#taichis anxiety

[caelanglang]

… I finally collected my guts to catch up with Akai angst… suddenly ao3 went down…

@itotypes I think the universe is telling me something……

anyways drawing this to cope… I’m sorry it’s bad and messy……

[seventeenlovesthree]

Taikouvember Fanfiction - Day 4: Confession / Lie

@taikouvember

Summary: Taichi is used to getting regular and quick text replies from Koushirou - of course he gets worried once his partner doesn’t respond and thus wants to figure out what’s wrong by paying him a visit at his office...

Characters: Taichi Yagami & Koushirou Izumi (established, ages 22 and 21)

Main POV: Taichi Yagami

Genre: Hurt/Comfort

Rating: T (tw: depiction of anxiety/a panic attack)

Wordcount: 1586

The first thing that had made Taichi get suspicious was the significant lack of informative messages on this particular day.

 Koushirou wasn’t exactly a typically ‘chatty’ person when it came to sending messages, but ever since he had created and continuously improved the Chosen Children network, he had made sure to keep everyone up to date – and connected as well. To this day, Taichi was still baffled by the fact that he had not only provided the entire team with individualized smartphones – but that he had also committed himself to the task of inventing the perfect distortion tracking goggles.

 Just for him.

 Koushirou had always been the one to gather and instruct their group and thus, directly or indirectly, helped Taichi to stay on track.

 Now that he was sitting on finalizing his thesis for university, Koushirou’s matter-of-factly messages had been a welcoming distraction here and there. No matter how eager he was to get his thesis done, getting a step closer to the Digital World, Agumon and himself again, Taichi knew he would never not go soft for Koushirou simply rambling to him about ‘a bug in the system, keeping us from tracking the distortions properly at the moment, but I will take care of it’.

 He was aware that Koushirou felt responsible. For finding a way to restore their partnerships, for making sure to prevent it from happening again in the first place. And so, Tentomon had to have worked overtime for all of them recently…

 “Huh. I wonder if he fell asleep on his desk again…”, Taichi quietly mused out loud, yawning, looking out of the window of the campus library. He had been there for hours, so darkness had already fallen over the city. Deciding that it was time to find an excuse to not only distract himself but Koushirou as well, he had texted him around an hour ago.

 ‘Could you figure out what the bug was? Anyway, I’ll pick you up for dinner, your choice, my treat this time. No sleeping at the office today.’

 It was unusual for him not to respond within a timeframe of five minutes, as his office set-up allowed him to access messages from at least three devices at once.

 “Hrm…” Taichi felt like a spoilt child, expecting to get an answer immediately, but now he genuinely started to worry. Not that he had been able to focus much on the paper in front of him anymore anyway, so he got up on the spot, heading over to Koushirou’s office complex via public transport. It was a route he knew by heart already, knowing exactly when to catch which train, regardless of where exactly he was.

 A soothing journey, almost like a ritual, something to hold onto in times he couldn’t really be sure of anything.

 So when he arrived, as expected, none of his employees were left on the floor when he stepped into the darkness of the main space – Taichi enjoyed special privileges after all and thus owned spare keys to all important aspects of the space, including the manager’s office.

 What he absolutely hadn’t expected was the state he would find Koushirou in.

 Contrary to what he had assumed, he was far from being asleep – but the sight in front of him wasn’t any less worrisome. In fact, it made Taichi’s heart stop for a moment.

 The redhead was sitting in a curled-up position on the floor next to his chair, legs pulled close to his chest, breathing heavily and irregularly.

 A panic attack.

 “K-Koushirou?!”, Taichi instinctively uttered to get his attention, slowly approaching him by kneeling next to him on the floor. His own heart was about to jump out of his chest now and cold sweat covered his neck as he frantically looked around, trying to locate a certain ladybug in the room – but couldn’t…

 “Hah…”, Koushirou breathed loudly, unable to look at Taichi, still facing forward with a blank stare and Taichi tried his best to clear his head. He could not afford to be overwhelmed himself in a situation like this. He had to collect his thoughts, memories, strategies…

 “It’s me, Taichi”, he said as softly as he could despite his shaky voice, keeping his presence as non-threatening as possible. “What do you need? Is there anything I can do for you?”

 “T-Taichi-san…”, Koushirou whimpered, gasping for air as his voice sounded awfully raspy. And now Taichi was able to tell that tears must have streamed down his face previously. “I-it’s n-nothing. I will be a-alright.”

 It was a deflective reaction Taichi was just too familiar with and he absolutely hated that he could relate to it so well. Biting his lip, he looked for signs, body language, anchor points… Until he noticed that Koushirou had clenched his fists as his arms were wrapped around his legs and so he took another shot:

 “Is it okay if I touch you?”, Taichi asked, smiling through his worries, wanting to reach through to Koushirou as kindly as he was physically and mentally capable of, no matter how big the urge to just hug him was – and this time he got a reaction, just a small nod, but enough for him to act upon it.

 Reaching for his fists with both hands, he covered them softly, noticing how cold his skin felt, how much he was shaking. Eventually, he could feel them unclenching, trembling fingers lightly intertwining.

 “Do you want to breathe with me?”, Taichi asked after another minute, already feeling a little bit more confident in his doings as he could sense another nod from Koushirou, hoping that his own warmth could get through to him. “Close your eyes and-“

 “N-no…”

 Just a breathless whimper, but persistent enough that Taichi understood. That would have been too much, alone with his own, probably terrifying thoughts…

 “Then… Look at me instead?”, he suggested calmly, looking for dark, watery eyes to meet his own, anxiety and trust equally present in his glance. Taichi could feel the latter coming through as he began to visibly breathe in and out, giving Koushirou an indicator to follow. Slowly, patiently. Repeating the procedure a few times until they were in sync.

 “Good, good, you’re doing great. I’m here for you.”

 How could he not have seen this coming? How could he not have known that the separation process must have begun a while ago? How long had Koushirou kept it to himself? Now he felt like the biggest idiot under the sun for having asked about the ‘bug’ in his earlier message – if Koushirou had read it, it must have triggered his current reaction even more. When looking around in the room, Taichi spotted the digivice lying on the ground. Covered in stone. Even after everything he had gone through…

 They kept sitting like this for a while, while Taichi occasionally repeated words of encouragement. He did not keep track of the time, but it didn’t matter anyway. If necessary, he would have sat here with Koushirou for the entire night, never leaving his side for even a second. The pain of losing one partner was already painful enough for a day…

 As the shaking vanished and Koushirou’s breathing became steadier and calmer, they ended up in a loose embrace, with Taichi gently stroking his back.

 “Thank you, Taichi-san…”, Koushirou merely whispered after more minutes had passed, voice hoarse and tired, but significantly more composed. “How did you… Know what you were supposed to do…?”

 Hearing that, Taichi chuckled, relief washing over him over the fact that Koushirou was finally able to speak coherently again, despite their circumstances.

 “You should know never to underestimate me, right?”, he teased lightly, aware that he had to take this topic a bit more seriously. “Well… To be honest, I had to go through something similar with Hikari when she was little and… She also had to deal with me when I had those after… That time. You know… Panic attacks. Sorry that I never told you about that…”

 “Mhmh…” Koushirou nodded, sinking a little more into their hug, clearly exhausted. “I… Did not mean to lie to you either, I just… Could not… I’m so sorry…”

 “I understand”, Taichi reassured him, thus tightening the embrace a little more. He knew what it was like to spiral. He knew that Koushirou must have blamed himself for everything, watching Tentomon disappear must have been like an entire world crumbling around him. Blaming himself, not having done enough, known enough, being ignorant and useless, not wanting to worry anyone around him. Not even Taichi.

 Taichi, who was just glad that he could have reached him this early – he didn’t want to imagine how much worse it could have gotten if Koushirou had been left on his own the entire time. How ironic that he had to go through it himself to understand that lying about being okay was not the right thing to do.

 “It’s not your fault. Believe me, it’s not. And… We’ll get through this together, I promise. We’ll see them again. Now… Do you want me to get you some water?”

 “Please”, Koushirou replied, breathing in audibly. A tiny wince went through his body and Taichi already assumed he was close to getting a relapse – but then he just leaned his head against Taichi’s shoulder, letting even more of his guard down. “Can we… Go home then?”

 It was the start of an even more uncertain future. But just as Taichi said, they would get through it together.

 “Of course.”

[petamanning]

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

One show ends this week, but there are several more on the way, including a surprising adaptation. Of the six shows airing now, five are streaming weekly on Gaga and the other is available via fansub.

Takara's Treasure

I. LOVE. THEM. Their little bird watching date was precious and I loved every moment of it, including Taishin's adorable outfit and over preparedness, Takara's secret smiles, and the patient search for the wallet. I was so relieved that Taishin named his fears about them not being suited upfront instead of letting it grow into a huge anxiety in his own head, and I was also happy Takara was eager to speak with him about his impending relocation. That said, NOOOOOOOO I don't want a forced separation and time skip, show. Please I am begging.

Cosmetic Playlover

This was my favorite week for this show by far, because they actually let us see the relationship at its center! I enjoyed finally spending some time with these two as a couple, though I still find the timing and sequencing of these plots confusing as hell. Last week Sahashi gave Mamiya keys to his place and it was implied they'd been dating for quite awhile and were already serious, but this week we learn Mamiya has never spent the night and they are only just having sex for the first time. It was a real record scratch for me; I can't get my bearings in this relationship trajectory with all the gaps in the story. But hey, at least they finally let them make out a little! For a show that sold itself as toxic sexy, there has been very little toxicity or sex, tbh.

I Hear the Sunspot

*rubs temples* This show is really testing my patience. I got excited last week when Kohei and Taichi finally had a real conversation and it seemed like we were moving forward, but this week we're back to treading water. This story did not need 12 episodes; this pacing, while faithful to the manga as I understand it, does not work well for weekly live action. It's been weeks since we've learned anything new about these characters or advanced the central relationship, and the show continues to stumble with its confused depiction of Maya. I just want this show to pull together and finish strong, because I think a lot of this will be much more tolerable on a binge watch. For now I will just gaze at Kohei's beautiful smiling face and hope for a full recovery.

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

I said last week that the show had gotten so muddled I didn't think they'd be able to end well, and even with those very low expectations this finale still managed to get underneath them. The last several episodes made a mess of the characters, the conflict, and the themes of the show, and to add insult to injury, they capped it all off with angle kisses, a time skip, and a bizarre sex negative ending that had our "boob monster" adult lesbian refusing to have sex with her girlfriend for over a year so she could "cherish" her before randomly kissing her at the office as if that was the important resolution we'd been waiting for. A truly horrid ending that ruined everything this show did so well in its early episodes. I don't understand!! Big sigh and fingers crossed for a decent sexy gl sometime in the near future.

Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

I've just been beaming and staring into space for the last several minutes after finishing this episode. No matter what else happens in the shows, I love knowing I am always going to end my week in jql on a good note while this gem is airing. This week marked a transition point for Ishida and Mitsuya, as Ishida had a great conversation with Noguchi, found a new passion and put in for a job transfer, and had his final meeting and meal with Mitsuya as writer and editor. Which they immediately followed with a date and mutual acknowledgment of the feelings between them! And what a fantastic date it was, with every moment so invigorating and wonderfully adult. Mitsuya's quiet confidence and amusement at Ishida's nerves, Ishida's clarity on how he wants Mitsuya to see him, the mutual compliments and gestures and smiles and eye contact, ahhhhhhhhh. I also loved that Ishida got to be the one to show Mitsuya something new at the end, to get him to run with joy for the first time in ages and introduce him to a new food. I am so excited to see their dating era begin in earnest. You can find the episode with subtitles courtesy of @isaksbestpillow here.

Tagging @bengiyo to add this week's anime update.

[base0h]

HAIKYUU CHARACTERS MEETING YOU, THEIR IDOL PLAYER

a/n - so this was kinda inspired by the one piece swapped au :) but yeah basically it’s just them meeting you, a professional volleyball player for Japan that they’ve idolized their entire life and aspired to become like you 🫶

Warnings ⚠️ - g/n reader, famous volleyball player reader, this is not an x reader thing!!

are they having a seizure? A stroke? A heart attack? Maybe all three?? | “OH MY GO—“ they’re frozen mid sentence

.✩ hinata (when is bro not tweaking when he meets someone remotely cool?), nishinoya, tanaka (you made him and nishinoya freeze midair like when they saw johzenji’s manager), koganegawa, goshiki, yamaguchi, bokuto (he’ll unfreeze and then yap about how cool you are), yamamoto, inuoka, kinoshita, himekawa (he might’ve died standing up)

you’re scared of them because why are they just staring at you like they wanna murder you? | they want an autograph but are too afraid to ask you

.✩ kageyama, asahi (he doesn’t mean to bro 😭), aone, sakusa (bro doesn’t want germs on him but he also thinks you’re cool so he’s torn)

they’re so sweet, and they walk up to you with so much adoration your heart legit melts | “You’re so cool— you’re the reason I started volleyball and I’m so glad I did!”

.✩ hinata, nishinoya, kanoka, michimiya (she’s literally so sweet 😭), natsu, akane (she got into cheering because of you not her brother don’t tell him)

they’re all calm on the outside but inside they’re tweaking | “Can I have an autograph?” OH MY GOD IT’S Y/N L/N HOLY SHIT—

.✩ hoshiumi, kuroo, yaku, suguru, futakuchi, konoha, terushima

probably the most normal acting fans out of everyone | “Can I have a selfie with you? I’m a big fan of yours :)”

.✩ tendou, sugawara, ennoshita, iwaizumi (bro does not know how to smile for pictures tho), oikawa (he’s gonna do those finger heart things), matsukawa, hanamaki, daichi (also does not know how to smile for pictures plus he can’t figure out how to flip the camera), semi, aran, kai, komori, hirugami, akaashi

they don’t even look like they like you but they really do | “Can I have an autograph?” they say that as they’re looking at you like you’re a piece of trash

.✩ ushijima, kunimi, kenma (you’re his fav streamer), suna (his rbf is so bad) washio, shirabu (I don’t think he’s ever looked friendly in his life)

they’re very nervous and they legit cannot ask what they wanna ask without forgetting who they are where they are and what’s happening 😭 | “Uh— what’s my name for you to sign? Oh! Right— yeah my name is uh— crap what is my name?”

.✩ yamaguchi, hinata, kindaichi, himekawa, kinoshita, yachi (it’ll be a miracle if she actually is able to ask for a picture without dying of anxiety), kanoka, asahi (he forgot what he was gonna ask you too)

you’re a fan of them so now you’re tweaking because they’re asking YOU for an autograph/selfie | “Can I have a self—“ “YES.”

.✩ kenma (you’re literally a premium patreon), alisa, lev (bro him and his sister are so pretty), little giant, timeskip hinata (ninja shoyo bro 😭🙏)

you’re scared because why are they as tall as the BFG | “Can I have a selfie?” “Yeah sur— HOLY—“

.✩ hyakuzawa, tsukishima, ushijima (“hello there” bro has the high ground 💀), hakuba (that one dude in kamomedai), koganegawa, hirugami (not the kamomedai guy his older brother), lev, meian, sokolov (I have no idea who this is I just know he’s 6’7), barnes (also don’t know who this dude is but bro’s 6’9), taichi, tomas

they’re so chill and friendly that you become friends

.✩ fukunaga (he’s hilarious dude no wonder he’s a comedian post timeskip), kai (the guy is a saint 😭), aran, sarukui, konoha, tendou, kiyoko, sugawara, matsukawa, hanamaki

a/n - fukunaga is underrated guys he’s hilarious

[twst-rose-prisms]

Corrine Enfers' profile

🎮 Bio 🎮

- Dorm: Ignihyde

- Japanese: コリーヌ・エンファーズ (Corinne Enfazu)

- Birthday: February 16th (Aquarius)

- Age: 16

- Height: 153cm

- Dominant hand: Ambidextrous

- Homeland: Island of Woe

- Family: Unnamed Mother & Father Unnamed older brother Unnamed younger sister

- Voiced by: You Taichi

- Other Name(s): Fugu-chan (Pufferfish) (by Floyd) Mademoiselle Sombre (Gloomy) (by Rook)

🎮 School 🎮

- Grade: Freshman

- Class: B (no 19)

- Club: Magical Shift Club

- Best subject: Magical Analysis

🎮 Preferences 🎮

- Hobby: Gaming, Collecting merchandise

- Pet peeves: Socializing

- Favorite food: Potato chips (all flavors)

- Least favorite food: Mustard

- Talent: Multitasking

A gloomy, quiet freshman who always have scars and injuries across her body due to her misfortune curse since her birth. Although she appears like she have no energy to spare or often avoid socialising, she can become an entirely different person if she got motivated or fired up.

🎮 Unique Magic 🎮

Misfortune Deluxe (呪いの誕生 "Birth of a Curse"): Can inflict her misfortune curse to someone else of her choice for a certain period of time, however, as her curse is deemed very dangerous and could be life-threatening, she rarely ever use it.

🎮 Background 🎮

It all starts with a simple wish, a simple desire to be more successful, more famous in business. The two of them thought that by using such a method, no one will notice or question it, after all, cheating is such a common thing in this world, and not all businesses are pure or genuine. But that also was the start of the biggest sin they could have committed. The ancient spirits immediately took notice of their actions, and it was too late to redeem by then. They got their deserved punishment - their next newborn child would be cursed with misfortune for the rest of this little soul's life. At first, the two of them thought it was nothing too severe, considering how it's just being unlucky... And that was their second mistake.

After all, misfortune isn't meant to be taken lightly.

🎮 Trivia 🎮

Being born with a curse of misfortune since birth, she often gets into accidents or injured herself even with the smallest object or tripped by herself. Because of this she is seen with many bandages or some sort around her body.

She has shark-like teeth and pointy ears, as it's a hereditary trait from her family since they also got the same features according to her. She feels shy to grin or smile most of the time due to this as well.

She also has quite a lot of scars due to the past injuries or accidents in the past.

Her favorite character is called "Mister Pandie the Red Ghost" or Pandie for short, he is a mascot of her favorite game series and she often seen carrying a keychain of him around or just put him in the pocket. She also loves collecting merchandises of him.

Despite her gloomy nature most of the time, if the right "switch" is on, she'll become an entirely different person - more serious, competitive and confident especially if it's with magical shift or playing games. (She doesn't realize how she acts though)

Initially, she was going to join the Board Game club as other clubs scares her, but due to her curse, she accidentally applied to Magical Shift by accident. Although she is actually good at the said activity, her gloomy nature makes people look down on her easily only for them to regret it later on afterwards the moment she got fired up.

She can multitask easily as she's ambidextrous and also quick to memorize or pick up the pace of her work especially if she works alone. However she's bad with working in groups as her anxiety would spike up when she got surrounded by strangers or even with classmates.

Her most favorite game genre is RPG and action-oriented while her least favorite is novel-based or gacha-related as she got no luck at all playing those games.

One time as a kid, she accidentally chokes on mustard by accident when eating and was coughing and crying so hard, hence why mustard is her least favorite food and she is scared to taste it even until now.

Because she often got into accidents, her family have to constantly look out for her since she was little. She doesn't realize this up until hearing a conversation between her parents unintentionally.

[duhragonball]

November Plannin'

All right, I've been thinking it over, and I think I'm gonna have to pull the plug on my NaNoWriMo account. The AI thing irks me, because to me the organization seems to think that it doesn't matter if you use Chat GPT or some other damn thing to reach the goal. And I do think it matters, because to me the whole point of the exercise is that those 50,000 words come from me, and me alone. The only software I need is Notepad.exe. I only downloaded iA Writer because it was like a Notepad.exe for my phone, and I got FocusWriter because it's like Notepad.exe with a wordcounter.

I've heard about the Nano community, and the writing groups, and the public meet-ups, and I'm not knocking any of that stuff, but I never had any interest in that. I just used the website to keep score, and I guess that's what bugs me, because by refusing to condemn AI, they're basically insinuating that the score doesn't matter. "It doesn't matter what you wrote." Someone told me that once and it still gets me kinda hot.

NaNoWriMo doesn't care if I write the words or not. All the org seems to care about is having participants who'll buy the merch and click on their sponsors, or whatever. They're gonna do this shady crap and they take the participants for granted. "What are you gonna do? Leave? You need us to reach your writing goals!"

That's the message I get from them. That's what made me reluctant to decide, because it is handy, and there's a certain anxiety that if I give up the structure the site offers, I might not reach my goal.

And that's the "creative monster" I need to slay this year. When I was in college, I took a semester of creative writing, and there was an assignment called "Killing the Creative Monster", and I interpreted it as a sense of not having enough time to write. Things kept happening, and the stuff I wanted to do seemed like it would take too long with no certainty that it would be worthwhile. That was in 1998. In 2024, the Creative Monster is the idea that I'm dependent on NanoWriMo to get me where I'm want to be.

So I'm gonna close down my account on the site. But I'm not doing it right away, because first I'm gonna save all the stats and stuff that belong to me. We'll start with the banner image I put up on my profile.

This is Zack Sabre Junior. This year, he won the G1 Climax tournament. He made a big deal about how his career wouldn't be complete until he won the G1. Not just any G1, but this year's tournament. I just put this picture in my profile because I was digging his tag team stuff with Taichi a few years ago, but suddenly I'm reminded of him winning the G1 this year. It was a big deal. He's the first guy to win that I actually wanted to win.

I've won NanoWriMo seven times from 2017 to 2023. But that doesn't matter. Unless I win Unaffiliated Autumnal Writing Challenge (UAWC) in 2024, I'll always feel a bit unsatisfied. That's what this one is about. No pep talks from some author I never heard of because I'm too busy watching anime to read. No funky word-count widget that always malfunctions around midnight. Just me and this computer, and a bunch of tekkers. That's how we're gonna do this one.

Good. I finally feel fired up about this one. I was beginning to get nervous. Let's figure out what I need to work on.

Luffa Annual 6. Ironically, this one actually takes priority over the main fic, becuase it's the Christmas Special, so it has a hard deadline. I was gonna work on it last week, but I kind of blew it off.

I don't know that the annuals are all that popular, but I enjoy making them, even if they are a huge pain in the butt to figure out. I'm glad this is the last one in the set, but I won't just slap it together and call it good.

Tellurium. This is a weird side-bet I'm making here. On my main blog, I used to do a series on the discovery of the chemical elements, and this was the next one on my list back in, uh... 2016. The tricky thing here is that the writing is just part of the job. There's research that goes into this stuff, and I don't want to get lose a days' worth of wordcount trying to wrap my head around molecular orbitals. Call me a glutton for punishment. It'd be relatively easy to just do 10-12 Luffa chapters and call it a month, because I've done that before. I feel like this year needs to be trickier. Also, I really, really want to get Te in the books. I don't think I like the chemical elements more than Luffa, but it is telling that I'm even having that conversation with myself right now.

Luffa 225-234. Of course I still plan to stick with what brung me to the dance. Kakarot is behind me but this fic isn't finished. The problem is that I only have a nebulous plan on where to go from here, and it's coming together a lot more gradually than I thought it would. I plotted a cool scene on my commute this afternoon, so that's a good sign, but I need to be realistic here. Last year went really well because I was writing the Luffa vs. Goku fight that I had been dreaming of for years. Motivation-wise, I've got nowhere to go but down. But I had similar problems in 2018-2020, and I prevailed then.

That Bulma project I was horsing around with. Last year, there was some crank on Twitter getting pissy at anyone who shipped Bulma with any non-canon partners, like there's a rule or something. That kind of inspired me to try to do some shorter works featuring Bulma hooking up with different characters. I didn't get very far last year, but I liked having a side-thing that I could jump into whenever I got stuck with the main work.

You know, thinking about it, I really need to use 2025 to work on some non-Luffa fanfic. In the early years, I worried that working on a longfic would eat up time that I could use for one-shots, and I slowly acclimated to just focusing one thing. But now that the Goku fight is done, the pressure is off to finish Luffa before I die. I mean, it's still not finished, but the Goku fight was a major milestone, and I didn't like the idea of never getting that done.

I mean, I still get kudos on that Caulikale fic I wrote in 2018, and the Gochi thing I did. People like that stuff, and I'm pretty good at making it. Maybe I should run a poll.

I dunno, that's probably enough for now. I should go back to bed. But I feel a lot better about November than I did a few days ago, that's for sure.

[genork-the-fandork]

Falter

Word Count: 623 Prompt: First Summer A/N: Late to my own party! Of course! It's been a wild week thus far, but I had to make sure I participated this year. I owe it to Takari! I had this idea in my head for a few days, and I think it came out better than I ever meant it to. @takariweek

Though she had known about it, this place where the Digimon originated, and though Taichi had told her the tales of his adventures with the others, the Digital World was entirely new and astounding to Hikari. Her eyes stretched so wide a headache was starting to form, but she wanted to take it as much of the sights as she could. What if she forgot all of this when it was over? The thought nearly broke her heart. Surely the image of this place would be etched into her memory for the rest of her life?

There was a fear, however small, however irrational, of ruining this place if she even took a step, breathed the air, touched a tree. While the others took their return to the Digital World in stride, dusting themselves off and coming up with a plan, Hikari was frozen in place, her fingers flexing and taking in the feel of the grass beneath her. So similar to that in her own world, and yet so different in that this was Tailmon's home. Tailmon, who stood alert, ears pricked, tail poised to strike should anyone threaten either of them. The other half she didn't know she'd been looking for until it was found.

While the others milled around, pondering next steps, Hikari stayed on the grass, her excitement intertwining with nerves. This place was foreign to her, strange, and she was without her parents. Her brother she trusted, of course, of course, and she had Tailmon, but without knowing the rest very well, she was unsure about her prospects of safety. The stories she'd heard indicated that perhaps she was in far more danger here than she'd been even with Vamdemon.

"Need any help?"

Hikari lifted her head, meeting the eyes of the only other Chosen that was her age—Takeru. Yamato's younger brother. His Digimon partner had been key to the prophecy that had helped them defeat Vamdemon once and for all. But other than that, she didn't know much about him. She remembered thinking he was very brave for all his efforts to help her and Tailmon. It was embarrassing, that this experienced veteran of this world would see her falter so soon after she'd joined them here. Yet some part of her trusted enough to admit the truth: "I'm a little scared."

Takeru smiled and nodded. Glancing over at their brothers, immersed deep in discussion, he whispered conspiratorially, "I was really scared at first, too."

"Really?" Him? This child who had so bravely allowed his Digimon to shoot an arrow through his brother's heart. A connection, then—they had both been intimidated by this place upon first encounter. This revelation lifted the weight on her lungs, releasing the anxiety that had been bubbling under her skin.

Once again, Takeru nodded, and he looked down at Tokomon, grinning with all of his shark teeth. Although the sight looked scary, Hikari knew instinctively the Digimon was trying to smile. "Having Tokomon helped a lot."

Hikari placed her hand upon Tailmon's head, not missing the way her ear twitched in acknowledgement. So like a cat, and so unlike one all at once. She loved her partner dearly. "I'm relying on you, Tailmon."

Their eyes met, and Tailmon said solemnly, "I won't let you down, Hikari."

That settled, Takeru grinned and held out his hand. "C'mon, let's go join the others."

She lightly took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. For a few moments, they looked at each other, hands clasped, a silent agreement and acceptance passing between them. Should the others falter, they would stand together. It was only right.

In quite a few ways, they were all they had in this strange world of wonderful creatures.

[jamesthedigidestined]

Taikouvember Day 6A: Brave Knowledge

A young Koushirou tensed, readying himself as he spied out from the side of a tree. Gently, slowly, he made his way into the clearing. Careful not to reveal himself until the right moment. He approached his target with as much precision as he could muster before, finally…

“Hah! Gotcha” he says quietly, slamming his net down upon a beetle who could barely care less. It looks up at him with dull, uninterested eyes. Contrasting his own young, bright, curious look.

Koushirou quickly pulls out a notepad and starts to write down the insect’s features, comparing the description to one in an insect hunting guide he brought along.

“Hmmm… Kabutomushi, or *Allomyrina dichotoma*…” He absentmindedly says as he transcribes the name alongside the description of his particular beetle. Soon he’s returned from the folds of his book and back to the insect in front of him, who is currently attempting to escape.

“Oh no you don’t! Get back here!” He commands, attempting to scoop it up with the net to usher it into a glass jar. The small little bug held firm to the log it was on however, and Koushirou had to grab it by the shell and lift it up into the jar himself.

With a sigh of relief that his prey was now secure, Koushirou turned around to reveal his audience.

“Koushirou…? D-did you just touch a bug…?” A slightly older boy and a player on his football team, Yagami Taichi, had looked on, half-obscured behind a tree.

“Of course, they’re harmless,” Koushirou began, walking towards the boy with his filled jar. “Kabutobushi-san’s mouthparts are too small to bite, and they don’t have stingers or pincers. Their carapaces are smooth and cool, so I find them rather nice to touch. Would you like to try petting him?”

Taichi looks over the boy, still a bit worried over the insect, but calmed from his words. He hadn’t known the quiet redhead for more than a month at this point, but he knew he wouldn’t tell a lie.

“Alright,” Taichi stands himself a little taller, puffing out his chest “I will pet Kabutomushi-san!” And with that declaration, Koushirou begins to unscrew the lid of the bottle and waits.

…And waits.

……And waits.

Until…

“I can’t do it!” Taichi blurts out, anxiety written all over his face as he grips his shirt.

“It’s easy Taichi-san, watch me.” Koushirou effortlessly moves his hand into the jar to retrieve his newfound pet, softly stroking the smooth cool carapace.

“See? He doesn’t lash out and he’s not slimy.” Koushirou warmly responds, looking as the tension inside Taichi begins to melt away.

“Alright…” Slowly but surely the young wild-haired boy pets the insect as well. And at this point, said insect is sick of it.

As the hands retreat from his shell he reveals his large wings and begins to fly away, eliciting a yelp from Taichi and a determined look from Koushirou, net back in hand.

“After that beetle!” Koushirou calls, waving his net around at the escaping insect.

“R-right!” Taichi confirms his presence as he runs behind Koushirou, the two of them setting off on the first of what would be many adventures for them.

[emilycollins00]

Autumn troupe + SAD!GAD! reader

To one of my lovely besties ����

Attention: Slight mentions of anxiety and such! Not too much, but just in case wanted to put it here. Good ending tho! <3

Please enjoy! 💕

Okay so! I their reactions to someone with these characteristics does depend of course on who you come in contact with, because all of them have different layers of approaching the situation:

Taichi

Becomes a ball of nerves when you threaten to cry. If you do he might as cry well!!

As time passes, decides to share things about himself with you.

He doesn’t know what you go through and he’s not going to pretend to, but! wants you to know he’s someone you can feel at ease with, at of course he thinks you learning more about him could help. Maybe that way you won’t find him as scary?

Will probably use jokes to diffuse any awkwardness or discomfort during interactions, and will be over the moon if you laugh.

Omi

So, so patient.

Catches on quickly about what might be going on is might become a tad protective.

Definitely eager to help you not feel tense around him and the others -anything to help you, he’s ready to do.

Lets you take the lead and control the pace of your interactions, always with a gentle smile. If he feels you are a bit over the edge, he will give you all the space needed while leaving some sweets on the table <3

Banri

After any answer or comment you say as a response that clearly made you want to be swallowed in a hole, he begins to use open-ended conversation starters, something to make sure you shift your attention to something trivial.

If he notices you need help, often supports you in ways that don't add let’s say pressure. I’m thinking about indirect support like suggesting equipment, resources, or offering assistance from a distance.

Proud when you answer him or the others back, even if it's a short answer.

Tends to remember many things, so if he knows there’s something in particular you need, he’ll be sure to mention it so that you don’t feel awkward in certain silences.

Juza

Your encounters are a bit awkward at first. Juza's is also someone who adapts slowly so your interactions might take a bit to be called, conversations.

He sees the way you react when he and the others arrives so he usually tries to make the least movement and noises.

This is mainly due to him being one of the most understanding when it comes to the situations you experience, already aware of his own presence and the impact it might have.

As such, he tries to avoid the pressure you feel regarding his height and deep voice by not standing too close to you, opting to sit if possible.

Sakyo 

Watches your body language and behaviour from moment one, even though he may not act like it.

Picks up immediately your uneasiness around many of them with the exception of director.

King of respect. Seeing as you prefer not to engage in one-on-one, Sakyo will most likely ask Izumi to delay the information and if not, will leave a note or message.

Azami

Azami isn't the most social person either, he doesn't actively try to engage regularly in conversations. Simple greetings are good for you both.

Will most likely avoid personal questions or just questions that could turn more private, respecting your boundaries.

He knows how it’s like not wanting to share more than needed, so he’s really empathetic about this.

Usually if he needs your help he goes for activities that don’t require constant conversation and that can be done in separate paces.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Here we are. Impressive, right? I even managed to stock it like an inventory!”

You grimace. If the storage could ask for help, you were sure it would be doing so right now. The room felt cramped, stacks of equipment towering over you like a fortress.

Matsukawa goes inside and you follow without much enthusiasm. He has yet to turn to look at you though, engrossed in an unbroken monologue of self-praise, evidently delighted at the chance of showing someone the product of his work.

While carrying your own boxes of equipment, you shift your weight uncomfortable. You wish you could muster the courage to get him to focus. In truth, you would have preferred he left you alone to take a look around but alas, he was the one who supposedly knew where all Mankai’s props were.

Supposedly.

“I-It will be just a minute!” his confidence had quickly dropped after the initial entrance. “I think I might have misplaced the props director asked me to select for you— but they must be here I’m sure!”

You bite your lip as you watch him look inside some more boxes. Izumi had requested your help —being on your way to becoming a property designer and all that— and you had been more than glad for the opportunity, but the current situation felt overwhelming.

“I thought I asked you to rearrange all the upper shelves and throw what wasn’t necessary.”

A sudden, harsh and accusatory voice cuts through the air, freezing both the rustling of boxes and your racing thoughts. Honestly, an incoming bear might have given you less of an internal freak-out — because of course the voice belonged to another man. Just your luck.

You notice the manager flinches and you feel a pang of sympathy for him. You really wouldn't want to be in his skin either. "Sa-Sakyo-san!" the initial disorder in the storage upon your arrival had transformed into an even more distressing sight after he had begun the search for the props.

“I did!" he exclaims, maneuvering to find a path between the piles of boxes. "Just yesterday you could almost see the walls in between the shelves, and let me tell you it has cost me sweat, tears and quite a few scratches!”

There's a pause. You and the blond man scanned the room. If anything had been removed, it didn’t seem like it. As if the room itself tried to make a point, a few objects squeezed too tightly together toppled to the floor.

“I don’t think you are making the point you think you are.”

You hadn’t meant to say that out loud. I mean, you never do. It was supposed to be a muttered remark to yourself— a feeble attempt at humor to conceal yourself from the escalating discomfort. The comment however seems to catch the attention of the scary looking yakuza still standing on the doorframe. He crosses his arms, sighs, and to your luck, focuses on you.

You immediately feel the need to apologize even though you had nothing to do with their problem.

“You must be Y/N.” he says instead, pushing his glasses up and visibly choosing to ignore the chaos in front of you two. “My name is Sakyo, I don't believe we've worked together before. Our director had a last-minute emergency with another troupe and she told me to…"

His lips keep moving but you barely listen to anything afterward. Izumi wasn’t going to be there while you worked? The information hits you like a train. Heck, you might as well have started to cry right there at the idea of being surrounded by men all alone.

"Traitor." you whisper betrayed. Your voice is barely audible, almost lost in the expanse of the hall, but there is a sudden thought that tells you the blond man with glasses might have very well heard you again. So you cough, hiding your initial reaction the best you can and try to recompose yourself. “I, uh, yeah. I came to fix your props.”

Great job, Y/N.

You stood there, lips pursed, nervously nibbling the inside of your cheek, half-expecting a similar reaction to what Matsukawa had received. Instead, the atmosphere shifts almost imperceptibly.

You kind of notice he subtly moves a few steps away from you, though it could also have been your imagination— There was a lot to keep up with. He then speaks again.

“I assume you have your own schedule to keep. I will manage over here. You can go first and set up your equipment. I believe our carpenter has left some tables set on the stage since it’s the place that has the widest space for you to work while getting a signal.”

Stunned, you nod. He offers a small nod in return, giving you directions to get there before addressing the issue at hand with Matsukawa, annoyance flickering once again across his features.

“And you. How many times do I have to tell you that pushing boxes doesn’t equal…”

The scolding echoed as you left the storage.

.

.

.

Mankai's theatre wasn't as big as other theatres you had worked at, so at first, it feels like a cozy haven rather than an intimidating workplace. You soon reach the stage and begin to set up your equipment, beginning to create some props. Surely Izumi would finish before—

“Hello?”

You freeze at the unexpected male noise coming from one of the wings. “Don’t come closer.”

Here we go again.

The young man that had appeared stopped immediately of course. He stood taller than most people, his presence looming over you even from where you were. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to barge in so suddenly.” His relaxed smile did little to ease your tension, especially with his imposing height. After a few seconds of silence on his part, maybe waiting for you to say everything was fine again and he could move again, confusion showed on his face. “…Is everything okay?”

You barely swallowed. Why was your mouth so damn dry? Come on Y/N, say something. “Yeah, um, I’m—  organizing the equipment and stuff is also on the floor so—  it’s messy here.”

Another pause. You whine inwardly and again feel like crying. You watch the actor —at least you think he is an actor— study the situation, and something might have clicked, since he finally nods.

“Of course. I will leave in a bit, my phone just died...” he takes it from his pocket and shows you the black screen, as if to show proof he wasn't lying. “And I was supposed to meet with the others here.”

You nod curtly, and opt to focus on your work. Hopefully he doesn't begin to make up conversation if he sees you concentrated.

Minutes go by and amidst the silence you can't help but steal a glance at him. You notice a distinctive scar etched across his chin, giving him quite the menacing image—  His demeanour however emitted an air of calmness that clashed starkly with the anxiety boiling within you.

"Excuse me. Do you need help with that?" his offer breaks the silence, gesturing toward a set of props in your hands. The tool had been quite fragile, so you had wanted to carry it as securely as possible. Maybe too secure. You had been fighting with it for a few minutes, and Omi seemed to have noticed your struggle.

He offers you a smile when you look his way. “I’m Omi, by the way. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself from the start and entered without warning.”

“Ah, no it’s— ” the fact that he had been so far so attentive makes your cheeks burn. “Um, my name is Y/N, I’m a property designer… if I can properly schedule a meeting with my anxious thoughts before work.” The self-deprecating joke masking your escalating nerves might have been too much. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to say that.”

To your surprise he lets out a soft chuckle. “It's fine, I understand. I’m a part-time photographer so I also get nervous when I have to go alone somewhere for the first time. Especially when I have eyes on me.”

You doubt that was true (weren’t they all actors?) but if he had wanted to calm you —albeit unknowing to him the fact that him being a man was the terrifying part—  you felt it worked a bit. He had managed to get closer to you during the exchange, and you didn’t feel as tense as before.

Today was getting weird.

“Then, would you mind if I try to open it?” he asks again.

It took a while. Or maybe it just seemed like that to you. Omi didn’t make the slightest comment or movement that indicated you were taking way too long though. You walked towards him. You hand trembled slightly as you reached out to him. With a shaky breath, you handed him the prop. Omi’s gaze softened.

"Thank you for coming to give us a hand." his words are gentle, his tone a blend of reassurance and warmth while he places the tool on the table. “Work for this new play has been quite hectic and none of us know much about fixing props so when director said—”

“’s anyone home?”

“We’ve come to help! Director-sensei told us not we didn’t have to, but we thought it would be good to— Oh, Omi-kun you made it!”

“Hello.”

“Sup.”

This was bad.

Near you, Omi notices how you had completely frozen at the entrance of his troupemates. He turns and begins to walk up to them. “Hey Taichi, everyone.”

They are good kids so while they might seem scary you have nothing to be concerned about! Besides, I’ll be there with you as much as possible.

You remember her comment over the phone yesterday. “How about I surprise you with a sudden burst of irrational concerns then…” the comment echoes the place, their attention directed toward you. You whimper. They were bulky, tall and absolutely intimidating in your eyes.

To your surprise, the redhead laughs. “Hey, that sounded like Tsuzuru-san just know!”

You yelp and you bit your lip. The rest of the actors had begun to walk almost where you stood, their collective gaze intensifying your unease. Part of your brain tells you they are only being friendly, but you feel like prey under scrutiny.

“You must be Y/N! Are those the new props we will use?”

The red head (Taichi?) appears in the blink of an eye in front of you. His eyes move in awe from one tool to another, humming lightly and above all, talking non-stop.

The proximity was too much, too fast.

“Oh wow, this is so cool! Look, Ban-chan!”

Before you can process it, someone else begin to lean in as well to inspect your equipment.

“Sweet.” The young man mentions, his expression one of approval. “Is this going to be—”

“If any of you get any closer I swear I will cry.”

Words tumbled out before you could stop them. There it was, your usual way to threaten people to leave your personal space. Some tended to find it funny. Others not so much. Your stress picks up just by imagining their reactions.

“Settsu, stop intimidatin' them.”

“Uh?! I don’ think ya should be the one to talk, fuckface.”

"I wasn't the one who was putting their nose in the work of others."

"How are you so sure they didn't mean your..."

As those two bicker, Taichi put his hands together, worried. “I'm sorry! We got too excited. We’re not bad tho, just so you know!”

“Tell that to that resting-bitch face over there.”

"Guys you are not helping!"

Omi chuckles while the one with dark black hair next to him rolls his eyes. “Great first impression.”

You blink. You were not sure what was happening but you felt… calmer. Or at least more than you thought for some reason, just like with Omi moments before.

Their movements and voices lowered, as if they had pick up on your discomfort but weren’t really angry or bothered by it. There was a hint of understanding in the air. A subtle shift and attempt to create a cautious yet friendly distance.

“Ah, right." the one called Settsu turned to you, temporarily derailed from whatever retort he’d been about to deliver. "Did Matsukawa show ya where the storage is? We don’ have many props but Director-chan said to take a look at what we could use. They are shitty tho, guess that’s why ya are here too.”

You nod. “I was there but… he couldn’t find them. Sakyo, I think was his name, came and said he would take care of it.”

"Yeah," he confirms in understanding. “That place is a lost battle so we might as well help. Would ya like us to divide what we find or somethin’? If you’re cool with that, I mean.” he turns to the others nonchalantly and then to you. “We can also just leave. It’s your call.”

The attempt to steer the conversation away from the unease you had at first was relieving… and the thought of not having to go back to that room also helped, of course.

You make an effort to meet their gazes, but they were already talking among themselves. You try to take them all in once again. Many of them have quite a few earrings, piercing eyes, and combined with their rugged features without meaning, added to their imposing appearances.

Still, the interactions had been considerate, more than what you sometimes were used to, and the proposal had made your chest feel warm, which is why you imagine despite your usual nerves stirring, you found yourself nodding. “Anything related to the play could work. I have the equipment to fix stuff so…” you shrugged but did just best to smile. “It’d be helpful, yeah.” You meant it.

Banri sends another in return. “Copy that. Let’s go.”

“We’ll be back in a while, Y/N! Ah—  I'll make sure to look for cool things we find so you can have the play be—“

“Taichi-san you’re getting overly excited again.”

“…Thanks for the work.”

Omi, who is the last one to leave the room and follow their troupemates turns back to you at the last second. “If you need anything else we can call director and let her know you are still here."

“It's... fine. Thanks. Um, sorry for…” you didn’t finish the sentence. You didn’t really know what were you apologizing for. You back down. "Nevermind."

His laugh echoes again through the auditorium. “There’s nothing to apologize for. We'll see you in a bit then.”

And just like that, you were alone with your thoughts.

Despite the uneasy feeling you had brought, the encounter hadn't been as terrifying as you had imagined. The prospect of further interactions still seemed daunting, but for now, you found a sense of relief regarding Mankai’s Autumn Troupe.

You take a deep breath and resume working again. This time however, a small smile decorates your face.

[ciaossu-imagines]

I used the below prompt for the Autumn Troupe from A3! I hope that any fans of the series enjoy these handful of headcanons!

The character is introduced to someone important. The person is dismissive towards them, cutting them off and treating them patronizingly. Do they leave the conversation, call the person out, or let it slide?

Okay, but plain out, Banri would not put up with that shit. To be completely honest, for most of his life, he’ll have been that dismissive, arrogant person towards others and turn-about is not fair play in this boy’s books. Banri doesn’t really care how important the person is, he’s going to call them out on their behaviour the first time it happens and he might pick a fight if the person keeps dismissing him or being condescending towards him.

Juza is really going to struggle in this situation. He’s trying so hard to keep his cool, to be polite, and not to default to the delinquent behaviour that everyone expects of him. This is especially noticeable after he joins the Troupe because he really doesn’t want any bad behaviour he falls into to reflect badly on the company and the other actors. It’s really hard for him not to confront the person and lose his temper though. His nails are digging into his palms from how hard he’s clenching his fists and if he’s alone with this person, there is a chance he might explode and tell them off for how they’re treating him. However, if there’s someone else with him, especially one of the other Troupe members, he’s going to be more able to deal with the situation by letting the other person kind of take the lead and will just follow their behaviour.

Because of his self-esteem issues, Taichi is going to have trouble in this situation. He’ll honestly just assume that the person is treating him so poorly because that’s how he deserves to be treated, that he did something to warrant all that rude behaviour. He’s going to try his hardest to stay upbeat, friendly, and to be kind to the person, despite their bad behaviour towards him. However, if he’s with someone else, especially one of the other Troupe members, and the person’s behaviour extends to the Troupe member in question, Taichi will have a slightly easier time speaking up and calling the person on their bad behaviour towards his friend. However, if it’s just him being treated poorly, he’s way too cool about accepting that rudeness, allowing it to fuel his anxiety around his own self-worth.

At one point in his life, Omi would have responded by just picking a fight with the rude person and beating them to a pulp for their dismissive, rude behaviour towards him. However, as he’s aged and matured, he’s calmed down a lot and he’s learned that such behaviour isn’t really all that important an issue to get worked up over. He really doesn’t let himself get worked up over it; he simply tries to get out of the situation and the conversation as quickly as possible and he’ll try to avoid interacting with the rude person in the future.

Sakyo is having none of that shit. Like Banri, he’ll cut off that behaviour early but he’s going to do so in a way that is almost caustically polite. If there was a way to kill someone with politeness while remaining casually disdainful, that person would be dead because that’s exactly what Sakyo is doing. With his face, manners, and way of speaking, he cuts the other person down to size without ever really leaving the other person with a foot to stand on when it comes to accusing Sakyo of being rude or improper.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Now that I have gotten to episode 9 of Pending Train, I wanted to write down a more thorough comparison to Digimon and... Believe me when I say that this won't be a complete analysis BY FAR, because the amount of potential references, call-backs and allusions is just too immense. I assume I will even have to come back to this post after watching episode 10, because it's just all way too insane.

I still want to take a look at some of the most central characters, which comparisons make the most sense, and what sources exactly you could base the comparisons on. It's interesting that it's not only possible to draw parallels to Adventure and 02, but ALSO Tri and even the stageplay and Kizuna. So, let's break this down.

(Disclaimer: Aside from the Digimon references, I recommend this series to anyone who is into the Sci-Fi/Isekai Survival genre, loves a good portion of drama with satisfying pacing and plot twists and absolutely amazing character/relationship development. So this is also your final spoiler warning if you want to watch the series for yourself. Because while I will not outline everything, this analysis will be spoiler heavy!!!)

Yuto Shirahama - the Taichi Yagami archetype.

Yuto is one of the first characters we're being introduced to - he appears to be some kind of love interest to our main heroine, so far so good. What struck me at first was the way he was dressed - I tend to make fun of "MC like characters who are wearing dark blue", because that is SUCH a Digimon thing in itself... However, I was not aware of how right I would end up being.

Not only is he consistently wearing things Kizuna!Taichi wears - he also acts like him, Tri!Taichi or stageplay!Taichi most of the time. His job in the real world is being a firefighter - so when the squad ends up in "a new world", he immediately steps up as "leader", gets called "dependable" and "reliable" by the people around him, he is calm, collected and has an aura of kindness and trustworthiness oozing from him. He is a force of positivity, who believes in the good in people, his main objective being that he wants to "save everyone" and bring them all back home safely.

... We're also not surprised in the slightest that this attitude is some kind of mask he uses to hide his own insecurities, self-esteem issues and, most importantly, trauma. Due to a mistake he once made, he got his senpai seriously injured, so he ended up in a wheelchair. So in his stead, Yuto is trying to "save as many people as possible", burdening himself with that task regardless of how overwhelming it may be - especially because now, everyone relies on him to make crucial, life-saving decisions... You can almost feel the heaviness he carries around, the anxiety and the pressure it causes him while he keeps pushing through, motivating everyone around him (if they like it or not).

So... He (almost) got someone precious to him killed and has to deal with the guilt and trauma resulting from it, huh... Now, where have I heard THAT before...?

It's basically a mix of Taichi's Hikari trauma combined with his Daigo trauma - although you may take this as an AU in which Daigo actually survived. The word choices are incredibly similar as well and you may want to compare Daigo's motivational speeches to Taichi to the ones his senpai gives to Yuto. Plus, Yuto also has "a person back home" that motivates him to do his best...

Despite him being the leader of the group, he isn't particularly close with a huge number of characters - except for two VERY vital exceptions, which we will get to in a minute, because... This is probably the most heart-wrenching OT3 I have ever witnessed in media. And I mean this in a GOOD way.

So before we can outline his relationship to these other two characters, we may want to take a look at them individually...

Naoya Kayashima - the most Yamato-ish Yamato you will ever meet outside of Digimon.

Despite the fact that the story is told by a female character, Naoya is usually in the center of promotional art. And for good reason, because his back story is probably the most elaborated on and developed among all the main characters - and maybe also the most heartbreaking one.

Where, oh where should I start to describe Naoya Kayashima? How do I do it without throwing something, biting and screaming into a pillow? They knew exactly what they did by writing his character like that - and the casting choice was also marvelous, because this guy is a phenomenal actor.

He's what happens when you create an AU in which you include all the (potentially) best (and worst) qualities of Yamato Ishida - picking from various media pieces, whether it's Adventure, 02, Tri, the stageplay, Kizuna, the reboot, you name it. The Tsundere lone wolf with the tragic back story who claims to be a loner, claiming to wanting to be left alone and being able to survive and go on by himself - even though he probably has the softest heart you can even imagine, a soft spot for the weak, helping "in his own way" wherever he can, even if he may sound harsh while doing so. And everyone who knows him for more than 5 minutes can tell what he is really like - that the cool talking, the sharp joking, the harsh wording, the lonely dismissal are nothing but a facade.

He has a little brother back home, one he had cared for ever since their mother left the family and the abusive father behind. He literally gave everything for his little brother, working his butt off as a hairdresser, saving money, but unfortunately, things didn't go as planned... (Sidenote: Watching episode 9 made me think that this could have been the perfect set-up for a potential Kaiser!Yamato plotline, because almost everything would have lined up perfectly; from him being unable to reconcile with his mother, to feeling inadequate to his brother, to him getting an injury that prevents him from playing the guitar working as a hairdresser, to him turning down the confession of someone he likes, to watching his foil breaking down... It would have been positively heartbreaking, but in a good way.)

So just like Yuto, he is ridden by guilt, trying to hide all his softness deep down inside. And... Are we really surprised that Yuto's "hero attitude" is getting to him? Pissing him off, riling him up? He himself lost basically everything he worked for, he has no reason to believe in the good in people - but he can't help but doing it anyway, deep down inside, even if he is living in denial. So being faced with an idealistic opposing force like Yuto is bringing up all his deepest wishes. Daring to have hope. Daring to believe that the things you work for will result in something good...

They clash. Continuously. They get into verbal fights, challenging each other's ideals time and time again... And yet... They also push each other to be better. They're each other's helping hand in times of need, they complement and, may I dare say it, actually manage to "save" each other.

... You can probably already tell where I am going with this, but to keep this as brief as possible: THIS, their relationship, their portrayal and development... Is what Tri!Taito/Taiyama SHOULD have been. Even for someone like me, who usually isn't the biggest fan of this kind of relationship trope, the tension, the yearning was palpable and although if it was also frustrating to watch at times... This series is so skilled at making the back-and-forth SATISFYING to watch. I don't even know how it does it, but the writing and pacing are SO WELL timed that the set-backs don't feel displaced, because there is SO MUCH emotional catharsis going on. Something that Tri, the stageplay or Kizuna, didn't give me in regards to Taito's relationship.

They had so many conversations, staring contests, touches, opening up, being honest about their motivations with each other, which I would have LOVED to see in Tri. Instead, they only ever had monologues or just talked to their Digimon... Or, actually, to a third character, whom we haven't even really included into their arc(s) yet.

Because this is not an MLM story. It could as well have been one - and also could have been the story of one of the greatest poly set-ups I have ever seen. Because - both their arcs are incomplete without the third part of THE OT3:

Sae Hatano - if Meiko had been written like this, Tri would have been the most amazing Digimon sequel under the sun.

Here we have the person who basically tells the whole story, our main heroine. Up until episode 5, I wasn't 100% sold on who I really wanted to compare her with. She appears to be somewhat reserved, shy and timid at first glance, but she absolutely has guts, the motivation and kindness to move forward - she is like the designated damsel in distress who decided that she didn't want to be one and feels so organic and genuine that you simply cannot not root for her.

And Digimon, please take note, this is how you write a love triangle/OT3, okay? Yes, of course everyone is still dense and of course there are misunderstandings and drama, but by GOD, is it well developed.

Sae had actually known Yuto from before they got into the other world - when she was working as a high school PE teacher, she felt inadequate, unable to be straightforward... But then she witnessed Yuto and his kind, heroic attitude during a fire drill and decided to change her life around as well. Be more positive, not letting the world get her down. They watched a rainbow together... And you can immediately tell that girl had fallen head over heels for "supposed MC-kun".

... Little did they know that Naoya was standing just a few meters apart from them, watching the same rainbow as well. I really feel the need to use the goddamn "I know what you are" meme right now, because... This framing is just too good to be true.

After arriving in the new world, Yuto and Sae bond with each other rather quickly, the latter is more than giddy to spend time with the person she admires so dearly - and since they're both so idealistic and caring in nature, they simply cannot NOT let Naoya exclude himself from everyone else. And so the story goes - Naoya tries to pretend not to want to be part of anything, but since the others (and he himself too) are too stubborn to just let him go, they just... Naturally grow closer to each other. Especially because Naoya also cannot not be protective of both of them in return. And it's just so... Natural and organic and you can tell that they all care for each other. There is the usual denial talk of course, but there is also teasing, there is mutual support, there are the most beautiful motivational speeches you will ever hear and then... There are a few plot twists I don't want to mention at this point, but let's say that it felt a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, like I said, this show is incredibly GOOD at giving you plot twists that make you go "OOOOOOOOOH, SO THAT'S WHAT IT WAS, HOLY DUCK". But still...

Long story short: I tend to switch comparing Sae to both Meiko and Sora, because there are two angles you can go with here: The Sora angle makes you go "Oh my God, I wish this was what Taiorato had been back then!!!" or it makes you go "Awww, if they had set up Taichi/Yamato/Meiko like this, it could have been great." Because no matter which angle you pick (even though the latter makes more sense in the long run), their dynamics just feel beautifully fitting for Digimon and that is great.

Either way, Sae, while not being as hands-on (and vibrant) as Yuto and Naoya, is still a wonderful heroine, who realized her own limitations, but still knows that she has to do what she can and takes initiative wherever she can and it's just great. Again, if you go with the Meiko angle, she is the version of Meiko that would have taken action much sooner. This is NOT meant to be Meiko bashing in any way, but Tri's pacing made her go back and forth too much and invalidated a lot of her own choice-making. Sae went through a lot of suffering too and she also had moments when she may have felt disheartened - but her development just felt a lot more clear. She is being inspired by Yuto and in that way, inspires others as well, including Naoya. She grows stronger and gets enabled to make her own decisions - which, again, is also a thing you may associate with both Meiko and Sora, so in the end... It's up to personal preference. (But really, thinking back on it... She was introduced wearing glasses. And then they broke. Which is exactly what happened to Meiko as well...)

As for the other characters - while the focus of the show with THAT many characters is clearly on the three mentioned above, it still does a fabulous job fleshing out other side characters as well. Their back stories are sprinkled in here and there and through the interactions with other characters, you learn so much about how they roll, what their function in the group is and there is also STILL room for minor development scenes for them. I will mainly focus on the ones that have Digimon character comparison potential, but really, all characters are worth checking out.

Shodai Kato, Rena Watabe and Daichi Yonezawa - the almost-Jyou, almost-Mimi and almost-Koushirou of the story.

I'm grouping these three together, because I found this picture hilarious - because while they do interact with each other, they are 100% not an OT3 in the sense that Yuto/Sae/Naoya are. In fact... The show sets these three up in a way that would make you think that Mimi is c*ckblocking Jyou and Koushirou (instead of her being the center of the OT3 as depicted in many fanworks).

Let's start with Rena being our resident Mimi - or not, because while they do have certain character traits in common, the way their values are executed couldn't have been more different. When I first saw Rena, I noticed her dyed hair and immediately thought "Oh, this could be something". She turned out to be somewhat spoilt and one of her first full sentences in the new world was "I WANT TO GO BACK HOME", which literally made me go "Oh, heck yeah, we found our Mimi". So let's start with the things they do share - aside from seeming somewhat spoilt and very keen to take care of her physical appearance, she is sincere to the point that it gets uncomfortable for everyone else. You may want to say that, this is what Mimi could have turned out to be, if she had stayed as Princess Mimi in Adventure's episode 25 of Adventure. Furthermore, she even falsely framed another character simply because she judged him by his appearance - and that is also where things drift apart quite heavily. Rena, similarly to Naoya, doesn't trust people. She has experienced too many disappointments in the real world, people acting maliciously towards her out of jealousy or because they looked down on her - so she actually ends up fancying to stay in the new world without humans, because that may mean that she won't get disappointed again.

... She also has a somewhat ambiguous relationship with "relationships" to be honest - which is something that definitely reminded me of Tri!Mimi. She claims that people naturally fall for her and that she doesn't quite get it, especially because she "doesn't really care for guys" anyway - it's Sae whom she says these words to, actually finally opening up to SOMEONE in the group. And the words that follow are: "Do you think I'm that sexy?" If that isn't A+ Mimi/Meiko (or Mimi/Sora) framing, I don't even know.

It's also another Tri callback, because previously to this scene, Rena asked Sae "So, if you had to choose, who would you go for, Yuto or Naoya?", basically being the first person who canonically acknowledges the triangle going on there...

While she does have moments with other characters too and gradually warms up to a few of them, she continuously clashes with Daichi, whom I will call Yonezawa from now on, a.) because Daichi is way too close to Taichi and b.) because "Yone-chan" is a nickname I will refer back to in a bit...

So yes, the overly honest girl who has a hard time adapting to her surroundings is having issues with our resident game designer-slash-computer nerd... Where have I heard that before? Yonezawa appears to speak whatever comes to his mind, mostly in polite speech, but also in a very quick manner - and sometimes, he may come across as blunt or insensitive because of it. His thought-dumps include several hypotheses as to "where they may be", whether it's a parallel world or them having been reincarnated... For as long as they work, he is seen using his tablet and phone before he switches to pen and paper, always trying his best to be of support. And have I already mentioned the slightly reddish hair?

He also isn't exactly like Koushirou, but as outlined above, does share quite a few of his positive qualities. He is not a fighter and actually fears being seen as an incapable coward and a failure, so he may hide behind funny phrases - even if he may not even be aware of that most of the time. One of his main themes is that he is having a pacifist attitude - with an incredibly kind heart.

You can also tell that he is very prone to get into hyperfocus mode - particularly as soon as he gets to know our resident Jyou a little better, because they do share a few interests with each other, particularly in regards to geek hobbies.

Shodai, or Kato(-chan) as I will refer to him from now on, is our resident Jyou without a doubt - despite the fact that he also inherited some of Koushirou's more common trademark traits. He is a medical student specializing in biology, so he tries to take note of all the plants they encounter in the new world, helping them to find edible materials. He's quite literally the brain of the group - and yet, he also started off catastrophizing at first, displaying a certain sense of self-esteem issues from episode 1 onwards. Through his back story, we also learn that he always had issues getting along with people, that he rather spent his time researching plants and bugs, that he was never able to make friends - and that even his girlfriend (whom we never see), whom he had actually already bought a house with, dumped him eventually. He is very soft and very kind though... So yes - a somewhat blatant Jyoushirou love child, if you ask me.

Due to some unfortunate circumstances, Kato gets seriously injured and the group has to work together to keep him alive - including Yuto having to make vital decisions, Naoya playing cool while still doing what he can, and Yonezawa moving earth and heaven to make sure they get the right medicine through all the notes Kato took... It's one of the most beautiful episodes in the whole series in my opinion, as it shows the development the entire group went through, working together to save a life. In addition, it also shows the beautiful bond between Kato and Yonezawa - a bond that will get only deeper from there. And even though it's more meant as comic relief (stageplay, I can hear you from here!!!), it's still very nice to witness the relationship development of "Yone-chan" and "Kato-chan", taking baths together and having other members of the group say stuff like "They really are close, huh?" (On a different note, you may see both of them as neurodivergent in their own rights and seeing them be friends and still accepted so nicely into the group as organically as that is a very nice touch.)

They're also always seen strategizing together with Yuto (and Naoya too), which makes this quite the interesting research core. Again, there are still other note-worthy characters involved here, but I will only try to outline three more:

Kazuma Eguchi & Koharu Sato - "They have to be Takari, right?"

I'm saying "have to be" and not "are", because... We'd basically have two Takerus in this story then, as Naoya's brother, Tatsuya... Absolutely passes as being Takeru, thus fulfilling all the Takaishida bro criteria quite wonderfully (down to the hair, the hat and green clothes, just saying). However, Kazuma still has a lot of traits that make you think of him as well, so I wanted to shed some light on them:

Kazuma and Koharu are, quite literally, glued to one another by the hip. At first, they keep to themselves and actually feel a bit antagonistic within the group, giving others cold glances or snide comments. It's not until Yuto (and Naoya) tries to talk some sense into them, as they try to go off on their own, revealing that their family lives had not been the best either and that they intended to run away as a couple... From this point on, they try to integrate into the group a little more. Kazuma, while being incredibly protective of Koharu, actually is a bit of a research nut himself and tends to join Kato and Yonezawa during plan crafting a lot quite enthusiastically. Koharu is a little bit more difficult to decipher, as she is very reserved and she and Kazuma even got c*ckblocked by Yuto once which actually made me laugh out loud in context of the characters I compare them to.

Hiroko Tachibana - The most Miyako-esque Miyako you will ever find outside of Digimon.

The final straws that made me think of Kazuma as Takeru was that, that one time Naoya patted his hair and praised him, he got completely puppy-eyed and you could FEEL the brotherly parallel they played here. Especially because they ended up having a heart-to-heart later on as well... Not only that - but it was also revealed that, back in the real world, Kazuma tried to literally smile all his dismay and disapproval of the world away, showing a fake mask to the world around him. Whereas Koharu was the only one who looked through him, so... If that doesn't feel Takari to you, I don't know. He's also terrified of the disapproval of his father, so that indirectly fits as well.

(Sidenote: If you don't want to have two Takerus, you may want to compare Kazuma to Daisuke as well, as the framing is also fitting here.)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a solo picture for her, so have a group pic of basically everyone I mentioned so far summarized here. She's the one in the beige trench coat, red shirt and glasses - and while I wasn't sure if it was really her at first, there was not a single doubt in my mind anymore by episode 8. We're being introduced to her scrolling on some kind of Tinder equivalent, looking for "men that are into older women"... She usually appears to be quite polite and collected, but she can definitely be opinionated, loud, screamy - and takes charge when she needs to. Plus, she turns out as part of the research group as well, always willing to put her everything into the task - ending up as the only who capable of finding a power source of a factory and getting it back to full functionality once again.

And there is just... Still so much more I could say about this series. So many more characters. Because, again, we haven't even talked about the other Takeru, the potential other Sora equivalent, the research guys in the real world, the OTHER AMAZING MEMBERS of the group, the (Dark) Gennai comparison, all the plot twists, the auroras and glowing stones, the gates to other worlds, the May 1st equivalent to August 1st, the 3-year-gap, the word "chosen" coming up, trying to save the world... It also offers an interesting angle in regards to modern life, the impact of social media and the struggle of human kind, it feels very real in this regard. Of course the main idea of this show is based on common tropes, but the amount of potential Digimon parallels is just too stunning not to notice.

[shoujomangathoughts]

Chihayafuru Thoughts - Dissecting Ch.138 (Spoilers)

I’m gonna do my best to share my observations about this chapter, but there are a couple moments before and after that connect to it so I’ll bring them up as well.

This is actually the post that turned into me talking about Chihaya and Taichi over larger chapter ranges but I decided to bring it out of my drafts and finish it. Others have already broke Taichi’s confession down and this probably won’t contribute all that much to the conversation, but I wanted to share my interpretation anyway. I touched on these chapters a bit in previous posts, but I’ll try not to be redundant.

Spurred on by the fact that Taichi has been struggling with himself for a while, his 18th birthday and the Taichi cup, and Hyoro’s question about change, Taichi seems to be reflecting. This is why prior to confessing to her, Taichi admits he took Arata’s glasses. Even if it is many years later and it’s something that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, he tells her something that he specifically hid from her out of fear that she’d hate him for it. I always find it interesting how serious and almost bewildered Chihaya looks here because it’s clear that even though they’re so close, she knows his private nature (”He’s Taichi. Of course he couldn’t tell me.”) and thus isn’t used to Taichi being vulnerable like this. It makes everything quite tense even before the actual confession.

Then we get Taichi saying his line about wanting to shed his cowardice and the moment comes where he’s finally honest with Chihaya about his feelings. When he says it, he’s not looking at her (at first) and it’s clear that he’s still afraid of going through with it, as after he looks at her and sees her stunned expression, he immediately has thoughts of saying it was a joke. Instead however, he continues and fights through his own anxiety to clearly tell her how he feels. It’s quite a personal confession too, listing some of her physical attributes that coincide with her personality and interests; it’s clear that he’s watched her a lot and has always had a special interest in her.

The part where he thinks about how he can’t love the part of her that thinks of Arata is a raw admission (to himself) addressing his jealousy and insecurity in regards to her relationship with him. Part of his complicated relationship with Arata has always involved Chihaya and that only became more prominent as they got older. The panels here shift into Chihaya considering Arata’s confession again and seemingly coming to realize that there may have been more to Arata’s simple confession than she’d previously understood, the same way Taichi had more to say right after confessing. Between this and Taichi’s confession, she’s confused and probably feeling guilt over many things - never noticing, causing hurt inadvertently, not knowing how she herself feels, etc.

Next is Chihaya’s response, “I’m sorry”. She seems to say it multiple times (the anime depicted it this way too), which is interesting to me. I’ve talked about repeating certain phrases before (Taichi’s apology and Chihaya’s ‘thank you’), so it’s possible that she’s apologizing for many things. I’ve always seen this part as her saying sorry for what she didn’t know or understand and how that may have hurt him (recall that she thought of the “Why does Taichi always go off alone” question after he confesses). I also think she may be apologizing for not knowing how she feels. Confused and overwhelmed as she was, I’m not sure she’d so immediately reject her best friend and then react the way she does when he needs space away from her but that’s just how I see it I suppose. Though it’s also clear that even if it’s just a matter of not knowing her own feelings, she doesn’t seem to reciprocate at this point.

Either way, it doesn’t matter what she said or how she meant it because Taichi himself didn’t even hear it. Her expression and body language is enough for him to take it as utter rejection. You can see the moment where his facial expression changes and it seems like he knows he may have just destroyed a very important relationship. As he walks out he thinks a couple things. The first is that he’s never accepted any confessions he’s received. While I understand what he means, I do think the emotional pain of rejection by your best friend that you’ve known for a long time is greater than being rejected by someone you barely know (not counting Sumire I guess). Not trying to negate others’ feelings, but I think it’s worth mentioning that the emotional stakes in the former are more fragile. Taichi also makes a comment about her being uncharacteristically quiet (I believe there’s a translation where he calls that ‘creepy’ because it’s clearly out of character for her), and attacks himself and his “sense” or talent because of his inability to hear her over the bell. It’s obvious that this was the last straw before he’d entirely burned out.

Another moment and specific pages that have always stuck out to me is this part right after Taichi's rejection (or at least what he takes as such). Here we see the cards all blacked out, and most have already fallen in a pile by his feet. He's been on the way down for a while at this point and reached his limit before emotionally breaking. Meanwhile the next page shows black cards falling all around Chihaya while she very clearly looks distressed. For all the thinking she's been doing about Taichi and trying to figure him out, she never quite placed why he was acting the way he was. These two pages also point to why they act the way they do in the following days; Taichi is at the end of his rope and is emotionally spent (all the cards already on the ground), meanwhile Chihaya is overwhelmed and confused because of this new information (the cards just now surrounding her).

At this point, it’s presented that the atmosphere between them is entirely different, one of the reasons why it seems like Taichi didn’t want to confront Chihaya about his feelings in the first place. They’re not talking, they can’t even seem to look at each other, Taichi is very clearly faking smiles, but things have certainly changed and eventually something’s got to give. Between everything that happened prior, the aftermath of the confession, and finally his dropping grades, Taichi decides it’s time for him to step away from Chihaya and the club. I’ve seen discussion about how this decision is proof that he’s still “cowardly”, but I actually see it as the opposite. He finally put his feelings out in the open (and isn’t taking it back or pretending things can go back to what was normal) and now he’s deciding to leave a place and group of people he really loves because he needs time to work on himself. If he’s emotionally not present, it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the team or to himself. 

I’ve always seen Chihaya’s inability to communicate anything to him during this time as being a result of her turning inward a bit. As previously mentioned, she looked overwhelmed by his confession and she seems to be trying to sort things out in her head. I say this because when he’s not showing up to the club introduction ceremony and she thinks “Where’s Taichi?”, it sincerely feels like she’d never even considered that he might leave after what happened between them, even if it was only temporary. It comes across as though she hasn't fully thought through how hard this could have hit him. Whether she understood or not, by the time she’s running after him, it does seem as though she’s prioritizing her own feelings of fear rather than considering how he feels. In my opinion it’s not really her fault and she’s very clearly panicking, but it does read as a bit cruel to beg somebody to stay after turning them down and not respecting that they may need space for a while (though this also makes me think Chihaya herself doesn’t view what happened as her flat out rejecting him). 

Then we get the kiss. I know some people hate it, but it’s clear to me that Taichi does this out of desperation. It’s not depicted as romantic or sexual, nothing about it feels rewarding for either party (or really the audience for that matter). It appears as though he barely even kisses her and it’s used more so to communicate how hard it is for him to be around her right now. It almost feels like an “actions speak louder than words” situation, where if his confession and his words weren’t enough for her to get it, then this would be undeniable proof of how he feels. Was it necessarily the best avenue? Certainly not, however this, combined with his “made of stone” line and describing the cards as black effectively get his feelings across to Chihaya. His face as he says this again shocks Chihaya because this isn’t usually how he acts. She’s seeing how someone she relied on for emotional support crumbled and it’s an eye opener for her. I’ve always loved the overlay of their memories over the line about the cards because it shows how much of their karuta journeys have been spent together, and it sets up the next step for them nicely.

With this, Chihaya now understands why he’s walking away and how broken he is at the moment. This is seen not long after when she compares herself to the rock in the ‘kaze wo itami’ poem and is able to recognize how much emotional baggage Taichi had that she was never able to see. Her seeing the cards as black in the next chapter seems to be visualization of her empathizing with him. Her being afraid of karuta is also due to these events as she becomes afraid to confront the thing that she was always so focused on and how that contributed to the absence of someone she thought would always be there.

I talked about it a bit in a previous post, but ultimately it’s a good thing that they spend some time apart. Chihaya was reliant on Taichi in many ways that she sees far more in his absence and is able to work on aspects of herself that align with her future. Taichi, on the other hand, has to start working though his feelings and finding some sense of self worth, as well as identifying why he continues playing karuta. A relationship between them at this point probably wouldn’t work because Chihaya was focused on other things and not always emotionally present and Taichi’s self loathing wasn’t something that Chihaya’s potential love could fix.

I also really like the timing of the story here and how it fits into the structure of the narrative as a whole. There were moments with Kana and Sumire before this that were about making the most of the time the third years had left and fear about the end of that, and instead we get a huge change even before they graduate. It’s a great way to show unpredictability, and considering the difference in the club going forward and Chihaya passing out when they were first years, really allows the nationals when they were second years to live as a significant moment for them. Change isn’t going to wait until you reach the end of an ideal time, it really can appear at any point. 

// Sidenote // Whenever I see these chapters or the episode that covers them (which is amazing), I’m always reminded of the song All We Are by OneRepublic, especially in considering where the series goes. Lyrics about not understanding each other, taking time away from each other and remaining in someone’s life despite going through change. One of the lines is “You’re an island and my ship has run aground” which always makes me think of the poem Chihaya compares herself to. Random insight into where my brain goes lol.

Mostly talked about one chapter and it still ended up long. As always, thanks for reading if you got to the end!

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

Coming in hot this week with a new show plus an ongoing favorite. We also have Takara no Vidro and Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko! next week--we are back in the jql flood (yay!). Look forward to those and pray for international distribution so we can all watch TNV soon.

I Hear the Sunspot

I am so hype for this show. Twelve whole episodes to tell this story properly! The film version, Silhouette of Your Voice, is very cute but suffers from its short runtime. This one seems like it will be a more faithful adaptation of the full manga and I am thrilled. We started strong this week with the introductions of our main characters, Kohei and Taichi. I really love the way they are calibrated in this version, and Taichi is an instant blorbo. I also liked the choice to open with a look at Kohei's despair in the future before going back to the start, as it grounds everything nicely in the stakes for him. The show is also already doing a great job of unpacking Kohei's perspective on his hearing loss and the way others treat him as a result.

@nicks-den is also planning to fan sub this one, so look out for those updates. I recommend watching on Gaga when it comes out to give it the views and then revisiting with the better subs later in the week.

Bonus: Ossan no pantsu ga nandatte ii janai ka

Episodes 7 and 8 have been made available on @isaksbestpillow's blog, and this show continues to be glorious. Highlights from these episodes include the return of Hasegawa (with newly glowing skin) and Kakeru continuing to make friends and settle on a career path in makeup, Mika learning to let her family appreciate her, Makoto's confusion about whether Kakeru likes boys or girls, Kakeru's frustration that he's trying to figure that out at all, Daichi's anxiety that he is making Madoka's life more difficult, Madoka's fear of losing him due to his inability to come out, Makoto's continued efforts to confront his senior and change his workplace for the better, and a lot of hard won bonding and connection at the festival. Phew, this drama packs in so much in every installment and it all feels so natural.

My favorite thread in these episodes was the parallel they drew between Makoto and Kakeru and their struggles with communicating effectively. Kakeru's impatience and dismissiveness toward his parents' attempts to connect with him at the start of the story are akin to Makoto’s own former impatience and dismissiveness about anything he didn’t understand, and it was such a huge moment of growth for Kakeru to recognize that. Part of growing up is developing empathy for your parents and recognizing your own similarities to them, and I love that he is starting to open up and give Makoto grace as he earns his trust back. I also loved the conversation between Makoto and Madoka and the way they helped each other understand their respective situations better. This show keeps surprising me with how attentive it is to all of these relationships and connections.

Passing to @bengiyo for a manga update.

[dutchforstrangers]

Taishirokoura x possibilities - "What if" pt. 4

For @taikouvember 2023 - Day 2: Past, Present & Future + Day 6: Brave Knowledge, Unexpected Impulsive Love & Curious Courage

[0. Author's note] [1. Koushiro] [2. Sora] [3. Taichi] [4. Taikoura]

Taikoura | Genre: Young oblivious romance, mild fear | Characters: Koushiro Izumi, Sora Takenouchi, Taichi Yagami | Wordcount: 195

What if I fly? Get a little higher

Koushiro stepped outside, slowly leaving his always wandering mind behind. He felt brave with the brisk air flattering his warm cheeks. And he knew that every step further ahead would bring him to a ledge where he could find them, that one possible view, he had not dared yet to set his eyes on properly.

Get out of my head for a minute And just feel the wind on my face

She felt anxiety rise in her chest, her heart beating rapidly while her fingers nervously wrote the message she had been afraid of to send. But as that fear reached the top she had never imagined it could reach, all Sora felt like was being alive.

Maybe the fear Just means I'm alive

Her eyes scanned the message one last time, thumb hovering above the button that would send it to them. Sure, she could fall hard… Or she could follow those impulses to find the love she so unexpectedly desired. 

Maybe I fall...

His phone beeped once outside the building. Unlocking his phone, Taichi found a message in that one group chat. The corners of his lips curled up into a wide grin, heart pounding in his chest a little more, knowing that this was the last piece of courage he needed to fly to his future with them. 

But what if I fly?

[digifandom]

Okay this might be a hot take but, I don't think the Crest of Sincerity shouldn't exist. I like the dub crest of reliability for Joe and the sub crest of purity for Mimi. At least to me they seem to fit the characters better. Like compare the meanings and-

Joe/Jyou

Let's use the whole situation with Takeru and his Mom. With the Crest of Sincerity the meaning of that scene is that he keeps his promise to protect Takeru to Ms. Takashi, therfore showing he is sincere in his promise. (Which is great, it does read) Yet when you watch it in the context of the Crest of Reliability then the scene isn't just a promise being fulfilled (simplifying ofc). Joe's character gimic is literally being a constantly anxious person (again simplifying) so the scene has more impact (imo) to Joe as a character due to it showing that nature of "this person that I care for is in trouble, I have to help him" and therefore showing that someone who has a lot of anxiety/fears is still a reliable person. Someone who despite of himself will still do everything he can when it comes down to it, to me that has a bigger impact. Feel free to give your own opinions I'm also open to different interpretations.

There is a counter arguement to be made with the example of Joe and Yamato fighting together at the restaurant and that episode showing how "sincere" Jyou is by telling Yamato the whole truth of him not messing up on purpose, but 1 that episode is supposed to showcase Yamato's trait of friendship more so than Jyou's trait of sincerity (don't get me wrong it does do both but still), and 2 that episode read with the Crest of Reliability still reads really well, especially as a set up for who Jyou is. The episode shows things going wrong time and time again, Joe messing up (even tho it's not his fault) it shows that side of him that counter acts his giving trait of reliability but still shows the effort he puts into be reliable and once again shows his resolve to do everything he can for those he cares for via being squished by veggiemon for Yamato. The episode shows peaks of him being reliable while still keeping the trait buried in other things as it's not his and Gomamon's time.

Mimi

For our pink loving queen let's use the episode of her princess Era (ya know the one where she needs to sing but Taichi has to slap some sense into her before she does). It makes sense that this scene reads better, or more deep, with the perspective of Purity rather than Sincerity (the og is showcasing Purity afterall) In the Dub the Crest of Sincerity is used as Mimi (just as in the Joe sub) keeping true to her promise, and it admittedly (again imo) works much better than Joe keeping his promise. It works better only due to the build up of Mimi not aligning with her trait, but the Purity (imo) is still better. The Purity crest in this scene is used to represent that Mimi is a caring person that wishes the best for others but also incredibly (albeit unintentionally) selfish. Mimi is a character who wants to be treated like royalty and she can be very unaware of what her actions bring to others or that they are morally wrong in any slight way, but it makes sense for her character as she is like 10 and when she does realize the harmfulnes of her own actions she stops and tries to be better. Purity in this sense is a trait of betterment, Purity is NOT supposed to represent Mimi as a character with an unwavering moral compass that's perfectly aligned to good, instead it's meant to showcase her trait of Purity is the sense that she has a heavily wavering moral compass, one that leads her to make bad decisions at times but she then improves herself from her mistakes. Purity is (self)betterment rather than perfectly clear/good.

Counter argument: Mimi saving the people when she first get palesmon to digivolve into lillymon. It's easy to say this doesn't showcase either, or that it showcases her sincere want save people, or that it shows how pure she is by wanting to save everyone (especially her parents). So let me just justify my interpretation of the Crest of Purity representing betterment rather than being pure of heart (aka my explanation that's not the 3rd option I just gave). To keep this short, this scene is pay off of past (self)betterment and the gateway to more (self)betterment. The payoff comes from Mimi holding her ground rather than just encouraging everyone to run and get out, it's her acting (something that she's grown to do). The gateway of this scene is the fact that she is still doing this still protecting these people because of her family, she still hesitates to fight (until the very end of the series she hesitates to fight) but everytime she gets better she reacts faster she gains more confidence to do what she has come to believe is right, protecting others.

Iori/Cody

Okay I won't go into as much detail with Yolei/Miyako and Iori/Cody. But Cody is a bit difficult to really define but I still wanna say the Crest of Reliability fits him best. When Cody has to lie when he gets his digitama and is choosen to be Joe susesor it's easy to see how it's supposed to represent the in-between of the Crest of Sincerity, how it's okay to lie if necessary and that you can still be an honest (sincere) person. But read it withthe Crest of Reliability and that message is still there but another layer get added to it, Iori at that moment is doing what he can to save his friends and he pulls through despite his own hesitations it shows that responsibility within in that also helps his character as someone who always does what their told by their elders, he was taught to be honest and goes against those teachings for those he cares for. To me that developed who Iori is as a character a lot more.

Miyako/Yolei

I feel as if the execution of both crest was well down with her, to the point that if it weren't for her being the successor of Mimi I would probably be more on the Sincerity Crest side. The episode that stands out to me is surprisingly not when she gets her digitama of Sincerity/Purity it's when she gets dragged with Ken and Hikari to the dark ocean. Specifically when she slaps Hikari, that slap and the speech she gives to Hikari read so well with the Crest of Sincerity in mind, Yolei is being honest with Hikari, she's talking about her feelings she's unbashfully being herself and admitting what she wishes for, admits her jealous of Hikari. She's sincere and in ture she brings out Hikari's genuine emotions. I think this is the best use of the Crest of Sincerity and that the scene doesn't read as good when read with the trait of Purity in mind. It still reads well which is why I still think Yolei should have the Crest of Purity because it reads well with either and therefore dependent on what work for Mimi (as again she's suppose to be Mimi's successor) But just bc I like Sincerity better in this case doesn't mean I won't give my arguement for Purity.

The Crest of Purity in this same scene is weaker (imo) but it does still work, my point with Mimi is that Purity is suppose to represent (self)betterment and this scene can be argued to show that. The first step at fixing a problem is acknowledging it, this scene is Miyako out right admitting to everything that she sees wrong with herself and wants to change, it's her not necessarily asking for help from Hikari but telling Hikari "Hey I wish I wasn't as stubborn as I am and knew how to listen to others like you do" and in response Hikari points out that their is a good side to Yolei not being able to do that. This scene in this context is about (self)betterment but specifically the steps to it such as accepting the problem and understanding the positives that should stay but the negatives that do need work.

Now some of the scenes I talked about weren't scenes the characters crest were a big deal in. So ...

Why Think about the Crest in a situation that the character isn't actively using it?

The Crest that the digidestined have are meant to represent a trait they have (an arguable exception is made with Hikari's Crest of Light and Daisuke's Crest of Miracles but I have theories on that for another time) meaning in every scene you should be able to see the trait in each character or the character struggling with their trait. It shouldn't matter when if it's a trait that their suppose to represent at all times,

Taichi being scared because Courage is overcoming fear

Yamato pushing people away because he struggles with receiving the friendship of others (but giving it as much)

Mimi being selfish because it's something she needs to better

Takeru putting on a brave face because even if he doesn't have hope he refuses to let those around him lose hope

Sora holding someone back because she loves the so much and doesn't want them to be hurt

The whole point of the digidestined's crest is that they have these traits so deeply ingrained in their actions, yes their human and don't always adbid by them but even that is still present in their actions.

Lol sorry for the rant, feel free to drop your own opinions, at the end of the day it's just personal preference and interpretation, pls reblog so others can vote!