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The Star Seekers ⟡ External Connections : Run Away

I received two anonymous asks about the Star Seekers references in Run Away, so I decided to answer them both together (and Anon 1, I apologize for how long this took):

Anon 1:

I’ve seen Runaway half a dozen times and I’ve only just noticed that the symbol we see through the video, the one on the Book that also appears at Soobin’s feet in Eternally when the d20 rolls to his feet……also seems to also be on the ground beneath the flaming door. You can see glittery lines that resemble the symbol revolving on the ground and it could really only be that symbol since Soobin sees it at the start of the video through those rose-colored classes (👀 idealizing the concept of escaping/running away to another world perhaps) and it circles the whiteboard drawing of the door then. Anyways just an observation I noticed

Anon 2:

external connection: I just noticed while watching the behind the scenes for Run Away (which has references to Star Seekers via the symbol on the book, among other connections) that the school in the music video has a banner on the soccer field that says, “HOME OF THE DRAGONS”

To be honest, I had not watched Run Away with the same attention as the Star Seekers MVs and films—until now. I was aware that it contained some references, but it was only more recently that I developed an interpretation (theory?) for why there are several MVs like this. Because, as I want to emphasize up front, Run Away does not have the official Star Seekers label in its YouTube description. (I’ve checked, multiple times, including the page source code.) I don’t believe this was an oversight on Hybe’s part.

More on this in a future post (as I have promised previously—I delayed my plans due to the upcoming film and webtoon/wattpad releases), but in short: two TXT songs so far have been explicitly conveyed as existing within the Star Seekers universe. Sweat is used as diegetic music in a scene of Eternally, and there is a brief shot of the characters rehearsing Can’t You See Me choreography in The Doom’s Night. Some other MVs, like Run Away, contain references to Star Seekers through both visual and lyric elements even though they are not labeled as official Star Seekers content. I have a feeling these may fall into the same category as Sweat and CYSM: they may be songs (and music videos) that were made in the idol lives of the characters. In other words, they may exist within the story—one level “deeper” than the content that Hybe actually labels Star Seekers.

Keep reading

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The Star Seekers ✧ The Tale of the Magic Island × MVs  [1]

     [2]  [3]

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The Star Seekers ✧ Frost parallels    [ 3 / 3 : until the end of the world ]

“I don’t want to lose our tomorrow.”      — The Doom’s Night (Soobin) 

1 ✧ 2

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get to know me ♡ txt edition ♡

favorite mvs (4/5) + favorite songs (4/5): magic island

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            the star seekers                          .⟡. the name chapter concept trailer

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.✧. TRUE NAMES .✧.

“A True Name is one’s truthful name. It’s not so much a given name but rather one that speaks to the essence of the soul. … Everything in the world has a True Name. Knowing that would allow one to look into what is in store for them. … it doesn’t matter what path you take, as long as you end up in your final destiny.”      — The fortune teller, The Star Seekers (Wattpad), ch.5

“The image that appears before you will unveil your True Name. Those names not only show your fates… but also your powers. They are the source of redemption for you and everyone else.”      — The fortune teller, The Star Seekers (Webtoon), ep.4

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It’s beautiful and humbling and incredible that Izuku still wants Katsuki after all the bullshit, but it is also a form of poetic cruelty that, after all his efforts to thwart it, Katsuki also wants Izuku after all the bullshit. Like Izuku looks like a model victim in the situation, and in a lot of ways he is, but he has in fact inadvertently worn Katsuki down for almost the entirety of their lives to the point that it feels pretty suspect to believe that Katsuki could accept anybody else on the same intimate level as Izuku. Izuku chose to admire and follow Katsuki pretty much every day despite it all and Katsuki chose to tell him to go the fuck away pretty much every day and only now is it even remotely clear to Katsuki that in this key struggle, Izuku has won out. Like Katsuki’s lost this one big time and he doesn’t even know it yet

Like I don’t give a shit if you ship it romantically but there’s undeniably an Izuku-shaped hole in Katsuki’s heart and soul formed by and because of the slow erosion of their relationship and nobody else can fill it. They are not “soulmates” or “twin stars” because they were born to be together - they, and the reality of their environments and circumstances, beat the shit out of each other emotionally and physically until they were formed to mirror and fit into one another like puzzle pieces because it was the only possible shape they could take. It’s tragic. It’s lovely. It’s hilarious. It is schadenfreude at its finest. It is the epitome of a crazy, stupid, borderline unbelievable yet emotionally visceral love conquers all story and it’s about snot-nosed teenaged fanboys

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I’ve been rereading the current anime arc in the manga, and finally got to The Apology™️, and I wondered what words Katsuki used before translation.

Disclaimer: I’m sure others must have posted about this before but I couldn’t recall reading it myself. I do remember there was a lot of talk about the way he used “gomen” as the Japanese fandom were saying how cute and childlike it sounded, so I thought I’d see if there was anything else interesting there.

Oh, my sweet sweet baby boy…

So, just before he says ‘Sorry for everything’ (ima made gomen), he says:

言ってどうにかなるもんじゃねェけど

本音だ

出久

“Itte dōnika naru mon ja nē kedo… Honne da…Izuku”

Which in the English translation, gave us:

And “speak my truth” is lovely and all, but the word from the original that stuck out for me was ‘honne’.

I’m not sure how familiar most people are with honne–tatemae (I only know about it because I go way way too in-depth when researching for my fics lol), but it’s a concept that every Japanese person is deeply aware of, and underpins much of their society.

Here’s the Wikipedia intro:

Ohhh, that is some extra juicy context for Kacchan’s speech. Essentially, he is saying that everything up until now has been his tatemae, a public façade to protect his own position (strong, powerful hero etc), but that he can’t keep that up and he wants Izuku to see his honne, his true, private self.

Excuse me while I melt from the cuteness.

But WAIT! There’s more!

How much do you know about second-person pronouns in Japanese? (Nope, this isn’t about ‘kare’ again this time hehe).

You’ve probably noticed in the anime that Kacchan says “Temee” a lot, and you may have also noticed that it tends to get translated as cursing. So it actually just means ‘you,’ but like a really rude way of saying it, such that the only way of reflecting that in English is to replace ‘you’ with something like Bastard or Asshole.

Again, have an expert explain:

This and the below are from a very excellent article about second-person pronouns and how they are used for context and drama in anime specifically. I’d recommend reading it as the context is really interesting!

So although pronouns aren’t actually commonly used or necessary in much spoken Japanese, when they are used, it’s a deliberate way to tell you about the relationship dynamic between two characters.

But why, you may ask, am I talking about pronouns again?!

Because, dear friends, throughout the first half of his speech, Kacchan uses ‘temee’ as usual to describe his past with Izuku. I’ve highlighted it below, and pls also note the shaky speech bubble showing his nerves during the ‘honne’ section. 🥺

HOWEVER, straight after he says he wants Izuku to see his Honne, Katsuki switches pronouns from ‘Temee’ (v rude), to ‘Omae’ (very casual/familiar). Below is the page after the apology.

Considering we now know pronouns are not necessary to convey meaning, that’s a hell of a lot of omaes on one page!! Boy cannot get enough of saying it.

If you want more about the different pronouns, see below for a helpful table of common uses for both. And please indulge my shippy heart for highlighting the second usage (but, like ‘kare’, you never know)…

Katsuki is showing Izuku immediately and repeatedly that this is who he wants to be to him and how he wants the world to see them. His honne, his inner desire, is to be close to Izuku, to treat him as an equal.

He’s not just saying sorry, he’s showing that—at least from his perspective—things are going to be different from now on. But, like, also, that this was how he felt about him in private the whole time?! GAHHHH.

So there you go, the apology that was already a massive turning point in their story/relationship was actually even deeper and more beautiful than we all thought. Yet again, Japanese conveys nuance and intention far beyond what can be translated. 😭💕

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First reminder: MHA is written by a Japanese man for a Japanese audience, and if you can’t even for one second at least try to look at it from the perspective of Japanese cultural and spiritual beliefs instead of projecting your own western ones… good luck, I guess?

Second reminder: MHA is a meta story about the art of fiction, escapism, fantasy vs. reality, and theatre. It’s quite literally a three-act play about fantasy, reality, and the balance of both. It’s about a stage, and character masks, and actors, and the real world outside of the stage, and about fighting against the writer who is too lost in his own fantasy.

Third reminder: visual storytelling is a tool sometimes used to contradict the lines of the story, which invites readers to think about what is actually the truth here.

Fourth reminder: MHA is anti-darwinism and anti-biological essentialism.

Fifth reminder: Hero system was literally created to control quirked population in the post-apocalypse. It’s FOR quirks. Heroes exist to keep population’s quirk usage in check by being the only profession that allows you to use them, and strictly for ‘good’, while also showing off those quirks to keep population entertained and content with the lie that quirks are accepted, actually! (Aren’t heroes so cool and their quirks are so flashy? See, we like quirks! We accept and allow quirks! Only if you use them for the good of society, of course! You are still not allowed to use or express them if you’re not a hero though, sorry). So. No, you can’t be a ‘hero’ (job) without a quirk, having quirks is A REQUIREMENT for this job.

Sixth reminder: MHA is a sci-fi with fantasy elements. Some concepts in sci-fi aren’t meant to be 1:1 parallels to real life. Quirkless people aren’t a disability allegory, it’s an allegory for any minority in general. MHA is a story about a person from a minority becoming one of people in power and about what effect a person with the experience of being a part of minority can have on others in power, acting as the first falling domino that ends up completely rewriting the script of the story.

Seventh reminder: MHA is about one person’s small actions affecting the world like a chain reaction. One action affects another person, and that person also makes it’s own small action. Everyone performing their small actions together, those small actions eventually combining and creating big results. Concepts of karma and butterfly effect. That’s literally what the idea of OFA is about. Everyone thinking about everyone else even just a little, doing their parts, creating a web and changing the world little by little.

Eighth reminder: the themes, good lord, the themes. Remember the fucking themes, you dumbfucks. My god. One of those fucking themes is the real person vs. the mask, by the way. Which, by the way, circles back to the first reminder, since it’s all about the Japanese concept of honne and tatemae.

Ninth reminder: touch grass and stop projecting.

P.S. ‘Izuku doesn’t want to change the status quo’ - Izuku wanting to save Shigaraki is literally him going against the narrative of the story. Saving Shigaraki IS changing the status quo - it’s another (very big) falling domino that will have a huge effect on the world and the status quo as the result.

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bkdk hair swap !

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boxer and coach bkdk au

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daily boops and forehead kisses the kacchan plushie gets, kaCCHAN ?!

behold the kacchan plushie. i got him for christmas and i love him so much. i boop him and forehead kiss him in every possible moment i see him !

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shh no howling allowed ! they’re studying !

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baby kacchan is so dear to me~~💚

do you enjoy the artwork and would love to receive one yourself ? give a support smash on kofi !

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Iiiiii like time travel fics~

Older Kacchan - “ How did you wreck so much shit when you were this small?”

Younger Deku - *Flustered*

Younger Kacchan - “ You still look like a nerd”

Older Deku - “Yeaaah” ^^

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Freckle kisses before bed <3