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alstroemerian-dragon · 7 months

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second round! and here we have the full set of coverups, all done by hajime, over the course of about a year and a half to two years post-sim. a majority of them are things fuyuhiko decided on and so theyre definitely a collaboration (and a lot of the symbolism is either stuff just he and hajime knows or stuff he thinks only he knows that hajime just doesnt make clear hes aware of lmao) but hajime did all the ink work. definitely took some convincing on makoto and kyoko’s parts to get the Foundation to send them a tattoo gun, let me tell you

like before, symbolism explanation under the cut!

on his right breast are alstroemeria lilies, or Lily of the Inca flowers. in hanakotoba, they can represent friendship and devotion, but also “such strong connection that language is limited when attempting to explain it.” dont think i need to elaborate on that one.

on his left is a koi fish, a common feature in traditional japanese woodcut, and bluebells, which symbolize gratitude

on his back, there are five dragon heads emerging from a central point. the two on the sides are cut off (representing his parents), and the one on the top is as well, though it has a branch of cherry blossoms growing from the stump, which symbolize kindness and the transience of life. this neck is meant to represent his sister. the two diagonally to either side grow onto his arms. the five headed dragon is just generally meant to represent his family/clan — he wasnt sure if putting nine on there would give enough room for the other stuff he wanted, so they just settled on five

the dragon head on his right shoulder is meant to just sort of represent himself. the tail that wraps around his left bicep also features a katana and a camellia blossom, specifically a red one, which symbolizes both love and “perishing in grace”. this part of the dragon is, of course, meant for peko.

on his left shoulder are also a few kamchatka fritillaries, which symbolize both love and a curse

on his right arm and elbow replacing his mother’s hand are aster flowers, specifically tartarian aster, which symbolize remembrance. below that are just some traditionally stylized clouds to cover up the fire from before

on his left forearm is a little sigil he came up with, featuring a wrench, a crown, roses, and chains. this little combo is meant to represent his connections to the other survivors, kazuichi, sonia, and akane. on the wrist, replacing the band that symbolized his devotion to junko, is one featuring fifteen little pips in a bunch of different colors. y’all can guess with that one

on the back of his neck, above the cherry blossoms for natsumi, are a sunflower and orange blossoms. sunflowers symbolize respect and passionate love, and orange blossoms can mean purity, but thats… not really why he has either of them. and hajime also knows thats not why he has either of them. they dont talk about it.

(fun fact, orange blossoms are well known for being considered an aphrodisiac. just thought that was a fun thing to know.)

and finally, in the middle of his back, below the dragons, are a pair of red-crowned crane phoenixes. the crane is known in japan and china as being a sign of good luck and for granting favors, and the phoenix felt like it represented fuyuhiko in a weird way to me — but he specifically asked for two of them. because despite these being the final additions to his menagerie, he felt like he didnt yet have enough ink on his body representing how important hajime is to him, so he put this sappy shit in there. They Do Not Talk About It.

also, if youre wondering why he has a cross necklace, i. um. well. i just think. look they had to have left stuff in their lockers and dorms at the academy when they faked their deaths and most of the school was closed off to class 78 and its not like the Limbs could get in while they were there and then the Foundation would have raided the school so maybe they found some of their old stuff and look i’m just sayin that maybe—

#fuyuhiko kuzuryu #danganronpa #sdr2 #personal #oh theres my pen #decided to make this set a little more candid. caught him unawares in the morning for a little photo op #the second one is definitely a ‘hey—! put that away asshole im not your fuckin model!!’ vibe #also pay no attention to the fact i forgot both his finger scars and the stab wounds in his lower back in the second one. dont look at it.#hope its clear that he lets his hair grow out. if that first set of photos was taken like. just post sim or even before it #this ones taken like two years later (after all of them are done of course)#so hes like. 23 here? maybe 24?

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frostfires-blog · 3 years

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💐Hanakotoba in EDEN ~Fruits Basket 2nd Season ED 2 💐

~Part 2~

⚠️NOTE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE LAST SEASON OF THE ANIME!⚠️

Ritsu Sohma

薄 | Susuki | Pampas Grass

Pampas grass is a symbol of Autumn—the harvest season and is used as a symbolic replacement for rice in the offerings at the Harvest Moon Festival. This autumn symbolism correlates with Ritsu's zodiac month.

Momiji Sohma

菊 | Giku | Chrysanthemum

Red and Orange chrysanthemums represent cheerfulness, friendliness happiness all of which correlate with Momoji's upbeat and kind personality. However in some cultures yellow chrysanthemums can symbolize rejected love—which correlates with Momoji being rejected by his mother and thus being forced to live separately from his family. This steep juxtaposition caused by the double meaning could be a nudge to hope Momoji hides his loneliness and longing from others behind a cheerful exterior.

Shigure Sohma

楓 | Kaede |Japanese Maple Tree

Japanese maple tress have been associated with grace and serenity. These attributes compliment Shigure's lax personality. The tree is said to posses a sense of elegance and taste a nod to Shigure's sense of style and career. Maple trees can represent persistence and patience—two inherent qualities of Shigures shown as he patiently waits for the curse to be broken and his schemes to fall in place.

Kagura Sohma

柳 | Yanagi | Willow tree

Willow trees represent sadness and freedom. Neither of which really suit Kagura. They look cool though...

Edit: In light of me finally finsihing and then rewatching the series recently I realized that in a way the willow tree's meaning does suit Kagura. Spoilers ahead: By the end of the series she has "freed" herself of her one-sided love for Kyo which was founded on pity and gave her a sense of purpose and drive in life. Now having been freed of that sense of purpose she is left with a sense of emptiness. While she is undoubtably happy for Kyo—she herself is left alone and sad. However, free of the curse she now has the opportunity to love whomever she chooses and do whatever she wants with her life—since she is no longer bound to anyone and is no longer bound by anything.

Yuki Sohma

桐 | Kiri |Paulownia

Paulownia trees were traditionally planted when Japanese couples have a daughter and as such have come to represent purity and femininity—a possible nod to Yuki's feminine appearance. Its meaning of purity fits in how others in the show view him. At school he is seen as a "prince" as he is seemingly untouchable, perfect and kind. However in reality he is akward, lonely and introspective. In his hands Yuki holds a white rose—a symbol of purity—and faces towards the right juxtaposing him against Akiot in the next panel who is facing left holding out a red camelia with a blood-stained hand.

Akito Sohma

赤椿 | Aka Tsubaki | Red Camelia

Red camelias are said to symbolize being in love, perishing with grace, devotion, deep desire and nobility—the latter of which a reference to Akito's status as god of the current zodiac generation. Akito believes that she was born to be loved and that the members of the zodiac should be wholly devoted to her. This can also represent her deep desire to be loved considering the lack of parental love received during her childhood.

During a flashback scene shown in season three Shigure gives Akito a red camelia��a symbol of his love, desire and devotion. He later gifts her a kanzashi and kimono patterned with the same flower. The dark and intense colour palette as well as Akito's blood stained hands in this panel contrast greatly with the previous panel of Yuki which has a softer colour palette.

Tohru Honda

向日葵 | Himawari | Sunflower

Sunflowers represent cheerfulness, optimism, passionate love and radiance—all of which describe Tohru's personality perfectly. Sunflower heads turn to face the sun directly and all the flowers pictured in the panel are facing towards Tohru who is bathed in light. This protrays how Tohru's presence is like the sun for the zodiac members—bringing light, positivity and hope from them despite their tough circumstances. Tohru reaches out her hand and smiles. It can be theorizing that this panel links to the forst panel of Kyo therefore surmising that the light Kyo is reaching for is Tohru and likewise Tohru is extending her hand towards Kyo. In other words Tohru's love is the light in Kyo's life freeing him from his dark circumstances. Her acceptance of him saves him from the dark fate suffered by previous cat zodiac hosts.

[Important! Find Part 1 here!]

[If you liked this post check out my other hanakotoba analysis posts here ❀]

#fruits basket #fruits basket 2019 #fruits basket second season #fruits basket season 2 #hanakotoba #anime ending #tohru honda #kyo sohma #yuki sohma #yuki souma #ritsu sohma #shigure sohma #akito sohma #kagura sohma #momoji sohma #sohma family #kyo x tohru

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officialinuyasha · 4 years

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The Yashahime Trailer premiered on August 1st. I was able to witness it first hand and live streamed it to our Facebook Group. The animation is the same from the Final Act, as the animator who worked on it is making a return for Yashahime. The animator Sachi. When the livestream first started on Otakon they had technical difficulties and we were on hold for about 3 minutes, this happened two or three times during the viewing. The video we saw seemed laggy but also could have been in short frames before the animation is fully polished for a final trailer. Here I will look over every frame in the trailer. For the first time ever in the world we get to see a glimpse of Yashahime - The trailer starts, the first thing we see is the sacred tree - it's the Feudal Era at night while raining and then shows a hut. Inside the house, we see a glimpse of Towa BUT she's wearing a patterned robe which is not what she is seen wearing in her regular character design. The person that abducted her must have put that on her. Towa is sitting down with her hands tied behind her back. The view moves up, and we see Towa's head tilted down. What caught my attention at this moment was the flowers in the background. There is three spider lilys. Spider lilys were shown in the first ending of InuYasha Season 1. Spider lilies are associated with final goodbyes, and legend has it that these flowers grow wherever people part ways for good. In old Buddhist writings, the red spider lily is said to guide the dead through samsara, the cycle of rebirth. I'm going to read more off what I found from Medium.com "A legend is said that there were two elves were assigned to watch over the red spider lily. Manju guarded the flower, and Saka guarded the leaves. Out of curiosity they defied their fate to watch over the flower and met each other. They immediately fell in love, but God was angry at them because they abandoned their duties. He separated the unfortunate couple and laid a curse on them. The flowers of Manju shall never again meet the leaves of Saka. After both of them died and met again in the Otherworld they made a promise to meet again after reincarnation. However, neither of them could keep their word. Thus the meaning of this sorrowful flower is abandonment, never to meet again. It’s often used in funerals and you can see it growing near cemeteries. People say that it’s Hell’s flower and it guides the dead into the next reincarnation." Source - https://medium.com/@TiffanyR/hanakotoba-the-japanese-language-of-flowers-9410aa14d7b5 If you remember Kikyou was snapping the Spider lilies in the Season 1 Ending, as if denying death through being undead. I do believe that this is an intentional nod, especially in that first frame of the flowers that there were three of them. Just like the three main characters. In the next shot Towa appears to have waken up, the robe has fallen off her shoulders and shes talking to a man. Behind her you can see the wall is filled with spider lily patterns. Perhaps he woke her up. We see his face, and one of my members pointed out that he believes it could be Rikichi who was one of Kaede's helpers. It could even be an older Kohaku if we think back on how their dad looked like. But I feel that Rikichi could make sense if we remember how Kaede and her village first acted when Kagome went to the Feudal Era. They captured her the same way they did to Towa here - This could be Towa's first return to the Feudal Era since she was last there when she was four years old. Her appearance in a modern day uniform could have startled the villagers like Kagome first did. Towa and the man continue to look at eachother. Another character appears, it is an older man wearing a hat. He says a few words to Towa. Towa reacts as if she's saying "Oh really? Is that what you think? Now's our chance!" Maybe they had set up a plan. The scene changes to Moroha, she has her arms around her head - A good resemblance. She turns. It shows Setsuna, looking just like her father she then turns and has her eyes closed. They could have intentionally been using Towa as bait to drag the old man out so they could fight him. The old man's facial reaction is telling me "Oh crap! Darn those meddling kids, they found out!" Not sure why. But this old man is giving me serious Dragon vibes, especially with those whiskers that are called Barbels that are seen on Dragons and fish. Moroha takes out her sword and charges towards the old man. However in this frame we can see they already knocked out a guy in the background meaning that this trailer is skipping around on whats happening here like how trailers usually do. Even one of the panels is already damaged. Setsuna swings her Naginata at the old man however he's already vanished. Perhaps a demon in disguise or a monk. Notice the background with the scroll that has artwork on it. This must be a palace. Perhaps this old man was decieving the lord. You can see Moroha jumping in as well. There was some kind of small tree or plant that was behind where the older man was. You can see after his clothes start to fall. Moroha holds up her sword, you can see the dragon detail on her blade - it then glows red as if she was going to do her Koryuha attack or perhaps just showing off. Now that I think about it, if he was a Dragon - Could her sword have absorbed him? That would have been cool and would make sense since Tessaiga has been known to do the same in order to get stronger and gain new forms. She stops what she's doing - Towa says something that caught her attention. It shows all three of the girls. Moroha and Setsuna are both looking out the door- and you can still see the knocked out man in the background. Moroha says something as if "Let's go after them before they get away!" as if they want to go after this villain. Moroha and Setsuna then run outside into the rain while Towa is just standing there watching as the other two run off. Towa then turns to look at the screen. You can see in the background where Moroha and Setsuna probably broke into the building. It is still night and raining outside. Towa then speaks as if she's talking to the viewer. She holds up a book, it's Japanese Kanji says "History". I imagined her saying something like "Good thing I've been taking history class." The trailer ends.

#inuyasha #anime #manga #yashahime #hanyou no yashahime #hanyo no yashahime #hanyou yashahime #yashahime half demon princess #rumiko takahashi

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fuanteinasekai · 5 years

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Hello, all! I have a fun little bit of translation today. This is mostly a few things that were lost in translation in the recent “movie” special chapter. I don’t think this chapter is really the spoilery sort, but just in case anyone is really strict about spoilers, I’ve put it behind a cut.

If you haven’t read the summary, the story basically goes likes this: Nishimura, Kitamoto, Natsume, and Tanuma go to Natori’s new movie. It’s apparently the second in a series about a detective. I’m unclear on whether it's supposed to be a period piece or just ridiculously wealthy people in fancy clothes, but I’m pretty sure Midorikawa-Sensei had a lot of fun. The power goes out mid-movie, so the boys decide to talk about the mystery and try to figure it out before they watch the rest of the movie. In the movie, a wealthy young woman goes to a detective (Natori) because she’s concerned about her wealthy fiancé’s parrot, which says creepy things like “I could kill the next one too.” The detective discovers that her fiancé had been engaged to wealthy heiresses three times previously, but all died in accidents before they could get married. (Money money money). Nishimura, Kitamoto, and Tanuma give their theories in turn while Natsume tries to ignore yōkai, then the power comes back on and they go to finish the movie.

So there are basically two parts to this little meta. One is the Meaningful Names and the other is The Subtext.

First, as the scanlators mentioned, Natori’s character’s name basically translates to the Japanese equivalent of “Sparkle McSparkleson,” which I love. However, all the names in the movie are actually meaningful!

First, we have the fiancé’s name: 黄田稔 or “Kida Minoru." His family name “Kida” means “yellow [rice] field,” which could be a reference to his money since gold is the “yellow metal” 黄金. Aside from this obvious possibility, there are too many “yellow” associations to narrow down. His given name “Minoru” however is very clear: it means “to bear fruit” or “to ripen” and can be used metaphorically like “our efforts finally bore fruit.”

The parrot’s name エンジュ “Enju” refers to the “Japanese pagoda tree.” More importantly, however, it has a yōkai association! This is a rather local story, but it’s well-known enough to appear in Wikipedia’s list of yōkai:

槐の邪神

山梨県南巨摩郡身延町と早川町の境にある身延山の槐の大木の側に粗末な社があり、そこに邪神が棲みついており、日が暮れてからその前を通るときに金目のものをお供えしなければ、祟られると恐れられていたという。

“The Evil Enju Spirit”

“There is a great Enju tree on the Mount Minobu that divides the towns of Minobu and Hayakawa in Minamikoma District in Yamanashi Prefecture. There is a humble shrine on the side of that tree, and it’s said that an evil spirit resides there. If one passes in front of the shrine after the sun goes down and does not make an offering of valuables, it is feared that one will be cursed [with personal disaster].”

*Note: “valuables” specifically refers to things that are worth money, here, not things that are valuable for sentimental reasons.

So yeah. The parrot was named for a yōkai that wants to steal your money. Because of course it was.

Next! All the women were named for flowers. This is unlikely enough in Japanese that it is Definitely On Purpose.

The client is Benikawa Ranko. Benikawa means “Crimson River,” which conjures up… a bit of an impression in English. However, this is not the red that’s associated with blood in Japanese, though you could technically use it that way if you want. “Beni” is associated with feminine beauty, autumn, but especially with cosmetics. (This is the same “beni” as the yōkai with the butterfly on her face.) It’s the color of deep red lips and blush. It’s also associated with the ring finger!

We don’t get family names for the other women, so I’ll just put all their given names together, in the order they were affianced:

Sumire = Violet

Tsubaki = Camellia

Botan (Tanuma’s suspect) = [Tree] Peony

Ranko (the client) = Orchid[ette]

Obviously this floral theme invites suspicion of hanakotoba, or “the language of flowers.” So I did look it up. But for the record, I find any sort of flower language interpretation extremely sketchy. In both English and Japanese, lists are inconsistent and frequently unsourced, and many flowers have multiple meanings even when they are sourced. Even if you knew which list someone was going off of, you wouldn’t know which meaning they were alluding to. The only real way to interpret flower language is super obvious context or Word of God. We don’t have either here, so I’m not going to attempt to put together a story based on these flowers. However, I’ll go ahead and list their meanings for those who want to play around:

Violet: honesty/faithfulness, small [true] happiness, small love, modest/humble joy, pastoral (i.e. rural) happiness, innocent romance [this one hits on a sort of purity/innocence vibe a lot]

Camellia: ideal love, unassuming/modest love, unassuming/modest virtue [I think the “ideal love” is related to the rest in that it presumes nothing from its object]

Tree Peony: bashfulness, wealth, kingly personality [this one was all over the map, but “bashful” was the most common]

Orchid: unexpected happiness, unchanging love; white = purity, pink = love confession

These are taken from Japanese hanakotoba sites, with the most common/agreed upon meanings coming first. Note: the orchid was actually a pain, because it was split up by type and some sites didn’t orchids it at all. Have fun!

Next is the ~subtext~. Now, this is much more elusive than translating names, but it’s bothering me so I’m going to write about it.

First of all, I love this story. It’s such a perfect encapsulation of each boy’s individual personalities, I want to frame it and hang it up. If someone asked me for a story that illustrated the differences between Nishimura, Kitamoto, Tanuma, and Natsume as quickly as possible, I would give them this.

First we have poor Natsume, who’s so distracted by yōkai it’s his answer to everything, and he can’t concentrate on any of the evidence.

Then there’s Nishimura. He’s a Natori stan who’s intensely defensive, but he’s also a bit girl crazy, to the point he refuses to even consider that a “beautiful woman” like Ranko could be a killer. He assumes that since all of Minoru-san’s fiancees have died, Minoru-san must be their killer.

Kitamoto calls Nishimura out for having such a shallow, simplistic theory, and points out that Minoru-san can’t be after their money if he kills them before he has legal access to their inheritance. 裏を読め！he orders. This phrase translates to “read the reverse side” and refers to understanding what is unsaid, especially what is being hidden. In other words, “read deeper!”

This is a mystery movie, so of course Kitamoto has a point. But I can’t help but notice that Nishimura is being told to think a little harder about a story in a special that’s attached to that story. You know. That one. The one I wrote Meta #3 about. This doesn’t make me frustrated at all. *angrily crushes tea bag*

Kitamoto’s more thoughtful than Nishimura, but still gets hung up on the pretty women. Natori’s character is so heterosexual, Kitamoto can’t believe he wouldn’t chase after a pretty woman like Ranko, even if Ranko is engaged. Nishimura is highly offended by this slur on Natori’s character Natori’s character’s character.

Then we get Tanuma. Tanuma’s theory is the most complex and solid, and even has that twist of irony that mysteries love. Tanuma is also the least confident because he’s Tanuma. But what really gets me is that in order for Tanuma to figure out the twist, he had to be ignoring all the beautiful women. Ignoring them so hard, in fact, he’s looking at the background of their photographs instead of at the women themselves. To Tanuma, they’re not objects of lust, they’re just people.

It’s also Tanuma who hopes that Ranko-san and Minoru-san will be able to find happiness, now that “they don’t have to fear for each other” anymore. Using a fancy, literary word for “fear.” Because despite Nishimura’s fantasies about pretty girls, Tanuma is the true romantic.

And then, in the end, they all go to see the end of the movie and check their work.

Because it’s not like I was already under the impression we were near(ish) the end or anything.

*twitch*

#meta #natsume yuujinchou #natsume's book of friends #spoilers #manga #I am so bad at tagging #I'll come back to it

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hijiokiweekend · 6 years

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HijiOki Weekend 2018

Half a week later than expected, the blog is up and running! Let’s get to the announcement:

Date: 23~25th November

Theme: Language of Flowers

The theme has been inspired by my love for hanakotoba’s expressive but subtle nature and the ways it can represent a relationship best kept in secret and maybe even denied by the two lovers.

Prompt list:

There are two sets of prompts that can be freely chosen from or combined however you like! The first set is a list of general one-word prompts that reflect to their dynamics, and the second list consists of flower names reflecting to the nature of their relationship with their meanings, all explained here for your convenience.

General Prompts:

Day 1: Pride Day 2: Possession Day 3: Affection

Hanakotoba Prompts:

1. Kuroyuri (Chocolate Lily): One of the many flowers of love, but also one of curses and bad omen.

2. Saboten (Cactus Flower): The flower of lust and desire.

3. Higanbana (Spider Lily): The flower of death, abandon, and lost memories.

Not feeling like any of those? All other works can be submitted under Mute Flowers any day of the event.

You also don’t have to make them a romantic pair to have your story featured. Platonic works will have their own tag, #rivals in loyalty.

Any kind of your original work will be accepted.

Fanfiction (any length), poetry, fan art, essay, cosplay pictures, AMVs, edits, moodboards, gifs… you name it. The point is to unleash your unique imagination and have fun.

Rules:

1. Post own works only. Comissions made for you can be in exception, if the artist is okay with it and is given credit.

2. Use tag #hijiokiweekend2018 and tag the event blog (@hijokiweekend) to make sure your work is found and featured.

3. Insert cut into entries that are longer (2+ pages) or not safe for work.

4. Tag nsfw accordingly, within first five tags.

5. In case of cosplay pictures, ask permission of photographer and all models and credit their main social media/tumblr properly (artist name+link).

I’m really looking forward to all your submissions! Don’t push yourselves, participate much or as little as you like. The point is to celebrate the pair, romantic or platonic.

Majority of the general prompts were suggested by @hidetheremote, which I am thankful for because they were better for the themes than the ones I came up with at first. Thanks to @hakuoukishippingweek for reblogging my earlier post, too, especially because it wasn’t really noticed before.

#hakuouki #hakuoki #hijiokiweekend2018 #hijiokiweekend #hijioki #hakuouki shipping event #announcement #rules #prompt list #language of flowers

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