#but anyways i always compare his japanese and english voices

[lowkeyremi]

I'm home (Sakusa x inferred blackfem!reader)

Content: Reader studies abroad in america and has finally come home to see her volleyball bf <33

thank u for almost 400 followers, honestly i have no idea why u guys follow me lmaoo

No cw just fluff

"Are you sure he misses me?" Those pretty acrylics you got done before leaving the states tapped your phone as it was pressed up against your ear. 

"How many times are you gonna ask? He's your boyfriend, so you of all people should know he misses you. Badly. It's always "I wish she were here", or "(x) more months until she's home." He's always talking about you." Motoya scolds over the phone, you're standing by the baggage claim waiting for your suitcase to appear on the conveyor belt.

"Don't give me that attitude, you're his cousin, which was why I was asking." You push a braid behind your ear, wearing a protective style is important especially for traveling. You don't have the time to put up with your hair. 

"Sorry, sorry. Anyway, are you stopping by Osaka first or what?" His voice is filled with pure curiosity. A groan escapes your throat. How long does it take for one suitcase to come out? You should have checked it in as a carry-on. 

"Well I'm closer to Tokyo so I wanna head there first. I'm gonna surprise Kiyo." The jet lag is finally starting to hit you, it's about 11:30ish pm in Tokyo while back home it's 10:30ish am. 

"Alright, make sure to come visit me and Suna though, actually how long did you say you were staying? We play the jackals next week. Maybe we can all get together!" He seems very excited, it's evident in his voice. 

"I'll be here for the next month and a half. I'm so fucking tired." He chuckles, "it might take a night or two, you've been in the states so long." 

"Yeah, I was gonna get a rental but I might just uber to Kiyo's apartment." Motoya hears you yawn. 

"E-excuse me, are you tourist?" A woman asks you in broken english. 

"It's better if you rest then see Kiyoomi tomorr-"

"I'll call you back, Toya." He tries to say something but you're already pressing the red decline button. 

"No, I'm just here visiting family. I'm studying abroad in the states." You answer back in english. The lady stares at you as if she's trying to understand what you just said. 

You repeat your sentence in japanese and she replies meekly, "I'm sorry, I just assumed you were american because of your skin. I just wanted to say it's super pretty." She smiles at you shyly.

"Well you wouldn't be too far off, I'm half american. Also thank you, you're so sweet." She nods and walks off to get her suitcase.

"Finally! My suitcase." A few people stare at you, when they see you jump up in triumph, they musn’t understand your impacience. 

------

"Where to?"  The cab driver asks. He seems pretty fed up and his cab smells of cigarettes. 

"Let me pull up the address really quickly, I'm sorry." He sighs impatiently while you hurry to type in your password to find Kiyoomi's address in the messages shared between you two. 

"Okay, it's xxxxxxxxx." The man nods. The slow hum of the cab let’s you know that he’s began driving and your eyes close. Secretly you hope to get a little rest, not that it would help much. The man hits the gas and you jerk forward, luckily your seat belt keeps you from hitting the passenger seat's head restraint. 

"Sorry 'bout that." There’s a tinge of sarcasm laced within his voice and it holds no real empathy. Instinctively your eyes roll. Why do people have to make other people’s day bad just because their day was bad? He's definitely not getting a good review from you. 

The drive was about thirty minutes with traffic being slow at such late hours. The street lights of Tokyo make it hard to sleep, it’s so unnaturally bright.

Where you live now is nothing compared to the brightly lit streets of Tokyo. Sleep is no longer an option, those pretty eyes of yours trail certain restaurants and shops the cab drives by.

The cab driver hit the brake indicating that you’ve arrived at your destination. Within seconds he turns around to look you in your eyes, “cash or card?”

You don’t have much yen on you. Making a stop by an atm is your top priority for tomorrow. “Card, what’s my total?” 

He scratches his head. He best not make up a price on the spot, that’s super annoying. The total isn’t too bad, luckily. He definitely charged you more than he deserved though, yes it was timely but customer service was awful, if you could even call that customer service. 

Excitement was hot in your stomach as you stepped out of the yellow cab. The tokyo air felt so nice against your skin, it feels amazing to be back, even if only for a little while. Once you’ve collected your bags it was time to walk into the apartment building. 

The receptionist looks up to meet your eyes when he notices you. "Are you a new resident or are you visiting?" His voice is perfectly generated, you don’t quite remember him from last time, but he must have been working here awhile to nail that voice. 

"I'm visiting." You bite your glossed lip, the flavor of peach invades your mouth. It’s Kiyoomi’s favorite. Mainly because the first time he bought it for you, it was a last minute first date gift. Since then it’s stuck with both of you, he enjoys the way it tastes on his lips after you kiss him. 

"Alrighty, do you know which apartment you're visiting? I'll ring to let them know you're here. It is quite late after all." He says, glancing back at his computer. 

The plan is to surprise Kiyoomi.. you set your bag down on top of your suitcase. 

"Do you mind if I just go up? It's been a few months, and I want to surprise my boyfriend." The man stops for a second, "In that case go ahead, but let me tell you, many people come to surprise boyfriends or girlfriends and they end up breaking up because said s/o wasn't expecting them and was seeing their side piece."

You giggle, it's wrong to laugh at such a story but you know your Kiyoomi. He misses you so much, everyday when you facetime he whines about wanting to see you. 

"I thought that was only in very cringey romance movies but thanks for the heads up." He nods and sends you on your way. You make a mental note to get a new suitcase. Yours is ratty and the wheel is broken which means you must drag it everywhere. That is not convenient, especially when traveling a lot.

His apartment is on the fifth floor of the building. "Where's the key he gave me?" A groan escapes your lips. You really hope that excitement didn't override your rationality and that this key is somewhere in your purse. 

Frantically searching, it turns up under a bunch of other crap you don’t need. Without Kiyoomi to lecture about your messy purse it’s become a nightmare inside of it.  "Oh thank God, I can't ruin this."

Ding. It's finally time, excitement creeps up in your body. It's been about seven months since you've seen Kiyoomi in person. He came to the states for christmas to see you. 

With him being a pro athlete and you being a college student, it's hard to find time in your schedules to spend time with one another. Long distance relationships aren't the easiest and you missed him terribly. The thought of seeing him kept you busy while flying. Now.. now you're right in front of his door. 

With patience you slide the key into the lock and twist it the right way in order to open the door. 

You hear footsteps, Kiyoomi's lamp is on in his room. What's he still doing up? Doesn't he have practice later?

"Motoya, I fucking told you I'm not watching a movie with you when I have practice later-" Your boyfriend stops at the genkan when he sees you. 

All the anger in his face disappears and his face smooths out. Before you can even process what's happening, those long arms of your Kiyoomi are around you. You practically melt in his touch, becoming one with him.

“What are you doing here, baby? I- when did you land?” He asks all at once, his sweet breath right in your ear. He smells like vanilla and cinnamon, “God I missed the way you smell.” Is all you can say at the moment.

“I just landed like an hour ago, came to see my man before I go visit anyone else.” That chuckle of his warms your heart. He’s going to be the death of you, for sure. 

“I was just about to call you, it’s like 12pm in the states right?” He asks.

“Something like that. I love you so much.” It’s so random but true, you do love him. 

“I love you too, so so fucking much. I can’t tell you how desperate I was getting to see you.” He sighs. He leans back slightly to take in your face, you do the same. He’s so handsome and beautiful at the same time. 

You pull him by his collar to kiss those lips you love so much. Honestly you expected this kiss to be desperate but it was passionate and slow. He placed his hands on your face, they’re warm and inviting. You break the kiss and he smiles at you.

It reminds you of how much a grouch your boyfriend was when you had first met him. He was always frowning or pouting. He keeps telling you he doesn’t pout but you know what you saw. His hands don’t leave your face and hell if you mind. 

“I’m finally home.” You say with a small content sigh. It’s only for a month that you’ll be home, but soon enough you’ll graduate and get to live with him permanently. 

“Yes, my baby is finally home.”

#haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu x reader #kiyoomi sakusa #sakusa #sakusa kiyoomi #haikyuu sakusa #sakusa x reader #msby sakusa #sakusa kiyoomi x reader #sakusa fluff #sakusa kiyoomi fluff #kiyoomi x reader #kiyoomi sakusa x reader

[karingu]

giving proper thought to the timeskip in inuyasha (part 2/2)

In Part 1, I wrote about what Kagome must've gone through during the three years she and Inuyasha were apart, and why it might've had to take three years for the Well to open up for Kagome.

I emphasized a lot in Part 1 and emphasize again, three years is a loooong time that the story just sorta breezed through... so I wanna slow it down. How were things going for Inuyasha? In this part, I want to give attention to his actions and specifically the things he says (comparing English/Japanese) after the timeskip, which showed me how much his ability to love Kagome had evolved.

part 1: kagome part 2: inuyasha

+

First, to get this out of the way, I'm really touched that his feelings for Kagome never wavered. Maybe it's sort of "obvious," but it was still such a pleasant thing to see how much she's on his mind, even when she's not there.

Thanks to Shippo being an endearing lil' shit, the most important thing we learn is how Inuyasha goes into the well every three days. Even Kaede is like "wow, this guy" (and feels really sorry for him bc she suspects Kagome cannot come back).

You know how they say (in the US) you can deduce a lot about a person based on what they do with the shopping cart? It's like one of those things.

Basically, how do you act when (you think) no one is watching?

Anyways, you can tell Kagome's absence is really hard on him.

In the timeskip panels/brief scenes in the Sengoku era, I noticed that Inuyasha seems a bit down. He's not depressed, but his voice/face is just not as energetic, sort of low mood-ish. His body is here but his mind is somewhere else. He has a couple panels/frames where he's just looking at the sky.

But what he said to Kaede really stood out to me.

When he found Kagome's family weeping for her when he saw her home, in the official Eng translation he says: "I realized I wasn't the only one who treasured her." In the Japanese anime/manga, the nuance is closer to "I realized it's not just me who thinks Kagome is precious," or "It's not just me who holds Kagome dearly." (Those are my own translations)

(One thing to note, the English manga said he says, "It was meant to be," but he doesn't say that in Japanese.)

This is SO!!! special for me to hear/read because it shows me Inuyasha has acquired the healthiest form of the "love" skill.

Congratulations, young grasshopper.

No matter how much he loves Kagome, Kagome is also just as loved by her family. By recognizing that and acknowledging his place, he shows that he loves Kagome for all that she is, beyond the scope of just their relationship with each other. He is acknowledging that Kagome has a life without him, and to love her means to accept it, even if it comes at a cost detrimental to him.

To love someone is to let them go.

This is a stark contrast to the beginning, where he's literally throwing trees, boulders and tantrums over Kagome going home. This time, he had no choice, but he is calm and resigned since the start.

So, he goes about his days. That's all he can do. He has this awesome sword that can literally cut a portal to the Netherworld, yet no power to go to the other side of the well, where he wants to be. All he can do is hope that one day, Kagome will come for him, just like how he came for her all those times before.

Trust in tomorrow. (“Tomorrow” or 「明日」 is the name of the chapter/episode.)

He appears semi-resigned to his fate, but it is implied he never lost that hope. One, because he always goes to the well. And two, his nose is always looking out for her scent. When she does return, the second his nose twitches by the scent of her, he drops EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE, B*TCH, KAGOME IS BACK, MAKES A BEELINE TO THE WELL, and oh man, when I saw this page, I almost gasped at his face, which I don't think the anime did justice:

Eyes are the window to the soul, people. And iono. Those eyes said LOVE to me in a way no words can. TAKAHASHI KNEW THIS PAGE WAS IMPORTANT. He is practically kissing her with those damn eyes.

What he said after this is also pretty sweet. In the English manga he says to her: "You fool… what took you so long?" I think that’s a clever interpretation, bc it implies he’s trying to play off how long he waited, which is on brand lol. He might've had doubts that she could come back, but he's pretending he didn't doubt (bc he's a Cool Guy).

I have a soft spot for what he said in Japanese in anime/manga tho:

「バカ野郎…今までなにしてたんだ。」 -> "You fool... what've you been doing 'til now?"

HAHA. (Um, finishing her education, you dumdum.)

Even after three years, he's not saying "I thought you'd never come back," or something along those lines. He just sort of ~whines~ in his gruff manly man way.

The nuance comes across to me like, "What have you been doooingg, Kagome?? :(( I missed you."

Aw shucks just get a room you two.

(And then they did. And then they had Moroha eeeeeee!!!)

-> To read my Part 1 about Kagome, click here!

#now... i rest #dreamy sigh #inuyasha #kagome #kagome higurashi #inukag #inuyasha x kagome #kagome x inuyasha #inuyasha anime #inuyasha manga #my:posts #my:inumeta

[spinningbuster98]

Castlevania Symphony of the Night Part 1: Die Monster!.....in Japanese!!

We’re here folks

We’re finally here

And I’m playing the Japanese version! Why? Well let’s just say that there’s some content that was originally exclusive to the original japanese release which was cut from the international one. Said content was restored in the PSP version....but I decided against playing that. It’s a playable version, but it’s minor yet noticeable graphical downgrades compared to the original just bug me the wrong way

You can already spot a difference in the intro: the actual narrated text is english even in the Jpn version, and no it’s not due to me playing a translated rom, even untranslated it’s in english, just with a japanese voice over

What intrigues me is how the text itself was still largely rewritten in the international versions, yet even the japanese one calls Dracula’s Castle “Castlevania”, which I had always thought was just a quirk of the english localization and not something that was ever truly recognized by the japanese side of things, at least not until the mid 2000s when even the japanese versions started using that name as the series’ title for a time

However, while I can’t understand japanese, I can’t hear the narrator actually pronouncing the name “Castlevania” anywhere, so I’m going to guess that he’s reading from a different script?

Anyway there’s going to be...LOTS to talk about with this game, though luckily we’ll have plenty of parts to do so :)

Just to start off with something that everybody knows by now: this might just be the most beautiful sprite based game of its generation, probably of the whole decade of the 90s

Yeah sure there are a couple of weird imperfections here and there, namely Richter’s sprite still being from RoD instead of reflecting his redesign, except for one cutscene where he IS given an updated sprite (I guess that’s one point in favor of the Saturn version). This is pretty much the game that started the tradition of reusing old enemy sprites, especially guys from Rondo and a couple from Castlevania IV

But honestly? This stuff is barely even a blip on the radar here. Every sprite, every background is so detailed, so well animated, oozing with so much charm! Every enemy has their own unique death animation, there are a billion different animations for the various spells and secret moves, I could list stuff all night!

Alucard’s sprite and animations have entered into the realm of videogame legends now, which is funny because when you think about it his animations are just way too smooth compared to everything else he kinda sticks out, not to mention that the actual running animation looks silly with the way he moves his arms (not that the Belmonts in the previous games weren’t guilty of a similar running animation quirk with their ultra-manly walk cycles), but it’s just so mesmerizing to look at! He truly feels weightless, like some sort of wraith drifting through the night, with that cape, that hair, the after images etc

The funny part is that the game does implement a bunch of more typical PS1 3D effects, which you’d think would clash hard with the sprites and age the game badly but they actually end up giving it even MORE charm, because they’re usually relegated to 3D backgrounds, but the actual renders not only look pretty damn good usually, they actually help make some environments look more memorable and larger than life! The cathedral, the moving clouds, the houses in Olrox’s Quarters. The Magic Tomes that attack you in the Library technically clash so hard with the rest of the place, but the renders themsleves are nice and I fucking love watching them explode into a burst of flames as their letters just spill out from the pages!

I even love the SOUND EFFECTS in this game! I’m pretty sure that most of them are just stock effects, especially the ones for the transformations and whenever you use a potion....but I dunno they’re goofy in a good, charming way to me

And we haven’t even talked about the music! Oh God! I’ll save THAT for the next part!

#youtube #akumajou dracula #castlevania symphony of the night #my gameplay

[dupliciti]

in an effort to mentally redeem myself and feel like the EN VO for sa.mpo didn't rob me - i'm watching the companion mission in japanese ( it'll take me a hot minute to get there on another account of mine, but i'll end up playing in in KR VO no doubt. ) i already watched the main story content in all the VO languages

also some nitpicking on the english text being fucked up

the depth??? like there's more depth that can be heard compared to previous content for JP ( at the very least, i want to assume that the other VAs have also settled into the voice in their own unique ways. like i will and can admit to saying EN VA did settle but i do not like the way he settled into the voice ajksdg ) omg. when sa.mpo sounds disappointed or upset, perhaps even "reserved" he speaks softer and lower. and when pensive or thinking things through ( spoken aloud ) the fluctuation isn't as pronounced.

typical sa.mpo whining and fluctuation found throughout the entire mission and 2.0 story mission might i add... ( like any differences in the EN VO for sa.mpo are NOT because sparkle is disguised as him. ) hearing his worry or exasperation is also incredibly amusing

HIS CRYING NOISE IM LOSING IT ( at the end of the super short audio clip )

also i actually really adore the JP VO for sparkle it fits her so well

ALSO HOLD THE FUCK UP OKAY. in the english transliteration for the text when sa.mpo refers to his mask it's not in quotations, even though when i was reading the leaked script, mask HAD been in quotations, which made me sus about it

guess the fuck what

the word mask is in quotations for the japanese characters HELLO???? ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS ALWAYS FUCKING UP

FIRST HIS HEIGHT BEING INCORRECTLY TRANSLATED ( should be 5.9ft meaning about 5'11 but i still subscribe to my headcanon of him being taller than that anyways askdhjg ) and now this??? what are YA DOIN

also him saying ノーコメント was cute

anyways he sounds a million times more sus in japanese talking to sparkle than the EN VO has him, which he literally just sounds like a fucking joke i hate it so much

#( spoilers; ) #( ◇ ᵐʸ ᵈᵉᵃʳ ᵃᵘᵈⁱᵉⁿᶜᵉ┊ ooc; )

[shadamyheadcanons]

So which comic/game/animated show has your favorite portray of Shadow (and also Amy)?

Don’t worry, there’s a tl;dr at the bottom.

Shadow: This is basic, but probably Sonic Adventure 2. Great character arc, great interactions with other characters, and my favorite Shadow character model of all time. Nothing compares to the flashy, structured look of Shadow’s quills in that one, and the animation of his skating is so much more effective in SA2 compared to more recent iterations. It’s no wonder he looked so cool in that game. He actually leaned into the strides like a confident speed skater. Some games and shows just have him push his feet forward, like he’s kicking his way through snow. It’s rarely slick like it used to be. He also has his best voice actor in that game (IMO). Sinister when he needed to be, calm and sincere when the time called for it, and he had just a hint of an accent that I’ve always liked for Shadow. I’ve never fully forgiven them for taking David Humphrey away from us after only...what, two or three games? Unforgivable.

Close second for Shadow is Sonic Heroes. I think that’s a less common choice, but it showcases some of Shadow’s best traits, sets him up with his Found Family, and proves he’ll do the right thing for the planet even when he doesn’t remember Maria at all. He’s good because he’s him, and even with the uncertainty of his memory loss, he seemed happier there than he does almost anywhere else. I like to think this is how Shadow would be if the ARK massacre had never happened: serious, heroic, but mostly carefree. I don’t agree that Shadow should have stayed dead after SA2, but if he’d never regained his memories at all and just moved forward with his life from there...idk. He was on the right track before he remembered G.U.N. ruined his life. At the very least, I think there’s a good chance he’d be legitimately happier. It’s worth thinking about. Oh, and David Humphrey voices him in this one, too. A+.

Honorable mention: his absolutely absurd appearances in the bizarre Sonic Dash and Spin comic. He’s portrayed as a delinquent...

...but he’s so deeply, wonderfully weird about it:

And he’s just. So...CUTE.

How did this happen?! I love it! XD

This isn’t even factoring in the CANON crush Amy has on him, though that certainly doesn’t hurt:

Dash and Spin is definitely the kind of comic you’ll connect with more if you know a bit about Japanese culture. I’m not surprised it wasn’t pushed in the US.

As for Amy, I think my favorite was Adventure Era Amy. She had the perfect blend of bravery and compassion. IDW Amy is great because she’s cool and can defend herself, but her bravery meant so much more when she couldn’t do that. She was the weakest on the battlefield with barely any strength to her name, but she always stepped up anyway. It also fed well into moments like the climax of SA2 because an ordinary girl who was counted out even by her own friends could still make a difference. I’ll never begrudge IDW or the pre-Frontiers comics for giving her the strength she’s rightfully earned by now, dammit, but I’m divided on this.

I also love Heroes Amy. She wasn’t OP like she is now, but she had a few new tricks up her sleeve, and they were hers alone. Propeller Hammer? Tornado Hammer? Her unique style of leadership through positivity that led even a fisherman, a child, and a Chao to victory? Damn impressive while still being believable for her skill and experience level at the time. She was making progress her way, not just through brute force. I usually prefer Lisa Ortiz as Amy’s VA, but Jennifer Douillard does a great job here. I think she’s at her best voicing Amy in Heroes. She finally got to be something other than just sweet.

The elephant in the room is her sudden, uh...aggression toward Sonic. Luckily, this is softened in the Japanese version. English gave us this:

“This time, there’s no way out of marrying me!”

...but in Japanese, it’s this:

“Sonic! Today’s the day I’ll get you to marry me!!”

It’s still too pushy, but she’s not saying “I’ll force you to marry me.” She’s saying “You’ll be so impressed with how far I’ve come that you’ll want to marry me.” It’s subtle, but it’s so much better, especially because Sonic pretends to lose and literally flees from her afterward while yelling, “Marriage?! No way!”

Lmao, what a coward. And Cream knows it.

Localization slandered Amy Rose in a horrible, permanent way IMO. It was after Heroes that the fandom decided she was a “crazy psycho fangirl.” It’s taken years for her to shake off that stigma, and I feel like she lost a lot of her spark in the process, at least in the games.

Thank God she still has it in Mega Drive and IDW.

I’m not the only one who feels Sega threw the baby out with the bathwater. Amy looks and acts too soft now if you ask me.

Girly is fine. Girly is good. This is Amy, after all. But...this?

Does this look like an adventurer to you? She doesn’t to me. Something was lost along the way. :(

Let her be a proper hedgehog with a backbone! Let her have a bit of an edge to her! Cream can be the soft one.

tl;dr SA2 Shadow, Adventures Era Amy, and elements of Heroes for both. So...my childhood, basically. I don’t think it’s just nostalgia, though.

(Is it obvious I just replayed Sonic Heroes? I actually got to defeat the last boss for the first time!!)

#Anonymous #shadow the hedgehog #amy rose #sonic the hedgehog #not a headcanon #i wanted to answer some older asks first but this poor thing has been wasting away in my inbox

[hellcatinnc]

Wonka Movie Review

Includes Spoilers

I wanted to sit down and write a review on this that me and my husband finally sat down and watched. I think it was worth a watch and its on hbo max at the moment.

The world they made and how beautiful it looked I feel like was done better than any other one in the past. Granted its newer and there is more things that can be added now days but it really is my now favorite Wonka movie and favorite actor in it.

Compared to the others who played it in the past I think Timothee Chalamet did an amazing job. He brought a different feel I had never seen before. Like I always considered Wonka creepy but this version was actually relatable. He was sweet and kind and wanted to make his dreams happen so he could see his mom again one day. It was sad in parts due to this.

The musical side of things got old fast not saying his voice wasn't good but in the beginning I felt like there was more singing than needed to be. Thats saying something since I do love musicals but I wasn't getting a real feel for him until he stopped. Granted there is singing through out however it is toned down alot so you can learn the characters, which I was thankful for.

He has a very cheeky personality and even a little scandalous or maybe a but racy compared to the normal wonka, with his little verse at one point.

"She 'll be thankful for an ankle.

She'll be pleased to see your knees.

But if you want to make her sigh, show some thigh"

I wasn't sure how they were gonna do the oompa loompa's I was never a huge fan of them but I swear since they brought Hugh Laurie into it that fixed that I love him as a actor anyways. He made that part so much funnier than I think it would have been without him. Not to mention he also made it a bit more badass which the writing was perfect for. I love how you see how their annoyance turned into being friends.

Introducing Noodles into it was perfect I liked her from the start and they were pretty much instant friends. I know some places online consider her his love interest and if this was a Japanese anime possibly but this is American/English and we both know they ain't changing that here in the west with age gaps of 14 year and a 22 year old. However I still think he gives her something to live for, she has spent her life in such a bad way and he gives her hope and even helps her find her mom. He was willing to give up his own dream for her to have her freedom. This was such a sweet thing to see and I even think the actress played well with his character.

Overall it had funny moments, sad moments, wacky moments and just plain fun. I really do suggest anyone watch this even if you hated ones in the past you might just like this one, you might just love Wonka in the end, I know I do.

#movie review #wonka movie #willy wonka #movies #timothee chalamet #hugh grant

[kimium]

I was tagged by @m34gs in this post HERE! Thanks for the tag, friend! Took me a moment to figure out how to do this. Anyways, I'm done, so let's talk about this!

Anime with a Favourite Opening/Ending Song:

While this was a touch choice, and almost went to Attack on Titan, I picked Jujutsu Kaisen because it's one of the rare anime when I love all the openings. If I had to pick a favourite opening it's a tie between VIVID VICE and Specialz.

Anime you recommend others watch:

Without a shadow of a doubt I recommend Anohana to everyone. It's a coming of age story centred around a difficult topic, yet there are light moments. However, it's an anime that always makes me cry, so be prepared to not just watch a coming of age story but also an emotional character dive.

Anime that shares a genre with the centre anime:

It would have been easy to pick another adventure/fantasy/sci-fi anime and call it a day, but I think I did well picking Sabikui Bisco. The anime is set in a post apocalyptic wasteland. There is awe and wonder outside of the city but also danger. Government cannot be trusted and medicine/scientific advancement is a key element to the story, which are all elements that FMA has.

Anime that shares Eng. VA with touching square:

Laura Bailey who voices Lust in FMA also voices Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket! Actually, Fruits Basket and FMA have many English VA overlaps, but Laura is the one I first thought of!

Favourite Anime of All Time:

Fullmetal Alchemist is my favourite manga of all time, so I had to go with the 2009 remake. While the 2003 anime still holds a nostalgic place in my heart, nothing compares to the manga's story to me.

From the plot, pacing, character arcs and design, and art direction I truly believe Fullmetal Alchemist is a near perfectly written and produced series from Hiromu Arakawa.

Anime that shares Japanese VA with touching square:

Paku Romi who voices Edward Elric in the Japanese version of FMA also voices Hitsugaya Toshiro in Bleach.

Shares a Similar MC Energy with centre square:

The obvious comparison is Senku and Edward are both genius scientists who did the impossible (Senku with his counting and Edward with human transmutation), however there are other traits the two share. Both have a bit of a mischievous side and both can be singularly focused on their scientific goals. Finally, both are hopeful in the face of peril and use their wits and scientific knowledge to win in the end.

Also, as an extra fun fact the English VA for Senku is Aaron Dismuke who voiced Alfonse Elric in the original 2003 FMA anime.

An Anime you read/have the manga of:

I've been reading My Hero Academia (or BNHA) for years. While I don't own it, I read it on the Shonen Jump app. It's a series I'm also enjoying the anime adaptation.

A series with your favourite ship/ship dynamic:

Soukoku (or Dazai/Chuuya from Bungou Stray Dogs) is both my favourite ship in the series and also my favourite ship dynamic.

My favourite part about Soukoku as a ship is the underlying loyalty and trust the two have in one another. Despite everything: their personality clash, their first meeting, Dazai betraying the Port Mafia, they still care for one another. In their own weird ways, yes, but care none the less. How else can the series explain the convoluted schemes in both Dead Apple and in Season 5? That's some "we're two halves of the same whole" level of trust there. They're not even being subtle.

I tag: @a-little-harmed-shinra, @someobscurereference, @shreedle, and @memoryoflife.

#personal #tag game #anime tag game #i hope you like my answers friend

[dead-byte]

Sooo... some of you might not be aware, but Mine Laru received a new voicebank like a week or two ago ( a whooping 8 pitches, jesus, not even a lot of native voicebanks are that big ), and I have a lot of ( mostly positive ) thoughts on it, along with the new ARPAsing reclist made with it. I wanted to compare it with an older Mine Laru bank in my possession, thus the audio clip above. You can find the new bank here:

Now, some of you might know of the new AgO voicebank, but not know of the 2020 voicebank. Let me explain that one. There’s a bit of a story here.

A couple of years ago, Minato ( Mine Laru’s VP ) set up a website called the “Mine Laru Lab”, and it was to help test out and give feedback for a lot of new voicebanks that were made for various languages that weren’t Japanese. Among them, was a dipitch English ARPAsing voicebank based on the 0.2.0 list.

I offered to configure it in a Twitter comment, and Minato seemed to welcome my help, so I did that as soon as the site went up. After I finished, I DM’d Minato, letting him know I’d finished, and that I had suggestions. I never received a response, and in retrospect, I’m thinking he probably didn’t have his DMs open and I simply never realized. I never followed up though, because I didn’t want to bother him.

Sometime around then, the Mine Laru Lab was shut down, and access to the various voicebanks was seemingly discontinued.

I could be wrong about this, but I think this might be the voicebank that was once called “Mine Laru PRIMITIVE”. I don’t know that for certain, so that’s merely a guess.

So… I’ve basically just had this obscure completed English voicebank sitting around on my computer for the past couple of years. I’m not going to distribute it or anything, unless I get explicit permission to do so. I figure showing it off is probably okay based on what I remember of the Lab TOS, but I will delete this post if Minato asks me to, on the off chance that happens.

Anyways, the AgO voicebank came out recently, and it sounds pretty different from this older bank, so I wanted to make a more direct comparison. The 2020 voicebank is a lot more similar to Mine Laru’s more powerful voicebanks, such as his 14-scales or his “query” voicebank. The AgO voicebank sounds more like his “parse” voicebank, with a more neutral tone becoming softer in higher ranges.

I also want to talk about the reclist, because in my opinion… the AgO reclist is kind of a stroke of genius. It’s such a simple idea that I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of it first. An easy word-based list based mostly on singular words, most of which being easy to pronounce for non-native English speakers. That’s just… sort of brilliant.

And this might be controversial to say, but… it’s leagues better than the 0.2.0 list. The AgO list has just about every CV, VC, and VV diphone you could need for English. There are some exceptions, it’s not 100% complete, and it is missing a lot of CC diphones, but it’s so much more useable than 0.2.0. Reading the blog post on the process of making the list is extremely fascinating too.

I also made an experimental dictionary for AgO to hopefully rectify some of the diphones that are missing. Again, mostly CCs. This dictionary isn’t anywhere near as chaotic as my 0.2.0 dictionary thankfully. Though, there are still some rather obtuse transcriptions I had to use to get around the list’s limitations.

As for the voicebank itself - Mine Laru has always had good English. Even his old “multilingual normal and weak” voicebanks were really good. Mine Laru in English is the kind of voice where he has a notable accent, but in a good way, like how Megurine Luka and Tsurumaki Maki do, where the accent adds charm and personality to the voice instead of making it more difficult to use. The AgO voicebank is no different.

In contrast to the 2020 bank in particular though, having gone through a lot of those old samples, it’s clear that the VP struggled with the 0.2.0 list. Most people do after all, even native speakers. For all its simplicity and compactness, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve gotten a commission to configure a 0.2.0 voicebank, and the voice provider audibly has trouble in the samples - and to be clear, that’s not the voice provider's fault, 0.2.0 is just a bad list ( I’m looking at you “yamk”; that’s not even a word ).

In the AgO voicebank however, the pronunciation is so good. Like, his pronunciation is good to begin with, but with the AgO voicebank, his pronunciation sounds a lot more relaxed and comfortable. And even better, the AgO voicebank actually distinguishes between aspirated and unaspirated plosives via alternates. By default, most plosives are unaspirated, but if you cycle through its first alternate ( by typing "1" at the end of the diphone ), you get an aspirated consonant. This is the kind of weirdly specific English voicebank construction that makes me absolutely giddy. Clearly a lot of thought and care was put into this voicebank.

My only real criticism is… the oto.ini. It’s got some problems that can lead to the voicebank being rather choppy. A lot of start-phrase consonants and CC diphones have problems too.

I kinda… want to stick the voicebank in vLabeler and try to refine the oto.ini some. I might do that.

Anyways, I just wanted to dump my thoughts, in case anyone wanted to listen.

#Youtube #mine laru #ミネラル #水音ラル #みねらる #utau #english #ARPAsing #AgO #Arpasing AgO Dictionary #experimental #comparison #vocal synth #vocaloid #openutau #it's been so long #the living tombstone

[toraashi]

What do you think of Corina? Especially after what happened? Honestly have always disliked her but she is just adding more and more reason why I don't use the English VA

- 🫂

hi!! before I get into my thoughts I’m sorry about your request I def saw it but I’m god awful at writing requests so I can’t promise I’ll get to it 😓 I’ll keep your idea in my mind and maybe I’ll have motivation down the line!! I’ve literally been stressing about it bc I didn’t want to disappoint you!!

as a precursor tho, corina uses they/them pronouns!!

i don’t particularly like them, but i don’t have much of an opinion past that tbh. like it’s kinda annoying and weird that they said all that shit about childe and then went on to start weird arguments w fans (including comparing one to their abusive ex?? tf?) but i don’t really think it all is that big of a deal or worth boycotting the english dub over.

it’s just a headcanon basically. they can insist all they want that it’s real, but that doesn’t make it so and tbh I just see all this as annoying fan behavior that you’d see on twitter or smth 😭 if people don’t like it, then don’t interact with the voice actors like they’re celebrities and don’t follow their social media. the attention only eggs them on.

maybe I’m biased tho because I really like zach aguilar, but tbh i’ve always just seen corina as impulsive, over enthusiastic and argumentative (idk if you’ve watched the among us videos, but they always seem to take things a step too far sometimes), so i just choose to not follow their socials and mind my own business. unless there’s more that they’ve done, i don’t think it’s worth like boycotting their roles over, if that makes sense? the other voice actors are fine imo besides griffin burns and shouldn’t get punished as a result of cor just being annoying. also, I usually use the japanese dub anyway bc I like albedo’s voice :(((

#if I’m missing something or this is out of touch lmk!! #i’m always open to listening and taking in new info #also none of this is passing judgment on people who choose not to use eng dub over this! #it’s just my take #like I said it’s not that big of a deal to me overall 🤷🏻‍♀️

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Thank god is not just me who mourns the loss of flavor to Emmet's dialogue. I too love how short and choppy his sentences are, to the point, no words wasted, a fantastic contrast to how comparatively wordy Ingo is. Which makes sense, as they're mirrors of each other in many ways! iirc in Japanese Ingo is also very formal while Emmet is much more casual in the way he talks, which I think translated to English pretty well, although obviously some nuance is lost because we don't have different formal levels built in like Japanese does.

I think you captured that well in oop too, as Emmet lacks the level of politeness that Ingo has, and he's a lot more blunt. It's well matched to how you've written Emmet in the first arc too, with his near single-mindedness in finding Ingo, and how it puts characters like Rei and Cyllene at ease. I've always kind of thought that the blunt way he talked, his blatant honesty and confidence without any frills, was what got Cyllene to trust him. She's very similar in that regard, which I think is probably part of what made Rei trust him so fast in turn (well, that and he's a kid who is floundering and desperate to have an Adult take charge and give them direction, especially an adult who showed him kindness and care in the way he righted Rei's rails when he started to panic)

YEAAH YEAH okay i am also glad this is not just like... a me observation. like i don't play ex so i hadn't really looked at the quotes before now and... why did they do that to my man... it feels so wroooong

and re: what you were saying about translations, yeah, maybe the ex voice is the more accurate translation, i. would not really know, but like. rip to japanese players for missing out on emmet's incredible eng bw cadence if it's true. it's simply the far superior version... i'm sorry...

+ the thing abt him having an opposing voice to his brother!! like yeah, imho you REALLY lose that contrast in ex because english just does not have the same kind of obvious registers for formality. the bw dialogue is sooo much better in terms of making a really clear contrast btwn them... and also i know i said it before but the eng bw voice is just like. better? more interesting? it has more Character in it? im tryna sound objective and all here really what i mean is i love it and am obsessed with it.

ANYWAAAY waaah yeah!! like i said idc what they do with emmet in newer games they can pry his bw cadence out of my cold dead hands. and i'm REALLY REALLY GLAD it comes across in oop... i think i've said before that he's one of my fav characters to write bc he is just so unique in the way he talks and just sort of. his character generally. in such a perfect way. he's blunt and direct and incredibly purposeful and. with all of the careful hop-stepping and social maneuvering and mind games going around in pla it is SO fun to write a character who actively refuses to fuck around like that even a little bit. and yeah!! i think it can be both very disarming and very reassuring to people.

like cyllene you are exactly right!! they only spent a very brief time together but i REALLY love the idea of them interacting anyway. cyllene i think is someone who has a very specific way of reading and interpreting others, and to her it just came across so strongly how much emmet meant what he was saying, and how driven and simultaneously caring he was, and. like i said. both disarming and reassuring. i think she likes and trusts him an inadvisable amount already.

#the nemesis speaks #the nemesis answers #anonymous #jailbirds au #i think emmet also kind of reminds rei of cyllene in that they're both kind of intimidating but like #in a way where he also thinks they're very cool and wants to emulate them #everyone in oop thinks emmet is either very intimidating or cool or both lmao #idk if that's unrealistic or w/e i'm just incapable of imagining anyone feeling differently abt him. #my man my guy my everything... #there's a line that got cut from ch11 that was ingo noting that he couldn't remember ever meeting a person so self-possessed #and like yeah that's the word

[tenshindon]

i think we really undermine the subtle effect a character’s voice has on our interpretation of them as a character

#snap chats #yes this is about yamcha :) but also a bit about v*geta ngl #ill get yamcha out of the way first since i think of his the most frequently and its the most obvious #but anyways i always compare his japanese and english voices #i love anime for this type of thing because it gives you a good-enough ground to compare #yamcha is an especial victim to this kind of shift in character #'kind of' lmao he's an entirely different person in english #but in japanese yamcha's tone definitely sounds more dorkish #his voice isnt too deep and he sounds light hearted most of the time #thus he gives off a very friendly atmosphere and he's a bit lame but in an endearing way #which i feel is pretty accurate to him as a character lmao #in english i'm not trying to suggest sabat makes yamcha sound intimidating #this is more so a review of his Z voice and DB; i feel like they really started to take some liberties with him then #but even in db his tone definitely came across harsher at times #i dont even necessarily mean words i just mean the way he said things #and i jokke about it but in Z he really does have the energy of a surfer dude #and i think that kind of spurs interpretations that yamcha's not smart or that he's like #i cant even explain it but do you know what i mean? like you can't tell me japanese and english yamcha have totally different vibes #its very interesting it really is ! its also a matter of scripts but thats a topic for another day ig #im running out of tags but let me see if i can squeeze in v*geta #like in japanese- i actually really like his japanese voice it makes him bearable LMAO #he just sounds way more regal and like his nose is upturnt- which is perfect #in english he just. i don't know- but there's not sense of regallity in his tone #which i guess is a topic up for debate since saiyans are brutish in general but there's clearly more class among royalty #im running out of tags i cant explain this any further forgive me feel free to ask me to continue ig 😫

[afro-elf]

fine, i’ll elaborate on my thoughts about tylor sift but they will be disorganized

disclaimer: i know a few people will read this and be like “op is a hozier fan can she really talk about the cultural obsession with mediocre white art?” and the answer is yes because a) i’m black and i have an english degree so can do whatever i fucking want, b) hozier is a better artist than taylor objectively, like his mediocre tracks would be considered her great ones, and c) the comparison of taylor to hozier is part of the problem Genuinely because i don’t even think white people like half the music they listen to, they just don’t wanna be left behind, we’ll get into this later. i’m sorry to everyone who is tired of hearing about him but hozier will be returning later in this post jsfglsjlgldsjlfd

second note: read this

i don’t just dislike taylor because she’s white. i don’t dislike taylor because she’s a woman. i don’t dislike her because she writes mean and petty lyrics about past relationships and people who wronged her. i don’t dislike taylor because her public circle of friends is almost exclusively blonde white celebrities with their own laundry lists of issues that includes ryan reynolds and blake lively who are poster children for white privilege and pseudo-excellence if i’ve ever seen them. i dislike taylor because the amalgamation of all of those things is so exemplary of a huge problem i have with the music industry in general but also like american society

fuck it, numbered list!

1. taylor swift consistently releases the same mediocre album but in different colors. every album is the same lyrically and tonally. her body of work rarely goes very far above “good for taylor swift”. folklore as both title and musical aesthetic is irrelevant to the actual content of the album, which is just every taylor swift album except set to folk pop and with a bit more cussing, congrats for baby’s first swear. i’ve seen folklore compared to much better bodies of work and even propped up by stans as album of the year, a distinction that rina sawayama and chloe x halle will be battling it out for if there is any justice in the world at all. the fact that she is allowed to do this and still be considered great when this is something that even white male artists are butchered critically for... astounds me. like we all know how well received all of coldplay’s similar sounding albums are.... Come on. 

2. i don’t think taylor or her work is particularly feminist and yet for some reason every time she frowns an army of white women brings her kleenex. i’m not saying taylor’s anger has always been unjustified, but her feminism to me has always felt like “i can do whatever a man can do” feminism, which is utterly fucking useless to me as a black woman. it’s only useful to her because as a wealthy, white, straight, cis white woman her ONLY obstacle in life is her gender. and if she just didn’t have that tricky little bitch then maybe people would take her seriously. like, just think about her music video for the man... what was the thesis of that? what was the point of that? with all of her privileges she’d just be gaining a single extra privilege. she’s a blonde blue eyed thin white girl, the world kisses her feet. i have no interest in proving myself any better or any worse than white men, they are not the standard for how a person should be treated, they’re cautionary tales, and white women are too. i think taylor capitalizes off of white woman victimhood, and it’s all over her writing style. even when she’s trying to be empowered, like in mad woman for example, there is this tone to it of victimization, poking the bear, unleashing the beast if you will. she invokes the imagery of salem witches and even more boldly chooses a noose to write about in the song which is..... surely going to be a white tumblr staple for many gifsets to come but holy shit is it hollow. she also tends to come back to teenage memories in her music and she’s thirty. i don’t think about being seventeen unless i’m being held at gunpoint but she seems to think about it All The Time. and part of this is to keep herself young, at least in her music, which only further ingrains this image of fragile teeny bopper taylor into the mind of the listener, fueling her victim image. this imagery and language means nothing because the world always rallies around taylor. even when she was the butt of jokes for not being beyonce (which she is not and never can be) and writing about her exes (which she does), she was largely supported by the industry and by critics. look at how many fucking awards she has!

3. folk and indie and alternative music is in a moment of transition, where musicians of color are getting the chance to really speak about how they’ve been treated in these overwhelmingly white circles and create their own standards and their own voices. and for taylor swift to swoop in with aaron dessner and jack antonoff fantano and almost reassert that mid-2010s indie sound as The Sound of folk pop in the popular consciousness.... it makes me violent! it! makes! me! violent! 

4. back to hozier! finally, i wanna talk about white standom, fandom, bandom, and womandom. i often see these very superficial comparisons between hozier and taylor (and hozier and florence and hozier and stevie nicks and hozier and whatever other white woman in fashion) and they frustrate me for more than one reason. i know that hozier has met taylor and said she’s cool, which is nice of him and he’s a nice man, but i’m not a nice man so i’m going to just say it: none of the people who have made those posts have listened to more than four hozier songs and it shows. the reason why this matters is because these posts catch on and create an image and preconception of hozier’s music that is divorced from reality and divorced from his influences and most importantly divorced from the deliberate and reverent blackness of his musical style. hozier has his white male privilege in the industry for sure but he’s not as towering of a giant as taylor and taylor’s music is an unsalted chicken, plain oatmeal, white paint drying on a white wall, a stick of unflavored gum. her music is so white it told me that its dad is a cop. i am, as a black hozier fan, exhausted with having to share space with white women who don’t know why hozier’s music kicks me in my lungs sometimes and think that taylor mentioning a tree ONCE in her 3 minute acoustic guitar slog about whatever suburb is the same when it simply is not. i swear some of you are pretending to love taylor because your friends love her and you don’t wanna be left out of the hot new musical discourse but she’s only the hot new musical discourse CONSTANTLY because she’s a white woman, she’s almost the Perfect white woman. like if someone asked me to describe a white woman, it would be taylor swift. her position at the top of the musical pyramid among people who eclipse her musically, vocally, and lyrically is only allowed because she’s The Perfect White Woman. she’s an ideal. white girls relate to her immediately because of it and now we have this unshakable mob of unbearable white women who think that the world has wronged someone who literally wrote fanfiction about the rich oil heiress white woman who owned her rhode island mansion before her aklghlghdhlgs it drives me fucking NUTS 

anyway that’s all. if you made it this far, listen to adia victoria, kaia kater, samantha crain, valerie june, kelsey lu, corinne bailey rae, brittany howard, kimya dawson, japanese breakfast, cold specks, left at london, rhiannon giddens, aisha badru, shea diamond, nadine shah, xenia rubinos, karen o, mirel wagner.... Anyone

#me #taylor swift meanie hour #long post

[chaeryybomb]

BRUTAL

pairings: female reader x best friend!jungwon

summary: they told you that these were the golden years, but to you "golden" was a rusting metal spray painted yellow. the story of a seventeen year old trying to survive high school when all you do is try your best. but your best friend jungwon makes it worth the while. 

genre: high school au, friends to lovers, fluff, tiny bits of angst if you squint, attempt at humour

featuring: jang wonyoung, kim sunoo & nishimura riki 

word count: 4.5k 

warnings: reader having a existential crisis most of the time, strong language, mentions of insecurity

the sour series masterlist

You slumped forward the moment the bell rang, letting your head hit the table. You could care less if a bruise would form on your forehead, you had much bigger things to worry about. Your teacher left the class wordlessly as the class was busy doing their own thing. And by that, everyone was buried nose deep in studying. You lifted your head to see the different books of the same topic scattered on your desk, a yellow highlighter balancing on the edge of your table.

Reaching over to grab the highlighter, you turned your head over to the side to look at your desk mate. Wonyoung sat there looking straight out from a k-drama, with her hair flowing down her back perfectly and her slender nimble fingers moving as she continuously wrote in her notebook. She was smart too, fluent in English and Korean, great at maths and science. And on top of that she was kind and friendly, everyone loved her. You did too, you had the honour of calling her your best friend. But sometimes you felt insecure around her, everything she did looked flawless and there you were just trying your best.

"Ack!" You yelped as you sat up straight, holding your forehead. Wonyoung rolled her eyes at you with a small smile on her lips, she had flicked your forehead to get you out of your thoughts.

Without taking her eyes off the textbook, she tapped your own workbook with her pen. Silently telling you to stop procrastinating. You pouted at her and looked at the clock, 10 minutes before lunch. Maybe a walk to the girl's bathroom would do you some good.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," you whispered to Wonyoung. She nodded and smiled at you before you walked out.

As you strolled towards the girl's bathroom, you passed by the bulletin board outside your class. A bright blue poster stood out with the words "ENJOY YOUR YOUTH" in white. Scoffing at the message, you continued on your way.

"I'm seventeen now, where's my fucking teenage dream?" You muttered to yourself. You were tired of waiting for your life to end up like a coming of age movie. Everyone told you that these were the golden years and you should enjoy your youth, but you swear to god if you hear another one of those cheesy sayings, you might just cry on the spot.

Reaching over to open the stall door, you halt in your actions when you heard familiar voices talking.

"I'm so worried for finals, my parents are gonna kill me if I fail English again," a girl complained. You hear the sound of tap water running. "How are you so calm during this time, Mirae?'

"What's the use of studying hard anyways," the second girl, Mirae, said. "We all know the top spots are gonna be taken by Jang Wonyoung and Yang Jungwon, I just study enough to pass."

The other girl snorted at her reply. "Imagine if those two got together, the power couple of the year," she suddenly said.

"Poor Y/N then, she's gonna be over shadowed by them."

"As if she already isn't. I almost forgot they were a trio until you mentioned Y/N," the girl laughed.

"What can I say? They're out of her league," Mirae joined in with her laughter.

The two voices faded away as you heard the door closed. Finally pushing the door open, you looked at your reflection. Your eyebrows knitted in annoyance and your face was morphed in a scowl. You washed your hands aggressively and poked the inside of your cheek. What bugged you was that they were right. You were the black sheep between Wonyoung and Jungwon. Both of them were smart and amazing, and you're just…you.

You love your best friends, you truly do. But you were constantly compared to them and you hated it. Everyone wanted them, you watched as guys tripped over to confess to Wonyoung and girls squealing when Jungwon smiled at them. The two of them always reassured you that you weren't beneath them but you were sick of their sympathy. You're so caught up in the news of who likes you and who hates them. You just wished people liked you more.

Storming out of the bathroom, someone accidentally ran into you and caused you to fell onto your butt. The student immediately stood up and scurried off, not bothering to even a mutter an apology. All I did was try my best and this is the thanks I get, you thought bitterly.

They said that these were the golden years, but you wished you could just disappear. God, it's brutal out here.

"Y/N, wait up!" Jungwon called after you.

You stopped in your tracks as you watched Jungwon waved goodbye to some students before jogging towards you.

"You heading to cram school today?" He asked you as the both of you fell into the same walking rhythm.

You shook your head, clasping your hands behind. "I moved it to Thursday instead, Wonyoung said I had to many things on Tuesday," you told him. Originally, you would be heading to the library to study before heading over to the cram school. But Wonyoung took one look at your schedule and decided that you did not had enough breaks, so she managed to convince you to take the Thursday slot instead. Thursdays are one of the days where you would not go to the library.

Jungwon seemed to be disappointed to find out that you had switched slots. Maybe he should changed slots too, but does he have any empty spots open for Thursday though? He'd have to check later. Instead, he coughed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Do you wanna come over later? The new Demon Slayer movie is out," he offered, hoping that you'd accept.

Unfortunately, you once again shook your head. "Sorry Jungwon, I'd want to cram even more later. Finals are really creeping in and I can't afford to waste any time," you told him with a sad smile. As much as you would like to ditch the books and watch Demon Slayer, the glaring C on your last history paper was telling you otherwise.

You stopped walking when you had reached your doorstep. "Thanks for walking me home, Jungwon. See you tomorrow!" and with that you disappeared behind the door.

Jungwon waved goodbye as he watched the door closed. The smile on his face dropped and his shoulder sagged. Jungwon you idiot, of course she would want to study, he scolded himself. With disappointment on his face, he trudged home with a heavy heart.

"Change of plans, guys," he announced as he swung the front door open, unfazed by the fact that Riki and Sunoo were lounging on his coach. He accepted the fact that Sunoo had somehow gotten the keys to his house (suspecting that his mother probably gave it to him due to favouritism or maybe Riki had sneakily made a copy).

Riki's head poked out from the couch. "She rejected you, didn't she," the younger boy said with a smirk.

Jungwon's face ears turned red as he glared at the boy. "No she did not!" He immediately told him. "She rejected the offer to watch the movie, that's different!"

"That's basically rejection, hyung," Riki laughed.

The other boy just glared at him. "Shut up!" he sputtered out before hiking up the stairs.

Sunoo gave Riki a look, to which the Japanese boy just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Jungwon walked out from the shower, a towel around his neck with one hand running through his damp hair. Sunoo and Riki had left earlier, finally giving him some peace and quiet. His phone screen was flashing from his study table, initiating that someone was spamming him (quite aggressively) with text message. With a raised eyebrow, he picked up his phone

[7:09 pm] wonyoung: JUNGWON

[7:09 pm] wonyoung: JUNGWON

[7:09 pm] wonyoung: JUNGWON

[7:10 pm] wonyoung: WHY DID Y/N JUST MESSAGED ME ABOUT HOMEWORK

[7:10 pm] wonyoung: ISNT SHE WITH YOU

[7:11 pm] wonyoung: I THOUGHT YOU SAID U WERE GONNA WATCH A MOVIE

[7:11 pm] wonyoung: DEMON HUNTER OR SMTG

[7:12 pm] wonyoung: WHY IS SHE ASKING ME FOR HW

[7:12 pm] wonyoung: DID U CHICKEN OUT???

[7:13 pm] wonyoung: omg u chickened out didnt u

[7:14 pm] jungwon: jfc wonyoung

[7:15 pm] jungwon: and no i did not chicken out okay

[7:15 pm] jungwon: she declined

[7:16 pm] jungwon: she said she had to study ;-;

[7:17 pm] wonyoung: omg u suck

[7:17 pm] wonyoung: i told u the movie idea was dumb

[7:18 pm] wonyoung: but do u ever listen to me

[7:18 pm] wonyoung: no

[7:19 pm] wonyoung: and now u suffer the consequences

[7:20 pm] jungwon: yea yea i get it im dumb

[7:20 pm] jungwon: now what's ur solution the great jang wonyoung

[7:21 pm] wonyoung: i am so glad u asked :)

[7:21 pm] jungwon: oh no

[7:21 pm] wonyoung: stfu im giving u a better idea

[7:22 pm] wonyoung: a n y w a y s

[7:22 pm] wonyoung: my ynradar is going off and she's s a d

[7:23 pm] jungwon: how would u know

[7:23 pm] jungwon: she seemed fine today

[7:23 pm] wonyoung: stfu jungwon its best friend things u wont understand

[7:24 pm] jungwon: i-

[7:25 pm] wonyoung: and as her future bf u SHOULD start to train ur ynradar

[7:25 pm] wonyoung: anw its exam season stoopid

[7:26 pm] wonyoung: and its when those kids start to talk abt how the both of us are gonna get top scores

[7:26 pm] wonyoung: and they talk down on y/n while doing so

[7:26 pm] wonyoung: assholes

[7:27 pm] wonyoung: so i propose to u

[7:27 pm] wonyoung: a ✨ study date ✨

[7:28 pm] jungwon: i

[7:29 pm] jungwon: that's

[7:29 pm] jungwon: actually not a bad idea

[7:30 pm] wonyoung: obv i came up with it

[7:31 pm] jungwon: can u not

[7:31 pm] wonyoung: anw a study date

[7:32 pm] wonyoung: she's struggling in maths

[7:33 pm] wonyoung: specifically taxes because she said and i quote

[7:34 pm] wonyoung: "why do we have to do taxes when we pay people to do it for us"

[7:34 pm] wonyoung: so pls help her and try to cheer her up

[7:35 pm] wonyoung: and confess coward

[7:36 pm] jungwon: i make no promises for the last one

[7:36 pm] wonyoung: aFTER EVERYTHING I JUST SAID

[7:37 pm] jungwon: what if she rejects me wonyoung

[7:38 pm] wonyoung: WE'VE HAD THIS CONVERSATION A LOT OF TIMES JUNGWON

[7:38 pm] wonyoung: SHE LIKES U BUT SHES TOO DUMB TO REALISE

[7:39 pm] jungwon: sigh

[7:40 pm] jungwon: fine i'll try thanks wonyoung

[7:41 pm] wonyoung: np i expect y'all to be a couple by next monday <3

[7:41 pm] jungwon: i-

Sighing for the nth time of the night, Jungwon sat on his bed. He allowed the towel to slipped off his shoulders as his thumb hovered over your chat icon. Truth be told, he always thought his crush on you was unrequited love. You never showed any signs of returning of feelings so he thought he would just ignore the feeling until it was gone.

But oh boy was he wrong, because he didn't knew that he would be spending his high school years by your side. And now you occupy his mind 24/7. Wonyoung could literally tell that he was in love with you, but somehow you never caught on. He allowed Sunoo and Riki to convince him to do the whole "movie date idea", but that failed. So Wonyoung's suggestion was his only option left.

He typed out the message, ready to send it out. If only he could just press the button. Come on Yang Jungwon, you can do this. Just press the damn button Jungwon. Suddenly his phone pinged loudly, scaring the lights out of the poor boy as he yelped and his phone landed with a thud on the ground. He peered over his bed, as if his phone was a ticking bomb.

Oh, it was a message from you.

[8:01 pm] y/n: hey do u know where wonyoung is

[8:01 pm] y/n: she isn't answering my texts

Oh no. He realised that your chat was open, the two ticks indicated that he had (unintentionally) read the message. He couldn't just leave you on read. That's just evil. Scrambling to get his phone, he immediately typed a reply to cover for the other girl.

[8:02 pm] jungwon: sorry i don't :/

[8:02 pm] jungwon: what do u need her for

[8:03 pm] y/n: mf was supposed to teach me a maths question but she left me on rEAD

This was his chance! It was the perfect opportunity for him to score a date with you. Okay, breathe in breath out Jungwon. Don't mess it up and just ask her, he mentally prepared himself.

[8:04 pm] jungwon: oh i could help you if you want

[8:04 pm] jungwon: yk with finals coming up and everything, i can help you study

[8:05 pm] jungwon: if you want of course

[8:05 pm] y/n: omg srsly??

[8:06 pm] jungwon: pls help me study my braincells are literally dying

[8:07 pm] jungwon: jdsjkda okay how about this saturday at your place?

[8:08 pm] y/n: yeah sure

[8:08 pm] jungwon: cool its a date then!

You blinked at Jungwon's message. A date? Wait, did Yang Jungwon just indirectly asked you out? Nah, nah. You were overthinking it. Yes, definitely overthinking. Don't kid yourself, why would Jungwon ask you out on a date? Jungwon is just a friend, you tried to convince yourself.

Keyword: tried.

If he really was just a friend, then why did it felt like butterflies were in your stomach when he said "it was a date"? Then why did you frowned when those girls said that Wonyoung and Jungwon would make a good couple?

Oh god, do you have feelings for your best friend?

Saturday came faster than you would have liked it to. Ever since that last chat with Jungwon, it gave you the sudden realisation that you did in fact had feelings for your best friend. You tried so hard to avoid him in school because you don't want the butterflies back in your stomach. It was basically confirming the fact that you like him. Well, avoiding him also confirmed the fact but you choose to be in denial about it.

You didn't tell Wonyoung about your study date but lately she's been sending you outfit ideas on Pinterest. Specifically, date outftis. And whenever you tried to ask her a question about school, she brushed you off with a random excuse. So it left you no choice but to save those questions for Jungwon.

Speaking of Jungwon, he had texted you 10 minutes ago that he was on the way. You were standing in the middle of your room with your hands on your hips. Both of your parents were out for the day, which left you alone at home. You had taken out the low table to be used later and it was currently in front of you. Colourful workbooks were neatly stacked on top of it.

You did a 360 turn around your room. Was it messy? You cleaned it this morning when you woke up. Did you had any clothes out? No, doesn't look like it. For some reason, you were a nervous wreck. You blamed Jungwon. He just had to call this a date, didn't he.

Should you change? Maybe you should finally look through all those pins Wonyoung sent. Wait, no, why would you have to change into something nice. Jungwon was here to help you study, just that.

Yeah, a study date, your mind emphasised on the word.

The sound of the doorbell pulled you out from your thoughts. You immediately went to open the door. Yang Jungwon stood there on the other side, with his signature smile. Had he always resembled a sheep? He just looked so fluffy.

"Hey!" You greeted him with a smile, internally wincing at your way-too-enthusiastic voice.

But Jungwon didn't seem to mind it. "Hey!" he greeted back.

You moved to the side to let him in. "Thank you for having me," he said as he bowed then proceeded to remove his shoes.

"Uh, do you want anything? Water?" You asked him.

He shook his head.

"Ah, cool. Let's head to my room," you started to walk back to your room.

"Where are your parents?" He asked.

"Out," you simply replied.

That was when it dawned upon you, that your parents were not home. Leaving you and Jungwon, alone. Together. In your room. Alone. With the boy you potentially have a crush on.

"Y/N?" Jungwon tapped on your shoulder. You had stopped walking when you were suddenly washed over by your thoughts. Snapping out of it, you sent him a small smile before opening the room to your door.

The both of you shuffled into your bedroom, you sat down in front of the low table while Jungwon settled down next to you. He moved to take out his books then turned to you. "How about we do some studying and if you have any questions, you can ask me okay?" He said.

You nodded and flipped your own workbook open, immediately starting to work on the first question. Jungwon copied your action and a comfortable silence engulfed the both of you. As the time passed, you found yourself stuck on a certain maths question.

You slightly turned your head to the side to look at Jungwon. He was concentrated at doing his work, you felt a sense of deja vu while looking at him. He resembled Wonyoung when she was studying. At the thought of Wonyoung, you suddenly thought of what those girls said at the bathroom.

They would make a good couple, wouldn't they, you thought. The power couple of the year.

The butterflies in your stomach faded away into an uncomfortable feeling. Just the idea of them getting together already made you sick. You bit the inside of your cheek, you really did had feelings for him. And now it scared you because what if he doesn't feel the same. You made a mental note to consult with Wonyoung later, at least you hope that you'll allow yourself to tell her.

Jungwon must've noticed you staring and gently tapped your head with his pencil. A contrast to when Wonyoung painfully flicked your forehead.

"What's wrong? Are you stuck on a question?" He asked.

You leaned back a bit at the sudden action. You were so deep in your insecurities that you had totally forgotten about the literal problem sitting in front of you. Yet you couldn't even bother to ask him so you just shook your head. "I'm gonna get something to drink," you said instead.

Jungwon watched as you stood up, then decided to follow you as well. "I'll come along."

The boy joined you in the kitchen, perched on one of the island stools as you grabbed a can of soda from the fridge. He studied your movement as you worked around the kitchen. Your features were neutral, you weren't smiling nor frowning. But he could tell that your shoulders were tensed. Wonyoung was right, you did seem down. And he cursed himself for not noticing earlier.

"You okay?" His question made you stopped in a mid-pour stance, the can of soda was tilted but not enough for the contents to be poured out.

You brushed his question off and poured the drink into the cup. "Yeah," you hummed.

Unconvinced by your answer, he pried more. "You know you shouldn't care about what they say, right?"

You furrowed your eyebrows at him, pretending like you didn't understand where he was coming from.

"You're not below us, you know that right?"

You couldn't help but scoffed at his words. Jungwon's lips tugged downwards "I'm being serious here, Y/N," his tone was stern. "You shouldn't listen to what they say. You're more than just-"

The sound of the can being slammed down shuts him up. Your fingers tightened around the can as you looked at him. You didn't had the energy to hear him preach the same old "Don't Listen To Them" speech. You don't need his pity.

"I don't want to hear it, Yang Jungwon," you said through gritted teeth. Not sparing him another glance, you threw the empty can into the trash as you grabbed your glass.

As you walked past Jungwon, he suddenly reached out and held onto your forearm. "Y/N," he said softly. "Please tell me what's wrong."

You sighed and slowly turn around to face him, placing the glass back on the counter. You took in a deep breath before you opened your mouth. "I feel like I'm not enough," you finally said. "Everything I do just doesn't seem enough. All I'm doing is my best but it's just crushing my ego because everyone is telling me that you're better than me."

"I feel like no one wants me and I hate the way I'm perceived. It's always poor Y/N this and poor Y/N that's because everyone just sees me as your shadow and I fucking hate it. I only have two real friends," you gestured wildly. "And lately I'm a nervous wreck cause I keep comparing myself to the two of you. I'm not cool and I'm not smart, and I can't even parallel park!" You threw your hands up in frustration, the feelings you kept inside were pouring out like a waterfall.

Jungwon just stood there as he listened tentatively to every word. He didn't knew that you felt this way, bottling up all your emotions like that.

"And I'm so tired of people telling me to enjoy my youth and that these are the golden years. I might just fucking cry if I hear those words again," you finished ranting. It felt good, it felt like a weight on your heart has been lifted. Then you remembered that you just dumped all of it on Jungwon.

You opened your mouth to apologise to him but he surprised you by pulling him into his arms. At first you were standing stiffly at the sudden contact, but it took a millisecond for you to melt in his embrace. His arms were gently around your back and you returned the hug by wrapping your arms around his torso. The two of you stay in that position for awhile, relishing in each other's embrace. You definitely needed this hug.

Tightening your hold on Jungwon, you realised how important he was to you. He was your best friend and he was always there for you. It was stupid of you to compare yourself to him, when all he did was tried his best for you. The taller boy chuckled when he felt you rubbed your face into his shoulder, he involuntarily released a contented sigh. You felt one of his hands stroked your hair, it felt comforting. That action itself was enough for the butterflies to slowly settled back in you.

After a while, both of you finally (unwillingly) released each other. He pushed a strand of hair behind your ears and said, "You're wrong by the way." Which made you tilt your head in genuine confusion.

"You are cool and you are smart. You're like the coolest person I know. And no one thinks of you as our shadow, you don't hear it but I've always hear the juniors praising you for helping them and how enthusiastic you are," the way he delivered his words was filled with pure awe for you.

"And who cares if you can't parallel park. You didn't hear it from but Jay hyung failed his drivers test three times just because he couldn't parallel park," and that got a laugh out from you. Jungwon smiled proudly that he managed to make you laugh. "And you're wrong when you said no one wants you. I want you."

You blinked once, twice and thrice. He wanted you? "You're just saying that cause you're my best friend," you replied.

"No," he firmly said. "I like you, Y/N."

(Jungwon doesn't know where he got this sudden surge of confidence, but the mood was the perfect time for him to confess. It was a one time chance and he had to take it.)

You chuckled. "I like you too, Jungwon. We are friends aren't we?"

"No, Y/N. I like you. More than friends."

"Oh." Oh.

"Yeah," he scratched the back of neck awkwardly. Oh no, did you not feel the same way?

While you on the other hand, were malfunctioning on the inside. Your best friend just confessed to you and you were frozen on the spot. Why couldn't he had done it over text instead. If he had done it over text, then you could've left the message unread and you could've spammed Wonyoung for help. But the thing is that it wasn't over text and you couldn't just tell him to wait here while you panicked to Wonyoung in your bathroom.

Yang Jungwon likes you. And you like him too, right? Because if you didn't, your cheeks won't be heating up right now and your heart would have not be beating rapidly like it was going to break your rib cage any second. If you didn't like him, there would have never been butterflies in your stomach. Yeah. You like Yang Jungwon, you like him a lot.

"Me too," you whispered, it was soft but it was enough for him to pick it up. Jungwon eyes snapped to you, doe eyed filled with hope. "I like you, too," you said, this time louder. And you made sure you looked him in the eye when you confessed.

You watched as Jungwon's mouth morphed into a big grin. He let out a sigh of relief and dropped to his knees, surprising you. "Jungwon!" you squeaked, bending down to help him.

"I'm fine! I'm fine," he assured you as he stood up with your help. The grin on his face was still there. "It's just that … you like me," he breathed out. "You like me back, wow. I-I can't believe it."

Your face was definitely burning with embarrassment. You punched him lightly on the shoulder, turning away to hide your face. "Believe it, you dork. I like you, okay!" Somehow his grin was able to grew wider at your words, Gently, he took your hand in his.

"How about we stop this study date, and I'll take you out on real date?"

© chaeryybomb 2021

a/n: thank you so much for reading this <3

#enhypen #yang jungwon #jungwon #enhypen imagines #yang jungwon imagines #jungwon imagines #enhypen x reader #yang jungwon x reader #jungwon x reader #kim sunoo #nishimura riki #enhypen scenarios #yang jungwon scenarios #jungwon scenarios #jungwon fluff #enhypen fluff #yang jungwon fluff #chaeryybomb; the sour series

[tempenensis]

Jujutsu Kaisen Light Novel #2

Firstly, @bonsai62​ provides me with raw text of this - so thank you very much! This is the first eight pages of the first chapter from the second light novel. That being said, I don’t know how much I get this translation right, but enjoy anyway. Though this is cut at bad point lol

The title of the light novel is Thorny Road at Dawn. Text in bold means that it is spoken in English. 

Chapter 1: Nobara and Toge

.

“About Toge?”

August has begun.

Under the overlapping form of trees in the schoolyard, Panda asks back to Kugisaki who he has been holding on his arm and turning over 180 degree.

For the upcoming exchange event, Fushiguro is also working hard to train as participating first year.

He is in the middle of training with assumption that one-vs-one sorcerer combat can break especially during the fight.

Even though she is training, Kugisaki is now thrown towards Panda – repeatedly thrown towards him in a stage. But because it seems that her motivation is high, she’s become into it, as long as in the end she can be successful facing Todo and Mai even just a little bit.

“Yes. I understand Maki-san is worth of my respect. I also know that Panda-senpai is sorcerer with ability.”

“I also want you to say the same thing about me like Maki.”

Kugisaki answers as she stands up and brushes away leaves attached to her jersey.

“I respect you. I’m not saying bullshit about Panda-san.” (1)

“Well, if you become able to chat while being blown away, I’ll praise you.”

“My body can easily remember just blown like this.”

“Hooon. Then”

Panda looks around, confirming that Toge who went to pharmacy has not come back.

“What about Toge?”

“What kind of senpai is he?”

“Eh, you don’t know from talking to him?”

“Not that I don’t understand. Well, I know he is not a bad person, but if all his vocabularies are riceball fillings, talking with him will be limited, right?”

“We already get too used to it, right Maki?”

“Aah. Now that you say it, it naturally becomes question.”

Maki is spinning around a staff, sending a sympathetic look to Fushiguro after she lightly avoids Fushiguro’s attack and land a small hit on his head.

“It hurts…”

“You are thinking too much again with your head.”

Maki joins the conversation as she glances at groaning Fushiguro. Out of breath but clean of dust, she circles around Panda calmly.

“Among us maybe he is the best at taking care.”

“Yeah, he has a bright personality (2). If you exclude Yuuta, then he is the number one good person in our year.”

“His flaw is that he can get carried away a little.” (3)

“Is he?”

“You are the one who always get carried away when we are together, that’s why you don’t know.”

“That’s unexpected. We are not like that though. We like to join in the fun.”

Kugisaki’s body fitness is finally reaching that point where she can chat while doing her training. Even then, the second years who are lightly talking among them without difficulty remembers existence of Kugisaki of August (4) in the nearby stage.

Just a bit when Panda’s attention is at Maki as they converse, Kugisaki tries to do a feint from the side and mixes it with an upper but—

“Anyway.”

“Geh.”

Panda sways easily, then he hesitates a little before swipe Kugisaki’s feet in sobat-like (5) kick.

Kugisaki, whose pivot foot collapses, falls down rolling. Her body becomes totally irresponsive. In several weeks here, it’s a movement that she kept thought she could do.

That said she becomes irresponsive and she can’t win the match.

As he looks down at Kugisaki who makes a discouraged face, Panda opens his mouth.

“Toge is a good guy. That alone you should know.”

“….I see.”

More than that, her body has become irresponsive and her back is hurting.

The frequency of her falling down sloppily has not reduced, also buying a replacement jersey have also becomes necessary -- Kugisaki at summer time thinks with melancholy.

.---.

The story continues when it has turn to fall.

After the incident of Yasohachi has passed, there’s a brief spare time.

At that day, Kugisaki is alone in Shibuya.

Fushiguro is locking himself up and reading in his room as he is still exhausted after he overexerted himself.

Itadori has gone out to watch a maniac movie in a cinema currently doing a whole-building screening.

Maki is currently on a mission different from Yasohachi bridge, so she can’t meet her conveniently in a while. Kugisaki who completely doesn’t have a plan, aims to go shopping to make-up and clothes shops which are hard to go with boys, then buy daily necessities.

“Winter clothes set, winter shoes, inner and foundation and…”

Grasping paper bags in both hands, she lifts them up as she confirms her haul today.

She doesn’t think she bought too much, but she has walked more than she had planned. Maybe wearing the pin heel boots she bought the other day is a bit mistake.

But it is a rare chance that she gets to go out and shop alone. There’s a lot she still needs to buy.

Kugisaki is thinking to go looking for bags next as she walks in traffic jam.

When she had just arrived in Tokyo, it all seemed to be glittering scenery. After around three months has passed, she gets used to it a lot, used to hearing noisy sounds.

That being said, it is a backside of being busy and lively. It’s a thing that’s called taste of convenience.

“And that, it is really a masterpiece.”

“Doesn’t it make you angry?”

“Hey, hey. Girl, are you alone? Are you free?”

“I’m in a hurry.”

“Salmon.”

“We’re opening a new shop! Please take care of us.”

“Are you not going to eat?”

“How much are you going to eat?!”

“It’s damned boring, how about we skip work today?”

“Mama, buy me that!”

A lot of voices. It’s an intersection where a lot of life collides.

There are daily life as many as the number of people, there are worlds as many as the number of people. In the city where many wills and voices flying around, of course there will be a lot of people who is feeling gloomy – but not Kugisaki.

For her who has a firm sense of self, she understands that everyone has their own way of living in the hustle bustle of the city, it even feels like a kindness.

Now that she thinks about it, the village where she comes from was suffocating.

An exclusivity that imitate the people who had come before (6). An ecosystem long existed that doesn’t recognize individuality of a person. A closed world that gently rot — exists there in that village, Kugisaki thinks.

Compared to the crowd of the city, it is tough yet she can live with freedom.

In the city, someone says that the concern towards other people is weak. Kugisaki laughs, thinking that is wonderful. She has her own way and won’t blame anyone over it. She will stand and walk with her own foot.

However, mixing in the city crowd during the holiday, a mysterious chance can happen.

“Hm?”

Kugisaki who walks towards the direction of Shibuya Hikarie (7) in the lane across the street, makes a face of remembering something as she found him. It is the only one of her acquittances who hides lower half of mouth with closed overly long collar.

It’s Inumaki Toge.

There is also another one. A male foreign tourist with thoughtful blue eyes who can’t be someone familiar. Kugisaki becomes interested on the exchange between the foreigner and Inumaki.

“What are they talking about?”

Kugisaki changes her destination, then crosses the road when the traffic lamp changes at the right timing, and strolls towards Inumaki. When she is near them, she overhears their talk.

“I’d like to go to SHIBUYA109.” (8)

“Salmon salmon.”

“Could you tell me where I can get a taxi?”

“Salmon roe.”

“Ah… Which way should we go?”

“Seaweed.”

“Ah…I, want to go. 109 (9). Please. Ok?”

“Salmon.”

“Shake?” (10)

“….Salmon?” (11)

“….Salmon!? Why?”

“Okaka…..” (12)

“Ee…?”

For some reason, in Kugisaki’s guess ten times over, it has become a troublesome situation.

She knows that Inumaki, who is a cursed speech user, only speaks in onigiri fillings to avoid sudden outburst of curse. How come that he is asked by foreigner tourist for direction.

No, Inumaki can use Inumaki’s way of showing the way – he points his finger and gestures using his body and hands. With that, she wonders if the foreigner becomes impatient (13) as Kugisaki decides to get in between the two of them.

“What are you doing, senpai?”

“Tunamayo.”

“It can’t be ‘tunamayo’. Jeez.”

“Oh! Geisha girl!”

“Who the heck is geisha girl?!”

.

.

--- tbc (hopefully can do more)

(1) More literally, she is saying things about Panda that “doesn’t smell like fairy tale” (2) “His root is bright” is the literal translation (3) 悪ノリ (akunori) is a bit hard to be translated. It’s like, getting carried away in mischievous manner. (4) Overheated Kugisaki lol (5) Sobat : back kick in wrestling (6) literally “To follow the right” (7) A skyscraper in Shibuya (8) A department store in Shibuya (9) Spoken in broken Japanese lol. (10) Shake = salmon. He repeats what Toge said to him. In Inumaki’s language means “yes” (11) Salmon, as in engrish lol (12) Okaka = chopped katsuobushi, in Inumaki’s language means “no” (13) literally, “becomes hot”

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk light novel #novel translation #kugisaki nobara #inumaki

[farlynthordens]

Is Gen gay-coded or just an entertainer? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ random thoughts/observations about his speech in Japanese

Warnings: LONG. mentions of gendered language and homophobic characterizations

The concept of “role language” is super important in Japanese fiction, because how a character talks can tell you a lot about their personality. Unfortunately, it’s often lost in translation because languages like English don’t have the ability to play around with formality levels, pronouns, etc as much.

Ever since I first watched the dcst anime like a year and a half ago, I’ve had no idea if Gen is intended to be the “gay friend” character or just the “quirky famous guy,” or maybe both? I figured that writing out my thoughts might be interesting for some people! Take everything with a grain of salt tho since I’m not a native speaker

1. Backwards speech

I want to first cover backwards speech (localized as pig latin in the English manga) because this used to confuse the fuck out of me. It felt like a quirky teen thing or internet slang, but it’s actually [zuuja-go] (“jazz” written backwards + “language”) which originated in the 40s-50s.

It was revived primarily by male TV stars and comedians in the 80s-90s, and to this day zuuja-go is regarded as a type of [entertainment industry-specific language]. However, it’s hardly used anymore. It’s kinda weird then that Gen, who’s too young to have lived in the revival period, would use zuuja-go, but my guess is that it’s a funny and somewhat original way to show his “popular entertainer” background. I personally don’t know any other characters who use it as regularly.

2. Choice of pronoun + speech patterns

Gen ends nearly every sentence with ~ne, ~yo ne, ~yo, or ~sa, or otherwise no particle at all. Questions almost never have an ending emphasis particle, putting the rise in intonation on the final word (the standard is to end with ~ka, ~no ka, etc). He also always contracts the verb ending ~te shimau into ~chau/jau (Senku always uses the contracted form too, but a more boyish derivative (chimau). It probably sounds crazy but trust me). There’s more I could list, but these are the most notable points lol

This kind of speech pattern is associated with teen girls/young women, so when it’s applied to a perceived male character, it’s used to indicate that they’re an “effeminate man”. In most cases, “effeminate” = gay/trans (yeah it’s shitty and outdated thinking). It’s also been applied to male characters who are idols or internet stars, possibly as a dig at their masculinity or making fun of their attempt to appeal to female audiences.

One example of the latter is Pyotr from Carole & Tuesday, who’s their universe’s equivalent of an Instagram celebrity. His sentence structure is almost identical to Gen’s, with the girlishness turned up to 11 because of the very high pitched, nasal-y voice given to him in the show. More on this later.

We also can’t forget how he calls everyone -chan. It’s diminutive and cute, but literally no one uses -chan that much. Even in fiction, female characters normally use it for female friends or children, and guys almost never use it except for children and maybe certain girls they’re close with. It’s definitely the most exaggerated cutesy trait he has. “Effeminate male” characters often address others - regardless of gender - with diminutive honorifics or cute nicknames even when not necessarily appropriate, so this is just gay-coded behavior from what I can tell lmao

One thing that’s different about Gen compared to other characters with the same "effeminate male” speech pattern (that I can recall, at least) is his pronoun. He uses the masculine “ore”, like Senku, Chrome, and most of the other young male characters. In text, his “ore” is even in kanji (俺) like theirs. Had it been written in hiragana or katakana, it would have given more of a casual or stylish vibe. Just as a sidenote, this is also why his name itself is written in mixed hiragana/katakana instead of kanji! It’s a typical thing for Japanese celebrities to do with their names to seem cool.

Anyway, characters who are meant to be portrayed as “effeminate men” will almost always use watashi or atashi, the standard “female” pronouns, or at least “boku” which is generally male-aligned but softer than “ore” (Pyotr uses boku, as an example).

Pronoun usage is way more nuanced in real life, but for fictional characters, it tends to be broken down into these kinds of stereotypes based on Tokyo-dialect Japanese.

He also is missing some other key points in his speech pattern that would more clearly identify him as gay/trans-coded, like using the feminine ~kashira (”I wonder...”) instead of ~kana.

3. Voice acting in the show

I love Gen’s Jpn voice honestly, but it does play into the “effeminate man” stereotype a little. His voice is a bit higher pitched than the other guys and somewhat nasal-y, which are both common traits of this stereotype when used with the speech patterns I talked about above. The way certain syllables are stressed also highlights his feminine speech pattern. However, he’s comparably tame to “effeminate” characters in other series. For example, his Jpn voice actor does raise the pitch of his natural voice for Gen, but it’s not a falsetto imo. It’s pretty common for male voice actors to do falsettos for “effeminate” characters.

Gen also doesn’t fall under a lot of the tropes that plague many gay/trans-coded characters and quirky celebrity types - such as being a “diva” or uncomfortably flirtatious - which tend to get amplified in voice acting.

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This stuff combined with my previous post about his clothes makes me wonder even more about what was intended for his character. There’s a lot about him that is notably “feminine” without him leaning too hard into gay stereotype territory. And it’s just like, why did you do that.

If you survived reading this far, I’d love to hear your thoughts<3

#gen related rambling #dr stone #dcst #asagiri gen #yeah i'm back on my bs baby!!!! #been sitting on this for a little while so i hope yall enjoy

[the-brohood-of-hotties]

Forget me not

Fandom: Katekyo Hitman REBORN! Pairing: Hibari x Reader   Wordcount:  2,210

Summary: Hibari is a weird man, famous for his rather aggressive aura. After he moves into your neighborhood, an oasis inside a big neon town, Hibari Kyouya brings with him the weirdest situations into your life, as he makes a startling entrance with an accident with his "co-worker", Yamamoto Takeshi.

This is an entry for #khrevents April Angst 2021/ Day 8/ Yearning, Longing/ Reincarnation AU/ "I don't want to forget you."

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30658199

The glass door from your coffee shop and gardening club swings open, you don’t really care to see who’s there because it’s almost the end of your shift and you’re really entertained with social media, though you did greet the person entering. “ Good evening. Welcome to the Daily Lily.”

“Good evening, I’m afraid we’ll have to check out your storage.”

“Are you the police?”

“...No.”  The voice seemed hesitant, you notice.

“Then I can’t help with that, we have a promotion on cheesecake today though.”  You smile and finally look up, afraid it might be a man trying to mess up with you. Well, it was two men, in fact. You’ve heard the rumors around the neighborhood, that Hibari Kyouya was a man with a weird aura that just moved in alone with some exotic pets, while he seemed delicate and handsome, he just had this introverted, aggressive aura and you’d never expect him to show up in your small business as the companion of another guy. Tall, tan skin, dark hair, buff, a scar on his chin in contrast with a bright gentle smile. He seemed to carry a baseball bat in his back, which made the combination of sports and their suits really off, they both seem to be either Japanese or Korean.

While Hibari, the  grumpy one, seemed to not be so happy about being with the other guy. Like a puppy and an old cat. "We don’t wanna bother you, but-..." The baseball guy was cut off by a loud noise coming from the back of the store. Normally you would be worried that your co-worker got hurt or something, but today? You’ve been alone for the second half of your shift. It’s not supposed to be noisy there, you’re frozen in the spot.

Hibari immediately bursts into the staff-only area of your shop, and before you can protest, the other guy gently grabs your shoulder. “Everything will be fine, we’ll take care of this situation. I just need you to hide in the restroom.’’

“Excuse me?!” No time for excuses, you heard someone grunting and the loud noises start getting too repetitive. Your phone was given in your hands and you basically got pushed into the room by the taller guy. “Sorry, huuh I really need to go there… ” He said as the door slammed on your face. The restroom was cozy enough, you had it decorated as you wanted, and you were firmly holding your phone in case you needed to call someone...But then, who would you be calling? The police would probably make things worse, especially because they seemed to be armed, or worse, maybe these guys are the police in disguise. You fidget your fingers along the cold black surface as a way to calm down a little, it seemed pointless. The noise was too loud to just put on earbuds and ignore them, but you realize: And if this is all a scheme? Rushing to peek at the door, as your eyes meet the pastel walls of the store, you realize it seems like no one’s here at all. Until you hear the cranky storage door opening, and as soon as you see the Baseball guy again, you close the door. Don’t want him thinking you’ve been spying on whatever happened in the storage, with your heart racing, you hear a gentle knock on the wooden door, accompanied by his voice. “Everything is fine! You can come out. I’m sorry I didn’t say my name before, I’m Yamamoto Takeshi and my company here is Hibari Kyouya.”

Decide to close the shop soon as you could for the day,  you come out of the restroom, greeted by the two men.

“I am not your partner, Yamamoto Takeshi.”  He mutters, Hibari looks completely clean, you could still mistake him with a businessman. While Takeshi seems to have bruised his hand a little. You offer him your first-aid kit which he accepts, then you close the curtains so there’s no curiosity about that’s going on inside. “So, what happened in my storage?”  You cross your arms, with a cotton stained with blood between your fingers, slightly annoyed by the whole situation. Making mental notes of what to tell your therapist later, then going back to cleaning the dry blood on Yamamoto's calloused hand.

“Two burglars, they were armed but easy to deal with.” Hibari finally says something directed to you, maybe it’s the first time he bothered to look in your eyes. Not that you’re annoyed by that, perhaps he’s just introverted. But at the same time, now that he looked at your face, it's like something inside him got frozen, awkward. It's such a weird feeling, especially since he doesn't really show it off, you just can tell. “Are you guys police officers?”  You change the subject, brushing it off your mind, Hibari looks away, you can’t tell if he’s offended by being compared to a cop or something else. “Not at all! We just know how to handle them. We’ll send you a check to compensate for the damage and the working time you spent in the restroom as well.” Yamamoto finished his bandage and happily hands you paper and pen. “Just write down your shop’s address and info and the check will arrive in 3 to 5 days.”

You couldn’t really believe in such kindness, or at least knowing how to deal with the consequences of their vigilante work but since they already know the shop you write it down anyway. “ Are you all putting me in some pyramid scheme? You two seem like stage actors.”  They do look like handsome actors, you think.

“We aren’t.” Hibari actually pulls out an unused bullet from his pocket to show  they’re not lying, effective but scary. He just turns away and keeps browsing the plants you got for sale, examining the quality of an English Ivy’s vine. “Don’t scare them, c’mon. Isn’t this shop your neighbor now?”  Yamamoto jokes around, Hibari sends him a deadly look and you decide you won’t touch the neighbor subject ever again.

“If you two excuse me, I have to close the shop and go home. It’s getting late and I don't plan to work more today.” You operate the register and turn off your computer for the day, swinging the keys in your index finger. Anxious to get home to your cat and a nice hot bath to relax. “Thank you again for your kindness, next time you visit the shop anything from the coffee and plants is on me. But don't do crazy stuff again.” You smile as everyone leaves the inside area with you. “By the way, who’s going to take these two burglars out? Did you guys called the police?”

“Kusakabe already took them, before you got out of the restroom.” Hibari says in a beat, interrupting Yamamoto before he could say something else. “Who’s that?”  You raise an eyebrow, the Baseball guy blurts out, dismissing any curiosity you might have. “He’s a friend of ours who’s actually a cop!” That’s weird, you didn’t even see a vehicle, and usually, when cops stopped around they were always noisy and had the blue and red lights on. Off-duty cops, detectives, spies, what are these people doing around? Your curiosity around these two can only grow. It’s not like your hometown has anything important in the first place. Anyway, you say your goodbyes and already invited them to come once more. Perhaps it will be good to have these two around, at least against burglars.

Hibari turns to Yamamoto as soon as you disappeared in a street corner, with earbuds on, bursting your playlist for a nice walk and everything “That’s why we shouldn’t operate with any civilians nearby, we might be compromised now.”.

“It wasn’t that bad, I think they got to sympathize with us, it’ll be just a weird day on their life.”  Takeshi stretches his arms, it’s quite complicated to deal with you and Hibari all at once. “But, still if we didn’t interfere these guys might take them hostage, steal the shop, or whatever their intentions were. We’re lucky you saw they had guns when passing by the street.”

“I am sure Kusakabe will find out their true intentions, but meanwhile we cannot afford to bring attention to us. No more.” Hibari walked down the street, ready to get to his new apartment. “And, Yamamoto.”

“What?”

“If you get back here in the shop, don’t do anything weak and stupid.” A threat, how much that suits him, it must be a serious matter, no wonder the Foundation decided to settle in that small town for a while. Once Hibari got home, greeted by Hibird’s singing, he lets out a long sigh. What happened today? Two Mafia men going out for a civilian’s small business as if it’s a serious matter for them. But especially, the Cloud Guardian feels like he just knows you from somewhere. Your voice and eyes seem oddly familiar, but if he was to put this feeling into words it’ would simply smell like bullshit. Herbivore bullshit. He takes a long shower, and gets to bed to read something before sleeping, but can’t concentrate on his book. It can’t be, he even loses sleep and feels exhausted, only falling asleep when his body couldn’t take it anymore.

He wakes up in a bad mood, feeds Hibird and Roll, and opens his fridge: nothing, just a bottle of water. Well, he has to remind Kusakabe to do his groceries, but for now, he’ll be ok with going to your shop for breakfast. He gets changed from his kimono to casual clothing, it’s 07:00 AM when he walks down the block and notices no one’s inside the shop beside you, as he opened the door a ring is heard, you turn your head to see who’s there, the shop seems clean and decorated with paper and fairy lights hanging on the wall, plus with the plants of all sorts, making the place lively, with soft lo-fi music in the background. “Hey, good morning Sir.” He murmurs a response and orders blueberry pancakes with a black coffee on the balcony. “Thanks for coming after yesterday, I came here earlier to clean but your partner Kusakabe was waiting at the door to help me out.”

“Good.”  As you manage the register, he notices you have cupcakes with colorful glaze and cutesy decor right beside you, and a poster that he can’t read from that distance. You see he’s staring at something and offers him one of the cupcakes. “Today I’m throwing a small event here, the shop will celebrate 2 years of business, come by if you want to.”

“I’m not letting you give me everything in the shop for free.”  He rejects and suits himself a table nearby the window. “I don’t like parties, or crowded places so I’ll stop by tomorrow.” This hurts your ego a little bit, but it would probably be embarrasing to have a stranger around, he’s quiet most of the time. You wonder if Yamamoto is more of a party person, then, your thoughts drift to the question: Is Yamamoto Takeshi single? He doesn’t have a wedding ring, and neither does Hibari. 

 You shake your head before you could turn red in front of him. “Well, I’ll save you a piece of cake my parents made then.”  You say, as you get  prepared to do everything for today’s menu ready.

“You don’t have to.”  Ouch. You decide to not offer him more things, but this behaviour makes you wonder if he has a jealous partner.

Usually you let everything sort-of-ready so you just need to heat them in the oven on the back of the balcony. Cooking is time-consuming, but at least it’s pretty lucrative. “I think I’ll take around 30 minutes since you’re an early bird. You can use a laptop to work or shop for flowers if you like stuff like gardening.”  You turn your head to talk to him, but to your surprise, he’s already looking at some pots and examining some other gardening products you have around, you didn't expect him to be this kind of person, gardening takes nurturing, care, and a lot of attention towards a living being who doesn't even communicate like animals. He does like gardening apparently, you expected him to pull off a MacBook and have an online meeting over his meal or something, maybe doing finances of whatever organization he's probably the leader at, at least that's what his expensive suit tells. When you get to serve his plate, the spare chair has a basket full of gardening materials, seeds for fruits and veggies, some pots, a small rake, and a trowel.

As the clients come in and you get busier, he didn’t want to be a burden, so he just sat there and tried to enjoy his breakfast, even though the place was a little more crowded than he would like to. But still, Hibari can manage that for a bit, and then he realizes how the situation just got weirder to him, how come he’s doing that for you? And why did you felt so familiar? Spending most of his life there, just occasionally traveling he never noticed a person that matched that specific scene in his head. Is this some Herbivore bullshit? Maybe. Hibari is still pondering over this subject but as long as no one from the Foundation or Vongola finds out, he just found out a place with good pancakes, open from Monday to Saturday, how convenient. The whole saved your business and life thing or the fact that you’re attractive is just a small detail.  When he’s done, Hibari gets up from his table and your co-worker comes to clean his spot. He takes his basket to the balcony for payment, but not before adding a purple flower to his shop list. When he gets to pass all the products, which usually the clients would take one or two plants, but he got around seven, letting the purple flower for last.

A small vase blooming with forget-me-nots, as you pass it on the register, you read the silly little tag you put in some pots as decoration, each has a quirky phrase or pun with the names, that one reads:

“Don’t forget about me”.

#hibari kyoya #KHR Fandom #khr fanfic #fanfiction #reader #hibari x reader #yamamoto takeshi #forget me not #I kinda want to continue this fanfic hhhh