#the Sota part is what I always thinking lol

[hongtiddiez]

Since you were looking for asks I was wondering what you thought about Hush-Hush since I don't think I've seen you mention it yet since it came out? I'm usually skeptical of collabs but when it was announced I went back and watched a bunch of Be:first's stuff to see what kind of stuff they did and I hit Mainframe and Masterplan and, like, obviously they're commentary on Japanese salaryman culture on the face of them. But from a loretiny-lens I was like 'ohhhhhhhh these would fit seamlessly into the Z universe'. And then Hush-Hush itself came out and I was absolutely delighted by it. I was sitting there vibing along with the song, knowing that there were always supposed to be more members of the resistance than just the the Black Pirates and I was like 'ok, if Be:First wants to be part of the Japanese wing of the resistance in the Z universe, I am actually completely cool with this'. I also thought the connection to Wonderland with the Escher Stairs, and the (potential) tie in to whatever event fractured off the Halazia universe with the strong use of the eclipse distortions effecting gravity were super interesting. All the line references in the song to being undercover which could potentially tie into Work and its one mention of hiding from (android) guardians. I'd be really interested to hear what you thought about it.

hey anon sorry it took me a bit to get to this, my health has been in the shitter.

for my basic lizard brain thoughts on hush-hush:

i find your lore theories fascinating. i can absolutely see the direction and think it's such a fun idea to play with. personally, i don't tend to apply collabs to lore just because i don't want to take away from the other group's message or whatever theme they run with (this is my first exposure to BE:FIRST but i'll def be looking into them more.)

i'm also very much one of those people that doesn't think all of ATEEZ's MVs apply to lore - some may have nods to the lore but don't really progress the narrative (Youth, IT's you, Everything, MATZ) so i don't dwell on them too much story-wise. Hush-Hush is a bit like that for me, i think they did what Chung Ha did and applied some homages to ATEEZ lore as a little respectful nod but i don't know that it was anything so intentional as to tie into lore - but again, i really like your thoughts on it and think that's such a fun take on it and such a fun playground to play in!

i do think your mention of Wonderland is also very very interesting because i noticed a few things as well - i'm so sorry, i'm about to be so pretentious and annoying. i haven't commented on this a lot publicly because i feel like it's very much me being overly analytical and all of it could be a coincidence but i'm starting to think it's absolutely not.

(more thoughts below the read more, just trying to keep from clogging people's dashes too much lol - i'm also sorry if the photos don't load side by side, tumblr sure likes to fuck me on formatting sometimes)

Hush-Hush is very, very similar to Wonderland in the way that it uses shape language to back up the message conveyed by the lyrics and overall theme.

'the fuck is shape language?' okay so shapes in media actually hold symbolic meaning - there are different interpretations based on culture, themes, etc. but here are the themes and meanings i generally look out for.

you'll see a lot of use of squares/rectangles throughout both Wonderland and Hush-Hush ↴

squares/rectangles can be used to represent oppression, imprisonment, control, and similar ideas. you'll see it rather blatantly in Hush-Hush as they directly say 'too late to notice, you can't capture us' while framed in a square train cart and going so far as Sota making a square gesture with his fingers. an overt message conveyed in Wonderland is Wooyoung quite literally chained and confined on a square pedestal.

another shape that links the MVs is the use of triangles ↴

in a stark contrast to squares, triangles can represent rebellion, dissent, strength (tho this is shared with several other shapes,) and truth (which will tie into the final shape i'll address.) it's pretty obvious how this ties in with almost everything both BE:FIRST and ATEEZ represent and in my personal opinion it is very fun to keep an eye out for triangles throughout ATEEZ's media.

the final shape i've noticed a lot of is circles ↴

circles can be used to symbolize unity, truth, wholeness, harmony, enlightenment. this is obviously apparent in Wonderland where the lyrics repeatedly reference finding the truth, the door to the truth, etc.

all these shapes used in conjunction with each other create a blueprint narrative of ATEEZ's lore - overcoming oppression and control through rebellion and strength of self in the pursuit of truth and harmony. i imagine you can apply the same theory to many of BE:FIRST's videos (it'll be very fun for me to look through later and see if this is true) but Hush-Hush definitely has very obvious nods to this message.

this symbol is also shown in the beginning of the MV and i'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be, if it's something related to BE:FIRST, a map of this metaphysical city, or something else entirely, but you'll see it incorporates all of these shapes as well.

if we want to touch on the hexagon in the center hexagons can be used to convey coherence, cooperation, connection, and balance.

the message of cooperation and connection is very interesting when applied to Hush-Hush as there are a few gestures throughout the MV that nod to a connection and cooperation between BE:FIRST and ATEEZ (which lends even more credit to your own theory anon!)

you'll see in this screenshot BE:FIRST holds their hands out, palms down, towards ATEEZ while the ATEEZ boys hold their hands palms up, as if to meet BE:FIRST's in unity.

here you can see Ryuhei??? and Mingi nearly forming a direct connection through touch (and perhaps a very loose 'Creation of Adam' reference if we want to squint and tilt our head 90 degrees?)

there are also continual references to escape and freedom which is backed with the visuals of several modes of transportation; cars, planes, the train, etc. this combined with the lyric 'we're living in a metafiction' (artificiality, parody, imitation) really solidifies the desire for escape and freedom from whatever force is oppressing them and keeping them in this warped reality.

and then we have the Escher stairs you mentioned being a theme between the two ↴

the sharp angles can also be a reference to shapes, especially in the case of Wonderland, but to me the stairs have always represented the uphill battle in front of them. sometimes following the truth, pursuing your goals, and holding to your own personal morals can be a struggle that seems insurmountable.

there's no one definitive meaning to Escher's 'Relativity" but many sources mention an altered or warped perspective, a loss of gravity (as you mentioned,) and an infinite labyrinth. regardless of the meaning, i do think they're also a great visual used in conjunction with the idea of a metafiction or warped reality.

if you wanted you could maybe also attribute ATEEZ's break through the glass as an escape from this reality or a separate reality that kept them isolated from BE:FIRST.

idk these are all just my own reads and interpretation of things, i truly think all takes are valid and i think that's the beauty of ATEEZ and videos like this. we all have different ideas and theories but at the end of the day they almost always lead us to the same conclusion, the journey there just looks a little different.

if you read this far i'm kissing your head. please anyone ALWAYS feel free to ask my thoughts on MVs, even old ones. i'm always looking to babble about lore and symbolism and shit.

[anewbeginningagain]

The two dumbest things to happen at Japan Nationals - Shoma speaking out about the obscure selection criteria of JPN Fed to 4CC/Worlds and fanyus saying he "talked shit about Sota" and Rika saying she messed up her salchow because of a hole in the ice and fanyus getting war flashback to the Olympics and demanding the ISU "do something" about it only to lose it at Meagan when she rightfully told them to get a grip. Wild times.

LOL, I've seen both dramas unfold in real time. The hole saga was hilarious because the fact that fanyus think Hanyu lost the gold because of the hole is delusional af? Best case scenario he would have gotten the bronze over Shoma, even silver was out of the question between his 4A obsession (or excuse...) and his general physical state, and of course, the gold was never going to happen unless Nathan would have had the meltdown of his life. Their insistent that someone should go and fix holes in between skaters was annoying because actual skaters kept telling them that it's unrealistic to have ice resurfacing between skaters (obviously) and that just filling out holes can leave the ice in an even more questionable state if it's not done in a high level that 1-2 minutes won't allow. They also insist on ignoring skaters telling them that holes is a part of skaters day to day training and that most often than not a skater will hit a hole that they themselves made during warm-up and such (like what happened to Rika). As always, there's no talking reason with fanyus.

The Shoma part is infuriating. He vocally questioned the selection criteria and fanyus attacked him for talking shit about his teammates which didn't happen of course. Same fanyus HATE the Japanese federation for supposedly mistreating Hanyu (who was their golden child for years but to them, unless it's worship it's not enough) and always want people to call them our but once someone did they, of course, lose it since it's all about who said it and not about what was said. Fanyus hatred for Shoma is a known issue for years, ever since he beat him (either in the FS or overall several times) and even before when it was clear he is very competitive and successful on his own, they've been running smear campaigns about him and making up things he supposedly said and it's a never ending cycle of abuse like fanyus are doing to many other skaters and fans. But the best answer to their craziness is his current success which drives them crazy so I hope he will keep succeeding and frustrate them :)

[sluttymickey]

hiii desi anon here, i hope ur having a great day and honestly icb u replied to me ur one of the biggest blogs here im so honored 😭 im from the south and i dont rly speak hindi but i understand most of it! which brings me to my question: WHAT HINDI (or marathi, i rly just want desi songs lol) SONGS REMIND U OF GALLAVICH? if u have a bollywood gallavich playlist PLSS SHARE! i've always wanted a desi gallavich stan to talk to so just a warning that im gonna be spamming ur inbox for a while lol

Hiiiiii!!!!!! Ofc I replied 🥰 and there's no big blogs here we're all just out here clowning together about the boys 😌

Omg I've been waiting all my life for this!!😭 I have SO MANY hindi songs that remind me of them 😭

Don't have a playlist, but here's a little list! Putting it under a cut cause it got too long lol.

Mai Yahan Hun: PRISON REUNION!!! Mickey making his way across the border for Ian inspite of everything!!

Adhoori Saans Thi Dhadkan Adhoori Thi Adhooren Hum // Magar Ab Chaand Poora Hain Falak Pe Aur Ab Pooren Hain Hum

Jaanam dekhlo mit gayi duriyaan, mai yahan hun, yahan hun, yahan hun, yahan // Kaisi sarhadein, kaisi majbooriyan, mai yahan hun, yahan hun, yahan hun, yahan.

Mere Haath Mai: like the entire song??? Reminds me of them breaking apart and reuniting every single time. Holding onto each other!! And ofc HANDS 😩💫. Tere haath mai mera hath ho, saari jannatein mere saath ho. That's SO them!! I've got the whole universe if I've got your hand in mine!!!😭

^^ that feeling of being incomplete w/o each other!! But now they're together and they feel whole 🥺 also the last line makes me think of them stargazing and feeling so content 🥺

Mast Magan:

Man Mast magan, man mast magan bas tera naam dohraaye// Chaahe bhi toh bhool na paaye

The part about just thinking about each other, and not being able to forget even if you want to. Like!!! Aaaaaah it's THEM

Duniya zamaana jhoota fasaana // Jeene marne ka waada saancha mera // Ho sheeshmahal na mujhko suhaye // Tujh sang sookhi roti bhaaye

The way the world doesn't matter if they have each other!! Till death do us apart 😭 and the last lines remind me of them bc like. They don't care about the fancy shit or anything, they just want a peaceful domestic life w each other 🥺

Bolna: the entire song actually 🥺 gives me very mickey about ian vibes if that makes sense?

Virah: mickey heartbroken in prison and in mexico </3

Tu Jo Muh Phere Sakhi Deh Pran Tyaage // Pal-Pal Tu Dekh Mujhe Zindagi Guzaar Du

When Ian turned away from him 🥺

Lab Par Aaye: the lyrics fit so well w ian trying to win Mickey back after the courthouse tragedy!!

Kaho na pyaar hai: idk gives me v early s5 vibes. They were lovin' so hard and they were so happy 🥺

Haan tu hai: ian@mickey!!

Jo khwabon khayalon mein socha nahin tha tune mujhe itna pyaar diya // Main jab bhi jahaan bhi kadi dhoop mein tha // Teri zulf ne mujh pe saya kiya

Reminds me of all the times Mickey's been their for Ian when he needed it 🥺

Koi bhi aisa lamha nahi hai // Jismein mere tu hota nahi hai // Main so bhi jaaun mein raaton mein lekin // Tu hai ki mujhmein sota nahi hai

Ian smiling as he dreams about Mickey in s10 🥺

Tum Mile: I feel like this is a very mickey thinking about ian song. About how his life has transformed after Ian came 🥺

Tum mile toh jaadu chaa gaya // Tum mile toh jeena aa gaya 🥺

Kaise Mujhe Tum: I feel like this has the same vibe as above. Mickey thinking about Ian and about how he can't believe he gets to have him. Idk s2 Mickey vibes 🥺

Jaane Kyun: best friends and husbands vibes 🥰 but also s3 best friends and boyfriends vibes 🥺 in the alley chase scene 🥺

Jab koi baat bigad jaaye: reminds me of them saying their vows. Good times bad sickness health that shit 🥺 also ian asking would you take care of me if i was paralysed.

Lag jaa gale: this was the first song I'd connected w gallavich. This is SO s7 ian and mickey when they'r stargazing 🥺 like from Ian's side bc he knows he might not be crossing the border w mickey and this might be the last night he shares w mickey 🥺

Yeh tune kya kiya: early seasons mickey about ian!!!

Tum se hi: I keep saying this avwhwb but mickey about ian!!!

Khabar nai: baby ian falling for mickey 🥰

Bekhayali: Mickey in prison and mexico 🥺

Maahi Ve (Highway): idk this is just a very THEM song and I'm obsessed w it. Oh and also Dhadak (from the movie Dhadak lol).

Roke Na Ruke Naina: s3 ending and s4a mickey 🥺

Kahin toh: s4a gallavich. The guy's part is Mickey and the part about mai kho gyi hun jaane kiski baahon mai is ian 🥺

I love you (Bodyguard): s2 Mickey about ian!! He's falling in loveeeee

Saawali si raat: this makes me think of them staying up late just because. All loving stares and soft smiles and being all cuddled up

Lehrein: s5b and s6 ian 🥺

Aaaand I'm done!!😌 Hope you like these 😌

What songs remind you of them??? I wanna know!!

[ichika27]

The World Ends with You

(Yeah, it’s the same screenshot I used for my post about ep. 1. I couldn’t get a new one so...)

Ah, first week without the TWEWY anime to look forward to. I’m actually kinda sad cause I’d miss waiting for the episode every Saturday night (Ani-One posts theirs on that day here). I have some stuff I wanna say about the anime so I thought I’d make one of these plus this is a good way to end the twewy anime blog post series I make every week. I’ll try not to spoil until the very bottom of this post which will have a spoiler warning.

Also, this will be very long and rambly as most of my fandom posts are haha.

Story:

A boy named Neku wakes up in the middle of Shibuya with no memory and finds himself as a player in the Reaper’s Game. For a week he must partner up with a girl named Shiki and both of them must complete missions, battle creatures called noise, and survive as failure meant erasure.

Characters:

Neku Sakuraba - our main protagonist who somehow lost his memories and is now playing the Reaper’s Game. He’s a loner who isn’t too keen on getting close to anyone let alone working alongside anybody - unfortunately for him, it’s a requirement if he wants to survive. As a player he has an assortment of abilities to fight off noise and other enemies (in the game this meant he can use a lot of different pins).

Shiki Misaki - the nice and friendly Shiki becomes Neku’s partner in the Reaper’s Game. Unlike Neku she has knowledge of the game and fills Neku in on things he doesn’t understand. Her ability is to control her stuffed toy called Nyantan/Mr. Mew which she uses in combat.

Beat - the tough skateboarding player, he’s somewhat more like the typical hot-blooded shounen protagonist when compared to Neku. He’s protective of those he care about especially his game partner, Rhyme. He uses his skateboard in battle.

Rhyme - Beat’s game partner who is a lot kinder and calmer than him. Rhyme tends to be the one to reason with Beat when needed and the two are always seen together.

Yoshiya Kiryu - a mysterious boy who seem to know more than he lets on and acts at times acts suspicious. He prefers to be called by the nickname Joshua.

Sanae Hanekoma - a cafe owner who helps out Neku and the others and would give them advice. His advice prove to be very helpful and Neku takes them to heart. Seem to have a lot of knowledge about the Reaper’s Game but doesn’t seem to be a reaper himself.

--

Thoughts:

(I tried my best to not be spoilery in the character descriptions so some names weren’t written in full)

The World Ends with You (or in the original Japanese “Subarashiki Kono Sekai”/It’s a Wonderful World) is an anime based on the video game of the same name. It had to compress an entire game’s worth of story within it’s 12 episode run which meant they cut out a lot of things and combined some scenes to quickly run through them. It’s theme song is the anime version of the game’s original OP “Twister” although this wasn’t what was originally planned but an incident involving the band who sang the original theme forced them to make changes. The original voice actors from the game also reprised their roles for the anime. The series is created to be watched before the release of the long-awaited sequel game.

The art style is made to be similar to it’s game version (with a bit of change to adapt it as an anime like when it comes to body proportions). They also retained the effect of the characters from the UG (players/reapers) being brightly colored while those from the RG having darker/muted colors. While the noise are obviously cg, I personally liked this since they’re said to be from a different plane anyways so it’s a nice contrast to those from the UG and RG. They had to update the setting though as years had passed since the original game’s creation and they had to model anime version of Shibuya to what it’s real life counterpart now looks. The characters are also given smartphones instead of the flip phones they had in the game (anime-only watchers who are gonna play the game would have to get used to them still using flip phones though lol).

Okay so story-wise... it’s rushed. Of course it is. They shortened it so that what’s left would mostly be important plot points from the main story but they cut out many scenes that consist of character interactions and several little things that could’ve fleshed out the characters more. The gameplay is also made simpler with some mechanics taken away and the mini games weren’t adapted (RIP to Reaper Creeper and Tin Pin Slammer, especially the latter as you’re severely missed). The game boast an assortment of characters and some NPCs have their own stories but due to the anime’s limited run time, they had to either be cut out (and are just given cameos) or given smaller roles (and their stories weren’t adapted). They did, however, give a few bits and pieces of information that weren’t in the game such as some details about certain characters and one supporting character was given a bit more screentime that they did in the game version.

Despite the rushed nature of the series (which may or may not affect how one views the story itself), the anime made sure to adapt several important scenes and the dramatic stuff is made worse... like, they really had to make some deaths harder to take. The battle scenes were nice as well although my biggest complaint about them is that the boss fights were over too quickly. There were scenes that were changed for the anime version and there are those that I liked and those I didn’t but there are many which I think was as good as the game’s version.

Do I recommend the anime? The game is better, the characters and story are more fleshed out and the way the character/relationship development happens is better paced so of course, me, biased already would tell you to play the game instead if you haven’t yet. Do I recommend those who played the game to watch the anime? Yes! Yes I do. I think the anime is better watched when you’ve played the game and know the stuff that they cut out cause it’ll make better sense that way. Plus I found it enjoyable seeing the scenes from the game animated and the characters are speaking whole dialogues and moving. It’s great!

Even if the anime wasn’t perfect, like I mentioned before, they did their best to condense the entire main story in a 12 episode series and it tried to be as faithful as it could to the original story so despite the deviations when it comes to how things got to the way they did, if you summarize important plot points, they would be the same (with some details changed). Overall, it was very enjoyable and it wasn’t as bad as I feared when I heard how many episodes the anime was going to have.

--

Some spoiler thoughts:

It would’ve been better if the anime had more episode count than just 12. Cramming a 3 week story of game into just 12 made the thing very rushed with Week 1 only getting three episodes, Week 2 getting four, and final Week getting five. They had to get to the good stuff so they cut off a lot of scenes where the characters are interacting with each other which means they suddenly get character developments and relationship developments too quickly. It might not be that obvious to anime-only watchers but to me, it felt kinda sudden and it feels like it doesn’t work out well story-wise since Neku had to learn how to trust other people and make friends and with how he started vs. how he came out of it contrasting each other.

By the way, they made the characters look good in the anime. Especially Joshua. Have you seen Joshua? He’s so pretty in the anime. I want a picture of him I could stare at anytime I want to (I do not own a phone, sadly).

I like how they gave Eri more scenes though and that they changed her outfit for the anime so she won’t look exactly like UG!Shiki. All of her scenes though made me feel like I wish the anime gave closure to Shiki’s own story by showing us her and Eri making up. Another scene I liked in the anime is Neku’s fanboying of CAT when he finds out the truth. It was adorable.

Some info was taken away from the anime. Beat and Rhyme leaving home had scene dialogue and unlike Beat just narrating it in-game but they didn’t mention specifically why he was angry and his trouble at home. Joshua wasn’t present when Sota and Nao gave Neku a pep-talk either which is a shame cause I think that helped Josh as well. 

I mentioned before how the anime made things go too fast. They cut off chunks of not-main-plot story that let the characters interact with each other more which means each game day is shortened as well. I think it made sense that Neku wakes up at the scramble in the end and not stressed out because he didn’t go through as much as his game counterpart did. That said, game Neku learned a lot from more than just the main cast in the game compared to the anime so I like his character development in the game better.

They took away Tin Pin Slammer. I am sad and disappointed. I was hoping so bad for Another Day to be adapted even if it’s an OVA. That and the ramen incident are part of Josh’s week which meant some side of him wasn’t shown (I mean, anime fans don’t know he wasn’t there on week 3 since he’s busy playing a kid’s game elsewhere and how he could talk about food like he is from a cooking anime). Speaking of Josh, they made him very suspicious from the get-go in the anime. I understand as there’s a limited run-time and they can’t really afford to be subtle about it but it meant some of the fun interactions with Neku is gone and so are some scenes where they actually got along. At least they had ice cream together, I guess?

(I have more to say when it comes to Joshua cause he’s my fave character but this is long and my thoughts on it would make this way longer. I might make another post.)

In the end, it wasn’t perfect but the anime was fun and enjoyable enough that I found myself looking forward to it every week. Seeing scenes I recognize from the game in animated form (with voice acting!) felt exciting and awesome. I’ll miss this show and I still wish it was longer.

If you’ve read this far well, thank you. And also I’m confused why but still hopefully that was a good time-killer. I have so many other things I wanted to comment on but that’s for another time. Maybe.

[shnuggletea]

InuKag Week 2020

Anyone else see this gift and have “Here I Go Again” play in their heads to it??

Well, some of you are thinking the worst of Inuyasha right now lol! I really wanted the chapter to end on that last line. You guys are lucky this is for InuKag week or you'd have to wait a week for this part. Since there wasn’t a reunion in part one, here it is! It still isn't really resolved at the end of this one but you only have to wait until tomorrow. @inukag-week​ sorry, I’m bugging you twice today!

Reunion Part Two

I couldn't breathe. Everything felt like it was on fire; my heart, lungs, eyes, and throat. Inuyasha was holding back my hair as I vomited up the nothing on my stomach but I pushed him away hard. Then stumbled away even farther.

"You're married?!"

"Kagome, please. Let me explain!"

I grabbed onto something for support but I really couldn't say what it was. "You're married. What is there to explain?! Oh god is this why you hid us? Why you refused to be the father to your own children?!"

"NO! I told you. That's for your safety…"

I heard his words but I didn't at the same time. "You hid us from your wife! All this time I actually thought our lives were at risk but it was just your life!"

"You and the kids are my life and I hide you to keep you alive!"

"Oh my god," another wave of nausea hit and only half of it was morning sickness, "do you have other children? Do you have another family with her?!"

Inuyasha grabbed my arms and I only let him because I was close to hitting the ground. "I have nothing with her. It was a marriage convenient for my family and forced upon me ten years ago. We lived together for two years, had a few nights of awkward and terrible sex, and then she left. A year later I found you."

I shivered at the thought, how Inuyasha bought me off the stage. How he owned me but I had nothing to tie him to me. I was his sex slave and all this time I was fine with it. It was kinda hot. But now his wife was returning. How would me and our children living in her home look? Moroha looked just like her father, beautiful blonde hair that was pure white. And Sota had glowing golden eyes from Inuyasha. One look and they were clearly his.

"My children really are bastards…" I mumbled in my haze of fear, loss, hurt, and confusion.

Inuyasha gave me a small shake as if to wake me up. "They're not, stop it! They're mine. Just like you're mine. This is a good thing, Kagome, her coming back. It means I can finally divorce her."

Taking a deep breath and trying to settle myself, I pulled out of his hold. "I've never asked or wanted for anything from you by means of commitment, Inuyasha. I've trusted you, believed in you, and bore your children without pause or hesitation. But now? You've broken all we've had."

I was right to spend all night last night in Inuyasha's hold. Because I wasn't sure I'd ever experience it again.

oOo

"That mother fucking asshole."

"Sango!"

I sideways glanced at the children who were in earshot while Sango swore like a sailor. "Sorry."

"And I take offense to that. I was the mother he was ducking." Sango smirked but otherwise stayed somber. "That's why I asked you to bring me those things."

"Because you're cutting him off but baby number three has you needing to get off so bad you need toys?"

"Yes." I said with a defeated sigh.

"When does the wife arrive?"

"Tomorrow. All of it has me feeling more than morning sick. I don't want to see her, Sango."

"Why not?!"

I hung my head in shame. "Because she's his wife while I'm…" a sad laugh and Sango grabbed my shoulder, "I'm not even the mistress. I'm his sex slave. He bought me, brought me here, wrecked me, all while married to another woman? I'm a homewrecker."

"No, she's the homewrecker. You're the one here with a family in this house. It's your home, more than it's hers!"

"You think me and the kids could come stay with you and Miroku for a while?" I begged.

"I'd love to have you but you know Inuyasha will never let you leave."

It was true. I hadn't been outside the compound since I snuck out to OBGYN with Moroha. There was nowhere for me to go, Moroha's school didn't ask anything from the parents except for a check once a semester that Inuyasha sent. The staff handled food and shopping. Sango always came to visit me here, what else was there for me?

Well, there was one thing I would have rather gone and gotten myself, picking up the small bag Sango brought with her that contained a little 'helper'. "So how do I use this?"

oOo

Laying on my side, far away from Inuyasha in his large bed, the one I used to think of as ours, I waited until he stilled and his breathing became even. After considering going to the bathroom for this, I shrugged the idea off. Getting up and going would wake him and then Inuyasha would come check on me when I was in there too long.

Looking at the small egg shaped vibrator, I had a feeling it would take me a while to get what I needed from it.

I had turned it on earlier that day to hear how loud it was and was pleasantly surprised to find it was pretty quiet. Turning it on again, I listened to the soft buzz as it danced between my fingers. Then I slipped it under the covers and pressed it to my clit. It had me swallowing my gasp, over sensitive from my hormones, maybe I had been wrong because this didn't feel like it would take long at all.

The little egg hummed against me and I hummed as softly as I could back. Slipping it a little lower, I considered putting it inside me and using my fingers on my clit when heat pressed into my back and hands wrapped around me.

"Kagome, wake up. You're having a back dream…."

I was so preoccupied I missed the shift in the bed when he moved closer to me. Inuyasha was running his hands over me, trying to wake me up, and he followed my arm down.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing!" I said, elbowing him back a little.

He chuckled a little and returned, grabbing the wrist of the hand that held my egg of pleasure. "If you want it that badly, I'll gladly give it to you."

Now in his control, he rubbed my clit with the egg, using my own hold on it to manipulate it. "Stop it! I don't want you! I don't want you at all that's why I have this!"

"Did Sango bring this with her today? It's not used is it?"

"NO!"

I struggled against his hold but he was far stronger and soon the egg was in his hand instead of mine. He pressed it against my folds, using the tip to draw a circle in and around the skin. All while his cock pressed against my ass. "You've been avoiding me for days, Baby. I can't take much more."

Gripping the sheets before me did little to comfort as he began rubbing his dick between my ass cheeks, stopping only to pull my panties down and my sleep shirt up, out of his way. He kept the egg pressed to my clit and dipped his fingers inside me and I nearly came from the small action.

"Damn, Baby, you're soaked. Are you pregnant again?"

"What?! NO!" I panicked.

He continued to slowly pump his one finger inside me, feeling my walls as if not sure. "You always get like this when you're pregnant. You think I don't notice, but there are a bunch of things that always change when you're knocked up…"

"I'm just horny! Get off me!" I shoved him back with my elbow again. "I don't want to have sex with a married man!"

The bed shook as he worked his briefs lower and freed his cock. "Separated. I've been separated from her for almost a decade." Back against me, the egg he pressed never leaving, he panted right in my ear. "Besides, what's done is done. It's far too late to take it back and I don't regret a single, amazing, second of it." His cock pressed against my ass again and I quivered all over. "I know what you want."

Before I could ask, he reached over me to the nightstand and got out a condom. He only ever used those for one thing. "No."

He was already tearing open the foil. "You love anal when you're this horny."

"No."

Rolling the condom on with one hand and showing skills he had that I always marveled at, his covered cock rubbed at my entrance. "I just need a little lubricant."

He was using me like a bottle of lotion, rubbing between my thighs while he vibrated my clit and created more juices. "Inuyasha, stop."

I said no and stop but still pressed my ass out for him. Because not a single molecule of me actually wanted him to listen to me. I wanted him so bad, it hurt. As much as I hated myself for that, it was in the back of my mind for now, waiting until the rest of me was satisfied. There would be hell later when we finished but right now, I just wanted him to fuck me.

Thoroughly coated, Inuyasha removed his cock from my thighs and found my anus. Then slowly pushed in. Always a little tight at first, he waited for me to adjust before pulling out and sinking back in. "Oh god. You're gripping me so tight, Baby."

He cooed in my ear. I pushed my ass out a little more, silently asking him to go harder. Taking the egg, he slipped it down and pushed it up into my pussy, his fingers finding and pinching my clit before he took off behind me. With his free hand under me, he reached around and grabbed my breast, flicking my nipple in tempo with how he flicked my clit.

Any thoughts of any kind turned to mush as my entire body lit on fire. Inuyasha was bucking into my ass so hard, his balls clapped my entrance. I was gushing, the egg slipping around inside me and buzzing my g-spot. And my clit and nipple throbbed along with my walls.

I could feel Inuyasha's teeth on my skin but there was far too much other stimulus to register any more as I came so hard it hurt. Anyone that heard my screams might burst through the door any second now because it sounded like Inuyasha was killing me. And in a way, he was, my mind going numb with pleasure as I tumbled hard into ecstasy. I was still coming when he dug the vibrator out of me, putting his fingers in instead to feel me pulse around them. I felt the heat of his come as he filled the condom inside my ass. His groans sounded visceral behind me, telling me he was coming just as hard as I was.

His touch left me, Inuyasha rising to get rid of the condom and wash. The room was in and out as I blacked out a few times from the intensity of my orgasm. It was always a little scary when it happened but it was far from the first time Inuyasha had made me come so hard that I blacked out.

Now satisfied, those thoughts came roaring. I'd just had sex with a married man again. I couldn't stop it seemed.

Curling into myself, I returned to my solitary side but Inuyasha wasn't having it, curling right up around me from behind. He was kissing my neck, taking a fistful of hair and pulling it out of his way to place hot spit on my skin. "Get off of me."

His arms only wrapped around me tighter. "No."

"Inuyasha!"

"I gave you space,Kagome. But now I can't give you anymore." Proving his words, he wrapped a leg around me. "Especially with you pregnant again."

"I'm not pregnant." The lie rolled off my tongue with ease but his lies had for years.

"You should take a test. Or call see your doctor here."

"I'm not pregnant."

"Whatever you say, Kagome."

He was stroking my belly just over my womb. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Not of being right or in being a father again. Not when my future with him was so uncertain. All I'd done for the past three days was think about us, about our past, looking for any clues that he was using me as the sex slave I was instead of more like I had thought for years. There were moments of such tenderness and care, longing looks my way or soft caresses without sex involved or staring deep into my eyes while he was deep inside of me, things like that had made me think we were more than slave and owner. But then there were other moments that truly made me wonder.

"The first time we had sex, you tied me up."

"You want me to tie you up again? It was really fun those other times…"

"You told me it was so I didn't mark you. Was that so your wife didn't see?"

He sighed, loud and pissed, against my back. The heat of it made it through my thin sleep shirt. "No. I told you. Over and over again I didn't hide you from her I hid you from everyone. You still have no clue who I am do you? You don't know how easy it would be for one of my enemies to break me through you or the children."

"I never cared who you were outside this house. Because that's not the man I spent my time with. But I guess I should have cared. Then I would have known just where I stood."

He lifted and turned, holding his head over me to look down at me. "And where is that?!"

"Where I've always been. What you told me I was from the start. I'm your whore. Your sex slave."

I was on my back in a heartbeat, molten and angry eyes glaring down at me. "I have never treated you like a slave or a whore."

"Yes you did. All this time you did because you were married. I'm the other woman. Not even that much."

He got dangerously close to my face and growled. "You're right, you're not the other woman. You're my woman. Mine. And I didn't tell you about Kikyo because she didn't matter. Not to me and not to who you and I are together…"

"Of course, because I'm just your slave so why would you tell me..."

Sighing again, his anger flooded out of him and he rolled off of me to lay with his back to me. "You'll see soon enough, Kagome. I'll prove your worth to me."

oOo

I wanted to hide, I really did. But with the grand fanfare and the children getting interested, I found myself standing at the top of the staircase with the two of them. Inuyasha was as cool as a cucumber, as was the rest of the staff for some reason. I was the only one sweating as the large car pulled up out front and unloaded the entourage that had my babies so intrigued.

As far as Inuyasha's side, there was little flare and no dramatics. It all came from his wife and her people as they pushed inside. For a moment, I thought it would be hard to pinpoint the wife. But once I saw her I was sure.

Long, pin straight and perfect black hair down her back and a pale yellow dress, she was easy to spot. I was a little upset at first, thinking we looked too similar to be okay with. Then she removed her large sunglasses and saw we were actually complete opposites. My hair was never so perfect, curly waves that stopped in the middle of my back. And this woman was slim, more than I had ever been even before children.

Her gray eyes flashed up to mine, another large difference. As she climbed the stairs, Inuyasha following close behind as they discussed minor things like her travels and the weather, it was clear to see this woman also came from money.

Getting to the top, Sota wrapped around my leg while Moroha stood tall next to me. The wife stopped for a second, looking us over and surely seeing the traits Inuyasha implanted in his children as I did every day. If she did, she said nothing, turning with a huff and continuing on. Inuyasha paused to pass the kids a bright smile brimming with love. His eyes went to me for a second, something inside them I couldn't read before following behind the wife.

It got late and I put the children to bed. Not sure but with nowhere else to go, I made for what was mine and Inuyasha's bedroom. Going slow with my indecision, I was passed by the wife again. This time when he passed, his fingers brushed across my spine before quickly disappearing.

"I have a room set up for you…" Inuyasha began.

"Why?" Kikyo challenged, turning to face Inuyasha and me as I stood frozen in the middle of the hall. "This is my room and my bed. I want to sleep in it."

Without another word about it, Kikyo stepped inside. Leaving me alone with Inuyasha.

He sighed loudly, scrubbing his face. "I guess you can take the guest room…"

"Why not send me to a hotel at least? Why do I have to be here to see this? You're such an asshole Inuyasha."

"I know."

Turning, my only reprieve was that the guest room was on the other end of the house. That way I wouldn't have to hear Inuyasha and his wife make love tonight.

[hashtagartistlife]

Thoughts TM on the Live Action (hard spoilers ahead. Also, warning: it’s long.):

- Firstly, the casting. The absolute Best casting decision in this whole movie, visuals-and-acting-wise, is Isshin hands down. He LOOKS like Isshin, he ACTS like Isshin-- actually, Movie!Isshin > Manga!Isshin. They toned down the goof a tiny bit, played up his love and concern for the kids, and put him in an APRON for 90% of his screentime and made him the homemaker. (A++++ MOVE, WHY THE HELL WAS YUZU COOKING FOR EVERYBODY AT THE AGE OF NINE. BAD DECISION KUBO).

- Second best casting decision is Kuchiki Rukia. I remember when her stills first came out I wasn’t 100% on this casting because sure she was gorgeous but she looked????? SO YOUNG????? but guys, she nailed it. NAILED IT. Hana Sugisaki based goddess and if u aren’t her fan now you will be by the time the movie ends.

- Sota Fukushi as Ichigo.... hm. Given that my only criteria when drawing Ichigo is to make him as hot as humanly possible, it was 100% guaranteed that any actor they put up for the role would fall short of my visual expectations from an Ichigo. NGL there are more good looking men out there than Sota Fukushi but to quote both Ro and I from our rabb.it chat during the movie...... sota fukushi hard smash 

(- ok but a serious dilemma: are we attracted to him because he’s attractive, or because he’s playing ichigo and ichigo’s attractive????

-also, chad’s actor hard smash as well)

- SPEAKING of Chad.... he had. Minimal role in the movie but I love that they showed a bit of his bromance with Ichigo. It was always such a cute friendship and they did it justice with what little they showed! Anyway, I like his casting and Orihime’s too, visually speaking. 

- The other casts were fine. Not !!!! worthy but like not terrible casting either. Honestly I feel like Miyavi as Byakuya could have really worked if they hadn’t given him that... AWFUL hair. The hair is even more awful in the movie than it is in the still cuts. Believe it. 

- A final note on the casting... I really hated noticing this but Orihime’s actress? Erina Mano? Looks a LOT like the actress they cast for Masaki and i hate noticing it but I did. But it’s not time for the ir tea/ih salt yet that comes later

- Secondly: Characterisation. Overall decent, but you can really tell that like... they spent the most amount of care on getting the central IR dynamic right and sorta just went ‘lol that’s good enough’ for the others. It’s almost like they spent all of their characterisation budget on IR and had minimal left over to spare for minor characters (e.g: Orihime). You’ll see what I mean.

- Once again, hands down best characterisation in the whole movie is Isshin and Rukia. Isshin’s bodily comedy with Ichigo was done SO realistically, in a way that’s funny and not too over-the-top. The way they kept playing off each other as slightly overbearing father and moody teenage son was FANTASTIC. And one of the moments that had me MOST emotional in this movie was when Isshin was shown by Ichigo’s bedside, taking care of him while he’s recovering from injuries. Ichigo, upon waking from a dream of his mum, asks Isshin if he ever dreams of her. Isshin’s answer? ‘Every night’. EVERY NIGHT, MOTHERFUCKER. GOD I was never a hard isshimassa stan but this movie got me FEELING things for them 

- Hana’s interpretation of Rukia is FANTASTIC. Unbelievably spot on. The emotional unavailability, her rigid initial adherence to what she believes is the shinigami code, the adorable naivete re: human world customs, the way she steamrollers over Ichigo, the way that, no matter how hard she tries to be aloof, she can’t hide the fact that she cares. She cares so much. And honestly, if there’s one thing this movie does well, it’s how they managed to get those manga-panel comic violence situations to translate so well to reality. Isshin-on-Ichigo violence translated well, and the Rukia-on-Ichigo violence translates excellently as well. Their little bickering scenes play out EXACTLY how I, at least, imagined them to go, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Also, I honestly think her looking really young works to her advantage, because it really gives you a sense of like… how bemused Ichigo must be by this whole situation. My predominant thought every time hana is on screen is SHE’S SO CUTE AND LOVELY I CAN’T DEAL WITH IT, except this tiny girl who you can only think of as ‘cute’ is like…. Bossing you around and beating your ass with a sword and instilling fucking philosophy lessons in you. It’s so surreal? And if it’s surreal for US then just imagine how surreal it must be for Ichigo.

- Sota’s Ichigo.... once again, hmm. His ‘trying to be cool’ acting (i.e. during the fight scenes) was cringey, but I can’t tell if that’s his acting skill or just the fact that what looks ‘cool’ on manga panels inVARIABLY look cringey in real life. Probably the latter. And I think he’s a LITTLE too growly for my taste, but then again, I’m used to post-timeskip Ichigo who’s a bit more... low-key cynical rather than prickly. Initial Ichigo was pretty abrasive, so I guess that’s in-character. Also, his most-said line of dialogue in this movie is ‘HAH??’ which is hilarious and very in-character. Honestly, Hana as Rukia is straight up excellent for the whole duration of the movie but I definitely think Sota shone MOST when he was acting in combination with Isshin or Rukia. Whatever I think about his individual acting skills, he definitely had chemistry with those actors in terms of dynamics.

- Guys, the IR in this is fantastic. Brilliant. Like I said, their bickering plays out to a TEE how I imagined things to go. Literally cannot fault their bickering. Their soft heartfelt moments are SO GOOD too. And they were all shot so…. Intimately? Their softer scenes were shot with such heartbreaking tenderness and I just….. ugh. Hana Sugisaki REALLY brought her acting A-game. ALSO THE WAY LITERALLY EVERYONE THINKS THEY’RE DATING??? RENJI SHOWS UP AND IS LIKE ‘OOPS I THINK I KILLED YOUR BOYFRIEND’ TO RUKIA. RENJI SAYS THAT. BYAKUYA THINKS SHE’S TOO ‘EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED’. Not to even mention Keigo and Tatsuki and Orihime……. God. Absolutely unbelievable.

- Now, if I was being picky and HAD to talk about a few gripes…. Let’s see. It takes Ichigo more time to warm up to Rukia than in canon, and he’s more of an asshole to her in this time period too. But y’know, that’s a very minor gripe. The other teeny tiny gripe I have about the IR is like…. A gripe but also not a gripe at the same time lmfao. OK so at the end when Renji and Byakuya are trying to take Rukia away, Ichigo plants himself in front of Rukia and says ‘I’m going to protect you’ and he repeats this multiple times in the fight, which, yes, extremely shippy, I’m going to die on the pavement et al, but also… this might be a weird gripe for some, because the ir dynamic has always been them protecting and saving each other. But not in so many words? It’s always been a very equal protection dynamic, partly because Rukia won’t LET him be her protector. I subscribe to the meta that this is precisely why she’s good for Ichigo. It’s also what drives him up the wall, because WHY WON’T SHE LET HIM KEEP HER SAFE, but it’s the fact that Rukia REFUSES to be one of his ‘protected people’, the fact that Rukia DEMANDS equal footing to him, that quashes down the more destructive aspects of his will to protect. But yeah, I feel like that line – ‘I’m going to protect you/her’, repeated multiple times—sort of erases the inherent equality in their dynamic and puts Rukia in the ‘protected’ pile. But that’s just because the movie didn’t have enough time for the rest of the arc. Look honestly the ir in the movie is FINE. The only reason I’m even bringing this up is because I have the manga version to compare it to, and it’s an unfair comparison to begin with because obviously the manga has so much more to work with. Overall, if you’re worried about the IR characterisation in this movie—don’t be. They hard carried the whole thing. Sota and Hana are an absolute DELIGHT to watch playing off each other. They have GREAT chemistry supported by well-shot scenes and good dialogue. 11/10 worth watching just for these two alone.

- Yuzu and Karin. Even though they changed their designs to look identical in the movie (I’m guessing for the instant visual cue of ‘oh they’re twins!’), I’m glad they kept their personalities the same. Karin is snarky as ever, Yuzu is sweet. So +1 for that. But then they made Yuzu (Karin?) say ‘Onii-chan, I’m scared’ during the fishbone D attack, rather than the canonical ‘get away, you’ll get hurt’. Which… look, fair, she’s eleven, I think that’s more realistic, but ALSO YOU JUST???? CHANGED HER WHOLE CHARACTERISATION. CAN WE PUT SOME RESPECT ON HER NAME PLEASE

- Uryuu……hmm. They made him a LITTLE more chill than he was in the manga, but he was such a dramatic character in canon already that he still comes off pretty darn dramatic in the movie. I did really like his characterisation, but he had such little screentime that I’m finding it difficult to like… do any substantial comparisons to his manga character. I’m thinking I might need a rewatch to solidify my opinions on Uryuu. But his little scene at the very end with Ichigo after they all lose their memories of Rukia is very sweet and makes me wonder about their dynamic if they hadn’t had all this quincy-shinigami bs to sort through.

- Chad was in the movie even less than Uryuu, but I have no complaints about his characterisation. Pretty accurate to manga canon.

- Guys I LOVE Keigo in this movie. ‘He died on the spot’ Iconic roast. LET KEIGO ROAST ICHIGO 2K18

- Tatsuki was eh. She wasn’t in the movie long enough for me to really have an opinion on her characterisation, and it’s unfortunate that the only part of her character they brought from manga canon was the ‘give Orihime bad advice on how to date Ichigo’ part, but whatever. It’s not technically WRONG characterisation, just not the FULL characterisation.

- Orihime…………… god, Orihime. Look you guys know that even though I have my ‘and NONE FOR ORIHIME BYE’ days, they’re mostly in jest, and I actually do appreciate her as a character. I like her, mostly! I think she’s fascinating to write about and explore! I think she deserved good things, better things than what the ending set her up for!

- But I’d strangle movie Orihime without hesitation. Bye bitch

- OK, you know how you thought anime Orihime with her constant ‘Kurosaki-kun’s was annoying??? Movie orihime was WORSE. Movie Orihime? Straight up yandere. She literally doesn’t have a single appearance where she’s not talking about Ichigo or being weirdly jealous of Ichigo and Rukia’s friendship or worrying about Ichigo in an overbearing, over-the-top way. And I’m actually really frustrated and disappointed about this, because early Karakura Orihime was ACTUALLY A GOOD CHARACTER!!!!!! Orihime, imo, is the most egregious OOC in this movie. Which is a shame, because the rest of the characterisation was actually… ok and decent

- Renji and Byakuya….. ohhhh boy. Renji and Byakuya are characterised as straight up villains for the whole movie with no redemption. There’s no nuance of them being possibly friendly and/or having concern for Rukia at all throughout the whole movie, which could be OOC depending on how you look at it, but honestly it makes sense considering this movie only covers up to chapter 56 Broken Coda and does NONE of the SS arc. Basically, their characterisations are how we would characterise them based on the one time they came to collect Rukia. They’re cold, uncaring, think humans aren’t worth anything, and that emotions are a human weakness. RENJI STRAIGHT UP SWINGS A SWORD AT AN UNARMED CIVILIAN CLOTHED RUKIA (yes I know it happened in the manga too but. It’s a lot more shocking watching it happen real-time) and also STABBED!!!! URYUU!!!!!! IN THE BACK!!! WHILE HE WASN’T DOING ANYTHING THREATENING!!! So, uh, this movie really said ‘fuck renji rights’. God I’m imagining like… if ur introduction to Bleach was through this movie, and you decided to look up how the manga ends and it’s RENRUKI and you’re like ?????????????? THE DUDE SWUNG A SWORD AT HER????? Like FORGET IH, this movie really fucking hated rr. Which… im not mad about lmfao

- Final note on characterisation: as usual, IR fucking hard carries, but what ELSE is new for this franchise. Isshin was a surprising dark horse. Overall, characterisation FINE, not OOC with one glaring exception, but sometimes because of time constraints certain characters didn’t get their FULL RANGE of characterisation.

- THIRDLY: overall technical excellence of the movie in terms of script, camera angles, choreography, CGI, etc etc

- My one line summary for this is…. It’s an anime live action adaptation. I hope ur not expecting much from this department at all

- Like, in terms of is it a GOOD movie? Lmfao. I enjoyed the hell out of it, sure, but I don’t think someone who has no idea what bleach is would a) understand what the heck is going on OR b) find the story to be well-paced and well-told. Like, I KNEW what was coming and what was going on, and even I found the movie to be a bit disjointed, kind of like old metal machinery that needs oiling to get going.

- Honestly this movie is similar to the manga in that… technically speaking it’s not great, but its strengths lie in the character arcs and the overall poetic parallels it tries to pull. It may not have been the most artistically executed, but I could tell that they really tried to put the parallel in between IR protecting each other and Masaki dying to protect Ichigo. Like, an attempt was noted! It was appreciated! Obviously they don’t do it with as much grace as the manga did but y’know, they tried!

- The script was actually really great in this movie. Bleach is a very snarky manga and the script really showcases that. Everyone shows a lot of sass. I like that. The one exception to the script being good was whenever a hollow opened its mouth to speak. They really gave the hollows dialogue like ‘I WANT YOUR SOUL’ and ‘GIVE ME YOUR SOUL’…. Like. Someone got paid for that dialogue and they really shouldn’t have.

- I honestly don’t have an opinion on the CGI. Ro kept saying that the cgi was BAD and like I guess it was, but I’m pretty lenient about CGI in general. I already know it’s going to be CGI so unless it’s BLATANTLY fake I overlook it.

- But there is this ONE SCENE of Renji going into shikai that looks so awfully fake that even I was like ‘ok no that was BAD’ so I guess CGI bad

- The choreo in the fight scenes is messy and disjointed and very cringey. I can’t believe they managed to pull manga-style comical violence in REAL LIFE and make it look believable and funny, but couldn’t choreography a decent fight scene……. Man idk. I guess they really DID spend all their budget on making IR as excellent as possible.

- Overall: technically speaking it’s a terrible movie, but will that hinder your enjoyment of it? Probably not. Watch it just for the excellent banter.

- FINALLY: Miscellaneous yelling about various scenes through 120% Ichiruki-filtered glasses.

- Guys, this movie. This movie. They really sat down and said ‘ok give them literally every single early-karakura ichiruki fanfic trope situation ever’ and that’s it, that’s the movie

- ICHIGO KEEPS LEANING DOWN RIGHT INTO RUKIA’S FACE!!!! THEY HAVE NOOOOO CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SPACE!!!! Which I guess is canon but THEY KEEP!!!!! LEANING!!!!! INTO EACH OTHER!!!! I will DIE

- The sPARRING????????? THE SPARRING?????

- Ichigo smirks while sparring her. She’s kicking his ass and goddammit, he LIKES it

- They legit made Rukia tackle Ichigo and pin him to the ground and then they made Ichigo flip them around

- And then they made ORIHIME WALK IN ON THAT

- UN!!!! BELIEVABLE!!!!!!!

- (Sidenote: they made Orihime act so weirdly jealous of that?? Like… wtf orihime. You’re not his girlfriend like she has no rights to be acting like this…. Look the Orihime characterisation in this movie is A Mess)

- They have conversations through shut closet doors while ichigo’s lying on his bed THIS APPEARS IN EVERY. SINGLE. IR EARLY KARAKURA FIC EVER IM

- Ichigo: CAN YOU GET OUT OF MY CLOSET. NO YOU CAN’T LIVE IN MY HOUSE

- Also Ichigo, the INSTANT he can’t find Rukia in his closet: WHERE IS SHE. LET ME JUST RUN AROUND IN THE DARK OUTSIDE TO FIND HER. HEY URYUU HOW DO I GET TO THE AFTERLIFE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T BRING HER BACK. SO WHAT IF I DO, HUH? WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT. FIGHT ME

- Also ichigo becomes so much SOFTER towards Rukia after a certain point in this movie and…. God…… I love that you can see that switch in Sota’s acting. I’m going to CRY

- OK THIS IS A VERY SHORT SCENE BUT AT ONE POINT RUKIA LANDS ON A ROOFTOP WITH AN INJURED ICHIGO AND SHE LIT. RUBS HER HANDS ALL OVER THE BARE SKIN ON HIS CHEST BC SHE’S RUBBING MEDICINE INTO HIM!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!! WHERE’S THE M-15 RATING ON THIS MOVIE BC SHE LEGIT!!! HAD HER HANDS!!!! ALL OVER HIM!!!!! Ro and I shouted abt this so much God

- The final fight is RIDICULOUS in terms of HOW MUCH ICHIGO WON’T STAY DOWN and it’s framed SO dramatically lmfao but y’know, it’s shot in a very IR light, I’ll take it

- Ro and I literally were just like IT’S THE POWER OF LOVE BITCH bc he legit just KEPT getting up it was ridiculous

- Also rukia’s final speech to ichigo after she does her whole broken coda ‘don’t touch my brother lowly human’ spiel is…. Beautiful. Fucking excellent

- ‘you’re rude and brash and I’m sick of all humans especially you’ but like. Why is this literally kate’s ’10 things I hate about you’ speech at the end of that movie

- ICHIGO DOESN’T TAKE HIS EYES OFF RUKIA THE WHOLE TIME SHE’S ERASING HIS MEMORIES. DOESN’T EVEN BLINK. THIS IS SOME EP 342 TEAS ALL OVER AGAIN. FUCK. I’M GOING TO!!!! DIE!!!

- Ok so my opinion on how they changed the end: it was necessary to tie things all up in one movie but that doesn’t mean I don’t hate the fact that ichigo ostensibly forgot rukia when in canon HE’S THE ONLY ONE THAT REMEMBERED

- I guess the final scene where he looks at her writing on his textbook and smiles could be a sort of clue that he’s starting to remember. Man idk I think I’d just feel really cheated as a viewer who isn’t coming from a bleach manga/anime background, that everyone just conveniently ‘forgot’. It’s equivalent to an ‘it was all a dream!’ kind of ending imo. It’s a copout. But at the same time I can see why it was necessary :’/

- Also, this exchange with uryuu at the end where they exchange hellos before pulling up short and going ‘wait- do I know you?’ ‘no. but good to know you’ was SO HEARTBREAKING BUT SO GOOD I REALLY DID LOVE THAT

- Whoo ok I’m SURE I’ve forgotten some details but this is already EXCESSIVELY long so. Final FINAL thoughts:

- The quality of the movie is, obviously, not great, but if you were worried about weird chara interpretations and relationships, don’t be. Unless you’re an IH/RRstan or an Orihime fan. This will not be a fun movie for you. But then again, you managed to work through 686 chapters of a manga that clearly wasn’t fun for you and seemed to be ok with it, so maybe this movie won’t bother you either.

- The script is surprisingly solid and has genuinely good, occasionally touching, snarky, sassy dialogue. Good attempts at poeticism and various parallels and callbacks.

- Ichiruki fucking hard carries, and so does isshin. I love uryuu but that may just be my uryuu bias talking.

- Objectively, maybe a 4, 5/10. Ichiruki-wise? 8/10. Obviously this was written in a high straight after the movie and like, maybe after a few days or like a rewatch or w/e my opinions may change. But rn? God I love stanning legends, viva la ichiruki fuck you

[redgreenbluesforloco]

Daisuke, Takahiko & Nobunari (3BK) Interview on QuadAxel Pt.2/2

(from Taka’s instagram)

Part 2 was more difficult than Part 1 heh ^^;; (This paragraph is just gonna be me grumbling about Japanese being hard, so do skip ahead to the interview!) Dai and Nobu could help out foreign fans trying to translate beyond their skill level by not randomly slipping into Kansai dialect, but what fun would that be. Pronoun dropping hasn’t gotten all that much easier in the last 6 years. How is it that I can still get confused as to who’s doing what ffs. Anyway, sigh, will edit if I find out I messed something up.

Continuing from Part 1

At around that time [2006 to 2009], it seems you already had a relationship of mutual respect. What did you find appealing about each other?

Dai: The precision of Takahiko’s skating skills, the smoothness/extension of each stroke. And Nobu’s jumps, his soft knees – he could put in combination jumps anywhere. I thought it was amazing how he wouldn’t make mistakes.

Taka: Yeah, yeah. Even if his jump was off-axis, he could still land it.

Dai: Yeah!

Nobu: A lot of times I thought I was jumping straight, then I looked at the footage and was like, “Wow, it’s way off.”

Dai & Taka: Ahahahaha

Dai: And then you’d land it like it was no problem lol.

Taka: You’d be totally smooth with the landing.

Nobu: Hahahah

Taka: As for Dai-chan, it was his emotion [sensitivity], of course. That kind of sensitivity was something that I lacked, so I kept wondering, “Where does that come from?”

Nobu: Like I said before, these two both had something that I couldn’t get from my training. I would think all the time, “What kind of training do I have to do to get closer to their level?”

Women’s figure skating used to get all the attention, and throughout your careers, men’s figure skating gained more popularity. I think that’s connected to how much it’s thriving today, but what were your feelings on that at the time?

Dai: I think that Takeshi Honda-sensei left a hole that several skaters from the new generation tried to fill, so it’s partly because that competition was so compelling to watch. And also because these two stood out as interesting characters, right?

Taka/Nobu: No no no no!

Nobu: Dai-chan, don’t you stand out quite a bit, too? Lol

Dai: Oh damn, yeah, my bad.

Nobu/Taka: LOL

Dai: My point is there are all sorts of characters who stand out, both in the men and the women’s competitions lol.

Nobu: Yeah, that’s true. With (Asada) Mao-chan, Miki (Ando), Yukari (Nakano), Akko-chan (Akiko Suzuki)…Everyone was really interesting to watch, each one had their own personality.

Dai: That’s right, because everyone had different personalities.

Nobu: And their skating had personality, too. So I’m really glad that male skaters have become popular as well.

Dai: Yeah.

And now what will it be like for you three to perform at Prince Ice World as professional skaters?

Dai: It’s been several years since I retired, and I started walking many different paths. But at the end of the day, skating is my foundation. Even today, I was watching these two practice on the ice and thinking, “Damn, they’re doing some impressive things,” and that encouraged me to try harder, too. Since retiring, our ranges of interpretation have been changing in all sorts of ways, so watching them skate again it’s like, “In all these years, they’ve grown so much!” That’s why I feel like this show is going to be a motivator for me, just thinking “I need to work hard to keep up with them.”

Taka: You do get the sense that we’ve all been evolving in different ways according to our own personalities.

Dai: Yes, well, that’s true lol.

Nobu: Since I retired I’ve been appearing in ice shows every year, but for you two, there have been periods of time when you guys weren’t around…

Dai/Taka: LOL

Nobu: Because there was a time Dai-chan went to America and was working hard there. And Takahiko was still active [in competitions] at one point, then he became a company man. Now, four years have passed, and I’m happy that once again we can skate together as 3 again. I was never apart from skating, so it feels like “Aah, they’re back! They do love skating, they do love it, I knew it!” lol

Dai: And it only took 4 years lol.

Taka: LOL

Nobu: Well, I’m glad you came back after 4 years.

Taka/Dai: LOL.

And one activity the three of you have in common is working as commentators. You often meet each other at the place of the event you’re covering, I would imagine. So do you have any feelings about that?

Dai [smiling bitterly]: Well, I think *they* are very good at it.

Nobu/Taka: Ahahahaha

Nobu: At the 2016 Nats, I sat at the Kiss & Cry with Riko Takino, and Dai-chan was working as a newscaster right behind me.

Dai: Right, yeah.

Nobu: Takahiko was there, too, right?

Taka: I was with BS-TV at the time so it wasn’t live.

Nobu: I thought it was awesome how everyone was at Nats in all these different roles. I thought, how great that after retirement once again everyone’s at Nats supporting the next generation.

Dai: Yeah.

Taka: And also, just like the people who have supported us, we’d like to keep helping the sport flourish even more.

And how do you see your future activities developing in terms of supporting figure skating from different positions?

Nobu: Ever since I retired my dream was to become a mentor/instructor, so I think from now on I will begin to slide into that role little by little. I love teaching and I love kids. 

Dai: You’re quite strict.  I just watch while thinking, “Wow, so scary!” lol

Taka: Ahahaha.

Nobu: Yeah, I’m strict lol. The fact that I used to be a competitive skater has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that I’m able to put certain feelings/sensations into words as I teach them. The disadvantage is that there’s an impatience, like, “Why can’t you just do it?!” I always remind myself that the best way to support them is to stick to more of a long-term view.

Taka: You get too worked up about it, and you start to get frustrated?

Nobu: Yeah, I do get worked up about it. During like, their free skate run-throughs, when the skater is tired and starting to run out of steam, I think that’s when the actual practice starts. That’s what it was like for me, too. I’ll yell out, “Hey! Don’t get exhausted! Keep going!!” 

Dai: LOL. Well, I don’t know what I’m gonna do yet.

Nobu: It might take you another 4 years lol. [playfully] Excuse me, but while you’re finding your next path, could you just give us a long-term plan? Lol

Dai: But I only just returned to skating lol.

Nobu: Right, yes, you’ve finally found your way back to your roots.

Dai (looking at both of them): I’ll keep learning from my senpai* who have their roles in society figured out. The time I spent away from skating was long, so…

Nobu: He’s the type to come to a conclusion only after he tries lots of different things; it takes him a bit longer, so please just be patient with him!

Dai: LOL thanks, thanks so much.

Taka: LOOL. As for me, I think [as a teacher] I’m the total opposite of Naru-kun in that I just want the kids to have fun with skating. I want to convey the appeal of skating starting from the basics, in skating classes and such, and join Naru-kun and the others on that path of becoming a teacher.

Nobu: Takahiko is also making blades, which is already a huge contribution.

Taka: The blades, right.

Nobu: When are you giving me one? A blade.

Taka: You know, it takes a long time to make even just one!

Nobu: Because you said last year you’d give me one.

Dai: Ahahahaha LOL

Taka: I said, like, “There’s no way around it, I’ll give it to you when I get it,” lol.

Nobu: You said you’d give me one for free, so I’ve been waiting lol.

Taka: Blades have to start changing little by little. The rules will probably change, since quads have become commonplace. So these kinds of things have to change according to the times.

[T/N: *senpai - Dai self-deprecatingly says Taka and Nobu are his senpai as “members of society” 社会人 meaning people who have jobs, families etc.]

What has your reaction been to this Quad generation?

Taka: Just that it seems so difficult.

Dai: I don’t really understand how they’re able to do it.

Taka: It’s hard to fathom, right?

Nobu: Of course it’s amazing, but you also feel kind of bad, like, “If you can’t fight at that level, you can’t make it?!”

Dai: Right, yes. “So this is what you have to aim for if you want to succeed?!”

Nobu: It must be so difficult.

Taka: Yeah.

Nobu: Looking at the likes of Yuzu and Nathan, I think the era is coming where you’ll have to be able to jump all types of quads. And I think that also makes it difficult to teach [young skaters].

Dai: If they start practicing too much, too fast, they end up getting injured, and if they don’t practice fast enough, they don’t make it in time…

Nobu: But everyone’s working so hard, so you want to give them support.

Dai: Yeah.

How do you think the Japanese men’s field is going to develop now?

Nobu: Speaking from the point of view of a commentator, my honest feelings are that (Yuzuru) Hanyu-kun and (Shoma) Uno-kun are the two who are advancing Japanese men’s skating. There’s no one who can keep up with them yet. I am concerned that if [other skaters] don’t reach them, once these two retire, the next generation will be a struggle [for Japanese men].

Taka: When the 3 of us were competing, Yuzuru showed up, and then Shoma showed up...I hope it will keep happening gradually like that.

Nobu: (Yamamoto) Sota-kun getting injured was very tough, but now I want him to improve more and more. When you look at the women’s field, they’re at a level where you don’t know for sure who’s going to be at Worlds. I’d like for the men to reach such a level soon.

Taka: The women’s Olympic Selection Nats were very interesting to watch, right? There were so many promising skaters they didn’t even all fit into the last group.

Dai: Yeah!

Nobu: I want it to be like that for the men, too, to have a field so deep you think, “I want them to send everyone [to the big events]!”

Taka: Right.

At the Pyeongchang Olympics, as you witnessed Hanyu and Uno getting gold and silver medals live at the location or on TV, did you feel emotional not as commentators, but as former Olympians yourselves?

Nobu: Definitely. Dai-chan, too, right?

Dai: Yeah, it was like, “Why the hell am I crying so much? Am I this much of a crybaby?” lol

Nobu: I think it must be like this for Dai-chan and Takahiko, too, but for me, it’s because I’ve been on that stage before that I understand the pressure they’re under; It’s like all the practice they’ve done hinges upon those few minutes, isn’t it? To perform that well in those circumstances is incredible. And the feelings of “congratulations!!” are just overwhelming.

Taka: Now that I think about it, your Olympic performance is over in the blink of an eye, right. Just like that, it’s all over.

Were you feeling very aware that you also skated on that Olympic stage?

Nobu: Watching from my current position, I can feel how the whole world is watching the event. But when I was actually performing there, I don’t think I realized it that much.

Taka: Right.

Dai: Yeah. And now it’s like, “So that’s how much they were supporting us!”

Taka: The people around us.

Dai: Yeah! Realizing now, from the outside looking in, “People who were rooting for me were that close to me.”

Taka: When you’re at the location, you understand the cheers from the audience, but there’s also the people who will support you watching the TV…

Nobu: I really felt like, “I was in a really amazing place. I was lucky to have been sent there to participate.”

Taka: What would it be like to go to the Olympics again? If they let you participate?

Dai [firmly shaking his head]: No way!

Nobu [firmly shaking his head]: No way, no way, no way.

Taka: LOL

So, if you 3 were to produce your own ice show, what kind of show would you make?

Nobu: What! Produce an ice show? For now, let’s make Dai-chan the chairman.

Dai: Chairman?! Lol

Nobu: First, Dai-chan will dance without skates.

Dai, Taka: LOOOL

Nobu [doing the choreography from Hyoen]: Do 3 performances like that.

Dai [looking at Nobu]: In between the talking parts.

Nobu: Takahiko will give a skating class in-between. And then we’ll all perform together.

Dai: I really want a group number. Let’s make the group number the main event.

Taka: Sounds like fun.

Which skaters do you want to call as guest performers?

Dai: It could be cool to do it with just the men.

Taka: Men On Ice?!

Nobu: I want to call people from our generation! Jeffrey Buttle, Stephane Lambiel, Thomas Werner, Johnny Weir. Oh, also Emanuel Sandhu.

Dai: Emanuel Sandhu!

Taka: That’s good haha.

Dai: He has really long legs!

Nobu: Shawn Sawyer!

Dai: Also Kevin van der Perren.

Nobu, Taka [at the same time]: Aaaaaah!

Taka: And Sergei Voronov.

Nobu: Oh, Sweden’s Kristoffer Berntsson, and there’s another one...Ah! Adrian Schultheiss.

Dai: Schultheiss! Lol that guy’s great.

Nobu: Evan Lyzacek

Dai: Evan!

Taka: Evan, too. And Patrick Chan.

Nobu: Patrick, too. I want to gather a bunch of guys from that era and make it a whole festival of men.

Taka: Festival of men lol.

Dai: That’s something that hasn’t been done yet lol.

Taka: It’d get stuffy…

Dai: Yeah, it would.

Nobu: For the choreography, the guy from Spain!

Dai: (Antonio) Najarro.

Nobu [doing the choreography from Poeta]: Right, Najarro-san in the center dancing.

Taka [doing the choreography from Poeta]: Najarro-san on top of a platform lol.

Nobu: With overflowing enthusiasm!

Taka: It has to be like that, otherwise we won’t be synchronized.

What kind of music will you skate for your group number?

Dai: What should it be?

Nobu: Hm, what would work?

Taka: Is there something?

Nobu: Takahiko always goes with a “tidy” style with like, a classical feel to it.

Taka: Yeah.

Nobu: So, do something catchy like what Dai would skate to.

Taka: Aren’t we talking about the group number?!

Nobu: They’re all connected, like Takahiko skates to something catchy, Dai-chan skates to something comical…

Dai: And Nobu?

Nobu: I’ll skate to something like, formal.

Taka: But it’s not a medley, it’s supposed to be one song, right?

Nobu: Ah, the same song?

Taka: What song would work for the 3 of us?

Dai: A show number called “Vancouver memories” with the Olympic song lol.

Nobu, Taka: LOL

Nobu: Ah, wouldn’t that be good, though? There are the Olympic mascot characters, right!

Dai: Aaah!

Nobu: Would you skate with those on?

Taka: Wearing those? The 3 of us?

Nobu: Yeah, yeah! And skate to the Vancouver Olympic theme song.

Taka: Dai-chan would be Quatchi (Sasquatch inspired Vancouver Olympic mascot), right?

Dai: Quatchi! It’d be kind of a small Quatchi.

Nobu, Taka: LOL

Nobu: I mean, isn’t the Quatchi big? I don’t want to see a small-costume Quatchi.

Dai: We can just make all of them tight-fitting.

Taka: LOL

Nobu: Nah, I don’t like it. I don’t want it if the costumes are going to be small lol.  

Dai: Mighty Atom (TV Show).

Taka: With the 3 of us on the ice lol.

Nobu: That’s scary!!

Dai: That style could be cool, too!

Nobu: Yeah. Maybe go with that style, so we can make new memories.

I bet the fans would be very happy if “Men on Ice” actually happened! So, now, we’d like to ask you to send words of encouragement to your Japanese men’s skating kohai.

Dai: Encouragement, huh… Hm, but they’re all working hard, it’s not like we can just say “ganbare!”

Nobu: I mean, they got 1st and 2nd at the Olympics.

Taka: Yeah.

Dai: Yeah, first and second!

Nobu: It’d be kind of hard to beat that result, wouldn’t it? The only thing more amazing would be one, two, three. And there’s also 3rd consecutive win?

Taka: Yeah.

Nobu: That’s the level they’re at. It’s really amazing huh!

Dai: I mean, the others have to win against Yuzu and Shoma?

Nobu: There was Takeshi Honda-sensei, there were the 3 of us, and now Japanese men’s figure skating is really exciting.

Taka: It’s really exciting, right.

Nobu: I don’t want this excitement to fade, so I hope skaters with a lot of character and individuality continue to appear from now on.

Dai: Exactly.

Taka: But [points at Nobu and Dai] I don’t think there will ever be people with this much individuality lol.

Nobu: No no no, I have no individuality!

Dai [looking at Nobu]: No, no, no, lol.

Taka: Well said lol.

Wouldn’t you say the amount of appreciation you get today is because the 3 of you have such unique characters in your performances, too [as well as off the ice]?

Taka: Hmm…

Nobu: Huh, I wonder...

Dai: Hm, is that so? What do you guys think?

Nobu: I mean, it’s something to be grateful for, of course. To have this much support even after you retire.

Dai: Yeah, it’s definitely something to be grateful for.

Taka: Even after so many years…

Nobu: Yeah.

Dai: Right.

Thank you very much. We’ll continue to support you. Lastly, please send a message to your fans.

Nobu: As always, thank you so much for your support. This season I will work hard and concentrate on beating my personal best again [everyone bursts into laughter], so please continue to support me!

Taka: Are you serious!

Dai: LOL

Nobu: I’m serious! I'm very serious about skating!

Dai: Right. Well, thank you so much for your continued support. I also have finally started to think seriously about skating again…really for the first time in a while.

Taka, Nobu: LOL

Dai: Up until now I’ve been making excuses for myself when appearing in ice shows and skating while feeling guilty [toward the audience], but this season I want to hold onto my enthusiasm for skating so I can perform with passion. I hope that, little by little, you can start to see these changes in me. I want to work hard from now on!

Taka: Yeah. We hadn’t had the opportunity to have a meeting like this until now, so I’m feeling really nostalgic. Hey, do you guys know that we’re called 3BK?

[Nobu and Dai meet each other’s eyes and nod deeply].

Nobu [looking at Dai]: But we’ve never thought of such things, riight~? lol

Dai [looking at Nobu]: Never even thought about it, riiiight~? Lol

That’s a loving nickname that caught on among your fans.

Nobu: Loving, huh!

Dai: Right, right, lol.

Taka: It's loving, yes! It started when we chased that ball.

Nobu: Yeah.

Taka: To all the fans: 3BK is eternal! Please continue to support us.

Dai/Nobu: Please support us!

[ichirukilover]

Ok it’s a mess and I don’t understand half of the tweets I found but it doesn’t seem like the movie was bad, it seems the general reaction is good. I tryed to translate some, there may be errors but I only posts the things I am pretty sure about, if you see incorrect things please tell me. I don’t have time so I’ll only focus on the IchiRuki ones, bc that’s what I care about.

I  found a long review here I don’t get it all but I'll try to sum up what I got. This person wondered how far the movie will go, she/he said some part worried her but it was better than she expected, she is really glad she saw the movie. Said the Grand Fisher fight in town was too dangerous and made a lot of damage, she critized that Ichigo doesn’t fight like that but for the movie’s sake it had to be flashy. (I said the same thing when I saw the trailer LOL); Yuzu and Karin are cute and really similar you can’t tell which is it, this aspect was different from the original. Swordsman? (I think the fights?) was really cool. The story is easy to understand.

Onto IchiRuki she said, the characters are somewhat different from the original, and as she thought their relationship can only be seen the best in the original (she said she is really critic here). IchiRuki in the movie are more honest/open? than the original. Then I don’t understand well this part she says there were scene that looked like a love comedy and then other it was like lI’ll be your friend. (I didn’t get which is it? lol). She says it was disappointing Ichigo could talk normally about his mother and there was a missing memories in the rain scene (I don’t get which scene but since she is talking about IchiRuki I guess Rukia’s speech?) and she is disappointed about this. The high five scene is unquestionably cute. Rukia’s voice and hair are different but it’s cute. Sota is cool (I know, I know lol) and sweet, there is not wrinkle between the eyebrow (lol). She says it’s wonderful when Ichigo says he was saved by Rukia so he will protect her. She thinks it took too long for Rukia to enter the scene and go to Ichigo after Byakuya slashed him. The IchiRuki farwell scene, she says that since she loves the original scene so much, she though it was a bit bad but was relieved that Rukia repriminded Ichigo properly.

She/he said Chado and Ino/ue don’t do anything particular, maybe they will the next time, even if she wonders what. Also Ren/ji was only beaten up, she says the action was cool, the CG impressive and the music good. She says smethign about RUKIA’S MEMORY IS LOST???? I don’t know this is? Doesn she mean Ichigo loses Rukia’s memorie??? WHUT?? She ended up her post with “I want to read the original, there was no poem”. 

This was long, I couldn’t get many points unfortunately. Now more short thoughts about the movie under the cut

実写BLEACHはイチルキ！とか迂闊に言えないが、一護とルキアの関係性を軸に置いてあるのは間違いなく、言っちゃなんだけど杉咲花さんて性的魅力には乏しいタイプの女優さんで、だからこそ作り手側が念頭に置いたという「恋愛では無く友情で結ばれた関係」を描くのにも相応しかったのではないかと。

Bl/each live action is IchiRuki! There is no doubt that the relationship between Ichigo and Rukia is the focus. I have to say it but Hana san is scarse actress on the sexual appeal, so that’s why the director kept in mind “not love but a conncected friendship” (and I don’t get the last part but really fuck you if you think he chose a “less” sexual appealing actress bc it would be safe for the “no love” relationship, that’s not how it works, oh well the movie is IchiRuki that’s good lol)

ルキアが可愛くてさ、圧倒的にイチルキ派であったことを思い出し、ふと悲しくなった。

Rukia is cute, it overwhelmingly remebered me I was IchiRuki school (shipper I guess) I suddenly got sad.

BLEACH実写、想像してたより良い部分めちゃくちゃ沢山あった…イチルキ好きな人は見た方がいい…

“Bl/each live action” I don’t get if she says “there were lots of good parts than I imagined or “there were more meesed up parts than I imagined” sorry TT but I’m interested in what she says here “people that like IchiRuki better go see it”

原作者が「キャラクターの関係性は変えないでくれ」って言わなかったらラブストーリーにしてたんだろうな…寒気がする…。

If the original author did not say "Do not change the relationship between the characters" I guess it would have been making a love story...I feel cold...

実写はイチルキ、一雨って感じつえーぞ！ってゆーか吉沢雨竜クソかっこいい！

LA is IchiRuki, Ishida I felt it! Ryo was terrybly cool as Uryuu!

観てきました。ボロボロになっても 立ち上がる一護❣️一護とルキアのほのぼのしたやり取りやお互いの想いやりに感動💕💕💕続編希望❣️

i have watched it. (don’t get the second line). Stand up Ichigo. I was impressed byt the Ichigo and Rukia heartwarmings interactions and feelings thowards each other. I hope for a sequel.

実写見てきました〜 ｡ﾟ(ﾟ＾o＾ﾟ)ﾟ｡ 尊すぎる二人の絆に涙が堪えられませんでした。 最終回以来、今も悲しい想いをされている方がいたら（私と萌趣向が合致されるならば）ぜひ見て欲しいです。私は浄化されました。ありがとうございます。

I have watched LA. The bond of them is too precious I could not endure the tears. If there are people that still feel sad since the ending like me, please i would like you to see it. I was cleaned up, Thank you very much.

ルキアの揺るがない芯もちゃんと窺えたし、しかもイチルキの鍛練！は良いなかわいいな　石田が浦原さんを尸魂界を追放された死神と説明しちゃうのはなんで？と爆笑必至だが　映像技術も殺陣も良かった。

I could see Rukia’s unshakable core, moreover IchiRuki training! (I don’t get the rest but I got the best)

実写鰤鑑賞二回目。イチルキ最高だと改めて思うし、お互い命がけで相手を護り合う姿に涙…！特に印象的な終盤バトル後の二人の切ないやり取り、表情、熱演、凄くて泣いた。他にもグッとくるシーンあり、試写で観た時より確実に今回の方が感動できたのには驚いた。初見は色々と違いが気になったからかも

Second LA view. Again I think Ichiruki is the best, wanting to protect each other with each other life, I cried! especially after impressive exchange after final battle, espressions, performance, I cried so much. There are many good scenes and I am surprised I was touched even more this time, maybe because the first time I was concerned about the looks.

恋愛話も考えたってことは、実写制作側が一護とルキアの関係に恋愛も感じたからか。まず、作中の多数のキャラがこの二人を男女の関係に見てる描写があるので、一護とルキアが原作でそう見えるよう描かれてるのは明らかだから、そう感じてもおかしくない。実写でも二人の関係が結構煽られてて萌えます！

Thoughts about love story,  the LA porduction felt romantic side for ichigo and rukia relationship. First of all because there are characters in the work that see at ichigo and rukia relationship as a man and woman, it’s obvious ichigo and rukia are protraied to look like in the original, so it doesn’t feel weird. Even in the LA these two relationship feels fuzzy and moe!

映画見た後は自失呆然だったけど、小説版で復活した！＼(^_^)／総括→バリバリCGでよかったし、イチルキの修行シーン最高だった！

After watching the movie I was a bit down but I revived with the novel version! the cg was cool, ichiruki traing scene was the best!

瓦礫のとこでルキアが一護を助け起こそうとするシーンの福士くんの目が、ラブシーンかと混同するのでやめてくださいとTLで見かけるたび思う。でも見てる。

The scene placed in the rubble where rukia helps ichigo Fukushi kun’s eyes (the actor) I confuse it with a love scene everytime I see it, please stop. But I’ll still watch it. There is also an answer to this tweet

私も思った…ずっと思ってた！あの目は…ふ、福士くんんんん(；▽；)ってなったよ衝撃だったよただの友情には見えないよ…

I always thought that too! Those eyes....fukushi kun it was shocking I can’t see just friendship

イチルキやっぱ最高に大好きだー！！！

IchiRuki is the best, I love it! <<< she just watched the movie

イチルキでぶん殴られた

I was beaten up by IchiRuki

Okay I think that’s enough, there are not many spoilers here, more how people felt but all in all it seems the movie is well liked. At least many Ichiruki shippers look pleased with it.

[aiph-daicerandomstuff]

Da-iCE FACTS & TRIVIA: Da-iCE ABC 2018 (from N-Z) | CGM

And so, the saga continues. Here’s part 2 of Da-iCE ABC. Enjoy!

To all natto-lovers, ‘just want to say that Sota is with you. Aside from being Sota’s favorite, it is also a memorable food that helped him survive his tough days in Tokyo. These beans are life-savior, they seem.

Daily morning greetings! What is a morning without Hayate’s “Ohayasan!”? It is Hayate’s way of giving us a-is good vibes to start our day. Arigatou gozaimasu, Hayate-kun! Always.

Taiki, Yudai, and Hayate have one thing in common - Pollen. They are all allergic to pollen!

Q is for Quiz. HAHAHA! Every time they have this portion, whether in mini-movie or LIVE, it is always funny! I love watching them think to the fullest. All of them have these silent pleads of - “Oh brain, c’mon think!” and “FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!” It’s cute.

R stands for Radio. Our boys are great hosts! Although the programs are not available internationally, we all know that they do well in this field. Keep up the good work, Sota, Hayate, and Taiki!

S for Summer Songs. Straight to our playlist! Straight to our hearts! Da-iCE is truly a “summer-vibes machine”. They just give us the right songs for the summer.

What is Da-iCE without our very own Taikimen? This fashionista and otaku who loves Japanese groups and idols? He knows a lot of things and he’s nice and clean. A true SUNSHINE. Perfect - don’t you agree?

Thank you for the updates! Da-iCE is always keeping in touch with their fans. And because of that, we’re thankful. Da-iCE... I just want to say that you have international fans. We’re also here for you. Keep it up!

V is for Vocal, because Yudai and Sota are always possessed, reaching up the high notes. They are both so talented and so amazing, performing LIVE or even in their MVs or PVs. Such magnificent duo.

W stands for Weird. Although they do some crazy things, they are oh so funny. We love them for being this way. They are just like that.

XXX. Some things are better left unsaid - like the members’ private matters [eg. Sota’s phone number]. You’ll know this if you watch their MV makings. LOL.

Y stands for the group’s all-time favorite, Yakiniku. Gatherings are just so much better with grilled meat. Toru and Hayate are always happy.

Zzzzzzzz... They always work hard and so, they deserve some rest. Take your time, our dear boys. Rest and sleep. Thank you for your hard work today!

The end.

Note: To those who are using the app, just click “External Image” and the rest of the pics will appear. Thank you.

[tomonokazuki]

Translation of an interview with Kazuki Tomono from Quadruple Axel 2018

Disclaimer: Not a professional translator, not even close.

This one was so so so so long, I felt like I’d accidentally been trapped in some sort of repeating time loop of skating questions. but it’s really good, and not that long to read (lol)

A striking world debut.

A turbulent Olympic season was brought to a close by drama awakened at the World Championships. Competing as an alternate, Kazuki Tomono improved his personal best in a big way. He showed a great fight for his 5th place finish. With a striking world debut, the name “Kazuki Tomono” exemplified the depth of the Japanese men’s field. I heard his enthusiastic thoughts such as “This experience led to self confidence”

This season you competed in many events. Can you even remember them all?

Kazuki: Well, I think it was a fair number (lol). How many was it?

The Summer Cup, Us International Classic , Kinki Block, Western Japan Intercollegiate, Western Japan Championships, NHK Trophy, Japanese Nationals, Intercollegiate, National Athletic Meet, Coupe du Printemps and Worlds.  That makes eleven.

Kazuki: Besides that I also entered some free tournaments and occasionally a small competition. Nevertheless I did pretty well (lol).

From your first competition at the Summer Cup (August/202.27) to your final competition at Worlds (March/256.11) your scores increase much more than one would usually see.

Kazuki: Looking back, I think experiencing the US International (September/225.30) was big. I felt good earning this score at the beginning of the season and I was able to gain more and more confidence from that point. I took every event seriously and by the time the World Championships came, I thought “If I skate perfectly I can do this”

In an interview before the season started you said “Even though I can’t participate in the Grand Prix series, I’d like to break into seniors even if just a little” and you ended up competing in the NHK Trophy and came 5th at Worlds.

Kazuki: I was surprised to participate in the NHK Trophy (as a substitute for Daisuke Murakami) but I made full use of my experience as a substitute (for Sota Yamamoto) at Junior Worlds (2016) and faced it thinking “ I will focus of the competition in front of me”. Just before the Western Japan Championships I heard that I might be called up, so I think that made it easy to adjust. For Worlds I head “Maybe you’ll participate?”, so I wasn’t too surprised. I think I was blessed with huge opportunities this season and the place where I could have a solid result was the best.

Looking back, why do you think you were able to make good use of these opportunities?

Kazuki: Somehow I was desperate and didn’t understand why, but I think I moved in a good way. At the time of Junior Worlds in 2016 I knew that there was an opportunity to be an alternate and I thought “even if I’m an alternate it’s still an important position”. I think this lead to the fact that I was conscious of my results.

The stability of your quad salchow is magnificent.

Kazuki: I think that having minimal jumping mistakes is the most reliable way to get good scores. With the way the second half of this season turned out I think I was able to grow a little.

Were you uneasy?

Kazuki: I was very very anxious. In regards to the quad salchow, there are still parts of it that are difficult, so I have to raise the rate of success even more. I should be able to jump normally without being conscious of it.

Are you considering learning new quads?

Kazuki: That’s right. I’m in the middle of learning the quad toe loop right now. Basically the core of my practice is trying to raise the success rate of my quad salchow, but when I have time I’m working on the toe loop.  Rather than saying “I ought to include it” for next season, I’m working hard with the strong feeling of “I want to include it!”

What is your current feeling on it?

Kazuki: I’m finally at the point of understanding how to jump it. I’m a little bit weak with toe jumps so it’s been a big challenge, but I think I have grasped the sensation.

After participating in the World Championships does it feel necessary to add more types of quads?

Kazuki: I think new quads are necessary since I want to aim higher , I’m not satisfied with where I am, before Worlds I thought “When the season is done I’m going to challenge it”. I think eventually I’d like to take on quads other than the salchow and toe loop. It’s fun to thing “Maybe I’ll jump that” while practicing.

At Worlds you came in 3rd in the free skate. Is your small medal hanging anywhere special?

Kazuki: Nah, it’s somewhere in my room (lol). Since it’s just a “small” medal, I’m not really satisfied at this point. For those I’m indebted to, it’s sitting on top of my desk (lol).

The goal you set for this season was “I want to take in what I can from senior skaters” but what response do you feel now that it’s over?

Kazuki: Right now, instead of just being satisfied with the outcome of the World Championships, I’m switching my attitude over to being filled with the feeling of hammering in practice.

This season was a big step up, wasn’t it.

Kazuki: I really have the feeling that I’m standing at the starting line. I saw so much potential before me, and skating became more fun.

From here on, are there challenges you see?

Kazuki: Skating skills and expression I think. I feel like those sort of basics are still lacking. I don’t think this is something that can be mastered in the short term, but from here on I think important things will pile up every day.

Your performance of ‘West Side Story’ was an enthusiastic performance that fired up the audience in Milan.

Kazuki: I never thought I would receive applause like that, I was very happy. Though being able to raise the mood in the venue is a strong point of mine, I still don’t feel like I can match the top skaters, so I would like to expand it in the future.

How do you feel about contributing to 3 spots at Worlds for next season?

Kazuki: I’m happy. If we have 3 spots, it gives lower skaters like I was this time a chance to participate. This time I personally experienced that for me to have my chance, 3 spots were necessary. I think having 3 spots is really big, I would like to be able to get one next season.

Next season you won’t be a pinch hitter?

Kazuki: That’s right. I want to be the sort of skater who says “I’m one of the 3 entries”, but I want to gain it with my own strength.

Was there pressure towards you about earning spots?

Kazuki: Since I didn’t think I could contribute to earning spots, there wasn’t any pressure. it’s a feeling of an outcome from giving your all leads to a result?

You also got a “Thank you” from Uno-senshu didn’t you?

Kazuki: Because Shoma-kun and Keiji-kun were there, I was able to concentrate on my own performance. With their support I think we were able to win 3 spots. I really respect Shoma-kun for being able to perform in those circumstances, I feel like the skaters fighting for the top are really strong.

I think that the final group of the free skate was a scene in which the risk of quads became strikingly apparent, how did it feel to you?

Kazuki: I feel like it really did show the risk of quads. I also thought “Worlds is really difficult after the Olympics”. I felt how much everyone had put into the Olympics. Also, in the final group there were skaters I competed with in Juniors, so I also felt there was a generational change.

Are there times when you looked at a skater and thought “amazing”?

Kazuki: I really respect Shoma-kun, and Nathen Chen has a presence that makes me think “Is he really younger than me?”.  As for expression, I really like Misha Ge’s performances, we got to practice together and I was really happy.  Also, Deniss Vasiljevs, I think to get that kind of placement (6th) without any quads is really scary (lol)! I’ve always thought that was “amazing” but I think if equipped with quads he could be an unthinkable skater.

Are there any skaters you connected with?

Kazuki: Misha Ge is very friendly, and it was pretty fun to talk with him. He told me “ English is important!” and gave me some half-joking advice (lol). We had a lot of good contact and I think he’s a good person.

Misha Ge does his own choreography,  do you ever think about doing your choreography?

Kazuki: No, I think it’s a little too difficult (lol). Because I haven’t mastered the knowledge of dance, choreography or presentation, it’s still unimaginable. I’m learning from professionals of various genres, so I think I could choreograph once I acquire the knowledge and skills.

You always show us fresh programs, from here on, are there any genres you want to try?

Kazuki: Nothing in particular, but but from here on I think I should show a different me, and I would like to challenge my competition and exhibition programs by opening up my personality.

From here on,  it would be nice to happen across a musical fit like you had this season.

Kazuki: This season in both the short and the free I think I was able to skate to music that was a good fit. Particularly the free which I think will become my representative program. Every season I want programs like this.

Do you have plans to carry them over to next season?

Kazuki: Next season I plan to change both my short and free. I have a strong feeling of wanting to challenge new things.

I look forward to it! Choreographer Beniot Richaud left a message on your Instagram didn’t he?

Kazuki: Yes. I was surprised to have things like this follow my results. I don’t know if anything will come of it, but I hope the day will come when I can receive choreography from him.

Even in that sense, the world is expanding more and more isn’t it.

Kazuki: It is. Ever since Worlds ended, everything really changed suddenly. My awareness in practice also has changed, this time my goal really has become to aim for the top of seniors.

Did your coach, Taijin Hiraike give you any words of praise?

Kazuki: My coach doesn’t really show sensitivity on his face, so in the Kiss and Cry at Worlds for him to be pleased made me happy. He told me “ You did really well”, and I think it was good I worked so hard. I think I was able to repay my coach a bit.

That sounds like a wonderful experience. By the way, how did you watch the Pyeongchang Olympics?

Kazuki: I was glued to the TV during the men’s event. Seeing all the skaters so lively in the tense atmosphere I thought “everyone’s amazing”, I saw how important the mental aspect is to competing in the Olympics. There were also skaters who fell apart, but it was a competition where I think the mental strength of top skaters like Yuzuru Hanyu-senshu and Shoma-kun was prominent. Even though Hanyu-senshu was injured, he had an unbelievably amazing performance.

Despite not having much time to train, Hanyu-senshu’s short program was magnificent, wasn’t it?

Kazuki: It was astounding. It gave me goosebumps. I think it was truly amazing. Shoma-kun as well, to be able to have such stable performances through the season is amazing. When I was in circumstances to practice with Shoma-kun, I felt it was an amazing thing, and I thought that I want to become a skater like him.

Were you motivated by the thought of “me too”?

Kazuki: I was.  I had a strong feeling of “I want to participate in the Olympics”.  Now the feeling of distance I had when thinking about the Olympics back when I was a junior is different, My view has changed to “It’s not a dream that won’t come true”.

Did you have feelings of regret about not being able to go to the Pyeongchang Olympics?

Kazuki: I did, definitely. Though when those thoughts would come out I would try to be positive and think “ I can still grow”.  After nationals were over I did have feelings of “still a ways to go” and “just a little more” mixed together, but after my experience at Worlds I thought seriously “ If I work really hard during the next 4 years, I maybe can go”, with that sort of sense I think from here on I can surpass my first senior year.

It’s good to face next season with confidence.

Kazuki: I think it’s really good. I’m happy that I’ll have two Grand Prix series assignments next season, I think I’ll be able to start with a completely different feeling from last season.

I’ll be cheering for you.  Finally, please give a message for your fans.

Kazuki: At last I’m standing on the start line, and I have the feeling “Next season I will finally start the skating career I’ve been aiming for!”. I feel like it’s going to be an important season, I think I’m working hard to aim higher and higher. From now on I look forward to your continued support!

Original Japanese text by Junko Kuroo

[ai-da-ice]

[Fan Account] Da-iCE’s NEXT PHASE Live in Saitama!

Da-iCE hasn’t listed a tour date for Tokyo yet (which makes me think another performance might be added to the end of the tour, but of course this is just me guessing), so for my very first Da-iCE tour performance, I made the trip to nearby Saitama to see them perform during their second day of the tour at Misato Cultural Center. It was about an hour and a half from my apartment, but as I’ve mentioned before, Japanese performances don’t require you to line up early-- if it’s a seated venue, like this one was, you’ll have the same seat no matter how early you get there, and standing venues still have entrance order numbers written on the ticket.

Once inside, there were several vendors. One to encourage people to sign up for the fan club, one selling Da-iCE albums, one passing along info for signing up for a credit card with Da-iCE's image on it, and lastly the standard merch table. I'd already purchased the light stick, but this time I also grabbed a tote bag since my normal purse isn't big enough to carry around the giant novels I'm always reading >_<

For this tour, I finally broke my bad streak of lotto numbers and snagged a seat in the third row. Each row was divided into left stage, middle stage, and right stage. I was the leftmost seat in the left stage area, and based on the dance formations, we got a lot of visits from Yudai and Taiki in particular throughout the night.

Before the show, the staff asked us to take out our light sticks, and we were all surprised to find out that they have a special function! When they're in range of the current concert venue, they can be controlled to change colors from their standard purplish-blue shade. Throughout the night, they were frequently moved from red to green to yellow to aqua blue and so on. The staff did a really good job of matching them to the tone of the songs and stage lights.

After demonstrating the light sticks' magic power, there was a short, futuristic intro video, and then the boys stepped out of this cool, dice shaped construction made out of the video screens and the show began!

Breaking down the night by song:

NEXT PHASE: When the album came out, Da-iCE claimed this would be their new show opener to replace FIGHT BACK, and it really fills the role well! The boys were wearing different costumes than their Tonikaku HEY gear, but their looks had a similar theme-- bright colors paired with retro style jackets. They all looked amazing (Sota’s back to 100% red hair!) and kicked off the show with some very strong dancing.

Watch Out: Even though this song came out last year, it's really grown as one of my favorites, so I was psyched that this was their follow up. Once again, it was a great pick to bring up the energy, and the vocals were as on point as ever. I love the bouncy parts of the dance during the “Won’t you try it?” section of the chorus.

Step Back: This was our first use of prop/special stage design of the night, and let's just say CHAINS WERE INVOLVED. I'm not joking. The set design featured prison-esque bars and the boys danced with prop chains binding their wrists. And yes, it was as good as it sounds. This was my first time seeing this song live, and I have to say that the dance was stellar!

Noise: After Step Back, the boys had a short introductory MC (trolling Sota ensues) where they also asked everyone how many "Phase" concerts they've been to ever since Phase 0 kicked off. They transitioned into Noise, one of my fave songs from Fight Back, using headphone props. Every time one of the boys put on the headphones, a certain kind of music would play and they would dance to it. For example, when Taiki put his on, it was a really upbeat techno track, so he did an almost seizure-like dance to it, then close with one of his trademark funny faces when he pulled the headphones off. When it was Yudai's turn, the intro to Noise started, and the boys began the performance with the headphones on. Every time they pulled them off, the music would change to tinny and muted, in the radio-esque style the original song evokes. It was really well done! But as Yudai mentioned on Twitter yesterday, he did make a few mistakes in his timing of pulling of the headphones, but I wish he wouldn't worry too much since it was a really complex performance and overall they did a good job with it!

Free Falling: This was our second set design on the night. A table with several chairs and a round of shot glasses (and I think some Jack Daniels as well?) were brought out, and the boys delivered this more rock-based number with a smoky bar room theme. They made good use of the chairs and table in the dance routine as well, and the performance came across like a cool, movie-like moment.

Chocolate Sympathy: Since the chairs were out, it was time for Da-iCE's famous chair dance routine paired with one of their sexiest songs. Chocolate Sympathy should be illegal, that song paired with that dance is too much all at once T^T. As I was watching, I kept on thinking how badly I want a CS instrumental because that beat is jamming, and in a sense I got my wish, because after the performance was over, it was time for performance solos from the dance line to the tune of the CS instrumental (remixed slightly, naturally). They played a quick game of Musical Chairs to determine who would go first. Hayate lost (after Toru took his chair, causing Hayate to dramatically fall over), so he led off. His dancing, unsurprisingly, WAS DOPE. Following his solo, he dashed offstage, and it was Taiki's turn. After, Taiki and Toru did a bit of a duo dance together, then Toru wrapped up, and both he and Taiki left the stage.

Koigokoro: Immediately Koigokoro kicked off with a costume change, since Yudai and Sota had been backstage during the dance solos. They were now wearing dark pants paired with a white dress shirt with a simple design in black down the front paired with a black bow tie. VERY sharp. The two vocals started off, and since Hayate had also had enough time to change costumes, he led off the dancing solo. Taiki and then Toru appeared later in the song. This is by far one of my fave Da-iCE songs and one of my faves to watch live. The vocal line absolutely kills it, and the dance is beautiful and emotional. One of my faves of the night.

Reason: Since we were in slow song mode, they transitioned into Reason, paired with a background video of the boys walking through the streets of Japan. This is one of the most beautiful songs off the new album but I keep forgetting that, so this was a good reminder to have it on rotation more often.

Sugar High: While the Reason videos were playing, the staff had set up coat racks with blue velvet suit jackets behind the screens. When I saw them, I thought next up would be Kirenai Mama no Coat, but it was actually our new OT5 track from Tonikaku HEY, Sugar High! Dressed in their daper jackets, all five members participated in the harmonies in the track, and they did a FANTASTIC job. I really do hope Da-iCE continues this trend in the future. Taiki is already at a great level of vocal ability, and Toru and Hayate’s confidence in their abilities seems to have skyrocketed.

Setsunakute (acoustic): And continue the trend they did! As a B-side to a pre-debut single, this song doesn't get much play at concerts, but Da-iCE brought it back with all 5 members on vocals! Not only did the dance line sing, but they actually sang the majority of the song! I'm praying Da-iCE will release this in some form, because it was glorious. Taiki did the first chorus on Toru did the second, and both of them delivered beautiful.

Yudai darted off stage following this performance, leaving the other four members to handle the MC while he changed costumes. The members speculated what Yudai would talk about for a solo MC and decided on 'protein'. Sure enough, when Yudai emerged in the new costume (black, white, and red-- Da-iCE's colors!), he chose to talk about protein while the other members changed. Unfortunately, I have a very limited knowledge of protein vocab, so I didn't quite follow >_<

[at this point, I can't remember for sure which of the next two songs was performed first, but I'm making an educated guess here lol]

Into You: All the boys were now in their Da-iCE colors after the costume change. They looked great, but Taiki's black piece, a button down, had the misfortune of sporting Guy Fieri-like flames... Taiki, I thought you were the fashionista!

I wasn't expecting Into You to be performed, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was! This is Da-iCE’s killer cover, and they SLAYED it live. And the Hayate jump kick move from the music video was there as well. And Sota's iconic "A little dangerous my boy" :D

I'll be back: Since we got Setsunakute, we also got I'll be back! This will also slightly edited, so instead of the Sota rap(ish?) bits on the second verse, we got a dance break. I'm personally a huge fan of Da-iCE dance breaks, so even though the performance was a little shorter than the original track, it was an amazing watch.

Fantasy: Another track I've never seen performed before, and another track improved by adding a dance break to the live performance. It makes me wish the dance break instrumental was part of the original track, I think it really enhanced it!

Five: Our first pre-debut mini album classic! This is one of my personal favorites from the pre-debut era because I love how the lyrics represent their bond as five members. I'm hoping for them to turn this into an OT5 vocal song one day, but as for now, I was thrilled to see this live finally! Also, our section finally got a much needed dose of Hayate fan service when he visited left stage.

Tonikaku HEY: Before performing their latest single, Da-iCE did a mini competition to see who could get the loudest audience "HEY"... of course, it was Sota vs. the rest of the members :D All a-i are winners, so the boys didn't choose favorites in the end. This song is kind of like the new "Hush Hush" where the audience participates in the dance since the moves during the chorus are simple hand movements the audience can follow. It's such a fun live track and you can tell the group really loves performing it.

BOND: This is a pretty light hearted song, so the boys were mainly paling around during the performance. For the set design, three sets of big white steps (the symbol for NEXT PHASE) on wheels were brought out, and the members played around on the steps and wheeled each other around. As the audience, we were in charge of the "pa-pa-party party" vocals

Stand: Another pre-debut mini-classic! The boys had stashed autographed balls under their stairs, so spent a portion of this track pitching them to the audience. None came close to me, but a girl at the other end of my row caught TWO. Guess my luck could have been a little better, even though I got third row.

Kimiiro: After all their fun with the last song, the boys calmed down and directed our attention to the screens, which flashed the release date for the new single. They than had a full performance of the new single, which I LOVE. It's not quite in the same vein as their previous summer singles, though it is uptempo. If anything, I think its vibe is half way between those songs and Sora, which is a really good sound for them. Can't wait for the release!

TWO AS ONE: I saw this performed live at Tokyo Swish and their vocals and choreo combination was really moving moment at the time, so it was beautiful to see it again. I love the MV, but I really wish more of the choreo was featured so you all could see it. I really think the story it tells is beautiful, especially since it's a thank you song to the fans.

ENCORE TIME!

Everybody: We heard the opening words of Everybody, but Da-iCE was nowhere to be found onstage...we whirled around...and there they were, in the audience! The five members walked around the aisles and shook hands with fans as they passed, much to everyone's delight! A lot of areas were reached by all five members, but the staff kept blocking the group from coming to my area because it was a tight squeeze between the edge of the rows and the side stage. Toru didn't care and broke through anyways. I made good use of having two hands and got a double handshake from Toru as he passed. YES!

Osaka Lover: I love this cover from the new single and think it's perfect for summer, so I'm glad they included it in their encore line up. The dance was great, so I'm extra psyched that we're getting an MV for this on the upcoming single!

Paradive: Da-iCE's most famous single closed out the night in upbeat, towel waving style. It's such a fun song, and Hayate's dance part during the instrumental has become so beloved that the members shout out "HAYATE" before he starts it. It's a great way to close on a happy and exciting note!

The two girls sitting next to me had talked to me before the encore and found out my favorite member was Sota. I'm not sure what I did to deserve such generosity, but one girl gave me a Sota NEXT PHASE wristband, and the other gave me Sota postcards. I was really so touched! At every Da-iCE I've been to, people have come up to me and asked me about how I got into the group, which is really so amazing for me! I feel a little awkward sometimes being a foreigner who stands out a lot since I'm the kind of person who prefers people (members of Da-iCE excepted) not to focus on me, but everyone has really shown me kindness and helped me to become more comfortable. My first Da-iCE tour performance was a total blast!!!

[0225pm]

it is currently 8:34am!!

just wanted to update on today’s events before i sleep.

so earlier this morning, i accompanied my mom to akmal’s madrasah graduation but rayhan managed to book out earlier than expected so he was able to come see the grad. but in the letter they said that they only allowed max of 2 people into the hall so i decided to just let my mom and rayhan go since tbh, i wasn’t wearing the proper attire to go in the masjid anyway. at first, i was kinda upset with my mom cus i didn’t see the point of me going if rayhan was going since only 2 people are allowed per child but then thinking of my mom going there on her own makes me worry a little since she’s rather frail so i decided to go with her and sent her to the masjid, waited for rayhan to come before making my way to bedok interchange.

it has been a rather long while since i’ve been to the interchange, or anyway really, on my own. i’m the kind of person that prefers having company than doing things alone. some may say that i lack independency but whatever it is, it’s always nice to have company. as i was walking around aimlessly in the mall, i thought of going to mcdonald’s to just lepak until my mom calls but it was too damn crowded and i missed the breakfast timing by a minute, so that was a bummer. but yeah, can you actually imagine me eating alone??? the last time i had to do that was back when i was working for YG at OG and taka, for my lunch break since i was working alone lol. but anyway, as i made my rounds at each levels, i finally decided to buy something to eat at old chang kee and then as i went back up the escalator, i thought of going to heartbeat but then again the thought of having to walk all the way there while i was socially sweating seems like a major no at that point so i decided not to and went to starbucks instead. alas, what a poor decision i’ve made. like literally, poor LOL cus i was $8.80 poorer after buying one of their christmas frappe lol and i didn’t even add whipped cream!! i should have said yes to whipped cream bc those are free unless you want extras, then you’ll have to pay. but anyway, the good thing is there was a lot of empty seats at starbucks which was quite weird considering that it’s a saturday but i was thankful cus it means that i didn’t have to stand awkwardly waiting for my mom to call.

so after i collected my drink, i sat down and i watched a couple episodes of chilling adventures of sabrina on netflix. luckily i downloaded a few so i managed to save on data haha but i didn’t think to bring my portable charger and my battery was getting pretty low after awhile. also i noticed that the person spelled my name as “hady” instead of “heidy” lol but wtvr doesn’t bother me. and then i think around 1+ almost 2, my mom called saying that they’re done with the ceremony and then asking me to go meet her and my cousins at this shop called new rezki and at first i was kinda lost and then well, my mom has this habit of like screeching her voice into the phone so it sounds like she’s shouting and/or raising her voice intensely like as though she’s mad and pissed at you but really, she’s not. i guess it’s a bad habit she picked up after countless “huh hello” whenever she called someone. but yeah, so i got a little bit upset cus the feeling’s not good when someone is raising their voice at you and i was wearing my earpiece for goodness sake so i kinda raised my voice a little too and then like i said, i was lost so she tried to direct me but LOL i ended up just googling and apparently it’s just right across the interchange, roughly about 4 mins walk as stated on map.

after seeing me, we all started ordering the food we wanted. akmal got fried noodles, rayhan had to watch what he eat cus he’s in NS and he’ll be punished if he gains weight instead of losing so he got a bowl of beef salad. my mom got bee hoon kuah and i got their mutton chop. it was ok but very oily for my taste so i don’t think i’ll ever buy that again unless i’m craving for it and if i’m nearby. it’s a dollar cheaper than the ones selling at thohirah though. oh and the shop is 24/7 too! i guess most, if not all, mamak eateries are 24/7. after we had our lunch, my mom bought some lauk back for my dad and for dinner and then we all headed back to the interchange. from there we split ways with my cousins cus they were taking the bus at the entrance of the mall, whereas we were taking the one at the interchange.

the moment i reached home, i quickly took a shower again and shampooed my hair cus i perspired earlier on and as i was changing i heard knocking on my window. i was so shook wtf cus i wasn’t expecting anyone but turns out it was farhan. like seriously what the heck.... LOL i was happy la but i was also very shock cus i thought he was gonna take the train but he actually took a grab all the way to my place instead. damn bobo la hahahaha and i wasn’t even fully ready yet even. so i rushed and did my usual face makeup and then let him in so he didn’t have to wait so long for me outside and then i did my usual going out routine. drying my hair, straightening a little, picking outfits and putting them together in my head. for some reason i was super duper indecisive about my outfit today. like idk why i couldn’t just grab and go like i usually do. and i also always will look through look books or style accounts and then visualize it in my head and i’m set but idk why the hell was i so damn frikin indecisive and fickle minded about my outfit today i kept changing and changing and then wearing different pieces together and shit and lol i finally ended up wearing the first outfit i tried which was just a black dress with a denim jacket. the sad thing is, the dress was kinda short and when i walk it gets even shorter so every now and then i had to pull it down but it’s really a cute dress though i think it’ll be nicer on someone shorter haha.

we walked to the bus stop and then went to tampines cus i had to get the brooch that my mom wants at isetan and while on the way there we were thinking of what to eat and looking through links that i’ve saved on facebook on different places we can go and eat at but most of them were either too far or too expensive and we don’t have that kind of money to throw on food yet, especially not when we still have 2 more weeks left till end of the month. after awhile, we decided to stop at tamp hub and eat at the thai shop, the one where we ate before. but lol the queue was so long and it seems like a long wait + majority of the tables were filled so we settled for tenderfresh. i felt like having fish so i got their grilled fish with aglio olio and farhan got the chicken chop one. i like their aglio olio!! it has this mild spice taste and farhan says that it’s kinda like mee goreng. overall, it was nice. their buffalo wings could be a little bit spicy though but it was still good! 😋

after our late lunch early dinner, we went to isetan to see the brooches but sadly there wasn’t anymore sale price and it was going at $19 per pin so i called my mom and ask if she still wants it and she said no cus it’s too expensive and if it was $9 like before it’ll still be ok. so we ended up not getting anything there. though now thinking about i felt like i should have just splurge my money to get her one brooch at least since she has been wanting it when she first noticed it last saturday.

afterwards, i casually mentioned genki before to farhan and he thought i was joking but lol we ended up taking the train and going to genki cus i said that i wanna satisfy my cravings. we went to the bugis outlet and surprisingly the queue was moving really fast. i got the ones i wanted and we spent less than 20 bucks there which was really unexpected but also good i guess. i’m so thankful that farhan was ok with splitting the bill even though he didn’t even eat a lot. then after that we walked from bugis to dhoby as usual and i wanted to walk even further down towards plaza sing bus stop but we saw another 65 coming so we decided to walk back towards the sota bus stop and take it there instead hehe.

i really enjoyed my day today with him. it has been a wonderful day and i hope that we will have more good happy days like these. i like how we shared our music interest while on the bus ride home, and then i was so in awe when i heard him rapping!!! he really look so cool at that moment hahaha like im not kidding. maybe i’m the only one who sees him and think that he’s cool la but hahaha wtvr 😂 i also like how we joked a lot and just sorta teased each other lol or maybe that was me bc i kacau him on the train ride towards bugis hahaha and his reactions are all so cute wth i just wanna squish him 🥰😍 and then i get to lay in his arms!!!! that’s always my fav part at the end of the day tbh. just being in his embrace hais.... oh and he went home really late (or should i say early lol) around 7am cus we had a hard time booking a grab!!! but also bc we were busy playing ml hahaah we were on a roll but had to stop since he hasn’t been home for the whole day and me too but like my house is just here ya know whereas he lives all the way at the other side hahaha so yeah i gotta get him back home and to sleep also since we didn’t get much sleep that night. one day i wanna try sneaking him into the house and letting him just sleep in my brother’s room or something after my dad’s asleep. but idk if i have the guts haha or maybe should do like that time when he stayed in my brother’s room till really late and we played games together and watched movies on netflix. that was fun too 😁

[tomonokazuki]

Interview with Kazuki from Figure Skating Life vol.14

Usual disclaimer about my iffy skills, blah blah, my neighbor is remodeling her town house for the 900th time in the 5 years she’s lived there, and so blame any mistakes on all the banging from workmen who seem to be seeing how much they can agitate my cats.

Also, I struggled with how to render (笑) into English. It indicates laughter, so I just used (lol), but that feels so damned awkward, so please don’t think I’m super weird.(lol)

At his first appearance at the World Championships, Kazuki Tomono showed his true strength and charmed the audience.  It was an event where he learned a lot from top skaters and had a huge result.

-How do you feel looking back on the competition?

“Honestly the result was surprising to me, I feel like I was lucky. Though it exceeded my expectations, I thought if I did my very best I could maybe have a score like I did, I’m very satisfied with the result. The atmosphere in the arena was really enjoyable,  and I think having done so well in such a big event will give me confidence for the future.”

-During the official practice, did you find yourself watching the other skaters while you practiced?

“Definitely, I was studying everything. Up until now I’d had very little experience on this kind of stage, and skaters I’d looked up to on TV were skating all around me.  I watched how the other skaters practice, while I was skating I took the opportunity to study them close up.”

-For example?

“First their skating and expression. As for jumps, everyone was jumping (lol), when someone would land one well I would think “that’s awesome” , but other senior skaters have so many things that I want to have in my skating. So I studied many things.”

-Since you absorbed so much, are there any new things you want to aim at in your skating?

“Since it’s figure skating , I want to charm people with more than just jumps, I want to be able to move people even with a performance without jumps. Since there were so many of that type of skaters gathered together at this competition, I spent a lot of time studying them.”

-Are you able to maintain a degree of confidence in those circumstances?

“Yes, but I still lack profound feelings because there is still a part of all this that is very new.  I think in the future I want to do my best to have more “senior-like” programs.”

-Profound feelings. What do you think can bring those out?

“I personally think that repeated experience will bring out growth….. Certainly I have to study the technical side of things more.  And with the confidence that will come with experience, I think even as a senior it will bring out a  “can’t lose” feeling”

-Just before Worlds you had the Coupe du Printemps.  With such a long time overseas, are there any Japanese foods you’ve longed for?

“Not really (lol). I’m surprisingly very adaptable. The environment wasn’t bad, and the food in Luxembourg was tasty, and I brought along some Japanese food, so I wasn’t uncomfortable. The company was good too. Sota (Yamamoto) and I were together again after a long time, and I was also with Hiroaki Sato-kun, a senpai I always get along well with, so it was a fun competition.”

-Were you happy to be with Sota Yamamoto-senshu again?

“ I was personally very happy (lol)”

-I see. About this competition, from before the start and now that it’s over, how have your feelings changed?

“They’re completely different. Compared to the other skaters I had a much lower profile and honestly that was somewhat frustrating for me. I struggled just a little bit with the feeling of wanting to look back. Even though I was truly surprised at the result, even with such little attention I think I need to devote myself to practice with more self-awareness. At the same time, I think I need to grow to become a worthy skater.”

-This season you were a pinch hitter at both the NHK Trophy and Worlds, and you had wonderful performances. Where does the strength to put out such good performances with little notice come from?

“ Since I’ve never been in a competition at that level as a proper representative I don’t really know, however,  the thing I understood best from my Junior Worlds experience was that I had to take proper advantage of the opportunity I’d received or I wouldn’t get another. I had this feeling during the competition. I think it’s important to carefully take on each competition on its own.”

-Your debuts in Junior Worlds, the Grand Prix series and Worlds were all decided quite suddenly, how did you feel when you found out you would be competing?

“When I found out I was going to Worlds I was honestly surprised, but I made sure I was well prepared, and then I just had the feeling that I wanted to do it. I didn’t have any particular thoughts.  I just wanted to have a good first year in seniors.(lol)

-Did you ever imagine going to worlds your first year as a Senior?

“Absolutely not. I didn’t even think I’d have my Grand Prix debut, and I would have never thought that next year in my second senior season I would have 2 Grand Prix assignments. But when I learned I was going to Worlds I had a feeling of “I’m definitely going to get two assignments”, and I’m glad it went according to my plan.”

-This season after having your first experience competing at worlds as a senior, what do you feel are the differences between seniors and juniors?

“In Juniors I felt like there was something inside me that wasn’t complete yet. In seniors everyone has their own way of skating, and programs feel complete. Because everyone can jump, in seniors the top skaters are complete in terms of expression, skating skills, spins and the like.”

-This season in both the short and the free I think we saw a new charm from you, what new things do you want to challenge next season?

“Since we don’t know the new rules yet, nothing has been decided. But with all the experiences I’ve had, I want to take advantage of them and broaden the range of new things and expressions I bring to my skates and I want to take on many new challenges.

Original Japanese text by Yumeko Yamamoto

[ai-da-ice]

[JUNON] Tonikaku Da-iCE!!!!

Let us tell you about this photo shoot (laughs). Letter stamps were prepared as photography props. The person who put all the letters together to spell out the title of the upcoming song [TONIKAKU HEY] would be named the champion! This is the game the member played together (laughs). When the start of the game was announced, desiring to be first place in the world, Haya-chan needlessly gathered all the stamps for himself (laughs). Why is Taiki-kun grasping for the bottom by spelling the word “TONIKAKU PAY”. ..?!?  In the second round, the one who spelled [Da-iCE] first would triumph, though they only had capital letters so they couldn’t get the traditional lowercase stylized parts right. This time they were only allowed to take the stamps one by one, and if they grabbed the correct stamp, they could move ahead, if not, they had to throw it back … it was a fierce battle (laughs). Here as well, the one that was completed first and was defending his place at the top was Yudai -kun! …Hmm? Yeah, Yudai-kun, turned in his paper spelled like “DAI-CE” (laughs) Ah ~ how fun!

Tonikaku Fun

Sota: Recently, Toru-kun and I were working on a stage play, and our amount of activities with Da -iCE was smaller, so it ’s fun to be here with five people again. When the five of us came together after a long time, I thought “I like this the best” yet again. When going out on stage just by myself, I sometimes felt frustrated. In the meantime, when I was in Osaka, I was talking to Toru-kun and confessed to him saying, “I am more powerful when it’s the five of us” (laughs).

Yudai: Both of them kept talking about how they love Da-iCE so much.

Toru: Yes. “I can do anything if it’s the five of us!” (laughs). But because we were working with actors in a similar place as us, doing both music and acting, I think that strengthened us.

Sota: Those were really great relationships for us.

Hayate: Wasn’t one of those actors EXILE’s Matsu-san? (laughs)

Toru: Yes, that was the MATSU-san we co-starred with (laughs). “Stop Da -iCE, let’s do a group together”.

Sota: I wouldn’t say anything by “Nnn~” when he said that, but he’d still be like “Eh, ya?” (laughs)

Hayate: When you told me that, I couldn’t stop laughing (laughs)

Toru: MATSU-san then started saying, “I want to join Da -iCE” all the time, and I was happy just to hear those words.

Sota: He’s really kind

Yudai: Since the stage play began, I began to follow Sota and Toru-kun on SNS more closely. Because I could not see them in person so often (laughs).

Taiki: When the three of us went to see the stage play, Yudai immediately started imitating it. We also started recognizing the dialogue quickly because “If Yudai’s imitating it, it was from the stage play “(laughs)

Yudai: I wanted to imitate cool phrases. "You’re cutting when you want to slash.”

Taiki: That is really cool

Sota: I expected to smile when I saw the members from the stage, but when I checked where the members were beforehand, it was strange just to have Toru-kun on the stage with me (laughs).

Hayate: At that time, for some reason we were really nervous with excitement (laughs).

Taiki: As I thought, years after meeting each other for the first time, we have a sense of security in each other.

Sota: It’s the best with all five of us.

Toru: Hey, how many times are you going to say that? (Laughs)

Taiki: Usually I do not have much time to meet people, but I guess the five of us are already at a family level, so I have to keep meeting them.

Yudai: I’ve seen you all naked [[at this part, the translator almost spit out her milk on her keyboard lol T^T]]

Taiki: I don’t need to see you like that. Let’s be real. Moreover, I want to hear the stories of the stage play “Chiruran Shinsengumi Requiem”, getting back on topic. It’s interesting to talk about it from each other’s perspectives.

Yudai: And here I wanted to talk about fishing stories (laughs)

Sota: Fishing stories can also be funny.

Toru: I also wanted to ask about that. I’ve heard Atlantic mackerel have a lot of fat. I saw it on SNS.

Sota: Oh, I’d like to eat a mackerel

Yudai: It wasn’t easy, but once I caught 70 in one day

Sota: You caught 70? Crazy!

Taiki: And now we’re talking about fish, the width of this group’s conversation is wonderful (laughs).

We love Tonikaku

Sota: Everyone loves [Tonikaku HEY]. At first we planned to release another song, but we agreed, “We’d like to do this song instead”, so we asked the staff to switch. After all, the music I love most of all is the kind we can do well live.

Toru: We’re all about lives, after all.

Taiki: Yeah, it’s definitely about lives.

Sota: After that, I like Junon.

Hayate: We’ve been indebted to you for the longest time.

Sota: You’re the first magazine we appeared in.

Yudai: I remembered the room being decorated

Sota: My parents have three copies of that issue at home

Hayate: I have a memory of wearing a gray hoodie with a blue check jacket.

Toru: Oh, those were our personal clothes, I remember.

Sota: I was in a denim shirt.

Taiki: I was wearing beige riders a sempai had given me.

Toru: Yudai was wearing boots and a leather jacket.

Sota: Toru-kun was in a black jacket

Toru: The one I’ve been wearing for seven to eight years.

Taiki: It’s black leather.

Toru: There are holes all over it (laughs).

Yudai: The pocket was also ripped.

Taiki: You still have that?

Toru: No, I threw it out honestly (laughs).

Taiki: I did not have any money in those days and I did not have that much clothes, but I tried to stay in fashion.

Sota: I want to collaborate with JUNON on a PV next time (laughs).

Tonikaku Surprise

Taiki: A surprising thing? That would be the two of them doing “Chiruran.” The pressure of acting. I was surprised at their aura.

Hayate: We were crying from beginning to end

Taiki: I felt an understanding with the story

Toru: Eh ~ I’m happy

Yudai: My heart was pounding the whole time

Hayate: Same as me, my heart was fluttering

Sota: Why? (laughs)

Taiki: Because “one motion”, “one motion” was amazing. [[He’s referencing a line from the play about sword fighting]]

Sota: I guess it was amazing for the members, too.

Yudai: Also, it was the first stage play I saw in my life.

Hayate: Me too.

Yudai: So everything was fresh.

Hayate: The transition between scenes was clear, so it was very interesting.

Taiki: It was amazing, wasn’t it?

Hayate: I also wanted to sword fight. I do not have to go out on stage, but I want to learn the sword (laughs).

Sota: The “Chiruran” sword fights are probably close to your image of it. You make mistakes over and over until you can reach the swift speed of movement we showed onstage.

Yudai: It’s a high level.

Hayate: “Binbin” came out!

Sota: Did you just try to quote a line? (laughs)

Toru: There’s the line “Binbin Kuru ne” (laughs). I appreciate it. I am surprised that you remembered that (laughs).

Yudai:  Atlantic mackerel is pretty cool at this time of year.

Sota: Then, let’s go fishing together, all five of us, next time.

Yudai: That would be really fun. For three or more people, the price of the ship is discounted, so I would like to go out!

Toru: I want to go to Hatsushima by ferry.

Yudai: That’s past Atami, isn’t it?

Sota: I’d like to do a BBQ after fishing.

Yudai: There are a few places we could do it. But I also want to fish at Hatsushima.

Taiki: I’d go if we went to Otaru in Hokkaido. When I was in Hokkaido, I ’d get up at 3 o'clock in the morning and go fishing sometimes, but since I came here, I have not gone.

Toru: Oh, then I’d like to go to Hokkaido for an interview with JUNON (laughs).

Sota: Now that you mention it, let’s go there with our fan club.

Hayate: I went fishing one time in the river. But I’m pretty sure I hated the insects on my fish hook!

Yudai: If you get used to it, would you like to come?

Hayate: No, I do not need to get used to it (laughs)

Toru: I definitely don’t want to use anything like centipedes.

Yudai: But, for Atlantic mackerel you don’t need insects. Just attach a small squid to the hook

Toru: That’s fine. It seems like you have a really strong desire to go fishing.

Yudai: It is delicious to eat.

Sota: As for me, I’ll eat it too!

Tonikaku Scared

Taiki: Personally I am afraid of a haunted houses. Rather than entering, I do not even want to think of it and have those memories in my brain. Even if I return home, I’ll still be thinking of it and bringing the scary memories to life.

Sota: I also hate haunted houses (laughs). As for fears related to Da -iCE, I’m afraid of the next tour. During our last anniversary, we were able to perform at the Budokan, and our next tour is a hall tour. My fear of the pressure is strong. Even if we do something unique, I’d like to do a good live that will allow me to exceed what we did at the Nippon Budokan.

Taiki: Even now there is always tension and pressure, right?

Sota: But it’s OK to be nervous, since I think I can’t give a good performance if I’m not a little nervous.

Taiki: Yes. I think that being nervous is definitely better. I often heard the quote “Is there any way to not get nervous? No, because being nervous is necessary”.

Sota: I think that I care a little too much about it though. Every time I get so nervous that I start trembling.

Taiki: In short, when we do new songs for the tour, it’s always nerve wracking to do it in a place we’re not used to (laughs).

Toru: When we go on a new stage for the first time, the anxious feelings while waiting in the wings is incredible

Sota: I think lives I go into without feeling too nervous usually wind up being the most terrifying ones in the end, though. So I try to keep that sense of nervousness (laughs).

Hayate: That’s right. I give myself a push on the back and embrace the fighting spirit

Sota: When I get nervous, my fighting spirit is even more impressive than ever! (laughs)

Tonikaku Impressed

Sota: Speaking of being impressed, on Tonikaku HEY’s coupling song “Sugar High”, I feel like the 3 performers worked together with us well to form a really solid chorus. That was something I wanted to do with them, and I was deeply moved by what came into shape. This song was written and composed by me, with Taiki-kun also helping with the lyrics, and Yudai-kun also did a lot of work on the chorus too and it was very exciting that everyone was involved in the song. Because the three performers’ part in the chorus is really good, I replayed the track many times and thought “Aaah, so good~” (laughs)

Taiki: I enjoyed recording.

Hayate: Because it was my first experience recording like that, I did not know what to do (laughs)

Taiki: Up to now I recorded solo parts, or background parts, but in the seven years since I’ve come here, I have never harmonized my voice into a five member part before. I can’t help but think it will be impressive.

Toru: It was a nice experience. As Yudai has also said before,  when we heard the “group” voice, it was moving. For Da -iCE’s voice in the future, I think it would be good if we could something like this again so when you listen you think "Oh, it’s Da-iCE’ s singing voice”

Sota: Definitely! I want to do it!

Taiki: I think that it be good for all of us to improve our vocal quality.

Sota: If we can do a lot of things on the next tour, wouldn’t it be fun to try singing a single medley with all five people?

Taiki: Oh, that’s interesting.

Sota: Since it is still under development, I hope that this type of song will also make it to a live performance and show that we can do better to earn the audience’s cheers and support.

Tonikaku High Tension

Yudai: Speaking of high tension, I want to go fishing!

Taiki: Again, you! (Laughs)

Toru: It can’t be helped. This is how he gets his high tension. He immediately gets excited (laughs)

Yudai: I get excited about the big things, of course (laughs)

Toru: But, there are surprisingly small things that get you excited too, right?

Yudai: That’s not it (laugh). But it’s always regrettable when I get over-excited at the drop of the hat, since the old man who lives next door will be like “You’re being bothersome~” and I’ll have to go “Yes ~” (laughs)

Toru: Don’t be like that (laugh)

Taiki: When I’m going to the gym, it lifts my spirits. Running while listening to LDH’s songs is good for keeping upbeat. When I listen to J Soul Brothers and Generations, my motivation goes up steadily and becomes just as hyper as Yudai (laughs).

Sota: Recently, during an after-show talk with MATSU-san, he sang “Choo Choo TRAIN” for me and Toru-kun, and our spirits literally soared.

Toru: Definitely.

Taiki: That would be an incredible thing.

Yudai: Super nice ~

Sota: Moreover, my father saw it, and since my father loved “Choo Choo Train” since long ago, I got to be a good son for introducing him to MATSU-san.

Toru: MATSU-san also talked a bit about his life in the group. Before we formed as Da-iCE, he was a superstar to us and I went to his lives, so it was an unbelievable feeling to work with him professionally.

Hayate: I was able to see the performance of Chiruran, and I can’t think of anything more motivating or exciting than that

Toru: I’m glad you think so, Hayate, thank you.

Tonikaku MV

Taiki: This time I had a strong sense of getting down to work. The staff is usually looking for something comprehensive to show what we’ve been doing up to now, and they come up with MVs which showcase us five, but this time we wanted to showcase a world view instead. There is our dance and performance as usual, but I think that it’s more interesting this time. There are feelings we’ve never shown before.

Sota: As a single, its personality comes out right from the beginning.

Yudai: In terms of using props and tools, everyone painted mischievously on the wall, and everyone’s face and clothes got messed up. It was interesting because we couldn’t just do the paint over again. It would be odd if in one shot, someone’s shoes had changed paint styles from the shot before, etc. We put a lot of effort into it, and I think the filming passed by faster than usual.

Hayate: It’s the first time we had to wash our bodies in the middle of MV shooting to clean up the paint. Thanks to that, it was a unique feeling that doesn’t usually come with working (laughs)

Taiki: I understand. I felt that too (laughs)

Yudai: When I got into the shower and returned to the dressing room, I felt like I was going home from the hot spring (laughs)

Sota: My body was getting cold. It felt nice to finish it off with a hot shower (laughs)

Hayate: It was really comforting, that feeling (laughs)

Taiki: It was a difficult to pair dancing with other issues for me this time. But, we worked towards what we wanted to do, and we all made a great emotional delivery for this song.

Toru: Up to now, dancing was our primary focus, but this time I think a lot of other things went into it, so it was very fresh and interesting.

Tonikaku HEY

Sota: To tell the truth, it’s a song where just the thought of hearing everyone chanting “Tonikaku HEY!” live is exciting. Working together with Yudai-kun on this song on its own raises my tension, and also I get to change my singing style musically in this song. I am doing a lot of challenging things, so I think that it’s enjoyable if you listen to on a technical level, too. Of course, I think that it is such a song that even just listening to the BGM will make you feel good.

Taiki: I think there is a lot of room for freedom in the dance, and it’s not as choreographed like other songs have been, and there is a margin for freestyling and ad-libs to bring out the atmosphere, so it’s a rather rare style for one of our singles. The choreo of “Tonikaku HEY” is easy to manage, so there is a good balance which makes us able to be creative in other places.

Sota: Before this, we released an album called “NEXT PHASE”, and this song is the sequel to that, since we wanted to have songs which expressed something like “This is our NEXT PHASE”. This is the song we arrived on to best fit that. It is a song that can also make you feel like you can return to your original intentions and goals despite being a new person who has experienced changes. Since I have been doing my best to compose songs with themes that tie into our indies era, I want to tell fans from our indies days “I hope the songs I write remind you of that Da-iCE too” I wonder if the fans from after the major debut can also appreciate this new side. I hope it’s a song that can take our fans along to the next stage along with us.

Yudai: The title “Tonikaku HEY!” is also great.

Hayate: The title is like a chant at a rally.

Taiki: Usually our songs have English titles which may be hard for people to remember, but I think this one is easy to remember.

Toru: Everyone liked this.

Taiki: I do not want to change this title for anything. The staff presented various things such as “It’s possible to change (kaeru no mo ari ka na)” though. We insisted “Tonikaku HEY!” is “Tonikaku HEY!” Even though they said “People may laugh at you for a title like that in the beginning,” if you listen to the song and see the choreography and come and visit us live,  would you really be able to laugh? I think if you’re able to see it like that, you can’t help but understand it.

Yudai: If you listen to the title and consider the thought of going to rallies, you get used to it and it makes sense. We usually listen to the staff, but not this time. I absolutely did not want to change “Tonikaku HEY!” Staff kept asking what we were doing, if it’s okay to try and sound “cool" or “slang-y.” But if you listen to the song, wouldn’t you say it’s worth the risk?

Sota: Come to Tonikaku Live and scream with "Tonikaku HEY” with us. It will be absolutely fun!

[ai-da-ice]

[Fan Account] ai-da-ice at Tokyo’s Tonikaku HEY Pre-release Event/Handshake Meeting

So, previously I wrote a guide to attending in-store-lives after going to FlowBack’s for their single “Booyah!”, but a pre-release in-store or live event is a slightly different beast since you can’t just buy a physical copy at the store and receive a lottery ticket. I went into this experience of going to a pre-release event for Tonikaku HEY a little blind, not really understanding how it would work but praying I would figure it out as I went along. Still, since I’ve had a bit of bad luck attending events such as missing the priority seating ticketing (Da-iCE’s Stickyle event), getting the worst lottery number and missing the autograph session (FlowBack’s in-store), and getting on the wrong train and blowing some of my shopping money on taxi fare (Chiruran), I was actually expecting for things to go wrong, but I think it went incredibly smoothly, so I’m a little shocked!

These were the basics I knew before the event: at 9, the venue (in this case, a pretty decently sized stage near the movie theater MOVIX at a shopping village in Akishima) would begin opening preorders for Tonikaku HEY as well as the handshake tickets, which vary from order to order. Basically, if you pre-ordered one album, you could get a ticket to have a brief handshake with all the members. If you pre-ordered all three versions, you could get an extra ticket for a longer handshake with an individual member. At 10, you could start participating in the priority seating lottery (sticking your hand in a mystery box and pulling out a ticket to determine how close to the stage you will be) after you secured your pre-order receipt. At 2 PM, the mini-live would begin.

Naturally, I was wondering about the huge gap between drawing the lottery at 10 and the actual performance starting at 2, so I was thinking I would have a lot of extra free time in Akishima. I even skipped breakfast, thinking I’d grab something when I was there. Also, since most of the events I had been to in Japan thus far hadn’t been big on letting people line up too early, I decided to arrive exactly at 9 for the preorders.

This wound up being kind of a mistake, although it wasn’t one with as many consequences as I had thought. When I arrived at the venue, the line was snaking all over the place and was looooooong. I arrived at 9, but didn’t even reach the pre-order tent until closer to 12. Naturally, I severely regretted skipping breakfast. Luckily, they played Da-iCE’s “Next Phase” album to keep us entertained, but it was still a long wait. Here’s an idea of what the line was like:

(PS I FAILED ART LOL)

There were a few downsides to this other than just waiting a long time and starving, though, like I said, nothing wound up being too big of a deal in the end. One was that we were allowed to choose which member we wanted to do the individual handshake with, and they had a limited number of tickets for each member, to keep everyone from all going to the exact same person and having one member with a gazilion more visitors than another. Sota’s tickets ran out pretty early into my wait, and Taiki ran out about an hour later, and so on. Also the priority seating tickets were also a limited number, so I was pretty convinced I’d miss out on both since I was so far back in the line.

As I finally got close to the pre-order booth, I received a form to fill out to let the staff know which albums I wanted. At that point, the all-member handshake tickets were available and Toru and Yudai hadn’t sold out yet, so I opted to pre-order all three versions and go for the individual member handshake if it was still available. Toru and Yudai are about equal in popularity, so I wasn’t sure which would run out first, and I didn’t mind handshaking with either because I love them both, so I waited to see which tickets were left before writing down which handshake I wanted. The form was fairly simple Japanese, so I was able to understand most of it-- you could choose whether you wanted the albums shipped to you or if you wanted to pick them up in Akishima. The shipping cost was actually cheaper than a round ticket back to Akishima for me, so I decided to have them shipped.

When I arrived at the pre-order booth, I was relieved that both the member handshake and individual handshake tickets were still available. Phew! I wound up with Yudai’s individual ticket, which I was very excited about. Unfortunately, the priority seating tickets were all gone (the bad luck finally strikes!), but the venue was set up in such a way that even people outside of the priority area were close, and when we actually got into the mini-live, the members looked at our area to the side frequently.

By time all this was finished, it was already around 12:30, so I made a break for the vending area so I could finally get something to drink and eat. I was a bit short on money, so I wound up getting an ice cream cone from the 17 Ice machine (the company Da-iCE/AAA/TRF rep for-- Hayate was on the vending machine), which also was kind of a mistake since it was very hot and promptly melted all over my hands. But since I got the handshake tickets I wanted, nothing could bother me. (Naturally, I washed my hands right away after finishing my messy ice cream out of respect for the members haha)

Around 1ish, the priority people started being admitted, and at a little after 1:30ish, guess who appeared a bit early...Sota and Yudai!! The two did a mic test and rehearsed Tonikaku HEY and Paradive right in front of us! Of course, this was just to check their mics and make sure the speakers were positioned correctly, so it wasn’t a full vocal performance, but it was still amazing to see them a little extra! They even had a little bit of audience participation by having us sing the songs when they were adjusting their sound sets.

At promptly two, the full group came onstage to kick off with Tonikaku HEY... or at least they tried to, but there was a slight technical difficulty in the intro, and they had to stand on stage for a second waiting for the music to come back on. Then it was off to showcasing their new single. It’s definitely a song suited to live performance like all their summer releases, and calls for several instances of audience participation through chanting the “HEY!” part along with them and mimicking the choreo during the chorus. I think it’s a really fun release which blends retro and modern music and am looking forward to the full release.

After, the five members had an MC about several subjects including the recently wrapped up Chiruran performances and Golden Week, the holiday going on in Japan right now which is one of the reasons the stage was so crowded--students are out of school, and a lot of adults are also off of work. They also did a brief Q&A, which I’d normally love to translate, but i‘m not quite sure what the audience members said because of the high levels of wind during the performance. I have a feeling there was something about ideal types and something about food based on Da-iCE’s responses. Da-iCE also went through and asked what areas of Japan we all came from. Since it was Golden Week, several people had come from quite far since they had the vacation time.

With the MC finished, they moved on to their final song, their hit from last summer “Paradive”! This song is truly a fan favorite for several reasons, but mainly because there is a lot of fan participation from the towel twirling during the chorus to the “HEY!” fan chants during the “come on and feel the heat...” breakdown. The energy whenever “Paradive” is performed at an event is crazy.

Since it was a mini-live, there were only those two songs, but thanks to the hand-shake event, there was still plenty to do afterwards. The group handshake was first, and went by pretty quickly-- I would say you have about time enough to say one quick thing to the members before being pushed along. I decided just to go for “ganbarimashita”-- “You did a great job”--since it’s short and to the point.

If I’m remembering correctly, the handshake order went Taiki-Toru-Yudai-Hayate-Sota. Though it was brief, it was a legit handshake where they clasped your hand in both of their hands while make eye contact. 3/5 members said “Thank you for coming” to me in English (Taiki, Toru, and Sota), while Hayate and Yudai said “arigatou”. Toru and Sota seemed to remember me from Chiruran since they both said “Thanks for coming again” T^T. For both Toru and Sota, I responded coolly with “Oh, it’s no problem,” but YES, it was a problem, because I felt ready to die of happiness~

I was naturally freaking out, but had to run back to the other side of the venue where everyone was lining up for individual handshakes. How this worked was after the group handshakes were over, the members went backstage to change out of their Tonikaku costumes, and the staff set up queues using partitions in front of the place each member would be standing. We lined up behind the signs of whatever member we had a ticket for. If people ordered A LOT of albums, they could potentially have multiple tickets, but they were advised to line up in the longest line first, and if there was enough time, to go back to another line to handshake with a second member. However, there was a cut off point for the event so the members wouldn’t be there all day (once again, it was quite hot).

Since I always blank out when speaking to idols, this time I spent some time practicing the general idea of what I would say depending on which member I was shaking hands with. I had to wait in Yudai’s queue for about twenty minutes before reaching him, so I felt like I was ready by time I reached him. Of course my heart was fluttering like crazy, but I stepped up, and he took both of my hands, and the following conversation occurred (in Japanese):

Yudai: Hello again, do you speak any Japanese? Me: Yes, a little. I met you last year in California. Yudai: Oh, that was [he couldn’t remember the name of which city]... Me: San Jose Yudai: Yes! Waaa, you came so far Me: I'm really happy I got to meet you again Yudai-kun! Yudai: Yes, me too me too (in English) me too 😃

Unfortunately, since my Japanese is so slow, that’s all we were able to say, but just having a longer length conversation with him made me so happy. Yudai, I’ll work harder next time!

After that, I was about ready to pass out from lack of food, so I had to hurry home. But overall, this was one of my most special experiences with Da-iCE. They’ve been so kind by greeting me in English all the time, but I’m going to improve my Japanese more so I can be more confident next time!!

[ai-da-ice]

Fan Account: ai-da-ice at TOKYO SWISH

(Before I get started, I just wanted to mention that the overall concert-going experience in Japan is very different from what I’m used to in America, so I’m going to write a separate journal about how to attend concerts in Japan and what is common etiquette and behavior in live houses. This will mainly focus on the concert itself!)

Since this is Da-iCE blog, I want to focus on the Da-iCE portions of the show, but stay tuned for a later update showcasing the other groups because they were awesome and I want you all to love them, too.

In Japan, idol culture is centered of Johnny’s on one side and 48-project groups on the other. There are some outliers with mass appeal such as LDH and Hello!Project idols, but otherwise, idol groups can struggle to find their market and place in the spotlight separate from the big league idols the nation is automatically focused on through management reputation. The SWISH concert series is answer to that issue. It joins together both established and up-and-coming male/mixed gender groups, and unites the fandoms of the groups who don’t have the big league market recognition but still have a lot to offer the industry through their modern, more genre bending approach to J-pop. The event is the dream of the multi-fandom crowd, which perfectly defines me as a J-pop fan. I’m all for seeing J-pop evolve and branching out to support the new groups who give it unique color.

The venue, Tokyo Dome City Hall, was filled around 5:20 ahead of the scheduled 6:00 start, and by 5:30, the opening acts were already hitting the stage. We started off first with MADKID (MDKD), a dance and vocal unit from Tokyo which served up a powerful hip-hop performance to kick off the night. They were followed up by a-X’s (pronounced “A-Cross”), a mixed gender trainee unit from avex formed by the winners of their boys and girls dance and vocal auditions. On top of their standard group performance, they also performed a fantastic dance cover of The Weeknd’s “Rockin’”.

Next up was our “bonus opening act”. This changed depending on which location the SWISH event happened in, but TOKYO SWISH’s bonus was Yudai x Keisuke Murakami, Yudai’s former groupmate in his Fukkin Gakuen days. Usually the venue announced who was performing next via an overhead screen, but since Yudai and Keisuke were “the bonus,” they were presented in somewhat of a surprise fashion. The lights were dimmed too low to see the stage, but we could all hear Yudai’s voice in his microphone set, so everyone reacted to him immediately. The two performed an original acoustic ballad entitled “Futari dake no ai”. I really hope this song makes an appearance on Keisuke’s debut album because it was gorgeous and I want you all to hear it. Yudai and Keisuke also did the thing Sota and Yudai often do during “A WHOLE NEW WORLD” and “Boku no Kiseki”-- the intense staring at each other during the love ballad. After their performance was over, a member of the audience screamed out “YUDAI-KUN!” and Yudai responded by cutely going “Kei-chan~!”

Afterwards, the main acts quickly followed. Mixed gender avex group lol was the first performer of the night, and they were followed by my second favorite J-pop group FlowBack. Both groups really set the tone for the night, that this generation of groups isn’t about the stereotypical “cute and quirky” label J-pop usually gets from outside of observers. These groups have EDM, hip-hop, and trap influences which give them a Westernized feel, without even getting into how broad and diverse their dance skills are. Anyone who still thinks of J-pop as only “AKB48,” please point them in the direction of these groups.

Following FlowBack was Ebidan’s massively underrated but supremely infectious PrizmaX, then X4, who genuinely was X4 that day since member Shota was not there due to an injury. Here’s to hoping for his quick recovery in time for X4′s tour performance tomorrow! Next up was Tensai Bonjin, who delivered one of the night’s most diverse sets by going from comedic, pump-up hip-hop to a heart-wrenching ballad while slaying the performances of both. Next was BRIDGET, the underrated visual and dance kings of avex, and then WHITE JAM, the masterminds behind several of Da-iCE’s hit songs and the improv Kings and Queen. Gashima and Shirose chose an audience member at random, asked for her name, and came up with a totally amazing free style rap on the spot using her name as the starting theme. PrismaX’s Daiki also came back to join them on their song “OVERSIZE.”

Last up of the night was Da-iCE!! Even before they were announced on the big screen, the arena lit up with their lightsticks, which the majority of the arena seemed to have-- they were one of the biggest draws of the night by far! They came out wearing the red and black gear they’ve been sporting for their between NEXT PHASE and Tonikaku HEY! performances, as you can see below:

Their first song of the evening for Da-iCE was “NEXT PHASE,” which showcased their completely knock-out choreography at its finest. They wrote this song to replace “FIGHT BACK” as their tour opener anthem, and it does it’s job of hyping everyone up to perfection. The dance was explosive and the vocals just as dynamic as you would expect from Yudai and Sota.

To keep things energetic (and sexy), they moved right along to “Chocolate Sympathy.” Which, as they have mentioned in interviews, involves chair dancing. Yes. Chair dancing. I thought I had prepared myself, but I was not ready to witness this in person. When they call this the legendary song of their album, they are not lying.

The group did a short greeting for their MC, but naturally had a lot of charm points since they’re Da-iCE. Taiki started off by saying “I’m the leader, Taiki Kudo,” which Toru followed up with “I’m not the leader, Toru Iwaoka” and Yudai adding “I’m also not the leader, Yudai Ohno.” When it came to Sota, he was immediately trolled by the members per tradition, but brushed it off quickly to introduce himself. Hayate, naturally, received no trolling and remains the apple of the group’s eye.

Next up was my favorite performance of the night, “Koigokoro.” The music video leaves a heart-wrenching impression enough, but the in-person vocals and the way both Yudai and Sota portray them is almost physically painful in the most beautiful way. When Sota went for his high note, you could almost feel the raw agony coming from him. The dance line was also powerful during this performance, showcasing their high-flying turns during the song’s climax.

Keeping the atmosphere serious, they moved along into “TWO AS ONE,” their fan-dedicated anthem from their album. Once again, the emotions of this song carried over even stronger in person, especially thanks to the complex and interpretive choreography by the dance line. One of the point moves of the choreography involved putting their hands together in the shape of a dice, which was beautiful to see, especially since it perfectly matched the shape of their updated lightstick.

Last, they closed with their summer anthem and crowd pleaser “PARADIVE”. For this one, we were all waving our slogan towels and singing along with them, so I think this was one of the moments that best united all the many fandoms in the room. And I always thought the moment Hayate came to the center of the dance formation during the breakdown was iconic, and seeing it live just confirmed it. Everyone went wild for that part.

Of course, a concert isn’t a concert without an encore, but since there were so many groups, this one was unique. Sota, Yudai, Tensai Bonjin’s MiNE, WHITE JAM’s Shirose, and BRIDGET’s Shun, the night’s harmony masters, were selected to perform two original songs for the encore before inviting all the groups onstage again to do a final bow and take a commemorative photo. After a closing anthem from the DJ, the long concert came to a close.

SWISH was overall a exciting and energetic event which not only gives groups of varying public recognition a chance to promote themselves, but also unites the fandoms of these groups and gives them a sense of being family, much in the way that DANZEN TV does for boy group fandoms. The groups are all close to each other in real life, so to see them onstage together was a moving experience. I also think these groups are truly a new era for J-pop-- they represent a shift in genre that I think will really appeal to diverse audiences, if they are willing to give J-pop the chance it deserves. And, of course, seeing Da-iCE again was a heart pounding experience that I’m happy I had another chance to feel. They are some of the strongest live performers I have ever witnessed from their stable singing to their powerhouse dancing. Thank you, TOKYO SWISH, for giving me the chance to see them and experience the delightful lives of other fantastic contemporary performers, too!