#thinking this about nagumo specifically

[lurkingshan]

A love letter to TsukuTabe

I loved the first season of this drama, but this second season (really more of a straightforward continuation of the first season narrative, which ended unfinished) is a remarkable glow up for an already strong show. These creators did not come to play, and they had a lot to say about the experiences of women living in patriarchal cultures.

This drama tackled so many experiences that afab people go through as they try to build a life for themselves under pressure to conform to societal norms. We have so many different lived experiences of women in this show, all of whom are queer by way of falling outside the lines of what is expected of them:

Nomoto, who experiences a queer awakening, wrestles with the specifics of her sexual identity, and bravely forges ahead despite feeling pressure from her family to marry a man and procreate

Kasuga, who breaks with her family's expectations that she be a caretaker and insists on living her own life, even if she knows the culture she lives in will sometimes make it hard

Yako, who owns her asexual and lesbian identities, proudly forges a life for herself, builds community for herself and others, and advocates for that community both publicly and privately

Nagumo, who struggles to connect with others because of her eating disorder and mental health struggles and lives a solitary existence as a result, but through building bonds with other women finds the strength to begin healing

Sayama, who pushes herself to date around because she feels pressure to live up to expectations to marry, before reconsidering whether that is a goal she actually has for her life and realizing she is happy being unmarried

Fujita, who struggles through years of an unhappy marriage in which she is subjugated to her husband's family before breaking free and pursuing a divorce so she can live happily on her own

It means a lot to me to see a show that cares so deeply about these women and their stories, that gives them so much space to explore and think and communicate their feelings. And they do it all so naturally, by allowing them to form bonds with one another and figure out who they are and what they want through their relationships with each other. This story is all about how we can grow through kindness and compassion from others, and how important it is to pay that support back in kind. It's such a beautiful and unique and desperately needed message in the current media landscape.

And there's more story yet to tell! I have no idea if they will get a third season, but I will be seated for as much of this story as the creators want to make. I would love to see them tackle Nomoto and Kasuga's life as a committed couple, their coming out to their families, and the ongoing lives of the community of queer women around them, which will only continue to broaden and deepen. Like What Did You Eat Yesterday? this show could go on and on forever, and I hope it does. I have so much gratitude for all the people involved in making this show, and to @furritsubs for translating the English subtitles so that international fans could also enjoy it. And if you're seeing this and haven't watched it yet, I am telling you, it is so worth your time.

[gothsuguru]

KAIRO HIII KAIRO HI HI HIIII:3333333333 HOW ARE YOU MY ANGEL???? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TOOO??? TELL ME EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW I NEED TO KNOW HEHEHEHEHE

okok but i bring news of my tengen adventures................. first of all that twitter artist you told me about............................................. i died. ARE YOU KIDDING MEEE WHY IS HE SO FUCKING HOT THAT FUCKING ARTIST NEEDS TO CHILL OUT HELLO i genuinely almost spit out my water when i opened their account that was crazy... SO THANK YOU FOR THATT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL🙏🙏🙏 oh and!!!!!!!!!! i'm gonna finish the third season today btw hehehe I AM LIKING IT A LOTTTTTT it's super fun (and i really am just in love with tengen i can't even lie he's insane<3) i haven't read the manga though i literally only happened upon demon slayer bc of lily tbh lmao so i am very new to it all!!!!!!!!!!! but i am very excited abt it bc again.. i really really like it<3333333333333 HAVE YOU SEEN IT ALL??? WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITES??????? THIS IS ALSO SMTH I NEED TO KNOW OR I'LL DIEEEEE IT'S IMPORTANT KAIROOOOOO>:33333 ANYWAYYY I LOVE YOUUU AND I HOPE THAT YOU'RE DOING SO SO GOOD MWAH MWAH MWAH SENDING YOU A MILLION BILLION KISSES RN PLEASE CATCH THEM ALL!!!!!!!!! - @teddybeartoji

MICKEY MY MICKEY 😋😋😋 I LOVE YOU BABY HOW ARE YOU I MISSED YOUUUUUUUUUUUU <333 omg lately i’ve been reading manga: the elusive samurai and sakamoto days!!!! (YOU WOULD LOVE SAKAMOTO DAYS BTW THAT’S A MANGA I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO YOU SPECIFICALLY…) look at my husband nagumo he’s so toji & yuuta coded :3 hehe ((you’d love the manga it’s all bad bitch assassins and silliness coupled w insane fights!!!!! I LOVE IT SM))

AND RAHHHHHHHHHHH UMIKOCHANNART MY BELOVED!!!!!! did you see these??? this one of tengen is so gorgeous and then this one of tengen and her husbands (hinatsuru is so geto coded & makio w the blonde dyed hair… omfg op makes the husbands look so insanely sexy they have the sexiest art…) and this one of toji makes me bark 🤭🤭🤭

OMGGGGGGG THE THIRD SEASON!!!!!! HEHEHE HOW ARE YOU LIKING IT SO FAR??? i love demon slayer so much it was the second manga i ever read hehe :3 AND LILY HAS SUCH SUPERIOR TASTE LIKE TENGEN AND TOJI AND SUKUNA LIKE BESTIE KNOWS WHAT’S UP! and omg i also HIGHLY recommend the manga since it’s done! i’m so excited for the movies too the last arc is literally so insane i’m so HYPED!!!!!! 😵‍💫🙂‍↕️

AND MY FAV CHARACTERS AHHHHHHH tengen obviously like that’s Husband… <333 and i love all my babies like tanjiro and inosuke and zenitsu and nezuko are literally my children sniffles i love them so much……. same w muichiro! that’s my SON! i love giyuu & rengoku too! & OBVIOUSLY I LOVE YORIICHI TOO!!! AND UBUYASHIKI!! i love all the characters in the show i think they’re so well-developed and different from each other! demon slayer is soooooooo good i remember BINGING the manga until like 3 am bc i needed to know what was gonna happen like… WOW it’s so well written IMO <3

HEHEHEHEHEHEHE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MICKEY I HOPE YOU HAVE THE BEST DAY EVER ILYSM MWAH MWAH MWAHHHHHHHHH <3 give tengen a smooch for me :3 🩷🤭🩷🤭🩷

they mean the world to me……. sniffles………. <333

[mono-blogs-art]

Tsukutabe Vol 3 English Release, A Review!

A few days ago I was finally able to get my hands on the long awaited third volume of the Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat) manga! Here are some of my thoughts - first, no spoilers, and then under a readmore I'll discuss some specific scenes I really liked.

I was very excited to finally read ahead - since the TV live action adaptation covers the same plot points as the first two volumes of the manga, and since there are basically 0 spoilers floating over from the jp fandom into my periphery, I truly had no idea where it was going. And what can I say but it was an absolute delight.

Like in volume 2, we are keeping a balance of the silly, everyday life of Nomoto & Kasuga and their cooking adventures, interspersed with quite serious, even dark moments in their personal lives. In fact, this volume features probably the darkest scenes in the series yet, more on that in the spoiler section later, but I truly had tears in my eyes for a bit. However I love how the focus when discussing these serious topics is always on the character and their feelings in the moment - how they can recognize what's been in their past, and how they've been able to move on and find happiness again, expressing a desire to do so. They've been hurt in their lives - mostly by their families that they've left behind, or by coworkers and strangers - but they are allowed to work through those feelings, take no shit, and say "No, I deserve better than this." There's also more focus again on LGBT advocacy now, with Nomoto coming out (to herself) at the end of volume 2, we now see her try to get comfortable with the lesbian label and how it affects her. There's also discussion on asexuality and its many shades, which I really appreciated!

The biggest change in volume 3 is the addition of two new characters - Yako-san, one of Nomoto's online friends who starts to become a bigger part of her life when Nomoto starts opening up about her sexuality; and Nagumo Sena, who is their "middle neighbor", the person who moved into the apartment between Nomoto & Kasuga that's been empty for the previous two volumes. Nagumo starts to befriend Kasuga when the two have a run-in. So a lot of the volume we actually see the two new pairs interact, and the focus is away from our main couple for a bit (but not really). Rather than new side characters, Yako and Sena feel more like an extension of the main cast, an extension of their little family, and they are immediately likeable and mash well with the rest. Speaking of family, although it's been a theme before, volume 3 really makes the central theme of "found family" very explicit. And it really warms the heart.

And my favourite part, without giving too much away, Kasuga also again receives chapters with her as the protagonist, rather than having Nomoto be the narrator all the time. This is actually the only thing I really miss in the TV live action, there are only a couple of scenes in there where you can see Kasuga's train of thoughts. The manga gives you much more insight into her inner workings. I'm hoping this will change for season 2 of the show, especially knowing what's in store.

Overall, the third volume brings a lot of fresh turns but stays true to its vibe and feel at heart. And of course it doesn't forget that there's also a love story, with Nomoto & Kasuga inching ever closer to each other. But I think this volume is where the story makes a point to say, Hey, This Isn't A Romance Series - it's a series about healing from past trauma, family, and especially found family, tackling everyday misogyny and homophobia, and all that through the very mundane task of cooking. I can't wait for volume 4 to come out, and season 2 of the live action series of course!!

The biggest thing I wanted to talk about was the conversation Kasuga has with her father on the phone. It's just so fucked up. We've only seen her family in flashbacks up until now, and reading the conversation between the two of them shows how far Kasuga has come in the 10 years since she's left home. Unlike Nomoto, who has a rocky relationship with her family but still keeps in contact, Kasuga has cut herself completely off since she left, and her views on family are central to her storyline. She wants to eat whatever she likes and not be shamed for it, own the things she wants, live in her own space, work a job that she choses. She wants to be herself.

At the same time, Kasuga is also the most family-oriented character. She loves to take care of others, make them feel at home and feel included, and she wants others to care for her too, unconditionally. When she thinks about what she values about "family", and the things she desires, there's only one logical conclusion to come to.

Kasuga's ties to her family also make her the perfect person to bring in Sena to the group. Sena is the total opposite of Kasuga, yet they're able to connect because of their shared traumas connected to food and family. When Kasuga bluntly accepts Sena without a second thought, the two really start to connect and it was just so sweet. Sena's whole backstory really touched me a lot and I definitely cried xD

These are the main two things I really couldn't wait to talk about!!! I really love Sena a lot and I'm excited to see more of her in the next volume. It's also very funny that it takes her, what, a single evening to immediately get that Nomoto and Kasuga have mutual crushes on each other, lmao.

The other new character, Yako-san, is also really fun. She's the confident, take-no-bullshit counterpart to Nomoto, and she proudly identifies as both a lesbian and asexual. Apart from that, we haven't seen much of her and her backstory yet - I'm hoping there'll be more in the future, especially with her in parallel to the main romance (idk if she's also aromantic, but it might be hinted at already?). I can't wait to see!

Those are some assorted thoughts... I really love this series and I appreciate it for the simple yet concise storytelling, and the love Yuzaki-san puts into her characters. They feel like real people, reflecting real insecurities and problems you'd run into in real life, even when it's exaggerated in a comedic manner. Can't wait to see where it goes next!!

[wanderersrest]

Some More Idle Thoughts on Patlabor!

So I've been sick these past couple of days, which means I haven't been able to work on the Iron-Blooded Orphans post. However, in the time that I was sick, I was able to read through some classic giant robot manga.

Which included Patlabor. And now I have more thoughts about the series and those lovable goofballs of SV2 Division 2. So here are some more of my thoughts on Patlabor.

Nagumo is Different in Every Timeline

I love that SV2 Division 1 Chief Shinobu Nagumo feels like a different character in each timeline. Like the OVA/Movie timeline has her as someone with a checkered past (and that's all from Patlabor 2, by the way), while the TV timeline has her be the more level-headed of the two division chiefs of SV2. Meanwhile, the Manga timeline has her as more of a hothead, though she's later written to be more like her TV anime counterpart. And yet, the core of her character is still there in all three versions: she's the hard-working, more reliable chief of SV2.

The TV Anime Timeline Still Has the Most Rounded Out Cast

Reading through the manga has reinforced my opinion that the TV timeline has the most rounded out cast. And as before, it's due to the fact that the TV anime (and by extension the New Files OVA) are more episodic in nature that they get to flesh out all of the characters. Though when the OVA and manga timelines do dedicate time to specific characters, it tends to be a bit more fleshed out. Great examples of this include how the OVA handles Gotoh or how the manga handles Kumagami and, amusingly enough, the peeps at Schaft Enterprises. But in terms of a rounded cast, both pale in comparison to the TV cast (just think about this: one of my favorite things about the manga is that Shige doesn't show up until closer to the end of the manga, not because I dislike Shige, but just because of how often he shows up in the other entries). None of this matters all that much, as the way Patlabor works in my mind is that a lot of these character traits are shared between timelines, as Patlabor is best enjoyed holistically and not as separate timelines that try to do their own thing.

Except Ota. Ota is Universal

If there is one character who remains the same throughout all three timelines that aren't the forward and backup of Division 2's first unit (that's Izumi and Shinohara, by the way), it's the living embodiment of ACAB himself, Isao Ota. I don't know what it is about SV2's resident gun nut, but he's one of the characters where their personality remains largely unchanged throughout the various entries. Even in Patlabor 2, Ota is still the hot-headed gun nut we know and love.

Granted, there are some nuances with Ota as a character. Famously, the insurance episode in the TV timeline plays on the fact that Ota does try his best not to cause so much destruction and mayhem. And in the case of that episode, it's just bad luck. But more often than not, Ota's hot-headedness tends to get him into more trouble than its worth.

And it's great. It's why Ota's such a lovable gun nut. He may be the living embodiment of ACAB, but he's my living embodiment of ACAB.

Conclusion

Patlabor will always be one of my favorite series out there. I think a big part of that is due to it being one of the first giant robot series I watched that wasn't either Gundam or Gurren Lagann. Like last time, I do think if you ever get the time, you should give the series a shot. Now, hopefully, Patlabor EZY will come out in the next couple of years...

This is a work of fiction, but in ten years? Who knows...

[mirrortouchedsea]

What does being an idol mean to you, Kohakucchi?

wc: 2467

Despite being an idol for a few months going on a year, Kohaku doesn't really understand the concept of idols.

This was my piece for @alkakureizine ! You should check it out everyone did a great job ^.^

Read on AO3

----

“Hey Niki-han,” Kohaku started as Niki set a plate with his lunch in front of him. “What does it mean to be an idol?” 

Niki’s face took on a pensive look, like the question was hard to answer concisely. “Hmm, well I’m not too sure, Kohaku-chan. Why don’t we talk about it together over lunch? My break starts in a minute here.” 

“Sure.” Kohaku took a bite of his food as he let his thoughts surface again. He had been having doubts about being an idol, about what it meant to sing and dance on stage with Crazy:B (and to some extent, with Double Face). Could someone like him even call himself an idol? 

It was just a minute later when Niki set down an astounding five plates piled with food on the table and sat across from Kohaku and began eating. 

“So Kohaku-chan, what brought this on?” He asked between bites, not bothering to wipe the sauce dripping down his chin. Kohaku thought it was almost endearing how much Niki was “un-idollike” in these moments. Niki felt more down to earth than some of the other idols at ES at least. 

“I was just thinkin’ about a conversation I had with Rabu-han earlier is all,” he responded. “I know Rabu-han says we’re real idols but ‘m not too sure what that really means sometimes, and I don’t think he does either. At the very least, he didn’t care for my answer on the subject.” 

“Nyahaha! Is that all? Well, Rinne-kun would always say that idols bring love and joy to the world with their music when we were younger. He’d never admit to that now though.” Niki moved one of his plates to the side and began working on his second one. “Do idols have to be contained to just the music industry though? I think that Nagumo kid from Ryuseitai would consider me an ‘idol’ from my cooking show days.” 

“Huh, I didn’t know that Tetora-han looked up to you like that.” 

“Me neither, he just came up to me one day and started talking about how he used to watch my show when he was younger. He’s an enthusiastic one at least!” 

The two of them laughed at that. 

“Well I s’pose that idols could be anyone that someone looks up to. Even the man on the news could be an idol to someone out there, but I don’t think that’s what most people think of when you say ‘idol’...” 

“Hmm, yeah, TV personalities are being phased out to make room for musical idols more and more. Oh, how I wish I could still do a cooking show like I used to!” 

Kohaku knew that Niki was thinking about a specific set of events, though the details had never really been made clear to him. Rinne would always dance around the topic and Niki would just change it altogether. 

“Well then, I guess Rinne-kun was right for once about idols being people who make you smile and want to live! We wouldn’t be here without his love of them, after all.” 

“What d’ya mean, Niki-han?” 

“Oh, did we never tell you? Rinne-kun ran into an idol when I first picked him up off the street who inspired him to keep going or something. That’s how he tells the story anyway. I think he might have just seen someone on one of those TV displays on the street and got taken in by all the glitter.” 

“Kohkohkoh, you really don’t trust him, do ya.” 

“Nah, I trust Rinne-kun with a lot of things, but to not exaggerate his idol origin story isn’t one of them.” 

Kohaku raised an eyebrow. “You trust Rinne-han with anything?” 

“Well…” 

They laughed lightly as Niki finished another plate.

“Anyway, Kohaku-chan, I think you’re a great idol. You’ve got a lot of fans who love you and cheer you on, even as Double Face! We’re all a little awkward on stage but that’s part of our charm, isn’t it?” 

“I guess you’re right, Niki-han. Rabu-han always talks about how people think you’re cute and adorable on stage when you forget the choreography. He doesn’t like to tell me what they say about me online though.” 

“Hmm, I wonder why that is.” 

“I think he just wants me t’ focus on the people we see at our lives. He tells Otouto-han the same thing.” 

“Does that answer your question then, Kohaku-chan?” 

“I think I have a better understanding of idols now. Thanks, Niki-han.” 

“Nahaha, I’m glad! I have to get back on the clock in a minute here, but I’ll see you at practice later, right?” 

“We have practice later?” 

--- 

The next day, HiMERU and Kohaku met up at the cafe and slid into a booth in the far corner. HiMERU finished scribbling some notes on the paper in front of him and slid it to the boy across from him. 

“Here’s the notes from the meeting you missed yesterday. HiMERU recommends just skimming over it, as we don’t have any important work this week.” 

“Thanks, HiMERU-han. Didn’t we have that new song we were supposed to be learning?” 

“Ah, yes, thank you for reminding HiMERU. He believes it should be…here.” He points to a circled date on the schedule. “Try to practice your vocals before then. HiMERU is free this afternoon if you’d like to work on them together.” 

“Thanks again. You really don’t have to do that for me though.” 

“Nonsense. HiMERU needs to make sure his junior is keeping up with everything. Please let HiMERU know if you have any questions.” 

“Yeah yeah I got it you don’t have to keep repeating yourself like that.” 

HiMERU chuckled. “Of course, HiMERU will keep that in mind.” 

Their drinks were called out from the counter and HiMERU excused himself to get them, leaving Kohaku alone for a minute. The question he had asked Niki the other day tickled at the back of his mind, wanting to know what HiMERU thought about it. He would probably have a very different answer from Niki at the very least. 

A bright pink drink with whipped cream was set in front of him, pulling him from his thoughts. 

“Here you go. Enjoy, Oukawa.” 

Kohaku nodded as he bent the straw towards his mouth and took a drink. It was really sweet, almost too sweet. Aira might like it more than Kohaku did, though Aira would also probably insist on sharing it. 

“Hey, HiMERU-han, I got a question for you.” 

“What is it, Oukawa?” 

“What does being an idol mean to you?” 

HiMERU took a sip of his coffee. 

“Such an interesting question, Oukawa. Why do you ask?” 

“I was just thinkin’ about it. Rabu-han asked me a few days ago and didn’t seem to like my answer so…” 

“Ah, HiMERU understands. An idol to HiMERU is someone who is perfect and yet down to earth. Someone that their fans can aspire to be some day.” 

The answer is so matter of fact that Kohaku takes a second to respond. 

“That’s a very HiMERU-han answer.” 

“What do you mean by that, Oukawa?” 

“It just feels like somethin’ you’d say. Which I guess is why yer sayin’ it.” 

HiMERU chuckles and takes another sip of his drink. 

“HiMERU is glad to hear that.” 

“Mhm. Anyway, do you have any idols that you look up to, HiMERU-han?” 

HiMERU hesitated and took a long sip of his coffee. 

“He would rather not talk about that.” 

Kohaku raised an eyebrow. 

“Maybe another time, Oukawa.” 

There’s an awkward pause as Kohaku tried to figure out what to say again. The mood had soured just a little bit and he wanted to avoid making it worse. 

“Forget about it then. You said you were free to help me later, right?” 

HiMERU smiles again and sets his cup down. “Of course. He finishes his job around three this afternoon if that works for you?” 

--- 

The music ended and everyone slid into their final position with the last beat. Their breathing was heavy and the stench of sweat filled the air, but they had finally mastered their newest choreography. Kohaku felt proud looking at himself in the mirror with everyone else. He really had come a long way since their first live all those months ago. 

“Alright! Great job everybody!” Rinne shouted, pulling everyone into a very sweaty hug. They all grumbled, but Kohaku could see the tiny smiles on HiMERU and Niki’s faces. This song had been giving them difficulty with all of the complex jumps and having to stay in sync so much, but they had finally gotten to something presentable. 

Just in time for their live, too. With just under a week left, they had all been worried about being able to get this dance down. Niki had even asked to simplify some of the choreography, but when they tried that, everyone agreed it wasn’t nearly as impressive as the original, and thus scrapped the idea. 

HiMERU and Niki were already out the door, yelling something about meeting up for dinner in a few hours. Kohaku tentatively approached Rinne who was packing up the rest of their gear to take back, sweaty towel draped around his neck. 

“Hey, Rinne-han, can I ask ya something?” Why did this feel so awkward? He didn’t really approach Rinne first, it was normally the other way around. 

“Aw, Kohaku-chan has a question for me? Shoot, little man.” 

Kohaku rolled his eyes. “I was just wondering what being an idol means to you?” 

“Where’s this comin’ from? Did little Ai-chan put something in your head again?” 

“Rabu-han has nothing to do with this.” Kohaku felt his face heat up. “Not in the way yer thinkin’ anyway.” 

Rinne laughed. “‘Course he doesn’t. But why do you want to know?” 

“It’s for a school project,” Kohaku lied through his teeth. He knew Rinne would see right through it, though the older man didn’t say anything to that. 

“Alright, if it’s that important, I s’pose you can get an exclusive interview with the Amagi Rinne.” Kohaku rolled his eyes again. Maybe this was a mistake. 

“Well, you already know how I ran into that idol on the street and it completely changed the course of my life, yeah? That’s also shaped my own philosophy on idols. I know the other bees probably told you some bullshit about making people smile and laugh, but it’s more than that. 

“Being an idol is about giving people a place to belong. Crazy:B is there for the underdogs, the people that society tries to crush under its thumb, telling them to get back up and fight back, to speak their mind. If nothing else, we’ll be there to support them. 

“It’s more than just those surface level emotions. Music should resonate with the soul.” Rinne pointed to his heart. “You want to feel the music in your bones, scream those lyrics and mean them with everything you have. Never back down and never give up.” 

Kohaku was entranced for a moment after Rinne was done speaking, expecting something else to come after. 

“That was…very profound of you to say, Rinne-han.” 

“Kyahaha! I’m full of surprises, Kohaku-chan!” 

“But uh, thanks a lot. I think I get it now.” 

“So what exactly is this ‘school project’ you needed this for?” 

“Uh…” Kohaku bolted for the door as Rinne cackled and chased him out, both of them abandoning their practice bags in the room. They could always come back for them later anyway. 

--- 

After thinking about all of the answers he had gotten, Kohaku met up with Aira in the cafeteria again. He set his plate of food down and slid in the booth across from his dear friend who was typing away on his phone. 

“Oh! I didn’t see you, Kohakucchi! You said you had something for me?” Aira tapped the enter key and clicked his phone off, putting it face down on the table. 

“Yeah. I’ve thought about what it means to really be an idol for me and--” 

“You didn’t have to take it that seriously, Kohakucchi! I was mostly just joking with you and Hiiro since you two don’t know anything about idols.” 

Kohaku felt his face flush again. 

“Well if you don’t wanna hear my answer then--” 

“Agh! No I didn’t mean it like that, Kohakucchi! Please tell me!” 

Kohaku flicked a piece of rice at Aira and took a bite of his food. 

“I s’pose I can tell ya then, since you asked so nicely.” Kohaku purposefully chewed slowly on his food as he put his thoughts in order. “Well, Niki-han said being an idol is about making people smile, and doesn’t necessarily mean yer in the music business. Anyone can be an idol in any occupation.” 

Aira nods with a curious look on his face. He almost certainly didn’t agree but found the answer interesting all the same. 

“An’ HiMERU-han said that an idol should be somethin’ anyone can aspire to be, someone’ untouchable but humble.” 

“HiMERU-senpai is kind of old fashioned, though I guess that makes sense.” 

“An’ Rinne-han was Rinne-han. He said idols have to give a voice to the voiceless or somethin’ like that.” 

“He’s more…idealistic than I thought he would be.” Aira took a bite from his snack. “But you still haven’t told me what being an idol means to you, Kohakucchi.” 

It was then that Kohaku realized he hadn’t actually thought of his own answer. He supposed it was probably a mix of the others but… 

--- 

Just like in practice, the music wound down and they all slid into place. Niki’s jump was a beat behind but everyone was able to cover for it, and honestly? It was still a very Crazy:B performance. 

The audience is cheering and Kohaku thinks about what Aira said. You still haven’t told me what being an idol means to you. His eyes scan the crowd and he lands on a group of people towards the back of the small venue. They’re excitedly jumping and yelling with everyone else, decked out in what looked like handmade merch (maybe they couldn’t afford idol merch? It was certainly a possibility). 

He recognized them from a few of their other lives. Did they go to one of their handshake events too? They must have. 

Everything clicks into place as Kohaku realizes why he’s an idol. There are people just like him out there, people who feel isolated by their families from the world, people who can’t connect with others easily who are brought together by Crazy:B’s music. By his music. Because he’s up on stage and having fun with his friends (his new family), people are finding a reason to keep going. 

He smiles and waves to the crowd, smiling brightly at the fans in the back row. 

[funarisjournal]

Dreamtastic!

So, probably based on how long I was translating that commentary last night, and probably because I binged Episodes 1-7 via the DVDs yesterday (so, dramaverse was VERY into my head when I went to bed lol), I ended up dreaming about Tsukutabe - and remembering each dream - again. I had Twitter readily available on my phone, so I posted my log during the night and that's how I still remember all three.

If you've enjoyed my dream posts in the past: grab a snack, sit back and enjoy a triple feature!

Dream # 1 is both quick and not QUITE related to Tsukutabe. Only tangentially. I was drifting off while watching YT vids with my wife and it was during one of those drifts where I got this imagery.

So you have probably seen my post about Emi Nishino's "adventure" that she's doing right now. She's traveling the world as a breather from her summer schedule. Well, this dream was portrayed as if I was opening Instagram and viewing one of Manami Higa's story posts there. In it was a single picture. It was her, doing a selfie, at an airport. Her free hand had her finger against her lips (🤫) and she had some text on the story, sadly it was dream gibberish, but the focus was on a tall person in the background, back facing the camera.

I think my dream was trying to come up with a cute scenario of Higa surprising Nishino during her trip. One of the things Nishino had said during that one photoset from earlier this month was that she would video call Higa if she felt lonely ("and (she) will", she jokingly threatened lol). Putting 2 and 2 together, this dream scenario probably involved a recent phone chat, Higa figuring out where Nishino was, and surprise her with a friendly running-into for maybe a couple of days.

Dream #2 actually inspired me for a drawing I plan to work on soon! It was a summertime special. A full half hour of all four ladies - Nomoto, Kasuga, Nagumo and Yako - planning a day out on the beach! I remember a bonfire scene, where they chatted about past food parties and also cooked up some beach goodies. I also remember Nomoto and Kasuga having a Moment together.

The other two had already headed back to a hotel, I guess? But these two stayed behind a little longer, watching the sun set while they walked along the beach. I specifically remember Nomoto gently urging Kasuga to wade just a little into the water. Ankle deep. No swimsuits, just summer wear. The breeze was gentle and the setting sun was hitting the water at such a good angle, the water was sparkling, basically. It was a nice sight~

And now Dream #3. Another simple one, but longer than Dream #1. It seemed to have been loosely based on a couple of side comics (made in the early days, and I had recently opened to look at the night before) of Nomoto having this nightmare where she wanted to feed Kasuga spaghetti only to find the other woman decided to buy some from a convenience store.

The big difference was that it was the drama version of the ladies instead! There were a lot of new bits there, too, like Dream!Kasuga saying she was too hungry to wait...and Nomoto bolting awake and thinking, "No...I need to make this NOW before it's too late!" Lol

However, I didn't reach the part based off the end of the 2nd page of the source, where Nomoto's nightmare is completely forgotten upon hearing that Kasuga had a dream with her and that it was a good dream.

I would've loved to see how Drama!Nomoto would have reacted lol

[racecarcat]

intro ??! ˚❀༉‧₊

Hiiii!!! I’m racecarcat, if you want you call me kat for short.

I just kinda wanna post stuff because I think it’d be fun. I’m unfortunately very inconsistent and everything (read: my mood) fluctuates very fast. I also, am really bad with tech, and therefore know to format nothing. Consumerism. Anyhow, here are some fandoms I’m in (or rather, have been in that if given the opportunity to talk about I can rant abt for hours):

• Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK)

• Honkai Star Rail (HSR)

• Genshin Impact (GI)

• Bungo Stray Dogs (BSD)

• Project Sekai (PJSK)

• Chainsaw Man (CSM)

• Sakamoto Days (SD)

Here are my fav characters from each, not in a specific order:

JJK: RIKO AMANAIIIII (pls someone love her as much as I do), Aoi Todo, Mai Zenin, Maki Zenin, Hiromi Higuruma, Kento Nanami, Yuki Tsukumo, Iori Utahime, Yuko Ozawa, Mei Mei and Mahito (I like them ironically I swear)

HSR: Stelle/Caelus, Jing Yuan, Welt Yang, Robin, MISHA, YUKONGG, Fu Xuan, Huohuo, Tingyun, Bailu, Ruan Mei, Jing Liu, ARGENTI, BAI HENG

GI: NAVIA, Neuvillette, FURINA, Kokomi, Shenhe, CHIORI, Jean, Lumine/Aether, GANYU, KUJOU SARA, KAVEH, Itto, Nahida, Faruzan, Yanfei

BSD: PAUL VERLAINE, Rimbaud, FUKUZAWA, SIGMA, Kunikida, Chuuya, all the flags (I LOVE STORMBRINGER), HIGUCHI, Hirotsu, ODA SAKUNOSUKE ODA SAKUNOSUKE ODA SAKUNOSUKE, H.P Lovecraft, Louisa May Alcott, EDGAR ALLEN POE, Fukuchi, TERUKO

PJSK: ENA SHINOME, Mafuyu Asahina, Ichika Hoshino, Honami Mochizuki, Minori Hanasato, Shizuoka Hinomori, KOHANE AZUSAWA

CSM: Denji, ASA MITAKAAA, Aki Hayakawa, KISHIBE, QUANXI, Angel, Kobeni, Reze, Madoka, Nomo, Santa Claus, PINGSTI, NAYUTA, Himeno

SD: Taro Sakamoto, LU XIAOTANG, OSARAGI, Shin Asakura, Nagumo, GAKU, Rion Akao, AKIRA AKAO, Natsuki Seba, Nao Toramaru, Obiguro, Heisuke, SHISHIBE, AMANE

And for funsies, here are some ships I like! Fair warning, I LOVE rarepairs and multi shipping:

JJK: Satosugu, Itafushi, NobaMaki, Hakari/Kirara, Choso/Yuki, Yuji/Yuko, MECHAMIWA, Nanami/Bakery Lady, Yuta/Maki, Yuta/Inumaki

HSR: Stelle/March 7th, Caelus/Dan Heng, Gepard/Sampo, Blade/Kafka, DAN FENG/YINGXING, Jing Yuan/Blade, Pela/Lynx, Bronya/Seele, JING LIU/BAIHENG, Himeko/Kafka, Cocolia/Serval, ASTA/ARLAN, Jing Yuan/Fu Xuan, Tingyun/Jing Yuan

GI: Jean/Diluc, Qingxiu/Chongyun, Beidou/Nigguang, Neuvillette/Focalors, Ganyu/Xiao, Lumine/Amber, Arlecchino/Columbina, Yae/Layla, truly too many to count.

BSD: Kunizai, AtsuLucy, Fyozai, FukuFuku, Shin Soukoku, RIMLAINE, Chuuya/Albatross, KuniBram, OdaAngo, Ranpoe, Shirachuu, KuniChuu, Yosano/Koyou, Kyouka/Kenji, SIGZAI etc.

PJSK: Ena/Mafuyu, Toya/Kohane, Rui/Shizuku, RuiNene

CSM: Denji/Asa, AkiAngel, Aki/Himeno, Denji/Yoshida, Violence/Kobeni, Denji/Reze, Asa/Yuko, Quanxi/her gfs

SD: None, surprisingly!

I’m probably use this blog for writing, talking about said fandoms, obsessively thinking about my ocs for each said fandom, and making very politically(/j) incorrect analysis about characters. And, more! I’m sorry this is so long, really just ask me abt anything and it’ll eventually happen.

Last thing: I might post about my own stories that are… painfully unfinished, so here’s a brief intro about each (they’re all heavily inspired by my respective fandoms, we don’t talk abt that):

*Insert Dramatic Title* (IDT): A robot by the name of Edis is asked to save humanity from a prophecy stating that, from five years from now, the world will end.

Slaughterhouse (SH): A pair of twins live in a “Haven Town” where there outside world was shrouded into an apocalypse. They learn how to truly survive in such a restrictive environment and find out the subtle corruption of their system.

‘Vest of the ‘Usual (VOU): A young boy has unusual abilities that leads him to work in the government, which depicts him having to do the unthinkable: go to school. And, do his job, that too.

Act I (A1): Olesia Lexina has had one dream all her life: protect humanity from the evil that is godlyhood! This follows her journey through the ideal of becoming on of the top members of the “Guardians of Humanity”.

Project: New World (P:NW): The government has allowed a project and organization by the name of “New World” to attempt to “purify humanity of all of its wrongdoings” and it has taken the world by storm; unfortunately, Chara has absolutely no interest in any of it.

The Eight Tragedies (T8T): An Angel has come to earth to ultimately destroy everyone on it, in which a humanities major named Reminiscence gives the world (her two friends) a chance to fix their problems before it can do so—by going into the past eight times to fix mistakes that should’ve never happened.

Majic Girl: BOOM ★ (MG:★): this one is something I’ve been meaning to get motivation to work on properly. A young freshman girl watches her whole world turn upside down (close to literally) to as some sort of eldritch horror resurfaces the earth! And she is one of the few people making the attempt to kill it.

$1 Supermarket ($1): The economy as we know it had crashed after inflation has risen way too high to the point even the upper class finds it hard to buy anything. Thus, a brand new chain store by the name of $1 Supermarket has arisen! Where everything is exactly $1! And there’s like, a bunch of monsters everywhere, but that’s besides the point.

Okay, that’s it now I promise. Thank you for reading this far!

[funakounasoul]

Thank you so much for an amazingly thorough response! Youre my fave tsukutabe author so I just squeed🥹 funny enough I was just thinking as to what state Nomoto&Kasuga will visit if they went to US!(I'm biased, I think WA cause Nomoto doing the fish toss at Pike place market is perfect).What do you think of Yako&Nagumo tagging along?What kind of hijinks would Yako pull the squad into?How do you think Kasuga&Yako can bond?(I'm desperate for this to happen)Do you think Nagumo would like root beer?

I had to look it up - that would be AMAZING to draw someday lol. Gotta have Kasuga offer to do it but no! Nomoto really wants to do it. She was reading up on it and it really sounds like fun! (Cue Kasuga in the background being wowed by the catch). I personally have more experiences with Midwestern state fairs and the town fairs that pop up in my area of New England, which can also be fun (giant butter statues! Seeing farm animals up close! Kasuga with that big ol turkey leg! Lmao), though I hear there's a clam chowder festival in NH that I totally missed out on a few weeks ago, d'oh. I wonder if my fellow followers have some neat food-related activities or events that are specific to their home regions? Just some fun stuff to think about lol

Anyway, if it turned into a group trip (which would be neat! They can put together their resources to fund stuff based on value/discounts like hotel rooms and the like!), you can bet Yako is the one who did the MOST research for maximum fun. She'd definitely be all for those food festivals like the clam chowder one I mentioned (everyone cooked their own entries so she can just try them all!) And if Nomoto didn't know about the fish tossing at Pike Place, then Yako will. She will egg her on to try it. Do it~~!

Depending on Nagumo's own journey, she may just enjoy hanging out with her friends in general. Just buy her one of those big beverage bottles at a state fair, for example. There's just so many people at once, you know? But the girls will have her back. They'll buy stuff that can be reheated back at the hotel or something. They'll hang out in the lobby if they have to, it's cool~ On the subject of root beer, though, I have always heard how it's such a polarizing flavor in Japan. I'm not sure what her preferences are since it's not mentioned often beyond what drinks she has been offered so far, but maybe she'll give it a try if it was at some place that offered samples, like the Coca Cola place that has all the beverages from around the world or whatever that is lol. Or Pops near OKC (which I never got to experience, blah...)

I feel like they - Kasuga and Yako- can befriend one another. Maybe not the same level as Kasuga-Nagumo and Nomoto-Yako, but close. It's Yako's uber-passionate side. I think it would be a lot for Kasuga sometimes (she is the complete opposite in terms of energetic output, even compared to Nagumo), but if she's with the others, it's more tolerable lol. But they have chatted together before! Kasuga was pretty amazed that Yako and Nomoto had known each other for as long as they have and Kasuga felt she could relate to Yako's enjoying of Nomoto's food. So we gotta bring them together with more Nomoto food-making before they start doing something that doesn't involve her (but probably still involves food)

[animehouse-moe]

Sakamoto Days Volume 6: Absurd Assassin Action

So yeah, another early pre-order, which is pretty cool, almost as cool as the cover for this volume.

I won't really beat around the bush, this volume is fun, really fun. And it promises quite a good deal for the long run as well.

I think more than anything though, Sakamoto always reminds you what it's there for. It's not going to deliver on incredibly deep or relatable characters. Hell, it hardly cares about them being believable. First and foremost, it is action. Just nonstop fighting that looks badass and is creative and has such an incredible understanding of impact and weight. I guess to be frank, it doesn't really care about the characters as an aspect to develop, but rather to use. Sure, it feigns that development (which I'll talk about later), but at the end of the day it's to serve the overall direction of the action. And truthfully, I love it. It's so kickass and interesting to read, and it's light. You're not spending time thinking about characters or their interactions or anything, you're just soaking up the insane talent behind the fight scenes. Sure, not everyone might like that, but I really appreciate it as a great series to turn to when I'm tired of more in-depth content.

⚠️Warning: Spoilers Ahead⚠️

So, in terms of specifics. Nagumo's fight was so incredible, the overall design work in the combat was outstanding. I will be a little nitpicky though and say that overall, the paneling of the combat could use some elbow grease. It's rather straight forward, and I feel like the spreads/style really have to make up for it in that regard (which they do). However, if there's more care and thought placed into how it's shown, that stuff can become even greater. But still, just look at these ideas they had for a single fight, it's pretty damn incredible.

It just feels like they're on the cusp of figuring it out, of getting to that next level in their work.

Their single and double page spreads really are just incredible, every time. Just look at this. The feel of the fight is conveyed perfectly, it gives you such a great sense of space and scale. It makes it feel like more than a "panel", and seeing stuff like this is why I really want to see them push for better work in paneling overall. Their eye for action is so impeccable that if you add other talents to the repertoire, it'd be unstoppable.

Following this up though, I wouldn't mind if the villains in Sakamoto could be a bit more "well rounded" so to speak. There's definitely good ones here and there, and the earlier assassins were great fun, but this recent suite feels... formulaic. They have very cliched personalities, which in small doses works really well as fun characters, but when continually exposed to them, the enjoyment can run thin. Like my favorite part about Apart is his penchant for organization, it's a fun little quirk that takes them away from the typical direction.

Really, Sakamoto Days is at its best when it's the furthest from reality. Just doing completely crazy things and pulling nigh unbelievable stunts and feats, and all other manner of oddity. Like how they managed to turn this moment into something so damn cool with hardly any effort.

This volume really drives home where Sakamoto is at its best: at the edges. It takes John Wick, cranks it up to 11, and shakes it around a good bit to jumble it up all before turning it into a manga. Following "steps" or regular ideas only works as clichés, and they need insanity to support that. Look at Gaku (the slick haired guy in the bottom panel of the above image), and his weapon. It's a massive meat tenderizer. But, he doesn't crush his enemies, he takes their heads and limbs right off, and even then it's got some sort of crazy flash cannon/gun embedded into it. Or even something like the old man, it takes the trope of the fearsome senile guy and pushes it to its extremes.

Sakamoto Days is something that pushes the limit with each volume and every page, so it continually needs to reinvent the wheel and find new ways to make classic ideas even crazier. So far, it's doing a really solid job, but there are pieces that manage to slip through and stagnate. Hopefully though, with where this volume ends and wants to lead us, we'll get even more fresh and insane ideas.

[aaronieros]

i remembered that i never posted this here so here is my yakuza games tierlist (only of ones i've experienced so no dead souls kenzan etc) and here is my reasoning for each under the cut: (warning: this shit is long as hell)

1a. yakuza 6. first of all, the only game in which i like kiryu instead of being ambivalent at best towards him outside of funny substory moments. the absolute best thing they could have done with him, especially with the dragon imagery/reputation always associated with him, was give him something to protect, fiercely. he's old and tired and stressed out and he's all out of patience. one of the first things he does is tell a cps guy to go fuck himself and kidnap a baby. and it's the first game where he actually feels Threatening rather than being in stoic pacifist mode all the time. i do think he was genuinely ready to kill joon-gi for example, and he did punch his entire son-in-law through a glass door.

joon-gi is in 6 which automatically gives it a tremendous amount of points because i love him as he is and then i retroactively love him more due to the fuckery in 7, but the hirose family and the general plot are good enough that, upon rewatching a playthrough, i wasn't gnawing my arm off the whole time waiting for him to show up, because the game is already phenomenal without him. i fully acknowledge that some games (mainly kiwami and 3) i only think highly of because of one specific character, but 6 would still be good even if you replaced joon-gi my absolute beloved who i am obsessed with, with literally anyone else. also the ending was cheapened by kiryu being brought back into the fray of course but that doesn't change the fact that even Thinking about the steps scene brings tears to my eyes. love that shit. also fujiwara's voice acting as yuta is so fucking good. especially when yuta is going through some shit and his voice sounds completely hoarse and broken, and the subtlety with which it's delivered in some scenes as if he's trying to hide how affected he is (in serena while nagumo is asleep comes to mind). all in all just super super good. i love yakuza 6.

1b. lost judgment. my first actual rgg experience i fully sat through after playing yakuza 0 for a few hours but not enjoying the gameplay nearly enough to bother continuing. lost judgment is what ignited my passion for the series and essentially served as my actual entry point since i'd given up on 0 for the time being, and for several years no less. lots of beloved characters but i also really appreciate the actual storyline, more than any mainline yakuza game in fact. the scene on the roof with sawa might be my favorite in the whole game. the side stories are also very good, especially the boxing club one in my opinion (it's also neat that the school side cases are entire storylines in lj). i also really enjoyed the motorcycle gang one, and the minigame for the dance club was the main reason i even bought the game for myself after having watched a full playthrough.

a lot of people claim that judgment was better than lj, especially in terms of writing, but in my opinion, the only places lj falls flat in terms of writing are kuwana's character (there is so much about him that should be interesting but he is just a piece of cardboard to me) and the way yagami wields sawa's name after a certain point in the story. it really becomes a "drink every time yagami says sawa-sensei" type deal, which is comedic at best and annoying at worst. but every other thing in the story is not only good, but there's something else very specific to my experience that i'd like to talk about.

lost judgment made me rethink the way i view storytelling. i talked about this on twitter a long time ago and made these graphs to represent the way the characters are presented in the narrative of most stories versus the way lost judgment feels, with the black line being the protagonist's path and the colored lines being the rest of the characters in the story.

if you can't tell what i'm talking about, don't worry too much about it. it's difficult for me to put into words and i doubt people would readily agree with my perspective (or even that it's a better way to handle storytelling) even if i did explain it perfectly. it's just something that i really appreciate, that this one game allowed me to walk away with something so major, especially as a writer myself.

2a. yakuza 0. i have been talking too much already from my goated with the sauce category so i will try to keep these next ones more concise. 0 obviously deserves respect for being the technical starting point (unfortunately resulting in retcons and inconsistencies because it wasn't actually the first game) but it's also a fantastic game on its own. mainly majima's side. you will see a running theme where i just can't really care much about what happens to kiryu except in 6 unfortunately. but the cast in 0 is huge and all the characters have things to love and hate about them and it's so easy to get attached to them, seemingly moreso than other yakuza games (or people just play 0 to get in and then don't play any games after that, so it seems like the characters are more popular. it's also easier to give them attention Because of 0 being the starting point, because you can still get new fans who aren't deep into the series to relate if you're drawing/writing/talking about stuff from 0).

all in all 0 is very good and definitely deserves the popular opinion of it being the best yakuza game, especially with the work it did to revive the series and give it life in the west in particular. it demands respect on principle in the same way the first game in any series does, even if that game (not 0) happens to suck or be hard to play, just because it established the series and allowed better, more fun games to be made later. y0 is nice because it doesn't have the caveats of "well you have to respect it BUT" it's just a good game.

2b. yakuza 7. where to even begin. first of all, ichiban is infinitely more fun of a protagonist than kiryu. i happen to be extremely critical of all protagonists in every piece of media because they tend bore me extremely easily which sucks because they're the main character so they get the most screentime and we're stuck with them forever. ichiban never has that problem where it feels like a drag to be with him at all times. i happen to hate the brawling gameplay of the mainline yakuza games (and i only use crane style in lost judgment because it's the most fun) so it being a turn based rpg is extremely good. i bought it both because i knew i would enjoy that gameplay (especially with breaker ichiban in the funeral suit, that's such a good flavor that i wish was the canon default for him rather than hero/freelancer but i understand why it's not), but also because i am completely obsessed with joon-gi and wanted to witness every line and detail of him for myself without having to hunt for all of it online (especially since i only like the jp dub).

joon-gi's whole thing is my favorite part of 7, but only by a small margin. the plot of y7 in general was something i was extremely absorbed in and intrigued by, and my favorite scene in the game was the first coin locker scene. i, like many people, feel like the ending was extremely cheapened by what happened, seemingly for no reason, and especially with it being presented as a total non sequitur, but i do love that it gave ichiban the ability to perfectly parallel my favorite scene, all the way from what must have been an hour into the game, if even.

i happen to love all the party members including eri, who i wish had an actual role rather than being an optional party member. most characters in this game, i liked or appreciated in some way (for example, i do appreciate aoki but. "like" is a stretch.) so it didn't feel like a pain in the ass to max everyone's drink links. one complaint about the drink links i have though is that zhao's made it clear that he was only a party member as an afterthought, because for some reason his direction was different from all the rest, which i can reasonably assume was because it was directed quite a while after all the rest.

2c. judgment. i said i would try to shut the fuck up and then didn't so let's try it here. love the characters, love the story, i just didn't enjoy it *quite* as much as lj. i like kuroiwa but i do think people who say he's better than soma in any way are insane and high on copium.

2d. ishin. my beloved. as the tier name says, this one is only as high up as it is because i love historical dramas, but holy shit. first of all, obviously i am very happy to see izo (nishiki) and hijikata (mine), especially considering ishin gives us the opportunity to see mine when he's not in the middle of a combination homosexual and existential crisis because there's nobody in particular he feels insane about and capitalism hasn't ruined his life. but characters aside, the ending to ishin resonated with me something fierce and i regularly quote ryoma's little monologue about the future to myself and it makes me very emotional. the future's secure in the hands of so many others we've never known, whose faces we've never seen, whose voices we've never heard.

3a. kiwami. i think the tier name says it all. i am here for nishiki's corruption arc and how incredibly interested i am in chewing on him. i also recently watched a playthrough of the original yakuza 1 on ps2 and. i have to say, the retcons to turn nishiki into an actual character were a godsend. because based on nishiki in kiwami, you can't tell how or why shindo and kanda ended up as the next patriarchs considering nishiki's entire downward spiral started when he killed a rapist, only for some lame ass sex pests to succeed him. but in yakuza 1, it kind of makes sense given the line that implies nishiki thinks beating kiryu in a fight will make yumi "his". it gives the impression that he's so much more shallow and that he only killed dojima not to protect someone he cared about but because he was encroaching on something (someone) he felt entitled to. kiwami's retcons here are gentle and make it feel much more like he loved yumi but wasn't a freak about it, and that he killed dojima to protect her for her, not for himself. in conclusion, nishiki hard carries the game.

3b. yakuza 3. i do hold so much love for mine, but luckily he is not the only good thing about the game. the orphanage is introduced, you have the ryudo family and especially rikiya, but mine remains the best part of the game to me. only thing he did wrong was the ableism but to be fair he was having a complete and utter gay moment and freaked the fuck out because daigo didn't wake up within 5 seconds.

4. yakuza 4. what can i say. akiyama was great, love his character and his story, and especially love the cutscene direction. i thought going back and utilizing the money explosion in y1 was very clever, and was impressed that they built an entire fleshed-out character around that. will confess that i literally have no idea why he has the slut reputation that the fandom slapped on him, but i also barely know anything about dead souls as of right now, so maybe he shows hole in that or something.

the parts of the game that were not akiyama. well. kiryu and tanimura were fine. saejima was not. initially it was fine, but the prison escape thing is highly cheapened by the fact that this man is fucking addicted to prison so you have to do it AGAIN in the very next game. not only that, and not only the extremely uncomfortable scene with haruka, but saejima suffers from the same problems ryuji and sayama do (i will get to them.), where the game overhypes the fuck out of them just for them to not really do much of anything. the rubber bullets thing is stupid but it doesn't change the fact that saejima *thought* he killed those people, i'm not saying he's actually a pussy for not having committed Real Murder (it's just that god forbid a playable yakuza character actually does a killing). it's just that he doesn't really have anything interesting to say or anything cool to do except that scene in purgatory where he humiliated the whole audience down there for not valuing human lives beyond ending them for entertainment. i was fine with him for a while before that due to not knowing any better yet, but it's now retroactively the only scene where i don't kind of hate him.

5. yakuza 5. guys? it's not good. saejima is addicted to prison and still not a well-executed character in the slightest, with baba being the only bright spot in his section (but still a bit overplayed). but shinada is y5's biggest problem. it's not just that i don't give a fuck about baseball, it's that you have to be EXTREMELY passionate about baseball to let the absolutely ridiculous and dragged out and, rather quickly, extremely predictable story slide. i spent months trying to get through yakuza 5 and hated the experience so much that i thought i just wasn't into yakuza anymore. then ishin came out and i loved that and i decided to just skip the rest of 5 and go straight to 6, only to discover 5 was the problem and i do still love yakuza so incredibly much. luckily, the start of 6 recaps the ending of 5, so finishing it wasn't even necessary. and thank god for that.

6. literally anything else you can think of.

7. kiwami 2. i am nowhere near enough of a misogynist nor a brainless homosexual to like anything about kiwami 2. the only people i see who like ryuji are the ones who are attracted to him which is beyond me. people who like sayama i can only conclude have zero standards for the way female characters are handled. let me dive into this the same way i've bitched on twitter about it 109280437127421897432 times.

first, i will just quickly mention again that ryuji and sayama have the same problem as saejima. the game itself hypes them up so much that they almost have no choice but to fall flat. but sayama falls so much fucking harder than ryuji. and so does yayoi. yayoi's thing is quick, so i will cover that first.

you are telling me. that this strong, scary, takes-no-shit woman. gets manhandled *without even being restrained* and needs kiryu to come save her. and then when openly sexually assaulted just gives shindo one pansy ass slap across the face. almost like it's a gag in a rather sexist comedy sketch. realistically, according to her character, she should have pulled out a dagger and killed that man the moment he tried to kiss her. unfortunately, she is a woman in yakuza kiwami 2.

but at least yayoi just has one scene where she is dragged relentlessly through the mud. sayama is stuck being a woman in yakuza kiwami 2 for the entire game. pretty much the first thing she does is get shot in the shoulder. the shoulder. and while any male character in these games would either shrug it off or die dramatically from a single non fatal injury depending on what point in the game you're at, sayama, for some reason, faints and develops a fever. which means she needs kiryu to carry her all through kamurocho. and then a bit after that, she calls him while he's out to tell him to buy her underwear. and then when he brings it to her, she reveals that she just got out of the shower and drops her towel in front of him. if you can't understand why it's infuriating that the only major female character besides the Small Child is treated this way, i genuinely don't know what to tell you. she then spends the rest of the game asking endless questions and acting flabbergasted by everything (me too, girl). only good thing she ever did was shoot that one guy. and then of course the ending is a make out scene. only for kiryu to never think about her again after her cameo in the beginning of 3 (referred to yumi, inexplicably, as the only woman he has ever loved in 6 (he loved her?????))

in conclusion. from what i can tell, people like kiwami 2 for the following reasons:

they like the gameplay

they want to fuck ryuji

they think sayama's girlbossing makes her a good female character

mix and match any of the above. this game's only redeeming quality is that emo phase daigo is funny (if completely pathetic)

if you actually read all this, thanks for hearing me out and i am deeply sorry you wasted your time on some guy on the internet's opinions.

[andypantsx3]

Happy early anniversary to one of my favorite bnha authors ❤ (ok but like deadass if you were to write for a fandom i know nothing about, i'd still read it 💀💀) for the deleted scenes questions, how did ad intra's first meeting go from Shinso's perspective? I'd love to know what was going through his head especially since he TRIED TO PRY INTO READERS THOUGHTS that smug bitch what did he find there, i love him so much UGH

Ahhh thank you my love!! I hope you like this little shit’s POV lol. 💕 

You were a hellcat. Shinsou could tell instantly. 

If it wasn’t the dismissive once over you’d given him the second you’d made note of his jumpsuit, it was the immediate denial that he be included on your case.

Shinsou had worked a lot of investigations in partnership with the police before. His quirk was built almost exactly for this purpose—pulling information from unwilling mouths, prying up the floorboards of stubborn memories, slipping in and out of sensitive situations with no one the wiser to his presence or his machinations. But never had he been met with this kind of instant unwillingness to accept his help on a case.

It piqued his interest. There was a story there, underneath the slash of your eyebrows, the obstinate set of your jaw as you talked back to your captain, a man even he would think twice about crossing. You had some kind of history with heroes, and probably some kind of history with men in general. There was, after all, no shortage of men in law enforcement with a pathological need for control but no skill to back it up.

Shinsou smirked. How soon you would find he was not one of those men.

He could back it up.

“I can work faster on this alone,” you’d said, when Captain Nagumo insisted Shinsou be added to your investigation. “How about we call Shinsou in when I’ve found something and he can help with the apprehension?”

Shinsou settled back in his chair, letting his eyes flick over you. He watched the pretty little pout that curled your mouth, the swell of your chest as it heaved in anger in the confines of your uniform shirt. You were dressed plainly, and you obviously did little to play up your own charm—likely disinterested in any kind of attention from any of your colleagues on the force (and having met some already, Shinsou couldn’t blame you). Despite that, Shinsou could easily see the simple appeal in your features, in your fiery little temper.

A hellcat indeed.

Oh, he was going to have fun with you.

“This is not a request,” the captain said firmly. “Shinsou will be working this case with you.”

You opened your mouth to argue, but the captain’s look shifted into something angrier and your teeth clacked together audibly. 

Shinsou leaned forward languidly, relishing the way it drew your eyes to him. He didn’t need a mental quirk to tell that for all you were clearly annoyed by him, you were having a hard time keeping your eyes off of him.

“Why don’t you bring me to your desk and show me what you were working on?” he asked, activating his quirk. He could tell you didn’t really want to acknowledge him, but he was aware that his quirk held some level of compulsion, even before one met the conditions that triggered its true activation. It made you want to respond to him, and it was very satisfying to watch you hesitate under its pull.

“I—” you began, looking a little dazed. Then your temper clearly caught back up with you, and you exhaled through your nose. “Fine. If you don’t want to get left behind, let’s go.”

You shot to your feet, quickly exiting Captain Nagumo’s office like you could lose him if only you moved fast enough. Shinsou smirked, and rose to follow you. You led him down a long hall and into a cramped stairwell, starting up the stairs without pausing to check if he was following.

“How much did Captain Nagumo tell you about the case already?” you asked as you climbed.

“Not too much,” Shinsou said, careful not to betray how much he was enjoying the view as he followed you up. “Just that there had been break ins, multiple suicides, and a lot of missing memories.”

You pushed open the door to your floor and gestured him through, then stalked over to your desk. Shinsou could see case files scattered all across your desk in small towers. You shoved a bunch over and dragged over a chair from a nearby conference table.

“Sit and let’s chat, then,” you said.

He dropped into the chair, legs stretched out in front of him, and you sat across from him.

“So why did they send you?” you asked.

Shinsou weighed his answer. “To help.”

You looked annoyed. “Obviously, but why you? What interest does the Public Safety Commission have in this case?”

Your tone was clearly suspicious. “Dozens of people show up without their memories, and you think the police force can handle this without help? I’m here to provide support.”

“So why you, specifically? What are you bringing to this case?”

Even if he wasn’t forbidden to answer that question, Shinsou thought he might have withheld the answer just to watch you squirm angrily. “My good looks and big brain.”

“Fascinating,” you replied flatly. “Well that will be a huge help, no doubt. Good thing they sent you.” 

You looked like you wanted to reach across the desk and strangle him, and Shinsou was not entirely opposed to you trying. He let his smile widen. “You don’t think much of me, do you?”

His quirk wove itself lazily through his voice, and he sat back in his chair with some satisfaction as you replied, unknowingly handing over the keys to your mind.

“Listen, I don't mean to disrespect your profession. Heroes are great and totally needed for patrols and raids. When it comes to investigations, though, you slow things down, and I don't have time for you to hold things up.”

Shinsou was only half listening, letting his quirk wash through you. It twined sinuously through the space between your thoughts, ready to wrap around your thought patterns and pull you under his control.

He watched you frown, eyebrows drawing together like you were trying to remember something, and he suppressed a smirk. So, you were perceptive enough that you could feel him.

Interesting.

He pulled your attention off of the feeling with a lazy, “Is that so?”

You found your annoyance again instantly. “What’s your background?” you demanded. “And your quirk? I’m assuming they didn't add you to this case for your charm and social grace.”

He smiled. “I’m afraid that’s above your clearance level.”

You stared at him in disbelief. “Fine then,” you said hotly. “Let me guess. You’re an emitter type—astounding levels of absolute bullshit.”

This surprised him into a laugh and he leaned forward in interest. A feisty little handful, if ever he’d encountered one.

“You’ve got quite the set of claws for such a little kitten,” he said, reveling in the way it made your gaze turn white-hot with anger.

 “Then I suggest you work with me here, if you don’t want to get stuck with them, Shinsou,” you grit out.

And there it was. A challenge. An invitation, really, to play with his food before he ate it.

Captain Nagumo had described you as one of his best, a compliment Shinsou sensed he didn’t give out lightly. Shinsou liked a woman with a brain, and he liked a woman with a stubborn streak even more—and yours was the widest he had ever seen. He doubted you had ever had any occasion to give up control in your entire life, meaning that if he played his cards right, he might be the first ever to see you come undone.

“Oh I’ll work with you, kitten,” he purred, letting his quirk linger for just one moment longer before pulling away from your mind, already resolved.

He wasn’t going to take control, but he would have it nonetheless. 

By the time he was done with you, you were going to give it up willingly.

Garbage Fest masterlist & schedule

[writingpaperghost]

Let Us Live Strong Together (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6: Life is Beautiful

Now it's all over, there's just a few things left to do.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39178755/chapters/98573721

“Your treatment will continue now, Madoka,” Ms. Hoshi smiled.

Madoka smiled back, “And then when I’m better, we can go to a real athletics meet, right?”

Her parents nod, “Of course,” Mr. Nagumo answers.

Parad watches the exchange, smiling. Seeing Madoka so happy meant a lot to him, especially since he suspected that Emu had some role in it, though Emu didn’t talk a lot about what happened when he and Madoka were alone in the game world. Still, given the conversation he had with Hoshi, and the fact that he was alone in that world with Madoka, Parad suspects that he had more of a role than he had yet said.

---

“Are you sure you’re okay, Kin?” Graphite hovered over Emu as he pulled his shirt on, once more hiding the bandages and his scars.

Emu sighed, picking up a colorful t-shirt to put over his previous shirt, “Yes, I’m fine, now,” He pulls the shirt on, glancing over at Graphite, “Honestly, I… think I feel better now than I had before, actually.”

Graphite regards him, reaching his hand into Emu’s hair to gently run his fingers through them. Emu leans against Graphite’s side, slightly, laughing a little. Finally, Graphite says, “Yes, you certainly seem better,” He seems thoughtful, “I’m glad, I suppose.”

With a hum, Emu pulls away, sliding off the bed he’d been in. The CR had determined that, beyond the injuries he’d gotten while unconscious – and no one was quite sure who was responsible, but they had their suspicions – he was otherwise fine. Which was a relief, since that meant that, while he was still stuck in the CR for a while longer, he wasn’t stuck being hovered over quite so much than if he’d been injured worse.

And that made the rest of his time at the CR more bearable. Though he still didn’t know what he’d do after, and the thought of that as a whole filled him with a terrible dread. But he felt a little better about it all, at least he thinks he does. He pulls on his hoodie, the sleeves still smudged with ink from his pens, but he doesn’t mind. He should probably wash it and try to get the ink out, yet it really doesn’t bother him very much.

He makes his way into the main room of the CR, where Kuroto works away on his laptop. Emu wondered just what it was he was working on. If it were a game, it would be strange that Kuroto had never told him much about it, when he knew Kuroto loved telling Emu about the games he was working on. He plops on the couch, journal in hand, and thinks that he should maybe ask Kuroto more about it, soon.

A few minutes later, Asuna comes up the stairs, calling Emu’s name, “Emu, Madoka wants to see you.”

At that, Emu blinks, “She… does?”

“She was asking specifically if you’d come to see her,” Asuna confirms.

Hit with a sudden urge of discomfort, Emu nods, nervous, “Um, okay,” He stands from the couch, “If she wants to see me…”

With a smile, Asuna leads him to Madoka, and for a moment, he stands and stares at the door. He didn’t really know why Madoka wants to see him, but since he’d promised they’d see each other again, maybe it should be a surprise. With both of her parents back, he doubted she’d think too much about seeing him.

Asuna opens the door, smiling as she declares, “Madoka, you have a visitor,”

Warily, Emu peers into the room behind Asuna. Madoka spots him and smiles, “Big bro!”

He slips past Asuna, sitting down at Madoka’s bedside. It was strange seeing her in this hospital bed, when he had only ever seen her before able to walk and run around in the game world. “I told you we’d see each other again,” He gives her a smile, “And I hear your mom’s back now, too.”

Madoka nods, “I missed you,” She tells him, “I’m glad mom came back, but I was scared you wouldn’t.”

“I do my best to keep my promises,”

Then Madoka hands him the Mighty Brother XX Gashat, “I- I held on to it, for you, like you asked,”

With a smile, Emu takes the Gashat back, “Thank you, I knew you would.”

And the two are there for a while, talking. Madoka had so many questions about Emu and his family, ones that Emu were plenty happy to answer. It was nice, at some point Asuna leaves and it doesn’t even bother Emu.

---

It’s a surprise to Emu that Parad succeeded in convincing not just himself, but Kuroto as well to help him with some Bugsters that had been popping up. But he had, so there the three were, fighting Bugster grunts, with no sign of a particular Bugster in sight. The get up of the Bugsters imply that they’re some of Salty’s, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of Salty.

“It’s strange,” Emu notes, kicking a Bugster as he tosses Parad the Gashacon Keyslasher. “I mean, just these Bugster?”

“I know what you mean,” Parad nods, shoving another Bugster and its wok away.

Kuroto hits the Bugster in front of him with a solid bonk on top of the head with his fist, “Perhaps leftovers from Makashima’s plan?”

“But they’re not even the Ninja Gamers, at least that would make sense,” Parad frowned. “So I don’t think they’re-“

Are you ready?

The three are startled by a sudden sound. They all glance around, Kuroto wondering aloud, “Is that…?”

A red and blue Rider appears, attacking the remaining Bugsters and quickly taking them all out.

Emu blinks, “A Kamen Rider?”

The red and blue Rider turns to look at Parad, pointing, “You’re Para-DX?”

Confused, Parad slowly nods, “…Yes…?”

“In that case,” the Rider points a small object towards Parad.

Kuroto jumps forward, kicking the Rider, “I remember you, from Chronicle,” He sounds wary. “Just what are you trying to do?”

He gets knocked away by the Rider, who seems unbothered. It was then that Emu and Parad figured they should probably be more wary of this new Rider. Pulling out his Gashat Gear Dual, Parad places it into his Driver.

The change on Parad’s end and the removal of the second player reverts Emu to using only Mighty Action X. “Huh? I changed too…?”

“Something to think of later,” Kuroto hisses, attacking the Rider again.

After a moment, Emu nods and swings his Gashacon Breaker at the Rider. The Rider then places some distance between them, pulling out two of those items from earlier, but colored this time, from his Driver. “Unfortunately, I’m not interested in either of you.” He pulls out another pair of the item, “Let’s start the experiment.”

Gorilla!

Diamond!

Best Match!

Calmly, the Rider begins to crank the handle on the side of his belt.

Are you ready?

Kagayaki no destroyer!

Gorillamond!

Emu switches his Gashacon Breaker to sword mode, though it’s blocked by the blue arm of this Rider. Kuroto then punches, though the Rider blocks it again, then punches him back with his brown arm. The two try to fight this new Rider, while the new Rider blocked most of their attacks and succeeds in getting a few attacks in on them as well.

Then, a Bugster peeks out from its hiding spot, jumping at the Rider, who stops it, turning it into a shiny pile of rocks.

Ready go!

Vortex Finish!

He punches the piles of rocks, sending them flying towards Emu and Kuroto in a shining storm. Though both try to block out the attack, it proves fruitless and knocks them away, and out of their transformations.

“Emu! Kuroto!” Parad begins to run towards the two, before he’s stopped by the Rider, switching back to his red and blue form.

“Thanks for the show, now…” He points the blank item at Parad again. This time, he’s not stopped and the bottle seems to absorb Parad’s transformation, leaving him there untransformed and confused. “The experiment is successful!” He shakes the bottle a little as he examines it.

Parad looks at himself, unsure of what’s just happened. “What…?”

“Who are you?” Emu calls out, trying to pull himself up.

It seems, then, the Rider realizes he hadn’t introduced himself, “Huh? Oh, Kamen Rider-“

Kuroto finishes for him, “Build.”

Build continues on, as though he hadn’t been interrupted, “Like ‘to create’ or ‘to form’” He continues to shake the item he’d created from Parad as he walks away, cheekily adding, “Don’t forget it.”

As Parad watches him leave, Build  calls out in English, “See you!”

Then, Kuroto pulls himself up and chases after that Build, “Get back!”

“Kuroto!” Emu scrambles to his feet, following after. Parad blinks, still startled by what’s occurred.

Eventually, Kuroto and Emu follow Build to a portal, it seemed. “Stop!” Kuroto yells again, running towards Build with Emu at his heels.

Turning around, sounding startled, Build said, “Stay back!” He looks back at the portal, then Kuroto grabs him, and Emu can’t help but grab Kuroto. Next, there’s being pulled through the portal.

When it all clears, Kuroto and Emu are alone, with no sign of Build. It was clear something was off about this place. Like the giant wall they could see, for example.

“Kuroto…” Emu begins slowly, grabbing Kuroto’s arm, “W-where are w-we?”

[tsunflowers]

anime featuring adult women

there are a lot of great female characters in anime, but sometimes it feels like they’re all supporting characters in shows about men or they haven’t graduated high school yet. I wanted to compile a list of some anime with adult women front and center

kidou keisatsu patlabor on tv:

in the sci-fi future as imagined in 1988, human-piloted robots called labors are used regularly by all kinds of people, including criminals. to combat labor crime, the police develop a special unit of patrol labors—patlabor. instead of following the prestigious division one, we follow a cast of quirky characters in second-string division two, as they solve cases ranging from mundane to dangerous to paranormal

izumi noa, and why I love her:

she’s incredibly strong-willed and stubborn. she’ll stand up to anyone. she’s obsessed with labors, not just piloting them herself but repairing them and learning about new developments in the field. even though division two is primarily men and there is the “men at work” vibe of so much military and police fiction, noa fits in easily with the guys and no one excludes her. the few times people do question her skills bc of her gender, they’re immediately shut down

other women in the cast:

nagumo shinobu, the captain of division one. we never actually see her or her unit at work, but they have a great reputation. I just love her bc she’s very funny always shutting down the captain of division two and I like that in-universe there are women in leadership roles like this

kanuka clancy, a visiting cop from new york. her relationship with noa is very strong, definitely shippable. she’s adept with a gun, a sword, and a giant robot. she’s the serious member of the team who yells at the others for being dumb but there are still times where she goes completely off the rails and ignores the law to do what she knows is right

wotakoi: love is hard for otaku:

momose narumi is an office worker and a fujoshi. she wants to keep the fujoshi part a secret this time around because things went south for her at her last job once people found out she was an otaku, but it turns out several of her new coworkers are fellow nerds. most importantly, her game-loving childhood friend hirotaka works at the same company, and the two of them reconnect as friends… and soon more than friends. it’s a romance drama involving only nerds

momose narumi, and why I love her:

she’s a lot like your standard high school girl protagonist who runs out of the house because she’s late for school, but this time she’s late for work. she’s really funny and straightforward, except she thinks she has to hide that side of her at her job. she and hirotaka have a great childhood friends to lovers relationship. she’s kind of rude to him but he adores her (though he’s kind of bad at showing it). I love a cheerful girl/serious guy romance that’s done well and I think this one really is

other women in the cast:

koyanagi hanako, narumi’s new coworker who’s a fellow fujoshi. she’s also a cosplayer, specifically a crossplayer who specializes in cosplaying as handsome guys. she and narumi only met each other under their fandom nicknames before, but they were big fans of each other and hit it off instantly when they meet at work. they’re cute friends even if they always argue about who tops in their ships

psycho-pass:

in a futuristic society, people’s mental health is constantly measured by “psycho-pass” readings which track their emotional state and judge the likelihood that they will commit a crime. naive rookie cop tsunemori akane leads a team of enforcers, people who are considered “latent criminals” too dangerous to live in normal society but who are still useful to the police. akane develops a close relationship with enforcer kougami shinya in particular, but kougami has his own intense relationship with the elusive criminal makishima shogo. as the team of detectives investigate him, they uncover secrets about the system they never wanted to learn and their fates become entwined with makishima’s

psycho-pass is written by urobuchi gen (madoka magica, fate/zero) and if you’re familiar with him you know what to expect. the show is pretty grim and gory. content warnings for rape, violence, gore, body horror, police violence, the predatory lesbian trope, forced institutionalization, and probably a lot of other things I can’t remember. not a light watch, is what I’m saying

tsunemori akane, and why I love her:

she’s incredibly principled. she sticks to what she believes is right despite immense pressure. it’s precisely because she’s naive and doesn’t understand the system that she is able to fight against it. she grows a huge amount over the course of the series but she never loses her compassion or her sense of right and wrong. she’s pretty badass too

other women in the cast:

karanomori shion, a lab analyst at the public safety bureau. she’s your typical sexy and flirtatious anime character but I think her position within the setting is interesting. although she’s categorized as a “latent criminal” unfit for society, she seems to be valued more than the enforcers. she’s also bisexual and dating a woman, though she plays into the “bisexuals can’t settle down” trope a little. she is not actually the best character or peak representation but I’m pretty attached to her and a certain type of woman will be too

kunizuka yayoi, a lesbian former musician and the only female enforcer. she’s shion’s girlfriend. there is a predatory lesbian character in this series, but it’s not kunizuka. I think her being a lesbian is handled pretty well. she has romantic and sexual relationships with women that are important to her, but she doesn’t hate men or flirt with every woman she meets (traits I hate to see in lesbian characters written by men). she’s really serious and calm but still cute and I love to see her growing respect for akane over the course of the show

death parade:

two people wake up in a strange bar with no memory of how they got there. a mysterious man with white hair named decim and his assistant, a woman known only as “the black haired woman,” ask them to play a game. the games are both absurd and dangerous, and as the contestants play them dark sides of themselves are revealed. decim’s job is to judge them based on their behavior while playing the games, but the black haired woman’s influence causes him to wonder if he’s doing the right thing

like it says in the title, the anime deals with the topic of death, and death by suicide comes up as well. I don’t remember everyone’s backstories but I think violence and abuse come up several times. there are also mannequins that move around on marionette strings which is kind of freaky

the black haired woman, and why I love her:

it might be wrong to say that she’s the main character when she isn’t introduced until the end of the first episode and her name isn’t revealed for half the show but listen. she’s the emotional core of the show and the person who sets the events in motion. she’s a very emotional person and that’s her strength. her relationship with decim is the classic “woman teaches cold-hearted man to feel” trope but I think it’s an outstanding example bc it centers her emotional experience and the two of them are not explicitly in a romantic relationship. I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers but for her it’s almost unavoidable. I love the way that her story is slowly revealed over the course of the show culminating in an incredible sequence in episode 11. I think her depression is handled so well too. it’s heartbreaking

other women in the cast:

nona, the boss of the arbiters. she’s a schemer who knows a whole lot of things she’s keeping from everyone else. I really like her outfit above all else. baggy pants with suspenders… a great look

mayu, a high school girl who is a contestant in one of the games. she tries to be cutesy but is prone to anger and makes incredible faces. I like that she’s an obsessive fangirl character who’s played for humor but is also shown as being noble and sympathetic

sakura quest:

koharu yoshino is a woman who moved to tokyo to find a job but has no luck. when she finally gets a job offer, it’s to become “queen for a day” of rural manoyama village. upon arriving in manoyama, she learns that she was only hired because they thought she was someone else but they still want her to work there for an entire year. now she lives in a small town and is tasked with both revitalizing the citizens and drawing tourists in, along with the help of four friends. it may not sound funny and heartwarming but it really is. it’s a good story about connecting and reconnecting and also the head of the tourism board wears a chupacabra mask sometimes

the main characters, and why I love them:

koharu yoshino, queen of manoyama. her struggle in the job market is unfortunately relatable to many people today and I love that she wishes she could have a job as a queen. she’s great and she really comes to love the town despite everything

shiori shinomiya, a very sweet manoyama native. she’s almost too nice but it makes it all the funnier when she gets intense

maki midorikawa, an aspiring actor who is famous among manoyama citizens for a small role she played in the past. she’s serious about acting but her family wishes she would get a more stable job. she can be kind of rude but she does love her friends and her town

sanae kouzuki, a web developer who moved to manoyama to escape the intensity of city life and the negative effects it had on her mental health. the problem is she hates rural life and is afraid of bugs but is too proud to admit it on her blog. the only true city girl among the five

ririko oribe, my favorite of the five. she’s shy but loves cryptids and the occult. it’s very easy to read her as autistic and the other characters affirm her interests and behavior. her love of cryptids even helps the town out when Spanish tourists come in search of a local legend. her relationship with her grandma is really good as well, with the two coming to understand and love each other over the course of the show

[mahoutokoro-at-nagumo]

Records & Registration: Seven Mansions of the East

The Seven Mansions of Eastern Nagumo,

as presided over by the Azure Dragon.

Suboshi: The horn of the Azure Dragon. Those with magical lineages directly related to one of the Four Noble Clans.

Amiboshi: The neck of the Azure Dragon. Those with magical lineages related to one of the “daimyō” clans.

Tomoboshi: The root (chest) of the Azure Dragon. Those with magical lineages related to one of the immigrant clans.

Soiboshi: The belly of the Azure Dragon. Those with magical lineages related to the merchant class.

Nakagoboshi: The heart of the Azure Dragon. Those with magical lineages related to the farming class.

Ashitareboshi: The tail of the Azure Dragon. Those with no prior magical lineage.

Miboshi: The wind that follows the Azure Dragon. Those with hybrid magical lineages.

Incoming students will be divided, according to their clan of origin or lack thereof, into one of the aforementioned seven residences on the eastern district of Nagumo Island. No student shall reside in any dwelling aside from the Mansion assigned to them upon their enrollment to Nagumo under any circumstances.

So. You know how I said “no houses” in my verse? Well. I changed my mind (how did I go from none to seven? explanation is in the notes). Still no sorting, though, as it’s all figured out by records and registration before spring term starts.

Please go thank this anon for getting me to think about implementing a house system and @essayofthoughts​ for helping me brainstorm (and working around me stubbornly not wanting to use animals as mascots).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Notes:

The Azure Dragon doesn’t reside on Nagumo, but they made a statue of it that sits before the shrine on the eastern part of the island as a wish for it to bless them from the heavens.

Everyone drops the ‘boshi’ part of the Seven Mansions’ names when speaking, for brevity’s sake.

No prior magical lineage = muggleborn; hybrid magical lineage = children with discernible yōkai heritage

The order of the mansions matters, which means that muggleborns actually rank higher on the social ladder than hybrids (called hanyō in other places; I’m undecided what to call them for now).

“Daimyō clans” is sort of misleading. In Nagumo’s context, they are specifically clans descended from samurai who became daimyō and thus were more distantly related to the imperial line. I’ll make a post explaining all of this lineage stuff eventually. It’s messy.

“Immigrant clans” are 渡来人, specifically people from China and Korea who settled in early Japan. As I elaborate on in this post, Nagumo/Mahoutokoro doesn’t allow foreign students except in very special circumstances.

I ultimately went with lineage instead of blood purity because 1) lineage is how they would track blood purity in the first place, 2) Japan has had a family registry system since the 6th century, and 3) the amount that counts one as “pureblood”, “half-blood”, or even a “quarter” can get fuzzy and messy with the generations.

btw, these aren’t real mansions as in huge physical buildings. The word 宿 (‘dwelling’ or ‘lodging’) when used in astrology is a cluster of constellations, basically. The actual dorm for each of these is a Japanese-style house.

Details:

Chinese astrology divides the sky into five regions, each corresponding to a creature (Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, & White Tiger; the Yellow Dragon was at the center). It further divides the sky into 28 mansions, or star groupings, with each creature presiding over 7 mansions. This formed the basis of Chinese and, later, Japanese divination which directly played into the workings of the court.

aka, it’s the basis of one of Japan’s magic systems, onmyōdō

It is said each of the four (Yellow Dragon excluded) protects the former capital city of Kyoto. Nagumo imitates this. In addition, the Dragon Palace is also divided into the four directions, each corresponding to a season (each of the four main creatures also corresponds to a season & direction).

Thaat’s why I went from 0 to 7. It made more sense to have all four “guard” or “bless” the island as a whole, and have the small buildings and people residing in them correspond with the mansions they preside over.

Plus, essayofthoughts suggested dividing them based on blood status/social class, which I liked, and this way incorporates more nuance than 4 or 5 would have.

Btw, the image is literally just a listing of the seven mansions as it might look like in a document.

(source)

[funakounasoul]

How would you go about localizing she loves to cook and she loves to eat?

I had to re-read this one because, for a moment, I thought, "Wait a minute. The manga IS translated." No no, you mean a full on rework of the story to suit a different audience (in my case, US since that's where I'm from)

Well, keep in mind, Anon, that everyone has different ideas of how to go at it. I personally grew up with the localization styles of DiC/Cloverway with Sailor Moon, Pokemon in general (especially when it was heavier on the Japanese themes) and ADV (at least with Azumanga) and in those instances, they were still in Japan, but a few things got changed up to find US equivalents. Pokemon was worse (jelly donut, anyone lol) but I digress.

The main things we would need to keep intact in a localization would be the following:

It's a story about two adult women coming together via food

It would still have to have the mentions of social issues women and lgbtq folks go through this day and age

It needs to still be lighthearted and uplifting. It can have "hard read" moments, but there needs to be a sense of of a gentle reminder to take it one step at a time, breathe, but keep pushing for a better future, especially with those you love dear, even if they are found family.

I think the main cast should still have the same orientations/gender identities they are in the original. I mean, I think it'd be okay but the end of the day, it's specifically about women (transwomen are okay too!). The acespecness of most of the cast? Please keep that intact, for sure. There's just not much rep in general! Oh and they still should be older women (at the very least keep the general age order that Yuzaki-sensei has provided us of Yako>Nomoto>Kasuga>Nagumo) and Kasuga has to be the tallest and heaviest as that is litetally part of her character, too.

Anything else can change, really! You want a poc cast? Make them poc! You want American Nomoto to be like...from Kansas and American Kasuga from Maine and they became neighbors in an old, giant house that now serves as apartments in upstate New York? Yeah! There's your setting! (Especially as even Kasuga is surprised at some of Nomoto's Miyagi dish variations despite having moved from only one prefecture away, so wherever she's from in canon sounds like they share similar platters like where they're currently living...which I think is Yokohama? Just based of what I've read, anyway. It's a guess, but near Tokyo is what I'm saying lol)

The only thing that is a struggle is the whole last-name addressing that is pretty iconic for the story. We don't really call people by last name all too often, do we? Maybe in a work setting, but they don't work in the same place. Like...how does one even translate the use of that without sounding awkward?

Canon Nomoto and Kasuga are polite toward one another, yes, but you can still translate their dialogue to fit their age equivalent casual speak in other languages thanks to dialogue nuances and body language

I guess they could both have names that sound old-school but can be given nicknames (because, eventually, even original Nomoto and Kasuga will start using given names! Surely!!)? Like I dunno. Someone is named Elizabeth and is called Elizabeth by the other woman, and then for The (Eventual) Moment, or even when American Nagumo tries the -chan naming equivalent, we get to hear something like "Lizzy" and it speaks volumes to that character.

...Well! That was a lot of typing. Definitely helped pass the time at work. I think I turned it into an adaptation more than a localization, though. Whoops~ But honestly, I think similar points can be used as localizing the base story.

Feel free to use these thoughts as starter points if one ever wants to make a "their country" AU fic or something lol