as far as I can tell. 

It’s possible that Hideyoshi just forgot how to write 露 at the last minute and just wrote whatever kanji that sounds similar. 

Although even the wording wouldn’t really change the overall meaning of the poetry, I think. The impression I got is that the poem says, in archaic terms, “I tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t even matter”.

While Japanese is not the same as Mandarin, 津 in Mandarin has the possible meaning of “sweat”. I had been wondering if the first two lines actually say “I drip down like sweat, and evaporate like dew” (i.e “I exerted so much effort, but my life is over just like that”)...  

Which makes me think... as far as my limited exploration of Japanese fiction goes, I think nobody has ever tried the interpretation that Hideyoshi actually hates his job. It’s almost always either “ambition” or “earnest beginning that devolves into megalomania”. But it’s entirely possible that he does the things as someone who doesn’t wish to see the nation fall apart again, and despite absolutely hating every single part of it, does it anyway out of self-imposed “duty” or something? 

Like, I’ve seen some Western commentaries criticize Hideyoshi permanently segregating peasants from warfare, and confiscating weapons owned by the common folk. Saying stuff like “oh wow, this elf-centered power hungry bastard wants to prevent uprising”. On the one hand it makes sense, on the other... do people not realize just how damn rare is for a Hideyoshi story to happen at all? It’s not for no reason he’s such a big deal. Peasants rising up to big powers is not common at all. 

How about seeing it that he does that in order to make it impossible for daimyo to drag the peasantry into wars, and let them to cultivate land in peace? Remember that a lot of soldiers are part-time conscripts who are common villagers in “off time”. If the peasantry has no arms, when daimyo want to wage war they would either have to send the peasants with nothing at all, or spend money to outfit the peasant conscripts for the war. And it’s not hard to imagine that nobody wants to do that. 

I guess it’s the fault of people making too big of as fuss over Nobunaga’s acceptance of “talented people regardless of their origins”. Like, it might give the faulty impression that any random farmer can just go off and become a super rich and powerful daimyo anytime they want? 

Except Hideyoshi is probably one of a very small handful of people. You can’t use him as a citation to make a blanket assumption about every damn other Oda vassal. Come on, tell me who else are also rando nobody from the boonies? Most others that are often cited as examples, like Hachisuka Koroku or Takigawa, are not scruffy mountain hobos. The fact that they have surnames at all means that they’re somebody. Maybe jizamurai or some sort, but they’re not nobody. Heck, the Takigawa are somebody enough for the Maeda to consider associating with, and the Maeda are definitely not nobodies.

What about all the lavish sparkles that he indulges upon? Might I suggest “Monkey See Monkey Do”? Making a big sparkly spectacle is how you make a display of power, regardless of whether or not you actually like it. Hideyoshi would’ve seen other lords do the same, from the shogun to Nobunaga to any other daimyo he interacts with in his service. Accepting fancy foreign tributes is a proof of status, and perhaps he thought that constantly wearing them is even more effective as reminder to the people who see him. 

The material I’ve read seem to hint that Hideyoshi is even more ostentatious with his stuff than Nobunaga was, and that sounds like someone who is overcompensating. Nobunaga and Ieyasu both are from good family and are comfortable with their background to some extent (YMMV on how Yasu is affected by his time in Imagawa’s place). Hideyoshi is a self-made man. He might feel the pressure to somehow show people that he belong where he is.