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acquired-stardust · 9 months

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Game Spotlight #1: R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 (Playstation, 1998)

Acquired Stardust’s first game spotlight is here! Follow Ash through experiencing 1998′s R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 for the very first time this year. Definitely worth your time to seek out and play, whether it be on original hardware, emulation or the recent port to the Playstation 5 via PS Plus’ classics catalogue.

Often hailed as ‘the greatest year in gaming’, 1998 was a pretty special time in pop culture as a whole. Massively influential programming block Toonami, responsible for introducing and popularizing anime to a mainstream audience outside of the college campuses where it originally gained traction, added both Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z to its lineup. Pro wrestling was in the midst of a legendary boom period as the Monday Night Wars raged and the famous ‘83 weeks’ came to an end. Seinfeld‘s finale drew an incredible 76 million viewers, famously seeing people gather in a large crowd to watch the hour-plus-long episode on a big screen in Manhattan’s Times Square.

Indeed, 1998 also featured an incredible slate of games across the world, whether they be new debuts (such as Sega’s Burning Rangers or Acquire’s Tenchu: Stealth Assassins both dropping on the same day in February) or games released in previous years receiving a translation before coming to other countries officially for the first time (such as in the case of Pokemon Red and Blue). This is before getting into other medium paradigm shifts like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid. The arcade scene was still thriving as well, with the previous year’s Tekken 3 still leading the scene in money earned and seeing the release of such classics as Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Dance Dance Revolution. All of these games could easily receive spotlights of their own (and just you wait, I can guarantee you several will), but today we’re talking about Namco’s R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 that dropped on December 3rd, 1998 in Japan.

There’s something so romantic and enrapturing to me about the idea of self-expression and how that can transcend language and culture barriers to create a sort of universal language and culture of its own. Gaming is one of those things that allows people the world over to connect with, such as with fighting games for example often drawing large international crowds for in-person tournaments that see people who otherwise often do not share languages or cultures expressing themselves through character picks and playstyles, in many cases forging lifelong connections and rivalries with people for whom they’ve found a new way to communicate and express themselves through. It’s in this same sort of spirit that I find myself very attracted to racing games, a fusion of man and machine itself filtered through a machine. Faceless competitors vying for first place with tires screeching and motors whirring, each with particular strategies and styles and levels of ability. The idea of racing games is very attractive to me, but ones that manage to hold my interest for very long are very few and far between. Ridge Racer Type 4 has managed to capture and hold that interest for way longer than I’d anticipated upon trying it for the first time through absolutely oozing style and atmosphere in a way media as a whole can often only dream of doing.

Starting off with what has my vote for easily one of the top ten prerendered cutscenes of all time, the opening of this game alone is an absolute bomb of aesthetics the likes of which I’ve rarely seen before. Composer Kouta Takahashi teams with vocalist Kimara Lovelace (herself having several top 10 hits over the years) to deliver the incredible Urban Fragments theme song that plays over a slick, well directed scene in what ends up being a recurring strength of the game: an incredible soundtrack meeting incredible low-poly visuals creating a top notch experience, and that’s to say nothing of the gameplay which is a wonderful mixture of arcade-style action and simulation, which is to say the game can feel a bit like bumper cars when crashing but otherwise nails a very satisfying blend of physics, acceleration and traction that makes it feel just enough like you’re actually behind the wheel of the cars. Visual design of the tracks are varied between speedways Japanese style mountainside races with the levels themselves providing plenty of challenge and opportunity that mixes well with car handling and a surprisingly intuitive drift mechanic, providing a wonderful feeling of actually getting better and more consistent as you put more time into the game. Brake light trails dance behind cars beautifully as planes fly overhead and helicopters film the action while satisfying control meets an outstanding soundtrack inspired by various popular genres of the time (such as house music, drum n bass and acid jazz) to create what is an experience far more engrossing than I ever expected it to be.

Speaking of ‘engrossing’, did I mention there’s a story mode in this game? That’s right, there’s actually a story mode in this game bundled into the Grand Prix. Presented in the style of a linear visual novel with dialogue that slightly changes depending on race placements, Grand Prix allows the player to pick one of four teams, all of which are named in reference to earlier Namco releases. Grand Prix sees the player a new recruit to either the French, Italian, American or Japanese teams and interacting with their team captain as they progress through a series of eight races of steadily progressing difficulty divided into three tiers that must be finished in progressively better minimum position as you advance through the three tiers of races. These stories are all interconnected to a surprising degree with each character the player interacts with having some sort of connection to the character featured on another team, and the story punches above its weight in terms of emotional content as well, several times managing to be oddly sad and touching, certainly the last thing one would expect going into a racing game.

In a year commonly hailed as ‘the greatest year in gaming’ full of genre and medium defining classics, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 absolutely belongs in the conversation of the best games of that year. I’d argue it could easily be deserving of a spot on a list of best games on the Playstation as a whole, and wouldn’t bat an eye at someone saying it has a spot on their list of all time favorites. Heck, it might’ve even landed a spot on my own list of all time favorites. It’s one of the strongest combinations of attributes you can find anywhere in the medium, packed into a racing game of all things, which typically do not attract the sorts of acclaim particularly in retrospect as things like Final Fantasy VII or Metal Gear Solid, but I promise that if you give this game a try you’ll come away wowed and wonder how you ever missed it regardless of whether or not you have any prior interest in racing games or the genres of music featured in the game. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 presents an incredible world through the marriage of its sound, visuals and gameplay that is absolutely attention stealing and will stick in your mind long after you put your controller down. Definitely be prepared to add a few of these songs to your usual rotation.

A gem hidden among the stones, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 is undoubtedly stardust.

--Ash

#Video Games #Retro Gaming #Ridge Racer #Playstation #Game Recommendations #1998 #Gaming #Namco #Bandai Namco #Racing #Racing Game #PSX #PSOne #PS1 #Game Spotlights #Acquired Stardust #ash

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communist-ojou-sama · 2 years

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@baeddel this piqued my interest so I did some (very cursory) looking around!

While keeping in mind that it’s an anonymous source on the internet, going off of an excerpt of this:

A long time ago, according my grandfather, ever since the Heian practice there’s been this form of Buddhist exorcism: As other answers have mentioned, when a male infant is sickly and seems unlikely to survive early childhood, as it was believed that there was a diety that imparted illnesses only onto male children, would dress and be raised as a girl until the age of seven.

However, that in and of itself got me thinking about Bridget’s setting and that the theme of twins being seen as inauspicious is really common in japanese fiction and that I’m pretty sure in Bridget’s case the idea that identical twins were inauspicious was not the beliefs of a weird cult at all but something closer to local suspicion. In any case, this was an interesting read:

Within written japanese history, the oldest mention of twins and their being referred to as imigo, is in chapters 7 and 12 of the Nihon Shoki with regard to Emperor Keikō.

To quote:

Unto the emperor were born two sons. The first was called Ōusu-no-miko, the send Ousu-no-mikoto. Ōusu-no-miko and Ousu-no-mikoto were born on the same day of the water of the same womb. Because of this this Emperor Keikō was deeply anxious. And shouted “millstone” (usu) at them. [I don’t understand either, but that certainly is what’s written here and in other sources I can find.]”

Such as this was, that very younger twin, Ousu-no-mikoto, grew up to be the greatest hero of ancient Japanese history, who appears as the protagonist as of countless local myths, legends, and epic poetry, Yamato Takeru [He’s much less known outside of Japan, but it’s said that he was responsible for much of the Kofun-era northern expansion of the kingdom Yamato, and many successful campaigns against other early Japanese kingdoms such as Izumo, Kibi, and Koshi.] That in the life of such an epic and tragic figure as Yamato Takeru the text feels it necessary to deliberately point out the status of Takeru as a twin implies that the custom of dislike for twins had already taken root at the time [During the Asuka/Nara period].

The age in which twins were viewed with the most suspicion was the Edo period, and in particular upon the birth of fraternal twins, It was said that they bore the souls of a pair of lovers who died in double-suicide. It’s believed this suspicion dates to the spike in lovers’ suicides due to the popularity of “Sonezaki Shinjuu” by Monzaemon Chikamatsu, which moved Edo and Osaka to pass laws banning theatrical works featuring lovers’ suicides. [hyperlink mine] As a consequence, families would would report one child as a stillbirth, and abandon the child. Around the beginning of the Showa period, the custom of sutego-youji came about, where a newborn twin would be given away for adoption, and the foster parents would rais the child as their own, and the birth parents would swear to never come forward as the child’s parents (This was, of course, illegal).

Going by examples such as these, the custom was not rare, and not only twins but also children born to parents in an inauspicious year for them were also called imigo and given up as sutego-youji. The custom of naming potential imigo “Emiko” if a girl and “Sutekichi” if a boy, to rid them of their inauspicious fate continued up until the postwar period.

#effortpost #this was a pain to translate @.@

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gendercensus · 2 years

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A mailing list mystery

A big thank you to the Anon who sent me this very helpful and easy-to-understand explanation about why I might have a significant number of mailing list email opens registering from India but very few survey respondents entering India for their country - in response to this tweet!

No twitter so answering your email tracking question here. Potentially multiple asks incoming B/C character limit. Email tracking, especially open rates, is famously unreliable, and gets moreso each year. Depengin on how your software measures opens (probably an external image), it could be under-reporting opens by a factor of 30 to 50 % . Anyone who opens the email but does not allow external images is an unreported open.

Likewise if the email is automatically opened by a client that DOES allow external images (pretty rare outside of clickfarms because most reasons to automatically open an email only want the plaintext anyway), you get an over-report of opens. I read the response about a potential malicious trollfarm getting hold of your survey email and I agree it's a possibility, HOWEVER, there are more "innocent" (as in less malicious towards the survey) reasons this might happen.

Clickfarms need to click a lot of DIFFERENT stuff to look legitimate. If they only click the stuff they're paid to, they're very easily identified as a clickfarm and banned (on social media) or filtered out (on tracking software). So it's possible a clickfarm joined your mailing list, alongside hundreds of others, and opened the email a hundred or so times. If you can't find a significant number of troll responses, there's a chance this is what happened.

It's also possible your email got caught by some kind of auto-forward system that's circulating it around an internal network, and the opens are technically genuine, but the people opening your survey aren't the slightest bit interested so all you're getting is an inflated open rate. There's also the possibility that these opens are genuine people who are interested in your survey, but their location is being misreported for any number of reasons.

India is a popular VPN location for people living in nearby countries who don't have unrestricted internet access without the aid of a VPN. China being the most common, but not only, example. USA is definitely a more popular choice if available, but Indian servers are physically much closer so they would have less latency. For someone in the far east, using a VPN hosted in the USA will make their connection almost unusably slow. Other popular VPN destinations include Japan and Russia.

The truth is these are all guesses, and there's no way to know for certain exactly why this happened. Maybe the tracking software is more or less accurate (within the margin for error possible with this kind of thing) and a ton of responses from India are either choosing different countries or declining to state their location. Maybe the software is reading the MAIL SERVER as being in India regardless of the location of the actual end client.

My personal theory is a combination: Non-Indian users with a VPN who are accurately reporting their location in the survey itself, combined with a simple malfunction of the tracking software itself. And if you DO get a ton of trolls you probably know where they came from; but again India is a popular VPN destination so the trolls themselves aren't necessarily living in India. I hope you found this helpful in some way.

#meta

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cooltrainererika · 1 year

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Hello! This is my second post for @hwsasiaweek ! …And it’s just a repost! Yaaaaaayyyy!

But yeah, I thought this story was perfect for Day 3: Folklore/Legends/Myths. This one stars Japan, my country!

I was planning to get another third fic out for this event, and I decided that until then I could just repost this old thing I wrote as part of a compilation. Hopefully it still holds up. Hopefully.

Alt-talia: Child of The Soil

Young Kiku loved exploring the mountains outside Asuka.

Here, the gods lived. It was the spirits’ domain, where they allowed the young boy to use as his playground; while he was already centuries old, he still explored it with innocent wonder befitting his eight-year-old appearance, but with a hint of familiarity. After all, this island’s forests were, in a way, his element as well.

They knew who he really was; the young personification of Yamato. Even without telling them, they knew. The spirits and gods themselves rarely, if ever, presented themselves directly to him, but he could feel their presence in the air among the familiar cries of insects, sometimes even their whispers to him.

He made his way to a less wooded, grassy clearing; the longest grasses, the types used by the people of Asuka to thatch roofs, were long enough for the little boy to disappear into.

It was then he noticed what seemed to be a slender, scaly tail poking out of the grasses.

Then, something started... rolling? Yes, rolling, and disappeared into the grass.

“Huh?”

Curious, the young boy trailed the mysterious creature as it made its way through the overgrown grass, trying not to rustle the grass too loudly or lose track of it.

Finally, the creature rolled towards a meadow where the grass was shorter in front of raised ground, and unfurled itself. From behind the grass, he observed it; it was a shaku* long… snake? But not just any snake; one with a strangely broad, almost flat midsection, its thin neck sticking out from one side and its tail out the other.

It was somewhat dopey-looking, yet he felt drawn to the strange creature, though he didn’t know why. It seemed strangely… familiar.

“Hello there?”

Kiku made a few small steps out of the tall grass, and just when he was over it, the snake bunched up like an inchworm, and…

It jumped.

The snake jumped up, several times his height, over the ledge.

His jaw dropped, aghast, stumbling back, almost falling back into the tall grass.

Then, it briefly stopped, looking back at him. It let out a high pitched “Chiii!” before crawling into the tall grass above.

“…Nozuchi?”

That was all he could whisper.

Was that…

That day, among the ringing melodies of Suzumushi crickets, Yamato thought he had met the grass spirit.

———-

Kiku didn’t know if he had imagined what happened that day.

Since that day, it - maybe goddess, maybe spirit, maybe mundane creature - and how it had looked back at him, as if asking him to find it, remained at the back of his mind. Its name changed over the years, as did what he believed its identity to be. However, eventually, only a few villagers shared his knowledge of the snake anymore.

Until, over a millennia later, a certain children’s book featured a hunt for that same creature, and as unreliable as his distant childhood memories could be, the memory returned to him clear as day.

And today, in his new Third-Generation Nissan Datsun Sunny as kayōkyoku and New Music played on the radio, his spirits moderately high from fresh economic growth, he had returned to that same place where he thought he had that encounter over a millennia before.

A small crowd had gathered there, mainly families, mothers and fathers holding lunches and cages, children with butterfly nets bragging about how they would be the first to catch the coveted snake. Some people looked at him in puzzlement, his lack of any children, girlfriend, or even friends making him very conspicuous among the gathering.

The place had changed quite a lot, but in some ways, it was still as it had always been. However, while it, of course, was of more significance to him than any other random mountain, forest, or village would be, he had far moved past these mountains, or Asuka, a long time ago, ultimately just one past home out of many. And it wasn’t even his first at that, though his earliest memories were almost entirely lost to the ether. Childhood to nations was, unlike for humans, not necessarily worth any more, nor any more notable than any other era they had been alive. And to him, Nara, his other childhood home two more moves later, was a much more important factor in who he was now than Asuka; even today, Nara remained a major city, and its name had come to encompass the entire prefecture. Yet here he was, back after all these years.

The group dispersed, and Kiku set off on his own as well.

He didn’t remember much about the place, and even if he did, physically every tree back then was no longer here; so he searched without direction, making sure as to minimize the sound of his steps as they met the ground.

Looking at his watch to see it was noon and feeling he could use a bite at the moment, he sat down on a tree stump in a small clearing for lunch.

It was then he saw a thin, familiar scaly tail poking out of the brush. One that seemed to suddenly widen.

Immediately, a small head popped out of the grass, biting its tail. And rolled.

He immediately put down his rice ball, almost choking on it, and immediately ran.

But there was no rustling, even if Kiku was too intent on following its apparent path to notice.

Soon, he found himself almost crashing into the face of a ledge, just higher than his height.

He looked around, up at the ledge, and sighed frustratedly.

It seemed the Tsuchinoko had evaded Japan again.

In a small clearing in a forest in Nara prefecture, a faint “Chiii!” mixed in with the ringing melodies of Suzumushi crickets.

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Shaku: An old Japanese unit of measure. Coincidentally, it’s roughly about a foot.

“Child of the soil” is a literal translation of “tsuchinoko”.

So yeah, if any of you are familiar with the Pokémon Dunsparce, this is what it’s based on! I wanted to share our little snek with the world.

The tsuchinoko is a Japanese cryptid that people often report sightings of but no one has truly found. I looked into it, and apparently there have been records of tsuchinoko-like creatures since as early as the Jomon period. In the Kojiki, they are said to be field/grass kami. So I decided that Japan should encounter it a bit before the Kojiki was written, in the Asuka period.

Apparently, they only became widely known to the rest of Japan in the 70s, after a book about tsuchinoko hunting was published, and it truly became a nationwide fascination when a manga about tsuchinoko was published. So it seems to have been this regional thing that became part of the wider folklore. But it truly has been with Japan since the very beginning.

Hope you enjoyed!

#hws japan #hwsasiaweek #japanese folklore

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albertonykus · 1 year

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Doraemon Movie Review: Nobita and the Birth of Japan (1989) and Nobita and the Birth of Japan (2016)

What is Doraemon? The title character of the Doraemon manga and anime is a blue robotic cat from the 22nd Century who keeps an array of high-tech gadgets in a portable pocket dimension on his belly, and has traveled from the future to improve the fortunes of a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Although relatively obscure in the English-speaking world, Doraemon is a Mickey-Mouse-level cultural icon in East Asia (and some other regions, too). The Doraemon franchise was a big part of my childhood, and there are still elements of it that I enjoy now.

Doraemon has released theatrical films almost annually since 1980, most of which involve Nobita and his friends (kind Shizuka, brash Gian, and crafty Suneo) getting swept into adventures thanks to Doraemon's gadgets. Despite being of potentially broad appeal to fans of science fiction and animated films, there are very few English reviews of the Doraemon movies, so I'm embarking on a project to write about all the films that have come out so far. Good luck to me…

Movie premise: Nobita and his friends run away from home to... 70,000 years ago, before humans lived in Japan.

My spoiler-free take: A movie with a very promising narrative hook, but a very disappointing resolution to the main conflict.

The 2016 remake though? For overhauling the climax and keeping the best elements of the original mostly intact, it’s very possibly my favorite Doraemon film.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

Review: This movie starts out pretty strong. The premise itself is an intriguing one that provides insight into each of the main characters: it’s not rare to see Nobita or Gian getting in trouble with their mothers, but why might spoiled Suneo or responsible Shizuka want to leave home? And what about Doraemon himself, who often takes on the role of a guardian figure for the kids? Connecting this story concept with the dispersal of humans into Japan is also a very creative idea. (I previously discussed the scientific references in this film here.) It’s quite fun to watch the protagonists set up their own secret base in the Pleistocene.

Unfortunately, the primary conflict is where the film falters for me. The main characters barely contribute to defeating the villain other than unwittingly leading the time police to his hideout, which felt extremely unsatisfying. They don’t even get to successfully escape from the hideout by themselves, despite Nobita launching a heroic rescue of the others. So enticing premise aside, I’ve always found this story disappointing.

Star rating: ★★★☆☆

Better luck with the remake, perhaps? I hope so, because as of the time of writing, this is also the last Doraemon movie remake I have left to review!

Review: My goodness, does this remake ever fix my main problem with the original! The climax is substantially modified, with the main characters now doing most of the work in bringing down the villain (and yes, everyone gets to do something helpful). The film even finds a way to add a plot-relevant role for Dorami! Meanwhile, the rest of the story remains largely intact, which is essentially how I would have preferred it.

I also love the end credits artwork in this remake. Something I’ve noticed is lacking in many Doraemon movies (even some of the best ones) is that they rarely revisit the inciting incident that kick-starts each adventure. In the original version of this movie for example, the children’s grievances against their families are hardly brought up again after they set off for the Pleistocene (outside of some hallucinations Nobita gets when he is lost in the snow, which ultimately don’t amount to any narrative importance). The end credits here are set to scenes showing what everyone gets up to once they return home, providing closure for that subplot. Besides, I think the art style used for the credits is very uplifting and adorable.

Do I have any criticisms of this movie? I suppose I do, but most of them would be issues that were already present in the original. For instance, when the protagonists attempt to revisit the prehistoric tribe they’d befriended, they are shocked to find that the entire group has been captured by the villain. However, it never occurs to them to try traveling to a time before the tribe was captured.

Another is the mystery of Shizuka’s disappearing spear. Doraemon clearly gives everybody one of his Shock Spears when they first arrive in the Pleistocene. Yet when the group later fights the villain’s minions, Shizuka’s spear is inexplicably missing, and she spends the encounter cowering behind Nobita. The spear’s absence is especially noticeable here, because in the original film, Doraemon was the one who did all the fighting in this sequence. Shizuka is even shown carrying the spear in some scenes following this, but it’s never present in any situation where it would actually be used. At least she gets to contribute during the final battle...

Okay, I will name one thing that I think the original did better: I probably prefer the designs of Nobita’s pet griffon and dragon in that version. Even with these quibbles though, there are enough positives here to make up for them in my opinion. Nobita and the Birth of Japan 2016 may very well be my favorite Doraemon movie released so far, and for that I’m giving it the full five stars.

Star rating: ★★★★★

Original or remake? If it weren’t obvious already, I’m a fan of the remake. The original provided a solid foundation, but the remake takes it to new heights.

#Doraemon #Anime #Nobita and the Birth of Japan #Nobita and the Birth of Japan 2016 #ドラえもん

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wuxiaphoenix · 2 years

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More Ice Age Sources, Plus Mermaids

I found it! Mermaids of Japan, by Frances Haar, Kanabeshobo Company, Tokyo, 1954.

Not the book itself, but my photocopy of most of it. Including the title page. (Which I made at the time on the basis of, I wanted the info for book research, the library who had it definitely wasn’t going to remainder it, and even then I had a good clue this was a rare book I might never find again.)

Backing up a bit - I spent some time rummaging through my boxes of books so I could try to move everything related to the alternate-magical-history idea in one place. That way when I get more books for research, I can hopefully get them effectively, filling in the cracks of what I don’t yet know. So here are some more things I’ve read in the past leading up to this idea.

Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan, by Cecilia Segawa Seigle. Starts before Edo was a capital and goes through the start of Meiji. Not exactly a straight-line history book, it covers a lot of what people were doing in the rich sections of Edo, what costs it had in money and people, and gives a lot of insight into how the Ishin Shishi could do a lot of their plotting there without the Tokugawa Shogunate immediately catching on.

I’m going to put a side-note in here that this is one of several interesting history and history-related books printed by the University of Hawaii Press. Maybe it’s where they are physically, maybe it’s the fact that they can draw on more scholars than usual who read and speak Asian languages, but they have a lot of stuff on Asia, the Pacific, and the whole Ring of Fire area that you may not find elsewhere. If you want to look at history outside what’s taught in regular K-12 schools, look them up on their website or on Amazon. I’d bet you’ll find something you want to know more about.

The Mongol Invasions of Japan, 1274 and 1281, by Stephen Turnbull. Yes, it’s an Osprey Publishing book, meant to give wargamers background for their battles. It’s also a seriously researched book, with illustrations and maps - writing and wargaming have a lot in common in that those are very handy. It’s also pre-1618 (which is when the first story is going to be set) but there’s a reason for that. If I’m positing a parallel Earth where most of history went as we know it, but it now has magic, I need to know where the “break” point was so I can find all the possible ripples. Historically, there was a Great Comet in 1264 that sounds like a good bet for “and then things got very weird.” Note that comes before the Mongol invasions through Korea to Japan. (Though the Mongols had been invading Korea since the 1230s.) So I need to take it into account.

The Composite Bow, by Mike Loades. (Also Osprey.) Even with the advent of gunpowder, composite bows are a respectable weapon and still well-used in the time period I’m poking. They’re portable, powerful - and if you end up facing monsters that need specific banes to take down, it may be easier to do that in an arrowhead than in musket shot. (If it’s a really big monster, I’m seeing possibilities of mixed units, one giving cover fire while the other reloads, both of them buying time ‘til you can get a hwacha aimed the right direction.) It’s also a modern hobby I can give my poor isekai’d guy - though he’s going to have to learn a lot more....

The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion 1590-1800, by Brett L. Walker. He also wrote The Lost Wolves of Japan.

Another small digression here. I ran across Noel Perrin’s Giving Up the Gun many years back, which was a paean to how Tokugawa Japan voluntarily giving up firearms made technology go back to a pace humans could live with. And said to myself, “That... doesn’t sound right.” In my experience, at least, people do not voluntarily give up the capacity for violence. That way leads to mass graves and all kinds of nastiness. And yet in some circles (mostly of authoritarian mindset) the Tokugawa Era is held up as a model of ecological responsibility and a population kept with its natural limits, all because only the people in charge had all the force available.

Except if you study the actual history that is not what happened. This book, Conrad Totman’s various works, and others - especially those works covering trade between Japan and Asia - show that Tokugawa Japan was constantly pushing up against ecological limits and finding new ways to exploit more of them. They lost a lot of population due to the Onin Wars, and then more to the Warring States era before the Tokugawa closed the country, they imported a lot of agricultural innovations (and new food crops!) through trade with Europeans and Asia, and they took over the northern islands and the Ryukyu Islands, so their population growth mostly kept within the limits of food production. Even so it was a bumpy ride sometimes, and straining at the limits by the time of the Meiji Revolution.

Get sources for your writing. Get lots of sources. Never depend on what “everyone knows”. Check it out!

#writing reference #creative writing #do the research #so much research #writing #writing inspiration #history #korean history #chinese history #japanese history

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stillness-in-green · 3 years

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MVA In Memoriam (2/5)

The Comprehensive Account of the Butchering of My Villain Academia

(Introduction and Part One, Episode 108: My Villain Academia)

Part Two, Episode 109: Revival Party

Chapter 224 – Revival Party

• Mr. Compress’s side comment about how the distance Re-Destro wants them to travel means he must know they have warp capabilities. Also shortens his subsequent line, removing the bit about how their position has been locked onto, leaving only the marveling about the dude on the phone being the kind of person who has access to a satellite camera. Not a major cut, but it did strip out a bit of reiteration on how very Seen the League is. The warp line is another nod to how the MLA’s been doing their research—in particular, it ties in nicely with RD’s observations about the Noumu. He talks, there, about something Dabi said after the High End fight, which means he must also know that Dabi was warped out by an “Ujiko-san.”

• Also Mr. C’s observation that they haven’t broken Machia yet, and his posed question about what to do. Mr. Compress, I’m so sorry that you’re so wordy and lose so many quips and asides because the anime was set on brutally scything out every line of non-essential dialogue it could find.

• Ujiko’s extremely hilarious, “Listening to Villain Radio is my new favorite hobby,” line. Why would you cut this; this line is hysterical.

• The bit where Mr. Compress has the bright idea to use a High End Noumu like the one Dabi used, Ujiko rejects the suggestion out of hand, citing production woes, and Shigaraki says that he wasn’t going to ask for one of them anyway. Aside from being more cut Compress content (or “Comptent,” for short), it helps center the timeline somewhat at a point where the manga is jerking it around all over; it also shows that the League has been keeping up with news from the outside world. It also shows that at least one of them thought about using the Noumu—and since we know Re-Destro did some rationalizing on that scenario too, it’s good to see that it is at least briefly on the table. Further, Ujiko provides a few rare details about the Noumu creation process. Firstly, that AFO is normally involved, so his absence makes the procedure much more difficult (though not, apparently, impossible). Secondly, that Hood-chan was the only Noumu who’d actually reached the testing stage. This will be important later, for Ujiko’s agonizing about unleashing them early/Mirko having to fight four of them at once. Also, I just miss Mr. C’s funny little head wilt when Ujiko immediately turns down his “use some Noumu” idea. Ditto Shigaraki’s blasé shrug and little grin. Again, not to harp on the art too much, but man I wish the anime had kept all the fierce little grins and tight, incensed smirks Shigaraki has through the majority of this and the phone call sequence.

• Spinner’s line, “Without knowing squat about what we’re up against?!” A minor cut, as these things go, but it reiterates that there’s a chance RD is bluffing and the League has no way to know one way or the other, and demonstrates that the League can give Shigaraki some pushback on his decisions without having to worry about getting dusted for the temerity.[1]

• Takes one of Spinner’s lines—“Wait. I get it. Wherever you go, Shigaraki, he’ll sniff you out and hunt you down.”—and gives it to Shigaraki instead. Because fuck Spinner’s growing understanding of Shigaraki and the way his mind works, I guess! It’s especially notable that Spinner figures this out when Mr. C had completely the wrong idea about Shigaraki’s intentions—it demonstrates the way Spinner is gradually aligning himself with Shigaraki’s way of thinking, which we’ll see even more clearly during the War Arc. Also, again, it’s good to see the moments where the League weighs in on Shigaraki’s plans.

• The visual of Twice lashing out at Dabi with his razor-edged tape measure over Dabi’s dismissal of Giran, though all the relevant dialogue was there. Possibly this is because, having cut the CRC bit, the audience has no way of knowing that Twice’s tape measure is razor-edged, so why bother raising the question, “Why is Twice trying to attack Dabi with a tape measure..?” Possibly it’s because showing that attack would require animating movement, and MAN ALIVE, did Episode 109 ever want to do everything it could to avoid animating movement.

• Slidin’ Go’s line about how Deika isn’t usually his turf, but today is a big exception. This makes the hearty affirmative with which Trumpet announces himself a response to Shigaraki’s half-phrased observation about the reason behind the city’s emptiness, rather than a response to Slidin’ Go. It works, more or less, and probably even flows more clearly, all things considered. I’m always sad to lose lines from the vanishingly few named/characterized MLA members we have, though. I like, too, that it hints at the machinations that have to have been involved with setting things up for the Revival Party, and the way those plans were carried out with confidence that Re-Destro’s “bait the League into coming for their broker” plan would work despite the total absence of a response from the League in any of the time Giran was missing/his fingers were cropping up on the nightly news reports.

• A few shots of cameras in the city, which foreshadow Skeptic’s watchful eyes and ability to track the League through the city. In retrospect, this isn’t surprising, since the anime went on to cut basically any indication of Skeptic’s entire plan re: the footage of the League attacking, so why bother keeping the cameras? (Oh, right. Skeptic’s whole thing is cameras and information/disinformation. Skeptic for second-most screwed-by-the-anime MLA member.)

Additions

• Showed Toga having stood back up somewhere during Shigaraki’s explanation of their throw-Machia-against-the-MLA plan. A simply appalling choice. In the manga, she stays crouched down by Twice the entire time Shigaraki has his mask pulled off, because Toga cares about reassuring Jin-kun when he’s in a bad way.

• Rephrased Compress’s dialogue somewhat, also giving him a new line about the MLA’s forces in Deika when the League was still in the hills looking down at the city: “The so-called Meta Liberation Army has a force of 110,000 here.” I assume it was because the scene falls in a different episode than the tactical discussion did (in the manga, they’re the same chapter), so the anime was reminding the viewer of the stakes, but it’s potentially awkward because, er, no, the MLA categorically did not bring their entire army to Deika. We’ll find out as much for sure later, with the note that the regiment advisors weren’t in attendance because they were occupied at the bases they command, but even with only the knowledge we have here, Re-Destro’s statement about his numbers is that they’re scattered all over the country—hence the shot of Japan with a bunch of lights scattered across it to represent said numbers. That said, to be (briefly) charitable, there’s no particular reason for the League to assume that, and they did discuss the possibility that there were going to have to fight 110,000 people. So it makes sense that Mr. C might state as much when recapping for the audience.

Chapter 225 – Interview with a Vampire

• Re-Destro talking about Deika’s geography and why they chose it strategically. The anime dropped so much about the MLA’s planning and information-gathering beforehand; it really made the MLA look ludicrously overconfident. And while they don’t lack for that trait, certainly,[2] this is also an organization that has meticulously grown its membership for generations right under Hero Society’s collective nose; you don’t get to where they are by being unduly foolhardy. Erasing so many scenes demonstrating their caution and forward-planning undercuts the threat they represent to both the League and society at large. Also too, the descriptor of Deika as a nice, quiet, isolated little town in the mountains gives us some hints about how the MLA has avoided notice for so long, when you consider how the Hero business works: because so many people who get into heroism want to make it big, like celebrities, they don’t want to stick around small-town beats, and so the rural areas are understaffed.[3] That’s presumably why groups like the CRC and the MLA grow their numbers out in the boonies: much less attention from the Powers That Be. You can guess at some of that from how Spinner describes the place—“not too small, not too big”—and what Trumpet says about the percentage of the population that’s MLA, but RD adds that key “isolated” descriptor, and says that it’s a place where they “lay low.” That gives us some potential insight into how many—likely the majority—of the MLA came to their beliefs: by being raised to them, because their hometown was infiltrated by the MLA generations ago and they have literally never known anything else.

• RD’s phrasing, “Counter to point one,” when he makes his second point about the Noumu. He acknowledges that it’s counter-intuitive to his first argument, that he knows it would normally be an argument against that opening point, not in support. It’s just conversational padding, really, but “conversational padding” like that does a lot to distinguish character voice, so that not everyone talks the same way.

• A panel showing a trio of unnamed MLA warriors strategizing about how to divide their forces now that the League has split up. It’s the little cuts like this that gradually remove the agency of unnamed characters, such that they’re left looking like unthinking puppets instead of real people with the ability to register and respond to their circumstances. It also points towards the truth of what the MLA warriors are and one reason they’re so dangerous (for all that the manga itself will neglect this most egregiously later on): they’re trained in regiment tactics and accustomed to working in groups. This contrasts them both with villains, who might group together, but certainly don’t usually fight that way, and heroes, who are so unaccustomed to working in groups that it’s cited as part of the reason to have named super moves.

• Curious’s little pageboy-cut middle school kid line telling Toga to back off when Miss Curious is on the job. This is an early example of how defensive the MLA are of people above them in the hierarchy, an important thing Spinner will pick up on and attempt to use against Trumpet. Again, it’s little moments like this that both add some welcome notes of individuality to the MLA warriors (if only by virtue of Horikoshi and his assistants’ traditional talent for distinctive character design) while also fleshing out who the MLA are as a group, and contrasting them with the League.

• Deleted Toga’s line IDing her “on-the-go suck-suck mask,” but did insert a nice little bit of her expression shifting when she whipped it out. It lost a bit of the self-conscious silliness of her support item name in exchange for a cool little animation beat. I don’t dislike it, particularly, but I am, as previously stated, very leery of edits that make the League more polished in their villainy at the cost of their human foibles.

• Curious’s line about having come prepared to counter Toga’s moves, which was supposed to further reiterate that the MLA has done their research on the League; they didn’t just decide out of the blue to target the most notorious Villains in the country without studying up on them first and planning accordingly!

• Curious’s line about how she’s going to get started with some background info while her people use their meta-abilities to keep Toga and her buddies on the ropes. A marvelously characterful line! It speaks especially to that edge of formality the MLA brass observe that even as she’s ringleading this attack, Miss Curious is still set on going through her interview process step by established step.

Framing Shifts

• Made some of Curious’s lines spoken dialogue instead of internal monologue. That’s probably fine for when she’s waxing enthusiastic about Toga’s lack of hesitation in committing murder or how she’ll use Toga’s story to further the MLA’s agenda. It’s less fine when she’s rattling out the entire name, brand and patent status of her support item for no particular reason when Toga is already halfway through trying to knife her (that’ll be next chapter).

• The anime implied pretty firmly that Curious’s bombers died. And like, yeah, that’s always made more sense than the idea that anyone could survive something like that, but I hate it anyway. For one thing, it makes it even harder to credit the idea that Toga’s still on her feet afterward if Curious’s supposedly not-very-lethal explosions merk all her own people. People in this series survive ludicrous amounts of damage, and these random MLA devotees are no exception! For another, it leans into the narrative that the MLA higher-ups throw away the lives of their minions without the slightest care. It’s a lot harder to make that case when it’s explicit in the manga that Curious’s people survive the blood explosions—the blonde in the tracksuit is unharmed enough to snicker about it, and the noodle chef is even doing well enough to continue attacking! I’ve always been of the opinion that the MLA are, yes, willing to spend the lives of their underlings on attaining goals, if that’s what they think is necessary, but that is not at all the same as gleefully throwing them onto the pyre to watch them burn.

Additions

• Some individual shots of Mr. Compress, Dabi and Twice fending off or fleeing from various MLA types. A nice try on getting the group split up, but it feels kind of budget save-y, when we could have gotten actual animation of those fights instead.

• Inserted a quick shot of a headline about Toga’s first attack as Curious was rambling on about why she’s interested in Toga but not the League in general. Actually a fairly reasonable insertion, given how much text is crammed into her talk bubble in the manga while the dude standing next to her is already getting a knife in the neck.

Chapter 226 – Bloody Love

• A panel of interviewees talking about Toga’s first victim being sociable and popular. It gives a bit of context on what he was like, what people thought of him, but given that we know enough about Toga at this point to know that his popularity was entirely incidental to what she liked about him, it’s not a huge loss.

• The detail of the broadcasted interviews censoring Toga’s name. Considering how Japanese media normally treats minors accused of crimes, this is an eyebrow-raising change—the manga censors it because Japanese media outlets would have done the same. No idea why the anime didn’t, unless it’s another of those places where it would feel too “real,” to have something that so closely mirrors real life treatment of criminals?

• Everything about quirk counseling, and whoo boy, that is a loaded cut. There is exactly one other mention of quirk counseling anywhere in the manga, and, curiously enough, it also comes up in relation to a villain: in the U.A. faculty meeting after the USJ attack, Midnight muses that maybe Shigaraki never received quirk counseling in elementary school. It’s a weird little non sequitur there—exactly what sort of program did she expect could single-handedly make the difference between a well-adjusted adult and a gleefully murderous manchild with aims on killing Japan’s Number 1 Hero? Just over two hundred chapters later, we get a hint: a program designed to fit people “neatly into society’s little boxes.” Quirk counseling, then, is not about helping children find healthy ways to process their quirks, but rather, about teaching children what is and is not acceptable in terms of quirk use—and as Curious says, Toga’s admiration of blood was never going to be acceptable.[4] This explanation doesn’t just tell us a lot about Toga—that she wasn’t only failed by the hysterical condemnation of her parents, but also by a society that had no interest in helping her if it didn’t see a use for her—but also provides some insight on the viewpoint of the Meta Liberation Army vis-à-vis mandatory state-funded programs that dictate what “normalcy” looks like to impressionable children. Curious is, of course, not a particularly trustworthy narrator in this, as one might expect of someone who uses language like “society’s little boxes,” but it does track with Midnight’s earlier musing of, “Maybe the anti-social dude never took the program intended to make sure he was a functioning member of society.” That kind of statement—“State-sponsored educational programs are there to program children into becoming unthinking cogs of society, actually.”—is one that it’s all too easy to imagine the people with an eye on broadcast standards taking issue with, even coming as it does from the mouth of a villain.

• Curious’s line, “Let’s turn your death into a legendary tragedy, shall we?” and its accompanying visual of two different papers with imagined headlines. The dialogue doesn’t strike me as crucial—Curious’s fervent belief in Toga’s story is amply demonstrated elsewhere and her intent to turn that story into a legend reiterated in the line immediately following—but it is a shame to lose the headlines. They tell us, in Curious’s own words, exactly the tack she was planning to take in telling Toga’s story to the general public, without the constant namedropping of the Liberation Army that she does when talking about it in person. One headline in particular—The Price of Suppression: A String of Bloody Murders—is an especially useful reference for discussing whether the MLA actually wants, as is popularly claimed, completely unhindered quirk use, even for people like e.g. Muscular who want nothing more than to murder people with their quirks.[5]

• Curious’s initial wait what response to getting Floated, and her people’s focus shifting away from Toga and onto Curious instead. On a surface level, that focus shift helps explain why Toga’s able to zip around the ground and touch nearly twenty people before they even react: because they’re afraid for Curious. It also hurts the ongoing characterization of the MLA rank and file as being fanatically devoted to their higher-ups which, again, is something Spinner is supposed to notice later. It’s the worst kind of plot device if that devotion is completely told to us rather than consistently shown!

• Toga’s internal reflection that she’s seen Ochaco use her quirk, and knows how to use it. It’s obvious from the panel that she knows how to use it, but the manga implies that Toga transforming doesn’t automatically grant her an understanding of peoples’ quirks; it’s only in observation (and possibly love) that she can reach this particular unlock. Leaving out that information leaves open the possibility that she can just do this all the time now, with anybody she transforms into.

• The reaction from the surviving crowd to Curious’s death. See above re: STOP FUCKING ERASING HOW MUCH THE MLA CARES FOR EACH OTHER.

Framing Shifts

• When Toga bolts, Curious in the anime sounded serious, her expression alarmed, like she was actually worried that Toga might escape, even though her dialogue said just the opposite. Maybe you could say that she was afraid Toga would die before she got her statement, but given that she tried to kill the girl herself moments later, I’m skeptical of that claim. Regardless, in the manga, she never loses her smile, and she flashes a Liberation salute as she stands up to give chase. It’s a characterization note, that she’s so wildly confident about this that she never stops being completely enthralled with whatever Toga has to show her.

Chapter 227 – Sleepy

• The last of Toga’s conscious dialogue, about how she’s lost a lot of blood, is fading out, can’t move—but more notably, the way that this state of things makes her feel closer to “them,” that it’s “the same sensation.” And who is “they” here—her victims? The people she loves? More alarmingly, why does the line sound like she’s been this beat-up before, and remembers the sensation? Does that tie into e.g. her comment during the training camp that she doesn’t want to fight too many hero students at once because she doesn’t want to die? Has she actually been subject to this kind of violence before in the past? Does that tie into her still-unexplained ability to erase her presence? It’s an interestingly loaded little line, for being so vague, and illustrative of Toga’s mentality on becoming the people she loves. Which also lets the scene segue nicely into Re-Destro’s observation that, in Toga Himiko’s world, there’s no such thing as “other people.” On which note, guess what else the anime cut?

• The entire fucking scene where Re-Destro actually reacts to Curious’ death, the motherfuckers. This lost: 1. RD’s talk about the way Toga sees the world and how that led to society casting her out, which he points to as evidence of said society clinging to old ideals even though the nature of humanity itself has changed. It calls back to his methodology with Detnerat, marrying his lines from the commercial to his overarching ideals; it also shows that he understood very well what Curious saw in Toga, and demonstrates that he can express that understanding and empathy even in the face of losing one of his closest allies. 2. Skeptic’s reaction to Curious’s death, which is pretty sparse, but at least present. He says she never should have been on the front lines—an excellent reminder to the people who’re always going on about how the MLA brass thinks themselves so above their followers: Curious was on the front lines, against the wishes of some of her peers!—and calls her a valuable resource.[6] You can theorize about Skeptic not caring for her beyond her usefulness to the cause, or just that Skeptic is a huge autist who processes his emotions differently than most, and isn’t going to stop to do that when there’s still a battle going on, but either way, you need this scene to do it accurately. 3. Speaking of people who process their emotions in unusual ways, as I said above, this scene also shows Re-Destro openly crying over the deaths of Curious and each and every warrior diving into battle with their hopes for the future. They’re not crocodile tears, either. As was the case with Miyashita, there’s no one in this room that Re-Destro would need to perform grief for: Skeptic clearly doesn’t see a use for tears right now, so I don’t see him expecting them from Re-Destro, and the only other person in the room is Giran, a hostage who the MLA—very probably Re-Destro himself—maimed! It’s not like RD’s tears are going to change Giran’s mind about him (indeed, Giran gets a comedic reaction beat at the absurdity of the dude who started all this up here crying about it)! But RD says life is precious and he cries anyway, briefly, before he ruthlessly turns it off. RD’s valuing of human life—especially his own peoples’ lives—crops up in roundabout ways twice more, both leading the fight with Shigaraki (“It angers me.”) and ending it (“Any more would bring about meaningless death.”). This, though, is when he’s most open about it, to the degree that—as with Machia’s grief—it’s kind of off-putting and strange. Cutting it makes it that much easier for people to get entirely the wrong impression of RD as a character. 4. The delightful scene where Skeptic berates Giran about asking brainless questions and then answers his question anyway. Fuckin’ hell, why cut this?? So much of Skeptic’s character is in this scene! You get moments of his neuroticism later on, but never in so concentrated a burst as this (there’s one other sequence that could compete, but—spoilers—the anime cut that one, too). The exchange also explains the cameras placed throughout the city—which are visually referenced early on—and what the MLA is planning to do with their footage. Without that explanation, the audience has no idea how, exactly, the MLA was planning to use wiping out the League as a springboard for their grand return to the spotlight. That footage is the crucial part of how the rest of the country reacts to Deika in the Endeavor Agency Arc, and the anime never even mentioned it! The audience was just left to assume that all the media came in afterward, not that there was the slightest whiff of footage from the battle itself. 5. Once again brings up Re-Destro’s belief in the power of the heart to move other hearts. We get a bit of that in Curious’s flashback, but here he says it in his own words—as he will also bring it up to Shigaraki. Once again, Shigaraki is going to be challenged about his conviction, which ties back into what Spinner and Ujiko demanded from him earlier in the arc. With so

many people set to be grilling Shigaraki on this front, it tells us again what the arc is for: Shigaraki’s conviction, and him demonstrating it to the people who think he lacks it.

• The panel of Spinner asking how long they’ve been at it and Mr. Compress responding. This line helps manage the pacing, giving the audience an idea how much time is passing as we cut around to different places. It’s also, you know, more cut Spinner dialogue, and shows the beginnings of Shigaraki and Spinner getting split off from the rest by Shigaraki’s sleep-drunk staggering angling him off in a different direction. The rest of the scene is moved to after Toga’s fight with Curious, but not otherwise tampered with.

• The other big reaction to Curious’s death, which is Trumpet using it to rile up the crowd. The group that attacks Shigaraki isn’t just some free-roaming mob—they’re coming at him in a grief-stricken frenzy, which they’ve been goaded into by one of their leaders. This sequence also introduces the campaign van—a vehicle that will have several more appearances—to events, and hints at Trumpet’s meta-ability. Further, it’s one of the scenes that outright states that the MLA is less an army than a religion, in Mr. Compress’s line about how Trumpet is like a preacher rallying his flock. That understanding—that the MLA may style themselves as an army, but what they really are is a cult—is key to the way the MLA members act, from the very bottom to the very top.

• Trimmed Shigaraki’s flashback down, cutting—among other things—the very first lines Hana speaks, and her namedrop. This moment is the first one Tomura gets back, and the very first thing we find out is that he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. The anime also failed to identify Shimura Nana’s relation to Tenko/Tomura and Hana—helpful to remind the audience of a plot thread they haven’t heard about since Kamino. It also cut out the silhouette of chubby baby Tenko and Tenko’s first line, asking why Hana’s showing him this, a line which clues us in that Hana was the impetus here, not Shigaraki as he was back then. Still not satisfied, it also cut the phrase, “Daddy said all that stuff,” which is a clear and ominous warning that there was some conflict going on between young Shigaraki and the Father whose dismembered hand he now wears on his face.

• Left the dialogue but cut the silhouette of an airborne Geten with his enormous ice fists coming in hot behind Dabi when he was smarming about it not being his style to take the pacifist route. It’s not crucial, since we see the fists again shortly (it’s the end of the chapter page, whereas the anime rolls right on into the continuation of the scene), but it’s a shame, since framing Dabi from below with this sudden presence behind him is a much more fun, dynamic angle than the dead-boring medium shot the anime used. Also too, it’s good foreshadowing for the fact that Geten can fly, since he certainly didn’t get that kind of air by jumping off the roof of the mini-mart across the street.

Framing Shifts

• The crowd attacking Tomura came at him from the back of the shot, whereas in the manga, they’re surging forth from the front; that is, the anime had Shigaraki between the crowd and the POV of the viewer, whereas the manga has the crowd interposing between the viewer and Shigaraki. It makes a huge difference in the impact! Running up from a nebulous background distance, the crowd looked small and futile. Crossing directly in front of the viewer as they attack Shigaraki makes them look like the crashing human wave that they are. But, you know, coming in from the front would mean they’d have to be animated with more detail, and again, Episode 109, more than any other episode in the arc, clearly didn’t have the budget to spare on such things.

• The moment Shigaraki first uses the spreading Decay is horrifically clear in the manga. It’s full of speed lines, Shigaraki moving so fast he decays a dude mid-word, but the impact itself is spread over two pages. We watch his hand literally cleaving through the leading attacker’s face, and then are encouraged to linger on the oversized panel below, the intricately drawn crowd, full of individual faces, still intact on the left, scattering to dust on the right, all fully lit, with Shigaraki—still drawn with speedlines to emphasize his movement—the focal figure in black at the center. The anime rendered this moment in two stills—Shigaraki’s hand about to hit the lead attacker’s face, and then the crowd already decaying. There was virtually no movement to it, the crowd was so heavily silhouetted against a glare of daylight that it was difficult to tell what was going on, and the moment stayed on screen for only two seconds before Shigaraki landed and threw up, both actions favored with more animation than one of the signature moments of the entire arc. Hell, it even left the walls on either side of the alley intact, when the manga shows them dissolving into ash as well, decay traveling through the ground in a deadly, destructive radius around Shigaraki’s attack. The anime ever-so-graciously allowed Spinner his line to explain to the audience what just happened, but I think that’s mostly because it would be genuinely difficult to parse if he didn’t. It also gave him a flashback to what we had literally just seen, except this time it wasn’t silhouetted for some reason, so at least the audience got another chance to look at it, I guess? “Am I seeing things? Just now, his decay effect spread to people he wasn’t even touching!” Well, I guess we’ll have to take your word for it, Spinner.

Additions

• A quick shot of a camera, there and gone almost too fast to register. I want to compliment the anime for adding a camera back in, since it removed the shot of the cameras earlier, but honestly, given that it cut all the scenes about how and why the MLA was gathering footage, I really don’t know why it even bothered. Also too, the camera was gone so fast it felt more like a marker for a scene change—which it also was, segueing the scene from Toga collapsing (only to cut back to her later staggering down an alley) to Spinner and the rest still trying to hold their own—than it did something the audience was supposed to really notice.

Chapter 228 – Wounded Soul

• Twice in the opening pages left out scattered members of the MLA that were around for the start of the Dabi/Geten fight. Leaving them out raises the question of where all the people attacking went, but it’s also the first demonstration that Geten is a danger to his own allies. We don’t see any of them dying on-panel or anything, but we do see them having to dive frantically out of the way because Geten demonstrates no care to the collateral damage of his attacks.

• Cut a small flashback, presumably from Twice’s perspective, of finding the site where Toga and Curious’s fight concluded. You can see the ground covered in blood, and a body that looks a bit like Curious if you squint (distinguishable by the sleeves of her jacket), as well as a small group of people kneeling on the ground in various poses suggesting mourning and a paying of respects. Yet another shot demonstrating the depths of care these people have for their leaders, that they’ve completely let the battle fall by the wayside in favor of their grief.

• Drops the “those zealots” phrase from Twice’s, “I’ll rip those zealots limb from limb for this!” line. Damn, the anime really was determined to erase everything that even hints at the Liberation Army being something much creepier and more damaging than just an underground militia, huh?

Framing Shifts

• For all my complaints about the material, I generally like the voice acting quite a bit. I don’t love the first exchange between Dabi and Geten, though. It’s not a fault of the voice actors themselves, but rather the delivery. Geten was very cool and level-headed throughout, which is all right to a point, but he’s a gremlin under that troll parka, and this fight is where we hear him as close as we ever will to how he is before the multi-layered humbling he’s subject to over the course of this fight. It’s a bit of a shame to play him totally straight, without any of the snark he’s so clearly capable of—and without the tick upwards in vehemence his talk bubbles indicate in his last lines. Meanwhile, it’s fine for Dabi to get more heated as the scene goes along, and indeed he does, but he also plays it pretty cool at first. You can tell in the shape of his talk bubbles that he’s completely unruffled during his delivery of that, “Consider this a freebie, just for you: ice melts,” line. The anime had him raising his voice for it, and it just loses a lot of the humor of Dabi’s own snark to have him yelling it instead of just laughingly stating it, voice barely raising enough to give his talk bubbles some straighter lines instead of being all undisturbed curves. (For comparison’s sake, it’s about the same level of angular as Geten’s, “You’d best not think your little campfire can melt my ice!” line, but the anime had Dabi shout his line, while Geten continued at the same unperturbed volume he’d maintained since the beginning.)

• As with Shigaraki’s first mass decay, the shot of Geten’s ice dragon did not make the impact on me in the anime that the manga did. I think it’s mostly the way the ice was colored? The claw’s pretty good, but the head looks blobby and indistinct, more like blue soft-serve than the shifting, sharp-edged, brilliantly bright sculpture-in-motion of the manga.

• Twice’s voice actor did his best to sell the scene of him finding Toga, but I wish they’d kept that tight close-up on his mouth when he says, “Give it up. The girl’s dead.” They animated him leaning closer to the camera, but that doesn’t have the sharpness of that sudden cut to being right there on his lips, like some malevolent thing is using them to speak words so terrible that they can’t even be associated with the rest of his face.

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Come back next time (and hopefully in less time) for Part Three, Episode 110: Sad Man's Parade.

FOOTNOTES

[1] We would, of course, have an even clearer idea of that had the anime not cut the scene of Spinner shouting in Shigaraki’s face.

[2] It seems particularly strange to me that Curious and RD both mention quirk evolution as a thing they know can happen in extreme circumstances, but didn’t predict that backing the League into a life-or-death corner might provoke one or two members to undergo exactly that evolution.

[3] Mount Lady is the obvious example, but you can look to places like the island in Heroes Rising, too: one hero, and when they retired, a group of high school kids had to go sub in for a while until a replacement could be arranged. It’s not like retirements just happen overnight; the Commission had to have known it was coming. Still, they had to scramble to find someone. It doesn’t suggest they had anybody just champing at the bit to take the post, you know?

[4] In Chapter 140, we see a young Tamaki Amajiki in a class called “quirk training.” It’s uncertain how connected this P.E.-like class is to quirk counseling, but Toga wouldn’t have been getting much help there, either, seeing as it’s all about figuring out how to use one’s quirk in a way that’s “useful to society.” I can think of some ways, but nothing that I expect would be very popular or liable to be explained to a grade schooler in a country with as long a history with ritual cleanliness as Japan. To a Shinto mindset, Transformation isn’t just off-putting or unhygienic; it’s spiritually unclean.

[5] The answer there being, no, obviously not, or Curious wouldn’t, in all apparent sincerity, be trying to characterize Toga using her quirk to murder people as an undesirable outcome, a cost society is paying for its current stance on quirk use. Yes, you can gather that much from her calling Toga a tragic girl, and Re-Destro concurring later, but listen, I will take every line I can get that I can use to push back against the wretchedly widespread idea that the kid whose name means Apocrypha is the be-all-end-all source on MLA ideology, somehow more reliable and trustworthy than every other MLA character combined, including Destro himself. I would very much like it if the anime had not deleted a bunch of my talking points while making good and sure to leave all Geten’s most damning lines intact.

[6] Not that an anime-only person would fully understand why some random reporter was all that valuable a resource, since the anime cut the explanation of what Curious actually does for a living.

#my villain academia #bnha #bnha meta #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #my writing #stillness has salt

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lee-scribbles-and-doodles · 3 years

Text

My Top Ten Overlooked Movies With Female Leads In No Particular Order

Note: When you see this emoji (⚠️) I will be talking about things people may find triggering, which are spoilery more often then not. I mention things that I think may count as triggers so that people with them will be aware before going in to watch any of these.

Edited: 3/16/21

Hanna (2011)

So, before I get into why you should watch this movie, I just want to take a moment to say why it's near and dear to my heart. Growing up as a queer kid in the early 2000s, seeing portrayals of people like or similar to myself on anything was rare at best. It was mostly in more "adult" movies or shows that my parents would occasionally let me watch with them that I'd see any lgbtq+ rep at all. Often times they were either walking stereotypes, designed to be buried, evil, or all three.

Then here comes this PG-13 action thriller with a wonderfully written main female lead who, at the time, was close to my age, and who got to kiss another girl (her very first friend, Sophie) on screen in an extremely tender and heartwarming scene. To say the least, it was a life changing moment for me personally.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, Hanna is a suspenseful movie about a child super-soldier named, you guessed it, Hanna (played by Saoirse Ronan) and her adoptive (?) father Erik Heller (played by Eric Bana) exiting the snowy and isolated wilderness of their home and taking on the shadowy CIA operative, Marissa Wiegler (played by Cate Blanchette) who wants Erik dead and Hanna for herself for mysterious reasons.

It also has an amazing soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers, great action scenes, and it has an over arching fairytale motif, which I'm always a sucker for.

⚠️ Mild blood effects, some painful looking strikes, various character deaths, and child endangerment all feature in this film. However, given its PG-13 rating, a majority of viewers are presumably able to handle this one. Still, be aware of these going in.

Sidenote: It's recently gotten a TV adaptation on Amazon TV, although I have not watched it, and do not know if Hanna and Sophie's romantic/semi-romantic relationship has transferred over.

A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor is a "black-comedy mystery thriller" centered entirely around the relationship between two mothers, the reclusive, rich, mysterious, and regal Emily (played by Blake Lively), and the local recently widowed but plucky mommy blogger, Stephanie (played by Anna Kendrick). When Emily suddenly goes missing, Stephanie takes it upon herself to find out what happened to her new best friend.

It's a fantastic and entertaining movie throughout, with fun, flawed and interesting characters. The relationship between the two female leads is also implied to be at least somewhat romantic in nature, and they even share a kiss.

⚠️ The only major warnings I can think of is that the movie contains an instance of incest and one of the main plotlines revolves around child abuse, although both of these potentially triggering topics are not connected to each other, so there is thankfully no csa going on.

Edit: I legitimately forgot there was drug use in this movie until now. So, yeah, if that's a trigger, be careful of that.

I Am Mother

I became mildly obsessed with this movie when it came out. I Am Mother is a sci-fi film that centers entirely around a cast of two woman, and a female-adjacent robot who is brought to life on screen with absolutely amazing practical effects.

The plot is such, after an extinction-level event, a lone robot known only as Mother tasks herself with replenishing the human race via artifical means. She begins with the film's main protagonist, Daughter. Years go by as Mother raises her human child and the two prepare for Daughter's first sibling (a brother) to be born. However, on Daughter's 16th birthday, the arrival of an outsider known only as Woman shakes Daughter's entire world view. She begins to question Mother's very nature, as well as what's really going on outside the bunker she and her caretaker call home.

⚠️ This movie features child endangerment and reference to child death.

Lilo and Stitch

When I decided to add a single Disney film to this list I initially thought it was going to be hard but almost immediately my brain went to Lilo and Stitch, and specifically about the relationship between Lilo and Nani.

On the surface, this film is about a lonely little girl accidentally adopting a fugitive alien creature as a "dog," but underneath that the story is also about two orphaned sisters and the older sister's attempts to not let social services tear them apart by stepping up as the younger sister's primary guardian. Despite its seemingly goofy premise, Lilo and Stitch has a very emotional and thoughtful center. It's little wonder how this movie managed to spawn an entire franchise.

Despite the franchise it spawned (or possibly because of it), I often find that Lilo and Stitch is overlooked and many people only remember it for the "little girl adopts an alien as a pet" portion of its plot, and I very rarely see it on people's top 10 Disney lists.

⚠️ This movie could be potentially triggering to people who were separated from their siblings or other family members due to social service intervention. There's also a bit of child endangerment, including a scene where Lilo and Stitch both almost drown.

Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind

Unlike the above entry, I did struggle a little bit with picking a single Studio Ghibli film. Most media of the Ghibli catalogue have strong, well-written, unique, and interesting female leads so selecting just one seemed like quite the task.

However, I eventually settled on this particular film. In recent months, Princess Nausicaä has become my absolute favorite Ghibli protagonist and I'm absolutely enchanted by the world she lives in.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world overun by giant insects and under threat of a toxic forest and its poisoness spores, Nausicaä must try to protect the Valley of the Wind from invaders as she also tries to understand the science behind the toxic forest and attempts to bridge the gap between the insects and the humans.

For those who have never seen the film, I think Nausicaä's personality can best be described as being similar to OT Luke Skywalker. Both are caring, compassionate, and gentle souls who are able to see the best in nearly anyone or anything. She's an absolutely enthralling protagonist and after rewatching the film again for the first time in well over a decade she has easily become one of my all time favorite protagonists.

Whenever I see people talk about Ghibli films, they rarely mention this one, and when they do mention it, it's often in passing. In my opinion it's a must watch.

⚠️ This movie contains some blood, and the folks who either don't like insects or who have entomophobia may not appreciate the giant bugs running about throughout the movie. (Although most insects do not directly relate to real life bugs, and are fantasy creatures).

A Silent Voice

A Silent Voice is an animated movie adaptation of a manga of the same name. While I've never had the pleasure to read the manga, the movie is phenomenal. It covers topics such a bullying, living in the world with a disability, the desire for atonement, social anxiety, and depression in a well thought out manner that ties itself together through the progression of the relationship between its two leads, Shoya and Shouko. It's also beautifully animated. Although very popular among anime viewers, I've noticed that it's often overlooked by people who watch little to no anime. So I suppose this is me urging non-anime viewers to give this film a chance.

⚠️ As mentioned above, the movie deals with bullying, anxiety, and depression (with this last one including suicidal thoughts and behaviour). If discussion of those topics are triggering to you, than you may want to proceed with caution or skip this movie all together.

In This Corner of The World

Another manga adaptation, this one taking place during WWII-era Japan. In This Corner of The World follows the life of a civilian Japanese woman, Suzu Urano, as she navigates simply living and her new marriage as the wartime invades nearly all aspects of everyday life. I think this movie is a good representation of what it must be like to be living as civilian in a country at war where the fight is sometimes fought on one's own soil. It was also an interesting look into pre-50s Japanese culture in my opinion. It's also beautifully animated featuring an art style I don't see often.

Despite it being well known among anime fans, I never really see it be brought up, even among said anime fans themselves.

Side note: I've seen many WWII dramas centering around civilians but they've almost always been about American or UK civilians. This was the first movie I'd seen that features the perspective of a Japanese civilain.

⚠️ Features the death of a child and limb loss. There's also a disturbing scene featuring a victim of one of the atomic bombs near the end.

Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki

This film follows Hana, a Japan-native woman who fell in love with a magical shape-shifting wolf-man, and her trials with raising their children, who can also magically shape-shift into wolves, on her own. It's a very heartfelt movie about a mother's love and the struggles of doing right by your children when you have limited resources to actively guide and care for them. All the characters feel unique and alive in my opinion. Also, the animation is so good that my sister and I initially mistook it for a Ghibli film.

Again, like the previous two anime entries, I don't see it ever brought up outside of anime circles.

⚠️ There's some child endangerment present in the film, although none of it is the fault of Hana as far as I can remember.

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday is about the fictional Princess Ann (played by Audrey Hepburn), who while on a whirlwind tour of Europe, finally reaches her breaking point over having her entire life be one big schedule and all her words and actions being rehearsed. In the spur of the moment, she runs away in hopes of experiencing what life is like for other women. Unfortunately, she was previously given a sedative, meaning she doesn't get too far before it takes effect. Fortunately, she is found by the kind reporter Joe Bradley (played by Gregory Peck). Believing her to be drunk and unable to get an address from her (because she has none) he ends up taking her home for safety's sake and allows her to sleep off her suppose drunken stupor. The next day, he realizes who she is, and decides to take her on a fun sight seeing trip across Rome in hopes of getting the big scoop. Along the way, they begin to fall for each other.

This is my favorite black and white, old romance film. I think the relationship between the main characters is absolutely beautiful and I have a lot of fun watching it.

⚠️ I'm not entirely sure what kind of warning this film would need. However, it was released in 1953, so values dissonance will probably be at play for many viewers to at least some extent. For example, early in the film Ann is given sedation drugs by her doctor for her behavior, something that is very unlikely to happen today. Also, Mr Bradley deciding to take Ann home to keep her safe rather than call the police or an ambulance is a very pre-90s decision in my opinion.

#hanna 2011 #a simple favor #i am mother #lilo and stitch #nausicaä of the valley of the wind #a silent voice #in this corner of the world #wolf chilren ame and yuki #wolf children #roman holiday #black and white film #anime #disney #studio ghibli #movie recs #top 10

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bpro-cardstories · 3 years

Text

Tomohisa Kitakado SSR

2019 ー New Field [新境地]

“Say, Tomo, are you really alright with it?”

『Event: Pirates of Legend (1st - 9th August 2019)』

Part 1

ーKitaKore’s apartment.ー

Tomohisa (surprised): ‘A request for me….. To write a script for a drama series?’

Tsubasa: ‘Yes. Because it’s in the form of a competition it’s unknown if your script will actually be used. You were supported by a famous script writer and invited to “co-write” a script.’

Tsubasa: ‘The theme will be “battle”, but outside of this, you are free to write anything.’

Ryuji: ‘Hee, so far there have been writing requests such as columns or comments….. Scriptwriting for a drama series is a first, isn’t it? It sure is an unusual offer, Tomo.’

Tomohisa: ‘Yeah, I honestly was surprised. Why did he nominate me, I wonder?’

Tsubasa: ‘The client is a TV station producer who worked on many hit dramas.’

Tsubasa: ‘It seems that while he was watching Kitakado-san’s appearance in a program, he took notice of the atmosphere and your speech which was intelligent and had a good feeling to them.’

Ryuji: ‘Hehe. That producer must be watching Tomo closely.’

Tsubasa: ‘He also read the columns published in magazines by Kitakado-san, and said that you have excellent writing abilities and sufficient topicality. Therefore, if you are interested then you are asked to get in touch with him.’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘I see….. I appreciate that he even read my columns. And to be valued to such an extent makes me happy.’

Tsubasa: ‘It’s not often that I hear of said things, so I think he is not simply complimenting you, but they do really like Kitakado-san’s writing.’

Tsubasa: ‘Since it’s a rare change, would you like to try it out?’

Tomohisa: ‘You’re right….. I’m very grateful for the consideration. By going beyond acting there will be a lot of things I will be able to learn through standing on the side of production for one time in the future.’

Tomohisa: ‘Since I like writing, I’m interested in putting together a story. If I can challenge this, it might be a really great stimulus.’

Tsubasa: ‘If so, thenーー’

Tomohisa: ‘But I will turn down the offer this time.’

Tsubasa: ‘Eh……’

Tomohisa: ‘There are many wonderful professionals in this industry. It feels wrong for an amateur like me to suddenly take part in a competition. If I participate just because of topicality, it’s rude toward the contestants that earnestly submit a script I think.’

Ryuji: ‘........’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘Should turning down the offer become an inconvenience then that’s a different matter, however….. There’s no problem I hope?’

Tsubasa: ‘Of course, please don’t worry about it. You are right, because it’s of a different nature than your usual work, Kitakado-san’s feelings are most important regarding this matter. Then I will later inform him of your rejectionーー’

Ryuji: ‘Wait a minute, Tsubasa.’

Ryuji: ‘Say, Tomo, are you really alright with it?’

Tomohisa: ‘Ryuji…..?’

Part 2

Ryuji: ‘You actually…… don’t really think that joining the competition is rude, do you? That thinking is even more discourteous I think.’

Tsubasa: ‘R-Ryuji-kun……’

Ryuji (angry): ‘I mean it’s the truth, it’s like saying you all lose to a script of an amateur’s topicality.’

Tomohisa (baffled): ‘........’

Ryuji: ‘That producer must know that it’s natural that there will be lots of scripts from professionals. As a producer for programs even more so. Yet, he purposely gave you an offer, Tomo. Isn’t it better to think more thoroughly about the meaning of it?’

Tomohisa: ‘........ The meaning of purposely choosing me, huh?’

Ryuji: ‘Exactly. …… It’s true that Tomo may be an amateur in relation to scriptwriting. But doesn’t the feeling to try it out apply to both professionals and amateurs?’

Ryuji (upset): ‘If you seriously are prepared to work hard, then you ought to take this chance.’

(It may be the first time I see Ryuji-kun persuading Kitakado-san about work in such a manner. All the more as Ryuji-kun might feel that this work will be meaningful for Kitakado-san.........)

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘........ Thanks, Ryuji. You’re right, maybe I was a bit conceited here.’

Ryuji: ‘I- I didn’t say that........’

Tomohisa: ‘No, it’s fine. Thank you for making me realize. It kind of opened my eyes. It seems like the offer itself was unexpected for me and my mind didn’t catch up.’

Ryuji (sighs): ‘........ I thought so. It was unlike Tomo to find a reason to not accept even though you had an interest in the offer.’

Tomohisa: ‘Haha, it’s as Ryuji says.’

Tomohisa: ‘........Tsubasa, I’m sorry, but ignore my answer from earlier. Would it be fine if I think about the offer a bit longer? My own feelings included, I want to properly think about whether I have enough time to face the production.’

Tsubasa: ‘Kitakado-san........ Of course!’

Tsubasa: ‘These are the materials for the competitions. I will contact the other party, so please take your time to consider.’ ________________________

ーAnother day. In the meeting room.ー

Tomohisa: ‘ーーHello, Tsubasa.’

Tsubasa: ‘Kitakado-san, hello.’

Tsubasa: ‘It has been one week since then....... Did you come to a decision about the scriptwriting competition?’

Tomohisa: ‘Yes. I faced myself and........ Came to a decision.

Tomohisa: ‘I want to participate in the competition.’

Tsubasa: ‘........! I’m glad to hear that........ I thought that it was a really good chance so I am happy as well.’

Tomohisa: ‘Thanks, Tsubasa. I got excited when I read the material for the competition and was able to convince myself once again that this is what I wanted to do.’

Tomohisa: ‘Besides, it’s important for us to open up new work fields from now on I think.’

Tsubasa: ‘Fufu, I am certain that this will be a big step. If you have decided so, I need to start adjusting your schedule........ I wonder how much time you will actually need to write a script?’

Tomohisa: ‘About this…… When I read the materials I tried to write one. Won’t you look over it for me?’

Tsubasa: ‘Eh........ You tried to write a script, you said?’

Tomohisa: ‘Yes. I wanted to test to what point I’m able to write alone. I thought that it’s important to let the producer know what writings other than columns I can produce.’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘Since I jumped into the world of professionals, this much preparation and readiness is a must.’

Tsubasa: ‘Amazing........ But is it fine that I will read your script beforehand?’

Tomohisa: ‘Of course. If possible, I want to hear your honest thoughts and impressions on it.’

Part 3

(Kitakado-san’s first script........ Just what kind of story could it be.)

Tomohisa (laughs): ‘Since the theme was “Battle” I wrote a story with “Pirates” as the motif, which I associate with the theme.’

Tsubasa: ‘ “Pirates”........’

(So, it’s probably mainly intense action. ........ Oh, it takes place in Japan.)

(........Huh? There are........ no battle scenes. The “pirates” appearing in the story are at the checkpoint that’s on the sea.)

Tsubasa: ‘........ How strange.’

Tomohisa: ‘Hm? Is there perhaps some inconsistency?’

Tsubasa: ‘Ah, no........! This story is very interesting. The appearing characters are charming and the dialogue is lively. It’s possible to become engaged in the story because thanks to your stage directions the scenes naturally emerge.’

Tomohisa: ‘I see, glad to hear this.’

Tsubasa: ‘But ........ This work is different from the usual “Pirate story”, is it not?’

Tomohisa: ‘Haha, that may be true, indeed. Pirates are pirates, but I chose “Murakami Kaizoku*” as the motif.”

Tsubasa: ‘ “Murakami Kaizoku”?’

Tomohisa: ‘Yeah. When you hear “pirates” the image of a group that gloriously steals the treasure with showy swordplay and firefights comes to your mind. But Japan’s pirates........ The “Murakami Kaizoku” are a group that fights to “protect” the important things.’

Tomohisa: ‘They seem to have been a group, also called the Japanese feudal lord of the sea, that was working for the sake of “protecting” people’s lives, livelihood, and above all, the peace of the sea.’

Tsubasa: ‘So that is why they do not start a fight by themselves.’

Tomohisa: ‘Exactly.’

Tomohisa: ‘........ Modern and extreme “battles” are perhaps better suited for entertainment and entertainment for drama series. But I think “fights” aren’t not only there to mutually hurt or steal from each other. To protect what’s dear, one overcomes their weaknesses. Everyone faces this kind of “battle” everyday.’

Tomohisa: ‘I want to write the kind of story where the viewer sympathizes and is inspired, even if the time or circumstances are different, is what I thought.’

Tsubasa: ‘A “battle” that does not leave the viewer behind........ That is incredibly like Kitakado-san. This is why you can feel a soft warmness despite the heart-breaking scenes.’

Tomohisa: ‘Fufu, if it’s how you feel, then I’m happy.’

Tomohisa: ‘It’s worth writing just because Tsubasa said that.’

(To be able to produce such a wonderful script in a mere week, Kitakado-san really is extraordinary........)

Tsubasa: ‘I would like to continue reading your script without a rush, but........ More importantly, I would like to quickly submit it to the producer. I am sure it will be more than what they expected.’

Tomohisa: ‘That’s good to hear. But if this script isn’t what they wished for, then don’t hesitate to tell me, I will rewrite it.’ ________________________

ーAnother day. During a photo shoot.ー

Tsubasa: ‘Uhm........ Ah, Kitakado-san!’

Tomohisa: ‘What happened for you to be so flustered........ Wasn’t it a different location today?’

Tsubasa: ‘That is true, but there is something I need to tell you as soon as possible. It’s about the script the other day, I received a reply from the producer.’

Tomohisa: ‘........! What did they say........’

Tsubasa: ‘It was praised that the result was beyond their imagination. And they were pleased about the subject at hand, which was like Kitakado-san. Moreover, it will be adopted as a solo script by Kitakado-san, instead of a co-written one........’

Tomohisa (surprised): ‘Solo script?’

Tsubasa: ‘Yes! It was decided to make it into a drama, outside of the competition. It seems that it will be in the frame of a two hour special drama.’

Tomohisa: ‘Made into a drama........ This time everything really is beyond your expectations.’

Tomohisa: ‘But I’m incredibly happy about it. I wonder if it’s fine that there are no problems with the content of the script and to receive such a big chance?’

Tsubasa: ‘It looks like there will be some corrections needed, however, they said that they want to go with the content as it is. And........’

Tomohisa: ‘There is more to come?’

Tsubasa: ‘Yes. When the production of the drama happens, if possible, they want Kitakado-san to be involved with the castings as well.’

Tomohisa: ‘Me........ Involved in the castings?’

Part 4

Tomohisa (baffled): Is that true? I didn’t think it was possible for me to choose the actors.’

Tsubasa: ‘If you wish, they will move to make it come true as much as possible. For this reason, should you have a performer in mind, do not hesitate to........’

Tomohisa: ‘........ If so, then there’s one person I’d like to ask.’

Tsubasa: ‘Is that so?’

Tomohisa: ‘Since he’s a veteran, it might be difficult. However, when I was writing the main protagonist, he came to my mind. So I was thinking to myself that I would be delighted if he plays the role........’

Tsubasa: ‘In this case, it will not hurt if we let them know! The producer is eager to gather a good staff and performers as well.’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘Thanks. ........ How do I say, there’s a mysterious feeling I have never felt before. The world I imagined inside my head becomes reality........ The actors and actresses will bring the lines I wrote to life. They’re just ordinary letters, but I’m able to witness the moment they turn into living words.’

Tsubasa: ‘Fufu, even I am getting excited myself.’

Tomohisa: ‘Tsubasa, you also read the script, is there someone you imagine to play this particular character?’

Tsubasa: ‘Let me see, I ........ Ah, before that, I have an important matter to tell you.’

Tomohisa: ‘Hm?’

Tsubasa: ‘It’s regarding the casting, they also like to ask some B-PRO members to appear.’

Tomohisa (surprised): ‘From B-PRO, too?’

Tsubasa: ‘Yes, as Kitakado-san’s name will be listed, they want at least two other names to be listed as well.’

Tomohisa: ‘I see........’

Tomohisa: ‘........’

Tsubasa: ‘Uhm........ is something wrong?’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘Yeah........ I just thought about how it’s a bit troubling, because it’s not possible to have everyone appear, I assume? It’s a given that, no matter who I choose, they will deliver a good performance. And yet, I have to choose from them.’

Tsubasa: ‘You are right........ Choosing among the members does feel awkward. However, this is not about the quality of their acting ability. If you choose them based on whether they suit the role or not, then it should not be such a worrisome matter I think.’

Tomohisa: ‘That’s true........ Then........’

Tomohisa: ‘........But, what to do. The role that suits Ryuji this timeーー’

Ryuji: ‘What about me?’

Tomohisa (surprised): ‘Ryuji! What about the shooting?’

Ryuji: ‘It just finished. I heard your talk from the middle on....... Tomo, are you worrying about me by any chance?’

Tomohisa: ‘That’s.......’

Ryuji (sighs): ‘Haa....... As I thought. Listen, do you think I will sulk if I can’t appear in the drama?’

Tomohisa: ‘No, you’re wrong. It’s just that this work is my first script. Since Ryuji encouraged me so much....... Besides, I do really love Ryuji’s acting. So if I am choosing from B-PRO, I want it to be Ryuji after all.’

Ryuji: ‘But there’s no role for me, is there?’

Tomohisa (dejected): ‘Uh.......’

Ryuji: ‘Good grief.......’

Ryuji: ‘There must already be a set image inside Tomo’s head. You absolutely can’t stray away from it. I won’t forgive it if Tomo’s important work will be ruined by such a thing.’

Tomohisa: ‘Ryuji.......’

Ryuji (smiles): ‘And in the first place, if I was appearing in the drama Tomo penned then I’d be the leading role, am I right. The content as well must be even more refined.’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘Heh....... You’re right, When casting Ryuji, it has to be a script that was written for Ryuji.’

Ryuji: ‘Exactly. So for now, concentrate on producing good work. That’s also part of a professional’s work, no?’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘Yeah. Thanks, Ryuji.’

Tomohisa: ‘.......Say, Tsubasa.’

Tsubasa: ‘Y-Yes.’

Tomohisa (winks): ‘To be honest, when I was writing the script, there were characters for which members came to my mind.’

Tsubasa: ‘.......! Please let me hear about it.’

Tomohisa: ‘Thanks. Uhm....... This role is heroic, fun and soothing. Since he’s a moodmarker I was thinking of Hikaru when I was writing the script. As for the other role, he comes with honesty and seriousness who doesn’t hesitate to throw away his life for the sake of his comrades.’

Tomohisa: ‘So I think this role might suit Kazu.......’

Ryuji: ‘.......’

Part 5

ーDuring the drama production, at the beach.ー

Lighting staff: ‘Put the lighting a bit higher.’

AD: ‘The last location bus is arriving! With this all the performers for today are gathered!’

Tomohisa: ‘....... It’s the start of the filming, huh. From here on out we’ll earnestly start filming now.’

Tomohisa: ‘.......’

Tsubasa: ‘.......Uhm, Kitakado-san. Are you fine?’

Tomohisa: ‘Eh?’

Tsubasa: ‘No, somehow you looked stiff for a second....... Since we are shooting at the sea all day, you will be hit by the salty sea breeze. If you are not feeling well, please tell me right away.’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘I’m fine. My body is fit and healthy, there’s no problem.’

Tomohisa: ‘But, perhaps....... I’m a bit nervous.’

Tsubasa: ‘Eh.......?’

Tomohisa (pensive): ‘It sure is unusual for me, I agree. I just don’t know it myself really well, this sensation I’m feeling for the first time. I didn’t feel like this when I appeared in dramas....... Is this what you call pressure?’

Tomohisa: ‘A great number of people are working to realize the script I wrote. It’s been like this ever since this project started to move. Seeing the preparation for the shooting before my eyes now....... It looks like I came to realize this fact at last.’

(For Kitakado-san, who usually is the one who calms down everyone, to be this nervous....... It’s also a first for me. The words I should be giving at this time.......)

Hikaru: ‘Uwaah~ I’m so super nervous~!!’

Tomohisa: ‘.......Hm?’

Hikaru: ‘Did you see, leader? The actress who’s standing by the location bus!’

Hikaru: ‘When I was a child I watched her dramas in the morning, she played the mother in it!? I can’t believe there would come a day where I would be co-starring with her....... Aaaah, that makes me so nervous!’

Hikaru: ‘Leader, write down lots of letters of “person” on my hand** I will drink them! I will chug them down all at once!!’

Kazuna: ‘Calm down, Hikaru. It’s not our turn yet.’

Hikaru: ‘Uuh~! I know, but.......!’

Kazuna: ‘Hm, I do understand you though. There are nothing but talented performers around here, it’s nerve-wracking. But everyone should have the same desire to produce a good drama....... Don’t let yourself be swallowed up by the atmosphere and let’s rise together.’

Kazuna: ‘Let’s fight the pressure and move forward, just like our roles.’

Tomohisa: ‘.......!’

Kazuna: ‘Ahead of overcoming your weaknesses, there’s the future. For this reason, no matter how scary it is, even if your legs are tremblingーー You need to walk without stopping.’

Hikaru: ‘L-Leader.......’

Hikaru: ‘Uuuh, you’re so cool~! I’m mesmerized~!!’

Kazuna: ‘H-Hikaru, lower your voice a bit.......’

Hikaru: ‘You’re right! It’s the lamest to lose to yourself! Alright, I’ll also do my best!!’

Tomohisa: ‘....... Haha.’

Tsubasa: ‘Fufu....... Hikaru-kun is just as usual.’

Tomohisa: ‘Yeah. Kazu as well as Hikaru, they both are strong.’

Tomohisa: ‘I....... have to become strong, too. I can’t stay like this.’

Tomohisa: ‘If I don’t fight with the same feeling as the actors and actresses as part of the crew, I can’t deliver good work that many people can enjoy.’

(....... A dignified look. Yeah....... I’m sure he will be fine from now on.)

Producer: ‘Alright, it’s time. Shall we gather once before we start filming? Kitakado-kun, come here!’

Tomohisa: ‘Yes, I will.’

Tsubasa: ‘....... Everything is going well.’

Tomohisa: ‘Yeah, then, I’ll be going.’ ______

Tomohisa: ‘....... Tsubasa.’

Tsubasa: ‘Kitakado-san? Do you need something.......’

Tomohisa: ‘No, just....... Thanks.’

Tsubasa: ‘Eh?’

Tomohisa: ‘I’m very grateful that this gives me an environment and opportunity to continue taking on new challenges. That’s why, thank you, Tsubasa.’

Tsubasa: ‘....... You are welcome. The possibilities are limitless. Let us take on all kinds of challenges from now on as well.’

Tomohisa (smiles): ‘Yeah. Then....... I will go fight alongside everyone.’

Tsubasa: ‘Yes! Please do so, Kitakado-san.......!’

END ______________________

* Murakami Kaizoku (村上海賊): “[....] Murakami Kaizoku was the country’s largest group of pirates. Contrary to the usual activities of pirates who loot ships for money and goods, the Murakami Kaizoku’s primary occupation was enforcing order for the safety and security of navigation, and ensuring orderly trade and distribution in the Seto Inland Sea.[....]” [Source: japan-heritage.bunka.go.jp]

** Writing the letter for “people” (人) on the palm of your hand and swallowing is something like an encouragement ritual in Japan. Perhaps you might have seen it in some anime before, like Shokugeki no Soma, or in J-Dramas. This article explains the history behind this action.

#b project #b-project #tomohisa kitakado #ktkr #myps #card:2019

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yeahimaloser · 3 years

Text

Oh To Be In Love: Part 7

Summary: Being in love can be hard, but it’s much harder to be in love with your best friend, and even harder to be in love with japans number 2 pro hero.

A friends to lovers story.

Hello!

sorry this took so long! but I hope you all enjoy it!

part 1 -> part 2 -> part 3 -> part 4 -> part 5 -> part 6

Also I still plan for there to be a re-write of some previous chapters, they are just taking a bit.

Word count: 4.3k

. . .

Keigo's smile never left his face, not after he took you back to your home, driving as you two talked and joked, and not after he got back home. Not even when he felt the nerves in his face become tighter and tighter.

The whole night just felt like a dream come true, and he desperately wanted it not to end. If he could, he would have danced with you the whole night, holding you in his arms, it almost felt better than flying.

He desperately wanted you closer, desperately wanted to feel you against him again, it was a sensation akin to a drug. Your presence that was draped around him was intoxicating, the way you moved with him, he had felt like it was all a dream, like something that good could not possibly be real.

But it was, and that's what made it so much better.

The fact that you two actually danced with each other, holding on to one another. He had never felt as safe as he did in your arms, feeling you so very close to him, God, he wished he could have had you the whole night.

For a moment, he had allowed himself to dream, allowed himself to think about what it would be like if you and him were...lovers. He knew it was futile, he knew that, in the end, you and him would always be apart, never enduring in his true feelings for you.

But, he allowed himself to wonder what it would be like to feel the shape of your lips, to feel the curve of your body, he let himself imagine you and him happy together, together, and in love. He let himself wonder what it would feel like, he always imagined the electricity that would flow through him as your lips would connect, how your body would press to his as he did so. He wanted to know, he wanted to know so desperately it hurt.

Yet, he thought about your feelings, and they kept becoming so muddled to him.

Did you feel the same way? Did you love him? Did you feel that spark as you two dance under each other's touch?

He hoped so.

He sighed as he opened the doors to his penthouse, the cool, lonely air filling his senses.

He didn’t know if he would call this place home, it felt more like a storage unit more than a place of comfort. Most often he was off alone, patrolling or on a mission, and when he did come home, he was much to exhausted to dapple in the comfort of his own home. It felt too big, too lonely to call a home, when he stepped foot inside, he was reminded of one, central fact.

He was alone. He, at the end of the day, was never going to fill the house with the laughter of another person. How he felt like a bird, trapped in a ginormous cage.

It was filled with expensive furniture, lavish TVs, a giant kitchen, and a pool he seldom used. And although the house was filled with high-priced objects that anyone would be thankful for, and although each part of the house was decorated with lavish decor, to him, it felt empty. It felt like every time he came home, he was walking into a void.

There was one thing he liked about the home, only one thing that kept him from selling the place and moving out.

The view, God was it amazing.

In the morning, when the sun rose, he would see how the sun would peek above the clouds, how the light would wash into the rooms of the house, the pure beauty of it all soaking in everything around it. And as he watched the sunrise, his body felt peaceful, he felt like nothing could hurt him, like he was simply himself, watching as the sun bathed the city in gold.

And then at night, he would sit outside on his roof, just watching as the stars dotted the inky blackness, watching as splatters of color shown above him. He watched as the lights of the city below him sparkled on, twinkling below his reach. The sky itself looked so vast, so long and endless, he stared up in wonder as the black sky consumed the world around him. In those moments he let himself forget, letting himself feel free, even for a moment.

He made a mental note to show you the stars one day.

As he got ready for bed, he heard his phone ding against the hardwood of the nightstand, his eyebrows rose in mock surprise.

He opened it, seeing a text from you.

Y/N: thanks for tonight :) I had an awesome time

He smiled, remembering the way the candlelight showed against your features, the way you smiled as he danced with you. The way your body fit against his, the feel of your skin, the way your eyes shone in the late night’s beautiful light. How your hand fit into his as you danced away with him. He would do anything, pay anyone, just to relive it again.

Hawks: No problem

Hawks: Now go to bed don’t stay up all night

Y/N: whatever mom

He chuckled to himself, almost hearing your snicker.

He was about to put down his phone, tired and happy, but that’s when he got a new message.

He had expected to see your name flash on his phone, but his eyes widened when he realized the message was from someone else, someone who he knew was going to ruin the perfect night.

Commission Higher Up: Tomorrow afternoon, meeting, do not be late, non-negotiable.

Keigo sighed, knowing that his day of fantasy with you was over, and knowing tomorrow was going to be started as a nightmare.

------

As Keigo walked into his agency, he was met with the waves and greeting of his sidekicks and workers, a normal, typical day.

“Oh! Hawks, sir,” his secretary waved him over.

He walked over to her, already knowing what she was going to say, “Sir, I just wanted to remind you that you have a meeting with the head of the Hero Public Safety Commission.”

He gave her his hero-winning smile, “Oh yeah don’t worry about that, I got a message from him yesterday.”

“Oh, well, sir, that’s the thing, he just came in.”

Keigo tried his best not to let his smile slip, but he was sure his eyes were deceiving how he truly felt.

He didn’t necessarily hate the commission, they had taken him in when he was nothing but a child, they had made him become a hero. That being said, the commission was always breathing down his neck, always watching, waiting for him to slip up. There were so many rules, who he could be seen with, who he couldn’t, what he could do, what he couldn’t do. And yet, they had helped him be the person he was, the hero he was. So no, he didn’t hate them, but he knew what it meant when they came to meet with him. It was one of three things; one, he was in trouble (he knew it was very unlikely), two, they needed him to do a press interview (most likely not, he had just made one a few weeks ago), which just left option number two…

A mission.

He nodded curtly to his secretary, still smiling at her, “Thank you for letting me know, please have no one disturbed us.”

She nodded, writing down his instructions on a piece of paper as he left.

Slowly, his smile fell away, turning his face into one of cool calculation.

He prepared himself for what he would hear when he opened the door, about how most likely he would be sent away again, on some mission far out.

Slowly, he creaked the door to his office open.

He wasn’t necessarily a disorganized person, more of he didn’t find a lot of time to clean up his messes, yet, they never seemed to bother him all that much. A stack of paper was left on his desk, a few had flown off into their own space on the wood polished surface. The carpet was cleaned, and the window looking out to the city was clear and breathtaking.

But he did not have time to admire the view today.

The director had placed himself on the opposite side of Keigo’s desk, facing the door, no doubt expecting him to walk in any minute.

Keigo walked over to his desk keeping his features neutral, not wanting to give away anything about his true feelings. He was good at that,

Keigo refused to be the one to speak first, he had nothing to say. He knew the Director would seldom make small talk, so there was no need to act warmly towards him.

The HPSC director stared back at him, his face one of serious intent, “Hawks, we have a business to discuss.”

Keigo nodded, walking to sit down on his office chair, “What is this about? I have an idea, but I would prefer it if you told me. I don’t like making guesses.”

The director nodded, “We’ve had a surge of nomu attacks, and we were wondering if perhaps you had learned anything new about them?”

Keigo shook his head, all of the information he had learned had already been given to the directors, he had learned nothing.

And boy, were they up his ass about it.

He rarely had free time, his days were spent doing mostly hero work and collecting intel, working was almost the only thing he would do. He was lucky you were his one escape, the one thing he had that could help him to relax.

He felt a pang in his heart, a sadness taking over him.

If he did go on a mission, he wouldn’t see you, he wouldn’t feel you or touch you the way he did last night, he wouldn’t feel the electricity spark through him as you brushed your fingers over his feathers. The warm breath so close to him, God it would be trying.

“Thought so,” the director sighed, “well, in that case, you will need to leave almost immediately, on a mission. We need more intel and we need it soon, you’ll leave for an intel mission. I’ll message you the rest, but be ready, you’ll leave tomorrow.”

Keigo couldn’t stop his eyebrows from shooting up, “Tomorrow? So soon?”

The director frowned at his panicked and upset tone, and Keigo tried his best to calm his racing mind.

Tommowero was so soon, so quick. While it was true that Keigo had made a quick recovery from his fight, he didn’t exactly feel like now was the best time for him to be going on missions, especially when he noticed a significant amount of attacks going on near the area around his agency. And yet, he couldn’t complain, he knew this was non-negotiable.

The director nodded, “Yes, I expected you to be fully briefed on the situation. Are we in an understanding?”

Keigo bit back the reply he wanted to spit out, how they didn’t have an understanding, how he didn’t want to go on some stupid mission. But, he knew he had no real choice in the matter, he knew he had agreed to take on the responsibilities of stopping the League Of Villains. He knew the responsibilities that came with that, he knew what he had agreed to, he couldn’t stomp around now, acting like a spoiled child. He knew he had no choice but to take the mission. He was a hero, he was someone who protected others, and at the end of the day, his job took precedence.

He had worked so hard to get to where he was, if he had to work harder, that was ok.

Normally, he would have been fine going on a mission, happy even. When he had first started all he could think about was work, saving people, becoming a hero like his younger self would have always wanted. Yet now, he felt a strong pull to another sense of duty, one almost stronger than his need to be a hero...

He stood up and gave a polite bow to the director.

“Yes sir, thank you for coming in.”

The director nodded expectantly, “Good, your secretary should get my message about your next mission, pack your bags tonight.”

Before Hawks could even nod, the director had made his way out the door.

Keigo sighed, exhausted.

He knew that the director would be curt and quick, and he knew the conversation had lasted only a few minutes, which was usual. But he swore it felt like hours.

His phone buzzed, he smiled as it did. You always seemed to know how to cheer him up.

Y/N: hey hero man

Y/N: what are you up to tomorrow

He sighed as he typed his answer.

Hawks: mission

Hawks: gotta leave by tomorrow

Y/N: WHAT

Y/N: TOMORROW

Y/N: well then do you think I can come over tonight?

Y/N: nothing bad I promise

Y/N: Did they say how long

Hawks: no they didn’t

Hawks: but I’m guessing a week maybe two

Y/N: it’s settled

Y/N: I’m coming over tonight

He smiled. A well-needed break from his stress, he thought...

-----

He fidgeted nervously with the ring placed on his finger, tugging at it slightly.

He noticed he had a nervous habit of doing such things, especially when you were involved. He seemed to have a hard time keeping still in general, yet, when it came to you he seemed to worsen.

Being the fastest hero had its strange habits, this was just one of them, the need to move and to be agile at all times. A part of him had wondered if it also came from his training, the need to keep a strong guard up at all time, and to always be at the ready.

Combined with the ring he had on his finger, he had put on a casual outfit.

A nice black sweater combined with a nice set of jeans, he had to admit he didn’t know why he wanted to look nice, it’s not like you’ve never seen him in sweats and a slim top. And yet, he wanted you to remember him as looking so nice before he had to leave you.

It was around 7 pm, the time you had agreed to come over, the time he had planned.

He didn’t really know what he wanted to do when you came over, he just knew he had to see you.

Slowly, he heard two knocks at his door, he practically jumped up from the spot on his couch to open the door.

Was he that tense?

As he opened the door, there you were, a smile slowly spreading on your face, “Hey there, bird boy, how are you holding up?”

You both gave each other a light embrace, although it was very much needed.

You both walked inside his home, big as it was, with you inside he felt much more at home.

“So,” you sighed as you sat down on the couch, “you’re off on a big mission tomorrow? Do you know how long?”

Keigo nodded his head, “Yeah, about three weeks, not so long but long enough.”

You shook your head, “That’s so dumb, you just got back in after that villain attack, I can't believe they’re sending you out so soon. I wish I could give them a piece of my mind, who do they think they are.”

He smiled, your concern was friendly, even cute in his mind. He loved how you were prepared to help him, even if he didn’t deserve it.

“Yeah well,” he said as he gave a dark chuckle, “I signed up for this hero business, gotta pay the price right.”

You rolled your eyes, “That's so dumb, they should at least give you a break. And then what? You get hurt on this mission too? You come back in and have to go back to that hospital again? They’re so inconsiderate, ugh it makes me sick. I wish-”

Keigo stopped you, placing a hand lightly on your thigh, “Hey come on,” he gave you a light squeeze, “I’m the number two pro hero, I can take care of myself.”

You only huffed in response, “You can’t stand up to them? You can't say anything? Come on, I know your body must be tired.”

You were right of course, although he had mostly healed from his time in the hospital, he knew his body wouldn’t be able to handle being thrown right back into battle, just to get pummeled again.

“I appreciate the concern, sweetheart, I really do,” he smiled, “but no, there’s not much I can do.”

You shook your head, “You really can’t try? What are they going to say, they need you, I’m sure you can ask for some downtime, Hawks.”

But Keigo just sighed, “No, Y/N, there would be no point. It’s complicated, alright.”

In truth, he wanted nothing more than to drop the conversation, he wanted his last night with you to be a happy, fun-filled memory, one to look back on as he went away. He knew it wasn’t fair to you, he knew that for the next week you would have to wonder in silence if your best friend was safe or not. He knew you just wanted him to be safe, but you had to know that he was a hero, first and foremost.

“Yeah, Hawks,” you said, your tone edging, “I know. Look I guess… I guess I’m just worried,” you turned your body to face him, “I know how hard you fight, and I just wish you let yourself relax. I’ve seen you when you're hurt, you can barely sit still. I wish you could just stop moving so damn fast and just slow down and look at the world around you. If anyone deserves that, it’s you.”

You gave him a light smile, “I wish there was some way I could show you my gratitude. To show you how grateful I am to have you in my life, just like so many others. You’re so young, and yet, you put yourself out there in order to help others. I think...I think you don’t give yourself enough credit, you’re one of the bravest people I know, you do so much for people. You deserve to be happy.”

For once, he felt at a loss for words. His jaw went slack as his eyes widened.

“You don’t,” Keigo thought, only for a moment, “you don’t have to show me, I know you're grateful. I’m not a hero out of want or desire, I just have a goal, and I wanna reach it fast. If that means I have to work harder and faster, then so be it. I’ll do anything to achieve my goal.”

“Yeah, I know. You haven’t changed from that wide-eyed boy from when we first met you know.”

“What do you mean?”

You shook your head, “When we first met, you had the same goal, you had the same aspiration, it’s one of the things that drew me to you. You haven’t changed all that much.”

Keigo rolled his eyes, “Glad to know I haven't changed in all these years.”

You giggled, “Well, you certainly got much more handsome.”

He managed to stop his wings from fluffing out, they had a habit of doing that whenever you did or said something about him. It annoyed him, yet, a part of him found it enjoyable, though he didn’t know why.

Luckily, he knew how to keep his cool, “Huh, more handsome, care to go into more detail? I would love to know.”

“Nah, now you're way too cocky, before you were like a little kid, cute and funny. Know you’re just lame.”

Hawks laughed, “Lame? Number two Por hero and I'm lame?”

You laughed with him.

He looked at you, for a moment he felt as though his worries could all drift away like he didn’t have to wake up tomorrow morning and leave like he could spend eternity with you. And boy, did he want to.

“Hawks, oh my goodness,” he turned to face you again, but your eyes were glued to the outside, his balcony.

“I don’t remember you having this beautiful view, oh my god.”

Hawks smiled, he knew you would like it, anyone would.

He sat up, extending a hand to you, “Well, why don’t we go out and see it? I’ll lead the way.”

You smiled, grasping his hand as he let you up, “It looks so beautiful.”

As you two made your way outside, the cold air hit his face, the breeze felt so inviting, he almost wanted to take off and sore above the clouds. And yet, you kept him anchored down, his feet planted, his hand in yours. The way your face was lit up by the stars, the way you smiled up at the night sky. Your eyes twinkled as you gazed up as if you were memorizing each constellation in your mind.

For a moment, for just a second, he had forgotten everything that he was worried about. He had forgotten why he was so anxious, he had forgotten why he was worried, the only thing that mattered to him at this moment was you. You, who looked so stunning under the night’s light, you, who shone brighter than any star, you, who he loved.

But it all came back to him a second later, why he was going to leave, why he was out with you for the last time for weeks, why he was upset that he wouldn’t see your glowing face for days. He wanted to etch your features into his mind, he wanted your face to be the only thing he would think about for days to come.

For a moment, he let himself dream, he let himself believe that there was no mission, that it was just you two, looking up at the stars, as they showed down on your face. He let himself believe that he could stay here, with you, looking into the pale night sky, watching as your eyes flickered towards the moon.

For whatever reason, he remembered his childhood. He remembered how he never truly felt this way about another person before. How, every time you were around him, he felt his heart become warm, how he felt it in his body, that want, that need for you, reaching out with an invisible hand for you. In his childhood, there were marks of sadness that were never truly healed, the marks that would never go away, seeping into his life, even now. And yet, you made them seem like distant thoughts, you made his life feel joyous, you made him feel like he could be himself, that he could be Keigo. He had never felt so sure, so strongly about his feelings for another person before, the whole ordeal shook him, and yet, he found excitement as well. He knew that even if you didn’t return his feelings, even if you someday came to dislike him or drift away from him, he knew he would always be content with you being on the same planet with him because he loved you just that much.

“Hawks?” your voice was etched with concern, your eyes had moved back to his.

“Is everything ok? You look pretty far off,” you said.

He just smiled, “Sorry, just thinking.”

You nudged him with his shoulder, smirking, “Well? Spill, you were looking so intense there.”

He shook his head, “It’s so dumb, you’re gonna laugh.”

“Come on, I promise I won't, please,” you moved slightly closer to him.

His breath hitched when he looked back at you, seeing your eyes light up with genuine curiosity, seeing your face closer to him, so, so close.

Even if he wanted, he couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of his lips, “Thank you.”

Your eyebrows furrowed, your face becoming one of confusion, “Why are you thanking me?”

He sighed, “I don’t know, for a lot of things. For sticking by me, for helping me, for being here, I mean, I’m leaving tomorrow and you’re sitting with me when you could be off doing who knows what, but here you are. You’ve always been by my side, you’ve always been there for me. And, God Y/N, I can't express to you how much that means to me.”

He found himself taking a sharp breath, “I’ve never had a stable life before, I’ve never had just one person I can actually depend on. But with you, I feel like that’s different, I feel like I actually have someone who wants me around.”

He let out a sad chuckle, “I haven’t had that since... Jesus, I’ve never had that.”

He felt you grip his arm, “Stop it Hawks, you have no idea what you’re talking about. People love you, people everywhere depend on you. People want you around, Hawks.”

“Yeah, but,” he turned to face you, “you want me, you don’t just want pro hero Hawks, you want the real me. And I’m so not used to that. You want the real side of me, not some flimsy hero, and I just…”

For once, he felt a loss for words. He felt as though sentences could not explain what he truly felt, like all the words in the stars could not convey the way his heartbeat for you. He knew that there was no way he could ever truly help you understand the impact you had on him.

The weight of it all felt like so much.

Before he even knew what he was doing, before his brain could even catch up to his body, he was moving in, the space around you two closing. His breath becoming cool and concise, his hands placed firmly on your hips. You didn’t move away.

His lips feel on yours.

He had kissed you.

. . .

sorry for the clif hanger :) I hope you enjoyed!

Hawks Taglist:

@under-the-clouds @shylesbiannerd @blue-peach14 @roko-ppk @1small-frogs @m-ray20 @assassinslittlesister @starrygoblin @afuckingunicornn @weepinginternetrunaway @chick3n-nugget @portgasdelisa

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cafedanslanuit · 3 years

Text

♡ f l u f f v e m b e r 2 0 2 0 ♡

♡ week one — kageyama tobio | long-distance relationship

♡ summary — getting into a relationship with kageyama was close to impossible, that you knew. nevertheless, that didn’t stop you from developing feelings for him and eventually becoming more than friends. he was constantly training and didn’t have a lot of time to spend by your side, but once kageyama found himself remembering your laugh on his way home, he decided to do whatever it took to make the relationship work.

♡ playlist

the moon song - beabadoobee & oscar lang home - bruno major blueberry eyes - max & suga

♡ masterlist ♡

Every morning, Kageyama wakes up at the same hour. He puts on his running shoes, grabs his phone, keys and earphones and hits the streets. It’s been his routine since he started playing volleyball. While he ran, Kageyama preferred to keep his mind focused in his steps, the weight he was putting on his heels and toes, his heart rhythm and his mind replaying the sets he had done the day before. He didn’t see running as something he did before he trained, but as part of the training itself. Kageyama was very adamant against listening to music or a podcast during his morning runs.

Everything changed after he met you.

Kageyama puts on his earphones and goes through his mail inbox. Like most days, he sees your name on his most recent unopened email. He downloads the audio attachment and presses play before shoving his phone back to his pocket.

“Good morning Tobio!”

His lip twitches upward.

“So, you must be sleeping right now. Which sucks! Because I just got home from work. Yes, I got safe, don’t worry. Mika and her boyfriend dropped me at my place right now. Remember Mika, my coworker? Yeah. Hey boyfriend always picks her up when we have shifts until one in the morning and they drive me home. I’m kind of tired right now.”

Kageyama hears a long yawn on your side, followed by a thud that he imagines it’s you laying on your bed.

“Let me put on some music,” you say, and a few seconds later he listens to a tune he thinks he’s heard before. “Today’s classes were just okay. I got a grade back but it wasn’t what I expected.”

“But, what can you do?” Kageyama mouths along with your voice.

“Work was also okay. Mika and I spent most of the night talking, she had had a small fight with her boyfriend and asked me for advice. It wasn’t really a big thing, you see…”

The next few minutes, Kageyama listens to you ramble about your friend and her boyfriend, but he has to admit he is paying more attention to your voice than what you were saying. He imagines himself watching you talk and the expressions he had seen you make the first time he had seen you. The tip of your tongue sticking out between your teeth after you laughed at something you shouldn’t have laughed about, the slight pout on your lips as you talked about something you didn’t like or the attentive way your eyes fixated on him while he talked about volleyball.

“Anyway, I know you don’t really care about this,” you say. “But it’s really nice to imagine you listening to me talk during your morning runs. Is it already cold there? I hope you put something on if it is. Not trying to tell you what to do. I know you, more than anyone, take your health very seriously, but I guess I can’t help but worry,” you chuckle. You stay quiet for a moment, and Kageyama basks in the comfort your silence provides.

His mind goes back to those Sunday nights when he’s watching past games on his laptop while he’s face timing with you. You are usually taking a cup of coffee, trying to forget you’ve only slept five hours after getting home from your shift at the bar. You know he has to get to bed in a couple of hours so he can get enough rest for this Monday practice, so you treasure those small moments when the time difference and both your busy schedules let you share a moment. Kageyama’s eyes are fixated on his laptop and you take the opportunity to revise some of your lessons, most of the time finding out there was a paper due next week you had forgotten about.

Every once in a while you take a look at your phone and see Kageyama’s dark eyes glued to his laptop. You bury your nose on the Schweiden Adlers hoodie he sent you last month and even if your boyfriend’s smell has almost completely worn off, you still find comfort in wearing his clothes.

When Kageyama comes back to his house to get ready for training, your voice is no longer in his ears. You always made sure not to surpass the usual time he spends running. He takes a look at the dual clock on his phone and realizes you must be still in class, so he refrains from sending a text and hops on the shower.

The fourteen hour difference between the both of you had seemed like a wall impossible to climb. Not only that but his intense training schedule plus your uni classes and your part time job also took most of your energy and it was a rare occurrence that you could sit in front of a computer at the same time.

But the connection was something he had never experienced before. He had been invited to a foreign university overseas for a tournament. The day before it started, the team had gone to the campus to get to know the facilities, and after they were done, Kageyama had left them to buy something to drink from a vending machine. Not being able to find any, he asked for directions and took the elevator to the cafeteria, not noticing someone carrying a couple of books under their arms standing next to him.

Now it seemed almost fate to remember how the elevator malfunctioned and he had to spend the next two hours with you. After pressing the Emergency button and being told it would be a while, you introduced yourself with a smile. He wasn’t really enthusiastic about getting to know each other but it all changed after he mentioned he was there because of a volleyball tournament. Kageyama can still remember your eyes widening and the questions that followed, all centered about his true passion. A few minutes later, you were sitting on the floor of the elevator, while he explained in broken English every position in volleyball and what they were supposed to do. Even though you hadn’t played any sports seriously outside of school, the fact this guy was talented enough to get invited overseas to play had spiked your attention, and you asked question after question so you could understand more about volleyball.

“So the setter is basically the key player, right?” you had asked, while he scribbled on the notebook you had lent him so he could explain.

Kageyama tried not to smile. He really did.

After you asked him about the tournament schedule and wrote down the name of his team, you promised you would do your best to make it to the game. Kageyama had never really cared about people coming to his games to watch but, once he had won the first game as was leaving the court, his eyes unexpectedly met yours and he saw you waving at him for the bleachers with a smile. He nodded at you and as he disappeared through the gym door he thought maybe someone going to see his games wasn’t so bad.

One week later, Kageyama’s team had won the tournament, and since you had asked for his number while waiting inside the elevator, you offered to buy him something from the cafeteria after the final match. This time, he took the time to listen to you ramble about your career, and how enthusiastic you were about it. He didn’t understand most of the things you talked about, most of your words sounding foreign and new to him. But the one detail he did recognize at first glance was the way your pupils dilated while you spoke. Your hands moved faster than usual as you tried to explain, and you even used the salt shaker on the table as a prop to help you out. The glimmer in your eyes was the same nature as the burn he used to feel in his chest whenever he talked about volleyball. You promised to stay in contact and gave him a small but tight hug when it was his time to leave. He hoped you didn’t notice the pink tint on his cheeks before you went away.

Your love confession came two months after he was back in Japan, followed by the longest and hardest conversation the two of you had ever had. He explained his strict training schedule and you talked about your university increasing the hardness of the classes you took and how little time you had left. A long silence filled the room, and you realized maybe you should have kept the confession to yourself. It was never going to work. There were too many impediments so maybe it would have been better to push down whatever you felt. In the end, you two weren’t supposed to meet and--

“I’d like to try it.”

You can still remember the blush on his cheeks and furrowed eyebrows after blurting out those words. You smiled brightly at him and nodded, enthusiastically.

“I’d like to try too.”

It had been one year and six months since then. To find someone who not only understood his crazy schedule but was passionate about their own work felt surreal to Kageyama. Your plan was to finish your career in your home country and then move to Japan. You had been auditing the Japanese classes at your uni and taking a part time job to be able to support yourself as you settled in a new country. All of those changes meant less time to be able to talk with Kageyama as much as you did before. He assured you he understood, even if he would never admit out loud he missed you as well.

The situation prompted you to find other ways to feel close to him, hence why Kageyama woke up almost every day with a new audio file from you. You went from talking about your day to making him listen to music and even took the chance to practice your japanese. His English listening skills had also gotten better in the past year, all thanks to talking with you and how you would slow down your pace and repeat yourself if he ever needed to. While you recorded your audios after work, he usually recorded his after practice while he walked home from practice. Even if he was always a little worried about the length, you always made sure to send him messages about how happy you were to hear his voice while you ate your lunch or walked to your job after your classes.

Kageyama finishes his shower and comes back to his room. He gets ready in less than ten minutes in silence, knowing he doesn’t have any time to spare if he wants to get to the practice in time. Winter break is a month away, and he wants to give his best before he’s forced to step away for a couple of weeks. He has never liked holidays stepping in his routine, but he knows there was nothing he could do but endure and wait for his training to resume.

Before he leaves, Kageyama checks his phone again and opens the newest email.

Congratulations! Your flight booking is confirmed.

Okay, maybe he is looking forward to winter break after all.

#kageyama x reader #haikyuu x reader #fluffvember #fluffvember 2020 #kageyama tobio #kageyama tobio x reader #hq x reader #hq kageyama #kageyama #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #hq!!

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sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

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Jellicle Songs: Order of Introduction

So, the Cats wiki says that, though Munkustrap always gets the first line of the show, the rest of the opening lines in Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats can go to any character. But, I’ve noticed that there are a few different patterns that different types of productions use, and that most productions after 2002 use the same one.

Now, there are some lines that almost always go to the same characters, most of them in the first and second verses:

“Are you blind when you’re born” is always Munkustrap’s line.

Outside of the Broadway Revival, Demeter always gets “Can you see in the dark?”

The next two lines go to Skimble and Asparagus, though they can go in either order.

The next three lines go to Chorus Tugger, Alonzo, and Babygriz.

The second verse is also almost always the same. It goes: Jellylorum, Coricopat, Jemima/Sillabub, Chorus Deut. Newer productions have Coricopat and Tantomile say both of their opening lines together instead of each getting a separate one.

In older versions, where the twins aren’t in unison, Tantomile opens the third verse.

“Familiar with candle” is always Jenny’s line. Sometimes Victoria sings it with her and sometimes she doesn’t.

“With book and with bell” is where things start to get complicated:

Pattern 1: London Version

There is a clip of a rehearsal of this number in London in 1993 or 1994, a few years before the VHS was done. Though the VHS is mostly London-based, the line distribution differs wildly from what was probably still the order onstage in London while the VHS was being filmed.

Now, for the sake of clarity, I’m going to define what the verses are here. The first and second verse are easy to divide, because they’re both followed by a chorus. But, there’s no chorus between the third and fourth verses. I consider them two separate verses, because the melody repeats.

“Can you ride on a broomstick to places far distant?” opens the third verse.

“Are you mean like a minx? Are you lean like a lynx?” opens the fourth verse.

There are a few lines in these verses that always go to the same character:

“Are you Whittington’s friend?” is Bomba’s line.

“Were you there when the pharaohs commissioned the Sphinx?” is Cassandra’s line.

Not even the Broadway Revival, which seems to delight in breaking from tradition for the sake of it, changes this.

Now, back to the London Pattern.

The lines that differ are:

“With book and with bell”

“The Pied Piper’s assistant”

and every line following it until Cassandra’s line at the end.

So I don’t have to retype entire lines over and over, I’ll nickname the lines:

Book and Bell

Pied Piper

Heaven and Hell

Mean Minx

Lean Lynx

Keen to Be Seen

In London, but the early 90s, and in London-based productions, the order is:

Book and Bell: Admetus/Plato

Pied Piper: Rumpleteazer

Heaven and Hell: Mistoffelees

Mean Minx: Mungojerrie

Lean Lynx: Usually Carbucketty/Pouncival, but this can also go to Bill Bailey/Tumblebrutus.

Keen to Be Seen: Traditionally Etcetera, though the line usually goes to whichever cat will be swinging on the trapeze. In the original London production, that was Etcetera. Most productions don’t include Etcetera (what is wrong with these people?), so the line gets passed around. Productions that include Electra will usually give the line, and the trapeze, to her. Productions that don’t include either queen kitten usually give the line to Bill Bailey/Tumblebrutus, but he’s sometimes switched out with Carbucketty/Pouncival.

The VHS only has two of those lines follow the London pattern. There is a reason for some of this, however. It can mostly be explained by:

Pattern 2: Broadway Version

There’s actually a surviving video recording of the original Broadway cast singing Jellicle Songs on YouTube. A lot of the lines are said offscreen, but I’ve been able to piece together who probably sang what based on other Broadway-based shows that followed the same pattern.

Book and Bell: Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. Now, the original Broadway cast cut these characters, so what they most likely did here was have Carbucketty and Etcetera, the two characters who were cut when Jerrie and Teazer were added, sing those lines. In the Mexico and Buenos Aires versions, both Broadway-based, Jerrie and Teazer sing the lines and you can hear two voices in the Broadway clip. This is probably where they got it from.

Pied Piper: Mistoffelees. I rarely find productions where this line is said offscreen. Misto is a camera magnet.

Heaven and Hell: Plato

Mean Minx: Pouncival

Lean Lynx: Victoria. Only London-based productions had Victoria be completely mute at this time. Others gave her a single opening line to herself, and then nothing for the rest of the show.

Keen to Be Seen: Tumblebrutus. Like with Etcetera, he was the original trapeze cat.

The VHS used the Broadway pattern for Misto’s line only. The VHS Misto was played by Jacob Brent, who was playing Misto on Broadway at the time. Fergus Logan, who was playing Misto in London at the time, played Tumblebrutus in the VHS, which is why he gets Heaven and Hell in that version and that version only. Both actors were given the opening lines they used onstage.

The VHS didn’t borrow anything in the opening from:

Pattern 3: Vienna Version

But, I’m talking about it anyway. Since we have a full recording of the Vienna production and two productions based on it, we can observe that most of the line distribution in the three versions differs from both London and Broadway, but are identical to each other.

Jennyanydots says the entire “Familiar with candle? With book and with bell?” by herself.

Pied Piper: Pouncival. This one was really hard to figure out, because he only sang the line onscreen in the Zurich bootleg, which wasn’t zoomed in. Vienna and Paris, both professionally shot, didn’t show Pouncival saying the line, instead focusing the camera on Mistoffelees. In Broadway-based productions, which these technically are, Misto got this line. But, Vienna-based Mistos are mute. Misto is more officially mute than Victoria in these productions, though Zurich Misto does say “Old Deuteronomy?” at the beginning of that number. He can speak, but he can’t sing, and there are very few spoken lines in the show. In Vienna and Paris, he’s completely mute and has to mime to the twins so they can speak for him.

So, since Misto is mute, Pouncival, usually played by his understudy, says his line while Misto is the one attracting attention to himself.

Heaven and Hell: Plato. This didn’t change from Broadway.

Mean Minx: Tumblebrutus. Now that Pouncival has Misto’s line, Tumble steps in on Pouncival’s line.

Lean Lynx: Victoria, also unchanged from Broadway.

Keen to Be Seen: Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. Mute Misto created a domino effect of line changes. Pouncival gets Misto’s line, so Tumble gets Pouncival’s line, so Jerrie and Teazer get Tumble’s line, so Jenny sings both her line and their line.

Outliers:

I’ve mentioned the Broadway Revival being weird already, but the other standouts are Hamburg and the VHS. Hamburg and the VHS are the only productions to give Teazer the “Lean Lynx” line. Having Jerrie and Teazer have lines that play off of one another is so obvious that I’m surprised by how rarely it happens.

Also, Teazer was offscreen when she said her line in Hamburg. I’m not entirely sure if it was her. Either Victoria has Book and Bell and she has Lean Lynx, or Teazer has Book and Bell, which she normally shares with Jerrie, and Victoria has Lean Lynx, her usually Broadway line. I actually couldn’t tell, so this might not even be a thing.

The main VHS outlier is Electra with the “Book and Bell” line. I haven’t seen any other production do this and it probably wasn’t what London was doing at the time. The way they’d arranged everything else, you would think they would’ve given the line to Plato. You’d also think they’d give Pouncival Lean Lynx. Perhaps they wanted to try something new, and giving Jerrie and Teazer these lines works too well for no one to do it.

These Modern Productions:

First, because Broadway and Vienna had Jerrie and Teazer share a line while Coricopat and Tantomile had separate lines, and newer productions have the Psychic Twins sing their lines together, there’s an interesting reversal. Earlier shows put emphasis on Coricopat and Tantomile as separate characters, while sometimes having Jerrie and Teazer act in unison. In newer shows, the opposite is true. And the opposite is always true, because nearly every production uses the London Pattern.

I went through my entire bootleg/pro-shot collection and searched the Cats wiki and YouTube for clips from other shows to compare as many Jellicles Songs as I could find. Around half of them are from the era between 1981 and 2002, when the original London production was going, while the other half are from after that.

Japan and the Broadway Revival broke from tradition to such an extent that I couldn’t factor them in. Japan has its own traditions and the Broadway Revival saw itself as a reset of the show, so it tried to be as different from what came before as possible.

Hamburg and the VHS are also outliers, but they have more overlap with other productions than the above two. The above two are the only versions to have a character other than Demeter get the second line. They break from any pattern immediately. Hamburg and the VHS mostly keep their pattern-breaking to the third and fourth verses.

So, the Older Productions are:

London

Broadway

Vienna

Paris

Zurich

Mexico

Buenos Aires

Hamburg

The 1998 VHS

US Tour V (Though all the bootlegs are from 2005 or later, it was still a Broadway-based production that started up in 2001 as a continuation of the original Broadway)

The Newer Productions:

London Revival

UK Tour 2013

UK Tour 2016

Berlin

German Tent Tour

Madrid

Moscow

Dutch Tour

Out of the Older Productions, only the London production used the London Pattern. Broadway, Mexico, and Buenos Aires all used the Broadway Pattern, with Hamburg also doing a very similar thing. Based directly on Broadway, US Tour V also used the Broadway pattern, despite being newer than the other versions in this category. The VHS was a hybrid of London and Broadway. Vienna, Paris, and Zurich used the Broadway pattern

London: 1

Broadway: 4

Vienna: 3

Other: 2

There’s a fair amount of diversity with a slight lean towards the Broadway Pattern. The productions that use the Broadway Pattern exactly are all from the Americas. Different regions of Europe have their own variations.

As for the newer productions, excluding the Broadway Revival, they all use the London Pattern. Every single one of them. Three of the productions are from the UK, so that’s to be expected, but the pattern is now everywhere. Berlin was partially based on Hamburg and started in 2002, right as the original London was closing, but it uses the London Pattern. Other German productions followed suit, taking more inspiration from London than from earlier German language productions. The first production in Dutch, Amsterdam, was Vienna-based, but the Dutch Tour is London-based.

Honestly, I’m kind of disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with the London Pattern or London-based productions, but do they all have to be like that? I’d prefer for there to be some diversity. The Broadway Revival provides that, since America always has to be different from everyone else, but I honestly don’t like the Revival arrangement. In earlier versions, each line went to a different character, while the Broadway Revival gives some characters multiple lines, leaving characters who’d normally have lines with nothing. Skimble has his line, but he also gets Keen to Be Seen. Jellylorum gets both her line and Jenny’s line. Sillibub gets her line and Lean Lynx. Munkustrap has three lines to himself.

So, though I appreciate the Broadway Revival for giving us something different, I wish it could provide a good different

tldr: Every production in the western world is either London or Blankenbuehler and that’s a bit boring.

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tl-notes · 3 years

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Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon S2 Episode 10 Notes

I’m extremely not an expert in birds, but I tried to look these up to see if they were a species native to New York (since they’re similar to the sparrows we usually see around Kobayashi’s place). Apparently there are few similar-looking species in New York? My totally uninformed guess is that they may be house sparrows.

The sun sets in Japan relatively early (probably around 6:30pm when this episode takes place), which would make it entirely plausible that if she just flew east (with a slight northward angle) she’d find herself over New York in the early morning while most of the rest of the country is still dark.

These bumpy grey pads at the pedestrian part of the intersection here are known as (among other things) tactile paving; they’re to assist people who can’t fully rely on eyesight to get around.

Interestingly (imo), they were actually invented in Japan in the 60s (by a Miyake Seiichi), where today they’re extremely ubiquitous. They even show up later this episode!

They’re often referred to in Japan as 点字ブロック, tenji (Braille) blocks, and they tend to come in two types: the “dot” design, which indicates a place to stop (or an angle change, or more generally “caution”), and the “line” design which indicates you can safely keep going. They’re generally colored yellow in Japan, ideally making them stand out more to help people with impaired vision find them, and are mandated by law in most places public transport can be found (among others).

Not really a translation note, but “deer cola” felt especially funny in the context of all the horse medicine stuff.

I guess “[animal] [drink]” is a common branding device in-universe, given the crab beer Kobayashi’s always drinking.

Also not really a translation note, but the difference between how “hard” Kanna and Chloe are running to be at the same speed was a nice animation touch.

遊んだ遊んだ！ asonda asonda!

One feature of the Japanese language is a very heavy use of repetition. This includes “reduplication,” a linguistic term for creating words by repeating a root (e.g. a “boo-boo” in English or the dara-dara example below in Japanese), but also just like… saying the same word multiple times, as Chloe does here.

Typically this is done for emphasis or to help increase clarity: if you’ve worked in a Japanese office, you’ve likely heard someone in a phone conversation say desu desu in response to someone asking for confirmation.

This acceptance of repetition sort of extends beyond the obvious uses like this as well: for example, personal pronouns are much less common; instead (if the subject isn’t dropped) you’ll often just use the person’s name again. You’ll notice similar trends with other types of words as well.

Not to mention the ubiquity of things like otsukare.

This often ends up being a challenge for translators, because reusing words in English (when it’s not for an obvious reason) tends to stick out rather unflatteringly, even if they aren’t that close together.

(Like when I overuse “hence” in these notes.)

This “Christ” in the Japanese was “ったく” (short for 全く mattaku, but just used as a semi-generic exclamation). I mostly bring this up because it’s a good example of a word that doesn’t work out of its cultural context; e.g. it wouldn’t make any sense for a fantasy character to say “Christ,” but since this is an American speaker it works just fine (and helps distinguish that fact, even).

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but English uses a lot of “explicit reference” words like this, that can break immersion if put in the mouths of characters who wouldn’t have exposure to said reference—which can be annoyingly limiting when trying to write dialogue sometimes.

As a bit of a culture shock for a lot of Americans I’ve met, most Japanese homes tend to have wall mounted air conditioning units, like this one, that are only for heating/cooling the one room they’re in. (Many also have a “Dry” setting that makes them act kind of like a dehumidifier as well.) It’s common to not have them in every room, like bedrooms, however.

This is in contrast to the central air conditioning system used by a majority of homes in the US (though type/use of AC in the US varies a lot by region; less common in the north for example)—and places like the UK where apparently residential AC units of any kind are quite rare.

You may have noticed that the doors between rooms always seem closed in Kobayashi’s apartment. That’s not just to make the backgrounds simpler, it’s also a good habit to keep if you’re going to be running the AC!

“Kobayashi, are you お休み today?”

“Yeah, お休み.”

お休み o-yasumi, is a noun form of the 休む yasumu, to rest. The word has a variety of applications, as we see here. A day off work/school, i.e. a rest day? お休み. Want to say “good night” to someone before bed? Also お休み.

In this case, it’s not even necessarily clear it’s being said as a pun; as mentioned earlier, repetition is a common feature of the language, so despite the yawn there wouldn’t really be any reason for Kanna to think Kobayashi was about to go to nap or anything.

“Laze about” here is だらだら dara-dara, another phenomime (擬態語 gitaigo in Japanese)—one of those words that mimics the “sound” of an idea/concept/state, which don’t actually make a sound per se.

These phrases aren’t necessarily childish or anything (overuse of them can be, but you can find them even in news articles and political speeches for example). They are, however, used frequently by children, and by adults talking to children, as they’re very “easy” words: they’re expressive, they capture useful daily-life concepts, and they usually roll off the tongue. You’ll notice, for example, that Kanna uses them a lot.

Kanna has a very interesting way of talking actually, which I’ll touch on a bit more later.

Kobayashi’s “bean jam” here is あんみつ anmitsu, a traditional Japanese dessert (technically a spinoff of mitsumame). It typically is a mix of red beans (and/or red peas), agar (an algae-based gelatin equivalent), some fruit, some variety of rice flour product (shiratama in this case, similar to mochi), and a syrup (often black sugar based).

You can find it year-round, but it has a strong summer association and is even used as a summer season word. (It’s typically chilled and you can often get it with ice cream as an ingredient.)

It’s also sometimes paired with a green-tea flavored something as well (e.g. ice cream, agar, or syrup). The trinity of green tea, red beans (aka azuki), and shiratama makes what I like to think of as the “Japanese S’mores Flavor (for Adults)”. No I will not elaborate on this.

I will though point out the shaved ice flavor Kobayashi ordered later in the episode:

え？今スイカ様子あった？

A word of note here for language learners is 様子 yousu, which has a lot of definitions, but in cases like this where it’s attached to a noun or phrase means roughly “the appearance of __” or “an indication of ___” etc. In actual use, it typically means something that makes you think of whatever ___ is—or the lack of something that would make you think ___.

For example here, it’s like “Watermelon? Where’d that come from?” (since the TV was talking about a different dessert-y food entirely).

Or an unrelated example: “I think that guy is hiding something” → “Really? I haven’t seen any yousu of that.” In other words, it can be a lot like “sign,” as in “I’ve seen no sign of ___.”

These color-bordered envelopes (originally colored based on the flag of the country of origin) used to be the standard for air mail, domestic or international, though they haven’t been required for several decades.

That said, they’re still popular for that “ooh, international mail!” feel (at least in Japan) and you can buy them at most places that sell stuff like envelopes. As here, they’re often used in media to immediately convey that a letter came from outside Japan.

Kanna (and Kobayashi) says エアメ��ル, lit. “air mail” in English, which is used colloquially for international mail specifically, rather than “mail sent by plane.”

They’re having what’s called 冷やしそうめん hiyashi soumen, chilled/cold soumen for lunch here. (Soumen being a thin wheat noodle; udon but thinner.) As Kanna says, it’s very easy to make!

Basically you just boil it, wash it in cold water, add ice, get some sort of sauce to dip it in, and you’re done! It’s a popular quick meal in summer, and much easier than the more involved nagashi soumen setups you may have seen elsewhere, where they slide the noodles down a chute for you to try to grab and eat. (It’s basically the same meal aside from that though.)

(You can of course add more to it, but as we see here, you don’t really have to.)

The type of tea here, for the curious, is 麦茶 mugicha, barley tea. Mugi is the general name for cereals/grains including wheat (komugi), barley (oomugi), rye (kuromugi or rye mugi), and oats (enbaku or oat mugi). It’s incredibly common in Japan (and much of East Asia), where it's the household summer drink.

It has no caffeine like many other teas, and has a bunch of various nutritional benefits, so it’s considered a good way to stay hydrated as you’re sweating buckets in the muggy Japanese summer weather.

帽子した？ boushi shita? した！ shita!

I thought this was a cute way of phrasing this question/answer, and a good example of the “parent and their young child” way these two talk.

The suru (past tense shita) verb used here is the ultimate in “generic verb,” and it basically doesn’t get any simpler grammar-wise to phrase something as “noun+suru” like Kobayashi does here (even the particles are dropped).

Kanna, for her part, doesn’t respond with a “yes” or etc, but instead just repeats back the verb itself in confirmation.

Just to note another one of those words like dara-dara: bura-bura, used for things like wandering around, doing something (or nothing) casually/aimlessly, or (with one bura) for something dangling/swinging in a more literal sense, like a spider, slack yo-yo, or wind chime.

These booklets are a common homework assignment for practicing kanji; you can see along the left side there it shows the stroke order, with the first block giving an example to trace over & showing where to start each stroke.

Each character is made up of radicals (e.g. “hot” above: 日 and 耂), which each have a standard way to write them. There’s 214 such radicals (though many are pretty niche; only about ~50 of them are needed to make most characters), and once you get a hang of them it makes learning new characters much easier (not too different from learning word spellings in English imo).

Kanna is repeating out loud the reading for the “hot” character as she writes it.

In addition to the above workbooks (which usually involve both kanji and math problems at Kanna’s grade), elementary school summer homework in Japan typically involves doing an illustrated diary (not a daily one necessarily) and some sort of research project about a subject of your choice. (Think kind of like a small science fair project).

The “research” project part is pretty expansive, and you can typically even do something more arts & craftsy for it.

Manhole covers in a lot of Japanese municipalities feature art representative of the area. For example, the city of Chofu, where the author of GeGeGe no Kitaro lived most of his life, has several with art of that series.

(Photo from https://www.gotokyo.org/jp/spot/1734/index.html)

I mentioned earlier that Kanna has an interesting way of speaking. Probably a better way to put it is that she has a pretty convincingly childish way of speaking (despite the monotone). That is, she uses simple grammar and “easy” words most of the time, but then throws out random big words and fancy idioms from time to time that make you go “...where did you learn that?”

In this case, the phrase she uses is 巷で人気 chimata de ninki. Chimata originally means like a fork (in the road), and since those are often places with lots of people passing through, it expanded to mean “the undefined place where people talk about ~stuff~.” So it’s used for “many people are saying~” or “word on the street is~” types of situations (or “talk of the town,” as here).

It’s kind of an “adult” word though; for example the character for it isn’t included in the jouyou kanji (the 2000+ that are taught in elementary through high school). Hence Kobayashi’s reaction here.

The word she uses for “protected” here is 死守 shishu. The word is the combination of the characters for “death” and “protect,” ~meaning to protect something even at risk to one’s life (to the death, as it were).

It's a word that you learn in third grade in the Japanese education system—the same grade Kanna is in!

Both of these types of signs are common sights in residential areas like this: depending on where you live, it can feel like there’s always some sort of construction project going on, and Japan’s many family/individually-owned businesses like this tend to be closed on various extra days during the summer (and certain other times) to allow for time off.

In this case, them being closed August 12th~16th implies they’re taking off for Obon (and probably leaving town to visit family).

The word Kobayashi uses here is 風物詩 fuubutsu-shi. Fuubutsu refers to something that makes up part of the “scenery” of a place or season, in a pretty broad sense. This shi typically means “poem.”

So fuubutsu-shi is originally a type of poem celebrating a season or a scene of natural beauty, that sort of thing. From that, it’s also now (more popularly) used to describe things that are representative of a season; the kind of stuff you say “it’s not winter until…” about, or “you know it’s summer when…” (It can also be used for places + seasons, like the ice sculptures of Hokkaido winters, or even summer Comiket in Tokyo.)

They’re very similar to the season words I’ve mentioned previously, though they’re far less strict about what counts as one. Here, Kobayashi’s could be referring to the whole package experience of “having to take cover and wait out a sudden heavy rain, despite it being mostly clear skies a few minutes ago,” which you could call fuubutsu-shi (summed up probably as like 夏の雨宿り etc.)

In contrast the relevant season word here would probably be yuudachi (or niwaka-ame), a word referring to the short, sudden bouts of rain that tend to fall (from cumulonimbus clouds, the makings of which are noticeable in the backgrounds before this) on summer evenings.

Feels like in season one she woulda eaten it. Three cheers for character growth!

The parentheticals there are just the “English” in hiragana/katakana.

Kobayashi’s comment (nihongo de ok, roughly “you can just use Japanese”) is an internet-born term people originally would use to reply to someone who said something that didn’t make any sense, had terrible grammar, or was so full of katakana loanwords it was hard to read etc.

Kanna says this line in English, and while I have no proof at all, my guess is that the specific choice of “wicked” was taken from the translation of “maji yabakune?” used in season one.

#maidragon #Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid #kobayashi-san chi no maid dragon #translation notes #anime

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papers4me · 3 years

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Fascinating concepts in Golden Kamuy Manga ( part 2)

In part 1, I listed 3 concepts that I find intriguing in Golden Kamuy ( GK), I provided short explanation of these concepts but due to issues of space couldn’t provide more examples. The previous 3 concepts were: (1). Broken men of war & death, (2) Fun dynamics & journey companion does not equal close friendships, & (3) Perspective is where characters are truly at. In total I have 9 concepts but intend to post 3 at a time. So, here we go~

4. What breaks men of war: ( emotional ties)

in my previous post, I’ve mentioned that these men of war are not fazed by death & some are even obsessed with it. goldenkamuyhunting has kindly added that they are affected by the death of those whom they’re emotionally connected to, and provided examples. very true. However, I want to look at this concept from another perspective. As much as the constant brush with death has hardened their hearts & stole chunks of their humanity, all the characters are still human. Their humanity isn’t mostly displayed in how they treat strangers/ enemies, or men on the other side, it is presented on how easily they crumble down once you press the right button: their loved ones. They have strong emotional ties that can break them down, even now after they’ve become so drenched in blood. These ties are mostly connected to ppl who are the reason of their current perspective or their past selves. Sugimoto, the ruthless, breaks down in tears at the memory of toraji, at the idea of failing Yumi, at the thought seeing Asripa become like him: a killer. These emotional ties break him into tears & self loathing frenzy. Sadistic Nikaidou not only mourn his brother, but becomes a shell of a man, delusional, erratic, addicted to drugs & hollow. Tsukishima, Tsurumi’s right hand who kills with no hesitation, becomes all sorts of mess at the thought of Igogusa: anger, tears, loss, despair, explosive rage, self-loath coupled with low self-esteem. Tsurumi himself, the man who fondly remember running thro rain of blood, was so affected by the murder of his wife & daughter to the point of not being able to restrain himself. (many examples) but the point is, I applaud the writer for not going the path of writing these characters as emotionless hard cold blooded war veterans. They have emotions & can break into sobs. You might think they’re unable to form new emotional ties, but some can, sugimoto formed healthy independent ties with shirashi! But the issue is not the new ties. The real issue is these men of war not yet dealing with the old emotional ties from their past. Those ties are eating them from the inside. The pain is still raw!

5. Excellent portrayal of unstable psyche:

Some of these men, due to the past emotional ties, have developed unstable thinking & deep troubling thought process & reasoning coupled with the ugly brutality of war. Other writers will simply write men such as Tsurumi or Ogata as mad guys, crazy & lunatic. But Noda chose a deeper more logical & intriguing approach. Their behavior shows elements of unstable & deeply trouble thinking; little boy Ogata poisoning his mother & Tsurumi’s infatuation of being a soul snatching shinigami. What they have done is unexcused & cannot be corrected. However, they are not mindless lunatics. Both characters are mysterious & rarely allowed to have inner monologue abt their true goal. Both play on different sides & have gone through some personal journey to solidify their nihilistic belief. Both goes even deeper into the depth of seemingly unstable thought process. Ogata, lacking family love, questions the concept of pity, mercy & compassion. Embarks on a journey to prove that he’s not alone in feeling no guilt over human death. That his tragic thinking is not up-normal. Other ppl exist like me. ppl other than weird Usami. Nothing is wrong with me, so father should accept me. So tragic. Yet Ogata even with this unstable thinking is portrayed as smart with analytic thinking, skilled, seemingly not swayed by manipulators & very perceptive! Same goes for Tsurumi, extremely manipulated, cunning, intelligent & sweet talker, but was shown as a loving father as he held his daughter in his hand in most of his Japanese language teaching scenes with wilk in Russia. His family’s death deeply troubled him & changed him into the monster he’s currently is. Obsessed with their bones. Not mourning them yet. His position as the story’s villain adds to this but in a very balanced way. There are more examples, such as Usami & a number of the tattooed convicts. But the point is the writer treats the characters as human, who are capable of unstable obsession & thinking, yet can display normal behavior & excellent logical thinking as well.

( btw: I’m not putting any character with the same scale as the other, or saying they’re equal or identical. They are NOT. I’m simply looking at a ting aspect from their behavior in light of the concept they share)

6. No heroes:

I duno abt you. But I don’t sense that this is a story of a bunch of alliances saving the day against the big baddie. I could be wrong tho. But this story has sth that is lacking from most stories, which is: each side have winning points as much as loosing points. Meaning each side has arguments that can lead to their logical success as much as arguments that sheds some light on the holes in their plans. Even the argument that says minority groups should have their own land with their own culture, while very just in concept, the application is quite complicated. A group of ppl with no strong army sitting on a land of rich resources won’t be left alone by other nations. It never happened in the real world, & while GK is fiction, it is safe to say that Noda is aware of this as he made Tsurimi himself point this out in ch,271. Even if the minority groups get their land, they can’t preserve their own culture if they continue their old ways without adapting into new generations & without reaching out to the outside world. Once again Trsumi pointed this out while talking abt japan itself. I duno how Noda plans to solve this. But This is not even exclusive to the Auni/Japan/Russia situation. Again, the story itself is way bigger than that. Each character is not even the hero of their own story. Asirpa’s trauma of finding herself shouldering the burden of an entire culture while struggling to have a normal selfish goal like any normal girl. Sugimoto becoming her body guard while she solves an issue that he himself isn’t that much interested in! he just wanted her to be happy. More importantly he wants her to NOT be like him. Living thro Asripa while he should be trying to figure out his own path, rather than looking for salvation thro the innocent angelic Asipra or becoming a human skinning tool to get the money for Ume’s eyes treatment when she herself never asked him to! Tsukushima, desperately trying to believe that there’s at least some bigger picture good for following Trsurmi, that all the years of blood stinky hands can mean sth, somehow, in the future, so may examples. But I love the concept of grey characters so dearly, no heroes, no angels.

Disclaimer:

I know my explanation for each argument & each concept & the examples I provide can be misunderstood. But I assure you that each time I provide an example, I’m looking at a tiny aspect of a deeply complex & intriguing character that cannot be summarized into one or two concepts & is bigger than to be compared to other characters as well. Each concept is shared by a number of characters but with different approach, level & reasoning behind it. If I want to discuss a certain character in depth, I’ll do that in a post dedicated for them alone.

Lastly, This is just a fraction of my personal opinion abt the story & characters. I’m not claiming this is how they are truly written or this how Noda intended it or even that you should share my thoughts. I just think this manga is so darn good & rich with fascinating characters!

#Golden kamuy #Saichi Sugimoto #Tokushirō Tsurumi #Tsurumi #Sugimoto #Hyakunosuke Ogata #Ogata #Hajime Tsukishima #tsukishima #nikaido #manga #Fascinated paper

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