#Sei: i didn’t say /that/—by the twins i’m so sick of you

[border-spam]

Everything, and far sooner than Tyreen was ok with, mostly because Troy is so weird.

Ty had given her a basic breakdown on the twin’s first night on her ship once Sei got a drip into Troy and it was clear he wasn’t on death’s door anymore. The buggy ride back to her ship had been terrible, not knowing these kids yet hadn’t made hearing Tyreen’s wracking sobs or the rattle of Troy’s lungs any easier. She’d done her best to focus on driving, tuning her hearing to the crunch of the scorched dust under their wheels, and away from what the girl was saying to her brother as she leaned over him in the back seat. Ty was whispering as she braced his head on her lap, reassurances and mild threats that he better wake up, and Sei would have smiled at the love being showed if it wasn’t so personal. Listening in felt... intrusive. There was a very real chance he’d not be alive by the time they made it to her dock, she’d let Tyreen have this time with in private. It was between them, not her. She was just the fool who hadn’t sense enough to turn down a stray girl's pleads for help, and Sei was sure she was going to regret it.

Once he was finally stable hours later, she’d insisted the girl level with her. The amount of charity she was willing to offer strangers was nearing its limit, it was time for Tyreen to justify why Sei should continue being hospitable when she’d done what she’d been begged to, now that Troy was going to make it. Ty slumped on the floor next to the wall cot where he slept, and sniffled between tears that they weren’t from Pandora. That they hadn’t been prepared for any of this and how quickly things had gone wrong. She’d said all she had now was her brother, whimpered through hiccups that she’d nearly lost him too because she hadn’t been able to help when he got sick, and promised she’d pay her back somehow if they could stay just a few more days. Sei had sighed, rubbing at her forehead tiredly as she felt a headache mull behind her eyes. Painfully aware that two dirty, sick kids with nowhere to go and no one to fall back on were people she’d never be able to forgive herself for turning away, she’d told Ty just to go to fucking sleep. They’d discuss it tomorrow, and that she hoped Tyreen was aware just how lucky she really was to have run into someone stupid enough to give them a chance... that they would need to earn their keep.

That dynamic became the norm even after Troy woke up. Ty did all the talking, while Troy said nothing for weeks. His fearful silence around her in the crew quarters or the way he’d pretend to be asleep and refuse to make eye contact had left Seifa worrying he may be mute; a real possibility considering how often you’d come across folk with selective communication on Pandora. When she brought it up with Ty eventually, she laughed, then waved her hand dismissively. Nah, he wasn’t mute, she’d scoffed. He was just an awkward tool.

Sei would hear them discussing things in muffled voices behind closed doors, but he remained silent around her, eyes wide as he’d pick at the threadbare hem of his sweater and nod yes or no responses politely. 

She would never have thought it would be him that would tell her everything.

Ty had opened up plenty in those first few weeks, especially once she’d decided Seifa could be trusted after not changing how she treated either when Troy’s Siren status had been noted by the medic he’d needed. Tyreen had been adamant at first that they couldn’t trust doctors, that letting anyone know what she and Troy were would be a deadly mistake, but Sei had sworn her “friend” would keep them both under wraps and helped the younger woman understand her brother needed help. She’d been right, Troy’s condition had improved, they hadn’t been sold to a corporation, and Ty blossomed into being genuinely chatty instead of suspiciously reserved.

A happy Tyreen was all confidence and NO subtlety, she’d make huge broad statements like how they were from a “A little backwater planet, oh you wouldn’t have heard of it...” whoever she learned it from was a rampant bullshitter who relied on being boisterous, not believable, and Sei would smirk as she sipped from her coffee, nodding along with Tyreen's clumsy attempts to lie about how they moved here to be stars, taking notes on what she'd need to teach this woman if she was going to have a chance. “Stars...” she’d replied, the twinkle in her eye betraying her amusement at the entire scene Ty had just worked so hard on, “Stars don't wear pants with the asses near tore out of em, Tyreen. You got a lot of work to do, and you gotta start from the ground, love." By the end of the month Ty was raring for opportunity to get off the ship, while Troy was just about mobile, still weak enough to not be able to stand for long. It had been painfully clear his physical condition was poor, the virus that had nearly killed him in their first week on the planet would have been shrugged off as a head-cold by most natives, but weeks later and you could still hear the rattle in his lungs and see the tremor in his hand. Ty had been accompanying Sei on small trade-offs, chores, sales approaches, and was confident enough to beg for the chance to run tasks alone. Said it was a ”Great opportunity to learn the ropes!”, insisted with practiced charisma that it would help teach her to handle herself around Pandorans, and Seifa had wholeheartedly agreed. She’d been on an errand planet side, picking up some carbon buffers from a friend of a friend when Troy had finally spoke.

He’d arrived silently to the table for the meal Sei had called into the cabin quarters to let him know would be up soon, and sat slumped, staring down at the food while Seifa tried to fill the heavy quiet with idle chatter as she prepped her own. ”Any word from Tyreen yet?” -silence, just the brush of cloth behind her as he shifted in his chair- ”She’ll be fine you know, been doing great with me, natural liar! Plays them like cards, heh-heh” She’d turned to sit with her meal and paused mid step as she saw the state he was in, at the exhaustion in his expression as he awkwardly hunched over the little table. He looked shattered, scruffy hair framing the dark rings under his tired eyes, staring quietly at the untouched food in front of him. Sei decided it would be worth gambling a different approach as she lowered herself into her seat.

“Ahhh.. sorry Troy” she’d sighed, resting her cheek on her hand as she leaned on the table and tilted her cup towards him in apology. “I’m boring you, huh. My company must be pretty terrible then, I’m getting rusty...” He’d turned quickly at the theatrically melancholy in her tone and fidgeted as his eyes flickered between hers and the plate in front of him, clearly alarmed and unsure how to respond. She waited, lifting the cup to hide her smile as the massive man in front of her squirmed like a child, before he finally stuttered out a choked:

“N-no. No. It’s not you. You’re .. fine.” There it was. Now they were getting somewhere, he’d taken the bait exactly as she hoped. Looks like letting others down was a weak-point, and she stored that away mentally for the future. 

His voice was softer than she would have expected, crackly from misuse and a still raw throat, but it was something. Now she had to get him to keep going. She’d flashed a friendly grin at him, eyes narrowing as she beckoned with a finger for him to continue. He’d turned to the food again, and his shoulders sunk as the worry on his face was replaced with the same sadness from before, hand shaking slightly as he rested it by the plate. “It’s n-not you. It’s the food. We... we had something like this at home..” He’d paused for a moment then, looking to her shyly for reassurance that it was ok to be talking to her at all, and when he was met with a nod and gentle smile, he started again... and did not stop for half an hour.

Everything. Things she would never have imagined asking about, things someone else would consider intensely private, he spilled in one long, shocking monologue. It felt like he’d been bottling this for god knows how long, and she hadn’t had a clue how to respond as she sat next to him, trying to keep her expression blank and hide how disturbing the things he was calmly explaining were to her.

Leda, Typhon, Nekrotafeyo, the accident with Tyreen, how dad had just thought him a freak but become overwhelmingly controlling and smothering of Ty after mom, how sick he’d been, how she’d tricked him into coming here and he should have known better but he never seems to learn, how hungry he was deep in his bones all the time, how he desperately didn’t want to be here but can’t leave, how much he loves his sister but doesn’t know what to do, everything.

He’d spoke till his voice was cracking and hoarse from misuse, and that was the only thing that had stopped him from continuing, coughing quietly as he stared at the cold food. If Seifa’s reaction was something he noticed, he wasn’t phased by it, and she’d sat in the terrible silence next to him, struggling to think of what the hell she was meant to say.

“That’s rough, buddy.” wasn’t going to cut it. There was no way she could have been prepared for everything he’d just shared so freely, like it was some mundane chat between close friends and not the kind of secrets a normal person would have the self preservation to know not to blurt out to a near stranger. Words were failing her, so she awkwardly extended a hand and rested it above the hollow of his shoulder, stroking her thumb over the ridge of his collarbone in a comforting gesture, and hoped that any kind of reassurance she could offer right now would lessen how vulnerable the moment was. He’d not reacted, still gazing down at the untouched meal, then timidly cleared his throat and shifted his eyes slowly to meet hers from under his brow. “I.. I don’t think I can eat this” he’d whispered as his voice hitched nervously. “I’m going to go back to sleep. Thanks though.... S-sorry again.” He’d stood and nodded gratitude to her, before quietly lumbering out of the room she remained sitting in shock in, the cold coffee still in the cup held by her mouth. Tyreen had a lot of explaining to do when she got back, and Sei didn’t make it easy.

Asks are Open!

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #bl3 #troy calypso #tyreen calypso #calypso twins #leech lord #seifa #sbsart #my hcs #my writing

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: No Color Baby

Title: No Color Baby (ノーカラーベイビー)

Author/Artist: Okuda Waku

Release Date: 2019/01/31

Cast:

Kumagai Kentarou x Saitou Souma

Itou Kentou x Saitou Souma

Itou Kentou x Sakai Koudai

Synopsis: Mashiro is beautiful, flamboyant and… loose. So what happens when spurned by his sometimes-lover, he meets a serious-looking guy who wants to treat Mashiro well…?

Review Proper

Been a long time comin’, No Color Baby! and all my other BLCDs I still haven’t reviewed Man, No Color Baby came out around the time that Yoidore and Kashikomarimashita, Destiny: Answer did, and I loved it because Daichi was up there with Sei-san and Kudou in the get you a man category. It’s a shame that it was so short, though. If we would have been given two volumes, then No Color Baby could have lived up to the hype I had over it. 😂 Ngl, I was pretty disappointed that we didn’t get an in depth look at Daichi’s life and more development for both their feelings because their feelings feel a bit shallow to make them have a relationship of that level that fast. We do have an extra that shows a little of Daichi’s thoughts in the Dear+ bonus, but it really didn’t sell it enough for me.

I know I shouldn’t compare them, but if Ogawa Chise was the one who made this, I think they’d put this all together better. But well, this is Okuda Waku’s first official tank, so I can forgive them for that. I hope Itonaga-kun is doing well as well as Anti-Alpha even though I have a huge feeling that they’re both going to end up in depression and or mind break. 😂 Geez, if Okuda Waku is really Ogawa Chise’s older twin sister, I really want to have a chat with their parents.

On the topic of the voice work, damn, Saitou Souma really be out there doing the maximum! I can’t believe he started this year like this! 😌 Bless. And omg? I listened to Utsukushii Kare before this and this was way different from the tone he used there, Rakka Ryuusui, and Theo! Goddamn! I haven’t listened to Itoshi no XL Saizu and Yoidore yet, but I’m all set on giving him the title of 2019′s Best Uke!

Kumagai Kentarou, on the other hand, did not disappoint! HE’S SO WEIRD! Listen, didn’t I say in my review for Ookami wa Kowakunai that he sounded like Ono Yuuki there? Well, HE SOUNDED LIKE MAENO TOMOAKI HERE WTF?! What is he? A chameleon?! I’m scared! But that’s the thing. If there’s one thing that I had an issue with on this BLCD, it’s the casting. Kumagai Kentarou did the best that he could, but he’s really not a good fit for Daichi. 😢 Try as he could, he didn’t grow on me. Again, I loved Daichi’s character, so I was very disappointed with the casting. Maeno Tomoaki’s range is so much lower than what I had envisioned Daichi to sound like. I know y’all might be sick of hearing me say this, but Katou Masayuki would have been perfect for the role! 😂 You have to understand that that man is Mister-Get-You-A-Man himself! If not Katou, then Shingaki Tarusuke since Daichi is, to an extent, Hara-san and Shizuma-kun’s predecessor. JESUS CHRIST, JUST LET SHINGAKI TARUSUKE VOICE ALL GET YOU A MAN SEMES. 😂 Satou Takuya could’ve filled those shoes nicely, too. Did they not have a budget for them? Cause that album cover sure is a clear sign of that.

As for the extras, Itou Kento did a pretty good job here as Kyouichi and I’m surprised that his voice fit that role well. I see that he’s improved as a seme, but Shiro ka Kuro ka which was recorded later than No Color Baby shows that he still has aways to go as an uke. Sakai Koudai needs more training imho. He’s a little stiff and he over-exaggerates. Nothing that time can’t fix, though, so good luck to him. 

Overall, we had an almost perfect plot; off the mark casting, but nevertheless, great voice work and chemistry; and it’s pretty loyal to the manga, so I guess it was an okay adaptation. *sigh* I was looking forward to this ever since it was announced, but the hype just died down. I probably wouldn’t be this disappointed if this was just a stand-alone BLCD, but the plot overall is in such a dire need for better execution. Sad.

#blcd reviews #blcd 2019 reviews #no color baby #fifth avenue #okuda waku #kumagai kentarou #saitou souma #itou kento #sakai soudai

[dracula-in-purple-story]

Pride Month 3/3 [BONUS]

Pride Race is almost dunzo!

Author’s Note : All of this is ENTIRELY NON-CANON. I’m still working on my writing skills. Thank You and Enjoy, hopefully.

Hachi is going to admit, Pride Race is definitely fun. With all those games there are going to happen once in a lifetime, he’s going to miss it so much. 

The Obstacle Race is a wild one. Tres running through the course with traps activated once a few second, Marina planned a total chaotic plan with the underground participants; Huit panicked through her course with limited dirt.

~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean we are the last one out, you little...” 

“Calm down, Miss Hime.” Marie smirked as she gestured towards the other teams who finished the maze, “If only your team is fast enough to figured out the route, maybe you would come here first.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Musical Maze, a total brain explosion. They took a lot of time figuring out the entrance, especially with all different music is playing around them. Pearl accidentally triggered a trap switch, making a piano piece to appear on the wall. If it wasn’t for Marina to press the right key, who knows what happen? When it was designed by Marie Cuttlefish herself.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Erm...A4?” Huit pressed the box on the provided gadget. Few seconds, the cannon right behind her shot off to the other side of the wall in front of her. One loud boom and her desired box was ticked as correct. 

“Yes!...Uh oh.”

~~~~~~~~~~

He never did miss Battleship. Not one bit. Playing as a ship piece in the middle of the sea is definitely not what he would like at all. Sei, that lovable sadistic, had the nerve to laugh it off when Hachi got blasted off from an opponents’ cannon ball. They make up and kissed afterwards.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tres chewed as she tried not making faces. She got to admit, she want to drink at least few drops of water but she can’t risk it. Not when her unlucky teammates got eliminated by eating... those dishes. 

“Coddamn it, Callie.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The Spicy Food Test is the best! He never knew the surface would offer so much food, from different country too! The best one he love the most would be Monster Meaty Burger from Coralphin, a country he know only from the travel article that they have the most dangerous animals contained. If only he have a passport to travel.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you guys ready for the last game of the week?!” Fior screamed enthusiastically in the microphone. Groups of both participants and audience cheered and shouted loudly. 

It’s finally the last game of the event. Teams are getting restless, especially when they don’t know about how much points they earned. They got too immersed into the games that they forgot to count them.

Hachi is very nervous. He knew he should be. So are the rest of Team Cephahook. The last game is quite weird in all ways. Why his tiny gremlin girlfriend would ask all the teams to wait until seven o’clock in the night, separate them into this gigantic stage, a huge box just sitting right beside where they stand, and wear a thermal goggle. He doesn’t understand until he turned to look through the box, “Oh no... she didn’t!”

“Participants!” Fior’s booming voice came out of the speakers. “Please don’t attempt to take off your thermal goggles. Looking at you there, Tressy love!”

Hachi is sweating a lot. He don’t want to know that this is true. They can’t be this cruel, would th-

“Today, we are going to play Balloon Kart Race!”

They can be this cruel, Hachi dreaded as the box started to lifted up to reveal a kart and three balloons attached to the back. Sei and Fior are, after all, behind the design of a freaking Bloblobber and its Deco counterpart.

“If you guys play the classic Mario Kart games, you definitely know how to play this! If you do not know about them, let me broadcast you the basic rules!”

Suddenly, the goggles were switched to a blank screen, leading to his lovers and Squid Sisters appeared. 

“Balloon Kart Race is a type of game mode in the Mario Kart. Basically, you drive your Go-Kart around until you spot a person. And then, bring out the big guns we install beside your seats and aim for the balloons! Pop all three balloons to ensure total elimination! Points would be given for that.” 

“Remember those extra special goggles we designed for you guys? Not only they can showcase your team points and rankings, they are also there to hindered your eyesight to identify foes and friends alike! Good luck!” Sei chuckled as the screen switched back to the normal ones. 

Hachi grimaced as he mounted on his Kart. Did he mention he was bad at this game? “I’m going to deny affection from them if it’s the last thing I do.” he falsely swear it before the speaker blast the Mario Kart Race Start Intro, seemly to mocked him.

Hachi twitched irritatingly as he drive through the place. First thing first, he’s going to avoid all people as fast as possible. He don’t know how to aim to save his life. Luckily, the ladies of his life are not called the Queen of War and Dead Splat for nothing.

“Wowie! Tres Perdere from Team Cephahook managed to eliminated Madam Spikers and Lady Susan from Team Sun Spark!” Callie enthusiastically announced. From Hachi’s goggles, his team moves to the top of the ranking.

“On the other side, Huit, from Team Cephahook too, totally lives on her name, Dead Splat! Mercilessly annihilated Bella Smith from Team Smith Cousins in one shot!” Marie continued, “Looks like this cause a commotion to all her cousins. They are shooting everywhere!”

Right after she said that, he heard shooting right behind him. “Holy Zapfish, please have mercy on me...” Hachi prayed as he pressed on the accelerator hard to its limit for maximum speed. 

It happened so fast. One minute he’s debating whether or not should he avoid the Kart completely and the next thing he knew, he crashed into another Kart. Balloons are popping everywhere and he didn’t care anymore as he pressed his gun button.

~~~~~~~~~~

“This is going haywire!” Fior exclaimed, “Due to Team Smith Cousins’ frantic shooting, so many teams have been wiped out by either their foes or friends! We have three surviving teams that had yet to be annihilate!”

The big screen in the Audience Area showcase the teams that have survived so far. Team Coral Royalty with their lesbian sea anemone and straight ally inkling, Team Biter Bikes with their panromantic killer whale, and lastly, Team Cephahook with their asexual inkling.

Hachi is a little bit worried, no, scratch that. He’s freaking worried. Not about Tres’ skills but her current situation. One balloon. She was known to rushed into the battlefield without a decent plan. The other teams have either two or one balloons left. The map shows they are close to each other, too close for comfort. He believes in her. His team too, especially Huit who looked up at her.

“Ooh! That’s a sad elimination for Yuuto Akabane from Team Coral Royalty! His teammate popped his balloons without realising!” Sei announced as he continued smiling all wide. “And look what we have over there!” 

The screen quickly relocate its focus to the centre of the stage. Tres is racing in circle along with the Biter Bikes killer whale. “They are not shooting at each other but... they are talking?” Hachi jaw dropped. Their badass girlfriend, terrorise anyone and even her teammates, is not attacking?

~~~~~~~~~~

“Listen, kid.” the panromantic killer whale demanded the inkling girl who almost pressed her gun button. “We only have one balloon each. Thea have two. What do you say, girl? Gang up on her and pop her balloons.”

“What do I gain from this?” Tres squinted at him, distrust in her eyes.

“I act as a decoy. Probably would get pop as a result.”

“You don’t want to win?” 

“I want to win but... that sea cow pushed me in our second day.”

“Okay, don’t back out unless you are being a sea chicken.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Suddenly, those two competitor dispersed into different ways. Unless the twins are being paranoid, he noticed Tres is smirking devilishly. 

“Oh no...” Huit trembled. Even their lovers on stage either gulped or sweated heavily. Hachi wiped his sweat on the forehead before muttering out, “She’s on rampage mode.”

Marina widened her eyes in shock before watching the screen. Pearl is not fazed at all. “Great! That would make our victory much more quicker! It’s totes obvious!” She grinned widely.

Thea Wallace from Team Coral Royalty have no idea what’s gonna happen as she encountered Shafi Rijaya from Team Biter Bikes. She’s aiming and shooting at him like crazy. As it goes on, dodging bullets and shooting balloons, Tres flew out from their left side, literally Kart flying, aim and shoot Thea’s balloons, and landed. After she saw Shafi’s balloon haven’t popped yet, she did the honor.

“Would you look at that, folks! Tres Perdere, Queen of War and previously known as Monster Rookie, pulled off that sick stunt! Isn't that amazing, Marie?” Callie squealed while jumping around in excitement. Marie fawned beside her, speechless beyond words.

“We would take that as a yes, Marie!” Fior butted in while watched the recording of her badass girlfriend doing that cool stunt again and again, with Erek and Sei beside her. The crowd were roaring and chanting Tres’ name over and over again. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you think we would win?” Huit nervously asked. It’s the final day of Pride Race, the result day. Yesterday, her lovers were discussing and calculating the points with the Squid Sisters in the living room intensely, nodding or shaking their heads in the middle of it.

Pearl, as confident as usual, snorted as she glanced up to her figurative daughter. “Why don’t you relax a bit? The results have no set time, you know?” 

“But Mama! I don’t want to lose.”

“Neither did I. That’s why we are going to relax! Because there’s no way we lose!”

“Okay... Big Brother, Tres? Where do we start first?”

Audience, fans and participants are buzzing around excitingly. The stands around them are full with delicious junk food, thirst-quenching drinks, fun mini games and small stage to promote albums. Hachi scratched his head before answering, “Why don’t we hang out with the rest of our lovers? It’s been a while since we had a proper group date.”

The girls nodded in agreement as they shuffled through the crowd. Huit almost got lost before Tres and Hachi held her hands tightly. She smiled at the appreciation as they finally reached the stage. Sei is frowning really hard as he type on his laptop. Erek and Fior seems to be quite carefree as they blabbered around and have small pecks to each other. 

“Leaving out on us? My, cheeky lovers you two~” Hachi chuckled as he let go of his sister’s hand and join them. They started to joked around and make some small kisses between them.

Tres shrugged as she dragged her shy girlfriend towards their tall boyfriend. They were a little bit disappointed that the laptop screen shows weapon datas instead of the Pride Race results. 

“Hey, lovelies.” he glanced at them sleepily before returning his focus onto the screen. He never had much sleep that night, the girls could tell. His pansexual coloured tentacles started to fade out to his natural green, constantly rambling and swearing softly, and squinting around even over large texts. Tres couldn’t stand it and decided to manhandled him with inhumane strength while Huit, seems to understand, saved his drafts and shut down the laptop. Sei groaned tiredly, “What do you two do that for...? I have to give this data to Sheldon before the next Splatfest arrived...”

“You had done a lot, Sei Sei. Why don’t we join the others and cuddle for once?” Huit grinned before winked at Tres, who carried him off the chair like it’s nothing and dumped him on top of the others. 

“Hey, what was tha-” the short inkling yelped before squinted closely on the poor boy’s laid out body, “Ooh, Sei! You could have told us before you launched yourself to us, you big goofball~” 

“Heh, it’s not intentional but I’ll keep that in mind, Fi.” he sat up and stretched his muscle before pulling the rest of the girlfriend squad on top of him. “Now that we are all here, cuddles anybody?”

Erek and Fior squealed as they launched themselves into the pile. Hachi puffed before turning into his octo form and squeezed into them.

~~~~~~~~~~

The contestants are bursting with excitement and nervousness. The results are here! If one team win this race, they are going to receive 50 Super Sea Snails each member and able to create the next Pride Race games! 

“Let’s cut to the chase!” Fior emerged from the stage. People are shouting everywhere, most of them are begging for the results to come out. Sei shakes his head slyly as he projected thirteen group names to the gigantic screen on the stage that didn’t reach Top Three. Most teams are either consoling their upset teammates or just disappointed. Sei grinned, “I congratulate those teams who at least make some effort, but too bad. You’ll win, next time.”

“Oh cod, our team are not in there! We made it to Top Three!” Huit skipped around her lover and brother with uncontrollable excitement. The two of them smiled fondly at her. She always so work up over small things, but it makes her weirdly cute. 

“And now, let us announce the winners and runner ups! From the third place, we have...” Erek spoke clearly as he read his cue cards, “...Team Diss Squad! Congratulation!” Fans of Diss Pair and ex-Squid Squad members in the Audience Area cheered like thunders as their idols walked up to the stage and received their 25 Super Sea Snails each. The vibrant colours of their non-binary, bisexual and pansexual identity shone even brighter as they smiled, or pouted, for the cameras.

“Second place, we have... Team Gender Crisis! Congratulation!” Group of transgender, non-binary and gender-fluid sea creatures strutted up to the stage and posed dramatically for the cameras as they received their 35 Super Sea Snails each. 

“WE WIN!” Marina and the octo twins are squealing excitingly while Pearl fist bump with Tres. “BOOYAH, BABY!”

“Finally, our first place cause excitement to our obvious winners over there... Team Cephahook!” Audience cheered even louder than the last two teams for both their news broadcaster duo and the famous League members as they walked up (run for Hachi and Pearl) to the stage and received their 50 Super Sea Snails each and the permit to create games for the next Pride Race. 

“This would be one of the most memorable moments of my life!” Hachi thought happily as he smiled widely for the camera.

#Splatoon #My Splatoon Story #draculainpurple #Agent 96 #Agent 4 #Agent 3 #Agent 8 #My OCs

[r-ultrazul]

From BF to YASHA, Yoshida never changed.

[This article contains heavy spoilers of YASHA and Banana Fish]

[There're two bonuses at the end of the article. Please jump straight to the end if you only want to know some interesting facts (also with spoilers).]

[As I’m not a native English speaker, sorry to make you tolerate possible language problems.]

===========================

After reading YASHA, I realized how it inherits part of BF’s theme. Basically, it picks out the “mirrored” relationship between Ash and Yut-Lung, then elaborates it with the story of a new pair of characters: Sei and Rin. They are artificial genius twins (genetically modified) raised in very different conditions, which results in their different characteristics, like the two faces of the god Yasha. Other settings are very similar, such as conspiracy involving Japanese and US government, Chinese underworld forces, secret experiments, and beautiful but dangerous prodigies…

Here I try to explain the inner connections between the two series, and how YASHA further elaborates some of Yoshida’s main interests while creating stories and characters. It also talks a little bit about Eve’s Slumber, YASHA’s sequel. (There’s no full English translation of Eve yet so I haven’t read the full story.)

1  The objectified children

Many of YASHA’s core concepts can be found in one of BF’s extra stories, “The Private Opinion” (thanks for the translation here) which tells how Blanca met Ash for the first time and became his tutor. Published in 1996 (YASHA started in 1996), it serves as a bridge between BF and YASHA.

1.1 The objectification of a child. In the short story, the primary job of Blanca was not taking care of young Ash. It was a "project evaluation," to see if Ash was worth working on. If Ash failed Blanca's evaluation, Dino would send him back to his ill fate without hesitation. Here we understand that Dino didn’t train and educate Ash because of love (which was not clearly explained in the original story). It was out of utility as if he was treating a product.

It's also how Amamiya Kyoichiro treated Rin in YASHA as his adoptive father, who raised and Rin as a tool instead of a son.

1.2 The artificial genius The short story reveals some of Blanca’s past. He was chosen as a child prodigy when he was young. After 15 years, only 18 out of 300 children survived, Blanca being one of them. Thus he tells Dino: “To artificially create an elite – that’s a saying of utter nonsense in the first place. Mankind isn’t strong to such an extent.”

However, YASHA is precisely a story about the “artificial elites” and the problems they bring about. Sadly Blanca never appeared in the story, so we don’t get the chance to see his reactions about the matter…

2 The unqualified fathers

Although Yut-Lung and Rin are portrayed as opponents in the stories, they are not the real antagonists or villains. The “delinquent” fathers are the real villains in both stories.

Yoshida has a strong tendency to portray negative fatherhood. Even in her early work, “Kawa Yori mo Nagaku Yuruyaka ni (Longer and Softer Than River)” the absent father is the one who ruined the protagonist’s family and got him to where he is. In BF, we see at least 3 characters that claim to be the “father” of Ash: his biological father, Papa Dino and Max Lobo, and two of them are not doing a proper job. Eiji also comes from a family that the father is not functional (in "Fly Boy, in the Sky," his father has been sick for a long time so young Eiji was under a lot of stress, and Ibe was the one who helped him to get through.

In YASHA, things become even more apparent. We are presented with several unqualified fathers.

Amamiya Kyoichiro, the adoptive father of Rin, is basically a milder version of Dino. He is not a pervert, but a “control freak” who treated Rin as a good product. He isolated Rin from all others since childhood to prevent him from “wasting his talent” and uses him for his own goals. Once he found out that Sei was “better”, he would dump Rin without hesitation, which left Rin in utter desperation.

However, what makes the character even more interesting is his cowardice, not his power and wealth. Kyoichiro suffered from the violence of his own father - a tyrannical patriarch - for many years. The bravest thing he ever did was trying to get married with Hisako (Sei’s adoptive mother) without his father’s permission. For him, such “rebellion” or “sacrifice” gave him the right to control Hisako as if she owed him a debt, making the woman run away and steal baby Sei from the laboratory. Later, when Rin was abused by his father, Kyoichiro didn't dare to intervene. Because of his cowardice, Kyoichiro turned from a victim to a perpetrator, causing Hisako’s death and Rin’s twisted personality.

But, being the initiator of many tragedies, Kyoichiro kept doing what he believes to mean love. He tried to clone Hisako because she was “the perfect woman”. He was willing to offer Sei anything only if the kid went with his plan. And, like Dino, he finally gave his life to protect Sei (Rin), making him another complicated, mixed character. Love or possessiveness, who knows.

The fathers of the main supporting characters are no good either.

The father of Takeru (Rin’s partner) impregnated his mistress as his wife was infertile. Then he brought little Takeru back and let his wife raise him, causing the break-down of two women and the abused childhood of Takeru.

Ken’s stepfather was responsible for the suicide of his little sister.

The father of Raymond Goldberg was a violent pedophilia, and Raymond grew up to be exactly like him.

……

Among them, Takeru’s father was the only one who realized that they must stop passing on the tragedy to the next generation, which somehow helped Takeru escape from destruction.

Personally, I feel that all these things make the ending of YASHA even harsher than BF. When Ash fell in the eternal dreams in the library, his soul was saved and filled with happiness. But Rin was staring at something that never belonged to him till the very last moment of his life, paying for somebody else’s mistake that had twisted his fate even before he was born.

3  The unconditional love

Love is another theme that Yoshida portrays in both BF and YASHA. What she keeps emphasizing is that the highest love is always “unconditional”. It’s something very close to “godly love”. It’s the way Eiji loves Ash, and the way Hisako loves Sei. Sei’s uncle Dr. Arisue, and his childhood friend Toshi also love him that way. “Love you whatever you do.” “Trust you under any circumstances.” – It’s a bit different from romantic love. In my personal opinion, that’s perhaps why Yoshida tends to deny the category of “BL” for BF, even stressed that Ash and Eiji’s relationship was “non-sexual” in “The Garden of Light”.

What would happen if people can’t love unconditionally? Perhaps the answer lies in Takeru’s question: “Why do people so easily become demons?”

They just shouldn’t ask for anything in return.

===========================

Bonus 1:

It’s definitely not a good idea to be the protagonists in Yoshida’s works. Because they leave us, somehow, in some way, even in the next story.

As a main supporting character, Sing Soo-Ling is the luckiest guy. He lives through all three stories and even has a son (named Lie, with Ibe Akira).

Bonus 2:

According to the interview in the Official Guidebook of Banana Fish, Yoshida said that Blanca was initially designed to be a woman. She wanted to draw an affair between female Blanca and Ash, but the idea was stopped by the editor. (Thanks for the translation here.)

This is her illustration of female Blanca (photo by me):

In YASHA, she finally got things done. What a persistent author… And that scene between Sei and Ru-Mei leads to the story of another sequel, “Eve’s Slumber” .

Fin.

R 2019-2

#YASHA #akimi yoshida #banana fish