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#how they add their little catchphrase at the end of their sentences!!

seths-wife · 1 year

Text

Posting more "quartets of evil" translations.

Now, for those of you who have had the translations of slug, you may notice that this one is different in the general meaning.

Hear me out.

In the second panel, Riliane is supposed to say her usual phrase "saa, hizamazukinasai" (さあ, 跪きなさい).

Of course, that sentence has the general meaning of "now, kneel to me!" or "come, bow down to me!".

Now...in the comic, the catchphrase is misspelled "saa, hijiyamazukiniyasai" (さあひじゃまづきにゃさい!) suggesting that Riliane stumbled on her words because of inexperience ("because she's only 14", as the title goes).

I translated the misspell as "kneel to meow" for the "n(i)ya", for the funsies.

Then, Riliane spells the sentence correctly the second time.

I may be wrong, but I think this translation works better because of how the theme of "stumbling in one's words" connects with the comics after this one (for in "quarters of evil" the comics can work as stand-alone with their own close ending and punchline, nonetheless, they still connect with the other comics forming little plots).

Taking this aside...the other difference concerns the translation from "the tyrant princess snacktime" to "teatime".

Now, when Riliane says "oh, it's tea time" in the "daughter of evil" song, that is supposed to be a translation of "ara, oyatsu no jikan da wa" (あら、おやつの時間だわ).

The word that is translated as either "teatime" or "snacktime" by different translators is "oyatsu" (おやつ).

In order to understand why this word is translated in those ways, let's have a look on what that "oyatsu" is, according to the japanese culture.

It originally meant a snack between meals eaten by farmers to maintain body strength during a break when people took only two meals a day in the morning and evening. The term "oyatsu" originated in the custom made at yatsudoki (about two p. m.) according to the japanese clock. It has not used in the original meaning since the latter half of the 20th century up to now when people have come to eat meals universally three times a day. At present, it generally means a snack between meals, which does not correspond to a breakfast, lunch or dinner (or an evening meal).

Afternoon snacks eaten at about 3 p.m. There is a tendency to eat an afternoon snack generally at about 3 p. m. in Japan now.

(for the source, please ask me in dms, for I can't post links lest I get censored by the algorithm).

It's remarkable how Riliane does have her tea-time at 3 p.m, making a sort of a cultural syncretism between the time the novel mimics (the time of the french revolution) and the present or past japanese culture akuno is most accustomed with.

“Augh, it’s already teatime,” I muttered without thinking, hearing the sound of a bell ring three times.

[...]

The three dull chimes told me it was currently three in the afternoon,

[...] ("cloture of yellow", chapter 1, section 1, scene 2).

Also, the cultural insight adds:

People eat mainly sweets, fruits, etc. as an afternoon snack. It is also said that people came to eat a snack to shake off sleepiness when they had not taken a midday nap. The united kingdom also has a similar custom, which refers to afternoon tea (also known as high tea). There is a tendency to eat mainly sweets including sugars and snacks including carbohydrates as between-meals refreshments so as to get nutrition, especially calories, in the daytime.

As an aside, there is the following joke or conventional expression: "Is a banana an oyatsu?" "No, it is not an oyatsu because it is a kind of fruit." This joke can be explained in connection with the fact that people eat mainly sweets as an oyatsu in modern times.

Here's another parallel with Riliane: she tends to eat brioche with cream (pastry with cream) as the japanese tradition includes sweets as part of the "oyatsu".

As for the translation of this traditional term:

The term "oyatsu" (おやつ), also written in katakana (one of the japanese syllabaries) as オヤツ, refers to an afternoon snack.

The translation given off by that wiki is "afternoon snack", therefore "snack time" can also be a correct translation.

On my end, I chose "tea time" because "snack time" may or may not include tea, as that is a generic expression, while "tea time" specifically includes tea (usually accompanied by sweets) as Riliane does concretely.

Riliane was enjoying afternoon tea in the garden with Chartette and Ney. ("cloture of yellow", chapter 2, section 2, scene 9).

#evillious chronicles #evillious #translation #riliane #quartets of evil

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one-boring-person · 3 years

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My birthday is tomorrow and I would like to make a request, if it's not too much trouble. The reader is Brazilian. Being new in Santa Carla, she would be very excited about everything else, but wouldn't mind getting into a fight with the surf Nazis. How would the boys react? To their native customs, like greeting people with warm hugs and kisses, her clothes, accent, when she forgets and ends up speaking in their native language. I can just imagine her teaching them how to curse in Portuguese

I'm sorry this is so late, but I hope you had a good birthday! I've decided to do this one a little differently to normal, because it seemed to work better, so I hope you enjoy it!😊💛❤

A New Face.

The Lost Boys x reader

Warnings: mentions of violence, mention of swearing

Masterlist

The boys are used to all sorts of people coming through Santa Carla, having seen at least twenty different nationalities and ethnicities flocking to the small coastal town, so they're only partially surprised when they hear yet another different language being spoken around the Boardwalk.

It's a warm night towards the beginning of September, and they've just finished their rounds of terrorising locals when they first see her: a beautiful woman excitedly going from shop to shop, talking animatedly with a friend, who is equally as vocal. They're instantly somewhat intrigued by her: Portugese isn't a language they hear often, and she seems to be a particularly friendly person.

For the remainder of the night, they follow her and her friend around discreetly, just watching and admiring the easy-going presence leading them around the Boardwalk. It's evident that she's new around here, so the boys are glad that there won't be an ingrained dislike for them, like there is with anyone who's lived in Santa Carla for any number of years.

The next night, they go out looking for her again, easily finding her as she roams the rides and attractions in the other areas of the Boardwalk, this time alone, though the curious gleam never leaves her eyes. She smiles a lot, especially as she comes across things she seems to like, so the boys decide to make a move, having discussed this the night before.

The first meeting goes smoothly; as they predicted, the girl is open to them and has no prevailing prejudice, greeting them as if they were the most approachable people on the planet, smiling and grinning the whole time, speaking flawless English with them. Naturally, the accent tinging her voice intrigues them, the four vampires quickly finding themselves drawn to it, loving the way it sounds, particularly when she repeats their names.

The boys show her around the rides: Paul takes her on the largest one on the Boardwalk, the two screaming in ecstasy as they rocket around the rollercoaster tracks: Marko takes her on the bumper cars, where they nearly end up giving each other whiplash: Dwayne plays a shooting game with her, and easily wins the largest prize he can for her, glad to see her beaming widely at him: David chooses to take her on the Ferris wheel, knowing the view from the top is beautiful. She has a great time, and readily tells them this, asking whether or not she can meet them again as soon as she realises it's too late for her to stay out longer. Only too happy to oblige, the four vampires tell her they'll be there every night and are willing to spend them with her.

For weeks, the five of them hang out together becoming accustomed to each other and their weird habits, though it took the boys a little longer to accept some of them. They're naturally very jealous beings, so when they see her greeting a friend by pulling him into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to his cheek, they get suspicious. They don't ask about it, but they do notice that a sense of envy and protectiveness had made itself known, and they all know what that means.

Within the first month of knowing her, she has invited them over to her's numerous times to serve them some of the best traditional food they've ever eaten. It's at that point that she hears they basically live off of takeout (they don't tell her about their vampirism yet), and she's aghast - "You don't cook your own meals? Why?"

With that question, they decide it's only fair they show her where they live.

They didn't know what reaction they were expecting, but the one they got was not it.

She was in awe, instantly falling in love with the messy interior of the hotel, their new friend going around every corner of the cave so that she can take it all in, exploring curiously. Every now and then, she'd asked about something, and the boys made up some story about its origin - She doesn't need to know it's all stolen from victims yet.

Unfortunately, her appearance often gets unwanted attention from the more seedy visitors of the Boardwalk, and she's had far too many run-ins with the surf Nazis.

At first, she hadn't said anything, and had ignored the lewd comments, the inappropriate cat-calling and the wolf whistles, despite the boys steadily getting more and more annoyed with them. Eventually, she had snapped, and started to insult the boys trying to get at her, her accent much more pronounced now as she stepped right up to their leader, clearly ready to fight them if she needed to.

The boys can only watch as she easily deals with the surf Nazis, finding her show of confidence incredibly hot to watch- there's something about her asserting her dominance that awakened something in the four vampires. And when she started cussing the surfers out in her native tongue, well, that was it really. They knew right then they had to have her as their own.

As soon as she got back to them, Paul had accosted her, begging her to teach him some of the Portuguese swear words he'd just heard, Marko soon joining in as David also showed some interest, a smirk in place on his face. Dwayne could only shake his head, but he too asked if she could teach him some Portugese.

They find it incredibly cute when she adds little phrases and words into sentences in her native tongue, often teasing her for any funny idioms she uses, or catchphrases that don't really translate very well. They also notice that she reverts back to Portugese when she's tired or angry, a trait they find highly amusing to listen to.

Eventually, they build up the courage to explain to her what they are, and to ask her to be with them romantically. At first, she's sceptical of both, but she soon warms up to the idea of being in a relationship with four loving vampires. They do make it work out, however, and life for them becomes much more enjoyable, the five of them spending a whole lot more time together as they will do for decades to come.

#the lost boys #david the lost boys #paul (the lost boys)#dwayne (the lost boys)#marko the lost boys

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currywaifu · 4 years

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𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: angelica flower 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: miyoshi kazunari/reader 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: sfw 𝐰𝐜: 1.1k words 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: Cerise 🍡

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: kazunari is a regular at the flower shop cafe reader works at, and he is in need of inspiration 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫: this work is a part of the flower shop event, a series of unconnected flower shop AU one-shots

The sound of the storefront door swinging open and a shout of your name indicated the arrival of your favourite regular customer.

“Heyho! You look cute today too piko☆” and if you weren’t already convinced, the cheeriness present as ever combined with his catchphrase solidified the man’s identity.

You turned around to greet him properly, somewhat surprised to find him standing alone. Weeks ago you would have been too timid to even talk to him outside of

“Kazunari-kun, you didn’t bring anyone with you today?” you asked, “it’s kinda weird seeing you alone.”

“Nyahaha! It just means I can spend more time talking to you one-on-one~♪” Kazunari said, a boisterous laugh escaping his mouth, a wider smile at the sight of reddening ears going unnoticed, before he answered you more seriously, “I have a sketch to do for class, but I keep getting distracted.”

You nodded understandingly. It was always hard for you to concentrate in a noisy place, so you understood his dilemma.

“Do wanna sit somewhere more secluded?” you pointed somewhere towards the back of the shop, “it’s usually where I stay when it’s not my shift, or if I’m, like, studying for class.”

“Woah! Special friendship perks?! Is this what you get when you’re BFFs with someone from the littest flower shop slash cafe slash totes aesthetic hang in Veludo?” he exclaimed, and you didn’t bother suppressing the laughter that he caused.

“I mean, technically anyone could sit there?” you pointed out with a giggle, but you left your spot from behind the counter to usher him there. “If you wanna get cosy, I’ll show you the best place to sit,” you offered, smiling as Kazunari cheered excitedly, almost bouncing like a cute puppy.

You led him to a table with a comfy loveseat, positioned beside a window that probably would’ve brought a glare of sunlight to the interior if it wasn’t a little late in the afternoon already. Unsurprisingly, he dives onto the armchair immediately; his bag of what you’ve come to know contained art supplies following suit.

“Nice, right?”

“Uhhh, hell yeah!” Kazunari sunk a little deeper into the chair, about to continue talking until you heard the store door open.

“Big OOF, you better—“

“Yeah, oh gosh, I haven’t even gotten your order yet?” you said a little hastily, “you going for the daily special cake again? With the complementary—“

“Yep yep! You know my tastes so well piko☆” he said with a grin, before shooing you off, “now go! You don’t want the chef to come out and scold you again~♪”

You laughed as you quickly ran back to the counter to entertain your new customer’s order, watching from the corner of your eye as Kazunari brought out his art supplies. You silently wished him well.

…

Your shift was nearly ending, and as the sky dawned a palette of pastel pinks and purples, the business and idle chatter of the shop settled down. Save for the “Cafe Music! Jazz & Bossa Nova instrumental music” YouTube playlist in the background, all was quiet.

Well, save for the sound of pencils against rustling paper from the back.

Knowing he would be too focused to spare you a glance, you peeked at him from your spot by the counter. When Kazunari was in work mode, he gave off a totally different vibe— and while on normal circumstances you’d think this side of his was just as charming, something was off based on his furrowed brows and the barely noticeable frown on his face.

After a second thought, you opened a cabinet behind you and got a small jar of candies. You usually reserved them for yourself throughout the times you needed some sugar for energy, but you figured Kazunari needed some more than you at the moment.

You knew he liked candy, so if you couldn’t help him with his work you could at least support him somehow!

“Kazunari-kun, how are you?” you asked, situating yourself beside his chair. With a small groan, he angled his sketchbook to let you look at it properly.

While you haven’t seen a lot of Kazunari’s stuff, you knew he was amazingly talented in multiple art mediums— be it traditional or graphic or anything else in the spectrum. Looking at what he drew so far, you could say that the idea and technique were definitely there, but it was a little lacking save for the centre of the page.

Kazunari clearly knew it, too.

“I’m Gucci mostly, but I think something’s off?” The blond said, “like a missing detail to make it less plain? Idk tbh.”

You pouted. You didn’t know what to add either, so instead you proceeded with your plan and showed him the small jar of candy.

“Sorry, I don’t know what I’d add personally, but I just wanted to give you something to…” you trailed off until you could phrase the rest of your sentence in a logical manner, quickly giving up on that. “Haha, I guess I just wanted to support you somehow?”

“Eh? You remembered that I loved candy?!” Kazunari exclaimed, immediately perking back up from his minor slump. “You’re so cute~! High-key lit! No, totes the GOAT!” His hand touched yours, the jar still on your palm as he opened the lid.

He immediately went for the green one, and you nearly laughed at how similar it was to his eye colour. As soon as he popped it in his mouth, the same bright eyes widened at you.

“Yo, this tastes funky— but I’m kinda digging it?” he said, continuing to figure out the flavour, “what is this?”

“It’s called candied angelicas,” you said, “we got a delivery of angelica flowers a few days ago, and apparently you can make candies out of the stem?”

“Angelica flowers?” Kazunari repeated, reaching to get another piece of candy, “never heard of her. She could be walking down the street, I wouldn’t know a thing. Sorry to this flower.”

You giggled, reaching into the jar to get a piece yourself, “You dummy! Apparently they mean inspiration and encouragement, so it’d be nice flowers to give~”

The blond gasped, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you in excitement.

“Wait, that might just work!!!”

“What- what’s gonna work?” you asked in confusion, watching him set down his art materials. He stood up so quickly you would wonder how he didn’t get whiplash if he didn’t immediately squeeze you in a tight hug.

What?

Though it had only been 5 seconds tops, him pulling away felt like minutes as he rewarded you with the brightest grin you’ve seen from him today.

“Ugh, you’re actually so??? The best??? I’m totally pumped up and inspired now!”

Well, maybe you didn’t have to understand right away. You were just glad you were able to help him.

“ thank you for your hard work today at the flower shop! here, feel free to take home these angelica flowers with you~ ”

【 angelica flowers 】 inspiration, creativity, encouragement

“ maybe you’d like some more flowers before heading home? ”

-ˋˏflower shop masterlistˎˊ- | -ˋˏfic masterlistˎˊ-

#a3!#a3! act! addict! actors!#a3! kazunari #kazunari miyoshi #miyoshi kazunari #cafe: dessert menu #nathya's flower shop #kazunari x reader #a3! game #a3 actor training game #a3! actor training game

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nobodies-png · 4 years

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HC: Xemnas and the other Xehanorts love playing Animal Crossing.

Just because ACNH has been such a fuckin BEACON OF JOY in my life since it came out (even though I have no means of playing lol) i’m adding some general animal crossing Nort headcanons

Master Xenahort :

He’d be a snooty goat, pretty obvious. All of his letters sound vaguely threatening and pretty creepy, but he also sends super rare furniture so it’s not like you can complain that much. Whenever he’s in your town, all of your flowers are bound to turn black for some weird fucking reason. - no one knows if this is a feature or a glitch You have more chances of getting him to show up if you have a heart shaped pond for him to lurk around.

As for Xenahort playing Animal Crossing, weLL. Good luck getting this old boomer figure out how the controls and everything else works. He seems to like Isabelle a lot because “she’s efficient and a cute dog” but he ALSO likes Apollo and his litte “PAH !” catchphrase. Xenahort could have a pretty gothic and aesthetic world if it weren’t for the fact that he struggles with technology. Also also the guy who’d listen to all teh fun facts Blathers has.

Ansem (Heartless) :

A jock/cranky boar maybe. The kind of villager you wouldn’t really give much thought about, he looks a little funky and emo but eh, it’s not a big deal - until you get into his house and see that it’s pretty much chaos. There’s furniture you’ve never seen and are those fucking GLOWING EYES in the background ? You don’t think you wanna know. Exclusively comes out at night when there’s literally no other villager awake and he’s never present during holidays or events.

Ansem wouldn’t even play Animal Crossing, ngl. He has 0 interest in the game and would most likely drop it after 10 minutes. Also why can he only call like ONE person in the attic ? Fucking whack, that’s not how phones work. Spends the entire time complaining about little things he doesn’t understand. Like come on, man they’re just funky talking animals, let them live.

Xemnas :

A lazy wolf. More quiet and lethargic than actually lazy. The guy is pretty quiet the first days UNTIL you start befriending them, then you’ll discover that he’s actually a fucking chatterbox. You can find Xemnas on the beach at sunset just vibing most of the time or at the museum. After having him around for a while, you notice that he’s the only fucking villager in your town that hasn’t celebrated nor told you when his birthday is. His house is pretty minimalist and monochrome.

Xemnas doesn’t exactly “play” the game - he mostly just roams around, doing absolutely nothing or just talking with people while going “Hmmm” Ohhh” “I see. . .” and other noises to himself. Couldn’t figure out how to give Isabelle a seashell on the first days so he just dropped that shit on the town hall pavement and it’s been there since then. Xemnas also never learns the real names of the villagers in his town, he just names them after people he knows and calls it a day.

Vanitas :

Definitely a jock cat, but like, the mean kind. He’s just too childish and energetic to be a cranky villager lol - his catchphrase is probably some shit like “idiot”. Not even a nickname, he just adds that at the end of sentences. Vanitas (or Catnitas :punch: :pensive) runs through the flowers but ONLY when you’re watching, orders the weirdest and most complex coffee just to see if you can make it - and then when you show him that you can, he’s impressed but also angry cause now he has to drink that shit. If you get Vanitas on your town, there’s a high chance that Ventus also moves in right next to him and viceversa.

Vanitas claims that he doesn’t give a shit about Animal Crossing, but his town is impeccable and he WILL kill for the villagers he loves - even if he’d also just try to straight up kill the ones he hates lol. The type of guy who carries around an axe 24/7 for no reason other than aesthetics and to make a Statement (tm). His house is pretty ugly though and he gets mad because he just doesn’t know how to properly decorate it to get a good grade.

Young Xenahort :

Smug goat. Smug goat. SMUG GOAT. The 100% definition of smug bastard - old Xenahort at least had the decency to SEND you rare furniture, but this guy just DISPLAYS it all on his house and MAKES SURE you know how pitiful it is that you can’t have the same things as he does. His house is chess themed and he has a picture of Eraqus somewhere. All of his letters sound condescending and he tries to use really long words to sound cooler, but we all know the truth.

Young Xenahort shares a switch with Young Eraqus so naturally they share islands in ACNH. Eraqus didn’t really mind but Xenahort REALLY wanted to divide the island in half so that they could have their own territory. IRONICALLY, he spends most of the time on Eraqus’ side tidying shit up - because he just can’t help getting mad whenever he sees how messy everything is, with all the fucking fish just laying around because Blathers isn’t there yet. Young Xenahort also insists on only having white roses and is very hellbent on keeping a strict aesthetic.

Terranort :

The snooty lion she tells you not to worry about. Also a bit smug, but not as bad as the actual Xenahort - he’s actually pretty tolerable, when he’s not giving you the cold shoulder. The villager that takes you 207456 years to actually befriend and who only likes super specific and rare items as gifts. It’s really funny to bully him around because he only gets angry and just stomps around all day after that.

Another sad lad who wouldn’t play AC BUT if he DID he’d have some intense lore and one man larping sessions with the villagers. Like, those people who get WAY too into it. And sadly that’s all I got on him because I wasted all of my juice on writing for the other guys who are all technically the same guy.

Dark Riku :

Stereotypical jock wolf - head empty no thoughts, only muscles, sports and a deep seated inferiority complex. If you send him fruit, he’ll send you garbage in return. The only villager who wil SMACK you back with a net if you hit him, but his letters are oddly ??? Pretty nice and normal too ??? Unlike all of his regular dialogue about beating you up at every single game and sport possible in this entire world. Like, calm down, bro. Calm down and have a caprisun. Brags a lot about his “friend Kairi” from another town, which is sad cause she doesn’t. Actually know him. At all.

Like Vanitas, e-boy Riku says he “doesn’t give a shit about some animal AI from a kids game” but he actually does. Sable is BEST girl in his eyes and getting her to open up and share her story with him was a magical moment. The game is super soothing and it calms him down, he’d even listen to those Lo-Fi AC 24/7 streams on youtube whenever he needs to c h i l l.

Xigbar :

Peppy panther, I don’t even have to tell y’all what his catchphrase is. Constantly breaks the fourth wall with little jokes, known to “teleport” - he kinda ends up showing up on every single store and building you enter, as if nothing happened. Sends you VERY specific letters describing shit he shouldn’t knowor stupid jokes and puns. LOVES to gossip about other villagers and gives you that Extra Lore and trivia about them - but whenever you ask others about him, they just Dont Know Anything About Xigbar. Are you SURE he’s in your town, mayor ?

Xigbar would mostly play Pocket Camp because it’s easier than carrying around a fuckin ds or a switch. It’s also less work and it’s a nice distraction from all the drama going around in the real organization. To play ACNH or ACNL he probably leeches off someone else’s console and he’d exclusively visit others’ towns just to fuck with them or annoy them to death by surrounding their houses with pitfalls.

#kh headcanons #mariahmaru #heartcanon mondays #except its tuesday here #Xenahort #Ansem the Seeker #Xemnas #Vanitas #Young Xenahort #Terranort #Dark Riku #Xigbar #im this close to calling this group motherfuckers unlimited or something like that

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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

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Golden Kamuy Volume 2 Data Hunting

So this is a collection of assorted information about Golden Kamuy Vol 2 inclusive of data, points to ponder, notable quotes and so on.

It was a terribly long work and I don’t expect it to be perfect. If you notice something is wrong (especially in the translation from Japanese) or missing please, feel free to drop me a note.

I will try to do something similar for vol 3 as well but I don’t promise at all I’ll manage it.

Anyway, I’ll hope you’ll enjoy this!

VOLUME 2

Cover: Asirpa & Retar

Chapters: 10

First printed: 19/February/2015

Volume only extras: Sugimoto’s black and white illustration, Retar’s tiny black and white illustration, reprint of Huci’s words to Sugimoto now translated, 2 page extra story about Sugimoto and Asirpa eating river otter, Asirpa wearing a Kaparamip, frontal and back image, the Ainu sentence ‘Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam’ (“Nothing comes from heaven without purpose”).

GENERAL INFO

Notable or recurring Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ), Toraji (寅次), Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Asirpa (アシㇼパ), pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’), Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三) , Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Huci (フチ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル), Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂洋平), Osoma (オソマ), Tamai (玉井), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣源次郎), Tsukishima Hajime (月島基), Ushiyama Tatsuma (牛山辰馬), Wada (和田)

Maps of the places mentioned:

Meiji years mentioned: Meiji 9= 1876, Meiji 23= 1890, Meiji 37=1904, Meiji 38= 1905, Meiji 40= 1907, Meiji 41= 1908.

Weapons used:

- Arisaka Type 30 rifle: Sugimoto, Tamai, Noma, Okada, Tanigaki, Tsukishima, Nikaidō Yōhei, Nikaidō Kōhei

- Arisaka Type 30 bayonet: Noma, Sugimoto, Nikaidō Yōhei

- Ainu bow (Karimpaunku) and aconite poisoned arrow (Ay): Asirpa

- Ainu short knife for women (Menomakiri): Asirpa

- Ainu hunting knife (Tasiro): Asirpa

- Koishikawa Arsenal Type 26 revolver: Tamai, Ushiyama

- Murata Sword: Hijikata

- Borchardt C-93: Tsurumi

- Amappo: Makanakkuru

- Sutu: Asirpa

- Dango skewers: Tsurumi

Convict appeared and their tattoo owners (at the end of the volume):

1. Gotō: Sugimoto

2. Prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group: Sugimoto

3. Hijikata Toshizō: Hijikata (original and copy)

4. Shiraishi Yoshitake: Shiraishi, Sugimoto (copy)

5. Tsuyama: Tsurumi

6. Ushiyama: Ushiyama, Hijikata (copy)

——————————————————————————

08. FLIGHT (逃走 TŌSŌ)

First printed: 09/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 45

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Wilk (ウイルク), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣源次郎), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None.

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February.

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Wilk.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: None.

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Isepo: “Small creature that cries ‘iii’”. Hare

- Pukusa: Alpine leeks

- Osoma: Poop

Food and drinks: Hare’s raw eyes. Citatap with hare and ohaw in which it’s cooked. Sugimoto adds to it Miso as well.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The Ainu legend about why Ezo hare have black spots on their ear tips is a cautionary tale against greed ‘If you don’t let greed get the better of you, you won’t have to spend your life running’ that well end up mimicking what the characters will do, run around for more than a year searching for the gold.

- Asirpa offers Sugimoto’s the hare’s eyes as, by custom, the man who caught the hare, gets to eat the eyes… but actually it was Asirpa who caught the hare 2 chapters ago. Noda said Asirpa wants to genuinely share all the food she finds delicious with Sugimoto so she’s not trying to gross him out… but she’s definitely forceful with him (with Ushiyama she’ll be much nicer) considering Sugimoto is clearly not willing to eat them.

- Sugimoto eat the eyes, same as in the past chapter he ate squirrel brain and says ‘hinna’ probably out of politeness, which might be why, after Ogata refused to eat animal brain and they reached an Ainu village, he told him to behave politely.

- Sugimoto literally says the warm food makes him alive again, not just that it gave him his strength back. That’s because not much before he risked dying by hypothermia, after falling in the frozen river.

- Asirpa is not against adding something she never heard about to the soup, she’s against adding MISO to it because she thinks it’s poop and, even though she forced Sugimoto to eat Ainu food when he didn’t want to, she isn’t shy to refuse eating Miso rather vocally, insisting it’s poop and refusing to believe Sugimoto who, for three times, will say her it’s not, her comments ending up on making Sugimoto feel as if she’s implying he’s a freak.

- Sugimoto confirms he’s scared of bears when Asirpa orders him to check a bear den and he asks ‘why him?’ although he obeys. He claims his disliking of bears is due to their last encounter with one.

- Asirpa explains Sugimoto her father was so brave he would crawl into the den clutching a poison arrow and kill the bear himself with it. It’s a system to kill a bear that Sugimoto will deploy when the bear will attack Anehata.

- Asirpa’s father clearly underwent a change in character design as in this chapter he has much has sunken cheeks, the scar of his face is either missing or much shorter as it’s supposed to continue on his cheek and yet it doesn’t and his bear is much longer and the same goes for his moustaches.

- Although despite Asirpa telling him according to Ainu a bear doesn’t kill a human that enters its den Sugimoto is firm in how he won’t get in, saying they already have to handle convicts. He’ll change his mind when it’ll become a matter of survival.

- When refusing, Sugimoto acknowledge they’ve already to face dangerous prisoners (‘Kiken'na shūjin’ 危険な囚人). Sugimoto is aware the prisoners can be dangerous… and he also knows the 7th could be dangerous. In short he was already aware he was exposing Asirpa to risk but hadn’t developed with her a bond strong enough it made him think he should apologize for involving her in this and discouraging her from continuing.

- Tamai’s group manages to find the hut Asirpa and Sugimoto had left short after they did (the fire was put out recently).

- Tamai seems to have a good opinion of Ogata, thinking he wouldn’t let a hunter and a child take him down and that he didn’t push his body to the limit just to brag but to tell them something.

- Noma is more prone to think Ogata just fell on his own and wrote ‘immortal’ to brag about how he didn’t die. While it looks like he’s not having a good opinion of Ogata, there’s also to consider Tsurumi will comment Tamai, Noma and Okada are all experienced mountaineers, something Ogata probably isn’t. So Noma’s negative judgment might also stem from the fact Ogata went to wander on the mountain alone when he didn’t know it well and this might have lead him to make mistakes that experienced mountaineers wouldn’t do (like standing on a snow cornice like Sugimoto and Shiraishi in the past chapter).

- Okada has a very minor role but, interesting enough he asks about Ogata’s conditions.

- We learn in this chapter Ogata’s jaw got broken in the fall so he couldn’t talk, yet he did his best to communicate with the others. Vasily, who also can’t talk, except for his attempt to deliver, through drawings, who he was searching to Sugimoto, hadn’t really made an effort at communicating with others, though, to be honest, the others hadn’t done an effort to talk with him either.

- Ogata only wrote ‘immortal’ because he tried to write ‘Immortal Sugimoto’ (although in English we favour ‘Sugimoto the immortal’ in Japanese is ‘Fujimi no Sugimoto’ with “immortal” ‘fujimi’ written first) but, apparently, fall back to unconsciousness before ending the sentence. We’ve seen Sugimoto is pretty well known for his nick so, writing it down would have given people an immediate grasp of who had attacked him. It’s also worth to mention that the message was possibly aimed not at Tsurumi but at Tamai as we’ll discover Ogata was in a rebellion with Tamai, Noma and Okada.

- Noma’s sentence about Ogata claiming to be unkillable it’s actually “did he want to say ‘I’m immortal’?” which is, ironically, Sugimoto’s catchphrase and probably Noma himself, who had met Sugimoto at Port Arthur, slapped himself later on when he realized what Ogata was actually trying to say. On a sidenote as ‘Fujimi’ is generally translated as “immortal” but technically mean “not-dead/not-dying” maybe Noma meant Ogata only wanted to say something like “I am not ding” but this is a speculation I’ll let to who’s more knowledgeable of me in Japanese.

- Tanigaki do not take part at all in the whole discussion about Ogata. While it’s true it’ll turn out Tanigaki is not a chatter, it’s also worth to mention Tanigaki doesn’t like Ogata so he probably wasn’t interested in his whereabouts, although it’s also true he was busy searching for Sugimoto and Asirpa and he’s the one spotting them.

- When Asirpa sees the flashing light caused by binoculars she can’t realize what are they, although Sugimoto does. I guess this hints Asirpa has little to no experience with binoculars.

- Tamai, Noma, Okada and Tanigaki use “Karafuto-style” or “Russian-style” skis. Noda confirmed that back then ski weren’t in use in Japan yet but that he assumed they could have been introduced in Hokkaido due to the prosperous trade with Russia.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “So the moral of this story is…”If you don't let greed get the better of you, you won't have to spend your life running”…” (‘Tsumari sono ohanashi no kyōkun wa “yoku o dasanakereba nigemawaru hitsuyō mo nakatta”… tte kotoda na’ つまりそのお話の教訓は『欲を出さなければ逃げ回る必要も無かった』…ってことだな)

- Asirpa: “Here, Sugimoto. you can have the eyeball.” (‘Sugimoto, usagi no medama tabete yoi zo’ 杉元、ウサギの目玉食べて良いぞ Lit: “Sugimoto, you can eat the rabbit’s eyeball”)

- Sugimoto: “Ahh… It's warming me up from the inside. I can feel my strength coming back.” (‘Ā…-tai ga nukumaru. Ikikaeruu ~’ ああ…体が温まる。生き返るう～ Lit: “Ah... my body gets warm. I’m coming back to life~.”)

- Sugimoto: “This is already pretty delicious, but I bet If you added miso it would really enhance the flavor. What do you think?” (‘Asirpa-san, ko no mama demo jūbun umai ndaga, miso iretara zettai au n janai no? Kore’ アシㇼパさんこのままでも十分美味いんだが、味噌入れたら絶対合うんじゃないの？コレ Lit: “Asirpa-san, it is delicious enough as it is, but if you put in it Miso, it'll definitely fit well, right? I think this.”)

- Asirpa: “Are you trying to feed me poop!? I refuse to eat a bite!” (‘Watashi ni unko kuwa seru ki ka! Zettai tabenai zo!’ 私にうんこ食わせる気か！絶対食べないぞ！Lit: ‘Do you want me to eat poop?! I'll never eat it!’)

- Asirpa: “Eww, He's eating poor and smiling while he does it.” (‘Uwaa… unko tabete yorokon deru yo kono otoko’ うわあ…ウンコ食べて喜んでるよこの男 Lit: “Wow... he’s happy to eat poop, this guy.”)

- Sugimoto: “Don't talk about me like I'm some kind of freak.” (‘Hito o hentai mitai ni iu n jaarimasen yo.’ ひとを変態みたいに言うんじゃありませんよ)

- Asirpa: “There's an ainu saying that goes: a brown bear will never kill a human that enter its den.” (‘Ainu no iitsutae ni kō iu no ga aru “higuma wa suana ni haitte kita ningen o kesshite korosanai”’ アイヌの言い伝えにこういうのがある『ヒグマは巣穴に入ってきた人間を決して殺さない』)

- Sugimoto: “Hell no. I’m not going there. We’ve already got our hands full chasing dangerous criminals. It’s not like we starve if we don’t catch a bear right now. Let’s get out of here.” (‘Zettaiyada. Oretachi wa tadade sae kiken'na shūjin o tsukamaenaki ya naran noda. Ima sugu higuma kuwanakya uejini suru tte wake jane~eshi. Ikōze’ 絶対やだ。俺たちはただでさえ危険な囚人を捕まえなきやならんのだ。今すぐヒグマ食わなきゃ飢え死にするってわけじゃねぇし。行こうぜ Lit: “Absolutely not. We just have to catch dangerous prisoners. I wouldn't be starving to death if I didn't eat brown bears right now. Let's go”)

- Tamai: “It’s hard to believe a capable man like superior private Ogata was taken down by a couple of hunters… but maybe they know something.” (‘Ogata jōtōhei hodo no otoko ga ryōshi no oyako ni yara reta to na waru enga... Nani ka shitteru kamo’ 尾形上等兵ほどの男が猟師の親子にやられたとな悪えんが... 何か知ってるかも Lit: “A man like Superior Private Ogata being taken down by a hunter and his child seems (the) wrong (option)… They might know something.”)

- Noma: “It’s possible that he simply slipped and fell on his own.” (‘Tan no hitori de karraku shita dakedato waruimasuga nē’ 単のひとりで滑落しただけだと悪いますがねえ)

- Okada: “How's his condition?” (‘Yōdai wa?’ 容態は？)

- Tamai: “He managed to regain consciousness once. However he wasn't able to say much with a broken jaw. He used what little strength he had to write something with his finger. ‘Immortal’.” (‘Ichidodake ishiki o torimodoshita kirida. Ago ga warete hanasenakattaga. Sono toki-ryoku o furishibotte yubi de moji o kaita. “Fujimi”.’ 一度だけ意識を取り戻したきりだ。アゴが割れて話せなかったが。そのとき力を振り絞って指で文字を書いた。「ふじみ」。Lit: “He managed to regain consciousness only once. His jaw his broken so he couldn’t talk. At that time, he collected all his strength and wrote some letters with his finger. ‘Fujimi’.”)

- Noma: “Perhaps he was trying to boast about being unkillable? To fall into a frozen river with injuries like that and come out alive is remarkable good fortune on his part.” (‘Ore wa fushida to demo ītakatta nodeshou ka ne?’ 俺は不死身だとでもいいたかったのでしょうかね？Lit: “Did he want to say ‘I’m immortal’?”)

- Tamai: “No, I don't think that's it... he pushed his body to its limits in order to tell us something. He wouldn't use that effort merely to brag or joke.” (‘Iya... Yatto no omoi de wareware ni tsutaeta noda. Karuguchi hazu ga nai’ いや... やっとの想いで我々に伝えたのだ。軽口はずが無い Lit: “No… he hardly managed to tell us. It couldn’t be a frivolous talk.”)

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09. CORNERED RAT (窮鼠 KYŪSO)

First printed: 16/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 46

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣源次郎), Gotō (後藤), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹), Retar (レタㇻ), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China)

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905), Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Hokkaidō shikaryō kisoku (北海道鹿猟規則 “Hokkaido Deer-Hunting Regulations”) (1876)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Tanigaki, Noma and Sugimoto.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: None

Animal deaths: None

New Ainu words:

- Kitura sisam ohaw or si omare wa e: The man I was with puts poop in his soup and eats it.

Food and drinks: None

Useful info and points to ponder:

- This is the chapter in which Asirpa teaches to Sugimoto that if he walks on bamboo grass his footprints will become less obvious. Sugimoto forgetting about this will become relevant in chap 228 when he’ll get lost and Asirpa will have troubles finding him.

- When realizing they can’t shake them Sugimoto will decide for him and Asirpa to split up, claiming that the soldiers would chase only the adult’s footsteps, not Asirpa’s. Tamai’s group will actually chase both, specifically sending Tanigaki to track her and Sugimoto was aware this could happen, as he specifically instructed Asirpa on what to do, should they find her.

- Sugimoto also, instead than hiding the skins somewhere, entrust them to Asirpa claiming that if they were to find them on him, they would kill him on the spot but that if they were to find Asirpa, she should hand them to them and pretend she knows nothing because they aren’t the types who would kill a kid. Not only this is purely Sugimoto’s assumption but he knows it’s baseless because later, acknowledging the 7th division is dangerous for Asirpa too, he will try to leave her behind. At the moment though, he entrusts the skins to Asirpa because he hasn’t developed a bond tight enough with her yet and therefore prioritized trying to protect himself and the skins, underestimating the danger he put her in.

- Sugimoto claims all Asirpa cares for is for someone to find the gold (so that Noppera-bō will be executed and her father avenged) therefore whoever were to do it would be fine for her. This remarks that Asirpa has no interest in the gold itself (which would therefore go all to Sugimoto if they were to find it) but also that Sugimoto didn’t realize Asirpa cares for him as well.

- Asirpa’s sad expression at such words and her warning he shouldn’t fight them or they would kill him prove she actually cares for him.

- To Asirpa’s words Sugimoto replies with his catchphrase “I’m Sugimoto the immortal”. It seems a cool scene because he’s the main character (so we know he’s not going to die) and because “Sugimoto the immortal” was introduced as his nick. When Tanigaki, in chap 231, will reply the same to Inkarmat in a scene that parallels this one though, we’ll realize how silly and unbelievable of a reply it is in a real life situation.

- It’s Okada who finds Sugimoto’s and Asirpa trails even if it’s Tanigaki who afterward tell them that Sugimoto and Asirpa split.

- Tamai sends Tanigaki after Asirpa. This is likely not really because Tanigaki is the best tracker and Asirpa is better than Sugimoto at hiding her tracks but likely because Tamai and the others are in a rebel group with Ogata and, if Sugimoto were to turn out involved in his incident, they wanted to question him without risking for Tanigaki to overhear something compromising.

- Tanigaki claims he’s a Matagi of Tohoku who has seen animals double back on their tracks countless times, basically telling us he’s a hunter. In fact he easily finds Asirpa.

- Asirpa tells Tanigaki a random sentence in Ainu to pretend she doesn’t know how to talk Japanese.

- Tanigaki doesn’t talk Ainu, not even a little bit.

- Although nervous, Asirpa decides not to hand the skin to Tanigaki and hides it on the tree she was hiding on. Ironically, one of the squirrels she loves to eat cause the skins to fall down and be seen by Tanigaki.

- Tanigaki asks Asirpa if the man with the army cap is her brother or father because 63 Ainu joined the army and so he’s thinking the man with the army cap is actually an Ainu related to her.

- When Tanigaki discovers the skin Asirpa attempts reaching for her poisoned arrows. Likely she only meant to scare him as she doesn’t want to kill anyone but Tanigaki can’t know this, which is likely why, later on, he’ll use her as a human shield seeing her as dangerous as the others despite her age.

- Although Tanigaki doesn’t point his rifle at Asirpa, he charges it, automatically becoming more threatening.

- Retar is then shown running toward Tanigaki from behind.

- An unclear scene shows Sugimoto running with his rifle on his shoulder but in the next panel he has it in his hands.

- Sugimoto lies and claims he escaped because he believed the soldiers were there to catch poachers and he was hunting deer illegally using an Ainu kid as his guide. He’s pretty smooth in his lie, showing he can be a good liar although his sentence is, in itself, too elaborate if he had really bee a poacher. Not only he confesses his crime too easily and too calmly despite having tried so hard to escape but he also adds unnecessary information as Asirpa being his guide. Tsurumi would have easily spotted his lie, but with Tamai’s group it can work.

- On a sidenote Sugimoto would be hunting illegally for two reasons, because he doesn’t have a hunting licence and because hunting deer was limited to a period that went from November to January.

- It’s worth to mention the deer hunting regulations greatly impacted on Ainu life (Japanese even forbid to everyone to hunt deer from 1890 to 1900), also forbidding to hunt them with poisoned arrows or amappo (they were supposed to use rifles like Kirawus does) and fundamentally making most of them illegal hunters.

- Noma says he saw Sugimoto at the field hospital in Port Arthur. As he knows Sugimoto’s division and also his nickname but Sugimoto doesn’t seem to know/recognize him, evidently he was merely pointed to Noma. There’s to say the two had crossed path in Mukden also, when Noma was among the men transporting Tsurumi and Tsukishima (Tamai was there as well) but, evidently, back then he hadn’t recognized him.

- As soon as Noma points out the one in front of them is Sugimoto the immortal, Okada immediately confirms to know him by reputation and Tamai also, like Noma, connects the dots and realizes Sugimoto is the one who attacked Ogata.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “Asirpa-san. Let's split up. I'm the one they're chasing not you. Here. Take the tattooed skin. I want you to hold on to it. If I'm holding it when they find me, they'll probably just kill me on the spot. If they happen to catch you, don't fight back! give them the skin! act like you don't know what's going on. they're not the type of guys that would kill a child. In the end, all that matters to you is that someone finds the Gold! So does it really matter who finds it!? Just do as I've said, Okay?” (‘Asirpa-san futa te ni wakareyou. Yatsu-ra wa otona no ashiato dake o karera ga anata o ou hazuda. Irezumi hito kawa kore o… Asirpa -san ga motte itte kure. Ore ga motte ireba osoraku sonobade korosa reru. Moshimo Asirpa -san ga tsukamattara issai teikō sezu ni yatsu-ra ni watase! Nani mo shiranai furi o shiro. Kodomo made korosu renchū janai! Asirpa -san ni totte wa kinkai sae mitsukete kurereba sore wa dare datte ī hazuda. Ore ga itta tōri ni suru nda zo ~tsuī na?’ アシㇼパさんふた手に分かれよう。やつらは大人の足跡だけを彼らがあなたを追うはずだ。刺青人皮これを…アシㇼパさんが持っていってくれ。俺が持っていればおそらくその場で殺される。もしもアシㇼパさんが捕まったら一切抵抗せずにやつらに渡せ！何も知らないふりをしろ。子供まで殺す連中じゃない！アシㇼパさんにとっては金塊さえ見つけてくれればそれは誰だっていいはずだ。俺が言ったとおりにするんだぞッいいな？Lit: “Asirpa-san. Let's divide. Those guys should chase only after the footsteps of the adult, not yours. The tattooed human skins, these… Asirpa-san should take them with her. If I had them I would probably be killed on the spot. If Asirpa-san gets caught, give it to them without any resistance! Pretend you don't know anything. Those guys are not those who would kill kids! For Asirpa-san, it’s important the gold is found. Whoever it, is fine. Do it exactly as I said it, okay?”)

- Tanigaki: “Aw, shucks. I have no idea what you're saying. I'm not some monster here to gobble you up. please come down.” (‘Maitta na sappari wakaran. Totte kuttari wa shinaikara orite oide.’ まいったなさっぱりわからん。捕って食ったりはしないから降りておいで Lit: “Annoying, I don't understand her at all. I won't catch and eat you, so come down.”)

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10. GAMBLE (博打 BAKUCHI)

First printed: 23/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 47

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣源次郎), Noma’s grandfather, Asirpa (アシㇼパ).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Noma’s grandfather charcoal-making hut, up in the mountains

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Noma.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: Tamai (killed by a bear), Noma (killed by a bear), Okada (killed by Tamai)

Animal deaths: Mother bear (killed by Tamai)

New Ainu words:

- Itatani: Cutting board used for meat

- Rikosinot: “Tossing up”. A bear attack in which the bear bites its target and throw it up in the air over and over.

Food and drinks: Bear citatap.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- During the confrontation between Tamai’s group and Sugimoto, it’s clear the 4 of them are all scared. Sugimoto is without weapons and against three armed men but Tamai’s group, due to Sugimoto’s legend of being immortal and dangerous, is also scared of facing him.

- Tamai is the one who manages to remain the calmest, ordering to shoot Sugimoto in the knees, a sign they didn’t aim to kill him, at least not at first.

- At the prospective of being shoot in the knees, screaming his catchphrase ‘I’m immortal’ Sugimoto decides to overcome is fear of bear and try entering in its den in hope Asirpa was right and the bear won’t attach him.

- Tamai is completely pissed off by what he judges an act of cowardice from someone who’s called ‘immortal’ and who fought like a ‘Kishin’ to the point he decides to shoot into the hole personally, even if this means he could kill Sugimoto and not get any info from him. It’s unknown if the fact that Sugimoto hurt Ogata, one of his underlings, also played a part in Tamai’s anger (Tanigaki had a good opinion of him so Tamai could be a superior officer who cares about whose under him and he also expressed appreciation for Ogata).

- Noma’s question is actually more vague as he says only they won’t be able to ask him what happened, without mentioning Ogata, even if it’s clear he’s referring to what happened with him.

- Despite being mountaineers, none of the three realize the hole is a bear den.

- Despite the shock of seeing the bear running toward him Tamai recharged his rifle but, as Nihei will point out later on, he didn’t manage to shoot the bear. The bear, with one paw, will manage to rip his face and his jaw away, the shock causing him to press the trigger and, inadvertently kill Okada.

- Regardless of the situation Noma remains calm and talks to the bear. He explains his grandfather worked up in the mountains making charcoal (this confirms Noma is a mountaineer and might point out he’s from Hokkaido). His grandfather warned him when meeting a bear running or playing dead won’t work. One has to stay calm and talk to the bear, looking at him in the eyes until it calms down and then shoot him in the head which Noma does, claiming this is revenge because a bear killed his grandfather while he was in his charcoal-making hut.

- Noma’s grandfather’s teaching were wrong. As Nihei will later do, Noma should have shoot the bear when the bear was standing, aiming for his heart and not for his head as a bear skull is really thick while the brain is small, hence it’s pretty difficult to kill the bear this way. As a result the bear gets up and attack Noma, his claws cutting his stomach and causing his intestines to come out, therefore giving him a fatal, although slow killing wound. Noma will still pull out his bayonet and stab the bear multiple times challenging the bear before the bear will toss him in the air over and over, causing him to end up on a tree where he’ll die, still holding his bayonet in his hand, albeit he’ll lose his shoes.

- Noma might have had some contacts with the Ainu as he’s aware they consider bears gods of the mountains.

- Despite the terrible wound he received, Tamai will manage to stand up again and shoot multiple times to the bear’s skull with his gun, until he’ll empty the revolver. Then, after giving a last glance to his fallen men he’ll die as well, probably of blood loss. Overall both Noma and Tamai revealed themselves as tough guys who, despite their terrible wounds, still managed to fight and eventually took down the bear.

- After he shows up, Sugimoto will comments Asirpa was right in saying a bear doesn’t kill who enters in its den and wonders if she threw off her pursuer already (he likely has realized since 3 soldiers came after him the 4th should have gone after her, proving they would chase both of them). He’s however clearly unconcerned and even takes time, before walking to help her against an adult soldier, to talk with the bear cub and hide it in his coat. This clearly implies back then he didn’t care for her as much as he’ll do later.

- Sugimoto, coming out of the bear den, was holding a bear cub in his arms as if he were a child. He claims since the cub’s mother is dead he can’t leave him there but he can’t promise Asirpa won’t turn him into Citatap. It’s not a joke but this will be developed in the next chapter.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Noma: “But what if we hit him in the head and he dies? We won’t be able to ask him what happened with Ogata.” (‘Shikashi… Atama ni demo atete sokushi sa setara nani ga atta ka kikidasemasenyo’ しかし。。。頭にでも当てて即死させたら何があったか聞き出せませんよ Lit: “However… If we hit him in the head and kill him immediately he won’t be able to tell us what happened”).

Noma: “What's wrong!? You scared!? The Ainu call you a god of the mountain? Pathetic! I'll show you what it means to take on the 7th division!! Come and get me!!” (‘Dō shita a! Iru nda ka? ! Ainu ni yamanokami to agame rare teru bunzai de yō! Teikoku rikugun dainanashidan aite ni tada de sumu to omou na! Kakatte koi ~tsu!’ どうしたあ！怯んだか？！アイヌに山の神と崇められてる分際でよお！帝国陸軍第七師団相手にただで済むと思うな！かかって来いッ！Lit: “What's wrong! Are you frightened? ! Someone who has the social standing of being worshipped by the Ainu as the mountain god! Don't think you’ll win easily against the 7th division of the Imperial Army! Come on!”)

Sugimoto: “Your mom’s dead and I can't just leave you here. I'll take you with me… but I can't promise Asirpa won't make you into Citatap.” (‘Omae no kāchan shin jimatte hottokene~ekara tsurete kukedo… Asirpa-san omae o chitatapu ni shite kutchimau kamo na’ お前の母ちゃん死んじまってほっとけねぇから連れてくけど…アシㇼパさんお前をチタタプにして食っちまうかもな Lit: “Your mother is dead and I can’t leave you alone so I'll take you... but I'm afraid Asirpa-san might eat you as Citatap.”)

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11. AINU KOTAN (アイヌコタン AINU KOTAN)

First printed: 30/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 48

Characters: Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣源次郎), Retar (レタㇻ), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Huci (フチ), Ekasi (エカシ), Hapo (ハポ)*.

Location: Near Otaru, Asirpa’s village near Otaru

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Hokkaido Wolf extinction (1890)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa, her grandparents and her mother.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: Ekasi (illness)

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Horkew Kamuy: “Howling God”. Hokkaido wolf.

- Kotan: Village

- Nusasan: An altar. Objects like the skulls of the bears were enshrined there.

- Cise: House

- Mukkur: An Ainu musical instrument also known as Mukkuri. It’s a sort of mouth harp.

- Pu: A type of building used as a storehouse

- Huci: Grandmother

- Ekasi: Grandfather

- *Hapo: Mother (to be honest this word isn’t used in this chapter but as Asirpa’s mother is still unnamed and Asirpa names her relatives using Ainu words I listed her as such)

Food and drinks: Brain of a bear

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Differently from Sugimoto Tanigaki immediately realizes Retar is an Hokkaido wolf and not a white dog.

- Retar bites Tanigaki’s leg and use it to toss Tanigaki around, breaking his leg and causing him to go unconscious, before attempting to bite his throat and kill him. Differently from Tamai and Noma, Tanigaki won’t attempt to fight at all.

- Asirpa stops Retar from killing Tanigaki, saving his life. Later, fearing Sugimoto would finish him off, Asirpa will tell him he’s dead, potentially saving Tanigaki’s life a second time. Tanigaki will never thanks her for this, although, as he was unconscious, he might not have realized she had made sure he wasn’t killed.

- Between telling Sugimoto Tanigaki is alive and leaving him in Hokkaido’s wilderness Asirpa judges the safest option for Tanigaki is to be left there as she assumes he’s tough enough to survive this. Her assumption is slightly off as Tanigaki could have probably handle it on his own if he had tried going back, as Tanigaki tried to chase them he fainted and needed to be rescued by Nihei.

- Asirpa’s assumption on they being safe because he can’t go after them with his leg snapped like this is not taking into consideration that if Tanigaki had gone back he could have told to the other soldiers exactly where they met and who they are, with the result that many soldiers would came for them, aware they should search for a man and an Ainu child.

- Asirpa’s reasoning to stop Retar is she didn’t want him to become a Wen Kamuy due to her, though she thanks him for saving her.

- This time Retar not only approaches Asirpa and laps her face but let her rub his belly and scratch his favourite spots as he remained there with an expression of enjoyment. However, as soon as Sugimoto comes close, Retar takes a majestic pose and then hurries to leave.

- It’s worth to mention Asirpa too, once she got rid of Tanigaki, didn’t run to try save Sugimoto but remained with Retar, petting him. However for her it was probably the first time she got herself threatened by a soldier and, anyway, according to the plan she was meant to escape. It’s noteworthy though how things will change for Asirpa as well and worrying about Sugimoto trying to run to help him will become often the first thing she will do in the future.

- Probably, seeing Tanigaki on the ground, taken down by the wolf, subtly drove in Sugimoto’s mind the point Asirpa had been in danger.

- In the past chapter Sugimoto warned the cub he couldn’t promise him Asirpa won’t turn him into Citatap. We see he meant it for real as first, he very clumsily tries to hide the cub in his coat, then, when he’ll get discovered IMMEDIATELY, he tries to childishly deny its presence as he think she’ll want to eat it. As it’ll be clear Asirpa saw the cub, he’ll claim he’ll take care of the cub and will be his mother, to which Asirpa points out he doesn’t know how to do. At this he won’t dare to oppose to her, handing it for her to eat it, although he’ll say he won’t manage to eat his brain. Honestly, if this was how hard he was going to fight for the cub’s survival he could have abandoned him there. Asirpa is right in saying he doesn’t know how to take care of it, but he could have said something along the lines of ‘I’ll learn’, instead he gives up. Also his approach to the whole thing is very childish, though probably this is due to Noda wanting the thing to be ‘funny’.

- Although Asirpa didn’t mean to be creepy looking not to eat the cub, Sugimoto saw her like that and was surprised when she told him Ainu don’t eat cubs but raise them, which is why she’ll bring him to her village.

- Asirpa is welcomed by the children of the village, showing she’s popular among them. Women also, seeing her, recognize her.

- In the anime the man near the Pu is Makanakkuru. In the manga, unless Makanakkuru’s character design underwent a drastic change, he seems to be another man who still get a close up and to give a long stare to Sugimoto and Asirpa.

- Sugimoto is confused because no one seems to be afraid of him. Asirpa explains him Ainu are curious and love new things but Sugimoto’s problem is another. As he thinks it was Asirpa’s village which was gathering money to fight the Japanese, he believes he’s unwelcomed there and therefore sees again the village as threatening looking through his ‘Sugimoto vision’ and therefore wants to leave the cub there and then go away immediately. It’ll take him a while to realize, as Asirpa said, Ainu are really just curious and don’t aim to harm him.

- Asirpa’s grandmother is her grandmother on her mother’s side. She seems serious and Asirpa explains she can’t talk Japanese but she still wants Sugimoto to spend there the night as he’s the first guest Asirpa brought there. Asirpa also explains that Huci’s husband was the most important man in the village therefore nobody would say anything against her and add as a proof how Huci’s tattoo is very large because the more important the man, the larger is the tattoo the wife gets. From this we can speculate Asirpa’s grandfather was the head of the village. We don’t know though who the current head is.

- Greeting Asirpa’s grandmother is one of the few instances in which Sugimoto removes his hat. Meeting her he calls her ‘Obā-san’ (お婆さん “Grandmother).

- As soon as Tanigaki wakes up, he lights a fire and takes care of his wound. However he decides he won’t search for his companions or go back to report to Tsurumi what had happened but that he’ll hunt Retar and won’t stop until he had killed him, blaming his Matagi (hunter) blood in him. This act actually constitute desertion and more than his Matagi blood what’s to blame is the fact he is hiding in Tsurumi’s troops because he’s ashamed of himself, yet he doesn’t see the army as his place and longs to go back home.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “You're the last Horkew Kamuy (wolf god), I couldn't bear it if you became a Wen Kamuy (Evil God) for my sake. Still, thank you for saving me.” (‘Omae wa saigo no horkew kamuy (ōkami no kami-sama) na ndakara, watashi no tame ni Wen Kamuy (warui kami-sama) nanka ni natcha dame. Demo tasuketekurete arigatō’ お前は最後のホロケウカムイ（狼の神様）なんだから、私のためにウェンカムイ（悪い神様）なんかになっちゃだめ。でも助けてくれてありがとう)

- Asirpa: “Here we go～who's a good wolf!? this is your favorite spot, right? I remember～” (‘Yooo~shi, yoshi yoshi yoshi koko ka? Kokoda na? Shitteru zo?’ よおぉーし、よしよしよしここか？ここだな？知ってるぞ？ Lit: “Gooood, good, good, right here? Is it here? I remember it.”)

Asirpa: “… Let’s go. He’s already dead.” (‘…Ikou mō shin deru’ …行こうもう死んでる)

Sugimoto: “I'll take good care of him! I'll be his new mother!” (‘Koitsu wa ore ga mendōmiru ~tsu! Hahaoya kawari ni naru nda a!!’ こいつは俺が面倒見るッ！母親代わりになるんだあ!! Lit: “I’ll takes care of this guy! I'll be his substitute mother!”)

Sugimoto: “Fine, I understand… but you’ll have to eat him alone! I can’t bear the thought of putting salt on his poor brain and eating it!” (‘Wakatta… koitsu wa Asirpa-san dake de kutte kure. Koitsu no nō miso ni shio kakete kuu toka oreniha murida’ わかった…こいつはアシㇼパさんだけで食ってくれ。

こいつの脳ミソに塩かけて食うとか俺には無理だ Lit: “Okay… Only Asirpa-san should eat this guy. It's impossible for me to sprinkle salt on his brain and eat it.”)

Asirpa: “Huh? I'm not going to eat him. when we find a bear cub during a hunt. it's our tradition to raise it in the village.” (‘Hā? Taben zo. Watashi-tachi ha ryō de koguma o tsukamaetara mura de taisetsu ni sodateru fūshū ga aru’ はあ？食べんぞ。私たちは猟で子熊を捕まえたら村で大切に育てる風習がある Lit: “What? I won't eat it. If we catch a cub when we’re hunting, we have a custom of carefully raising it in the village.”)

Asirpa: “We Ainu are more curious than anyone! deep down, we just love new things!” (‘Ainu wa kōkishin ōseida. “Atarashimonozuki”na nda’ アイヌは好奇心旺盛だ。『新し物好き』なんだ Lit: “The Ainu are brimming with curiosity. The ‘We love new things’ type”)

Asirpa: “Look at this tattoo! The more important the man, the larger the tattoo his wife can get.” (‘Miro. Kono irezumi. Erai hito no okusan hodo ōkina irezumi o suru nda’ 見ろ。この入れ墨。偉い人の奥さんほど大きな入れ墨をするんだ)

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12. KAMUY MOSIR (カムイモシリ KAMUI MOSHIRI)

First printed: 06/November/2014 Weekly Young Jump 49

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Huci (フチ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル), Unarpe (ウナルペ)*, Ekasi (エカシ), Hapo (ハポ), Osoma (オソマ), Wilk (ウイルク), Ushiyama Tatsuma (牛山辰馬), Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三), prostitute.

Location: Asirpa’s village near Otaru, Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa, her grandparents and her parents.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: Ekasi (illness), Hapo (illness)

Animal deaths: Bear cub (killed in a Iomante)

New Ainu words:

- Kamuy mosir: “Land of the gods”

- *Unarpe (ウナルペ): Aunt (to be honest this word isn’t used in this chapter but as Asirpa’s aunt is still unnamed and Asirpa names her relatives using Ainu words I listed her as such)

- Iteseni: Stand for weaving mats.

- Asirpa ekimne patek ki wa menoko monrayke eaykap: Asirpa spends all her time in the mountains, and can't do a woman's work.

- Kemeiki neya itese neya menoko monrayke eaykap menoko anak aynu hoku kor ka eaykap: A woman that cannot sew or knit is unable to get an Ainu husband.

- Tane sinuye kuni paha ne kor ka kopan: She's nearly of age to get tattooed, but she refuses.

- Sugimoto Nispa tan matkaci etun wa encore: Mr. Sugimoto, please take this girl as your wife.

- Tan kumippoho kuepotara wa mosir kuhoppa ka koyaykus: So long as I'm still worried about her future, I can't depart this world in peace.

- Nispa: Mister

- Sinna kisar: “Strange ears”

- Si taktak: “Clump of feces”

- Opkehur: “The farter”

- Huuratekki: “Raised stinky”

- Ekasiotonpuy: “Grandfather’s butthole”

- Kimun Kamuy: Bear

- Heperset: Cage for bear cubs

- Iomante: “To send something/someone off”. Ceremony in which the bear cubs are sent off.

Food and drinks: Mixture of meat broth and rice water

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Asirpa explains only her and her grandmother live in that house as her aunt and uncle live in a different one. Her mother died of illness soon after giving birth to her so that she never really knew her. We know though it wasn’t IMMEDIATELY after giving birth to her because in late chapters it will be shown that she was filmed while holding Asirpa on her back. Asirpa’s grandfather fell sick and died 6 years ago. This is relevant because, as he likely was the head of the village, it’s possible he was the Ainu who knew about the gold hideout. In chap 2 Asirpa said the ‘Noppera-bō incident’ took place 5 years ago, therefore AFTER her grandfather’s death. This might mean her grandfather passed the info to Wilk, his firstborn husband and, after his death, Wilk decided to act. On the other side later Noda said Wilk was in jail by 7 years, therefore BEFORE her grandfather’s death so the old man might have known something about it. It’s also worth to note that, if Asirpa considers Huci’s home her home, it’s possible Wilk never built a home for himself, his wife and daughter. Now… this would happen among Ainu if there was no male heir that could inherit, so the daughter’s husband would move in his wife’s home and become a family member. However we were lead to think Makanakkuru is Huci’s son which would make him the male heir. That is unless he’s actually not Huci’s son but was adopted into the family because he married the second daughter or because he was parentless. We’ll see.

- Huci calls Sugimoto ‘Sugimoto Nispa’ while, from now, on he’ll call her ‘Obā-chan’ (お婆ちゃん “Grandmother”) (in the previous chapter it was ‘Obā-san’ (お婆さん “Grandmother)).

- Huci complains that since Asirpa spends all her time on the mountains and can’t do woman works like sewing or knitting won’t get an Ainu husband. Plus, despite being nearly of the age to get tattooed she refuses doing so. Due to all this Huci asks Sugimoto to marry Asirpa because, as long as she’s worried for her future, she can’t depart this world in peace. Long story short very likely Huci invited Sugimoto to spend the night because she thought he could become Asirpa’s husband and that’s why she brought him home.

- Note that Huci didn’t mean they should marry right then but Ainu had no problems to promise children in marriage by arrangement between his or her parents and the parents of his or her betrothed, although the marriage would happen only when the involved kid/kids would be of a marriageable age, which, for women, was around 15 to 16 years of age (varied from village to village), the age in which they were regarded as adult and in which her tattoo is complete. Marring a Sisam was often encouraged among Ainu because it was believed it would lessen discrimination toward them.

- We’ve heard that the pimp speculated Asirpa is around 12/13, which would yes, make her close to marriageable age.

- Tattoo age varied from village to village, with some starting when the child was 6/7 and other doing it later, when the child was around 11 years old, and other even later, also due to the Japanese ban on tattooing (the ban were done in 1799 and 1871, with the ban renewed in 1976) that didn’t stop the tattooing practice but required it was done in secrecy. The real important point though is that, according to Ainu women, marring without tattoos was a great sin and, if they did, the legend said, they would die and go to hell where the demons would take large knives and do the tattooing all at once. It’s worth to note the profession of tattooist was exclusive to Ainu females and being tattooed rather painful as they would do it by cutting he skin with a knife and then rubbing soot into the wound.

- After Huci asked Sugimoto to marry Asirpa we can see her face is slightly flushed and her ears are red but she refuses to translate her grandmother’s words and, lowering her gaze, say to Sugimoto instead Huci had said people shouldn’t eat poop.

- Sugimoto doesn’t seem to notice Asirpa’s embarrassment nor how Huci supposedly shouldn’t know he eat Miso/poop and cheerfully replies it’s not poop but Miso, though one of his brows is furrowed. Through the story is hard to say if he’s really completely oblivious to Asirpa’s crush on him or he’s just pretending to be, because not interested.

- Osoma is Asirpa’s cousin. Ainu children were raised almost naked until about the ages of four to five but at 6 they would be given a real name. From this is possible to speculate Osoma is around 4/5 years old as she’s dressed but also still retain her filthy name (when Tanigaki will be back after a year she’s still called Osoma… has Noda forgotten about this, has she kept her filthy name or is she still not 6 yet?).

- Asirpa’s filthy name was Ekasiotonpuy, which means “Grandfather’s butthole”.

- Sugimoto continues viewing bears as “monsters” (怪物 ‘Kaibutsu’), commenting it’s hard the bear cub will become one when he grows up. However he previously called the bears he met ‘bakemono’ (バケモノ “monster”). It seems the difference is that a ‘Kaibutsu’ is something that looks ugly or creepy or unidentifiable and therefore is defined as a “monster” while a ‘bakemono’ got some supernatural power and turn into a “monster”. So it’s possible while Sugimoto saw the other bears as nearly supernatural creatures he was afraid of, in regard to the cub he’s just telling he’ll become something as creepy as them. However there are actually debates over the implications of the two words so take this with a grain of salt.

- Asirpa discourage Sugimoto to keep on petting the bear cub, saying he’ll get attached to it so, when he’ll have to say goodbye to it, it would hurt. She knows that, when the bear will grow up, Ainu ‘will send him to the land of the Gods’. Therefore Asirpa doesn’t pet the cub because, if she keep her distance, she won’t get too attached and it won’t hurt parting from it. She explains when she was a child she doted on a bear cub like she would with a younger brother so, before it got ‘sent away’ she unsuccessfully tried to sneak him out and return him to the mountains. She got discovered and the adults were furious with her but she was so sad that she couldn’t take part to the sending away ceremony. In short, prior to her father’s death Asirpa was already thinking distancing herself from people would spare her from the pain of loss.

- Sugimoto’s idea they’ll return the bear in the wild is naïve. Asirpa has explained not much ago how Ainu use every part of the bear and they’re bear hunters. Of course, if they were to have a bear they wouldn’t release it to the wild to just hunt and kill it later.

- Sugimoto is overall negative about the idea of ‘sending back’ the bear cub. He calls it ‘killing’ and, even after Asirpa explains him their religious beliefs he questions her, saying if she really believed in this, killing the cub (Sugimoto says “killing the bear cub” [子熊を殺すことは ‘koguma o korosu’] not “sending it back”) wouldn’t be a sad thing and that therefore she’s avoiding the cub because she doesn’t believe it. Basically Sugimoto, who doesn’t believe in the Ainu beliefs, is trying to have her saying she doesn’t believe in them as well.

- Asirpa’s reply is very clever. She defends Ainu beliefs saying that within them there’s a lesson that help them to survive. Basically they wrap Ainu’s actions in a narrative that make easier to make things that are beneficial to Ainu like killing the bear cub LATER instead than IMMEDIATELY ensures them more meat and fur. This makes Asirpa thinks that the overall teaching is correct. In fact the bear cub has to be killed once is older as they need its meat and fur. You can strip the whole thing of the story the bear cub is sent back but you can’t say killing the bear cub is wrong, on this Asirpa is firm. On the other side she acknowledges that, even if killing the bear cub is right, this wouldn’t save her form the pain of saying goodbye so she keeps her distance so as not to get hurt.

- In a way the whole thing presents parallels with how Sugimoto will spin a narrative in which it’s okay to kill Russians and convicts because they’re soulless evil people. The problem here is that Asirpa doesn’t tell him killing the cub is right because it’ll go back to the world of gods but because they need meat and will confirm that saying goodbye to it is painful while Sugimoto will tell her she shouldn’t feel pain for bad guys’ death because they’re soulless and don’t feel pain when they died. Asirpa doesn’t hide herself between a nice narrative, she faces the truth and acknowledges it’s painful so she tries to protect herself from it by distancing herself. Sugimoto hides the truth (during the war he needed to kill to survive) behind a narrative that dehumanize his opponent. On the surface it can seem similar but, by being aware of the truth of her actions (she kills the cub because she needs to eat) Asirpa can control them (she doesn’t need to kill the cub if she were to have enough food). Sugimoto instead ends up on blurring the borders because if you embrace the fact that people who oppose to him are bad and won’t feel pain when killed you can kill them regardless of your survival being involved (which is why he can consider involving himself in murdering the convicts for gold even if the convicts weren’t directly threatening him), won’t just distance from them but dehumanize them and overall have problems copying with his instinctive sense of guilt as he tries to suppress it as unneeded… though of course, Sugimoto’s problems stem from very traumatic experiences so it’s sadly normal he developed maladaptive coping mechanisms.

- On a sidenote Asirpa’s attachment for Sugimoto in a way parallel the attachment she felt for that bear cub as, if everything goes according to Sugimoto’s plan, he’s not going to stay in Hokkaido but go back to his village to marry Umeko. It doesn’t help Sugimoto gets paralleled to a bear.

- Sugimoto comments that Asirpa’s way of thinking is ‘genjitsuteki’ (現実的) which can mean “realistic”, “pragmatic” and “practical”. I’ve heard there’s some debate on which would be the better translation but I’ll let the decision to people more competent than me. What hits me is that Sugimoto then comments Asirpa is different from other Ainu. While I think he means it as a compliment toward Asirpa… well, he’s learning about Ainu and Ainu culture through her so from where his impression on how other Ainu are if not from stereotypes? In a way his statement mirrored the one of Asirpa. She thought him being a good warrior was impressive for a sisam, he thinks her being realistic/pragmatic is uncommon for an Ainu. To Asirpa’s credit though, she had to interact with Sisam more than he had to interact with Ainu (to sell what she hunted and buy things, in fact she had explained how she got used at them insulting her) so, at least, her opinion is based on a partial direct contact.

- Asirpa’s name was given to her by her father. As we had learnt in this chapter children get their real name at around 6, this means Wilk was still around when she was 6. She explains it means “new year” but also “future” declaring this means she’s a new kind of Ainu woman for a new age. It would be interesting to know exactly how she has gotten her name as we know Wilk had ambitions for her but Asirpa explained names are given according to the children’s personalities and what they’ve done in life not what their parents hope for them so I’d like to know what she did/say that made her have such name. Was it just the fact she preferred to hunt versus sewing and knitting? Or there’s a story behind it?

- Hijikata and Ushiyama’s meeting take place in one of the many brothels in Otaru that also doubles as a soba restaurant.

- Hijikata informs us that Ushiyama, whose nick is “Ushiyama, the undefeated” (‘Fuhai no Ushiyama’ 不敗の牛山 ) has a voracious sexual appetite, the consequence of which was the prostitute he was with tattled out his presence to Hijikata.

- Ushiyama’s reaction at having been betrayed is to toss the prostitute at Hijikata. There’s to say Ushiyama tends to toss things. When they’ll go to Shibukawa he tosses one of his men through the roof, when facing the 7th, he tosses Shiraishi at them and when they fight with the fake Ainu he tosses Ekurok at them. So, not only for him it’s normal to toss people, but as she has just betrayed him to a man who Ushiyama assumes is there to kill him, he likely wasn’t going to be considerate with her. On the other side I’ve had the feeling Noda has later shifted Ushiyama’s characterization a bit so it’s possible Ushiyama originally was meant to be a worse person than the one he ended up on being in the end.

- When Hijikata place his sword against Ushiyama’s forehead the sound effect implies a tapping, meaning Hijikata wasn’t trying to cut Ushiyama’s head but is holding his sword there merely to threaten him.

- Ushiyama also got a Type 26 revolver, likely by the soldiers they had killed when they escaped.

- Differently from what Asirpa thought it isn’t necessary to skin the convicts to get their tattoo, Hijikata, who was the leader of the escape plan, knows it’s enough to cover the body in oil paper and trace the tattoo so as to get a precise copy. When he says so he shows Ushiyama a copy of a tattoo. It should be supposedly his own as, at the time, he had no others, but as Ushiyama isn’t yet his ally and the manga pointed out more than once how copies might not be reliable (Ushiyama himself saying so to Shiraishi), I wonder if that copy is a fake.

- Hijikata as with himself a couple of underlings. It’s unknown where he got them but he asks Ushiyama to join as well. Through the story Hijikata will recruit more convicts and voice his concern over the mistreatment of the convicts so, although he’s completely capable to kill men without hesitation, it’s possible he meant to join hands with all the 24 convicts.

- In a way Hijikata is set up as the direct antagonist of Tsurumi as they’re both two bright and manipulative army men who dream to make a separate state out of Hokkaido.

- To Ushiyama who asks him if Hijikata plans to face the army with a sword, which is nothing else but a relic of the past, Hijikata replies age doesn’t matter, boys just love playing with swords… through it’s worth to note we’ll discover Hijikata uses a rifle well enough. So he’s likely aware of the sword being a relic but he still swing it because he evidently favours it.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- This chapter in the magazine version had a color cover. In the volume version it has been turned into a black and white one. It’s also worth to mention this cover has the same image that will be used for the volume cover.

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “My aunt and uncle live in a different Cise (house)” (‘Betsu no Chise (ie) ni oji fūfu ga iru’ 別のチセ（家）におじ夫婦がいる Lit: “In a different cise (house) are my uncle and his wife.”)

- Asirpa: “Once children turn six years old and have formed their own personalities, we give them a real name based on what they've done in life.” (‘6-Sai kurai ni natte seikaku ga dete ki tari Sonoko ga okoshita dekigoto nado ni chinande chanto shita namaewotsukeru’ ６歳くらいになって性格が出てきたりその子が起こした出来事などにちなんでちゃんとした名前を付ける Lit: “When around 6 the child’s personality has appeared and we give him a decent name after the events that happened to him.”)

- Asirpa: ““Kill” isn't exactly the right word. We think of it as "sending him back. All the useful things around us, all the things with power beyond our control, we revere them all as Kamuy (Gods). We've maintained a good relationship with the Kamuy by expressing courtesy and gratitude.” (‘Korosu to iu yori “okurikaesu” to iu kangaekatada. Watashitachiha minomawari no yakudatsu mono-ryoku no oyobanai mo no, subete o Kamuy (kami) to shite atsukai, kansha no girei o tōshite yoi kankei o tamotte kita’ 殺すと言うより『送り返す』という考え方だ。私たちは身の回りの役立つもの力の及ばないもの、すべてをカムイ（神）として扱い、感謝の儀礼を通して良い関係を保ってきた Lit: “Rather than to kill it our thought is ‘to send it back’. We treat everything that is useful and that is beyond our power as Kamui (God), and we have maintained a good relationship through courtesy and gratitude.”)

- Sugimoto: “Do you really believe all that Asirpa? If you believed it, then sending that bear cub off wouldn't have been anything to get sad about, right?” (‘Asirpa-san wa sore shinji teru no? Shinji tetara koguma o korosu koto wa kanashī koto janai ndaro?’ アシㇼパさんはそれ信じてるの？信じてたら子熊を殺すことは悲しい事じゃないんだろ？Lit: “Does Miss Asirpa believe in that? If you believed in it, it wouldn’t be a sad thing to kill the bear cub, right?”)

- Sugimoto: “Could it be that some part of you didn't believe it, so you tried to let the bear escape?” (‘Doko ka de shinji tenaikara koguma o sake teru n janai no kai?’ どこかで信じてないから子熊を避けてるんじゃないのかい？ Lit: “Maybe you're avoiding the bear cub because you don't believe it somewhere?”)

- Asirpa: “Within every belief lies a useful lesson to help us survive. For example, If we raise the bear cub instead of killing it right away, that means we end up with more meat and fur. We've lived our lives following those lessons so I believe that they are correct. But that doesn't mean saying goodbye doesn't hurt. That's why I keep my distance, so I won't get too attached.” (‘Shinkō no nakaniha watashitachi ga ikiru jutsu ga haitteru. Tatoeba tsukamaeta koguma o sodateru no wa ōkiku nareba soredake kegawa ya niku ga torerukarada to watashi wa omou. Sō yatte watashitachi wa ikite kitakara tadashī kotoda to watashi wa shinji teru. Demo wakareru sabishisa wa dō shiyō mo nai. Dakara watashi wa kesshite jō ga utsuranai yō ni kyoriwooku nda’ 信仰��中には私たちが生きる術が入ってる。例えば捕まえた子熊を育てるのは大きくなればそれだけ毛皮や肉がとれるからだと私は思う。そうやって私たちは生きてきたから正しい事だと私は信じてる。でも別れるさびしさはどうしようもない。だから私は決して情が移らないように距離を置くんだ Lit: “Inside our faith there is the means for us to we live. For example, I think that the reason for raising a caught cub is that the larger it gets, the more fur and meat we can take. In this way we have survived so that’s why I believe it’s correct. But the loneliness of breaking up can't be avoided. That ’s why I keep my distance.”)

- Sugimoto: “That's a very pragmatic way of looking at it. You really seem like you're a bit different from the other Ainu.” (‘Kangaekata ga genjitsu-tekida na. Yappari Asirpa-san tte Ainu no naka demo chotto kawatteru n janai no?’ 考え方が現実的だな。やっぱりアシㇼパさんってアイヌの中でもちょっと変わってるんじゃないの？ Lit: “This way of thinking is realistic. After all isn't Asirpa-san a bit different among the Ainu?”)

Asirpa: “My father gave me the name Asirpa. It means "New year" but it can also means "Future." I'm a new kind of Ainu woman, for a new age!” (‘Asirpa to iu na wa chichi ga tsuketa. ‘Atarashī toshi’ to iu imidaga ‘mirai’ tomo kaishaku dekiru. Watashi wa atarashī jidai no Ainu no on'nana nda!’ アシㇼパという名は父がつけた。「新しい年」という意味だが「未来」とも解釈できる。わたしは新しい時代のアイヌの女なんだ！)

Hijikata: “Your voracious sexual appetite has cost you. wouldn't you agree, Ushiyama the undefeated?” (‘Ōseina seiyoku ga ada ni natta na. Fuhai no Ushiyama!’ 旺盛な性欲がアダになったな。不敗の牛山！ Lit: “Your voracious sexual appetite has cost you. Ushiyama the undefeated!”)

Hijikata: “It doesn't matter how old you are. Boys just love to play with swords, right?” (‘Ikutsu ni natte mo danshi wa katana o furimawasu no ga sukidarou?’ いくつになっても男子は刀を振り回すのが好きだろう？Lit: “No matter how old it may be, boys like to swing their swords around, don’t they?”)

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13. GUARDIAN SPIRIT (憑き神 TSUKIGAMI)

First printed: 13/November/2014 Weekly Young Jump 50

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル), Osoma (オソマ), Wilk (ウイルク), Huci (フチ), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣源次郎), Wada (和田), Tsukishima Hajime (月島基).

Location: Near Otaru, Asirpa’s village near Otaru, Mukden (currently Shenyang) (China).

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China), Mukden (currently Shenyang) (China).

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Battle of Mukden (20 February - 10 March 1905), the Treaty of Portsmouth (September 5, 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa and Retar and about Tamai, Noma, Okada and Tanigaki and about Tsurumi.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

The people in Asirpa’s village were hoarding gold to battle against the Sisam… which led to the gold being stolen and Asirpa’s father being killed along with all his comrades. Their ancestors gathered all that gold and for decades it lay untouched by anyone then some men decided to use it to buy weapons. Everyone in the village believes they were killed by the wrath of the Wakkaus Kamuy. Ainu do not use rivers to do laundry or wash away excrements but people decided to pan the water for gold, causing the water to grow cloudy and the fishes unable to breathe, risking to cause their disappearance and the disappearance of the animals that feed on them. Soiling the water to gather weapons for war should never have been done therefore the gold was possessed by some sort of evil spirit and cursed. (Source: Makanakkuru)

Character deaths: Makanakkuru’s cousin (got hit by an amappo), 7 Ainu (killed in the Noppera-bō incident), Wada (shoot in the head by Tsukishima as per Tsurumi’s orders)

Animal deaths: Sakhalin sculpins

New Ainu words:

- Heperesinotpe: A special toy for bear cubs

- Raomap: Trap for catching river fishes

- Amappo: Arrow trap used to catch animals

- Wakkaus Kamuy: God of the water

- Turenpe: Guardian spirit that comes in and out through the back of the neck

- Kinaohaw: Soup made with many vegetables.

- Sutu: Punishment road.

Food and drinks: Sakhalin sculpins, Kinaohaw with roasted sculpin, daikon, carrots, potato, spinach and kombu (Sugimoto also adds Miso to it)

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Sugimoto carries around the bear cub holding it in his coat.

- When Makanakkuru stops Sugimoto from turning on the Amappo, Sugimoto’s first though, as he hadn’t realized about the trap, was being ‘unfriendly’ with him. In fact Sugimoto’s reply ‘Nanka-yō ka?’ (なんか用か？“What do you want?”) sounds rude because apparently you use it when you suspect something and the background behind Sugimoto darkens. Sugimoto will later apologize for this, explaining why was his reason for his rudeness.

- Makanakkuru explains how aconite poisoning from the Amappo would cause one to suffer for a long time instead than dying instantly, killing the person slowly.

- Makanakkuru mentions his cousin got hit by an Amappo but, although he manage d to get out the arrow, as there was still poison inside the wound he was in agony for several days, his body swelled up and he died.

- Asirpa’s arrows also have aconite poison but evidently in a much bigger amount as she states a bear would only manage to make 10 step while a human won’t manage to make one. After hearing all this, it’s impressive Ogata managed to survive being hit by one of Asirpa’s arrows.

- Makanakkuru uses ‘watashi’ (私) to say “I”.

- Makanakkuru, after telling Sugimoto his name, explains him Asirpa is his OLDER sister’s (‘ane’ 姉) daughter and Osoma’s father. The fact that Makanakkuru calls Asirpa’s mother his ‘older sister’ doesn’t necessarily mean they’re related by blood as, although there’s a Japanese word for ‘sister-in-law’ you can also call her just ‘sister’. What we can see for now is he doesn’t resemble neither Huci nor Asirpa’s mother (though Huci might have gotten small eyes due to her old age), while Osoma’s mom seems to have Huci’s square face and a nose more similar to hers. However, unless it’ll be specifically said or we’ll get to see Asirpa’s grandfather we won’t be able to tell if Makanakkuru took from him or not.

- We learn from Makanakkuru that since Asirpa lost her father she’s been going into the mountains alone. In the past chapter we discovered she learnt to distance herself from others so as not to suffer when it would be time to say goodbye. As we’ll later learn she had tried forgetting Wilk, her going in the mountains was probably also a way to distance herself from others after undergoing the trauma of losing her father.

- Makanakkuru says he had been worried about her so now he can rest easier since there’s a strong guy like Sugimoto with her and that since Asirpa is smart (‘Asirpa wa atamagaī’ アシリパは頭がいい “Asirpa has a good head”), if she likes Sugimoto this means he’s not a bad guy. My general impression is Makanakkuru too, like Huci, thinks Sugimoto is there to marry Asirpa.

- Sugimoto’s reply can either be ‘it’s him who gets saved by Asirpa’ or ‘it’s him who gets helped by Asirpa’. At this point, Asirpa has only saved him from the bear but all her teaching and hospitality are helping Sugimoto to live in Hokkaido.

- I do wonder if Sugimoto’s apology, which comes kind of late, is because Makanakkuru said since Asirpa like him he’s shouldn’t be a “bad guy” (‘warui yatsu’ 悪い奴) and Sugimoto felt the need to confirm he isn’t by politely apologizing or if it’s an attempt to push Makanakkuru to talk.

- Makanakkuru asks Sugimoto if he heard about the story of the gold from Asirpa. Evidently he wasn’t told that Sugimoto learnt about it from Gotou and he’s assuming Asirpa told him that to explain her father’s death. In short Makanakkuru might not know Sugimoto and Asirpa are searching for the gold.

- In chap 2 I wondered about Asirpa’s words which only implied it was the people of her village which was involved in this. Makanakkuru instead says clearly it was the people from THEIR village which collected the gold dust to fight the Sisam… when we know at least two people weren’t from Asirpa’s village. Retcon or Makanakkuru is misleading Sugimoto? Asirpa was young so she might not have known not everyone was from her village but Makanakkuru should have done it.

- It might mean nothing but normally they were talk of ‘kinkai’ (金塊 “gold nuggets”). Makanakkuru here talks instead of ‘Sakin’ (砂金 “gold dust”). As of now I’ve managed to find the word ‘Sakin’ coming up only when Huci told the tale of the gold and when Hijikata said he knew the right amount of it. It might have been used other times and I might have missed it, of course but still it’s worth pondering.

- In the manga Sugimoto merely asks Makanakkuru “Who do you think was the criminal who stole the gold?” which scanlation preferred to translate it with “Do you have any idea who it was that killed them?” assuming the crime is to murder those Ainu. The anime instead modifies the sentence so it’s not vague anymore and becomes “Who do you think was the criminal who stole the gold?” (金塊を奪った犯人に心当たりは？ ‘Kinkai o ubatta han'nin ni kokoroatari wa?’). As the original sentence didn’t mention which was the crime, we can’t say if this addition was done in cooperation with Noda or it’s just an anime thing which however implies Sugimoto is more worried for the stolen gold than for the killed Ainu.

- Makanakkuru is rather vehement about how the river shouldn’t be polluted explaining how harmful it is gold panning for rivers. Long story short he believes they absolutely shouldn’t have done it, especially to support a war.

- When asked to say who could have killed the men Makanakkuru invoke the supernatural. It’s the wrath of Wakkaus Kamuy, the god of water. The gold dust was possessed by a ‘mamono’ (魔物 “evil spirit”) and cursed. In short he doesn’t pin the blame of those deaths on any human, be them Ainu or Sisam. They deserved it (because they dirtied the river) and the gods or the spirits punished them. Compared to how Asirpa searches always for a realistic explanation this seems pretty abstract… unless we’re meant to interpret it as ‘the men were killed to punish them for their actions’. This can also mean that Makanakkuru views the killer as someone who represents the gods and brought on those men their wrath… but as the Ainu think killing is wrong maybe Makanakkuru thinks who did the deed in order of doing it was possessed by something evil. It’s kind of like saying, they deserved it, but it wasn’t our place to punish them. It’s interesting how the visual at this point shows Wilk. At the time we didn’t know Wilk was innocent so we could think the visual did so to show who was to blame for the crime of murder… but, if anything, Wilk could have blamed for wanting to use the cursed gold to wage war.

- Huci can see the Turenpe (“guardian spirits”) residing on the back of people’s neck and offers food to her own. Much, much later (chap 231) we’ll discover she says her guardian spirit can tell her the sex of a baby about to be delivered.

- According to Huci Sugimoto has a very powerful Turenpe. Sugimoto wonders if it’s him who makes him immortal and then offers him food, pleasing Huci.

- The scene implies Asirpa will hit Sugimoto with the Sutu. A box explains us a Sutu is normally used for crimes like theft or punishment and therefore is not to be used lightly but to have a girl hit a man is sadly a type of gag that’s considered ‘fun’. So, while Asirpa does it clearly to assert her own authority (Sugimoto doesn’t have to disobey her or there will be punishment) and role as some sort of teacher, ultimately this is taken away by the scene intended to be humorous and clearly done with Sugimoto’s ‘permission’ as we know he could easily rip it from her.

- Overall Huci, who views Sugimoto as Asirpa’s future husband, seems pleased with his behaviour. He offered food to the guardian spirit, embracing Ainu traditions and Asirpa could, at the same time, ‘discipline’ him. It’s also worth to mention how Huci accepted Miso, that all the Ainu exchange for poop, without hesitations, proving either she trusts him or that she wouldn’t refuse an offering from him whatever it is (or that she knows Miso). I guess she thinks Sugimoto brings in the benefits of Asirpa marrying a Sisam (who, she believes, would accept her even if she didn’t know how to sew or knit as well as Sisam’s privileges) while embracing Ainu culture and obeying to her granddaughter. Honestly she feels naïve. She hadn’t realized Sugimoto isn’t interested in Asirpa like that but has another woman in mind and that he acts like that out of politeness not out of belief. This is made even more dangerous by the fact that at the time there were many Wajin who would come in Hokkaido, take an Ainu bride and then dump her when they would return back home.

- As he did for Ogata, Tsurumi is out with his men to search for Tamai and Co. With no luck this time.

- Tsurumi tells us that Tamai, Noma, Okada and Tanigaki are all experienced mountaineers, and Tanigaki is even from a Matagi family so it’s unlikely to believe they would get lost or stranded.

- Wada calls Tsurumi ‘kisama’ (貴様 “you”). As said in chap 5 ‘kisama’ is nowadays an insulting way to say “you”, normally translated as “you bastard” but back then it was the normal way to say “you” in the army. We don’t know though, if Noda is keeping this into consideration. So, while Wada is clearly angry at Tsurumi it’s hard to say if he’s being insulting or not in Noda’s intentions.

- Wada might sound rude to Tsurumi but his complains are all legitimate. Tsurumi shouldn’t have moved his men till Otaru (they were meant to stay in Asahikawa), among the men Tsurumi moved one ended up in critical conditions and four are missing. In addition Tsurumi also took weapons and ammunitions from Asahikawa (in fact we’ll notice later that even first class privates have, occasionally guns they weren’t supposed to have).

- Wada uses ‘watashi’ (私) to say “I”. His ranking is “Captain” (大尉 ‘Taii’) which makes him higher in rank than Tsurumi, who’s a First Lieutenant.

- Wada is drawn there by Tsukishima, who’s the one who’ll shoot him in the head. Very likely it was a trap to get rid of him. As we’ll learn Tsurumi prefers to deal with superior officers by blackmailing them or indebting them to him I guess this means Wada had no dark spots in his past as Tsurumi couldn’t blackmail him into obedience. On the other side, as Tsurumi could manipulate Yodogawa, he could have asked him to just remove Wada from duty or something instead than killing him so I wonder if there’s more than what it looks why on Wada’s death that made important for Tsurumi to kill him. It’s possible Wada too was connected to Ogata and Tamai’s rebellion, hence that’s why he worries about them so, by killing him in secrecy, he wanted the rebels to lose his support and, at the same time, it would work as a warning to them.

- For the first time we see Tsurumi’s brain leaking. Tsurumi explains that during the battle of Mukden a piece of shrapnel from an exploding shell lodged itself into the front of his scull which causes a bit of odd fluid to leak out. I wonder if the mention of that happening is painful for Tsukishima who has to steady himself to be ready to kill a superior officer.

- Tsurumi bites off Wada’s finger. I wonder if Wada pointing his finger awoke unpleasant memories (Tsurumi’s family lost its prestige, due to Tomoharu’s death he wasn’t allowed to advance) or if he did it just because he could. He claims it’s just because his frontal lobe took a bit of damage so he has troubles controlling his temper but that aside he’s the picture of good health and takes pride in his scars who, according to him, make him look dashing. I wonder if it’s more in them he sees Olga’s face disfigured by a bullet.

- Remember when I said Sugimoto almost killing a superior officer was a big deal? Wada wanted to have Tsurumi killed for biting his finger off… and it was completely okay at the time.

- Tsurumi has Wada be stripped off his uniform and buried. In short he plans to keep his death as a secret and have him ‘disappear’.

- Tsurumi paints the whole thing as a battle between lower ranks and higher ranks, claiming the graves their companions got in Manchuria were beneath the cold barren stone, that they hadn’t received reparation from Russia and therefore were left with nothing despite fighting to defend Japan’s borders and therefore their war is not over. Tsurumi conveniently skips on how, between him and Wada, there’s only a rank of difference.

- To clear up a little Tsurumi’s words in an historical contest:

The “graves our comrades in Manchuria got” likely refer to the many graves they left in Port Arthur, where, according to Tanigaki, more than a half of the 7th division died. I guess they can include the ones of the battle of Mukden as well, although they’re probably a reference to the scene of Tsurumi in front of the graves at Port Arthur.

The “reparations they still hadn’t received from Russia” refers to the Treaty of Portsmouth and to how from it Japan didn’t receive any Russian reparation. It’s not so much Japan’s fault on that, as Russia agreed to many things but would have preferred resuming the war than agreeing to give reparations to Japan for a war Japan started and here there’s the problem. Japan, despite doing well during the war, couldn’t sustain the continuation of it. So while Tsurumi’s talk might seem an attack to the state that gave up on fighting without pretending reparation, not considering that war over would have lead to Japan’s defeat. Therefore Japan did as well as it could and Tsurumi is merely feeding up the discontentment.

The soldiers left with nothing refers to something that Tanigaki will explain later, that when Hanazawa ‘committed suicide’ the government blamed the 7th division so they received no metal or monetary reward and were treated as outcasts. To be honest this is not an historical point as this didn’t happen in real life but just in “Golden Kamuy”.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “f you don't clean and gut sculpins right away, the flavor suffers! Hurry up and get them, you dolt!” (‘Kajika wa hayaku sabakanaito aji ga ochiru hayaku tori ni ike baka!’ カジカは早く捌かないと味が落ちる早く取りに行けバカ Lit: “Sculpins will lose their taste if they are not handled quickly! Go get it soon! Stupid!”)

- Sugimoto: “She's so cruel!” (‘Hidōī’ ヒドーイ Lit: “Mean!”)

- Sugimoto: “What do you want?” (‘Nanka-yō ka?’ なんか用か？)

- Makanakkuru: “My name is Makanakkuru! Asirpa is my sister’s daughter. And I’m Osoma’s father.” (‘Watashi no na wa makanakkuru. Asirpa wa watashi no ane no musume da. Soshite Osoma-chan no chichioya’ 私の名はマカナックル。アシㇼパは私の姉の娘だ。そしてオソマちゃんの父親)

- Makanakkuru: “Ever since Asirpa lost her father, she's been going into the mountains alone. I've been worried about her. I can rest easier knowing a strong guy like you is with her.” (‘Asirpa wa chichioya o nakushite karamo hitori de yama e itte shimaukara shinpaidatta. Omae mitaina tsuyo-sōna otoko ga isshonara anshinda’ アシㇼパは父親を亡くしてからもひとりで山へ行ってしまうから心配だった。お前みたいな強そうな男が一緒なら安心だ Lit: “Asirpa, after losing her father, had been going on the mountains alone, so I was worried. It’s safer if she’s together with a strong looking man like you.”)

Sugimoto: “No, I 'd say she spends most of the time saving me.” (‘Iyaiya kotchi ga tasuke rare-ppanashi de’ いやいやこっちが助けられっぱなしで Lit: “No, No, I’m the one who’s being helped by her.”)

- Makanakkuru: “Asirpa is a smart girl…If she likes you, it's safe to say that you're not such a bad guy.” (‘Asirpa wa atamagaī. Aitsu ga natsuku ndakara omae wa warui yatsu ja nai nodarou’ アシㇼパは頭がいい。あいつがなつくんだからお前は悪い奴じゃ無いのだろうLit: “Asirpa is smart. As a guy she’s emotionally attached at you are probably not a bad guy.”)

- Makanakkuru: “You heard the story from Asirpa, right? About how the people in our village were hoarding gold to battle against the Sisam… which led to the gold being stolen and Asirpa’s father being killed along with all his comrades.” (‘Asirpa kara kiita nodarou? Watashitachi no mura no ningen ga shisamu to tatakau tame ni sakin o atsumete ita ni to ya. Sore o ubawa rete Asirpa no chichi-tachi ga korosa reta koto’ アシㇼパから聞いたのだろう？私たちの村の人間がシサムと戦うために砂金を集めていたにとや… それを奪われてアシㇼパの父たちが殺されたこと Lit: “Did you hear it from Asia? How the people of our village were collecting gold dust to fight the Sisam… and that Asirpa’s father and the others were killed after being robbed of it”)

- Makanakkuru: “Our ancestors gathered all that Gold. and for decades, it lay untouched by anyone. then some men decided to use it to buy weapons.” (‘Ano sakin wa wareware no senzo ga totta mono de, nanjūnen mo zutto fure rarezu ni ita monodatta. Sore o ichibu no otoko-tachi ga buki o kaou to te o tsuketa’ あの砂金は我々の先祖が取ったもので、何十年もずっと触れられずにいたものだった。それを一部の男たちが武器を買おうと手を付けた)

- Sugimoto: “Do you have an idea who it was who killed them?” (‘Kinkai o ubatta han'nin ni kokoroatari wa?’金塊を奪った犯人に心当たりは？ “Who do you think was the criminal who stole the gold?”)

- Makanakkuru: “Everyone here believes it was the wrath of the Wakkaus Kamuy (God of the water). We Ainu don't do our laundry in the river, nor do we use it to wash away excrement. That’s how much we care about keeping the river clean. But the people decided to pan the waters for gold…” (‘Wakkaus kamui (mizu no kami) no ikarida to min'na itte iru. Ainu wa kawade wa sentaku o sezu haisetsu-mono mo nagasanai. Soko made shite wareware ga yogosanai yō ni ki o tsukete iru kawa de sakin nante torukara…’ ワッカウシカムイ（水の神）の怒りだとみんな言っている。アイヌは川では洗濯をせず排泄物も流さない。そこまでして我々が汚さないように気をつけている川で砂金なんて採るから… Lit: “Everyone says it's the wrath of Wakkaus Kamui (water god). Ainu in the river don't do laundry, nor do we wash away excrements. We go so far to take care of not getting the river dirty so taking gold dust...”)

- Makanakkuru: “Soiling these pristine waters just to gather weapons for war…It should never have been done. That Gold was possessed by some sort of evil spirit. it was cursed.” (‘Ainu ga arasoi no tame ni kawa o yogosu nante zettai ni atte wa naranai. Ano sakin wa mamono ga tsuite iru norowa reta monodatta noda’ アイヌが争いのために川を汚すなんて絶対にあってはならない。あの砂金は魔物が憑いている呪われたものだったのだ Lit: “The Ainu should have never pollute the river for a war. That gold dust was possessed by a demon and cursed.”)

- Wada: “How dare you take my men all the way out here to Otaru without my permission! What the hell do you think you're doing?” (‘Kisama watashi no buka-tachi o katte ni Otaru made hikitsurete. Dōiu tsumorida’ 貴様私の部下たちを勝手に小樽まで引き連れて。どういうつもりだ Lit: “How dare you take my subordinates and drag them to Otaru without permission. What did you mean to do?!”)

Wada: “In the first place, how the hell have you managed to keep the rank of first lieutenant with an injury like that!? I can't cover for you anymore! There's no longer any place for you in the imperial Japanese army!!” (‘Somosomo son'na kega no arisama de kongo mo chūi ga tsutomaru ka! Mō kabai kiren! Tsurumi! Kisama ga rikugun ni modoru basho wa mohaya nai to omoe! !’ そもそもそんな怪我のありさまで今後も中尉が務まるか！もう庇いきれん！鶴見！貴様が陸軍に戻る場所は最早無いと思え！！ Lit: “In the first place, how can you continue working as a lieutenant with such injuries? I'm not covering for you anymore! Tsurumi! There is no longer a place for you to return in the Army! !”)

Wada: “You're a goddamn lunatic. Fire at will.” (‘Shōkide wa nai na… ute’ 正気ではないな…撃て)

Tsurumi: “The only graves our comrades in manchuria got were beneath the cold, barren stones. We still haven't received any reparations from Russia. The soldiers that defended the frontier were left with nothing but barren, worthless land. Our war is not over.” (‘Sen'yū wa ima demo Manshū no areta tsumetai ishi no motoda. Roshia kara baishō-kin mo torezu, moto tondenhei no temoto ni nokotta mono wa yaseta tochi dake. Wareware no sensō wa mada owatte inai’ 戦友は今でも満州の荒れた冷たい石の下だ。ロシアから賠償金も取れず、元屯田兵の手元に残ったものはやせた土地だけ。我々の戦争はまだ終わっていない)

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14. HOWLING (遠吠え TŌBOE)

First printed: 20/November/2014 Weekly Young Jump 51

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Osoma (オソマ), Huci (フチ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル), Retar (レタㇻ), Wilk (ウイルク), Ainu kids.

Location: Asirpa’s village near Otaru, near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa, Wilk and Retar.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: None.

Animal deaths: River otter

New Ainu words:

- Esaman: River otter

- Kisarri: “Long-eared monster”. A toy of some sort you wave standing outside a window making terrifying noise to scare the children inside.

- Uko Karip Ciwe: “Ring catch”. An Ainu children’s game in which everyone competes to catch a ring made from vines and tossed into the air.

- Ratcako: A light stand that holds a scallop shell that contains whale or fish oil.

- Aca: “Father”.

- Sugimoto Nispa. Asirpa anakne kueyam pe ne. Neita pakno turano an wa unkoraye yan.: “Mr. Sugimoto. Asirpa means more to me than anything in the world. Please always be there for her.”

Food and drinks: River otter cut into bite sized chunks cooked into a ohaw with pukusa (alpine leeks), windflower, daikon and burdock root. Also boiled river otter head.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- According to Ainu, River Otter/Esaman are incredibly forgetful Kamuy, so eating them or mentioning them would cause people to forget things.

- Sugimoto is a complete fail at making scary sounds. Asirpa instead excels at them.

- Makanakkuru tells Sugimoto that while Asirpa and her father were out hunting one day they saved a tiny wolf cub from a bear. Since it looked like a tiny snowman they named it Retar, “White”. Asirpa and Retar were inseparable but after Asirpa’s father died they went up into the mountains however on a night they heard a howling and despite Asirpa’s pleading Retar to come back and not leave her, retar left, leaving her behind to cry for him and her father.

- Makanakkuru comments that Asirpa may act mature for her age but in the end she’s a lonely, fragile little girl who had smiled rarely since that day but recently seemed much happier because she enjoyed her time in the mountains with Sugimoto.

- Makanakkuru too, like Huci points out, how Asirpa, up till then, after her father’s death had lived for most of the time alone on the mountains, especially after Retar too left her. Likely this wasn’t just because she liked to be there but also because, due to the pain of her father’s loss, she has tried reducing her chances to form attachment to others in fear of losing them as she’s afraid to be abandoned again, something that Inkarmat will remark as well and that’s a fear she carried within herself from when the bear cub she loved like a brother died. Her isolation protected her from pain but, at the same time, bereft her of happiness. Humans are social animals though and, as she got closer to Sugimoto, as Makanakkuru noticed, she became much happier.

- Makanakkuru calls Sugimoto ‘Sugimoto-san’.

- Noda has Huci talk to Sugimoto but as no one translates what she says, he doesn’t know what she’s peaking about yet he still says he understands and that she means that she and everyone in the village love Asirpa very much. This is because Noda is subtly telling us Sugimoto is an “unreliable narrator” of some sort. In fact in many manga the main character’s interpretation of an event is THE RIGHT INTERPRETATION. However we’ve already seen more than once how ‘Sugimoto’s vision’ doesn’t match with the truth. He thinks Gotou is harmless and a guy who tells tall tales… he’s not. He thinks the men of the 7th trying to get the gold are the dregs of the unit… they’re not. He thinks Asirpa doesn’t care about him… she does. He thinks the soldiers won’t follow Asirpa… they do. He thinks the Ainu are unfriendly… they aren’t. He thinks Makkanakkuru has bad intentions… he saves his life. He thinks Huci is telling him she loves Asirpa very much which pushes him to leave her behind… when at the end of the volume in an extra page we see Huci is also telling him not to leave him. And in future chapters he will interpret things in the wrong way again and again. Sugimoto is not stupid, he’s simply not perceptive. He presents things as he sees them through his experiences but his role as main character doesn’t insure his interpretation is right so we can’t take Sugimoto’s opinions/interpretations as the one of a reliable narrator and therefore as facts just because he’s the main character, as he’s often wrong.

- I wonder if, while watching Asirpa playing with the other children, Sugimoto in a way felt cut out. Not that he was jealous of them but he probably realized those children were Asirpa’s words, she was meant to play with them and have fun. On the opposite Sugimoto has no one he was meant to be with, he’s with Asirpa, in her village, but he doesn’t belong to that place. While Asirpa has people who care for her he has no one. Yet he has grown attached to her as well, we see he thinks at her with fondness but then he thinks at her when he escaped from the 7th and frowns, realizing he has put her in danger. So he does to her the same thing he has done to Umeko. He leaves her behind because he doesn’t want to put people HE CARES FOR in danger (he knew when they were escaping she too was in danger but back then he didn’t care about her as much as he cared about her now so he wasn’t overly concerned… now he is). However this time the thing is even worse because not only he doesn’t discuss the thing with her or at least say her goodbye or talks with an adult, let’s say Makanakkuru, but just leaves in the night. It’s clearly painful for him but, despite hearing more than once that Asirpa has issues with abandonment, he’s abandoning her and the people who have welcomed him. Asirpa wants to have faith in him but Shiraishi interpreted his behavior as him double crossing her, stealing the skins and running away. Overall this would deserve a long discussion but that’s not the place for it.

- Before leaving Sugimoto would like to caress the sleeping bear cub yet hesitates. This is not so much for the bear cub but for himself. In this moment he’s leaving he’s keeping it at distance to make the separation less painful… which is partly probably why he doesn’t say goodbye to Asirpa either.

Notable changes from the magazine version: In the magazine the translation of what Huci said was placed in a note in the page in which she’s speaking. In the volume the translation is placed at the end of the volume.

Notable quotes:

- Makanakkuru: “Asirpa may act mature for her age, but in the end she's still a lonely, fragile little girl… Asirpa has rarely smiled since that day, but recently, it seems like she's been much happier. She must be enjoying her time in the mountains with you, Sugimoto.” (‘Otonabite wa iruga Asirpa wa samishigariya no itaikena kodomona noda. Son'na koto ga atte kara Asirpa wa egao o misenaku nattaga, saikin wa zuibun to akaruku natta. Sugimoto-san to yama ni iru no ga tanoshī ndarou’ 大人びてはいるがアシㇼパは寂しがり屋のいたいけな子供なのだ。そんなことがあってからアシㇼパは笑顔を見せなくなったが、最近はずいぶんと明るくなっ��。杉元さんと山にいるのが楽しいんだろう)

- Sugimoto: “…I understand, Grandma. I know you love Asirpa very much. You and everyone in this village.” (‘… Wakatta yo obāchan. Asirpa-san wa obachan ni aisa re teru nda na. Mura no min'na ni mo’ …わかったよお婆ちゃん。アシㇼパさんはお婆ちゃんに愛されてるんだな。村のみんなにも)

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15. SCENT (におい NIOI)

First printed: 04/December/2014 Weekly Young Jump 1

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Retar (レタㇻ), prostitute, Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Umeko’s mother, pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), owner of the Soba restaurant, Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂洋平),

Location: Near Otaru, Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Umeko’s house in her village in the Kanto area

Time: 1907/1908 (?) March

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto, Umeko, Toraji and Toraji and Umeko’s child and about the pimp.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: Toraji (killed during the war)

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Ipapkeni: Deer whistle

Food and drinks: Nishin Soba

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The chapter starts with Asirpa immediately pointing out how Sugimoto’s escape in the night wasn’t selfless but “too selfish” (勝手すぎる ‘Katte sugiru’). They were working together for a reason, because it helped both of them. Him leaving only means Asirpa will have to work alone, not that she’ll give up.

- Again, although Noda remarks Sutu aren’t to be used lightly, he presents Asirpa planning to whack Sugimoto with it in punishment, in an humorous light.

- It should have been complicate for Asirpa to explain Huci, who believed Sugimoto to be her future husband, why he was missing.

- Asirpa’s behaviour though, contrast with Umeko’s, at least as far as we know. Even though both were worried for him, Umeko let Sugimoto go, Asirpa chased him.

- Presented with the problem of a missing Sugimoto, Asirpa first checks all the hunting huts then decides that trying to find him in Otaru would be too difficult for her and therefore she needs Retar’s help. In order to get it he tries to lure him using a deer whistle, hoping if he hears the sound of a prey he would run to her. Actually though it seems Retar came because from Asirpa’s scent he could tell she needed help. This gives us an idea of how distressed Asirpa was if Retar thought he needed to go help her.

- Sugimoto, seeing a prostitute, thinks she’s Umeko. Although there’s a vague resemblance this is also likely because he desperately wants to see her.

- Seeing a woman that looks like Umeko triggers in Sugimoto a flashback. Toraji’s child has grown enough he can stand and talk. He brings flowers to his mother and, due to her sight deteriorating, Umeko recognizes them thanks to her sense of smell. In chap 100 we’ll learn it’s springtime. In that moment a soldier (Sugimoto) arrives. He’s dirty and unshaved. He hands to a woman who might be a servant or a relative what he says to be all that’s left of Toraji, his finger. The woman bows, telling him they had given up on recovering his remains and thanking him… before realizing he looks familiar and asking him if he’s Sugimoto Saichi-san. At this Umeko comes closer, her child clinging to her and asks him if he’s really ‘Saichi-chan’. He turns away from her but Umeko seems happy as she admits she can only see a blur and asks him if he has come back home. However she catches a scent that makes her shudder and asks him who he is. Sugimoto sees himself in his army uniform covered I blood, wondering what did he smell like to her and saying the person he was is dead, wondering if, should she regain her sight, would she recognize him.

- It’s worth to point out it’s implied Toraji lost both arms and legs so… where did Sugimoto got that finger? Is it really Toraji or is he bringing her some bones to ease her heart?

- When Sugimoto stops the prostitute and realizes it’s not Umeko he tells himself that of course it’s not her as Umeko wouldn’t be selling her body at some port town in the frozen north but he also tells himself he has to do something and fast. Although Sugimoto says so, it’s likely just to reassure himself. He doesn’t know how Umeko’s situation is. Even though it’s unlikely she would sell her body in Otaru, she might be selling her body at home. Meanwhile, as he tries to find the gold her sight deteriorates… and the irony of him telling himself he has to hurry up when we know that more than a year will be gone with him still not having found the gold is rather cruel but at the same time this is a call back at the story of the hare of chap 8. For the greed of getting all the gold Sugimoto had been running after it through all the story getting also horribly wounded and killing more people when he could have tried to just get a job and remain near Umeko. Maybe he would have never managed to collect enough money to heal her eyes but he could have supported her.

- Sugimoto goes asking for info to the pimp who wanted to sell Asirpa to a brothel. The guy, despite wanting to sell Asirpa, tells Sugimoto that if he finds the guy, with a really strange tattoo, who hurt a prostitute in a friend’s brothel will make it worth his while because he was born and raised in a brothel and won’t forgive assholes who go around hurting prostitutes. Now… while it’s nice he cares and even the past time he worried that Asirpa was there to taunt his girls… well, he wanted to sell Asirpa. Is this guy who claims to care for prostitutes’ well being, unable to understand that forcing someone into the profession is a quite horrible thing to do? Or is it a mere racist matter, because Asirpa was an Ainu he was sure there was nothing wrong in selling her as if she were a thing? Still he doesn’t send Sugimoto there to sell him to the 7th because the pimp will cooperate with Shiraishi too and won’t try to sell Shiraishi to the 7th.

- The guy who hurt the prostitute the pimp was talking about was clearly Ushiyama by the way.

- We’ve another example of Sugimoto’s poor perception sense. The woman at the Soba restaurant that also works as a brothel tells him she’ll bring the girl immediately and, in the meanwhile, he should have a bowl of soba. As Sugimoto eats she goes to call the men of the 7th instead with Sugimoto not suspecting a single thing and not even realizing she’s taking too long.

- Sugimoto says he’s a Kanto guy… which is something we could have guessed as he was in the 1st division that’s the Tokyo division but it’s nice to have confirmation he’s from that area as Aoyama Kenkichi for example, despite not being from the Kanto area, will join the 1st division.

- When the Nikaidō brother comes in the soba shop searching for the guy looking for tattoo, Sugimoto kicks them both, sending them flying. This prompt another soldier to try to attack him. Sugimoto sends him on the ground and steps on his face, likely breaking his nose (well, at least he didn’t step on his throat). However there are three more soldiers who aim at him their weapons. Sugimoto acted out of instinct and fought well however not only his attack made him really suspicious, but the people he attacked are other veterans who were merely doing their job and who, due to the war, possess the same instinct of him to kill who attacks them so it’s no surprise if the Nikaidō brothers will inscribe him in the list of the people they want dead.

- As Yōhei and Kōhei look almost the same, it’s hard to understand who is who. If you want some help recognizing them Yōhei is the one with the puttees, who’ll hit Sugimoto’s legs and then give Sugimoto’s face a real beating with the butt of his rifle. Kōhei is the one who pointed his rifle at him and told him to get down so that when he were to shoot at him the bullet won’t hit anyone and who told Yōhei to stand back because he wanted to kill him right now. After Yōhei’s death Kōhei will start wearing puttees.

- Both brothers are bleeding profusely through their nose and, possibly their mouths, bruises on their faces due to Sugimoto’s kick, but while Yōhei is just being violent, Kōhei would just kill Sugimoto and get done with it. After Yōhei’s death Kōhei had probably blamed himself a lot for not killing Sugimoto that day, when he had the chance.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Umeko: “Who… are you?” (‘Anata… donate?’ あなた…どなた?)

- Sugimoto: “Ume... just what did I smell like to you? The Saichi you knew... is probably long gone. Even if your eyes are healed, will you really know that it's me...?” (‘Ume-chan… ore wa don'na nioi ga shita? Ume-chan no shitteru ore wa mō konoyo ni inai nodarou ka. Me ga naotte mo sugu ni oreda to wakatte kureru ka na’ 梅ちゃん… 俺はどんな臭いがした？梅ちゃんの知ってる俺はもうこの世にいないのだろうか。眼が治ってもすぐに俺だと分かってくれるかな Lit: “Ume-chan ... What did I smell like? The me known by Ume-chan probably isn’t in this world anymore. Even if your eyes heal… will you immediately understand that it’s me?”)

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16. SHINIGAMI (死神 SHINIGAMI)

First printed: 11/December/2014 Weekly Young Jump 2

Characters: Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Tamai (玉井), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助), Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂洋平), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Retar (レタㇻ)

Location: Otaru, near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Hanazono park in Otaru, 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China).

Time: 1907/1908 (?) March

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905),

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto and Tsurumi.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: Russian soldiers.

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words: None.

Food and drinks: Dango skewers.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- It’s Tsurumi who saves Sugimoto’s life from the Nikaidō’s brothers who wanted to kill him, claiming he didn’t want him dead yet. However, as he saw him fighting, it means he also saw the brothers hitting him over and over and didn’t stop them.

- Tsurumi too uses ‘Watashi’ (私). However he doesn’t use ‘kisama’ (貴様 “You”) for Sugimoto but ‘omae’ (お前 “You”). Is he trying to sound more friendly or less?

- Tsurumi introduces himself saying he’s Sugimoto’s ‘Shinigami’ (死神 “God of death”) and that he can blow Sugimoto’s candle anytime. This is a reference to a Japanese myth of human lives being represented by candles and the Shinigami snuffing the out to kill a person. In early Meiji era there was a famous Rakugo program titled “Shinigami” which referenced this idea.

- Sugimoto, with a good poker face, says he’s working for a guy whose favourite prostitute got hurt by a guy with a tattoo and that wants Sugimoto to beat said guy. Sugimoto says he asked the old lady to bring out the girl but when he saw people with guns he tried to escape. While this time his story is closer to the truth (he was actually sent there by a pimp, not by a customer) this doesn’t change the fact he has overreacted. The ones with the guns were soldiers and if he really meant no harm and is no criminal he shouldn’t have attacked them to try to escape. Tsurumi doesn’t buy it at all and doesn’t even bother to hide it, though, to Sugimoto’s credits, what really damns him is that Tsurumi saw his way of fighting and recognized him.

- There are 3 soldiers in the room in addition to Tsurumi and Sugimoto, though we can only see the Nikaidō brothers. The anime is of no help as, apart from increasing the number to 4, it doesn’t show them.

- Tsurumi’s interrogation method is clever. He figured Sugimoto was a tough nut to crack so he let Sugimoto talk without countering anything, so Sugimoto doesn’t know his cards he only knows Tsurumi isn’t buying it. Then he distracts him with sweets, which, as Sugimoto admits, is something he doesn’t commonly have, causing him to relax and lower his guard, to casually mention the word immortal, saying one of his men, who barely survive, wrote it with his finger. It works to send Sugimoto, who has not even finished his dango, into a hurry to escape, which is nothing else but a confession. As to deliver the final blow comes the accusation, he’s the one who sent Ogata to hospital, complete with Sugimoto’s name and nickname.

- Sugimoto, who knows he’s screwed, find nothing else to do but annoy the Nikaidō brothers, increasing the grudge they feel toward him. It’s not because Sugimoto gets off on this but because this gives him some measure of control and, therefore of confidence. In fact he manages to sit down calmly and insist he’s not Sugimoto.

- Tsurumi tells Sugimoto he has seen him fighting at Port Arthur once, although Sugimoto was a little away he was fighting like a ‘Kishin’ and Tsurumi couldn’t tear his eyes away from him.

- In hindsight the fact Tsurumi couldn’t tear his eyes away from Sugimoto should have told us that a man who’s fascinated by such brutal murdering method is up to no good.

- Tsurumi concludes he recognized Sugimoto by the way Sugimoto fought in the soba shop. Meaning if Sugimoto had let himself be arrested pacifically Tsurumi might not have recognized him.

- Sugimoto keeps calm and denies it. His poker face is back in place but this time he doesn’t have a lie ready.

- When Tsurumi hits right on the spot again, surprising him by realizing Sugimoto has the tattooed skins Sugimoto feels the need to regain confidence again by acting confident and vaguely insulting (he asks if Tsurumi is insane).

- Tsurumi plays along, allowing the tension to drop then… stabs Sugimoto with the skewer and Sugimoto failed to realize if he wanted to insist denying of being Sugimoto he had to react. He just remained there, without even blinking, which proves he’s Sugimoto the immortal.

- Tsurumi subtly hints at how he’s a man who can adapt himself. If the fire of Sugimoto’s candle is an immortal flame he’ll just destroy the candle. We’ll see through the story he’s not one who can’t adapt to the situation but stubbornly insist on the same way.

- Asirpa’s plan is to track Sugimoto by having Retar smell a sock he left behind and search for him by nightfall as Retar stands out too much.

- Tsurumi continues delineating his modus operandi. He tells Sugimoto if he wants to survive he has to join him. This parallels how he’ll tell Ariko that if he wants his family to survive he’ll have to side with him. It also tells us something about Tsurumi. He understood that Sugimoto has a strong wish to live, that he’s alone and that he’s angry and proud of his ability as a fighter, in fact, after the stick, ‘I’ll kill you if you don’t join me’, he presents him with the carrot, the carrot being his great plan to conquer Hokkaido in which Sugimoto can avenge himself from how he didn’t gain anything from the army and hope to have a place, with an extra spoon of sugar when he says that Sugimoto is the courageous soldier he needs. People are always who Tsurumi needs, he says the same to Tanigaki too. It’s also worth to compare this speech with the one Tsurumi had with Asirpa in vol 21. Tsurumi is in control here, after scaring Sugi he explains him something trying to make him feel involved on an emotional level and appreciated. It’s probably a variation of his usual speech for soldiers. With Asirpa he never had such plan to win her over in fact he doesn’t even try to talk with her but just orders to take her away. It’s Asirpa who engages him in a discussion but he hardly attempt to win her over with his speech which was more likely a pretence for his men and Sugimoto than for her.

- Tsurumi claims he has lost many men due to the war claiming he has less than a hundred scattered all over Hokkaido. I do wonder if he says so to get Sugimoto’s sympathy by mentioning the ones who died in the war. Men are, after all, conscripted each year so Tsurumi should have already got a replenishment unless they decided to simply give him less men because there’s not a war at the moment… though of course Tsurumi might wish more he has.

- Sugimoto’s question reveals his feelings on the idea of the men of the 7th wanting the gold. He thinks they only want it in order to get rich. He doesn’t imagine they might want it to do something.

- Tsurumi makes clear the gold isn’t to share among them but to use for military expenditures, informing Sugimoto as well of how they took army from Asahikawa but those aren’t enough and then presenting him with what looks superficially like a grandiose plan but making it really simple and easy. Basically Tsurumi’s plan, even explained in such a simple manner, is extremely disadvantageous for his men who would see no gold and take a huge risk above them becoming rebels. However as he seems so confident and try to play on emotions his plan doesn’t seem so bad.

- When Tsurumi talks of heroes on the battlefield destined to the life of vagrants he’s very likely referring to Sugimoto only, as his men aren’t vagrants but still in service, while Sugimoto seems to be one. In fact Japanese is vague enough we can’t tell if he’s referring to more people or just to Sugimoto.

- Sugimoto refuses, removing the stick that’s through his cheeks. As he’ll state later it’s not like he’s against Tsurumi’s plan, it he has another priority (he needs money fast for Umeko and he thinks he can get it by finding the gold) and he’s afraid of consequences because he hid the skins with the weapons of the other soldiers he killed.

- Since the carrot didn’t work Tsurumi returns to the stick by going back on threatening him in hope to force him to comply. Sugimoto should have remembered this experience in which, even though he had 2 skins, Tsurumi didn’t try to come to compromises with him and tortured him to get what he wanted instead than thinking Asirpa would have some leverage with Tsurumi just because she knew the code.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Tsurumi: “I'm your Shinigami. Your life is a candle, and I can blow it out any time I choose.” (‘Watashi wa omae no shinigamida. Omae no jumyō no rōsoku wa watashi ga itsu demo fuki keseru zo.’ 私はお前の死神だ。お前の寿命のロウソクは私がいつでも吹き消せるぞLit: “I'm your death god. I can blow out the candle of your life anytime.”)

- Tsurumi: “We were heroes on the battlefield. but once we got home, all that awaited us was the pathetic life of a vagrant. Did we gain anything for our service? I'd say we lost far more than we gained wouldn't you? A courageous soldier like you is exactly who I want in my army. Let us fight together, Sugimoto!” (‘Senjōde wa eiyūdattanoni furusato e kaereba hōrō seikatsu. Nani ka mukuwa reta ka? Ushinatta mono no kata ga ōku wanai ka? Watashi wa omae no yō ni yūmōna heishi ga hoshī. Wareware to tomoni tatakatte kure’ 戦場では英雄だったのに故郷へ帰れば放浪生活。何か報われたか？失ったものの方が多くはないか？私はお前のように勇猛な兵士が欲しい。我々と共に戦ってくれ Lit: “Although you were a hero on the battlefield, you returned home to a wandering life. Did you gain something? Wasn’t it more what you lost? I want a brave soldier like you. Fight with us.”)

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17. TRACKERS (追跡者 TSUISEKI-SHA)

First printed: 18/December/2014 Weekly Young Jump 3

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Retar (レタㇻ), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tamai (玉井), Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂洋平)

Location: Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) March

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto and Nikaidō Yōhei

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: None

Animal deaths: None

New Ainu words:

- Cinoyetat: rolled birch bark used as a torch

Food and drinks: Dango skewers

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Asirpa can ride Retar.

- Asirpa, believing she has found Sugimoto, does what was implied in chap 15, hits him by surprise on the head with her Sutu without checking it’s him first.

- Asirpa calls Shiraishi ‘Dappun-ō’ (脱糞王 “Defecation king”), instead than ‘Datsugoku-ō’ (脱獄王 “Escape king”). Scanlations go with “Excrement king” because similarly sounding to “Escape King” and close enough to “Defecation king”. It’s worth to note Asirpa likely remembers how he’s called but she hadn’t forgotten he made the Ainu=dog ‘joke’ in chap 6, and will keep on calling Shiraishi the wrong way until he volunteers to bring her in Abashiri chap 49.

- Shiraishi won’t use the Ainu=dog joke again but just call her ‘Ainu no Gaki’ (アイヌのガキ “Ainu brat”). ‘Gaki’ is not very polite but it’s pretty common to use to refer to a kid. Problem is Asirpa doesn’t like to be viewed as a kid.

- This chapter starts the beginning of the recurring gag of animals biting Shiraishi’s head wih Retar doing so trice, each time Shiraishi annoys Asirpa.

- Shiraishi might have noticed Sugimoto took the wrong sock… yet Sugimoto didn’t.

- Shiraishi summarizes Asirpa’s situation as ‘Sugimoto double-crossing her, stealing the skins and running away’ which is likely what Asirpa fears he did but she’s trying to hope that’s not the case.

- The model for Shiraishi Yoshitake ended up in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. There’s to wonder if the Shiraishi too was betrayed as he ended in jail for stealing but we never saw him stealing anything.

- We learn Shiraishi is always up with local info, and therefore knows Sugimoto got involved in a fight and was arrested by the 7th.

- Hearing Sugimoto is in danger Asirpa points one of her poisoned arrows at him, demanding he’ll take her there. It’s unlikely she had the time to remove the poison so if she were to shoot by mistake, as she herself explain, Shiraishi would die quickly. She said she didn’t want to kill anyone so I think she only wants to threaten Shiraishi but if she were to let go of the arrow by mistake she would kill him. This works as a huge hint that Asirpa might end up changing her stance of ‘I won’t kill anyone’ to ‘I’ll kill for Sugimoto’.

- Shiraishi shows again he’s clever. He didn’t fight Asirpa, he takes time and escape. His only problem is he doesn’t how good Retar is as a tracker.

- Asirpa informs Shiraishi no one can escape Retar’s tracking ability, not even if one were to hide in a toilet. Shiraishi will remember this.

- Tsurumi clearly had Sugimoto tortured in attempt to get him to tell him where the skins were. Sugimoto’s face is blending much more than before, and he has two skewers pulled through his cheeks (remember he removed the previous one Tsurumi stuck through him). Sugimoto is a tough guy who wouldn’t have talked easily yet Tsurumi tortured him to get him to talk. What in the world gave Sugimoto the idea Tsurumi wouldn’t have tortured Asirpa to get what he wanted from her without having to give her anything in exchange? Also note that sadly, back then, torturing people to get them to talk, was a pretty common practice so it’s not even surprising or considered particularly evil.

- Sugimoto’s reasoning is flawed. He thinks he couldn’t have pretended to join them because he wouldn’t have fooled Tsurumi as Tsurumi knew he had tattooed skins and would want them in exchange but Sugimoto hit them along with the equipment he looted off the soldiers the bear killed. Basically he’s afraid they would believe he killed those soldiers and kill him in retaliation Honestly I don’t think Tsurumi wouldn’t care but this isn’t the real problem. The real problem is he thinks everything went down the drain because he tried to do it by himself. In truth everything went wrong merely because he did it poorly. If he’d done everything in the same way but Asirpa had been with him when he was arrested, the only result he would have bought home is that Tsurumi would have had the both of them. However it’s clear he feels alone so the idea this is the reason why he’s in trouble probably stems from this.

- What’s also worrisome is… ‘when did he hid the weapons?’ Did he do so after they died, before reaching Asirpa, losing even more time before going to check on her? Or did he do so afterward? But if that’s the case why didn’t he try to retrieve Tanigaki’s weapon also? Because if he had, he would have realized Tanigaki was very much alive and walked away on his own.

- Nikaidō Kōhei calls Sugimoto ‘Kushi dango yarō’ (串団子野郎 “Skewer dumpling bastard”), mocking him because Tsurumi put through him skewers.

- The Nikaidō brothers are clearly people to hold grudges. Being first kicked by Sugimoto and after having him make fun of them set them on their hardest in paying him back and it only will get worse from here. We know nothing about their past so it’s hard to say if the war turned them like that (it sadly happened to way too many soldiers) or something else triggered it or they were like that right from the start. We’ll see if we’ll ever get more backstory.

- As Yōhei and Kōhei look almost the same it’s hard to understand who is who. Kōhei is the one who doesn’t believe the guy they caught is Sugimoto while Yōhei, noticing the swelling on Sugimoto’s face has gone down, thinks he might be Sugimoto and considers cutting out his guts (something that will inspire Sugimoto later on). Kōhei points out they can’t kill him if they want info from him so Yōhei would like to force Sugimoto to talk by cutting off his finger. He makes the mistake of getting to close to Sugimoto who hits his face with his head, causing him to lose a tooth. Yōhei is also the one who manages to partially stab Sugimoto, while Kōhei’s head gets trapped by Sugimoto’s legs.

- I’m starting to think everyone and their mom knew Sugimoto during the war. Even Yōhei says he heard rumors about him regarding how he recovered overnight from wounds the doctors thought were fatal.

- Yōhei remains the more violent prone while Yōhei remains the most rational. Where Yōhei just wants to cut Sugimoto’s guts out K ō ehi reasons they need him alive.

- While Yōhei seems to be there just to kill/hurt Sugimoto, there’s to wonder if the twins were actually there to get him to tell them where the skins were without Tsurumi hearing, as it’ll turn out they actually were in a rebellion with Ogata, Tamai and the others.

- Assorted translations more or less agree that when Sugimoto speaks up the first time, he mumbles something unintelligible. In the anime they actually have him asks Yōhei if he was the one who hit him in the soba shop. In the volume version though Sugimoto didn’t talk enough to voice that whole sentence as he only says ‘bonbon’ (ボンボン). While yes, it’s likely meant to be an unintelligible sound, ironically enough it’s Koito’s nick which means “pampered rich boy”… but it’s unlikely that’s what Sugimoto is saying as I don’t think Yōhei fits the description.

- Sugimoto shows his best skill is dealing with close contact enemies. He fakes being weak, whispers to get Yōhei close and then takes advantage of it to strike him, manages to break the chair so as to manage to bring in front of himself his tie hand, to stop Yōhei from further stabbing him and to restrain Yōhei. This is impressive (and also a bit unbelievable as it seems adults with normal bodies can’t just manage to bring forwards their hands if they were tied behind themselves.)

- As he’s stabbed Sugimoto yells his catchphrase, “I’m Sugimoto the immortal”.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “Huh? You're not Sugimoto.You're the "Excrement King"…what was your name again?” (‘Are? Sugi moto janai. Omae wa tashika…“dappun-ō” no…’ あれ？杉元じゃない。お前は確か…『脱糞王』の… Lit: “Huh? You’re not Sugimoto. You are... the “Defecating King” ...”)

- Shiraishi: “That's "Escape King!" and the name's Shiraishi Yoshitake!” (‘“Ore wa “Datsugoku-ō” no Shiraishi Yoshitake da!’ 俺は『脱獄王』の白石由竹だ！ Lit: “I’m the “Escape King” Shiraishi Yoshitake!”)

- Shiraishi: “So, let me guess…Sugimoto double crossed you didn't he? I bet he just stole the skins and ran away! It all makes sense now. that means the rumour I heard really was about Sugimoto.” (‘Nanda omae… sateha sugi moto ni uragira reta na? Irezumi no kawa o mochinige sa reta ndaro. Naruhodo gatten ga itta ze. Yahari ano uwasa wa sugi motodatta ka’ 何だおまえ…さては杉元に裏切られたな？入れ墨の皮を持ち逃げされたんだろ。なるほど合点がいったぜ。やはりあの噂は杉元だったか)

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VOLUME COLOR GALLERY

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ssnakey-b · 5 years

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FF8 English-French translarison, part 24: Return of the Translarison!

Holy shit, have I seriously not posted a new part since February?! Well, it’s time to get back to business. Since it’s been a while, in case you forgot, last time, the team was getting ready to face Edea for the second and last time. Let’s get to it.

We start with another example of Fujin telling us a bit more than in English as instead of just “FATIGUED!”, she says “I can’t take it any more!”.

Meanwhile, instead of “Let’s just go. ...Let’s get it over with, ya know?”, Raijin says “Come on, let’s keep going! We gotta end this!”

To this, English Fujin rplies “REQUEST” (which I’m still not sure what she means by that since she doesn’t actually request anything) while her French counterpart says “I’ve had it!”. A little dialogue follows.

English:

Raijin: ...We’re leavin’ Seifer up to you now, ya know? We don’t know what’s going on anymore, ya know? ...We just want the old Seifer back, ya know?”

Squall: (Seifer... He probably thinks he can’t go back now.) All right.

French:

Raijin: Seifer, we’ve had enough... this isn’t fun for us. We don’t know what’s going on! You weren’t like that before...

Squall: (Seifer won’t give up. No, not now...) I see...

I’ll give the English text that it’s a nice bit of characterization that Raijin is basically asking Squall to save Seifer from himself, or at least stop him from going even further down the deep end than he already has but man, do these annoying catchphrases and gimmick destroy any atmosphere for me. I really don’t understand why English-language translators are so obsessed with them (and if they were in the original Japanese, well, not everything needs to be translated directly).

Seriously, professional translators, you gotta understand that you don’t need to commit to a running gag every goddamn time to the detriment of everything else. Even if you don’t think it takes you out of the story, running gags get really old really quick.

Also, we once again get a hint that Seifer used to be better, which would have been nice to actually see in the game rather than constantly be assured that it used to be the case because again, we see more genuine chemistry between the Jin Team & Squall than between him and Seifer.

Anyway, with that rant over, let’s continue. This guy, who gives you the first key card, says mostly the same thing in both versions, but I wanted to bring it up because of an UNFORGIVABLE mistake in the French version. That’s right, despite the sentence being pluralized, they used the pronoun “Il” without an S, which is the singular form!! I really hope whomever wrote that atone by cutting off their pinky at the first knuckle.

On a more serious level, there is also an interesting little bit in the English version where he mentions that most students were kicked out, which is absent in the French version. And I mean, I guess it doesn’t need to be stated explicitly, but I think it’s nice to have it confirmed that Galbadia Garden was completely recycled into a military base, as it adds to the tragedy that the student basically lost their home IMO. Although I guess at least it means they’re not being held hostages.

And now it’s time to finally meet these hockey-playing monsters we’ve been told about so long ago. I just love that the devs actually made those, and that they decided that their reaction to a massive battles would be to take the opportunity to get involved in the fight for no real reason.

And yes, as you may have noticed the Slappers are called Jason in the French version of the game, because why not throw in a Friday the 13th reference for good measure? And if you remember (in which case, congrats on the good memory considering how long ago that was), this ties into another reference that’s been invented by the French version, where they explained that these guys psych themselves up for a match by watching horror movies such as Friday the 13th. Just amazing!

But wait! That’s not all! Because if you scan them, the French version also explicitly mentions that the Jasons are, in fact, students at Galbadia Garden. I mean, you could gather that information in the English version as well, but to have it explicitly stated here just makes it that much funnier to me. Just imagine having to take classes with these things next to you. Do they keep the masks on? What do they look under there? Please, Square-Enix, cancel the remaster and put your resources towards giving us a spin-off expanding on this lore. THIS is what the world needs!

Sadly, we must leave the Jasons, but we do get to meet Cerberus! The original dog from Hell!

Massive difference in tone between the versions when it comes to Cerberus, or Cerbères in French (the last E is silent, as is the S). In English, he’s very blunt, talking less like an immortal demonic being and more like a pro wrestling Heel, yeeling in all caps “PRETTY CONFIDENT. LET’S SEE HOW YOU DO. SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!” which by the way, really makes me wish he went “I LIKE WHAT YOU GOT” upon being defeated.

In French, he is more eloquent and collected, saying “What arrogance! Mere mortals! Show me what you’re capable of!”. And while his actual line upon defeat is “NOT BAD...MORTALS” in English, in French, he simply says “Interesting”.

One last detail about this fight I’d like to mention. After Irvine mentions he doesn’t know that Guardian Force, French Squall simply says “Let’s take it!” but I like the English version a lot more here, as Squall goes “Ahh... let’s just take it.”

Yeah, sometimes you just gotta go with the flow. And I think that says a lot as to where Squall is mentally at this point. Just done. Fuck it. I mean, he just fought a team of horror-inspired hockey monsters, there’s no point in questioning anything any more.

Much to my dismay, it’s time to meet up with Seifer again. The dialogue stays mostly consistent across both versions, with the one notable detail being that in the English version, when addressing Linoa, he says “remember a year ago we...” whereas in French, he says “and yet, a year ago...” so the English version hints at a slightly deeper, perhaps more reciprocal relationship.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the only acknowledgement Seifer gives of any previous relationship between the two in either version, and it’s in an optional bit of dialogue that only appears if Linoa is in the party at this point. This is why I am not buying this supposed love triangle for a second. Much like every part of the supposed rivalry between Seifer and Squall, it barely exists, what little is there is completely superficial and Seifer is blatantly outmatched right form the get go.

And look, I’m not here to tell you you’re right of wrong in your headcanons or fanfics or whatever, I really don’t care. However, it always annoys me when people go on and on about how deep and meaningful this love triangle when it’s really not. In fact, it barely is at all. So again, I’m not giving people shit if they want to make it a thing, but you gotta keep in mind that whatever story you give them is entirely your creation. Because when it comes to what’s actually shown in the game, well, it’s almost nothing, which makes me wonder why it’s even there to begin with. The extent of their story is: Linoa thought Seifer was hot, Seifer might have thought the same about her, maybe?

Anyway, second rant over, there’s a small difference in the dialogue with Irvine. In English, Seifer says “Hey, you’re a Galbadian student, get over here.” to which irvine replies “I’m happy right here, thank you.”

In french, Seifer says “Hey, the Galbadian, you’re coming back home?” and he answers with “I like my new country better” which I don’t think is actually quite what’s going on but I will admit is an interesting take on this scene.

Again, things are pretty similar in the dialogue between Squall and Seifer leading up to the battle, with Squall saying Seifer is just another monster in both versions, although Seifer’s last line before the fight is different... and very stupid either way. In English, he says “You guys are the monsters” and in French he says “I think of myself as a Boss, yeah”.

Well I’m glad both lines are equally cringeworthy, with English Seifer cribbing his from a 12 year old trying to sound deep and French Seifer just coming across like the kind of douche that The Lonely Island likes to parody. Also, I think the French version may have attempted to be cute. Get it? Because he’s a boss battle! HA HA no.

In the auditorium, we have a slight difference in Edea’s opening line. In English, she refers to Squall as “the legendary SeeD destined to face me”. In French, she calls him “the famous Seed whose coming is announced by all”. It seems a bit weird to me as I’m not getting the impression that Squall is all that famous in-universe so it would be weird that “all” would announce his arrival.

So I think the English version works a little bit better as it gives the impression she knows that due to her insight into future events. Then again, you could argue that French Ultimecia is talking about her original timeline, where perhaps Squall was leading the charge against her and he had become some kind of hero to the people of that time, and that she is trying to stop him before he can become that hero. After all, for someone like Ultimecia, it would make sense to view the various timelines as one and the same.

So we fight, I grab Alexander (known in French as Alexandre, so almost the same, but the English name will still show in my game due to my save file getting confused) and during Squall’s blackout, we get a slight difference that once again at the two translations being based off the original Japanese rather than each-other, as in English, Squall complains about his body hurting whereas in French, it’s specifically his head, so it appears we have different interpretations going on.

Similarly, after Edea asks if she was able to protect Ellone (which interestingly, shows that Edea is at least not always aware of what Ultimecia is doing), English Squall thins “I don’t understand”, showing general confusion at the situation, whereas French Squall thinks “I don’t know.” replying directly to her question about Ellone.

And that’s it for today! Next time, we’ll see how differently Squall reacts to Linoa’s situation in both versions as we finally start taking on the 3rd CD content. I hope you all enjoyed this return of the translarison, I honestly didn’t realize it had been this long. I promise I’ll try and be more regular again, even though as I’ve said before, the only schedule for this is “when I feel like it”.

Now speaking of future updates, in case you missed it, I would like to start streaming my gameplay sessions on Twitch as I take screenshots and comment on what’s happening, and hopeuflly take your questions and observations. If it”‘s something that sounds interesting to you, I would really like you to say so by commenting on this post, dropping me a line or however you see fit, and if/when it happens, you can join us at twitch.tv/ssnakeyb. Either way, likes and reblogs are always appreciated to help spread the word.

Have a nice day, everyone! I’l be seeing you next time!

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thestupidhelmet · 5 years

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I’m trying and failing to write T7S fanfic :(( I feel like I don’t capture the characters voices, you know? Imo you capture them spot on, do you have any tips to do so? Especially for JH, but tips for the other main characters would also be nice...

First, thank you for the compliment! It’s one of the best a fanfic writer can receive. 😊

On your own, you can watch some significant, character-developing episodes for each character and take notes about the kind of language they use when they’re under stress (e.g., angry, sad, frustrated, etc.) or happy. But I’ll give you insight into how I approach each character’s voice.

Hyde

He rarely expresses his emotions verbally without some kind of deflection, misdirection, or concealment. In “Eric’s False Alarm” (4x25), for example, Eric calls Hyde on being the one who stopped Donna and Casey from potentially having sex. He also calls Hyde on one of his true motives. Hyde claims, however, that he “didn’t do it to be nice. I did it because I always wanted to commit a felony. Misdemeanors just ain’t the rush they used to be.”

Eric’s responds, “Well, all I hear is, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’”

Hyde is almost all subtext. That is the key to his character. If he does express his feelings directly, it’s very hard for him. It’s like being constipated but emotionally (sorry for the gross analogy, but it’s apt). He’ll have trouble looking the person in the eye or scratch the back of his neck. Or he’ll stick a curse or two while being sincere.

Hyde doesn’t tend to give long speeches. Usually, he’ll say a sentence or two before another character talks or he does some action to break up his dialogue.

He often uses humor, often sarcastic and sometimes cruel, to defuse a tense situation.

He uses the word, “man” at the beginning or end of certain sentences. Don’t do it too much, though, or it’ll feel forced.

Speaking of word choice, this is a key to capturing a character’s voice. For instance, Hyde has never – and would never – say, “Anyways,” with an S. Whenever I read a fic where Hyde says that, I hear the author’s voice, not Hyde’s.

Hyde-specific words include swell and super (when he’s being sarcastic), freakin’ and damn it when he’s pissed or frustrated. He’ll say ain’t instead of isn’t sometimes. He’s called testicles both ‘nads and stones.

Jackie

Jackie is the opposite to Hyde in terms of expressing her emotions verbally. When she feels something, she’s vocal about it. That’s not to say she can’t keep her feelings to herself. She does so when she’s significantly afraid of rejection.

I interpret Jackie’s character as being really insightful beneath her superficiality. Enough episodes depict her this way to support that interpretation, but other episodes depict her superficiality as being more than skin-deep. That’s up to the individual fanfic writer to decide which characterization to go with.

But with mine, I intersperse her insight with moments of egoism and vanity. A prime example of this on the show is from “Jackie Bags Hyde” (3x08). In the midst of offering Hyde a compassionate, accurate analysis of his childhood wounding, she compliments her own beauty.

She often makes analogies when giving advice (to Hyde, to Donna, to whomever). These analogies are created from her own experiences and interests (e.g., styling her hair, having a pet rat, etc.), but they’re apt, nevertheless.

She has a generally romantic view of life, which influences her language, but she also has a more down-to-earth side. So she’ll say both, “Make love,” and, “Doing it,” when describing sex, for example.

Unlike Hyde, Jackie has said, “Anyways,” with an S, but she mostly says, “Anyway” without the S. She doesn’t curse all that much. When she does curse, she really means it.

Unfortunately, she uses a lot of slut-shaming language. Most of the characters on T7S do. That’s a consequence of T7S’s writers finding that humor funny. I try not to have the characters speak that way unless it’s going to be called out by another character or in a character’s thoughts.

Jackie probably thinks a mile a minute, which sometimes leads her to digress from her main topic while speaking.

Eric

Eric expresses his feelings pretty easily, but he can be hyperbolic. Examples: “This is the worst day ever.” “This is the [FILL IN THE BLANK] in the history of time.”

Like Hyde, he’s sarcastic. According to Red, he’s a smart mouth. Kitty has called him a porky mouth on more than one occasion. In “Burning Down the House” (2x15), for instance, he says about Jackie’s party, “You know what might make this party a little more fun? Sweet death.”

Depending on his mood and whom he’s with, his dialogue can either be compassionate or insensitive and sometimes a bit cruel. Sometimes his wit his biting. Others, it’s corny. E.g., he doesn’t like and resents Hyde’s girlfriend, Jill, in “The Third Wheel” (4x11) and calls her both Terri Tube Top and Yoko.

But he can also be nervous and lack confidence, which will make him hem and haw while talking. He’ll interrupt his speech using, “You know,” several times in one sentence or pauses. E.g., “We … barely knew.”

He sometimes uses antiquated language like m’lady and ‘tis I.

He makes quite a few Star Wars and comic book references.

Topher Grace’s comedic timing and line delivery adds a lot to his dialogue, and it’s possible to emulate that in prose. Again, watch some significant episodes for Eric and take note of his speech patterns and word choices.

Donna

Donna has a quick temper, but she also usually recognizes and owns her mistakes quickly. She has an easy time expressing her anger and frustration, as well as more loving and affectionate feelings. But she’s not a crier. She often expresses her sadness through frustration or anger. Not always, though.

She has a very playful and silly side. She can be as witty as Eric, but in anger she can make some odd metaphors. E.g., “He’s an ass, and you’re an ass – ‘cause the ass doesn’t fall far from the ass tree!” (From “Jackie Bags Hyde”.)

Dillhole and get bent are part of her idiolect. She also peppers her sentences with the filler word like (which should be set off by commas).

Kelso

Kelso’s language is dictated by his impulses, what he’s interested in at that very moment, and his unique POV about the world. He’s very excitable, which leads him to expressing himself as efficiently as possible – in terms of language, not ideas. . E.g., “You gotta see this!” not “You’ve got to see this!”

He comes up with bizarre scenarios and ideas, which is usually adds humor to an episode.

His egoism and narcissism color his dialogue. E.g., “You know what your problem is? I’m too good-looking.”

He’s emotionally immature for his age, and he often speaks like he’s thirteen, not eighteen. (Sorry to the mature thirteen-year-olds out there; I know there’s plenty of you.)

Fez

Fez alternates between using contractions and not using them. E.g., “I do not think you should do that,” vs. “I don’t think you should do that.”

He’ll express his emotions melodramatically. Even when he’s trying to “keep it all inside,” he’s over the top while explaining that this is what he’s doing.

He’ll say, “Ai,” when he’s upset or hurt or worried. I chose the Ai spelling instead of Ay because Fez’s native language isn’t Spanish, despite Wilmer Valderrama being the one portraying him. Just like Jackie’s eyes are brown, despite Mila Kunis’s eyes – at the time of T7S – being two different colors.

On the show, Fez’s dialogue is often used to break the tension with humor.

“You sonuvabitch!” and “Good day. I said good day!” are two of his catchphrases.

He’ll talk about his country, and what it’s like there, without every saying where he’s actually from.

His characterization varies, depending on the season. I’m not a fan of his post-Rhonda personality. In the early seasons, he isn’t a perv so much as someone who doesn’t know how far to push a joke. He’s trying to fit in with his friends, and the cultural differences cause him confusion.

He can be poetic and romantic.

Red

Red is similar to Hyde and Donna. He doesn’t express his feelings easily, save anger and frustration. To Kitty, however, he can be very sweet. To Hyde, he’ll dispense wisdom (and he practically cried in “Hyde’s Father” [3x03] when telling Hyde he’ll always have a place in his house, etc.). To Eric – well, that is one contentious relationship.

He was in the navy during World War II and the Korean War, and that colors his POV. He’s not politically correct, but writing that aspect of him … it’s a fine line. He’s not racist so much as xenophobic, which stems from his experiences in the navy and his somewhat extreme patriotism.

Honestly, watch pretty much any episode of his from seasons 2-4, and you’ll understand his voice quickly. The Red of season 1 is quite different, more nuanced – and I actually prefer it, but alas. That Red makes a guest appearance in “Hyde’s Birthday” (4x23), but he’s more of a hardass post-S1. After season 4, his character begins to become even less nuanced. And during season 7, he’s sometimes very OOC.

Kitty

She’s compassionate and a little cartoony. She’s wise in certain areas and naive in others. She’s smart and savvy – until the show devolves her in the later seasons.

To get her speech pattern and idiolect, “Vanstock” (2x06), “Kitty and Eric’s Night Out” (2x18), ,“Red Sees Red” (3x01), and “Kitty’s Birthday” (3x17) are good episodes to watch.

I hope this helps! :D

#That 70s Show #That '70s Show #Jackie x Hyde #Eric Forman #Michael Kelso #Fanfic Advice #Writing Advice #My Meta #My Essay #Meta #Essay #Ask #Anon

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hamhamparadise · 5 years

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February 9th, Happy Birthday Sparkle!

Sparkle is one of the secondary Ham-Hams that has appeared the most on the series. She is well-known to the Ham-Hams and they look up to her a lot, since she is an idol. Sparkle, however, doesn't like the Ham-Hams since the beginning, but slowly grows on them and gets caught on their adventures.

Sparkle is an idol hamster that has a similar design to Bijou, but also takes some design ideas from Hamtaro. Her pigtails are more “wild” than Bijou's combed ones, and she is one of the few hamsters whose design is a straight line crossing through the forehead. She sports a butt mark in the shape of a heart, mimicking Hamtaro's spotted one.

Sparkle takes her work rather seriously, not like her owner, Glitter. Although they both aim to be top idols, Sparkle is usually more centered on work while Glitter prefers to slack off and goof around.

Sparkle's Japanese name is Kururin-chan which can be translated as “Chestnut”. Her owner, Glitter, Japanese name is Kurumi-chan which can be translated as “Walnut”. As you can see, both Japanese and English dubs gave them matching puns.

Sparkle finishes most of her sentences with “nano”, a catchphrase much like Hamtaro's “nanoda”. At first, she accompanied this with a cute smiley pose, but in later episodes she just adds it to most of her sentences regardless. She says it so much that the Ham-Hams have learned to copy her whenever she shows up.

Sparkle is a rather rowdy hamster, very straightforward and focused hamster. Whatever she focus on, she does her best to make it happen. She is also well-versed in love and, later on, learns English as she moves to America with her owner.

Sparkle was first introduced on Episode 54, when a new student transfers into Laura's school. It happens to be Glitter, and Sparkle comes with her. Sparkle gets to know the Ham-Hams, but she wants nothing to do with them.

Relationships

Sparkle is known for being... rather active in her love experience.

She had a crush on Omar, whom she hoped could make herself a princess, but that was short-lived.

After that, she moved on to her true crush and love interest during most of the series: Hamtaro, but, of course, Hamtaro is oblivious to Sparkle, no matter how many times she has tried to win him over.

In fact, the anime has almost the same number of episodes of Sparkle trying to win Hamtaro over than the other most acceptable option, that is Bijou trying to win Hamtaro over.

Episodes

Episode 54 – Pop Star

A new student transfers into Laura's school. It happens to be Glitter, and Sparkle comes with her. Sparkle gets to know the Ham-Hams, but she thinks she’s too good for them and wants them to go away.

Episode 103 - The Tale of Princess Bijou

As usual, Hamtaro and Laura fell asleep and dream of a fantasy world. This time, Sparkle is the evil queen that is envious of Bijou's beauty and wants to get rid of her!

Episode 113 – Sparkle's Vacation

Sparkle returns to town, but she wants to take a vacation after work! The Ham-Hams decide to take her around and show her places in town. Will Sparkle enjoy this little detour on her plans?

Episode 128 – Sparkle is in love!

Sparkle meets Omar and starts daydreaming about travelling around the world as a princess, and sets off with him. However, will it be as perfect as Sparkle imagined?

Episode 149 – Sparkle's scandal!

An unfortunate event with Hamtaro makes Sparkle believe that cameramen have caught her in an scandal, and she decides to drop from being an idol and starts living with Boss!

Episode 158 – Sparkle is a star!

Sparkle accepts the offer of the Ham-Hams to train her skills as actress in diverse genres. Will the Ham-Hams be of any help?

Episode 188 – Pashmina's transformation!

Pashmina wants to be the star of a party, and Sparkle decides to help after seeing how little the Ham-Hams know about it. But wait, is there another ham that wants to help?

Episode 192 – Sparkle! Hollywood~nano

Sparkle is leaving for Hollywood! Sparkle approaches the Ham-Hams in search of a boyfriend, and she picks Hamtaro, who apparently doesn't know what a boyfriend is.

Episode 208 – Sparkle! Cupid~nano

Sparkle notices that Bijou has still not confessed to Hamtaro, and sets to help the two of them hook up. However, there seems to be a new rival she has to worry about!

Episode 229 – Sparkle! Art!

Sparkle visits during the winter, and met Otome's crew. They all seem to have some discrepancies regarding what art is about, who will end up being right?

Episode 238 – love Love, Valentine!

It is Valentine's day, and Sparkle wants to give Hamtaro a present. In Rainbow Land, she finds some seeds that are supposed to make the one that eats them fall in love with you, so she decides to give some to Hamtaro!

Episode 275 – Showtime, Okini!

Sparkle comes to visit and meets Okini, who rapidly tries to build a show so she can get some money out of Sparkle's talent.

Episode 289 – A Valentine Battle!

It's Valentine's day again, and Sparkle wants to give Hamtaro some chocolate! However, even more rivals appear as Oshare shows up with the same idea. Who will win Hamtaro's heart?

We want to wish Sparkle a happy birthday! Nano!

#hamtaro #sparkle #birthday #text

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softshelltaakos · 5 years

Text

alright, folks! if you know me you know that i 1) received the taz graphic novel for the holidays and 2) have hated the taz graphic novel since before it came out, and that 3) actually reading it in no way improved my opinion.

let’s review.

disclaimer: i love the mcelroys. i truly do. taz has gotten me through some very difficult stuff and i have a tattoo. all this to say i’m not doing this because i hate them or because i like hating things — on the contrary, i’m doing this because i care a lot about the podcast and analyzing things is what i do for fun and also because, like, it has issues that i want to talk about!

there are spoilers for the graphic novel and the whole of the podcast under the cut.

this is part 1, in which i’m talking about the actual storytelling and writing; for character design thoughts, you’re gonna have to stay tuned because i’ve been working on this for three and a half hours and i have shit to do. so!

let’s start off with the things i actually liked. there are a few!

the main characters get little intro cards, which i think are pretty cute. this isn’t all of them, but here’s a sampling (forgive my messy collaging):

[ID: four panels.

the first introduces magnus burnsides, a barrel-chested white guy with auburn hair and a fluffy beard and sideburns. he’s saying “trust me, if the law hassles us, i’m the guy you want at the front of the wagon. but look, if you want to drive so bad, i might let you spell me the next time the dwarf has to stop for a pee break.” there is a scroll with his name listed, as well as his race (human), class (fighter), and proficiencies: battle, carpentry, and “everything else... apparently”

the second introduces taako, a skinny mint-colored elf wizard. he’s blonde with pronounced lower lashes and a big pointy nose. he’s saying “hell, no! i’ve got stuff to do. i’ve read the books. adventurers are supposed to, like, forage for food and shit. bor-r-r-ring! no, thank you. not for taako.” the proficiencies on his title card are spell-casting, transmutation, and gastronomy

the third introduces merle highchurch, a brown dwarf with white hair pulled back into a bun and a big poofy beard. he’s saying “i’m studying my cantrips!” and his title card proficiencies are “healing... supposedly,” “religion stuff,” and bleeding

the fourth panel introduces griffin mcelroy, a white human man with brown hair and glasses wearing a collared shirt. he’s saying “guys! it’s me: griffin! your dm!” his title card shows his race as “actual human” and his class as “dungeon master,” while his proficiencies are podcasting, karaoke, and “weaving a rich tapestry of drama.”]

then there are a few cute references to other mcelroy stuff:

[ID: two side-by-side images. the first is a photo of justin mcelroy wearing a bib with “shrimpin’ ain’t easy” written on it in crayon. the second is a close-up of a similar bib on a goblin -- though the text is distorted, it’s the same phrase.]

[ID: magnus thoughtfully says “unless...” and the other boys echo him in traditional mcelroy fashion.]

barry also wears underwear that read “meloincloths” around the waistband, which i didn’t take a picture of because it was small and also i didn’t really want to take a picture of barry bluejeans’s underoos. but that’s cute!

as it mentions in magnus’s titlecard, there’s a running joke about him being proficient in everything. that gets some play in the podcast but it comes up a lot more here and i think it works pretty well and establishes early on that magnus is cocky and headstrong and all that. it’s actually introduced in the very first panel of the comic, where he mentions his vehicle proficiency, and then it comes up several more times.

there are some moments that shift out-of-character dialogue to in-character dialogue, and i think it works sometimes. notably, it occasionally happens with griffin’s dialogue, which i think is a good way to include his voice without constantly breaking the fourth wall. it’s done some, obviously, but it’s not to the point that it’s intrusive.

[ID: a panel featuring taako approaching the other boys, who are playing cards while they wait for him to scout the next room out. magnus asks, “would you say it is spooky... or beautiful?” and merle cuts in “or spookily beautiful?” followed by magnus finishing up with “or beautifully spooky?”

taako responds “if you were a gerblin you would actually find it a pretty chill den to, like, hang out in.”]

i also like the introduction of the voidfish static. i think it’s appropriately dramatic and does a pretty good job of emulating how it’s presented in the podcast.

[ID: a panel featuring killian, an orc woman with a crossbow. the lighting is dark gray-blue-green and she’s shouting something unintelligible marked by a cluster of consonants and a shaky, brush-strokey speech bubble distinct from the other speech bubbles stylistically.]

the scene where taako grabs the umbra staff is also appropriately dramatic, as is merle trying to talk down gundren/bogard from the gauntlet’s thrall, but those are full page images and very large, so i’m not including them.

then there’s this panel of lucretia, which slays me:

[ID: a closeup of madame director lucretia, a black woman dressed in blue with white hair, though her eyes are out of frame. she’s holding a white oak staff in her hands. she’s stopped mid-sentence and there’s a little jaggedy line near her head indicating surprise.]

this is lucretia turning around and seeing the boys for the first time since she dropped them off at their respective “homes.” she’s caught off-guard and i think this is a beautiful way of noting that without giving too much away, and this is a good moment of foreshadowing that she knows much, much more about them than she’s letting on. she catches herself quickly and gets back into the swing of things, but i think this is a very lucretia panel, and it’s probably my favorite panel in the book.

now it’s time for the negative.

first off, a nitpick: there are moments where the characterization feels very off -- at one point magnus is said to have been the kid who “always reminded the teacher that they had forgotten to hand out homework,” which... does not really match what we know of young magnus. at all. travis describes him as “a good but kind of rebellious kid, like he was probably kind of a little bit of a turd [...] who was kinda sarcastic” (ep. 60, the stolen century part one) which feels super incongruent with the homework thing.

my issues with characterization come into focus most strongly with taako. while a lot of moments get his voice down pretty well, there’s a major issue in his presentation, which is that from the very beginning, he’s bragging about his tv show.

[ID: several panels in which merle and taako are talking. the first is a wide shot with taako’s voiceover saying: “--and then the lights come up, and there i am, standing under a magnificent banner that reads:”

the second is taako posing under a spotlight, speaking in large, fanciful script: “sizzle it up with taako”

panel three is merle asking disinterestedly “so it’s a show... about cooking?” and taako replying emphatically “it’s about life!”

in panel four he adds “...told through the perspective of fine dining.”

another panel collaged in features a cookbook with taako’s face on it labeled “perfection: cook the taako way” and taako excitedly saying “i know that smell!! that’s my recipe for haunch a la taako!! it was in my very first cookbook!]

now, we all know that by the end of the show “taako -- you know, from tv?” has become a catchphrase of his, and i understand the desire to retcon that kind of thing into his personality from the start. it seems like a natural way to add character early on when in the podcast, the boys are still pretty underdeveloped at this point.

here’s the issue. neither tv nor the title “sizzle it up” are mentioned at any point during here there be gerblins. in the eleventh hour (e48, part 8 of that arc) we’re told that we’re six years out from the mass poisoning in glamour springs. while the maxfun donor bonus episodes, like the liveshows, play it a little bit fast and loose with canon, and this episode was the 2015 bonus episode (e48 didn’t come out until september 2016,) that’s the only real explicit sizzle it up development we have until the eleventh hour. i’ve transcribed some of the bonus episode below, as transcripts for it are not available via @.tazscripts.

justin: taako-- i’m sitting in a corner by myself with my hat sorta pulled down low so people don’t recognize me. and i’m just trying to eat my meal but i keep changing the items that i’m trying to eat into different substances, so every few minutes you hear from my corner of the tavern:

taako: damn it!

clint: i hate asparagus!

griffin: i turned this sandwich into wood!

[...]

justin: mainly, i’m just trying to be nondescript.

[...]

justin: the whole time i’m talking to [the tavern owner] i’m like, keeping my face down so he doesn’t recognize me.

griffin: why would anyone recognize you?

clint: why?

justin: well, taako, uh, used to host a cooking show. it was a very, very, very popular cooking show. uh, and--

griffin: what was it called?

justin: what?

griffin: the show.

justin: sizzle it up with taako.

this episode is when the boys take the job with gundren off of craig’s list, so the time gap between this and episode 1 is negligible at best. there is a moment where the other boys recognize taako and he doesn’t lie about his identity, but:

taako: (begrudgingly) yeah, i’m taako, i’m disgraced, you might have heard about the [poisoning] thing.

so... he’s clearly not putting himself on display the way he does later in the podcast. in episode 40 (lunar interlude III: rest and relaxation) which came out in may of 2016, we get the first reference to the poisoning itself:

taako: one time i transmogrified something that, uh… i transmogrified it into something you really shouldn’t eat, ever? for life, to live, i mean? And, uh, a lot of people ate that. and that went... so sideways. um... i-- i just decided i would never again cook for people i cared about, because i couldn’t risk, um, y’know, something happening to them. until i get this under control, i guess.

so we know that even at that point this is still something that troubles taako greatly. one might even say... he’s traumatized! and doesn’t talk about it! he does not go into detail about sizzle it up with anyone over the entire course of the podcast except for june while she is literally possessed by the chalice and forcing him to relive it. So. kind of a weird character take.

to skip ahead a little bit, most of the moonbase stuff is fine, but there’s one omission that feels very weird to me.

[ID: three panels. the left is a shot of the elevator hallway leading to the voidfish’s chambers. thb follow killian towards the elevators; johann is walking away from them. he’s a black human man with natural hair dressed in a silly bard outfit with a violin strapped to his back. he’s carrying a ton of scrolls.]

these three panels are the only time we see johann in the book. in the podcast it’s johann that escorts them to the voidfish’s chambers and inoculates them. it makes sense that this has been changed to lucretia in the gn; it gives her a much stronger entrance and cuts down on scene changes. but it also cuts out a lot of establishing things about johann that are all extremely important and set up not only his character arc but several core plot points.

it’s during that scene that we hear that johann’s greatest fear is being forgotten, and that that’s exactly what will happen to him and all of the other bureau employees when they die. it’s during that scene that we learn the basic mechanics of the voidfish and the mission of the bureau. it makes sense that some of that is going to be handled at the beginning of the next book (presumably) and i’m glad that lucretia is introduced here, but the gn adjusts it so that killian takes the boys into the elevator. that’s johann in the podcast, and it easily could have been johann here. it would’ve been a good chance to establish at least johann’s fears, which would be a weird and creepy setup for the voidfish mechanics when they do get revealed.

it’s just odd to me that johann, who is the reason for the song half of story and song, gets the short shrift here.

i’m gonna wrap up with one last thing. i wanna talk about arms outstretched.

griffin: and you’re both getting pulled into the rift now, and-- but with a 20, taako, you fight against the pull and both of you are flying backwards towards the center of the room, back towards the catwalk. and merle, you’re standing in front of the two liches, one in the form of magnus and one not. lydia just is there in her spectral form. and you’re standing next to a taako who’s gone completely catatonic.

[...]

griffin: okay, then, m—magnus and taako, you two are flying back towards the center of the room. the pull of this rift is still trying to suck you in. and out of nowhere, just merle turns around—turns his back to the two liches—and just outstretches his arms and as he does, you see, like, spectral versions of his soul-wood arm sort of reach out and grab you and he’s also pulling you back in too, now. and he rips both of you towards himself.

i don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this is one of the most emotionally charged moments in the show, and it’s that because it’s a moment where we see, crystal-clear, real character development and growth.

magnus, who rushes in, who has never wanted anything as much as he wants to be reunited with julia, actively resists the pull of death to help his friends.

taako, who’s good out here, who is so selfish that an entire town died because of his ego, risks his life to help his friends.

merle, who can barely feel his holy connection, who barely ever even heals, breaks planar bounds to help his friends.

we’ve been with these characters for 56 episodes. we’ve seen their worst regrets, we know their tragic backstories, we understand why they’ve been the jackasses they’ve been, and now we see them moving past that to work as a unit. one might even say as a family!

arms outstretched is a moment that has been earned over the course of those 56 episodes.

enter the graphic novel.

[ID: a full page. flames are everywhere and panels are intentionally chaotic. dialogue reads:

merle: maybe now would be good?

magnus: i’m a hero, not an idiot.

taako: actually, you’re both idiots!

he outstretches his arm from his position safe in a well.

taako: come on!

merle and magnus reach for taako’s hands. there is a closeup on their arms: merle and magnus each hold one of taako’s with one hand. then there’s a panel showing an explosion.]

this is obviously intended as a way to foreshadow arms outstretched. and typically i’m not against foreshadowing! i think one of the benefits of the graphic novel is that it’s an opportunity to insert foreshadowing in cool ways that were not necessarily possible given the in-progress nature of the podcast -- like i said earlier, that lucretia panel is a really great example of it. you can’t foreshadow arms outstretched in episode one because you have no idea it’s going to happen.

but here’s the thing. you also can’t foreshadow arms outstretched in episode one because it hasn’t been earned. these characters are not those characters yet. they don’t know each other. taako actively shuts down the title of “friend” earlier in the book. they’re not even coworkers yet. and you could make an argument that in the face of death, taako would try to save them, but... would he? really? he’s a pragmatist, and that’s putting it nicely. during the stolen century the only person he tries to get to safety at the risk of his own neck is lup, and, uh... neither of these guys are lup. hell, he doesn’t even know about lup right now, and we see in the podcast that not remembering her leaves him colder and more self-centered. he knows people are dust, but he doesn’t know there are people that aren’t. i truly don’t buy it.

the nature of adaptation is that things are going to change, and that’s fine; but this is such a major shift that it left me really jarred and unhappy with the writing. in the podcast itself, we get this:

killian: c’mon c’mon c’mon c’mon!

clint: decision made.

justin: yeah, i follow her.

travis: i follow her.

clint: me too.

griffin: the three of you dive into the well.

it makes sense that the gn adjusts this slightly so that magnus and merle try to pull some heroics and save everyone; i don’t have a problem with that. that’s a good adaptation of character that hadn’t exactly been seen yet, but comes to be a core enough part of the characters that it makes sense to insert it earlier. but even then, they could’ve gotten to the well without taako’s help. it’s just such a weird rewrite, and i really think it weakens the impact of arms outstretched itself.

i’ve been meaning to get my thoughts on this out for nearly a month at this point so if you’ve stuck with me this whole time, wow! thanks! i appreciate it! i’m not a professional, and obviously the mcelroys signed off on this, so i don’t really have space to say “oh, taako would never do this” or “oh, magnus was never like that” on a canonical level -- i know travis says something along those lines in one of the ttazzes. but as i said at the very beginning: this story means so, so much to me, and it’s really deeply frustrating to see an adaptation that handles things so... weirdly.

#prim.txt #tazposting #tazmeta #NEW TAG BABEY

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cornacopicimagines · 6 years

Text

listen up loser!

not my gif

pairing ; peter parker x vigilante!reader

words ; 2k

warnings ; violence, fluff?

request ; Hi! Is it okay to request a peter parker x reader where the reader is peters classmate and also a vigilate and spider man they kinda flirt(awkwardly) while kicking ass and like the reader goes like 'as i always say...' And spiderman finds out shes his classmate bc she also have said it to peter at class?? Thank you!

masterlist

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

y/n stared at the large purple bruise on her forearm. it was clear she hadn't gotten it from a fall like she had been telling everyone. why did she go on patrol last night, it was supposed to be his night. now look at her, she was littered with bruises. luckily for her most of them were hidden underneath her shirt and long jeans, it was only the stupid ones that peaked out from under her sleeve and appeared on her neck.

"y/n!" a voice called out. jumping in her own skin, y/n slammed her locker shut and quickly tried to conceal her bruises. ned and peter came into view, ned was smiling brightly as he skipped his way over to her while peter was trailing slowly behind but still just as happy to see one of his favourite classmates. "did you hear that karma was on the streets last night," ned almost squealed like a fangirl. y/n smiled softly as she swallowed a large hit of pain.

"and how do you know that," y/n chuckled as she slung her bag over her back, trying her hardest not to cringe in hurt.

"i saw her in all her glory," ned spoke confidently as he pulled out his phone and showed y/n a poorly photographed picture of the vigilante. y/n wanted to grab ned's phone and throw it all way across queens but instead, she gave him a weak smile and coughed loudly. here eyes travelled towards peter and spotted that he was staring straight at the bruises that were covering her arms and neck. blushing hard and trying her best to conceal her marks.

"we have to get to class," y/n blurted out as she quickly snatched peter's hand and pulled him down the hall to try and avoid ned's pestering questions about her alter ego.

peter and y/n zipped down the busy halls, quickly passing people with agility before the pair made it to the busy tight corridor.

"i never thought you could run that fast," peter exclaimed softly as he stared at her with wide eyes. y/n felt her cheeks get hot and butterflies swarm her stomach. she needed to get this crush under control, every time peter even shot her a smile she would just combust. he could say the most simple compliment towards her and y/n would almost choke. this wasn't the first time she had found attraction, little does all her classmates know, she would throw flirts and sexual lines back and forth with spiderman himself.

before y/n could utter some form of a sentence a long arm wrapped around her bruises next making her winch loudly. she peered up and saw flash smirking down at her with a hint of lust in his eyes. "how's my favourite girl doing," he winked at her.

anger filled her body as she thought she had given him a nudge in his lower abdomen with her elbow, but flash was almost on the floor groaning in agony. peter stared in amazement at y/n's sudden outburst of strength. y/n held her hand out to help flash from him position of the cold concrete before almost sprinting into the classroom to avoid the stares.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

peter sat in utter adoration as he stared at y/n while she was furrowing her perfectly plucked brows. it was no surprise that peter had developed strong feelings for y/n, i mean every guy who she even looked at fell for her. all of her friends never understood why she was still single.

peter was always confused as to why she was friends with him and need. she had never-ending offers to sits amongst the most popular students, nearly every girl wanted to become friends with her and every guy had at least tried once to ask her out. peter just couldn't decipher it.

there was something about y/n that perked his interest though. he had picked up something she was subconsciously setting down for him. he noticed the bags under her sparkling e/c eyes. he spotted that she was wearing long sweaters and jeans on ungodly hot days and she sometimes came to school with sunglasses to hide something on her eyes. did he need to mention that she could run impossible laps of the gym without even losing her breath or that she was strong, extremely strong, she had successfully taken down one of the school's strongest bullies like he was a rag doll. it didn't add to him.

peter was snapped out of his thoughts as y/n waved her manicured hand infront of his face to bring him back to reality. peter shook his previous thoughts out of his head and now focus more on what y/n said and not on y/n's outside life.

"were you even listening to a word i said pete?" y/n asked him with annoyance lacing her tone.

peter rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "could you tell me again."

"the teacher handed out our assignment and said we are supposed to do it in pairs," y/n smiled brightly at him, waiting for him to give her the exact same response. peter instead cocked his eyebrow in confusion. "i want to work with you idiot," y/n sighed loudly at peter's innocent ignorance.

"are you sure," peter questioned her.

"and why wouldn't i" y/n exclaimed crossing her arms over her chest.

"maybe because you have a certain suitor asking for your hand," peter scoffed as he pointed towards to flash who was flexing and blowing kisses towards y/n's directions.

y/n laughed loudly, "oh god no, what a nightmare that would be," y/n chuckled as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear something that left peter flustered. "besides, why can't i work with my best friend and the smartest guy in the room," y/n smiled softly.

"are you 100% sure, because i don't want to be ditched like ned did to me so he could work with michelle," peter rambled on before y/n placed her hand on the edges of his broad shoulders and shut him up instantly.

"listen up loser," y/n almost yelled at him, "i want to work with you even if you weren't even in this class!" y/n told him proudly trying to calm his nerves. peter couldn't help but let his anxiety slip away as soon as her famous catchphrase left her lips. she had been saying ever since they started high school, if peter cold identify her, for one thing, it would be that sentence.

"okay okay, i believe you," peter rushed out, trying to calm her down now. beaming widely, y/n squealed and clapped her hands in excitement.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

peter sat on one of queens' many buildings, his suit hugged tightly and his adrenaline was pumping, he was ready for patrol. although waiting for his partner was less than thrilling. peter had recently just met this vigilante named karma, she looked about his age and seemed fine with him, so he asked if she would like to partner up and she happily agreed.

"you look lonely lover boy," a feminine voice spoke behind him, peter swivelled around and saw karma making her way next to him. she was wearing her normal uniform which was latex pants, a black spaghetti top and a black leather jacket to tie the outfit together. she definitely reminded him of someone.

"i was," peter toyed back with her. "that was until you showed up," he nudged her side slightly. karma gave him a small smile behind her black lipstick.

"what have i missed spidey," karma asked him with his nickname almost rolling off her lips. peter didn't respond right away, he hesitated asked karen to ran a face scan on her. karma stopped him though because her masked eyes squinted in suspicion. peter coughed, "nothing at all, it's not boring for my liking."

"really," karma cocked her eyebrow, "would you like to make some trouble mr. spiderman," karma got up close to him, he could feel her hot breath on face under his mask. before he could give her a quick one-liner, there was an explosion in a nearby bank. both heroes became attracted to the sudden outburst of violence. peter spotted a gang full of armed robbers and what seemed like a metahuman in the middle.

"you take the front, i'll take the back," karma ordered, peter thought otherwise since he could make absolutely no noise but before he could protest karma had already fled their resting spot and carefully pranced down a tight alleyway. peter sighed in annoyance as he swung off to face the villains head on.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

karma had arrived just before peter did, both terribly wounded. she had a large gash on the back of her leg, peter, on the other hand, had bullet wound deep in his left shoulder and a cut on his abdomen. karma knew she could easily overcome her wounds, she silently prayed that one of her powers was fast healing but she knew peter would surely die from his. he was bleeding out fast.

karma went to rip some fabric off her t-shirt and ran to peter's side as he fell to the ground in pain. she started to patch his wound, trying desperately to stop the excessive bleeding. peter tried to stop her seeing her blood stain her pants and trickle to her feet.

"karma please, you need it more than i do," peter pleaded, "i will be fine," he tried once more, this time he placed his hand on her wrist in an attempt to halt her actions, "please, i will get through this patch yourself up first before me," he spoke again this time with concern in his voice. karma halted for a moment, peter finally thought she was going to do as he was telling her to do. instead, she peered up at him with a fire in her eyes.

"listen up loser," karma yelled at him, "i am doing this for you whether you like it or not," she told him off, peter almost thought he saw small tears. peter shut his mouth and let karma patch him up while he contemplated how stupid he had been,

karma is y/n. y/n is karma. it explained everything, the bruises and cuts from fights. her strength and stamina for her nightly patrols. now that he realised who she was he could see the resemblance as clear as day. what he was going to do next was probably the riskiest thing he has ever done.

"thank you y/n," peter spoke softly waiting for her reaction. karma looked at his with utter shock in her eyes.

"what did you just say," karma exclaimed with her voice faulting slightly, her eyes not leaving peter's masked face.

peter's slowly pulled the mask off his face exposing his secret identity to her. karma's almost gasped before she did the same slipping the mask off her face.

"how did you even know, you didn't stalk me right," y/n asked him reluctantly.

"no," peter laughed quietly, "that stupid catchphrase that you live by," peter responded to her rolling his eyes at the memories. y/n rubbed her forehead and sighed loudly.

"i thought i was safe with that," y/n sighed with a tinge of laughter. "i'm glad it was you," y/n told him.

i feel the same, finally someone who understands the constant struggle," peter responded, he was truly happy that person who was fighting by his side was also walking next to him in the hallway and the same person that he trusted everything with. y/n showed her trademark beaming smile before she softly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a warm embrace. feeling finally free, like a weight has been lifted off his chest, he snaked his own arms around y/n's waist and returned the tight hug.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

a/n the ending is so shit wowie

#peter parker #peter parker smut #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagines #spiderman:homecoming #spiderman #spider man #spiderman smut #spiderman imagine #spiderman x reader #tom holland #tom holland imagines #tom holland smut #tom holland x reader #tom holland prompt #tom holland request

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southparkhighrpg · 6 years

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Jimmy Valmer - Accepted

Congratulations, Andi! Welcome to South Park High! Remember to send us your account within 48 hours of acceptance! If you ever need time extension to make the account, message the mods.

1. Mun information Preferred Name: Andi Age: 23 Pronouns: she/her Timezone: EST Activity Level (Scale 1-10): still a 6 Discord: yall already have it Password: Eric Cartman is a fatass 2. Muse Information Muse’s name: Jimmy Valmer Age: 17 Birthday: May 13th Height: 6′0″ Sexuality: Bicurious Gender/Pronouns: he/him 3. Personality:

Jimmy is one sassy, sharp tongued individual with a good sense of humor and passion in his beliefs. He’s strong-willed and intelligent, and though he may not always be the most moral individual, he tries his damned hardest to be fair and polite to everyone, making him a rather kind gentleman. He’s a favorite among crowds and quite the charismatic cripple.

Jimmy loves having catchphrases. Some of his key phrases include the following: “Wow, what a terrific audience” & “What a great audience”, “-very much” at the end of a sentence, “I mean, come on!” “Try this one on for size!”, and “Have you seen this? Have you heard about this?”.

4. Appearance:

Jimmy has ataxic cerebral palsy, which causes him to walk with two crutches supporting his arms. He also has exotropia, which causes his eyes to be lopsided and never fully centered. This all doesn’t phase him one bit, as he believes to be handicapable and made a miraculous creation. Jimmy also talks with a stutter, which has been known in numerous occasions where he has performed his comedy or has been conversing with his pals. Standing at a tall 6′3″, Jimmy is easily one of the tallest boys in the high school, but also one of the most buff. Ever since he stopped taking steroids, Jimmy has exercised regularly and has gone to become quite the special athlete, winning numerous championships in the process.

5. Name at least 5 headcanons:

- Jimmy stopped wearing braces recently, due to his orthodontist making a shit load of mistakes. He frequently wears invisalign products to keep his teeth straight. - Since he never had a good relationship with his parents, Jimmy had become independent at the age of 16. He bought his first apartment and has been living by himself ever since. - Jimmy is a great writer, hence how he makes his own jokes up. - Jimmy fucking hates the shit out of advertisements to this day. He will tense up every time he sees one on his screen. - His best friend will always be Timmy!

6. Write two decent sized paragraphs that shows how you would portray your muse:

Jimmy found himself walking from one table to the next when an old time rival managed to ‘trip’ and spill his entire tray of food onto Jimmy. Nathan did it so fucking intentionally– so clearly–- pretending to trip only to spill some shitty soup on Jimmy, then holding out the rest of his tray and pouring its remaining contents all over him. There was some lettuce, maybe some cabbage for whatever reason, the rest of his soup, buttered bread, fries–- it’s like he’d gotten everything he could and just threw it on his plate for this one specific moment.

“Oohhhh noooo. I’m so s'awy, Jimmy, I wasn’t watching where I was goin!”

By this point the entirety of both Craig and Stan’s tables were watching on the edge of their seats, along with most of everyone else in the cafeteria. Everything was more or less silent, as though people were waiting for Jimmy’s reaction–- waiting to see if he’d throw down or not. Mimsy, right behind Nathan, had a wide smile as he stood quiet like the rest, and Nathan had a dumb smile of his own.

“W-W-W– Why you trippin’, son?”

Nathan seemed confused for a minute, the expression on his raised head changing as he processed the response. Finally, he gave a tiny “What?” in reply.

“I SOUP-ose y, y, y– You didn’t mean it, huh?”

A few distant snickers carried out threw the cafeteria, along with a couple tiny chuckles. Nathan’s expression grew aggravated as he repeated himself, saying “What?” a bit louder.

“Wow, I’m carrying a l, l, l- Lot of e-emotional cabbage right now.”

This time the laughs were louder and more sincere, even Mimsy joining in with a laugh of his own. Nathan, even more aggravated now than he was to begin with at the start of Jimmy’s little self-proclaimed comedy act, was immediate in smacking Mimsy across the face with his fist, letting out his ever familiar “Shut up Miiimsssssy!” while waving his fist.

“It’s all fun a-and games l-l-lentil someone gets hurt.”

“How long are you gonna go on with that!? Shut UP, SHUT UP!”

“Time fries w-when you’re being an as-… Being an a- a a a a- ss, h—… Time fries w-when you’re being an a-aaaaa- An ass-h– ho-”

Nathan, in a fit of rage, took his tray and threw it with all his might at Jimmy’s face, earning a simple head tilt and wobble from the handi-capable King of comedy. He yelled out a couple “Shut up!!”’s before and after the fact, but Jimmy refused that command.

“Time fries when you’re being an asshole.“

7. Any additional information you would like to add: im gay

#jimmy valmer #accepted #admin andi accepting her own app nice #submission

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bluefirebender · 6 years

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How to create a successful classified ad to make money

Nowadays, individuals need to know how to make ads on Internet since they can offer numerous conceivable outcomes with regards to conveying business to genuine and potential customers, chiefly as a result of the assortment of configurations you have accessible and for the choices of division and control of the adequacy of our ads.

Source- free classified chicago

The Internet is a standout amongst the most great tools since it enables you to be there continuously when a potential customer is searching for the item or administration you're putting forth. Little by little, Internet advertising is picking up trustability and has turned into another method for having solid correspondence to offer and offer items and administrations.

When we need to advance our business, the primary thing we search for is perceivability; we need individuals to think about us and to be keen on us. Things being what they are a standout amongst the most utilized showcasing techniques to accomplish this objective is including the distribution of our site in online classifieds and directories. This is the reason each business visionary should know how to post classified ads on Internet.

As should be obvious, classified ads are a comment on the off chance that you need to drive your business and profit, yet do you know how they function?

How classified ads function?

Classified ad sites are essentially are middle people amongst purchasers and merchants. They leave their site at the business person's leniency so they can uninhibitedly upload ads for their items, refresh their business page and distribute advancements and offers that might be changeless or reliable in time.

The client who enters a classified territory as a rule comprehends what he needs, so he goes specifically to the sector, item, benefit or topographical zone that interests him. Then again, distributed ads are administered by a basic and organized design that enhances clients' experience when perusing in them.

Web classifieds are presently ending up more essential because of some huge advantages, for example, the worldwide idea of the Internet: the accessibility of more space to write ads effectively, the choice of catchphrase based hunt and the usability of these sites.

How to make classified ads for a site

In the event that we need to profit posting classified ads, we should consider a few standards for our classified ad to accomplish its goals productively.

Adapt the content to the accessible amount of characters. Classified ad pages have a character restriction for the portrayal of ads. In this way, before composing your content, consider these impediments so it won't lose its adequacy.

The headline is the way to draw in the consideration of conceivable customers. In the event that we have the chance to incorporate a headline, we should take its most care. Individuals will center around the headline of the ad. It let us endeavor to pull in the consideration of our potential customers with a striking headline.

How to write classified ads is a standout amongst the most imperative things. We should locate the correct style to make our content appealing to the reader. Utilizing short and direct sentences that portray what we're putting forth is a helpful system. Try not to incorporate unimportant subtle elements, attempt to write your message as concrete as could reasonably be expected. Furthermore, be careful with spelling or language structure mistakes that can push away your readers.

Make a suggestion to take action. On the off chance that you need to make a phenomenal classified ad, your content must be exceptionally influential so the potential customer can feel pulled in to our item or administration. Search for words that urge readers to appreciate it; influence them to comprehend this is the best choice among the offers they will discover on the web. Keep in mind that an ad of the opposition is only a tick away, so do your best to increase new customers!

Counting photos or recordings is an unquestionable requirement. On the off chance that the site enables you to embed sight and sound substance, you need to pick well which ones would you like to add. Alongside the headline, the picture will be the principal thing that will stand out enough to be noticed. In the event that they are not pulled in to the photo, they'll scarcely continue reading your ad.

Deal with the SEO viewpoints. Attempt to utilize the correct watchwords to enhance the situating of your ad. Keep in mind that if your ad does not show up in the main places of web indexes, it will have done minimal great.

Be consistent. Regardless of whether you accurately take after the past tips, it's conceivable that your ad will in the long run fall on web crawlers. We prescribe you to as often as possible restore your classified ads so they can recuperate their positions.

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redroseredemption · 6 years

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Uchu Sentai Kyuranger Review

So I’ve been sitting on this empty blog for months and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. But, finally, I’ve decided to turn this blog into a Henshin Hero blog! And my first entry will be a review of UCHU SENTAI KYURANGER!

( credit: https://malecoc.deviantart.com/ ) Since I just finished watching it, and it’s still fresh in my mind, it’s perfect for my first entry! I’ll try and keep spoilers to a minium. Just from my first reaction, I’d say this was an enjoyable sentai. There were flaws, of course, but I’ll get into that when I talk about the negatives. The Universe has taken over by an evil alien force known as “Jark Matter” under its ruler, Don Armage. Chosen by the Kyutama's, nine heroes become the legendary Kyurangers! I believe this the first time the villains have ever actually won in a sentai show. In every sentai show before Kyurangers, the plot revolves around the rangers trying to stop the villain's plans of world/universe/galactic domination/destruction you name it. In Kyurangers, however, the villains have already taken over the universe. For hundreds of years no less! I like this. It’s something different from the usual “The villains are coming! We need heroes!” plot sentai loves to use and for that, I give it credit. On to the positives and negatives: POSITIVES: -It’s Sentai...IIIINNNN SPAAAACE!: It’s a Space Opera themed sentai! I mean what more can you love?! The fact that they’re not just on Earth and that they travel to different planets is awesome and something I hope other Sentais do in the future! -The Opening and Ending Themes: This is in, my opinion, the first sentai where the OP and ED are amazing! The Opening starts off telling the story of the legend of the Kyurangers “When the universe is in sorrow, 9 heroes chosen by the Kyu Globes will come together and form the Kyurangers!” And once that OP hits, I get shivers up my spine. Sorry if that sounds weird, but it’s honestly true. Not only is it one of the OP’s in Sentai, but I also love how hopeful it sounds. Like yeah, the Universe is in run by an evil overlord, but don’t worry! The Kyurangers are here! Even in the opening shot of them, you can see “hope.” The Orion opens its doors and the light of the sun shines on all 9 Kyurangers. I love it! The ending theme is also great! It’s super silly but EXTREMELY catchy. You’ll find yourself humming it for days! -The Suits: These are some of these best suit designs in Sentai, no question. From the different helmet and visor designs to added details like fur on Ookami Blues suit, every Kyuranger is unique in their own way without sticking out like a sore thumb either. Also, Shishi Red Orion is one of the best-upgraded sentai suits. It’s utterly gorgeous. -The Henshin Sequence and Roll Call: I like it!. A color-coded star appears underneath the Kyurangers (above in Houou Soldiers case), they’re individual constellation symbols come out and form the suits while the kyutama symbols form the helmets. It’s not an overly complex henshin but it is beautiful to watch. I also enjoy the roll call with the each Kyuranger calling out which star system they’re from (excluding Koguma Skyblue who say’s “Big Star” and Houou Solider who say’s “Space Bu-star”) and ranger name over the backdrop of a planet. -The Gun Ryutsueder and Houou Blade & Houou Shield: I love weapon Henshin devices. Not because they’re always convenient or practical, but because they look awesome and Ryu Commanders Gun Ryutsueder and Houou Soldiers Blade and Shield are no exception. Also, what’s better than a staff that turns into a sniper rifle? -Lucky: Lucky started off REALLY annoying and grating, as I’ll get when I get into the negatives, but as the show goes on he becomes much more competent, he becomes WAY less annoying and a great leader worthy of the red ranger title. -Balance (Tenbin Gold) and Nāga (Hebitsukai Silver): Next to Lucky and Stinger, Balance and Nāga are the most fleshed out characters in the show. They even have their own story arc which is rare, especially in modern sentai shows, for a ranger that isn’t red to have multiple episodes dedicated to them and their struggles. I don’t wanna spoil too much, but let’s just say it’s nice that a ranger other than the red gets a power up and a suit change.

-The Stinger Arc: While beat for beat, it’s similar to Sasuke and Itachi’s rivalry from Naruto, the writers still did a great job fleshing out Stinger's back story with him and his brother with a great conclusion too. Which goes into my next positive. -The show isn’t completely revolved around the Lucky: Modern sentais have a bad habit of only fleshing out the red ranger properly and leaving everyone in the dust. Kyurangers, however, goes a good job at mostly fleshing out the other characters personalities and back stories. -The Villians: As mentioned above, Jark Matter is the first villain faction in sentai to actually win. Since this series takes place in a different universe from the main Sentai one, unlike when the Zangyack tried to invade Earth in Gokaiger, Jark Matter had no sentai team to oppose them until the Kyurangers came along. By then, Jark Matter had already taken over the universe. It’s a nice switch up from the typical villain plots Sentai usually gives us. NEGATIVES: -Lucky: At least in the beginning. At first, he’s annoying, rash, loud and an idiot. Thankfully he goes under some character development about a quarter of the way through, but before that, he was almost unbearable. Which brings me to... -His Catchphrase “YOSSHA LUCKY!”: It’s by no means a bad catchphrase, but when your main character says it in nearly every other sentence, it becomes grating REAL quick. Thankfully as the show goes on, Lucky doesn’t say it as much as he does in the earlier episodes but even then there are times where he says it when he shouldn’t like in some very emotional scenes which I won't discuss since they’re very spoilery. It comes off as really cheesy at times and not in a good way. -The Seiza Blaster and Kyutama’s: When it comes to Henshin devices, I prefer convenient over flashy, except in the case of weapon henshin devices then it’s awesome...usually. The Seiza Blaster is an exception to that rule. The Seiza Blaster for the other 10 Kyurangers is just ugly in my opinion. It’s oversized gauntlet shaped like a gun, but you wouldn’t notice that it’s shaped like a gun unless you turn it sideways. It also has this giant black handle on the end of it that doesn’t need to be there. The Kyutama’s are fine as toy collectibles, but as a henshin device, I feel they’re too small and could get easily lost. I know that sounds strange, but I’ve never been a fan of the two-piece henshin devices unless they’re like Dairanger’s or Ohranger’s devices where they’re strapped on to the user’s wrists or are something convenient like a cell phone or jewelry . -The Limited Budget: As much as I enjoyed Kyurangers, It’s clear that maybe this show was a little too much for Toei to handle. Heck, at one point they poke fun at it and even explain why no more than five rangers are allowed on a mission at one time. They even use a device called the Kyulette that randomly picks who goes. As such, it’s obvious at times where the budget went to and where it didn’t. Going to a new planet? Let’s use set locations that clearly look like Earth, but add a few alien looking plant things and maybe add a color filter to the sky! Ok, maybe I’m being a little too harsh. I understand shows can’t always make the most outlandish settings for a sci/fi series, so sometimes they have to make do with what they can. I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to that, but there are somethings are just so glaringly obvious that it’s hard not to. For example, The Mr.Pegasus Chestguard. There’s a reason it’s only shown in two episodes. It was already falling apart even though the show was barely into its 5th episode! Then there’s the Consumerz, the giant fortress/spaceship drills. Their CGI models are fine, it’s what INSIDE of them is what bugs me. I won't say what happens exactly, but there’s one episode where the Kyurangers are inside a Consumer and the inside is just a huge room with giant cement pillars. I mean they could have at least painted over the pillars to LOOK like an alien spaceship but nope. It’s the exact area where Kamen Rider Faizes finale takes place! Like I said, I understand with a limited budget, not everything is going to look fantastic and that I have to suspend my disbelief, but at least try to make it look like what you want to show! - Spada, Raptor, Garu, and Hammie. Remember when I said that “most” of the characters are fleshed out? Yeah... Unfortunately, Spada, Raptor, Garu, and Hammie are the characters with the least amount of development. Starting from best to worst, Hammie is the most fleshed out of the four, but that’s not saying much. We do see her backstory in an early episode. She was a young ninja in training in the Chameleon system who escaped Jark Matter after they invaded her village, but her past isn’t really brought up a lot, unlike Lucky’s or Stinger’s. We do learn a bit more about her in later episodes, but it’s not much and isn’t really brought up again. Garu is a furry-I mean, “Wolfman” alien whose whole clan died to a Jark Matter invasion. We find out his entire backstory in the first episode...and then it's never explored again. Like Hammie, he mentions it in a couple of episodes, but that’s it. He actually becomes a kind of joke character to the others. Always getting picked on and whatnot. You would think he’d have some pretty hardcore PTSD even after joining the Kyurangers but nope! Lucky punching him the face...or snout is all it takes. It’s sad because there’s a lot of potential there and storytelling. Like I’m sure he had a family. A mother, father, siblings. Even remembering a friend would have been better, but we get nothing! It’s like the writers at times forgot all about it! Raptor is an android built by the Resistance to serve the Orion and Commander Shou Ronpo. She writes fanfics, is really smart, and hits the commander a lot. She has one episode that’s fully dedicated to her and that’s when she get’s her Kyuranger powers, but nothing really in-depth after that. It’s funny, we know how Champ is built and who built him, but not with Raptor. We’re told who developed her but are never shown how. And now we get to the lest developed main character in the show. Spada. He’s a chef and makes food puns. That’s his whole character. If you think the other three's development was bad, Hoooo boy... Raptor didn’t get much development, but at least her role is important what with piloting the Orion and keeping Shou Ronpo in line. Spada acts more like the Kyurangers personal servant. Heck, Tsurgi (Houhou Soldier) even makes him his servant at one point. We get like a couple of lines of dialog about his past in one of the early episodes. He grew up on some planet or moon (never specified) in the Kajiki system and has cooked since he was little for his siblings. And then it’s never mentioned again! It sucks too because he had potential to grow into an interesting character. All four of them do, but they’re never given the proper development to do so. I know I harped on a lot of the negatives, and while they are pretty glaring, they didn’t stop me too much from enjoying this series. There’s a lot here to love here and if you love space opera’s and sentai, there’s no better show to watch then this! Hope you enjoyed my review! I’ve never done a long review like this before so if there are any suggestions you have for me, I’m totally open to them! Next up is another Sentai! This time, I’m going all the way back to the mid 90′s to watch “ Ninja Sentai Kakuranger!”

#super sentai #uchuu sentai kyuranger #kyuranger #tokusatsu #toku #redrosereviews #reviews

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wannawrite · 6 years

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Min Yoongi Flower Boy! AU Part 2

(SPECIAL APPEARANCE OF LAI GUANLIN AND CHOI SEUNGCHEOL)

"Aww, but Yoongi, what's so bad about Y/N anyway?" the 17-year old Taiwanese boy asks, his eyebrows and pitch raising a little at the end of his sentence. Yoongi just releases a sigh as he watches Guanlin's head cock to the side cutely, an action that would pull out all the buttery flattery from the lips of many girls, especially with his uniquely beautiful, raindrop shaped eyes that still bore the warmest shade of brown. The morning's winds had gnawed mercilessly on Yoongi's skin, and the fact that the shade of brown in Guanlin's eyes bears an uncanny resemblance to a cup of hot chocolate kicks in envy. The gaze in those raindrop shaped eyes is as innocent as its' cutely angled structure-which to a 'grown man' like Yoongi, is helplessly annoying.

"Kuan-lin, you're young. You don't know anything." Yoongi responds, a hint of tea leaves and walking sticks in his voice. Basically, he sounded like an old grandfather.

"But we're the same age?" Guanlin juts out his lips, like a big, red rose suddenly popping out in the midst of winter-and when I say winter, I mean Yoongi's cold, nonchalant personality towards practically everything.

"Tch. Whatever."

Guanlin knows that catchphrase all too well; and knows that it screamed: "Shut up, or I'm going to yell at you." It really was hard to get his deskmate to open up his lock-embroidered heart. A sigh escapes his lips as he reaches for his textbooks. The sigh quickly turns into a string of groans as his hands strain to get his big blue duffel bag into his grasp. He heaves a sigh of relief when it's finally securely in his hands. Getting stuff on the floor from his seat proved to be a challenge.

"Ah, Yoongi, are you better now?" A manly, but kind voice catches Guanlin's attention. "Y/N told me that Sicheng got to you. Must have been Taeyong or something, honestly. I hope you're alright." A pair of eyes, ever so slightly smaller than Guanlin's big innocent ones lock with Yoongi's. It's a very common, familiar face, the class monitor of their class-Choi Seungcheol. His gaze is laced with concern-the attractive little fold of skin under his eyes making it even more so.

"Yoongi isn't fine at all. He's telling me that I don't understand what's so bad about-" Guanlin chimes in, only to earn an irritable, sharp 'shh!' from Yoongi. The corners of his lips fall into a small, pouty frown as he adds, "I'm fine. Kuan-lin's just exaggerating. Also, please help me to tell Taeyong that he should have better things to do than get one of his friends to slam me against the locker doors. Pretty dang annoying, if you ask me."

The boy winces slightly. He runs his fingers through his raven curls, letting loose a few awkward laughs, "Ah...Yoongi, I'm the class monitor, I don't really have any place to sass Taeyong...I've gave him a strict warning though. Tell me if he ever does this again, I know he's a handful."

Yoongi scoffs. "Can't you take a joke?"

"That didn't really sound like one." Guanlin muses, who quickly flinches after earning a slap from Yoongi on the shoulders.

"Hey! You're acting like an old man everyday, jeez...We're really okay, don't bother about him. Y/N can take care of Yoongi well, thanks for asking. Of course...I heard you take up dancing, so maybe fire a few kicks at Taeyong for us if we ever need it." A sweet, polite little grin curls onto Guanlin's strawberry pink, attractive lips as his eyes crease, falling into the shape of tadpoles. Yoongi rolls his eyes at his deskmate's sociableness-something he'd never have. Literally and physically, Seungcheol's intimidating-at-first-sight, yet softened features look even warmer bathed under the shafts of crisp, golden sun blazing through the classroom windows. He jokingly nods, saying "Take care of yourself" before strolling towards a red clipboard on the teacher's table, probably ready to take attendance for the class.

"Tsk, Yoongi, you could at least thank Seungcheol for caring about you. Lots of boys in our school are absolute jerks." Guanlin whines, singsonging the boy's name.

"Yeah, just like me, probably."

"Aww, Yoongo, stop downgrading yourself."

"I swear, Lai Kuan-lin, if you ever call me that again, I am going to slit your throat." Yoongi hisses at the foreign exchange student, obviously triggered with the little pet name.

Guanlin's eyes widen as he raises his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, never mind-I take it back."

"Good."

"Yah, you really are a jerk."

Yoongi's just about to finish the last flight of stairsteps and make his way to the school field when you run up to the boy, shoving a dully brown paper bag in his face. Its' pointy edges (aka. the tip of the bag) are folded in the shape of those spring rolls Guanlin would kindly offer him during Chinese New Year.

"What is it Y/N." he spits, half nonchalant, yet bearing a hint of annoyance in his voice. The gaze he throws at you practically screams "Cut the crap, just tell me what you want, I'm busy." The hand that isn't holding the bag clenches into fists, so hard that a shade of cerise starts ringing the bottom corners of your palm-ugh, it was so hard being nice.

"Here's your recess. I always see you sitting at the river and sulking away with your pen and paper...you seldom eat your lunch even after school and that's really unhealthy." you say calmly. Neither do you force the corners of your lips up nor do you return the cold, dense tone to Yoongi-you wouldn't have the boy complain about your attitude again. Plus, faking a smile would really just come across as being annoying.

"Huh. Thanks. Just don't do this for me again, because one, I'm not a kid, and two, I know how to take care of myself." Yoongi raises an eyebrow, but his gaze doesn't soften nor waver, eyes still arched into the shapes of eagle wings and threatening to give your poor heart yet another shock.

You swear you can feel your hands vibrate under the tension as Yoongi takes the food anyway.

"Man, I didn't know not having three meals a day was taking good care of yourself." you regain some of your confidence and reputation as a class monitor. Either way, you were still superior to Yoongi-you'd make it up to him for pissing him off, even if the catalyst to that was saving him from bloody Lee Taeyong's claws. However, Yoongi wasn't getting his way all the time. The kid needed to be put in order, really-his attitude could hit the nerves of thousands more people than your own.

"You're not even my mother, for goodness' sake. Ah...I suppose you're just trying to be nice. Thanks for the intentions, but they're kind of overbearing, if you ask me. Have a good day." he responds just as coolly as you do, turns on his heel and strolls off in the direction of the field yet again. Clean guitar riffs to the start of a song seem to ring in the background as he does so-the silhouette of a rather difficult, frail boy.

And from now on, you resolve to be as annoyingly overbearing as possible.

(a/n: ive been writing things and keeping them away in the basement,,,,now admin L is travelling, it's my time to keep the blog alive ! i hope she has a nice holiday hehehehe - admin N)

#minyoongi #flower boy bts #admin n #flower boy au #admin n is not dead

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s-asuke · 7 years

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Naruto FemSlash Week 2017 - Day 1 - Family - SakuKarin

I am a little late, I know, but both the SasuSaku month and this week? Can be a little taxing I apologize!! Enjoy!! I appreciate feedback very much!!

“Bye, bye, Sarada-chan!” ChoCho waved to her as they exited the Academy grounds. She was walking quietly under the light of the late sunset – school was over and that meant she could go back to her Mamas, the pinkette already warning her to pick up tomatoes and bananas. The black-haired Uzumaki changed her route to the bustling market of Konohagakure. From the stall she always bought her vegetables and neccessities on – she could see the stone faces of the seven Hokage – Hashirama Senju and his brother Tobirama, Sandaime, Boruto’s grandfather, Gran Tsunade, Uncle Kakashi and Nanadaime, Uzumaki Naruto. She was proud that they shared the same last name and clan – but she was also an Uchiha by blood, and Haruno by her other mother. The small beauty thanked the baa-chan at the stall, returning to her daydreaming.

As she was passing a small bridge to make a turn home, the another figure of her affection showed at the edge, black coat and even blacker eyes and tresses. The Shadow Hokage, Uchiha Sasuke was smiling softly to his favorite student, wistfully so. “Uncle Sasuke!” the rosy blush she always had intensifying as she ran to hug him. He spread his arms open – as if to stop her from entwining in his coat too much – returning the young girl’s affection.

She strutted a bit after breaking the hug, before returning to her original pace as they walked to the Uzumaki residence together. Their house wasn’t big nor small – just enough to hold the love of the three girls inhabiting it. Karin’s uncomfortably loud singing, and Sakura’s laughter full of endearment towards her bubbly wife could be heard from the doorstep, Sarada used to it long ago as Sasuke shook his head, thinking warmly, some things never change.

Sakura opened the door, the chakra she sensed coming off her daughter being comfortably cocooned into Sasuke’s larger, warmer one. The music stopped soon afterwards – Sakura smiling warmly as Karin poked her wife, clad in a comfortable shirt that came mid-thigh and loose sweatpants as soon as she arrived in front of Sasuke, smile full of snark but also unexplainable amount of warmth as she acknowledged Sasuke’s presence, reaching over to her daughter first thing.

“Yo! How was at school?” She immediatelly started the interrogation game as the two moved over to the living room, and Sakura started nosing around Sasuke’s mission – especially the present one.

“Karin, hun, if you’d get us a blankie. Sarada-chan and I have our reading time.” Sakura kissed Karin in passing, the redhead blushing like a tomato. Sasuke, a careful bystander was already used to their romance. “Oi, can you two chill?” He had a sour look on his face, jealous, Sakura mouthed to Karin as the redhead slapped her butt, blushing still, and sternly saying to the nin sitting on the couch with her daughter, “No, we can’t. Sorry, duckbutt.” With that, Sasuke scoffed, and Sarada giggled – having her Uncle’s hair was something she really liked, it was always messy but she tried to keep it as straight as she could.

When Sakura came, bringing Sasuke his favorite tomato salad and Karin making him scoot over so she could get under the blanket with her wife and daughter Sasuke felt like a younger brother again – Karin and Sakura displayed so much healthier relationship than the stoic one of Mikoto and Fugaku. Cuddling up under the blanket, Karin held her daughter close to her, as Sakura’s forehead was fluttered occassionally with a small peck, the pinkette’s voice full of love and affection as she began to read a story about the civillian who knew nothing about chakra, yet found a shinobi tool of great power and significance, once had belonged to the darkest shinobi of all of them. One Ring to rule them all, and as Sakura reached the end of chapter one, Karin, sensible as ever noticed Sasuke’s wistfulness, and outstretched the corner of the blanket to him. He glared powerfully, but she frowned the ‘not for me for Sakura and Sarada’ frown, one he just had to give in (certainly not because of the familial comfort the blanket and the motherly presence of the two women and the girl gave to him. He stared at the pictures in front of him – every single one gave him a strange sense of peace. Naruto and Sarada chasing Himawari and Boruto. Temari and Gaara picking up Sarada, whose hands were outstretched behind, facing away from the photo, probably to Karin. Two women on their wedding day. Sakura smiling, blissful expression caught forever as her Byakugou reflects the sun rays. His female best friend realized that they had nothing romantic the day she was kissed by the redhead, both body and soul. He impregnated Sakura solely because they had mutual good from it – Sasuke didn’t want his bloodline to cease to exist, and Sakura wanted to have a child to raise with Karin. Having a stranger’s seed grow inside her was albeit repulsive to Sakura, so Sasuke done that for her.

As Sarada blurted laughter from funny sentences or Karin’s occasional tickles Sasuke felt truly at peace – he will have to report to Dobe soon – and the two women he watched, Karin stroking Sakura’s cheek as she read and radiating pure love and affection, not even similar in any point to the obsession she showed while she was still in Taka.

Sarada giggled at all the attention she got from her mothers, Sakura held the book with one hand, while Karin listened intently to the words so she could flip the page. Each arm of the fiery haired women was busy with either clinging to each other, or their small baby girl, who wiggled towards the raven-haired man, in a mock attempt to get away from Mamas.

“Aaagh! I would spew Katon so much better than Smaug the dragon!” Karin laughed after Sarada, who passed behind Sasuke rather quick, clinging at his west. Karin mock formed some hand seals, and Sasuke couldn’t help his salty demeanor get the best of him in inaccuracy. “First – you don’t spit Katon, and seco-” but he is ignored by Karin chasing Sarada around the couch, the girl squealing and pulling Sasuke forward. “Sasuke! Protect me! Mama! Stop Mama from burning us!” Sarada was uncharacteristically strong for her age, so Sasuke just thought of Sakura, as he endured the endearing – but he said needless out loud, he swears – antics of his teammates and niece. Sakura actually formed a chakra string, forming it into an elastic extension of her finger, making the bananas from the fruit bowl float up, towards the girl who was enduring Karin’s extra-powerful hug attack combo. Sarada jumped up and grabbed two bananas, tapping her goofier mother’s shoulder with it, with a breathless murmur of – fruit time.

Sasuke felt like he was the one receiving all that love and affection, granted how much of it there actually was. As Karin fed Sakura half of the fruit – he didn’t feel like he was intruding in an intimate moment, because both women never felt like he was so neither did he feel the need to.

“Karin, Sakura. I should take my leave. I need to report to Naruto, and I have some things to wrap up. I will try to see you once more before I leave.”

“Do you really have to leave, Uncle Sasuke?” Sarada looked at him, eyes wide and expectant, and he swears there is no doujutsu more powerful than Sarada’s. “I have a few jobs to do. But I-”

“You can sleep over, Sasuke-kun. I can leave you dinner in the fridge, and you don’t have to go through the trouble of renting a room.” Sakura interjects, making a pretty valid point.

“Hn,” Sarada’s periodical tugs at his armless sleeve remind him to build up a snarky remark and fight back at least a little, before showing up at their house tonight, either way he won’t live it down from the dinamic duo. “Nonsense. And I don’t want to interrupt your… nightly activities.” Sakura snorts, and Karin weakly bumps his arm, “Ay, what I do with my wife at night is none of your business! She is beautiful and young and-”

“Karin!” Sakura rose up, face lit up by Karin’s blanant confession, “Shannaro!” her catchphrase passes through the pouting lips as she gestures towards Sarada with small jerks of her head.

“I mean – just get out Sasuke, we don’t need your troublesomeness!” the more awkward of the two remarks while fixing her glasses. “Mama, what did Uncle do? And can he stay? He can teach me Katon when he comes back from work!” Sarada asks softly, more softer and Sasuke would be a puddle.

“It’s all his decision baby. You can only ask, but Uncle Sasuke has to decide.” Sakura adds gently. Sasuke grabs his coat, winding away from the house with simple goodbyes.

Sarada knows – he left some of his things. Of course he’ll come back later.

Looking at Mama No.1, and Mama No.2, pure happiness arises in her chest as she runs in Sakura’s arms, asking her if she would braid her hair after she bathes so it would be all curly tomorrow. Karin’s deft fingers pass through her black locks, asking her if she wants something to snack on. As the calming cocoon of her mothers envelopes her – she only so much knows that this is true peace.

#sakukarin #sakura #karin #my writing #narutofemslashweek2017

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