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arimiadev · 6 months

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why does aniplex want mahoyo to fail

I love visual novels. being a long time fate/stay night fan and only having heard of mahoyo from hushed whispers about its cinematography, I was super invested when it was announced to be coming to the west and I could finally play an official version of it.

however, a lot of people interested in type-moon works had never heard of mahoyo, let alone it getting an official english translation. but how? aniplex is publishing the game and they're one of the largest anime distributors in the world.

with the console release of mahoyo being almost exactly a year ago and the steam release being just 10 days away, I want to look over some of aniplex USA's bizarre and nonexistent marketing for one of my favorite visual novels.

let's clear up a few things, first.

mahoyo is the shortened form of mahoutsukai no yoru (not to be confused with mahoutsukai no yome, i.e. the ancient magus bride), which has been localized as witch on the holy night. mahoyo was a linear non-eroge visual novel released by type-moon in 2012, being one of the first scripts kinoko nasu (co-founder of type-moon) wrote back in 1996 and adapted into a VN many, many years later.

in April of 2022, a console remaster (switch, playstation 4) was announced with HD assets and voice acting, to be published by aniplex. notably, this console release would contain an english translation and was later confirmed in June to be sold in the west via online retailers. this was huge news, as this meant mahoyo would be the first type-moon visual novel (not including gameplay-oriented titles like fate/extella or fate/grand order) to be officially released in the west, as despite numerous fan translations, their more recognizable visual novels tsukihime and fate/stay night still had not received a localization.

type-moon is the developer behind mahoyo and aniplex is the publisher, meaning that type-moon made the game and aniplex is in charge of distributing (and marketing) the game worldwide.

timeline:

April 11 2022: Mahoyo rerelease announced for consoles (Switch & PlayStation 4), including English translation

July 4 2022: Aniplex confirms Mahoyo will be available to the West, localized under the name Witch on the Holy Night

October 14 2022: 2nd trailer released, more voice actor info announced

November 3 2022: physical pre-orders launched, demo version available

November 18 2022: Aniplex attends Anime NYC with Mahoyo

December 7 2022: Mahoyo released digitally on Switch / PlayStation 4 (Dec 8th in Japan, Dec 7th in America)

December 12 2022: Mahoyo reaches 110k units sold worldwide

January 27 2023: Mahoyo physicals release

July 5 2023: Mahoyo reaches 150k units sold worldwide

September 10 2023: Mahoyo announced for Steam via a now unlisted Aniplex livestream

December 13 2023: Mahoyo will be released on Steam (Dec 14th in Japan, Dec 13th in America)

some of the dates might be a little fuzzy, especially the release dates, as some sources go by japanese time and some go by american timezones, so just be aware of that.

now, let's talk a bit about mahoyo itself.

mahoyo is a masterpiece. it's a niche game not meant for everyone. its cinematography is top notch among visual novels. its writing style can be off-putting to people who want faster-paced stories. it's one of my most beloved visual novels I've ever played, and I've been in this field for almost a decade and have played well over 100 VNs.

mahoyo is a completely linear visual novel—meaning it has no choices or gameplay—that follows aoko, a high schooler mage trying to balance her perfect school president facade with her secret life as a mage, something she has to keep secret at the risk of death. this is one of the lesser known type-moon works but it's well beloved because of the care put into it.

if you've ever heard someone talk about it, it's almost impossible for them to not mention the visuals. mahoyo is one of the most visually impressive visual novels I've ever seen, with its inspired use of artwork and in-game animations. I cannot recommend this VN enough if you like modern fantasy and don't mind linear VNs.

before we dive into aniplex USA's marketing, I want to clarify a few marketing terms for people who don't market visual novels as a job. marketing is not just advertising—it's everything related to how a product communicates with potential users, including its branding, its packaging, its everything. when marketing a game, you have several different avenues: social media, press & influencers, trailers, store pages, and more.

today I want to show you how, based off what I have researched after a long, manic day, aniplex USA has failed mahoyo on all of these accounts.

so let's go back to its western release.

mahoyo has a few official english channels:

website

twitter

facebook

aniplex also has an official english twitter with almost 500k followers where they shared mahoyo very rarely—only 9 tweets about the game ever.

well, surely their other pages are more maintained right—

both accounts stopped posting July 10th/11th, with their last post being about mahoyo going on sale on consoles. let's look at their posts prior to this, though, starting with the twitter.

we can see that the twitter account was made in december of 2022. if we scroll down far enough (it's not hard, given they only have 33 tweets), we can see that their first tweet was on december 6th 2022:

let's go back to our timeline. can you tell me when mahoyo's remaster released digitally?

yes they made both of the english mahoyo social media accounts the day before the game launched

we can very easily add up the entire social media posts for the game thus far:

mahoyo english twitter - 30 tweets and 3 retweets

mahoyo english facebook - 27 posts

aniplex english twitter - 9 tweets

aniplex english facebook - 2 posts

no other english social media accounts were tied to the website, so these are the only ones I looked at. this means in total, there were only 68 social media posts for the console release of mahoyo by the publisher for english audiences.

but what about the steam release? after the game sold over 150k+ units on consoles, surely aniplex was ready to market it a bit more for pc users—

neither account has made a post about the upcoming steam release.

if we look at the twitter, they have 3 tweets since July that do talk about the upcoming steam release- however, these are retweets from the japanese mahoyo account.

we know that this twitter and this facebook account are the official social media for mahoyo as they're linked on the website, so they're definitely meant to be followed for game updates in the west. well, maybe the english aniplex twitter has posted about it—

none of the english aniplex or mahoyo accounts have made a single post about the steam release

that's right, the social media posts I counted above are the only posts for mahoyo on their english accounts, all dating back before the steam release was announced. since then, they have not made a single original post even mentioning the steam release.

meanwhile, the japanese mahoyo twitter has been hustling hard to promote the upcoming steam release—reposting trailers, character bios, and more almost every day with pretty good numbers.

in fact, the japanese mahoyo twitter did such a good job at marketing it that the aniplex USA twitter never mentioned the english mahoyo twiter, instead only @ ing the japanese one in tweets (despite the english one being linked on the website).

why they even bothered making social media accounts and then not running them despite being one of the largest anime distributors in the world I have no clue.

well, maybe they didn't need to rely on social media presence. maybe they were going for the in-person approach and marketing it at conventions.

mahoyo had basically no anime convention presence

the only reference I can find to aniplex notably promoting mahoyo at any western convention is this tweet of them at anime NYC. from someone who was at anime NYC, I've been told that they pushed the game heavily at their booth with TV screens promoting the game.

however, anime NYC is only one anime convention. you cannot hope to sell a game by just attending one anime convention. mahoyo might have had a presence at other american conventions, but I'm unable to find any images or news about this.

maybe they don't understand type-moon

aniplex is the publisher for fate/grand order, one of the most successful mobile games ever created. they're also the distributor for a majority of type-moon related anime, ranging from fate to garden of sinners to side series. aniplex's marketing team should have lots of experience with type-moon properties.

maybe it was promoted in other aniplex titles

I was also unable to find a news post in fate/grand order related to mahoyo's release, despite news posts for other type-moon series (namely fate but also things like melty blood) getting news posts in fate/grand order. I might've missed the news posts when looking back through FGO but I don't believe there was one.

maybe it sold well in other regions but not western ones

(I'm going to be referring only to the console release for these stats, keep in mind)

mahoyo released December 7th/8th 2022 with an english, japanese, simplified chinese, and traditional chinese translations. at the end of the release week, mahoyo's japanese twitter announced the game had sold 110k copies worldwide and famitsu reported that 66,344 of these units were sold in japan. this means we have around 43k units unaccounted for.

we know the game was available in english, japanese, and chinese languages but we don't know what regions. mainland china has a very large visual novel playerbase (I say this as someone who sells visual novels), which means if it were sold there then it's easy to say that a big chunk of that 43k units could be attributed to them—this also means it would be easy to believe that aniplex saw mahoyo selling worse in western countries and took this as a sign to not promote the game any more there.

but was it ever sold in mainland china? from what I could tell—no.

looking at pricing charts for the nintendo eshop and the playstation store, china is not listed on either. furthermore, searching the game's chinese title on the chinese playstation store does not bring back any results. it looks like the only predominantly chinese-speaking regions that were able to buy it are hong kong, taiwan and possibly singapore (the playstation store page for it doesn't look like it's available for purchase anymore).

so what does this tell us?

without any other numbers it's hard to tell how many of the 43k launch week sales came from english-speaking players, but even if we conservatively say that only around 20k of the 110k launch week units were from western countries, that's still almost a million in revenue (and remember, the physical limited edition of the game was available in english for $60, which is $20 more than the digital base version).

maybe the store page is so good they don't need to market it

here's a little secret: store pages matter a lot more than you'd think. there are entire job positions dedicated to tailoring store pages (like a steam game page) to make it perfect for the game's target audience. there's a science to it that includes the artwork, descriptions, tags, screenshots, and more.

let's see what aniplex did for the steam page of mahoyo.

A tale told with vivid colors and rich sound in a classic TYPE-MOON visual novel.

I don't know how to describe this short description charitably other than to say it sounds like a person who's never heard of a visual novel has been tasked with describing a visual novel.

this tells me nothing about the game other than it's a visual novel. I hope you know what type-moon is, because if you don't then you've learned nothing else from this. alright, well, let's look at the screenshots—

there's only 1.

currently as of writing this, there's 10 images uploaded as screenshots (no trailers, they keep adding and removing the trailers for some reason). 9 of these images are just the full artworks from the game while 1 is an actual screenshot.

I really hate this, as you're not actually shown what the game looks like unless you look at the very last screenshot. this will absolutely lead to some people not understanding what they're getting into. what's worse is that some of these CGs are spoilers, especially one in particular featuring my wife touko.

why are we spoiling people instead of showing them screenshots? why not show people what mahoyo actually looks like??

there's also absolutely no use of the announcements section on steam. each game on steam can post announcements related to the game, including upcoming releases, new updates, and more. it's customary to post a steam announcement when a game has a release date announcement. mahoyo's steam page has none.

well they probably released the trailers in english for hype

I wish I had that much hope.

on mahoyo's english website, all of the videos listed are from the official type-moon youtube, which is their japanese channel. type-moon went through the effort to translate these videos. aniplex didn't upload these to their own youtube, where they already upload everything related to the fateverse and nasuverse.

searching up witch on the holy night brings up no results for the trailer—aniplex never uploaded the trailer to their channel.

maybe they got influencers to play it

according to steamdb, the max amount of viewers mahoyo streams have had on twitch was 71 viewers.

furthermore, if we check twitch and look for vods attached to mahoyo, we only find 4 videos total, all of which were posted in the past week. it looks like they didn't even reach out to streamers to play the console release, much less pay them.

over on the press side, it does look like they reached out to at least a few reviewers. for example, on the review by noisy pixel, they clarify that a review copy was provided by the publisher for review purposes. we can add that to the bare minimum of marketing—reaching out to press.

however, they did get for some other influencers to share the game! ...twitter game sale influencers, that is.

there's actually a lot more of these types of tweets for mahoyo than I was expecting when I searched it on twitter. as a friend pointed out, just because it says "#ad" doesn't necessarily mean these were paid for by aniplex—a lot of these links look to be referrals, which means they're getting a cut of any purchases.

let's recap

mahoyo released over 110k copies in the launch week for it's worldwide console release despite very, very limited marketing efforts from its publisher aniplex. now that the game has proven it can sell very well despite being a lesser known linear visual novel, aniplex has done no marketing for the steam release- no tweets, no influencer outreach, no localization of trailers, no announcements via steam, nothing.

so why?

why does aniplex want mahoyo to fail?

even after all of this, I still do not know why. to me, it's clear that the marketing team at aniplex were (most likely) given no budget for this game and just couldn't do anything with it, deciding to spend what little money they had on press outreach and an anime NYC booth.

but why? why didn't aniplex give them a budget, even a small one? why was their budget so tiny they couldn't even afford to tweet? to RT more posts from the japanese twitter? to share the already translated trailers to their own accounts?

I've heard a few excuses like "type-moon hates western fans and probably caused it" but this doesn't make any sense either. why would you authorize a translation of your game and allow your publisher to sell the game overseas but specifically make them not market the game (and what publisher would agree to that)? I've even heard excuses like "they just forgot it was coming out", to which I ask "how does an entire marketing team (a company the size of aniplex absolutely has a team(s) for marketing and not a singular person) forget a release for a game that's already sold over 150k copies?". the only excuse I've seen that I somewhat buy is that they did not have much faith in the game and relied almost entirely on fans doing word of mouth marketing for the game.

I don't think we'll ever get an answer. while I do believe the marketing team at aniplex was most likely given no budget for mahoyo, it still begs the question of why. why did someone at aniplex not want to give mahoyo a marketing budget? why are the japanese accounts for mahoyo and type-moon the only ones doing the marketing?

I hope the information I've provided here is accurate—if it's not, I'll try to update with corrections. I don't want this piece to cast hate towards the staff at aniplex or anyone involved with this projects, I'm just trying to assemble the pieces on what feels like a game being left to word of mouth. I've tried to include as many links to my sources as I could so you could come to your own judgements about what has happened regarding mahoyo's worldwide release.

mahoyo is a visual novel that's dear to me and will absolutely sell well on steam—with an estimated 50-80k wishlists, it's going to have a solid launch despite the zero marketing for its steam release. if you love other type-moon works or want to see an absolutely visually stunning visual novel, please check it out.

— arimia

#visual novel #visual novels #mahoyo #mahoutsukai no yoru #witch on the holy night #mahoyosweep #type-moon #visual novel game #anyway please play mahoyo #my articles

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yurimother · 9 months

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'I'm in Love with the Villainess' English Audiobook Announced

On Friday, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that it is publishing an audiobook version of Inori's isekai Yuri romance I'm in Love with the Villainess (Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou). The first volume (6 hours and 54 minutes )will be released on November 16, 2023, and the second (10 hours and 45 minutes) on December 7.

Seven Seas is releasing the audiobook under its recently announced audiobook imprint, Siren. It is narrated by voice actress Courtney Shaw (Maesetsu! Opening Act). It will be sold digitally on major platforms, including Audible, audiobook.com, BookWalker, Chrip, Kobo, Overdrive, and Nook.

Seven Seas Entertainment licenses all five volumes of the light novels in English. They follow office worker Oohashi Rei, who wakes up as Rae Taylor, the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. However, Rae is not interested in any of the game world's eligible bachelors, only having eyes for Claire Francois - the antagonist! And Rae is determined to save Claire from her destined fate.

Inori began publishing the series as a webnovel on Shousetsuka ni Naro in early 2018. GL Bunko licensed the light novels digitally in Japan and published the first volume in 2019. Hanagata draws the illustrations for the light novel. In 2021, Ichijinsha began publishing the light novels in paperback.

I'm in Love with the Villainess gained popularity in several overseas markets, including Korea and America. Critics and audiences praise it for its focus on LGBTQ+ themes, characters, world-building, and story.

A manga adaptation of I'm in Love with the Villainess began serialization in Comic Yuri Hime in June 2020. Ichijinsha publishes six collected volumes of the manga in Japanese. Inori also launched a spin-off, She's so Cheeky for a Commoner (Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!), which retells the the series from Claire's point of view. Gl Bunko licensed the spin-off in Japan.

Seven Seas Entertainment licensees both the I'm in Love with the Villainess manga adaptations and the She's so Cheeky for a Commoner spin-off in English. It will release volume five of the manga on October 24 (October 12 digitally) and volume 2 of the spin-off light novel on April 9, 2024.

I'm in Love with the Villainess is also inspiring a television anime adaptation. Hideaki Oba directs the anime at Platinum Vision. It premieres on October 2 and will stream internationally on Crunchyroll.

Source: Press Release, Seven Seas Official Website (release dates)

#yuri #girls love #lgbt #gay #lgbtq #news #anime #manga #light novels #i'm in love with the villainess #ILTV #queer #gl #lesbian

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goldenmetstli · 5 months

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General Headcanons of Seto Kaiba

I have nothing to say but that he has been on my mind lately lol ¯\(ツ)/¯

✮ Doesn't like being touched, and Mokuba is the only one who can hug him. When they were kids, Seto was more affectionate; they held hands while crossing the street; when Mokuba had a nightmare, they cuddled, etc. After being adopted and enduring Gozanburo abuse, Seto now has a hard time being physically affectionate.

✮ He's always extremely busy, so he doesn't get to watch a lot of movies, but his favorite genres are horror and sci-fi.

✮ He is running with 5 hours of sleep every day, eats only when he remembers (or has quick snacks like nuts and berries) and his mind is always running. Even with that, he tries to be healthy because he is one of those people that, when they get sick, they get knocked down for days.

✮ In his job, he is pretty innovative and willing to try new technology to improve his company, but in his private life, he has specific meals and drinks that he enjoys and rarely tries anything new. They also need to be prepared in a certain way; otherwise, he won't eat them.

✮ Not a fan of fast food and sweets, the complete opposite of Mokuba, who always has candy in his pocket and wants to eat out every day.

✮ Rarely cooks for himself, but he knows how to make basic meals and occasionally puts together a sandwich as a quick meal (with very expensive bread and meat, of course).

✮ Kaiba usually works on silence, but in his spare time (if he has any), he listens to rock and alternative music.

✮ Reads A LOT, primarily business-related. If he doesn't have time to read, he listens to audiobooks, usually in Japanese and English.

✮ He can speak english, chinese, korean and french.

✮ Until puberty, he had a stylist, but after becoming the CEO of Kaiba Corp, he fired them. He chooses what to wear for events and has even designed some of his outfits (his coat, for example). Needless to say, all of his clothes and shoes are very expensive.

✮ Even if he is extremely busy he would never ever spend more than a day without taking a shower. He takes great pride in looking clean and presentable. He has an image to maintain, so you bet he always looks his best and smells amazing.

✮ Does he consider himself good-looking? Yes, and not only that, but he knows he is effortlessly handsome, so trying to look hot is not a priority because he knows he just looks like that. Still, it is not like he flaunts his appearance; he is more proud of his mind and hard work.

✮ As much as he stays current with the latest technology and business practices, he is very far removed from internet culture. So yes, he only knew what a meme was when Mokuba told him, and now Mokuba helps in the digital marketing area.

✮ He's pretty much a jerk, but he is extremely professional and pays fairly to his employees. The work environment? Well, the higher your position, the higher the anxiety, but if you work at the desk, it is a pretty good job. But mind you, he expects you to give your best even if you are in the lowest position in the company.

✮ On days when he has had a lot of work and has not been able to sleep well, he has fallen asleep in his limousine.

#yugioh headcanons #yugioh imagines #seto kaiba #kaiba seto #yugioh #Happy New Year everybody!!!#as a random note I'm pretty happy that my english writing skills are getting better!#tbh using Grammarly helps a lot

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heilos · 2 years

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Finally got around to snapping some new photos of my entire Daft Punk Interstella 5555 collection. :)

Took a few years to get to this point, but i’m very proud and happy with what I have so far. Interstella 5555 had an immensely profound effect on my life and appreciation for art, animation and story telling back when I watched it for the very first time as a kid. This music video movie and the main cast of characters mean so much to me. As for the collection itself, the only thing missing at the moment in these pictures is a very large authentic movie poster since I haven’t been able to frame it yet. But I hope you enjoy this small look into one of my many personal interests and sorry for the bit of glare in both photos. Tried to tone it down as much as possible. Below is a full list breakdown of all the items from left to right:

- VHS of the whole movie - VHS of the trailer for the movie - VHS of the One More Time section of the movie - Action figures of the main characters - NTSC version of the full movie - Japanese edition box with bearbrick figures - French promotional marketing pamphlet - Character sticker sheet - Canadian promotional marketing pamphlet - Daft Punk Discovery Album Press Kit - Taiwanese Discovery album CD with Interstella mouse pad - Japanese Digital Love CD - Promo sticker sheet - 2 Chirashi flyer/Japanese flyer advertisement - Japanese Harder Better Faster Stronger CD - Promotional postcard - Background art sticker - Movie trailer CD with sleeve - Something About Us single CD with sleeve - Full movie CD in an alternate sleeve cover - Harder Better Faster Stronger single CD with sleeve - 2 Japanese Discovery album versions with slipcases - Promotional character cards (missing Arpegius for now) - Something About Us vinyl - Rare Japanese version of the Discovery vinyl - Harder Better Faster Stronger vinyl - Large character poster

#daft punk #interstella 5555 #thomas bangalter #guy manuel de homem christo #discovery #daft punk discovery #vinyl #cd #vhs #stickers #posters #action figures #Japan #Stella #Arpegius #Baryl #Octave #heilos merch

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digi-lov · 10 months

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Digimon & Tamagotchi

Bandai V-Pet Crossovers Part 1 (Part 2)

In 1996 Bandai and WiZ inc. released the original Tamagotchi. To their surprise, the toy proved to be popular among boys as well, despite it being mostly marketed for girls. And in 1997, as a more targeted approach to this demographic, Digital Monsters was born!

A huge virtual pet boom followed and not only did Bandai and Wiz release new versions of Tamagotchi and Digital Monsters, and try multiple v-pets with a variety of styles within the next couple of years, but other companies also tried to bandwagon on the success of these virtual pets!

(Such as Nintendo in 1998 with the Pocket Pikachu-)

While the Tamagotchi was shaped like an egg (jap. tamago) with a crack in its shell where the screen is, the Digital Monster was shaped like a brick cage with bust-open bars! It also featured the ability to connect and battle! Otherwise they both use the same three button layout and similar menu icons. On the Tamagotchi, the toilet icon is portrayed by a duck themed potty, which is also used as the look for the Portable Potty items in many Digimon games.

Now with how closely these two franchises were developed, there's bound to be more that connects the two, right?

One such thing is Tamagotchimoji and Digimoji/DigiCode!

You can see that the two scripts are basically identical, just stylized differently. While Tamagotchimoji got used sparsely until they stopped using it in 2004 (But had a surprising comeback in one social media post on April 10, 2023?!), Digimoji has been used, and still is being used everywhere in the Digimon franchise! There is also a separate set of characters for the Latin Alphabet.

[Tamagotchimoji on the left, Digimoji on the right, respective Hiragana above the character]

Just like we know it from the Digimon Franchise, the Tamagotchi also grow through evolutionary stages along a branching path, depending on how well you take care of them! The original line of Tamagotchi as well as Digimon owe their designs to Kenji Watanabe! Generally all Tamagotchi's names end in "-tchi" or "-chi", similar to how Digimon names end in "-mon".

In these evolution charts, the Tamagotchi and Digimon are arranged by how well they've been taken care of / how good they are, with the top line being the best, and the bottom being the worst.

But that Tamagotchi chart is actually just the international version, which had "Bill" (aka Gaijintchi/Ketotchi) as secret character past the adult stage. Instead the Japanese version featured "Oyajitchi" (jap. oyaji means "old man").

But wait, doesn't that face look familiar...?

According to the Digimon Reference Book, Nanimon's true identity is unknown and it in fact came from another dimension, where it was known under the title OYAJI. In order to survive in the new environment of the Digital World, Nanimon had to go through a lot of training and battling.

Nanimon's name is also a play on its bizarre nature. In Japanese, "nanimon" is a casual abbreviation of "nanimono" which means "what (thing)". So, with intonation indicating a question, "nanimonda" can mean both "What are you?" or "I am Nanimon".

This joke is even included directly in Digimon World when the player encounters Nanimon.

「ん？なにもんだ？！」 "N? Nanimon da?!" “Huh? What are you?!” 「ナニモンだァ！」 "Nanimon da!" “I’m Nanimon!”

Nanimon's nature as an alien to this World is also reflected in his trait in the Card Game being "Invader".

Nanimon BT6-058 by Kenji Watanabe from BT-06 Booster Double Diamond

So yeah, Nanimon is supposed to be Oyajitchi who came from the Tamagotchi World to the Digital World.

Stay tuned for next friday when we talk about another World connected to the Digital World!

Special thanks to: tamagotchi wiki, gotchi-garden and tamatalk for being great resources!

If you're interested in more Tamagotchi stuff, go check out @tamapalace !

#digimon #digimon tcg #digimon card game #digisafe #digica #デジカ #tamagotchi #Nanimon #Oyajitchi #digimon lore #lov rambles #digimon card #Lv4 #Kenji Watanabe #BT6 #color: black #type: virus #trait: invader

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remember-digimon · 12 days

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Now it's Sora's turn!

Every friend group needs a Mom Friend, and for this group it's definitely Sora.

From the very beginning she's always checking up on everyone else, more worried about her friends than herself. I'm sure if she had been more prepared for going to the Digital World, she would've brought more than a first aid kit.

I have thoughts on the things each kid brought with them into the Digital World, but I'll do a separate post for that. For now, Sora has a first aid kit because she is the kind of person to plan ahead and be ready to help.

Early on, she has a bit of trouble relating to Biyomon. Her Digimon is super cuddly and even a bit clingy with her, which Sora isn't sure how to deal with. She isn't annoyed, she just doesn't know what to do with Biyomon at first.

Like Matt, Sora has a strained relationship with her mom, but for entirely different reasons. Mrs Takenouchi is a master at flower arrangement and a very traditional Japanese woman. She wants Sora to follow in her footsteps, but that isn't what Sora wants. Sora thinks her mother doesn't understand her at all and has no desire to understand her.

When Sora wants to go play soccer, her mother forbids it. This is because Sora has an injury and her mother is afraid that playing in the soccer game will make it worse. But Sora sees it as her mother being opposed to her playing soccer at all, not caring how much it means to her.

Of course, eventually, Sora realizes why her mother didn't want her to play that day. Her mom wanted to protect her and just went about it the wrong way.

Later, during the Odaiba raid, Mrs Takenouchi comes to Sora's rescue and gives her the chance to get away. It takes a lot of convincing to get Sora to leave her mom, showing her need to protect those she cares about.

Having these expectations of being a good daughter to a very traditional Japanese woman has certainly taken its toll on Sora. She seems to be rebelling against the idea of femininity in general, or at least the apparent need for her to perform it.

Sora was always marketed as a tomboy in early promo stuff; I don't know if the concept is purely western or if they also have that in Japan, but regardless, Sora just resists the idea of womanhood that her mother portrays.

Sora doesn't want to arrange flowers, she wants to play soccer. She wants to be an integral part of the team, not someone expected to wait behind because she's a girl. She is fierce and brimming with passionate fire.

Tai is associated with fire, too, but I think the two differ. Tai is a wildfire, or a huge party bonfire, or one of those controlled prairie burns when he's older. Sora is the fire of a hearth, a quiet campfire, the warm glow of candles. Tai isn't necessarily destructive, at least not on purpose, but he is a good representation of the wild, energetic nature of fire. Sora is the other side of that coin; the fire that has fed humanity since our beginning.

Matt is usually thought of as the kid who cooks, but he does that out of necessity due to his home life. Sora makes food for those she cares about because she wants to provide for them, make sure they're fed and taken care of.

She has a soft spot for the younger kids, particularly TK. He even mentions how she is family to him while they're away from home, standing in for his mother.

Being the designated Mom Friend means stressing about your friends and trying to make everyone happy. It isn't an easy job. Even when Sora is away from the group she tries to make sure everyone is okay; she helps Tai and TK avoid the forgetful mushrooms, she helps Mimi realize she's being selfish, and she helps Joe and Matt by stopping a pallet of potatoes from falling while they're working at the diner. And she does all of this from the shadows, not expecting the others to sing her praises for it.

She does it because she loves them, and since she loves them she wants to keep them safe and happy.

Also let's not forget that she has her own Dark Cave experience. Tai has charged her with finding the other kids and bringing them back while WarGreymon keeps Piedmon busy.

The weight of this responsibility weighs so heavily on Sora that she is lost in anxiety, worrying that she won't be able to find the others in time which means they'll lose the battle, which means they'll lose the war, which means THE END OF THE WORLD. That's a lot to expect of an 11 year old girl.

It really shows that she wants to help, she needs to make sure her loved ones are okay, and she forgets about herself in that process. Thankfully Matt and Joe are able to help her realize that she isn't alone in this huge world-saving task, and as much as she wants her friends to rely on her, she can rely on them just as much.

#sora takenouchi #digimon #digimon adventure #character analysis

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techtimechronicles24 · 1 month

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🇬🇧 Immerse yourself in the captivating world of computing through the Sinclair ZX Spectrum—a groundbreaking microcomputer that captured the imagination of an entire generation!

🌟 In 1980, the visionary British entrepreneur and scientist, Sir Clive Sinclair, entered the home computer market with the ZX80 priced at £99.95, marking the era's most affordable personal computer in the United Kingdom. A year later, the ZX81 hit the high street, introducing home computing to a generation, with over 1.5 million units sold.

💻 Released in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd., the Sinclair ZX Spectrum swiftly became one of the most iconic home computers of its time. It dominated the UK's computer sales market, fiercely competing against Commodore and Amstrad. This compact and budget-friendly machine brought computing into countless households.

🕹️ Powered by the Zilog Z80A CPU running at 3.5 MHz and equipped with either 16 KB or 48 KB of RAM, the ZX Spectrum sported a sleek, compact design resembling a keyboard with rubber keys, making it innovative and approachable. Its graphics and sound capabilities were ahead of their time, enabling vibrant games and applications.

⌨️ One of the ZX Spectrum's standout features was its vast library of games. From classics like "Manic Miner" and "Jet Set Willy" to innovative titles developed by enthusiasts, the Spectrum's game collection remains a cherished part of gaming history. The computer's BASIC programming language also inspired users to create their own software.

🖥 Despite modest hardware specifications, the ZX Spectrum nurtured a lively community of developers and enthusiasts, serving as a gateway into the world of programming and digital creativity.

🚀 Over its lifespan, the ZX Spectrum evolved with new models, including the ZX Spectrum+, ZX Spectrum 128, and ZX Spectrum +2, each offering enhanced performance and features while retaining the beloved design.

📺 The ZX Spectrum's impact extended beyond its hardware, playing a pivotal role in the British computing scene, inspiring future generations of programmers and entrepreneurs. Its legacy resonates in modern computing and gaming through emulators and remakes that keep its spirit alive.

📊 At the peak of its success and largely inspired by the Japanese Fifth Generation Computer program, the company established the "MetaLab" research centre at Milton Hall near Cambridge to pursue advanced projects like artificial intelligence, wafer-scale integration, and formal verification.

💔 Financial difficulties in 1985, brought on by the failures of the Sinclair QL computer and the TV80 pocket television, led Sinclair to sell the rights to its computer products and brand name to Amstrad in 1986. Sinclair Research Ltd continued as a one-man company, marketing Clive Sinclair's inventions until his passing in September 2021.

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dreamerspeak · 8 months

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check out this cute little panda filling up on bamboo! available on our redbubble!

#art #artists on tumblr #branding #digital art #digital illustration #red bubble #marketing #clothing #anime #panda #bamboo #panda eating #japanese #chinese #japan #china

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bakuhatsufallinlove · 2 months

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U.A. High School Field Trip Around Japan: Day 6 Translations

This is Day 6 of Shonen Jump’s special commemoration of My Hero Academia reaching one hundred million copies worldwide, which is being rolled out daily across one-week in each prefecture’s newspaper.

The schedule:

April 4th, Day 1: Hokkaidō & Tōhōku regions

April 5th, Day 2: Kantō region

April 6th, Day 3: Chūbu region

April 7th, Day 4: Kansai region

April 8th, Day 5: Chūgoku & Shikoku regions

April 9th, Day 6: Kyūshū & Okinawa regions

April 10th, Day 7: Nationwide release

You can see the illustrations on their website here, where they are released digitally the day after the newspaper release.

Here we go!

Kyūshū Region

Fukuoka

Photo credit: twitter user nika2_prpr

Hawks: "Aren't we all just dying for free time? I just want everyone to be happy, you know." Tokoyami: "That ambition is what I, too, wish to realize." Jirou: "He has a rockin' vibe even when sleeping, doesn't he!!"

Nanzo-in Temple is home to one of the largest bronze statues in the world depicting a reclining Buddha, called Shaka Nehan (Nirvana). The statue holds ashes of Buddha and two adherents, which were gifts from Myanmar as thanks for Nanzo-in's donations of medical supplies.

Saga

Photo credit: twitter user yukino_096

Ashido: "The squid are dancing!!" Tokoyami: "The squid, such speed!" Aizawa: "For drying a large amount of squid at once, it's a really reasonable method." Tokoyami: "A magnificent display of stormy turmoil!!!"

This is a fixture at Yobuko Town's morning market which rapidly dries squid by rotating in circles. The Japanese name, ikaguruguru, uses an onomatopoeia for going around in circles so you could call it a "squidy-go-round." Tokoyami uses the Japanese term for the German aesthetic Sturm und Drang. By the way, the term for dried squid, surume, is also used to mean something that grows on you over time. It's one of the most popular snacks in Japan!

Nagasaki

Photo credit: twitter user ssb_uchuubar_

Aoyama: "Merci for the million dollar nightscape~" Asui: "The night views from the sky are exception!"

Nagasaki is considered to have one of the top three best night skylines in Japan. You can visit Mount Inasa's Observatory to see it for free, but they got something even better!

Kumamoto

Photo credit: twitter user 18Miyakonbu

Sero: "Bakugou... did you do that!?" Kouda: "The mountain is burning!" Shouji: "Quick, put it out! Bakugou, you help too!" Nedzu: "Hang on! Dry grass being burnt down helps new grass sprout. This nurtures the animals as well. Humans and nature in symbiosis, that's what burning the fields represents!" Bakugou: "Hey, you bastards, APOLOGIZE!"

The city of Aso lights its mountain on fire every year as part of the Aso Fire Festival, a coordinated effort between farmers to replenish the fertility of their soil. My favorite part is that Katsuki doesn't deny that he blew the mountain up in flames... he's saying, "see, I'm helping, all right!!"

Ōita

Photo credit: twitter user im_mim_966

Kaminari: "Now then, who's getting in!! To soothe your travel weariness!" Iida: "STOP! Do you want to be boiled alive!? Swimming in the Blood Pond Hell area is prohibited!!" Kaminari: "So this is a 'bitterness of denied entry' type hell, then! (cry)"

They are trying to bathe in the Blood Pond Hell in Beppu City, where iron oxide and magnesium oxide mix and get pushed to the surface to turn the water blood red. Beppu is known for its Eight Hells, hot springs that are so hot (often greater than 200 degrees Fahrenheit), they are meant for viewing rather than bathing--hence their being called a "hell," not a "hot spring!"

Miyazaki

Photo credit: twitter user

Yaoyorozu: "The myth of Princess Toyotama and Yamasachihiko exchanging love letters has been passed down in Aoshima, so there is a legend that if you send a love letter with this postbox, your love will come true." Kaminari: "Make a postcard for me right now, Yaomomo!" Mineta: "Make me a hundred! It's my lifelong wish!!" Yaoyorozu: "It's just one apiece for someone special..." Postboxes in Japan are red, so this one, called the "Yellow Postbox of Good Luck," is unique. The couple Yaoyorozu mentions are from the Kojiki and Nihon Shiki, which contain some of the earliest written records of Japanese myths and ancient history. Poor Kaminari... he just asked for one!

Kagoshima

Photo credit: twitter user Door_20200783

All Might: "Continuing to watch over everything for all eternity!! This here, this is the Symbol of Peace!!" Izuku (mumbling): "It's a well-known fact among fans that All Might loves Yakusugi--" Izuku (out loud): "I'm thrilled we can all go together!! Right, Kacchan!!?" Kacchan: "I... Don't drag me into this!! (pleased, though)"

Yakusugi refers to cedars of at least a thousand years old on the island Yakushima, where there are dense coniferous forests with many old-growth trees. The most famous is the Jōmon Sugi, which is estimated to be at least 2,000 years old. Did Kacchan follow them on their tree tour, trying to not be noticed, and Izuku called him out on it~? Or did they companionably embark all together while he put up a grumpy front? Hee!

Okinawa Region

Okinawa

Photo credit: twitter user kkko25

Endeavor: "Shouto, how is it? How is the soba!?" Todoroki: "Okinawa soba is tasty." Endeavor: "RIGHT!? SHOUTOOOOOOO!! (joy)" Todoroki: "Let me eat in peace."

Unlike Todoroki's beloved mainland soba, which is made with buckwheat flour, Okinawa soba is made with wheat flour and is closer to udon noodles.

Aaand that's Day 6, the last release is the grand finale!

#translations #ua high school field trip around japan #mha one hundred million copies tour

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