#towada shin

[nejis-desk]

Jack Jeanne Complete Collection - Interview with Ishida Sui and Towada Shin Translation

This interview is from the Jack Jeanne Complete Collection art book, it’s available on CDJapan and Amazon jp. You can also purchase a digital only version on bookwalker jp. I encourage anyone reading to purchase the game (if you haven't already) or the art book itself to support Ishida and Towada directly. 💕

This is a VERY long interview so I apologise for any typos or errors I may have missed.

~ ~ ~

An interview with Ishida Sui and Towada Shin, who both worked on writing the story of Jack Jeanne. In this interview they reveal what went on behind the scenes during production, rejected story ideas and much more. This interview was conducted remotely on the 9th of February 2021.

Interviewer: Yui Kashima

How did Ishida Sui end up making an otome game?

—How did the production of Jack Jeanne begin?

Ishida: It was sometime around Autumn 2015 I think… On an old personal site that I used to run, I received an email from the company Broccoli to an email address that I no longer use. It was a commission request for character designs.

—In 2015 Tokyo Ghoul was still being serialised wasn’t it?

Ishida: Yes. Usually job offers like that go through Shueisha first, so I contacted my editor asking why this one was sent to my private email…  At the time, in addition to working on Tokyo Ghoul, I was also drawing illustrations for a tear-off calendar and very busy with various other things, so when my editorial department heard about the offer they seemed very shocked like "What!?".

—Why did you decide to accept the offer even though you were so busy?

Ishida: I would often receive offers asking for me to draw manga or illustrations, so I figured that this one was a similar case. However, some words in the email caught my eye. Like ‘Gender Swap’, ‘Takarazuka’ and ‘All Boys Opera'. When I saw these concept ideas, a dream began to swell in my chest and I felt like giving it a try.

I think if it had just been a normal character design job, I would have turned it down. However just from reading the short brief in the email my interest was piqued. While in discussions with the Young Jump editorial department, I also casually mentioned the kind of offer I’d received to Towada-san.

Towada: Yeah, Ishida-san asked me for some advice. I was also drawn to the ‘Gender Swap’ and ‘Opera’ concepts. I could easily visualise the setting of the story. Additionally, it seemed like it would be a story that included many different themes such as gender. When I thought about that, I figured that Ishida-san would be a good fit, since I knew he would be able to draw something that went beyond all genders.

Ishida: I’ve been drawing androgynous characters for a long time, so Towada-san and I talked and wondered if that's what they must be looking for. After that, I created my own proposal and submitted it to Broccoli.

—You created your own proposal, Ishida-san?

Ishida: When I looked at the original proposal that Broccoli had sent me, a lot of it differed from my personal tastes. It was a very upbeat and dazzling story. It would’ve been hard for me to match my art style to that, so in my proposal I noted things like ‘if it were me, I’d do something more like this’. I was interested in this unpolished gem of a story, so I thought it would be a waste to turn it down altogether. I wanted to at least try throwing my own ideas into the ring, so I spent a week creating the six main characters and sent them in.

—At that time, I heard that the game wasn’t titled ‘Jack Jeanne’ yet, but was instead called ‘Jiemarie’.

Ishida: At first, I wanted to try creating a word that doesn’t exist. So using French as a base, I came up with ‘Jiemarie’ as the game's provisional title. But then a month later when I was reconsidering the title, I looked at it again and thought, damn this looks lame. So I hurriedly called Towada-san on Skype and we entered a discussion that lasted about ten hours over what the title should be.

That’s when we decided on ‘Jack Jeanne’. The male roles take the name from the knight, or the ‘Jack’ in a deck of playing cards. And the female roles ‘Jeanne’ take from the word parisienne and Jeanne d’Arc. When these two terms are put together, I feel like you can comprehend what the game is about with a bit of nuance. Plus you can shorten it to ‘JJ’… That’s also the title of a magazine though (lol).

—Taking on another job whilst your manga was being serialised sounds like it would be tough on you both physically and mentally.

Ishida: I think I must’ve been a bit unwell (lol). My body was fine, but being able to work on something other than a serialised manga was a lot easier on me mentally. I may have seen it as a way to escape, so I didn’t feel that working on two projects at the same time was difficult. When it comes to game development, I can only create what I’m capable of, and there was no set release date yet. Of course, I would work on and submit things whenever I could though.

—What kind of things would you submit?

Ishida: I would sketch character designs, discuss and create story elements with Towada-san and try to put Univeils history into chronological order. Then I would share the progress with Broccoli and have meetings and such with them. In the beginning, rather than having to draw anything yet, it was mostly just brainstorming and planning. That’s why I think I was able to do it all concurrently with the serialisation of my manga. 

~ ~ ~

How Ishida Sui and Towada Shin know each other

—Do you chat with Towada-san often?

Ishida: Well yeah, she is my older sister after all.

Towada: We talk a lot. When we both have the time we chat over Skype.

Ishida: Once we start the conversation can last up to five or six hours. We mostly talk about things that happened throughout our day. When I’m talking to someone I often bring up something that’s happened to me and ask their opinion on it. She became someone that I could chat with whilst working on my manga. Ever since my student days we’d talk until early morning, I usually told her about storyboards I’d drawn.

—At the Ishida Sui exhibition it was revealed that Towada-san had even given you advice on some of your earliest works.

Ishida: Yeah that’s right. It was a work I’d prepared for a 'bring your own work along' induction course in Tokyo that I attended back in my student days. It was a manga about two characters who eventually became the prototypes for Tsukiyama and Hori Chie in Tokyo Ghoul. It was only about 30 pages long, however when I showed it to Towada-san the day before the presentation, she told me that she thought my linework was too thin.

Towada: Yeah, the overall linework of the manga was thinly drawn. Once I told Ishida-san this thought, he began tracing over his linework and making it thicker. And then when he looked at it again, he said “Yep, I need to redraw the whole thing”.

The linework being too thin was only my personal opinion and the presentation was in Tokyo the next day, so in horror, I began hastily telling him, “You won’t make it in time, stop, stop!”

Ishida: All I could think about was that the lines really were too thin, so I wanted to redraw it. All of the screentones had already been affixed to the panels, but I didn’t want to bring something along with me whilst knowing it wasn’t the best that it could be.

Towada: Ishida-san handled the linework and I helped with redoing the screentones. We worked throughout the night and finished redrawing the whole manuscript. Once it was done, it wasn’t even comparable to the previous version, the lines were powerful and the characters' expressions conveyed a lot. I was seriously worried though (lol), I didn’t know if we’d complete it in time.

Ishida: I couldn’t think about anything other than the lines being too thin, so I wasn’t even worried about whether I had enough time or not.

Towada: I fell asleep halfway through, but you continued and boarded that Tokyo bound flight without having slept a wink, didn’t you?

Ishida: Yeah. I let Towada-san sleep and continued applying the screentones myself right up until the very last minute. I was still applying them whilst on the plane and also after my arrival in Tokyo. I used screentone number 10 a lot, so I remember the scenery around me gradually began to look grainy like the screentone. It felt as though I was hallucinating.

—Sounds like it was a tough manuscript to complete. Towada-san was also the author for the Tokyo Ghoul novels, has your relationship always been one akin to work partners?

Ishida: When it was decided that Tokyo Ghoul would be getting a novelisation, I was given other authors' works to look at. However, none of their styles really clicked with me, and they didn’t seem right for the series. I knew that Towada-san wrote, so I tried reaching out to her.

Although back in the days of Tokyo Ghoul’s serialisation, Towada-san and I didn’t talk as much as we do now. If I had any concerns I would just try and sort them out by myself. We’d always gotten along as brother and sister, however we didn’t really start to have a ‘work partners’ kind of relationship until we started working on Jack Jeanne together.

Towada: That’s true. Back then, we only occasionally conversed regarding the novelisation of Tokyo Ghoul. Before :re we only spoke once every few months over Skype. As Ishida-san said, it wasn’t until I started working on Jack Jeanne that we really started properly talking to one another.

—How often would you contact each other?

Towada: Depending on what stage we were at, we would bounce ideas off each other once every three or so days. Ishida-san would make a request like “I’d be happy if this part of the script was done within the next two weeks.” And then I’d present what I’d written and we’d discuss it and then I’d return to writing again. This process was repeated until Jack Jeanne reached its completion.

—Was Ishida-san the one that reached out to Towada-san to write the script of Jack Janne?

Towada: He didn’t ask me specifically to write the script, early in development he’d ask me to help with some research like “I’d like you to look up some information on this, could you help me?”. I’ve always liked ikusei games and within that genre I also enjoy romance and otome games. So I think that’s why it was easy for Ishida-san to consult me about it. We’ve had a common interest in games ever since we were kids.

Ishida: Back then I played games like ‘Pinnochia no Miru Yume’ and ‘Angelique’. I wanted to try and conquer Marcel in Angelique but it was one difficult game, so it was a tough task. Before I could even raise any flags with him, the training aspect of the game was so hard that no matter how many times I played I never got any good at it.

Towada: I’m the type that loves playing games, so after talking with Ishida-san, I went on to play every popular otome game that had been released around 2015, as well as every Broccoli published otoge. I completed every single character route in those games. I began analysing otome game trends and Broccoli’s brand identity and relayed my findings to Ishida-san. After that, I went along with the Jack Jeanne production team and Makasano Chuuji-san from Shueisha, who was the scriptwriter of the Tokyo Ghoul anime. We all visited the city of Takarazuka for research.

Ishida: I was also supposed to be there for the Takarazuka trip but since I had my manga to worry about, I had Towada-san go and take in the atmosphere in my place.

Towada: I did have to gather material but I think I visited Takarazuka a total of five or six times. From morning I would watch the Takarazuka theatre from afar and simply watch the guests move about, soaking in the atmosphere of the city.

Along with the Takarazuka plays, I also watched student plays, in total I probably went and watched one hundred shows. Theatre shows that are performed by professionals are fully realised and flawless. So getting to see the contrast to student plays, where they progress and improve until the show is complete was a very helpful reference.

I’ve always enjoyed watching plays, so everything I had to research overlapped with my own hobbies. I still shared my own input with Ishida-san though.

Ishida: I’d never formally been asked to write a script before… I felt like a fraud (lol). I think it’s because I’m not very good at being considerate of other people. I don’t think I’d be able to work with anyone other than Towada-san on something.

—Why is that?

Ishida: Well, for one I don’t want to talk to anyone for long periods of time (lol). Because Towada-san understands what aspects of a story are important to me, she’s also able to comprehend what I mean when I talk in abstract concepts. We could save time by not needing to have any pointless discussions.

Towada: Back then Ishida-san was still very busy publishing his manga, so bringing in all sorts of new people to work on the project probably would’ve put quite the burden on him. That’s why I wanted to help him out in some way.

After researching all sorts of things, I ended up participating in a production meeting for Jack Jeanne, but I was not expecting that I myself would end up being in charge of writing the script. Rather, I was more just looking forward to getting to play a game made by Ishida-san. As things progressed though, I was asked to try plotting things out, or to write part of the script to be used temporarily. Eventually I came to think, why don’t I just write the scenario myself?

I’d never written the script for a game before though, so that’s what had been holding me back. Unlike novels, it’s commonplace to not have to write descriptively. Novels are made up of dialogue and descriptions, like describing the setting and characters' expressions or emotions. So I had to spend a lot of time working out how to write to properly convey a story through dialogue alone.

When I first started getting the hang of it, I tried writing a script that still included descriptions but I quickly stopped. Jack Jeanne is about theatre, so I figured that it would be easier to convey the presence and narrative of the story through conversation. I usually write novels, so I was uncertain, but since Jack Jeanne has sprites of the characters on screen, I thought that I could do it. I suppose it’s closer to writing for a manga rather than a novel.

~ ~ ~

The rejected character routes

—Before Tokyo Ghoul was completed, what kind of things did you work on?

Ishida: The first two years were mostly spent creating the game’s world and mechanics. Like deciding how many performances there would be, how the plays would be presented. Would it be a dialogue drama? Would there be mini games? Things like that. We also had to decide whether summer break would be included or not, how raising affection would work and how the choices would be presented. Those are the sort of things that were talked about first.

—You got to watch over the entire game’s development then.

Ishida: At first, I got carried away and envisioned a stage play game full of skill mechanics that I personally enjoyed. A busy game full of specs you can raise and improve in mini games, however when I explained these details to a friend of mine, they were like “You’re just imagining a game that you would like, right?”.

They asked me if that’s what the eventual players of Jack Jeanne would be looking for. That same friend said that since it’s a story that deals with the theme of theatre, it would be better if the player could witness the performances themselves. So I took that advice and the prototype of the current Jack Jeanne was created. I told all of this to Towada-san and had her handle the script.

Towada: You can’t write a script without knowing how the game’s system works after all.

Ishida: Now that I think about it, before Tokyo Ghoul was finished, rather than build the game's foundation, all I was really doing was scattering the sand to prepare for said foundation.

When Tokyo Ghoul entered its endgame especially, I really had to concentrate on it, so I took a six month break from Jack Jeanne. Ending a story requires a lot of energy and attention, so I left the practical work of Jack Jeanne to Towada-san and only supervised the music production and attended any important meetings.

—So during serialisation you were making preparations to jump right into it afterwards?

Ishida: Yes exactly. I wasn’t able to do much practical work, so I had Towada-san prepare the script in advance for me. And for the time being, create one character route.

—Which character was it?

Towada: It was Shirota. I wrote about the equivalent length of a short book and it was more or less complete. In the end, we scrapped the entire thing though… Because the atmosphere in the beginning was quite dark.

Ishida: It was dark because I was too used to Tokyo Ghoul. It included issues like a troubled household and severe bullying. Reading something like that wouldn’t put the player in a happy mood.

Despite it being a story about the theatre, my attention drifted to other topics which didn’t fit. And it was me who had asked Towada-san to write something like that… A couple months after the Shirota route had been completed, I read over what Towada-san had written for me once again and realised that it was a bit too gloomy. I’d forgotten what prompt I’d even given to her in the first place (lol).

The first character portraits and CGs that I created were for Shirota too. The reason being that Shirota is the only second year student and he was already a complete individual, so he was easy to create for. As for the third year students, there’s three of them, Fumi, Kai and Neji. Along with Kisa, Suzu and Yonoga are also first years, so continuity and character relationships need to be taken into account in order to create them, so they were a little more complex.

—How did the other characters come to be?

Ishida: At the proposal stage, the first character that I created was Kai. It’s a game where characters will be falling in love and confessing to one another, so first off I wanted a character that was handsome. Then I made Fumi who would be Kai’s partner. After that, I think Shirota was next.

Towada: At first you created the characters by basing them on plays didn’t you?

Ishida: I’m a fan of Yamamoto Shugoro’s work ‘Kikuchiyosho’ so Shirota was created using that as a base. In Shirota's case the genders are swapped, but Kikuchiyosho is a story about a girl who is born into a samurai family and raised as a boy. It has an element of androgyny and portrays the confusion and anger concerning gender quite well.

—How did you select the plays to base the characters on?

Ishida: I chose plays that lots of people are familiar with and would be easy to assign characters to. Kai is ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, Fumi is ‘Salome’, Neji is ‘Faust’ and Yonoga is ‘Shintokumaru’. Kisa and her classmate Ootori are ‘Don Quixote’. Ootori ended up becoming a side character though.

—So Ootori was originally meant to be a main character?

Ishida: Yeah. If I were to compare it to Tokyo Ghoul, Ootori is in the same position as Tsukiyama. I wanted a pompous character like that in Quartz. However I may have made him a little too unique (lol).

I received feedback from Broccoli that they want the main six characters to be an elite group, so a more easy to approach character would be better. So I moved the bright and cheerful character that I had originally made as Onyx’s Jack Ace over. That character was Suzu.

Making the characters personifications of plays started to become difficult to stick with though, so I abandoned the idea entirely halfway through.

—Despite appearing glamorous, the characters are all dealing with their own issues, like certain complexes and family troubles. I think that they’re all conflicts that are easy to sympathise with, how did you decide what the backbone of each character's conflict would be?

Ishida: First I created the character's appearance and then decided what personality would match them. Like with Fumi, when I began to think about making his story about the unique struggles that come with being born into a respected family, if becoming a successor was going to come into question, then he needed to have a brother.

In this way, I worked backwards from the vibe of his appearance and created his home life. I did the same with the other characters too, thinking things like ‘to have a personality like this they must not have parents, or they must struggle with expressing themselves’.

I think that if you let your characters do human-like things, then aspects of them that are easy to sympathise with will be born.

Jealousy, setbacks due to failure, inferiority complexes… Each and every character naturally ended up having some form of theme attached to them.

—I feel as though Kisa had a different sort of personality than that of a typical heroine.

Ishida: To put it simply, I want my protagonists to be fighting something. If they’re not giving it their all, then it’s no good. If they’re just standing around, then you can’t empathise with them.

—There’s times where she draws others towards her or supports those around her. She also has some masculine aspects to her.

Ishida: I think that I’m moved by characters who make me think “This kid’s really admirable”. That’s why I made Kisa a girl who works hard no matter the difficult situation that she’s in. I like Kisa and I’m sure Towada-san feels the same way.

Towada: She’s the result of both of our preferences. While due to the game’s setting, she of course has struggles related to being a girl, but I was careful to write the main thread of her story in a way that transcended gender and instead simply showed her charm as a human being.

—Regarding gender, I was impressed by how neutrally it was portrayed.

Ishida: Yes. Originally, I was going to make Shirota a character with a feminine personality, but I ended up scrapping the idea. In the end, he ended up having more of a masculine mentality. The premise of Jack Jeanne is that boys also play the female roles on stage, but it’s not a metaphor for anything and I didn’t want it to raise any questions. I simply wanted to give it my all creating plays with that setting and create something new and refreshing.

I don’t struggle with any gender related issues myself, so it’s not like I can fully understand what it’s like, but in general I’ve never considered gender to be a very big deal. If someone born male were to tell me “I have the heart of a woman” then I’d just think ‘ok cool’.

To me it feels strange to place so much weight on such an issue. I don't see why others need to be bothered by someone else's gender, I'm not since I myself am not able to speak for such experiences.

Towada: At first, it was possible to take that direction with Shirota but as I continued to write, I came to realise that there was no need to exaggerate any emphasis on his gender identity.

To those looking from an outside perspective, it may seem like a unique identity such as that is a person's defining trait, when in reality it's only just a portion of their whole self. If you consider it to be all they are, then you end up denying the other aspects of that person.

Whilst considering the individually of each character, I kept in mind to write them in a way that seemed natural for them.

—The side character, Tanakamigi Chui of Amber, had a very striking presence. How did you go about creating him?

Ishida: I wanted someone that’s easily understood to be the antagonist, so I went ahead and tried to draw someone who looked like an unstoppable genius. Despite being a second year, it’s as if he controls the school. I wanted an enigmatic and intriguing character like that. Once I named him Tanakamigi Chui I felt as though he was complete and his inclusion in the story was quickly decided on.

—On the flip side, were there any characters that you had a hard time creating?

Ishida: I had to think a little harder about the other members of Amber. They needed to have the aura of the enemy but since they’re only villains in the context of the stage, they’re not actually bad people. So it was hard to find that balance between them.

Visually they’re edgy and have a talented vibe, but they also have their own individual quirks, they’re not all homogeneous. I struggled with Kamiya Utsuri especially, I wanted him to visually look like he could be a Jeanne while also still looking like a boy, so it was difficult to get him right. I didn’t have to do many redesigns though and all the other characters came to be without much trouble.

What I actually had more trouble with, was the fact I made the cast too large. I initially created almost double the amount of first year characters, but when I looked back over the script that Towada-san created, I told her “There’s way too many characters, please cut some of them out.” To which Towada-san replied, “Ishida-san, you’re the one who created them in the first place.” (lol).

Towada: That’s because the cut characters had already appeared in the script (lol).

Ishida: I feel that when there’s too many characters a lot of them get wasted, so just like that I end up creating and scrapping a lot of my characters. I think even Broccoli were surprised by the amount of times I’d suddenly tell them “Oh that character doesn’t exist anymore.”

—Apart from characters, were there any other aspects of the game that were abruptly discarded?

Ishida: The performances I suppose… Originally I had wanted there to be a larger variety of shows, but if you were to put all of them in the script it probably would’ve ended up being three million characters long.

In the beginning of development, I had originally planned for each character's route to have a different final performance. There’s six main characters, and including Kisa’s route, that would total to seven unique shows.

Before that there’s the newcomers, summer, autumn and winter performances, so I arranged to have a script written for each. Basically I wanted to include more shows and increase the amount of sub stories, but that would be confusing to play through and development would never end. The game engine has its limits too, so I decided to keep it simple.

Towada: It would’ve been difficult to play through all that as well (lol). For the final performance, we settled on it being one show and letting the player enjoy it from each character’s perspective instead. And even then, there’s still over 20 different endings to the game, so it still took a long time until everything was fully complete.

—Newcomers, summer, autumn, winter and the final performance, were these five show’s scripts all original?

Towada: Yes. However at first, like the characters, we had planned to base them on famous productions. Like Shakespeare or fairy tales. We figured that players would find it easy to get immersed in plays that they were already familiar with.

Ishida: For the newcomers' performance, I thought we could have a show called ‘House of Biscuits and Candy’ based on Hansel and Gretel. I had also originally planned to use each character's motif to base the plays on.

Towada: Like Shintokumaru, right?

Ishida: Yeah yeah. I even went as far as getting permission to use it, but if the show were to be following a story that already exists, then the script would be bound to it. Once I understood that it would make it difficult to relate the stories to Univeil, we decided to create the plays ourselves.

Since I acquired the permission to adapt Shintokumaru though, maybe I’ll have to make a manga about it someday…

By the way, the one who was saying “Let’s do this” and then changing it to “Nevermind let’s not” was all me. I’ll start on something wholeheartedly thinking that it’s the right choice before realising halfway through that I can’t actually take it anywhere and stop. Jack Jeanne’s development was full of trial and error.

Whenever I’m about to start something, Towada-san will express her concerns with my ideas but I always end up pushing on with them only to ultimately scrap it.

I probably have at least ten books worth of scrapped drafts alone. I had no real knowledge of how to properly craft a story. I hadn’t drawn anything other than Tokyo Ghoul, so even though I had no idea what the fundamentals of storytelling were, I misunderstood that I could write other kinds of stories too. This time around I studied and revised each time… I really learnt a lot.

Towada: You learn things by doing them, so I think I just got used to it (lol). Also, you don’t commonly see stories presented within stories, I thought that it was a rare case for a game especially.

~ ~ ~

The story behind ‘Lyrics: Ishida Sui’

—You also wrote the lyrics for each of the songs used in the performances didn’t you, Ishida-san?

Ishida: Yes, that’s how things ended up. It goes without saying, but no one, including myself, thought that I’d be the one writing the lyrics.

Originally Broccoli brought in several professional lyricists and had me look over what they’d written. However I couldn’t help but feel that they were lyrics I’d heard somewhere before, or they at least didn’t leave a unique impression on me. I did feel the finesse of a professional, and they were beautiful lyrics that fit the story in one way or another… But the words used didn’t touch on the core of the story. 

The songs in Jack Jeanne are stage songs that Neji wrote for the members of Quartz. So unless you’re familiar with the setting and understand how the characters are feeling, then you won’t be able to write lyrics that perfectly fit the scenario.

While I knew that my lyric writing technique would be far from that of a professionals, I thought that no one understands and loves these characters more than me, so I approached Broccoli about it. I’d poured my heart into not only the character designs, but also the story and system of the game, so I didn’t want to compromise on the lyrics and have them pale in comparison.

So, to the best of my ability, I wanted to at least try my hand at writing them. I had Broccoli check whether or not what I’d written was viable and asked them “If there are no problems, then please let me write the lyrics.”

—Did you sing the temporary vocals for the songs too?

Ishida: When I submitted the lyrics to Broccoli, I got the normal response of “Thank you, we’ll leave the temporary vocals to you.” Along with this message they also wrote “You can hire a professional vocalist if you’d like, or you could record the temporary vocals yourself.”

Because of this I started thinking that maybe I should record them myself. Similar to how one wouldn’t be able to write lyrics for the songs without a deep understanding of the story, if you weren’t the one who wrote the lyrics, you wouldn’t know how they’re supposed to be sung either.

So, after deciding that I had to be the one to do it, I made preparations to acquire some audio recording equipment and downloaded some editing software. I divided up the parts and harmonised with myself and over the course of three days, I finished recording the temporary vocals. That’s more or less how I did it.

—When recording yourself singing, being self conscious about it can interfere, can’t it?

Ishida: I don’t think I was possessed by him or anything, but… When I tried to go all out, as expected I felt a bit hesitant, so I began recording whilst imagining I was Neji.

In the game, Neji is the one who writes the scripts, so surely he would also write the lyrics and subdivide the song and do everything himself. So I got through it thinking like that. In that pumped up mental state, I sent in the temporarily recorded songs but all Broccoli said back was “Alright, let us know your upcoming schedule”, I got so carried away that I was somewhat bewildered by the cold response (lol).

~ ~ ~

Recruiting via DM, gathering specifically selected creators

—It appears the creators you gathered to handle things such as the concept art and music are all people whose work you enjoy.

Ishida: Yes. Almost everyone was sent a targeted offer. For example, I’ve always loved the concept artist Lownine-san’s work ever since I was a student. I suppose you could say I was jealous of how high quality their artwork is… They’re someone who I thought I'd never be able to beat in my entire life. Lownine-san is an amazing artist who is especially good at blending characters into their backgrounds.

When we were creating Jack Jeanne, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to pull something like that off, so I definitely wanted to recruit Lownine-san for the job. After getting permission from Broccoli, I reached out to Lownine-san myself through Twitter DM’s. I had only appreciated Lownine-san’s work from afar, and we’d never actually interacted before, but we did both follow each other. I received a reply that Lownine-san was fully on board to accept the job.

Towards the end of Jack Jeanne’s development, I got the chance to speak with Lownine-san, so I asked them “Could you teach me how to draw?” They gladly accepted this request and taught me how to draw whilst screen sharing over Skype. However, in about 10 minutes, they’d already drawn such an amazing piece that I felt I should just put my pen down (lol).

Towada: You were a little down after that, weren’t you?

—Had you been a fan of Kosemura-san, who was in charge of music, since you were a student as well?

Ishida: Yes, I’ve listened to Kosemura-san’s music a lot since I was a student. When I was brainstorming what kind of music would fit Jack Jeanne, Kosemura-san’s ‘Light Dance’ immediately came to mind, since it fit perfectly. Because I didn’t have any personal connections to Kosemura-san however, I didn’t know how to get in contact with him, so I made the request through Broccoli. I only found out about this recently, but apparently Kosemura-san almost turned the offer down*, I was quite shocked to hear that (lol).

*When the initial request was sent, it was under wraps that the game was being made by Ishida Sui, and since Kosemura-san didn’t have much experience in writing game music, he wasn’t optimistic about the offer. However, later, when he learned that it was a game being made by Ishida Sui, he readily accepted the offer.

—How did Seishiro-san, who was in charge of the choreography, get chosen for the job?

Ishida: A very long time ago I saw the group Tokyo Gegegay appear on a program called DANCE @ HERO JAPAN and I remember thinking ‘this group is crazy good’ and I was immediately charmed by them. After that, whilst I was looking through more videos of Tokyo Gegegay on YouTube, I happened upon a studio workshop video and discovered Seishiro-san.

—What about him caught your eye?

Ishida: Whilst first and foremost his dancing was super sexy, it also had a certain strength to it. I remember thinking that he danced in a way that embraced the best elements of both masculinity and femininity. And that had stayed in my memory ever since. When Seishiro-san was recording motion capture for the game, he allowed me to interrupt and even taught me some of the choreography.

(note: you can watch Seishiro dance here, he is also the choreographer behind this RADWIMPS music video!)

—I hear you’ve known Gyudon-san, who was in charge of making the movies, since your Tokyo Ghoul days. 

Ishida: Yes. Around the time volume 13 of Tokyo Ghoul was set to be released, we held a still image MAD (Music Anime Douga) contest. The grand prize winner of said contest was Gyudon-san, who at the time was still only a student. The way they made a video by manipulating the manga panels to move so fluidly was really cool and stood out from the rest. 

Around when Tokyo Ghoul had ended and :re was about to start, I had Gyudon-san make a minute long video for me. After that, Gyudon-san grew in popularity and became someone whose work is in high demand, so they seemed very busy.

However when Jack Jeanne was announced, we were able to have them create a promotional video for us. Since I’ve known them since Tokyo Ghoul, I figured I couldn’t go wrong entrusting the job to Gyudon-san. They didn’t just deliver their finished work without a word either, Gyudon-san also made a variety of suggestions and worked on the project with a positive attitude. For the videos used in the performances, I was asked to provide materials and became very involved in the process. I think it took about two weeks… Despite the really tight deadline, Gyudon-san allowed me to catch up and was super helpful.

I was also the one who reached out to Touyama Maki-san, who was in charge of creating the in-game chibi characters and the 4koma manga used for promotional purposes. During Tokyo Ghoul’s publication, Touyama-san would draw short comics for the series as a hobby, I thought they were a nice person for doing so. Their art was great too and I was very thankful. So when it was decided that we’d be displaying chibi characters during the game’s lesson segments, I wanted to leave it to Touyama-san and sent them the offer.

(note: this is the MAD that gyudon won the contest with, they now regularly make moving manga CM's for jump titles, they make the Choujin X ones too!)

~ ~ ~

The winter performance moves into Quartz’s ending, and the divergence in the story since the beginning of the year drastically branches off

—The performances, packed full of each of the character’s skills, continue for a year and pass by in the blink of an eye. Once the new year breaks, it feels as though the atmosphere of the game drastically changes. What were your intentions behind this?

Towada: That’s when the character route specific endings begin. So we packed all the needed material to set them up into the winter performance.

Ishida: The winter performance is like an ending for Quartz as a whole, so we packed it full of good lines and scenes without holding back. I may have used up all of my cards but by using them all without compromise, we were able to make the story reach a nice peak. After that, the story switches to focusing on each character's individual ending.

Towada: We used a lot of great material in the winter performance, which meant the final performance would have to be even better still. In a good way, it gave us a higher hurdle that we now needed to overcome.

—So you needed to create even more anticipation heading into March?

Towada: From January to March, each character’s route is completely different. From the new year onwards I needed to create seven different scripts, so it was very challenging. The amount of text for the last three months of the game alone just about eclipses the amount of text from up until the winter performance. There was so much to write that I began to fear I wouldn’t even be able to finish it.

Ishida: Having more choices that drastically change the ending of the game makes the player feel more involved. So, despite it making things tougher on ourselves, around the time we were working on the autumn performance is when we began thinking about how the game’s big branches should work. Along with the main routes, we also planned for there to be the option to deepen your bonds with the side characters.

—How did you go about creating the confession scenes?

Towada: Before the winter performance, to some extent each character has already grown closer to Kisa, so I kept in mind not to disrupt that flow. Since if I didn’t make it a confession that respected both Kisa and her suitor’s feelings, then I felt it would spoil the fun.

—Is that how you approached the ‘realising Kisa’s a girl’ scenes as well?

Towada: Yes, I suppose so. As I was writing the script, I knew that a point was going to come where Kisa would have no choice but to acknowledge the fact that she’s a girl. There’s characters that realise her true gender once their bond deepens and on the flip side, there are some who don’t realise it at all. There’s also the case of Yonaga, who knew Kisa’s situation from the beginning. I guess you could say each reveal followed one of these three patterns. Those who came to realise it, those who didn’t notice anything and those who knew from the start. I think they ended up being nice variations and I put careful consideration into writing them to make sure none of the realisations felt forced.

Also, the beginning half of the story is akin to that of a sports drama about teenagers putting on shows together, so the room for romance to be added is limited. That’s why, when I first started adding romantic elements to the character routes, it felt strange to me, so I discussed it with Ishida-san. I wasn’t able to effortlessly soak the story in romance. I think I had to rewrite Shirota’s ending at least three times…

Ishida: Shirota was who you tried writing an ending for first after all.

Towada: Shirota and Kisa aren’t the sort of people who’d be all flirty, and Shirota’s initial route was already muddy, so it was difficult to pull everything together. However, once I stopped trying to write in a way that forced romance on them and instead wrote them becoming closer as partners, things went more smoothly.

It may not be a stereotypical sort of love, but it was a human love. I thought that the natural way these two would be drawn together wouldn’t be through whispering sweet nothings to one another, but instead by coming to understand one another without having to exchange words at all. Once I’d completed Shirota’s route, to some extent, I continued writing the other routes in a similar way.

Ishida: While it’s true Shirota acts like that, the other characters all act differently. To the point some aren’t even comparable. In contrast to Shirota, Suzu’s route ended up being more of your stereotypical kind of romance. I thought that it would be nice for each character to have their own unique form of love.

Towada-san’s strong suit is writing a love story with your more classic otome guys like Suzu and Kai. I have no idea about that kind of thing, so I left Towada-san to pour her own ideas into their routes. On the flip side, characters like Fumi and Neji were dyed more with my own ideas. Neji’s way of flirting especially were mostly lines that I requested.

Towada: He’d say “Make him say something like ‘Try seduce me!’ Because I want this CG to appear.” (lol).

Neji especially plays with his words a lot, so unless Ishida-san told me what wordplay to write, I wouldn’t have been able to expand on it. Ishida-san has a very unique way of phrasing things, so I asked him for advice a lot to make sure I was making Neji speak in a Neji-like way. I then arranged the lines and created events in order to reach the intended goal. I constructed the route in a way that wouldn’t disrupt the flow of the story. As for Fumi, Ishida-san wrote his route himself.

Ishida: Yes, I wrote it all myself.

—Well isn’t this quite the exciting plot twist?

Ishida: I turned into quite the young maiden myself (lol). Even though I’m clumsy at it… I began wondering why I ended up loving writing it so much. I added some lines that have more of an adult and deeper meaning to them, so when I played the route myself I was like “Woah!”.

Towada: It’s more interesting if at least one character is that way. From the early days of production, I’d quietly wanted Ishida-san to write a character himself, so I was happy. I was unsure how to deal with Fumi too, so it was a big help that Ishida-san took him on. His route ended up being a lot sweeter than I’d been expecting though, it got my heart racing (lol).

Ishida: I was also the main writer for Kisa’s solo route. There’s no romance in it, but it’s an ending where long lasting friendships are born and it ended up being the kind of story you’d see in an uplifting shoujo manga.

Towada: It’s full of Ishida-san’s flair, I loved it.

Ishida: If love is a lie, then how do you face that lie? That’s the sort of thing I thought about. Kisa is lying about her gender and pretending to be a boy, but Neji, Suzu, Fumi, Yonaga and so on, are also hiding lies within themselves.

The fact they’re all hiding their true motives is something that they have in common with Kisa. Whilst hiding, the two grow closer. I think that a confession is a scene where all these lies intersect and burst open. Everyone is lying, and I thought that was like a play, without realising it I think that slowly became the theme of the work. 

As people, we meet others whilst lacking something and some people end up becoming a necessary part for someone else. I wanted to see a drama like that. Despite it being a game with confession scenes, I wanted it to be a story that both women and men alike are able to identify with.

~ ~ ~

From thorns to rounded edges, how the style of work transformed 

—If there was a small novels worth of rejected material, then how many books worth of words made it into the final game?

Towada: In terms of paperback books, probably about twenty volumes worth.

—Because as well as the main scenario, there’s also the sub scenarios and the stage plays?

Ishida: As much as time allowed, I put my all into creating the game. However there was a deadline for things like the voiceline recordings, so I was working both day and night to get things done in time.

Towada: I was only getting around three hours of sleep. I feel like at one point Ishida-san didn’t sleep for four days.

Ishida: I was in a serious pinch so I don’t remember it well, but when I was writing the script I would hole myself up in a manga cafe for around thirty hours at a time. Multiple times a month. Once I felt as though I’d written to a good point, I’d go home only to return to the manga cafe again. Why? Because I was sleeping in the manga cafe. I mays well have been living there…

Towada: Once Ishida-san had finished writing his part of the script, he’d have me check it. So at the same time, I’d have Ishida-san check what I’d written.

Ishida: For a period of time it seemed like Towada-san was always awake. Whenever I would send a check request she always responded right away regardless of the time, so I figured she must not be sleeping.

So that my productivity wouldn’t be affected, I made sure to sleep at a regular time, however I’d be awake for like 30~40 hours at a time and then sleep for 10 and then be awake again for another 40. My sleeping patterns would repeat in this cycle. During Tokyo Ghoul’s serialisation my sleeping patterns were similar, so to some extent I might’ve gotten used to it.

—That’s just like Neji-senpai, isn’t it?

Ishida: Yeah yeah, I worked in a similar way to him. However in Neji’s case, he can complete a script just one day after coming up with the idea for it, so he works way faster than us. It took us around two months to write parts of the script, so Neji really is a genius isn’t he? I was writing whilst wishing I could be like Neji.

After experiencing writing a script, I’ve come to have a lot of respect for authors. Writing is completely different from drawing. When writing I need to really concentrate on it, I can’t multi-task or think about anything else. Whereas with drawing, there are some things that can be done as long as you can move your hand, so I can talk to someone whilst drawing or watch a movie in the background or work whilst thinking about other things. I can’t do that when I’m writing though, I was starting to wonder if I really had to think so deeply about everything I wrote.

—During the production of Jack Jeanne, as you worked on the script or the lyrics etc, did you notice any changes in how you worked?

Ishida: For Tokyo Ghoul, I was always consciously adding things, meaning I would draw everything that I came up with. I thought that it was fine to only put 20% of my output into the characters and dialogue. However, when I was working on Jack Jeanne, I began to think that my method of just adding things was incorrect and that I should also consciously remove things. It’s ok to just be left with what’s necessary. My way of thinking ended up being the exact opposite to before.

—What brought about this change in thinking?

Ishida: It was early in production, when I had asked Towada-san to write Shirota’s route for me, I got concerned about the ‘sharpness’ of the story. As I mentioned earlier, I ordered Towada-san to add this and that and sent her walking on a long journey. Except, what lay completed at the end of that road was such a painful story that even I myself was shocked by it. When I looked down at the world I had created it was as if I’d received a psychological shock. I think I even smelt the faint scent of blood.

—From thorns to rounded edges. I still remember the comment you made during a press conference saying, “I was careful to not kill off any characters”.

Ishida: Stories where characters die are usually fast paced with high stakes, however, the kids at univeil are living a different kind of story. I had to consider the best way to create drama in that kind of setting. I thought about it a lot and it may have only ended up being possible because of the fact it was a game.

—Why is that?

Ishida: Because of the flow of the dialogue, backed by Kosemura-san’s music while it's being read out by all of the voice actors. It all comes together as one… That’s what I think at least. Writing and illustrating are Towada-san and I’s main domain of expertise, but I think that it was thanks to all of the other various creators involved that we were able to create something new.

—Do you think anything about yourself changed, Towada-san?

Towada: It came down to the fact I wanted to create something for Ishida-san whilst there were also things that I wanted to add myself. This dilemma caused me trouble at times, however when I started to consider what components I should add, or which ones I should remove, I began to discover what elements I liked and what my own skillset was. 

The way that Ishida-san and I go about creating stories is different. I came to understand that Ishida-san’s strong point is creating impactful scenes, whilst mine is plotting and world building. Ishida-san being in charge of the pivotal scenes would make things more exciting, so I concentrated on writing everything else whilst keeping the balance in mind. Through working on Jack Jeanne, I’ve become able to say that my strong suit is being able to create a story that flows well.

It may be true that by working with other people, you come to understand more about yourself. Starting with Ishida-san, I also looked at what the other creators were doing and thought ‘so this is how they interpret the story.’ Seeing what they came up with made me notice different approaches that I hadn’t thought of.

I’d write whilst listening to Kosemura-san’s music and decide which way to take a scene. Or I’d watch Seishiro-san dance and think about how I could make the performances more exciting. We were all connected in some way. Novels are usually written alone by one person, so I came to learn the thrill of working on something in a team.

—The way you all came together as gears to create a single work sounds similar to the story of Univeil.

Towada: True. I never thought I’d experience something straight out of my youth again at this age. Being helped by other team members or being supported by them, being motivated by simple phrases like “It was great” or “I like this idea”.

For example, when I was working on the final phases of the story, I was just writing and writing with no end in sight, I couldn’t take it anymore and my pen just stopped moving. During this dire moment so close to the end, my proofreader messaged me saying, “You’re almost done.” And with that simple message alone, it was as if a burst of light appeared before my eyes. Everything had gone pitch black, but they lit everything back up again. Ishida-san also wrote some of the script, so I didn’t feel as alone.

Ishida: At that time I left all my drawings alone and decided to solely focus on the scenario.

Towada: Yeah, because I hit a point where I wasn’t able to write it on my own anymore… When Ishida-san sent me the script he’d written, it was interesting and I let out a breath of relief. I felt the joy of being able to see someone else's work. I was the same as the Univeil students who find joy in performing with others. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it if I was alone.

Ishida: You’ve got that right. I think that if anyone was missing from the team, it wouldn’t have worked out. Not to mention that in my case, everyone’s contributions were directed to me, and they were all people that I’d personally gathered.

With manga, even if it comes to the worst case scenario, at the very least it would all just fall on me. However this game isn’t just something I made on my own, I need to contribute as much as I can or the efforts of everyone around me will go to waste as well. There was a moment where I felt afraid of having such a heavy responsibility placed on me. However, if I had tried to do it all on my own, I think I would have given up.

By listening to wonderful music, reading interesting scripts and moving forward together with everyone, I was inspired. Coming together with fellow creators to make one work came with a lot of challenges, but it was fun. It was refreshing being in an environment working alongside other people, and because of it I was able to experience something new.

—Has working alongside other people changed the way you work at all?

Ishida: Right now I’m still in the state immediately after being swept away by the raging waves of a storm, so I’m not sure how I really feel yet. I’m in the phase of just watching what becomes of Jack Jeanne as the waves subside.

Even though the script and illustrations were done, like bonus stages lots and lots of new tasks kept popping up. So I was still busy with work up until the beginning of October last year. When I looked at some of the thoughts people had on the demo version of the game, it felt as though what we’d all been working so hard on had finally taken shape, and I was relieved.

Working on this project I’ve come to learn both the hardships and the fulfilment that comes with creating something with others. So, I suppose I’ve started considering working on something by myself again… I’m not trying to say that it’s in my nature to want to work alone, I think I’m just experiencing some kind of aftershock. I think the waves are returning.

Towada: I’m still working overtime and supervising Jack Jeanne (lol). Like checking content that will be posted on social media, as well as the 4koma manga. Content is still being released and there have been bug reports from some people who played the demo… Meaning that my journey is still not over yet. I think that things should calm down once the game has been released for a while.

Ishida: Yeah, probably after around five months (lol).

—After their final performance, the members of Quartz all threw a party to celebrate. Did you and the rest of the creators do the same upon the game's completion?

Towada: I celebrated with Ishida-san as siblings. And then afterwards we got swamped with work again (lol).

Ishida: Yeah, we didn’t end up meeting with the other developers or the voice cast. Big project after parties aren’t as common these days, but I do want to hear everyone’s stories of any struggles they had.

Towada: There were way too many people involved in total for me to be able to speak with them all, but I’d still love to convey my impressions to them. Like letting them know what I thought was good, or letting them know that a certain thing really helped me out.

Ishida: Ideally I would like to gather everyone and really have it feel that ‘this is the team of people that created Jack Jeanne’ and I’d like to express my gratitude to them all in person. I hope that an opportunity like that will come one day.

~ ~ ~

[jackjeannebrainrot]

💠らくがき_ハロウィン by Shin Towada

Suzu Orimaki Soshiro Yonaga Mitsuki Shirota

Kai Mutsumi Kokuto Neji Sarafumi Takashina

[ririya-translates]

JJ Novel Ch 1 Translation

I mentioned in a previous post that there are Jack Jeanne novels by the original game creators, written by Towada with illustrations by Ishida. One is more of a light novel taking place in the summer whereas the much heftier full novel-sized one recaps from the prologue to the newcomer's performance. But importantly this is not simply a retelling of the original because we are given a window into Kisa from a third-person narrator perspective. It's a very different side of Kisa that I think is important for the EN fans to know about so I decided to publish my translation of the first chapter. It only covers part of the prologue so no spoilers to worry about.

Apologies for wonky paragraph formatting. I'm not quite used to this type of writing so I hope it reads okay.

[protect-namine]

tumblr keeps eating my post about chui, but just know that I got chui's ending and I am going crazy over the lore and the implications of it all

there is an alternate universe out there where neji never left amber and kisa was placed in amber instead of quartz and neji casts her as the al jeanne for I Am Death and chui-kisa-neji becomes THE terrifying trio of horror/tragedy plays.

they're stuck in a feedback loop of "I need a mirror, someone to reflect back the monster and the human in me" > "I steal from other people to grow so I'm willing to be your mirror for that cause" > "you two are fascinating and I'm gonna break you down so bad and make something new out of you" > "I love suffering for the Art™" > "I need a mirror..."

everyone is happy but mentally unwell and obsessed with theater in an insane way. somewhere deep in the mountains, a weasel is crying

also. I want to see takihime!neji SO BAD

[warenquemao]

Which version of Hoshigaki y'all like the most between Shin Towada, Kenji Taira and Masashi Kishimoto?

¡Please, don't make this an argue about who's better, I just want to read y'all opinions of preferences!

[sizhui]

I am so autistic about my books if I don't take them out and rearrange them once a week its over for me 🙂‍↕️ listed under the cut for the like minded

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (1-4), Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (1-5), Heaven Official's Blessing (1-8) [Legally buying MXTX's entire opus may just be the worst thing I have ever done, and I ran Stardoll scams of young children when I was in middle school]

Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou: Remnants of Filth (1-2), The Husky & His White Cat Shizun (1)

Meng Xi Shi: Thousand Autumns (1)

Gothic & Lolita Bible, volume 45

CLAMP: Cardcaptor Sakura (Collector's edition), volume 3

Min Jin Lee: Pachinko

Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre

Nakahara Chuuya: Collected Poems (Translated and edited by Paul Mackintosh and Maki Sugiyama)

Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis (and other stories) (translated by Cristopher Moncrieff)

Pat Barker: The Silence of the Girls

R. F. Kuang: Babel

Masashi Kishimoto: Naruto (volumes 22 & 24)

Yoshihiro Togashi: Hunter x Hunter (volumes 8, 14 & 36)

The Diary of Lady Murasaki (Translated by Richard Bowring)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Mexican Gothic

Milivoj Solar: Literary Theory

Sophocles: Tragedies (volume 1, edited by David Greene and Richmond Lattimore)

Liu Cixin: Death's End, The Three-body Problem (translated by Ken Liu)

Veljko Gortan, Oton Gorski & Pavao Pauš: The Latin Grammar

Masashi Kishimoto & Shin Towada: Sasuke's Story [Sunrise]

Osamu Dazai: No Longer Human (translated by Donald Keene)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust (1-2)

The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem

Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister, the Serial Killer

Toni Morrison: Love

Joan Anim-Addo, Deirdre Osborne & Kadija Sesay: This is the Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelves in 50 Books

Ovid: The Metamorphoses

Zen Cho: Black Water Sister

Judy I. Lin: A Magic Steeped in Poison

Sue Lynn Tan: Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Heart of the Sun Warrior

Xiran Jay Zhao: Iron Widow

Kazuo Ishiguro: Klara and the Sun

Toni Adeyemi: Children of Blood and Bone

N. K. Jemisin: The Fifth Season

[himehikoshrine]

The Central Nation of Kielce - a History

[I/D : Screenshot for Sissia of the Central Nation showing Levi, Adra, and Crowley on the wall. Crowley is saying "Hahaha! How have you been, little wall?! It’s like you’re a part of our origins!"]

Having now read through every route's game script of the Central Nation of Sissia, I figured I'd tried to put together all the Kielce lore across the different routes into one. If you want to read them yourself, you can do so either on the game menu if you've finished the game, or [here]. This will contain details unique to most of the routes, so technically, there are spoilers, but they are discussed entirely within the world of the play. I will edit in a few minor clarifying details with no route plot information from routes as I find them now that I'm going through things with a finer tooth comb. It will spoil some things that are in the stage script only epilogues too, so please read at least one of them before reading this, or you'll be really confused. Two, ideally, especially if the first one you picked was Crowley's.

Don't ask me why a rather big piece of character information, that is kind of a twist, is hidden within epilogues only on the stage script in the menu. We're nearly the full year into Havenna Lore drops, apparently this is just how Neji writes. (And given all the lore hidden in weird bonus material, also how Ishida and Towada write.)

The Nation of Arbine and the Republic of Quatra, which is to its east, were at war for 77 years. Many lives were lost on both sides, and there were plenty of children made orphans in the process. We know little about Quatra before the end of the war, but Levi describes it as having "warmth" and Crowley says it had a very strong culture in the arts, including song and dance. After Arbine wins the war, 20 years before Sissia joins the troupe, Arbine begins calling the 77-year-war the 'War of Joy.'

They force the people of Quatra into servitude, build a wall around the country, and mark them with a tattoo of a horse on their shin. The hostility gets so bad in the upper military ranks of Arbine, that they begin calling Quatra "the nameless country" or "the nameless servant country." The culture of Quatra is stamped out within the nation, possibly beyond simply forcing everyone into labor for the sake of Arbine, and anyone in Arbine who even discusses it with anything but scorn is suspected of treason.

Arbine is ruled by its "commander and king" (always said together like that) who has the surname "Arbine" like the nation he rules. His top advisor, confidant and strategist is Major Azur Hybird. The military elite make up the aristocracy of Arbine, and their positions are expected to be passed down.

Arbine is a strict military state, with border patrols and street patrols in addition to a standing military that citizens are quite acquainted with. They are able to freely interrogate and detain anyone, but murder seems to be considered a crime in Arbine, regardless of the nationality of the person killed, even, seemingly, for low ranking patrol officers. (We only have Crowley's potentially joking word here, though). The high ranks can order and carry out death sentences sans trial of any kind, of course.

The military aristocracy is also the high society of Arbine, and they attend parties and engage with what they consider 'high culture' including national dances - Arbine does have a national dance troupe.

Arbine's language is called "Arbine". It appears to be different than the language of Quatra or at least a different dialect, though one suspects they have some degree of mutual intelligibility. Carlo says the further east one goes in Arbine, the simpler the pronunciation of its language gets. Accents are shared to some extent in the border region, as well as words. Carlo says Arbine has 'a certain roundness' and that the first letter of Carlo is pronounced 'more elegantly' than Sissia's accent usually does.

Carlo illustrates the linguistic drift with the word Kielce - which is the Arbine term for Circus, a word used in Quatra. Carlo says no one but a historian or a suspected traitor would know that word these days, so maybe once it was also used in Arbine, or maybe a historian would merely be more familiar with the arts from Quatra.

So, 20 years ago, the war ends. As for the future members of Kielce at this time, Chance, at least, wasn't born yet.

Levi Caineman, who was born to Arbine parents, was orphaned by the war and was taken in across the then-wall-less border when he traveled there in search of food. Once the war ended, he was taken into an orphanage on the Arbine side of the wall, while his foster mother, a Quatra, was left behind it.

At some point, Levi will meet Crowley. Crowley is, though it's unclear who knows this but him, an illegitimate son of the 'commander and king' of Arbine, so his full name is, in fact, Crowley Arbine. It's never explicitly stated in the play if Crowley creates Kielce as a troupe or not, or the origin of its name "The Central Nation of--" but in the practice dialogue it is confirmed that Crowley and Levi are the founding members of the troupe.

As for when it was founded, Crowley considers the first Border Performance, which takes place ten years before the present of the play, and thus ten years after the end of the war "part of our origins." It is likely the name, too, partially a form of protest. Given the troupe's founders - an openly avowed revolutionary with a personal connection to the throne, and a fascination with Quatran arts, and an Arbine boy raised for a time by a Quatran foster mother, I'm sure this was very much part of their motivations.

Crowley is, after all, enthusiastically a traitor. (He maintains everyone in Kielce knows this, and no ones statements fully discredit that assertion in other routes. No one ever quite says the first performance WASN'T an act of rebellion or treason.)

Crowley says he's the one who brought Levi in and raised him up to be ringleader. At some point, Kielce, including Crowley and Levi, ends up performing at a party for military aristocrats. How this happened or how it went down, we don't know, other than apparently everyone was thoroughly amused. At this point, they aren't suspected of anything treasonous, but are considered 'low' entertainment.

In attendance is Major Azur Hybird's son, Adra Hybird. At this point, Adra has already been dancing for most of his life. It is unclear how old he is. But he decides that this is the kind of dancing he wants to do. He leaves the life of a Military Aristocrats son behind and runs away to join the circus -- Kielce.

(It is not implied Adra is younger than the other two - on Levi's route, Adra remarks that Levi has grown into quite the man, which, if anything, implies Adra may be a bit older than Levi.)

By the time of the first Border Performance, which is ten years before the present, Adra is a well established member of the troupe, enough that he is involved with choosing to do it. He seems to be one of the senior members in the troupe.

Fan Carlo Albus, on the other hand, is a newcomer to the troupe ten years ago. It seems she joined enough after Adra that she's talked about as another sort of 'generation' - when talking about Kielce's style being a talent showcase, Crowley says its more pronounced now that Carlo and Chance have joined.

Carlo watches the border performance from the side, not on the wall. Also watching that day is Isaac Bazmaz, an Arbine child from the border region who lives near the wall. He is watching with a friend of his. On Isaac's route this friend is explicitly Sissia, a girl from Quatra who he met through a crack in the wall. Isaac talks about the wall as having always been near his house, suggesting that he is under 20 years old, or at least, not much older. Chance Orlando, as stated, is under 20. He doesn't watch the border performance, but hears rumors about it as a kid in Arbine that later inspire him to join.

Crowley is one of the leads in the performance, which he also wrote. This is, to him, intentionally an act of rebellion and revolution. The fact that it doesn't overthrow the nation makes it kind of a failure in his book. Adra says his motivation is sort of to stick it to the military aristocracy and their backwards ideas, both about Quatra and discrimination and their authority and control in general. Adra is also quite annoyed at their elitism. Levi doesn't give an explicit reason for it the first time, but when asking to do it again, he mentions love of theater and love of freedom as absolute principles he leads Kielce by. One imagines his foster mother on the other side is a motivation, as well.

The performance is seen as treasonous and puts the entire troupe on a watch list. According to Major Azur, the 'commander and king' of Arbine has pushed to imprison everyone in the troupe since that day. (It is completely unclear if either the Major or even the 'commander and king' himself have any idea who Crowley is.) Every member who was around at the time tells Sissia that it was quite the controversy and ordeal, and caused a lot of trouble.

Isaac makes a promise to his friend to one day stand on the wall with Kielce together. Sissia, watching from the Quatra side, is already being forced into labor, despite seemingly being a child. Sissia dreams of one day standing on that stage, too. Both Isaac and Sissia will eventually follow that dream to Kielce.

It seems that despite the displeasure of the ruling elite, Kielce continues to operate and have many fans. Their popularity is seen both as a threat, and, one assumes, a bit protective, as it's quite clear that Arbine is aware of the precarity of it's absolute control.

Adra notes that even members of the military attend the shows. Not all the fans share their ideals, of course, and will report things to the authorities.

Kielce has a standing theater within Arbine, but their base seems to keep a very 'traveling circus' aesthetic. It is possible they are both a traveling company and one with a home base. It's unclear when this was built.

Chance and Isaac are recruited the same day by Crowley. Isaac says that if it weren't for Kielce, he'd 'still be working at a factory'. They are still considered relative newbies by Carlo by the time Sissia is recruited, but they seem to have been around long enough to be pretty established as staples of the troupe.

[holycow99]

Info from Ishida Osushi 6/14 – 8/13 streams

This is the highlight of the stuffs Ishida Sui talked about in his streams from June to August. Sorry for any grammatical errors. 

- Ishida doesn’t have any bias towards his own characters. Just because he draws some characters more than others doesn’t mean he favours them more.

- He wants to be called Maestro Osushi.

- The first 24 chapters of Choujin X is just the first chapter of the story. A prologue.

- He wants to turn Tonari Young Jump into Tonari Oyaji (old men) Jump.

- His hand never feels sore even when drawing for a long time, since he doesn’t put much strength in his strokes.

- When asked for tips on how make drawings look cool. Ishida mentioned that it could depend on the angle, pose, and composition of the characters. Determine a spot that’d make your characters look amazing.

- Ishida doesn’t like giving tips to people. He believes it’s something people must discover on their own. What is applicable to him might not be applicable to others.

- He believes you should both study and practise art. If you keep practising without any knowledge, your drawings are not gonna become better. You must have comprehension of why things are drawn the way they are (eg. Why this part of body is drawn curvy).

- He’s a bit sceptical on the technique of imitating illustrators’ art style. He thinks drawing different kind of artworks is more effective than imitating the same illustration hundreds of times.

- Ishida totally prefers digital drawing than analogue. It’s convenient and definitely helped him draw effectively. To him, digital drawing is something that God has bestowed upon him.

- He was given allowance by Young Jump to buy drawing devices when he was just starting out.

- He prefers drawing short hair, since it’s easier.

- He wouldn’t show or tell people what brush he uses because he doesn’t want people to steal his techniques.

- He talked about Elon Musk Open-Source Movement in which he allows people to use Tesla technology for the sake of industrial & humankind development.

- Ishida stated he’s not interested in aiding on the development of art industry or whatever. Whatever techniques he discovers should remain his only.

- He gets his reference from various sources, such as illustrations or sketches of others. He also uses ballerina for pose reference.

- He bought a book titled Charles Bargue: Drawing course, which compiled various pencil sketches.

- If he could draw his best when streaming, he’d stream continuously.

- He recommended Morpho: Anatomy for Artists books. He bought all the books from the series.

- He suggests analysing drawings and follows the techniques used in the drawings, rather than blindly copying someone’s art style.

- Ishida once acted as a tree house in a play when he was a kid.

- He once wore a lame orange shirt on a date when he was a high schooler, and he was told to take it off (lol). Not sure if this was just a joke or true.

- Ishida Sui felt honoured when Horikoshi Sensei mentioned him.

- He praised My Hero Academia and complimented the fact that Horikoshi Sensei seemed to be having fun writing the manga. He wished him all the best.

- Ishida Sui and Ishida Osushi had a conflict, with Ishida Sui hindering Ishida Osushi’s desire to do Animal Rap.

- Ishida almost got scammed by a foreign lady in insta. But because the lady was sexy, it made him want to be scammed.

- He wants to go to Togashi Sensei’s exhibition.

- His favourite BNHA characters include, Shigaraki, Deku, Ochaco, Toga, Twice, and Tsuyu.

- His bias in Aespa is Winters. He said everyone’s pretty, but Winters had a unique face.

- He wants to talk about political stuffs with Horikoshi Sensei. He also wants to converse about their pasts and lives before being mangaka and be a support to each other.

- His older sister, Towada Shin, is the biggest Animal Rap fan. She kept asking Ishida Sensei for more AniRap content.

- He had once lived in Saga prefecture, located in northwest of Kyushu.

- Ishida Sui has three personalities: Ishida Sui, Ishida Osushi, and Grey (the mediator between the other two personalities)

- He doesn’t really do food illustrations.

- Goubaru was a bit depressed, so Ishida wished for him to go for counselling. He didn’t want Goubaru to suffer alone nor did he want Goubaru to involve him.

- He’s completed Elden Ring.

- Ishida Sensei was furious with Goubaru. Even so, he still wanted him to get better.

- Kunimitsu was watching him drawing Spaghetti Gratin (SpaGra) when he did the stream.

- While he prefers digital drawing, he thinks digital drawing is tiring since it feels like he’s working.

- He wants to try drawing another JJ one shot using analog, but digital is faster.

- He drew some TG chapters with analog. But because of various reasons, he switched back to digital.

- His eyes don’t really get tired looking at the screen all day.

- Ishida changed his chair to tatami chair. He also changed his table to a lower height. Sitting on a chair makes him feel like working, so he hates it.

- He once tried working while standing and he got dizzy.

- Kunimitsu once ordered food delivery. However, the delivery guy mistakenly sent it to the apartment next to his. In the end, the guy living there ate his food for free.

- Ishida also once ordered food delivery. The app stated that his food had been delivered, but he didn’t receive it. So, he searched his entire apartment building for the food, only to find the food on the floor below his.

- Ishida sensei had a chat with Horikoshi sensei. He called him an eccentric person. When he replied to whatever Horikoshi sensei was saying, the conversation ended there. Horikoshi sensei wouldn’t talk a lot. Ishida tried to expand the conversation but failed.

- Ishida never went to his high school reunion parties. But when he felt like going, he caught a cold.

- He thinks fellow Mangakas can’t be friends with each other.

- Towada shin was busy writing at the time of the stream, so he felt really lonely because he didn’t have anyone to talk with.

- He was kinda afraid of the fact that his life only revolved around drawing manga. He felt empty after he finished a chapter cus he didn’t know what to do next. So, he started drawing another chp again.

- He once had a crush on a girl living in his neighbourhood.

- He recently visited his hometown, and he was reminiscing about the girl.

- His crush used to be his classmate during middle school, so she sometimes greeted him. But he couldn’t reply anything back.

- He passed through his crush’s house but it’s already different than it used to be before.

- He got along with the girl, but nothing happened.

- He couldn’t hold his feelings for his crush, so he wrote a letter to her after they graduated. Fortunately, she replied to his letter.

- He got her contact number, but unfortunately, they lost contact because his phone broke.

- Ishida Sensei said Kunimitsu’s sister was pretty. They didn’t look similar.

- Not sure whether he’s joking or not, but Ishida sensei seems to have a fear of death. He’s too suspicious of other people that he thinks he’d get killed if he goes outside.

- He told his Shariboys to not get along with each other.

- He wished everyone in this world to remain single and live alone by themselves.

- He even asked Kunimitsu if that’s some sort of illness. Kunimitsu then suggested for them to live together for a short time, which he refused.

- He considers his sister as his friend.

- Horikoshi sensei didn’t follow him on twitter, but he wanted him to.

- Ishida wished for everyone to get along, but because it’s impossible, it’s better for everyone not to be friend with each other in the first place. (He’s got a typical villain mindset, lol.)

- Ishida sensei really loves girl talks (eg. Talk about love).

- He feels more comfortable talking with people who have feminine vibes.

- He likes to listen to Kunimitsu’s love life.

- Kunimitsu suggested him to create a channel where he gives advice to his fans’ love problems or write a romance manga.

- Kunimitsu believed Ishida to be a romantist, but he said he’s a nihilist.

- He wants to try being a Host in a club.

- His younger brother played the route that he wrote in JJ and told him it was romantic.

[primnroses]

I've seen recently in the sasukarin tag that karin speaks her mind in front of sasuke that she " boss " that never let's sasuke talk her down. That sakura is a doormat and is easily emotionally destroyed by sasuke. That karin doesn't give a damn what sasuke thinks of her and only sakura obsessively seeks his approval. From what you've read in the manga, are those statements true?

I would not say that Karin is like a "boss" and doesn't let Sasuke's condescending attitude affect her. In fact, Karin is easily driven by Sasuke's words all the time, she only chooses to pretend to be indifferent and tends to use some vocabulary to mask her crush in front of Suigetsu because he wouldn't leave her alone.

It's actually not that "Karin speaks her mind in front of Sasuke", it's just that she tends to be impulsive and blurt out things that are opposite to what she's truly thinking and Sasuke simply doesn't care about it. It's common to see her using "cool", "handsome" or "sexy" to describe him but then straight-out yelling "pathetic" because she is exactly trying to keep her indifferent attitude.

Karin is a liar when it comes to Sasuke, it's as clear as day, and she does adopt different stances depending on the people around and if they involve him.

They keep using the words "obsession" and "seeking his approval" with Sakura but that's not what happens with her, it's actually what happens with Karin. She doesn't care if Sasuke keeps her away all the time because she is adamant in trying again and again despite his constant rejection. And it doesn't happen just once.

But two... (she seems pretty affected by his words)

...and three times.

Karin does have an obsessive attitude. Kishimoto wrote expressions like "obsessed with Sasuke" and "dangerous love for Sasuke" to describe Karin's attitude with him in the third databook (page 67) using these images as examples:

But with Sakura, Kishimoto uses "unrequited love", "loving with every fiber of her being" and describes her as "someone that loves Sasuke", "she wants to rescue Sasuke" and "holds her hands out to him" in every single one of her databook entries, but never obsession. That is a word that they tend to use to turn the tables, but it describes sasukarin perfectly.

Kishimoto goes as far as describing Sakura as "the only person that filled his lonely existence was Sakura" in Sasuke's profile from the second databook. Akatsuki Hiden also describes Sakura as a person that dedicated her love for Sasuke and is "his sunshine in the spring" according to Shin Towada, the writer.

But with Karin, you just have to read her story to see her personality and how it fluctuates. I will not deny that Karin wanted to see the same smile in Sasuke's face that he displayed when she met him for the first time, especially after she witnessed and sensed how low he had fallen; but behind those feelings she still harbored an insane love. Every time she wants to get close to him she wants them both to be alone.

But Sakura never wanted Sasuke for herself, she wanted to save him and she went through grueling training just to rescue him from the dark path. Her feelings changed from a crush to loving him despite his dark past and broken life because she just wanted to save him.

Sakura is not "a doormat easily emotionally destroyed by Sasuke", she is suffering because her attempts to redirect Sasuke in the right direction and her words aren't reaching his heart. She's frustrated because she is unsuccessful despite her efforts and because she loves him so much it hurts her.

The author puts so much dedication in Sasuke and Sakura's moments that it's hard to miss.

The problem with sasukarin is that Sasuke doesn't see Karin as something more than a teammate and he has never demonstrated anything that would come close to romantic feelings. But with Sakura, he displays all kinds of emotions, his body language is different and the chemistry is so evident that even Naruto caught it. Antis just like to turn the tables and reject reality by calling sasusaku names that fit their pairing instead but making it beyond nonsensical.

So no anon, neither of those statements are true.

[natiyrm]

Sunny 

Be careful not to try and grasp all of the chakra flowing through the keirakukei network. More effective instead to turn gaze on whole and predict next chakra movement. Goal for now is to see through all of Tenten’s secret tools. 

Rainy 

The usual pair was at it again today. The second I take my eyes off them, the teenage drama starts. Wasn’t able to dodge the iron fan Tenten threw, cut my cheek. How to cover the Byakugan’s blind spot needs study. 

Sunny 

Lost in the first fight of final selection. I don’t have that unpredictability he does—the imagination to upend expectations of others.

Higashiyama, Akira,Yano, Takashi,Towada, Shin,Esaka, Jun,Miyamoto, Mirei. Naruto: Naruto’s Story—Uzumaki Naruto and the Spiral Destiny (Naruto Novels) (p. 59). VIZ Media. Kindle Edition.

[ouryoshimura]

"Tokyo Ghoul:re [QUEST]" by Sui Ishida &Shin Towada

[ririya-translates]

Kokuto Neji's Story

Translation of Neji's concept art short story (original) for his birthday on March 22nd. Story by Shin Towada (JJ lead writer and Ishida's sister). Art by Lownine. Much like the others, there aren't really any spoilers as it's at the very beginning of the game before the first play.

The stage is a gigantic machine. Jacks and Jeannes are the gears and I'm the mechanic who assembles them all.

The darkened room is lit solely by a clattering computer with light strong enough to rival the midday sun. The bookshelves along the walls are crammed tight beyond usual capacity. The remaining books that couldn't fit have been turned into a fort on the floor. "Hmmm." Out of that pile, he easily picks out a book while holding a cup of coffee in his other hand. The one craning his neck towards the computer screen is the owner of this room. He's a third-year at Univeil Drama School. Working under somewhat special circumstances, he's the leader of Quartz: Kokuto Neji. His classmates include the Quartz Al Jeanne, Sarafumi Takashina, and Jack Ace, Kai Mutsumi. Taking liberal advantage of Univeil's culture of respect for personal autonomy, Neji doesn't just write and perform. He's able to act as both a Jack and a Jeanne, using his many talents to bring the performance together. Even now, he's in the middle of making preparations for the newcomers' performance. His eyes dart around as he scrolls through the screen. He's fidgety inside his head. For this reason, a knock at the door rings out unusually strongly.

"Yes, yes, come iiiin!" As Neji snaps back to reality, he opens the door with a feeling of anticipation. "Thanks." Behind the door stands a person with pale skin and soft hair. So soft it's as if the colour has faded and dissolved. This utterly adorable person raises his eyes towards Neji. "Why on earth would you call me over here then ignore me? I have things to do too you know." The edge of criticism in his voice gives a very different impression from his outside appearance. "Sorry about that, Shirota!" Mitsuki Shirota. He's a second-year, one year below Neji. As one would expect from his looks, he's been assigned to female roles as a Jeanne. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd actually show up." Shirota's eyes grow sharper as he speaks without hesitation. "Using a first-year as your carrier pigeon, what kind of excuse is that?" Neji had casually requested one of the brand new Quartz students to send Shirota to his office. "Well weren't you the one who told me to stop asking Kai to do things?" "Obviously. You shouldn't be using our Jack Ace for your trivial errands." "Right, so instead I asked this new person to be a pinch hitter." "I said to stop doing that too. Ugh, what do you want?" "How did that kid get you to come here? What kinda trap did he use?" "…You called me here for no reason didn't you. I'm leaving." "Hey, wait!" As Shirota turns to leave, Neji holds out both of his hands as if to say 'I'm sorry, I'm screwed up!' Shirota's expression darkens, recognizing that Neji hasn't reflected on his actions one bit. "So? What do you want?" Neji prefaces his words with, "I guess I messed up a bit," before finally cutting to the chase. "What is your impression of the first-years?" Shirota furrows his brow. "You asked Fumi and Kai this too, didn't you?" "You're right, I did!" He had asked both Fumi and Kai the same question. "If you have answers from both the Al Jeanne and Jack Ace, that should be enough. Why do you need to ask me too?" "What are you talking about?! You're our Tresor. You're our flower too!" Tresor is the name for Univeil Jeannes with strong singing abilities. The title suits Shirota perfectly. His outstanding vocal talents add vibrant colour to their performances. It's popular with audiences too. "I am glad you're with Quartz still though. I know you're pretty in-demand with Rhodonite." Shirota stays silent at the mention of that name. Univeil is divided into four separate classes with their own special traits. As the "transparent" Quartz class, they are primarily made up of inexperienced performers who have yet to find their true colours. This could put the class at a disadvantage, but really there are quite a few who enrol brimming with hidden talents. Quartz gives them the space to let those talents free. The content of their performances are tailored specifically for the current state of the class. The songs, dances, acting, all of it.

In contrast, classes like Onyx and Rhodonite have clearly defined colours. Powerful Jack dancers are the main selling point of Onyx, whereas Rhodonite pushes the dazzling singing talents of their Jeannes front and centre. Considering Shirota's abilities, it wouldn't be strange at all for him to have been sorted into Rhodonite. Actually, Rhodonite's class leader is pretty taken with him. But whatever class you look at, all of them are desperately aiming for that top spot -- now more than ever.

"So? What do you think of this year's new students?" Neji's tone of voice drops for the first time in this conversation,"You know it won't be good if things stay as they are, right? What with Amber and all…" That's the name of the fourth Univeil class. But it's hard to act as if the others are on equal ground with them. Shirota seems to grasp the weight of these words. He grips the sky blue tie around his neck as he appears deep in thought. He finally opens his mouth. "…There are three people I noticed," he says bluntly. Starting with Person 1. "Orimaki. I don't know how he got into Univeil with his singing skills so low, but his voice is strong and direct." Onto Person 2. "Yonaga. Him being as he is, he's a late bloomer who's constantly nervous about how he even got into Univeil. But he also thinks twice as much about the meaning of each song. That being said…"

Shirota's immediate answer suddenly hits a pause. "It's possible both of them just got my attention because they aren't very good." "In that case, they should consider themselves lucky you graced your eyes on them." Neji jokes then stares at him intently. "And the third person?" Mitsuki sighs at being asked for his final answer. "It's the one you made into your little carrier pigeon." A voice deep in Neji's heart whispers 'I knew it.' "So then, does our carrier pigeon also have a glimmer of sparkle out of a mountain of problems like Orimaki and Yonaga do?" "No, that guy is…" Shirota hesitates a moment as he chooses his words carefully. "I still don't know yet." "You don't know, which means…?" "Exactly what I said." He speaks as if to say he will give no further comment on the matter. "Is that enough for you now? I'm leaving." Having finished what he was asked, Shirota heads for the door. "Ah, one last thing! How did this pigeon get you to come over here?" Shirota is the type who prefers not to group up with others in class. He keeps a distance between himself and other people. He's not the type someone could easily convince by just asking outright. Even moreso if it comes from a student younger than him. "……" Shirota responds to Neji's hastily thrown words with silence. He opens the door to leave. That's as far as we're getting today, is it? "…It wasn't anything special." Neji's mood suddenly shifts at the sound of a reply he didn't expect to ever hear. "I was just taking a short break during practice and he came up to me and said 'Neji was asking for you'." A surprised 'ohh?' slips out of Neji's mouth. "So in other words, he chose when to make the request based on timing that would work for you?" There are times when Shirota is busy singing of course; however, there are also a lot of times when he appears to be doing nothing, but is actually busy arranging music in his mind. Figuring out the timing of when he's truly taking a break is no easy task. Even aside from the music, there are times when he doesn't want to be hassled with having to talk to someone. Using this understanding of his quirks, that carrier pigeon was able to start up a conversation. "Isn't that actually quite special after all?!" Neji says with a nod of admiration.

Upon hearing this, Shirota restrains himself from turning around and calling him a bald-faced liar. "This was all part of your plan, wasn't it?" His eyes sharply say, 'You haven't fooled me.' "Turning him into your carrier pigeon worked out just as you planned. Getting me to show up here and to name him as one of the students I noticed. You already knew all these things. It was just a ploy to confirm them." Shirota states his assertions strongly. Neji grins. He keeps up the act that there's no hidden motive behind his actions, but it smells like a lie. Shirota's face fills with disgust. He passes through the door, speaking as if he cannot bear to be around Neji any longer. "Please don't use me as a ruler for measuring other people." He shuts the door immediately to not let the conversation linger. "My my, Shirota is quite clever isn't he." Listening to the footsteps fade into the distance, Neji stifles his smile. "But regardless, the fact that pigeon was able to navigate this sense of distance with Shirota shows he might have quite a number of uses." This could be precisely reflected on-stage too. Neji's mind overflows with so many different ideas at an intensity that could give birth to a whole other world. "However, the 'I still don't know' part is there too. Fumi and Kai said the same thing." It seems difficult to learn the true nature of this bird. Even for Neji, there's many things about this younger student he's still unable to grasp. "The stage is a gigantic machine. Jacks and Jeannes are the gears…and I'm the mechanic who assembles them all. What shape will these talents take? Just watch and see." Neji takes a sip from the coffee he's been holding all this time. It went cold ages ago, but in this moment it's just what his body needs.

[the-hyphen-is-important]

I feel bad for Kazuo

Book 4/365 (Jan.4-5)

Tokyo Ghoul Days written by Shin Towada

<Prev / Next>

First

[kenkamishiro]

20210218 Jack Jeanne Creator Interview with Famitsu - Interview #2 with Towada Shin

The second Famitsu interview was with Towada Shin, who also oversaw the script writing for Jack Jeanne. This will be a summary of points to save time. Enjoy!

Towada Shin

Script Supervisor

Novelization writer, script writer. Debut novel was “Love Typhoon” under a different name, Towada Shin [眞 versus the current シン]. In charge of the script for this game.

Ishida first approached Towada about Jack Jeanne long before its name was confirmed. But at the time, he was asking her for advice since she likes adventure and simulation games (before she was asked to join as a writer). At the time, Ishida was fascinated with the idea of multiple endings in a game since he’s depicting all kinds human relationships in his works.

Script production process: Towada and Ishida have meetings to faithfully reproduce Ishida’s world he dreamt up ⟶ Towada incorporates the details discussed during the meetings into the plot ⟶ Ishida checks and confirms ⟶ Towada writes script ⟶ Ishida makes corrections and Towada adjusts the text ⟶ Towada and a professional proofreader make final corrections

Since Ishida was responsible for so many tasks (overseeing the script, drawing the illustrations, three-view drawings, writing the lyrics, etc.), he would create a personality that best suited each task, from a cheerful music producer to an enlightened monk while working on the three-view drawings.

Jack Jeanne is the largest project Towada has ever worked on, with 20 volumes worth of text in one work. She was able to get support from JUMP j BOOKS (a subsidiary of Jump that provides novelized stories for manga). She got a professional proofreader; Nanao who wrote the novels for “The Promised Neverland” to write the sub-scenarios; and her former colleagues to gather materials and manage the script. A team effort.

When writing the characters and how they act, Towada had to think about the worries and suffering each character carries. Why does each character feel they way they do, how can their issues be resolved, and what is needed to resolve it?

Ishida asked Towada to avoid coming up with choices that could be considered objectively right or wrong, but to come up with interesting options whichever option the player chose instead, which she found difficult to do. Towada back then thought of JJ as a story about young male revues, but her perspective changed to that of a coming-of-age story.

If Towada had to recommend a route: all of them, but to pay attention to Kisa (the MC)’s route in particular since it’s the core of JJ. The main writer for that route was Ishida.

What to pay attention to in the demo version: everything (script, illustrations, music, dance, cast performances) as they are combined to create the world of Jack Jeanne. The rookie performance as well.

Some of her final words: Jack Jeanne is a story in which each person seeks salvation by performing in a world where it’s difficult to be rewarded.

[poclee-blog]

Tokyo Ghoul: re [quest] ＃002  [union]

NOTICE: This translation does not base on original version of the novel (which is Japanese), but on the official Mandarin/Traditional Chinese version. Some contents or meaning may be misinterpreted due to multiple translations between different languages and my personal misunderstandings or inability. Also, since English isn’t my mother language, some grammar mistakes may be unavoidable. Please, do point out any parts you find strange or mistaken.

DISCLAIMER: This translation is for the purpose of my personal language practicing only. I do not own or originally created any contents in this novel. Tokyo Ghoul :re[quest] (東京喰種-トーキョーグール-:re[quest]) is written by Towada Shin (十和田シン), which based on Tokyo Ghoul(東京喰種トーキョーグール) series, the creation of Ishida Sui (石田スイ). Thus, all the rights of this work reserved to Ishida Sui, Towada Shin and the publisher, Shueisha Inc. (株式会社集英社). All the Mandarin/Traditional Chinese version’s rights reserved to its publisher Sharp Point Publishing (尖端出版) and the translator Lai Si-Yu (賴思宇). Please do not rehost without citation or reuse this translation, especially not in the any forms of profitable usages. If you’re interested, buy official copy when it’s available in your region.

 -1-

Hiding under other people’s wings forever, then you’ll end up achieve nothing, and lose everything

So she raised up her courage, stepped into the shade of the Tree where could never be shined by sunlight, for she hoped she herself would have enough strength to help others.

“Go back first, Hinami.”

Heard someone else called her name, she raised her head as if she just woke up from a dream.

Fueguchi Hinami.

Aogiri Tree is an organization which formed and aims for creating “a world that friendly to ghouls”, and she is a member of it. Aogiri Tree justifies their means by their ends, with an aggressive manner, makes it quite usual for them to have fierce conflicts with the nemesis of ghouls, the［CCG］.

And that’s what is happening right now.

Hinami was looking at him, who now standing at the roof of a mixed-used, observing the abandoned building across.

His sculptured face was covering with a mask of black “rabbit”, he is an executive of Aogiri Tree, Kirishima Ayato, now staring at those ghoul investigators who was planning on entering the abandoned building. Until a moment before, that building was where Ayato and Hinami exchange intelligences with other lower members of Aogiri Tree. Just when they were half way through, they felt that someone was closing in. Thus they fled onto the top of this mixed-used development.

“Ayato……”

“You’re in the way, move!”

–Ah, again.

“Take care of yourself.” Left this sentence behind, Hinami moving toward the base of Aogiri Tree. Behind her, Ayato dived down from the roof.

Slaughter thus began.

From her ears, Hinami could hear the sound of heads rolling due to her extraordinary five-senses. Her first reaction was to cover her ears, but putted her hands down eventually. Since with these sounds she might also confirm that Ayato was fine, Ayato, who is now killing with her share.

Mattered not where she went, she could still be protected by others.

–

“……Don’t be so gloomy, you.”

After Hinami returned to the base, she just sat at the corner silently, hands held her knees. Yet soon, she heard that familiar footsteps getting closer to her. She raised her head, seeing Ayato at the entering of the room with a displease look on his face.

“Did you get hurt, Ayato?”

Hinami stood up immediately, asking with concern. “……Nothing.” Ayato answered blandly. He does like “sister” at this degree. Looking at Hinami who is now at ease, Ayato couldn’t help but feeling that she was paralleling him with someone else. “Don’t.” he warned Hinami.

“I had already finished the report with Tatara, you should go to rest.”

“What about you?”

“Onto the next job.”

With those words, Ayato left the room as if it was nothing. Now Hinami was again alone. She leaned on the wall, sigh.

As the growing of Aogiri Tree, so did the burden on Ayato’s shoulder grew. Perhaps Hinami herself was also part of it. With this thought, Hinami just felt unbearable.

“……I can’t be always like this!”

Hinami clapped her face with her hands, tried to get rid of all those negative feeling.

“As an appreciation to him, I should give him something he likes.”

Yes! Hinami nodded firmly, encouraging herself. But a good idea was yet to emerge.

“……”

Just as she brainstorming, another figure raised from her thought.

“……Sister.”

Kirishima Touka, she is Ayato’s elder sister by blood, who also is a ghoul and used to take great care about Hinami after she lost her mother. Her attitude was tough, a bit fierce one might say, but she was always kind toward Hinami.

When she was with Ayato, she would remember Touka. Then, as a string that was being pulled, the next thing she remembered would be Anteiku.

Anteiku, a café located in ward 20th, also the place where Touka worked as part-time.

There were both ghouls and human there, where air was filled comfort which the manager Yoshimura dedicated to build, it was a place where you could feel no worries. It’s also at there, Hinami met the “big brother”.

Touka used to brew delicious coffee for Hinami. Although there were few times that her coffee still taste a bit fuzzy, it still earned countless praises.

“Ah…..That’s it!”

Hinami erected her body that was leaned on the wall, and held her hands together.

“Coffee!”

If she can brew some good coffee, maybe Ayato’s mood can be lighten by it.

But unlike Anteiku, here they had no tool for brewing, nor do they had coffee beans.

Even couldn’t have tools that’s as high class as the shop used to have, she needed at least to acquire some basic equipment.

Hinami thus decided she would go out and purchase all the necessary equipment for brewing coffee.

-2-

The next day, Hinami stepped out her room right after she finished the analyzing jobs she responded for. Although she was more used to go out at night, she had to work with human’s way with time if she wanted to go shopping. Plus, Hinami weren’t so sure about where to buy those things she needed, that might also cost some extra times.

“Ah…..”

Though it’s noon, the corridor of the base was still filled shadow. As Hinami walked along the corridor, she stumbled upon a man, whose body was wrapped in bandages that soaked with the smell of blood and rotten flesh. Hinami stiffed a little.

This man is the Owl, the successful object of Aogiri Tree’s ghoulify operation. When he was still a human, his name was Takizawa Seidou.

“……Wanna go out, little Hina?”

Did he just notice Hinami, or was he watching her the whole time? Takizawa’s head leaned aside unnaturally, with both eyes stared straight at Hinami. Yet somehow, Hinami didn’t think that her image was actually in Takizwa’s sight.

For Hinami, Takizawa, this former human who was modified into a ghoul, alongside with his sanity shattered, was someone that she couldn’t bear to witness.

“Ehhh……”

“If you do have some time, why not play some football with big bro me?”

Takizawa kicked the thing he played as ball toward Hinami. Hinami couldn’t help but screamed in panic as she saw that thing got closer. It’s a head that was so plumped to tell its original gender, its nose already chopped, and others figures were also too broken to be recognized.

“No……”

Hinami dodged as it is some hot coal, the head just fall on the floor with a sound of “KO DON”. Sounds, like those heads Ayato chopped off yesterday.

“Kick kick kick! Just kick it back!”

TON! With one jump, Takizawa closed the range between them immediately. He picked up the head on the floor, and carried it toward Hinami’s nose.

“Ain’t matter how you kick it, it just won’t break……maybe I’ll feed you the brain once I kick it out.”

Hinami turned her head over, and closed her eyes.

I don’t want to look, I want to out of here, SOMEBODY HELP PLEASE HEL—

“Oi! Eat your own food!”

A stern voice raised in the corridor, which belonged to the leader of the Blades, Kusakari Miza. Although she has a figure that’s shorter than Hinami and a baby face, she is one of Aogiri Tree’s executives.

“Give it to me then, if you’re not going to eat it.” Miza stretched out her tiny hand.

“Hehe!” Takizawa hided the head behind his back first, then again held it in front of him. Then he left, with child-liked giggles. Hinami patted her chest, eased a little.

“What a gross prick……”

Miza mumbled, watching Takizawa left with her eyes cold.

“Sorry, thanks you very much.”

“Don’t mention it, he was just stranded in my way. No big deal.” Miza said with ease, “Oh yeah, aren’t you onto some business or something?”

“Ah, yes, I want to buy some coffee beans and brewing equipment……”

“Coffee?”

Miza looked confused.

“I’m always being cared by Ayato, so I want to thank him by brewing him some coffee.” Hinami explained to Miza, “I want to brew it with coffee beans, not just buy him canned coffee.”

“Come to think of it, you and Ayato’s relationship is sure close.”

For some reasons, Miza sounded a bit envious, yet she switched back to her normal self immediately.

“But, going out alone during the daytime is perhaps too dangerous, isn’t it? There are investigators everywhere. And you are not used to fight, aren’t you?”

The majority of Hinami’s jobs were about supporting. Though there were times she used kagune to protect others, but Miza was right, she really wasn’t good at it. It’s not about ability, but personality. This also troubled Ayato from time to time.

“I will run away if there is dangerous.”

“Well, it isn’t impossible with those keen ears of yours, but…….eh, if that’s so……” Miza looked at Hinami, a fine idea seemed to come up in her mind, “I’ll go with you, I got spare time today anyway.”

“Eh? But……”

“Though daylight does disturb me, having some sunlight sometimes can’t be that bad. And I’m curious about coffee that makes from beans.”

Although Hinami did feel happy for Miza’s kindness, she couldn’t help but feel sorry, like she was dragging Miza around with no good reason. But Miza just left with “I’ll give my men a hint.”, then went on for preparing go out. Hinami bowed to that tiny figure as a thanks.

–

The weather sure is nice, the sunlight just glaring down from endless, cloudless day.

“It is stinging.”

Miza took off that loose cloak she always wears, which is convenient for using kagune and acting, and changed to some human dress that made her even more child-liked. Since she usually only interacted with her during missions, Hinami now felt kind of refresh.

“Miss. Miza, you’re so cute with that dress.”

“Please don’t say that, I’m already over thirty.”

A puzzled look emerged from Hinami’s face.

“The ghouls in our clan are tend to be short-sized. I’m even shorter for I inherit the purest lineage.” Miza continued her talk: “We usually being looked down for our figure.”

Maybe I said something very rude, Hinami thought. “I’m sorry.” She apologized.

“Nah, it’s ok.” Miza replied readily, “If you’re like those White Suits, always saying Old Hag this, Old Hag that, then I’ll be pissed.”

The White Suits used to be a gang ran by Jason from ward 13th. As its name, every members of them wear white suit, and treat each other as brothers. Now the ghoul that leads the gang is Naki, sometimes they go into the fields with Miza’s Blades. Nicely speaking they’re “cooperating”, yet in reality, White Suits always acted as they please.

“Ms. Miza seems always behind Mr. Naki’s back.”

Although he was powerful, Naki did have a significant lack of intelligence, he always acted on his emotions without thinking at all. While this doid make him candid and likable in some degree, but Hinami had a feeling that Miza always taking care of him no matters the troubles.

“Huh?! My hands are forced! FORCED!”

Almost in an instant, Miza denied with a high-pitched voice, which startled Hinami. Saw that, Miza calmed herself and answered: “It’s just because I don’t want to be dragged down by him.”

“That buffoon charges without a thought whenever he thinks there are enemies. Maybe he is confident about his own strength, but a leader who doesn’t consider things usually makes his subordinates gain wrinkles.”

“Ah.” That reminded Hinami.

Miza is also a leader herself.

“Maybe you can say we don’t share the same values, but I still think the less we need to sacrifice, the better. Of course, the best scenario will be no sacrifice, but that’s just too hard.” Miza’s face darkened, “This world just isn’t that fantasy.”

That’s a face which was forged with witness too many departures by death. Still, with so many wounds in her heart, Miza was still fighting for her comrades till this very day.

A figure emerge from Hinami’s thought. His bleached white hair was blew by the winds, the lonely fighter, and the “Big brother”.

Kaneki Ken.

He who taught Hinami the beauty of words.

Henami’s heart used to feel warm whenever Kaneki smiled gently toward her. But now, this memory is just a trigger that saddens her.

“But normally speaking, ‘cute’ is for those like you, right?”

Miza said to Hinami, who tightened her lips unconsciously.

“……Huh?”

“How should I put it, that men will always want to be your chevaliers? No, not just men, you have this aura that makes everyone else want to protect you.” Miza said: “Unlike me.”

She didn’t mean anything, yet what she said made Hinami almost suffocated.

“Fueguchi?”

There was an uncrossable line, perhaps, between those who always protect others, and those who are always protected by others.

–You did nothing. –You have yourself to blame, for every time you lost someone you hold dear. –It’s because you are too weak.

Those words echo, branded in her like curses.

Takatsuki Sen was a novelist who makes people dazzled by her magnificent works, yet at here, her name is Eto. It was her who revealed the truth to Hinami, who was cherished by so many others, and invited her to join Aogiri Tree—an organization that just her novels, filled with darkness and smells of death.

Hinami thought, that only by joining the Aogiri Tree, that she could get rid of that soft part of herself, and become stronger.

Yet while it ws her who wants to change herself, she was still receiving helps from others in the reality.

There was mother, and Kaneki.

Now it is from Ayato. Even from Miza, a few moments ago.

“I am……quite envy about Ms. Miza.”

Hinami couldn’t help but spoke from the bottom of her heart.

“Ms. Miza always stands on the frontline to protect others. And I can only stay behind so I may operate…… hide under everybody’s shadow. How can I become someone who is able to protect others? How may I be useful for everybody……?”

The more Hinami talked, the more shameful she felt. This sure was her weak spot.

Miza staring at Hinami, spoke yet didn’t know how to answer properly: “……I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but everyone has their own place. We need commanders at front, so we also need someone supporters from behind.” Miza kept saying: “Plus, I do value your ability. You’re extremely valuable especially when there are too many people in Aogiri Tree that just don’t know how to do a normal communication. Also, a rare member of “girls club”. Now, I don’t remember you go out today just for this chit chat, isn’t it?”

As Miza pointed out, Hinami remembered what she originally aimed for.

“Coffee……”

“Yes.” Miza nodded, “First thing first, do what you need to do, and we may chat when it’s finished. And the sun!”

Miza seemed a bit frighten by the light under the glaring sun, with both her eyes narrowed to almost thin line.

“So-Sorry.”

Hinami finally stepped forward, Miza followed with a sigh.

“We’re women, we tend to be gloomy sometimes.”

Even Ms. Miza can be bothered by something? Hinami wanted to ask, yet swallowed her question back.

Though there were various kinds of tools that can be used for brewing coffee, but Hinami could only purchase those could be used in their base. Not sure which was suited, she asked clerks thoroughly and eventually decided what to buy.

They’re a grinder for coffee beans, a dripper and some paper filters, swan-neck kettle for pouring boiled water, and a server for filtered coffee.

“Now there are only beans left.”

Hinami and Miza went into a specialty store for coffee beans together. As they stepped in, they almost drown by the fragrance of coffee. Which felt really nice.

Hinami remembered the first time she and big sister went to buy coffee beans, she was also astounded by the fragrance that filled the room, just like now.

“How amazing.”

Miza seemed also surprised by the strength of fragrance, her nose couldn’t help but twitching.

“There are various kinds of beans.”

The glass cabinet in front of them were all kinds of coffee beans, placed ordinarily.

“Have you decide which ones you need?”

“No……but I have some basic ideas. Excuse me, clerk.”

Hinami called clerk, asked if she could smell the beans for confirmation.

“……”

She checked carefully one by one, compared with the smell of coffee that Touka used to drink in her memory. Although she didn’t remember the exact kind of beans, she did remember how it smelled.

“This one!”

Hinami bought a bag of coffee beans after she found that fragrance in her memory.

-3-

“Welcome back, ma’am Miza.”

After they went back to base, a ghoul that belonged to the Blades came out greet them immediately, perhaps he was waiting Miza.

“Anything unusual, Mikami?”

“Fine as always. How’s outside treated you?”

“Sun is stinging. Oh, and the coffee bean smells astonishing.”

“Is that so~~”

The mood of their conversation seemed close and natural, felt no hierarchy. But of course, Mikami’s eyes were filled with respect toward Miza. To Hinami, they seemed were bounded by some unexplainable connections.

Came to think of it, the bounds between the Blades’ members were as if they’re family.

When they were out there, Miza mentioned a little about her clan. Maybe they knew each other back when they’re born, then helped each other at their own inability, and survive together until this day. So there was no hierarchy, nor one way relationship, just a fair and equal between them.

In the bloody grim Aogiri Tree, the scene liked this, which partnership was tied closely makes Hinami felt a sense of comfort.

–Did I push myself too much?

Only noticing things that I can’t do, then fell into the mud of depression myself, end up worrying everyone around me.

Although it wasn’t right to just rely on others, add weight to their burden forcefully, yet to Hinami, wasn’t it the best method to put the confusion aside, be practical and do what only she can do first?

Thought of this, the meaning of what Miza said about “First thing first, do what you need to do.” became solid in Hinami’s mind.

“Oh yeah, is Ayato here?”

“Kirishima? Didn’t see him. Probably still on the job?”

“Huh.”

Miza looked at all the things Hinami bought with pity.

“Took some effort to buy all of these. But he should be here soon, just brew him some nice coffee then. Bye.”

Thought her duty was finished, Miza was about to leave. “Wait!” Hinami stopped her.

“Huh?” Miza turned her head back.

Hinami took the bag contained coffee beans out.

“Don’t you want to have some, Ms. Miza?”

Miza blinked her eyes after heard this unexpected invitation.

“But didn’t you buy those for Ayato’s sake?”

“But I also made Ms. Miza came all the way with me……I want you to have this as well.”

“Hun……” Miza sided her head after she heard what Hinami just said, thinking, “But I kind of still believe it is better to save the first cup for him……”

She thought for a while, then nodded: “Okay then.”

“You probably aren’t used to brew coffee at here anyway, just let me be your practice partner then. Beside……” Miza’s look softened, “The fragrance of those beans are alluring.”

Hinami had a smile on her face too. It’s been a while to feel like this.

“Let me think, it should be……”

Hinami boiled the water, for first step was to warm the cup and server by hot water.

Koma Enji, a staff at Anteiku who seemed always jolly used to said: ‘If you want cook some coffee that can warm customers’ hearts, you ought to warm up the tools that produce that warm first!”

‘Just hurry and act!’ Irimi Kaya, another staff who also worked at Anteiku liked Koma, would reply immediately after she heard him said that.

Hinami continued as her memory told her.

“Looks like a lot of works.”

Mikami, who followed with Miza, asked with curiosity.

“That is what cooking is like I suppose. As I heard, those rich ghouls will go through a lot of preparations with the human meat they dine.”

“Same as I heard. Although we also make some jerkies when we need to hide underground, it’s probably just aren’t the same as those carefully prepared delicacies.”

Hinami carefully ground the beans, then putted the ground coffee into the paper filter that placed on dripper.

‘This part is the key, Hinami.’

Those words with calmed voice came from Yoshimura, the manager of Anteiku.

“As I remember, pour some small amount of hot water first…..”

As the steamy water poured from long, sharp spout of swan-neck kettle, a strong fragrance arouse as it spread out on grinded coffee. “That smells good.” Mikami whispered, while Miza nodded as agreement.

‘Now you wait for a bit.’

Nishio Nishiki said impatiently, stared at the coffee that awaited to be brewed.

“……then, like drawing a ‘の’……”

Hinami used to watched this scene from the bar top of Anteiku.

Kaneki, Touka, Kuma, Irimi, Nishiki and Yoshimura, everybody brewed their coffee this way.

“Thanks for your patience.”

Hinami poured the coffee that she worked so hard to make into a cup, and passed it to Miza.

“I shall enjoy it.”

She took the cup with her both hands, touched it gently with her lips. Hinami watched her move nervously. The steamy coffee warmed Miza’s lips, then slip into her mouth quietly. Her throat moved ups and down as she swallowed, then ringed some “Gu-lu” liked sound.

“……that’s very delicious, Fueguchi!”

Miza putted the cup down, and looked at Hinami with sincerity, which you could tell she was not lying nor having a polite talk.

Wonderful.

As Hinami thought of that, her tear glands also eased a little.

For she recalling everyone’s kindred sight backed in Anteiku, when they watched Hinami enjoyed the coffee they brewed for her. Their images became lively in Hinami’s thought.

–Helping each other is the policy of Anteiku.

These words touched Hinami’s heart, gently.

Her face downed, tried to cover her emotion, fingertips airily swiped her eyes. Recollected herself, Hinami also wanted to try her own coffee.

“WOW! I smell some good stench here!”

Suddenly, a strong voice aroused.

Miza surprised, turned back her head and saw Naki, the leader of the White Suits, just appeared.

“Gagi.”

“Gogi.”

His bodyguard, Gagi and Gugi, were also with him.

“Eh, ‘stench’ means something smells awful, big bro. But this smell is…..Ah! The Old Hag is holding something!”

“That’s coffee, big bro.”

Behind Naki, were the two White Suits’ executives that supporting him, Hooguro and Idera Shousei.

“Oh! This thing?”

Naki just took the cup over from Miza’s hands, then drank the cup clean with alacrity.

“Hey, what the hell! That’s in, indirect ki, ki, ki, kis—!“

Miza blushed, yelling. Yet Naki ignored her completely, his eyes shocked after he finished the coffee.

“BBEEEEAAAAAUTIIIIIIIIIFUUUUULLLLL!!!!”

Naki howled.

“Big bro just baa-baaed like a sheep.”

Naki glaring at the bottom of cup.

“What’s with this coffee?! It’s totally different from what I got from those vader machines’ I kicked till them spit!”

“That’s vending machines, big bro.”

“Is that it?! The things from those ‘farmlier customers only’ shops in the legend?!”

“It’s ‘familiar customers’.”

As Naki’s spirit grow, his vocabulary mistakes just piled up with it.

“Old Hag! Where is this came from?”

Naki showed the emptied cup in front Miza’s face, she took the cup back brutally.

“Non, none of your darn business! What the hell, you’re just unbearable……”

Miza hold the cup firmly, her body shook a little.

“Gagigaga.”

“Gogo.”

Although Hinami had no idea what Gagi and Gogi said, but it seemed they just pointed out the coffee server in her hands, which still had some coffee in it, to Naki.

“Hinami! You made this coffee?!”

Naki’s suddenly sat across Hinami, his sight glaring.

“Uh, yes……I just bought everything I need tody.”

“Half more!” Naki commanded as he pointed at the cup. “That’s one more.” Miza looked at Naki with displease, “And come on, those are Fueguchi’s stuff…….”

Miza was about to shove Naki away, but Naki just leaned his body forward:

“I want everyone else can try it!”

Naki sure is a leader too, his flock behind him were now looking at each other, touched. Hinami nodded.

“I’ll make everyone’s coffee, also will refill Ms. Miza’s, and there’s also one for Mr. Mikami.”

“But Fueguchi, you bought those for—“

“It won’t be a problem, I’ll save Ayato’s part.”

Hinami smiled at Miza, who now seemed to worry about her.

Then, Hinami started to make coffee for Naki and his men.

Yet Naki didn’t satisfy by just let everyone on the scene to have coffee, he even called every White Suits in the base to come over, which made Hinami became really busy.

Finally, Miza could no longer hold herself and called Naki out for he had gone too far. Just when the atmosphere became tense, Naki asked Hinami aggressively: “The just give me the very last half!”

“Can’t save Godly Big Bro Yamori from this!”

Yet Yamori, the one Naki worshiped so much was no longer in this world. Although it’s unclear how he would present this coffee to Yamori, but since he asked, that must meant he was really found of Hinami’s coffee.

When Hinami poured the filtered coffee into the cup and handed it to Naki, he hold it carefully, yelled “Tank you!” then left. That should be ‘thank you’ that he meant to say.

After the farce, the left beans are only enough for two more cups of coffee. “Do enjoy what’s left with Ayato.” exhausted Miza said, then she went back to her place.

Hinami also back to her room, double checked the amount of coffee beans.

“……”

-4-

Later that day, Ayato finally returned.

“What the hell is with Naki? He is holding a cup and howling Yamori’s name nonstop toward the sky. It’s almost like he’s rain praying.” Ayato mumbled. He seemed really confused by witnessed something THAT ridiculous as soon as he returned. Hinami was shocked too, she didn’t think Naki would do such thing.

Although she wanted to explain from the start, but it’s probably faster if she just present the thing.

“Ayato, have you finished all the jobs today?”

“Eh? Yeah, finally.”

Ayato sighed, massaging his neck with a hand. All the jobs that kept coming seemed gave him a lot of stress.

“Sorry, but can I borrow you some time? It won’t take long……”

Maybe she should just let Ayato go to rest earlier, that’s better for him. Hinami’s head downed, peeked at Ayato. “Hurry then.” Ayato said with a look that he just couldn’t deal with her. He was also liked Touka at this.

Hinami boiled the water, prepared the equipment.

“So this is what Naki is holding?”

Ayato picked the bag with coffee beans, finally figured out.

“I bought those today, he seemed to like it……”

“There is almost nothing in this bag.”

Ayato was right, the bean bag is almost empty, you could tell how many cups of coffee Hinami had brewed this day. Thanks to this, her actions now were much swifter.

Hinami took the amount of bean for one cup, ground prudentially. Ran every steps with extreme cautious, she wanted to present the fruit of today’s practices.

Comparing to when they first time met at here/ Aogiri Tree , Ayato had grown both outside and inside, he no longer spread stings whenever he talk. Although his attitude might be cold, he did care about Hinami in a lot of aspects.

—- There is no need for you to join Aogiri Tree in the first place…… isn’t it?

That’s what he told her that day when Tartara ordered Hinami to purge the traitors, but Ayato eventually did it for her because she just couldn’t do it.

Aside from that, Ayato also told Hinami that she didn’t suit for a place like Aogiri. Maybe he was right, but even that, Hinami still refused to leave this place.

As the steamy water was poured, a strong fragrance arouse as it spread out on ground coffee. Both Miza and Naki seemed to enjoy this sudden aroma, yet as Hinami peeked at Ayato, it seemed he was meditating and just watched her movements in silence.

Ayato didn’t talk too much, but it felt different when he was completely wordless. Perhaps he thought about something.

“Done, have a taste.”

Hinami poured the coffee into the cup, and served it to Ayato. He didn’t react immediately after Hinami called him, as he was drooling, he answered with an “Oh” then took the coffee.

“……”

Ayato sipped, slowly.

“……”

“How…… is it tastes?”

Hinami asked the silent Ayato.

“……Why you want to brew the coffee, all of the sudden?”

Ayato asked, eyes straight at the coffee.

Maybe from his view, Hinami’s act was too unexpected and no context at all.

“I want to show you my appreciation.”

“Appreciation?”

Returned from his seemed mind wandering state, Ayato focused his sight on Hinami.

“Because I always making troubles for you.”

“……”

Ayato stared down at the coffee again, put it against his lips, and finished it in silence.

Then he putted the empty cup down, said:

“……I’ll buy more new beans.”

No thought about the flavor, yet what he just said showed his thought about this completely.

“I’ll brew for you next time, too!”

Even if hiding under the branches of the grand tree, living a life in the lightless shadow, but there will be light waiting at ahead. This thought magnificently emerged from Hinami’s heart.

This gave her a bit of courage.

Thus she started made the last cup of coffee.

She held the cup, walked into the deepest of the tree.

“Excuse me……”

The woman who wrapped with bandages, walking smoothly while enjoying the night’s wind was the one who invited Hinami to join the Aogiri Tree, Takatsuki Sen, aka Eto. Noro, as always, were with her like her own shadow. They both should know Hinami’s existence, yet ignored her completely.

“Eh……”

Hinami squeezed some voice out again, finally caught Eto’s attention.

“Anything I can help, little Hina?”

Hinami handed coffee to Eto, who was giggling.

“This……I made it…… care to have a try?”

Hinami tried to make a smile, to cover her stiffed face.

Eto jumped from the tree with a sound of “TON”, landed aside Hinami, looking at her coffee with some interst.

The air suddenly became heavier, even breathing seemed to be difficult. All Hinami could do was endure.

Eto finally took the coffee cup. Just when Hinami thought she was about to drink it—

“Ah!”

The cup turned upside down in front of Hinami.

The coffee inside fell on the floor, splashed. Some drips landed on Hinami’s feet.

Eto released her hand, let the cup shattered onto the floor that covered with coffee.

CRACK

“Thanks for your trouble.”

That sound, it’s not just the cup that cracked.

Eto giggled, left with the steps as she was dancing.

Until her figure vanished completely, then Hinami fell on the floor.

She opened her mouth, seemed wanted to say something, but ended up with no words.

The coffee that was steamy turned lukewarm, then died coldly.

The dim light that just emerged were tainted, covered by depress.

Maybe one day, I myself will rotten on the roots of this Tree, and become the nutrition for it.

[dollfishu]

Jack Jeanne PV introducing the characters and their VA’s:

Takashina Sarafumi voiced by Takayuki Kondo

Mutsumi Kai voiced by Jun Kasama

Neji Kokuto voiced by Daisuke Kishio

Shirota Mitsuki voiced by Gakuto Kajiwara

Orimaki Suzu voiced by Yuuma Uchida

Yonaga Soshiro voiced by Gen Sato

The game is scheduled to be released on December 3, 2020 on the Nintendo Switch.