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luchicm04 · 3 days

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lost in the forest - part 34

Masterlist

Summary: Between celebrations and work, the feelings of two people grow stronger.

Pairing: Senju Tobirama/Original Female Character

Tag: #lost in the forest fic

posted on ao3

Word Count: 5.4k

WE FINALLY REACHED 100K WORDS!!

Overall warnings: canon-typical violence, adult content, time skips, angst

A wedding is so different from an engagement. She realizes this when she sees the rush, chaos and nerves of many of the members of that renowned clan. Karen noticed it just that morning when many redheads in different shades began to arrive. She tries not to get nervous, remembering what happened the last time they were visiting.

She does not want to embitter the emotion that is beginning to flood people.

Plus, she knows she’s not the only one, although Mikami hasn’t said anything... it’s a difficult stage that they both have to overcome in their own way. She gulps thickly, scratching her neck; the phantom sensation of that pain begins to make hee anxious.

She sighs again and again clinging to the scrolls in her hands, stopping just as the council leaves the room where Hashirama is. “Good morning,” she greets as etiquette dictates with a solemn and careful touch.

They are not her favorite people, but they must learn to coexist.

“Mmmm...” Tobirama has been the coldest since then, although there is a glow of recognition that almost goes unnoticed since the time of the attack.

He’s not the only one.

“Good morning, Karen-san,” Jenshi replies on behalf of the four surviving councilors. “Meeting?”

“Yes,” the girl says with a flat face.

“What about?” Hantaro is the one who questions with dignity and a harsh tone. She blinks at him.

“A few points to review of some contracts.”

“As always, I imagine you are behind this madness,” Komura accepts with a wrinkle of the nose. The other three remain silent with slight airs of annoyance. It’s the same as when the Uchiha clan thing happened; the talks with the Hyūga and the attempts with the Nara along with two other external clans have them on the verge of collapse.

They are old and although it is difficult to admit, change is not pleasant... especially when you turn enemies into neighbors and allies.

It’s complicated. There is still blood and although people no longer say anything, they remember... She knows it and Karen tends to notice it sometimes.

“Karen?” someone calls from inside. Hashirama leans over the edge of that traditional door with a harsh gesture to the four elders. They remain dignified without any extra comments.

“We shall be taking our leave. Remember our words, Hashirama-sama.” Hantaro gives his word to leave without commenting on anything else on the matter. Karen stands still for a few seconds to release a long sigh.

“Difficult?” the girl mocks entering the meeting room, a traditional one and larger than the one they had in the old house. The furniture is notable, the new smell is almost erased from so much use in recent days, and after a few days from the move, every part of the place still feels new.

Just like back home... Karen can’t help but smile internally about it.

“Somewhat,” the man accepts with a slight snort. “Did you check them?”

“Yeah. Both the Hyuga and Nara have interesting enchange proposals,” the girl relays firmly. “Though there are shinobi terms that I suppose you also noticed.”

“Yes.”

“I see.” Karen stays still in front of that huge desk. Hashirama does the same and it no longer bothers her... although he looks at her with a strangeness and longing that she prefers to ignore. “I don’t understand why you asked me to check them, especially since you are shinobi.”

“They, like us, have people who are not shinobi in essence. I would like them to consider ‘civilian’ missions, although they are not so required, so they can adapt them by joining us in the future.”

“Oh...” Karen sees the point of why she reviews the notes. “They don’t mention any of that.”

“No, it’s something I’ll be proposing.”

“It would be nice if you considered it, along with first aid training.”

“The Naras do not see that viable, considering their techniques.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” the man says mysteriously, leaning against the desk with a light and serious face.

“What is it?” the woman decides to ask, noticing that the topic of the clans that will possibly be joining does not excite him.

“N-nothing.”

“Hashirama, you haven’t jumped with excitement at this,” Karen points out the obvious, moving the scrolls in her hand to focus on what she wants to say. “I know I’m a civilian, but I see that you’re worried about something.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Is it the wedding?”

“No. Kaori-san and Mito... they have everything in order already.”

“Tobirama?”

“He will return tonight.”

“Then?” the girl asks with a serious face.

“Does it worry you?”

“You are my first friend... the only one who would treat me decently back then,” she accepts with a slight honest touch, reminding herself of everything she has experienced in this world. Of course, she does not forget that he almost never appeared in that prison, previously her home, but Karen feels this person was always sincere with her.

In a way she now knows a shinobi shouldn’t be.

Hashirama looks at her for a long time. “Have you ever fallen in love?” he asks in a clear tone, looking at her while seeking something in her eyes. “I know I engaged you to Tobi...”

“Uh... why do you ask?”

“...” The leader of the Senju clan sighs without mentioning anything else. The silence is so uncomfortable that it makes her want to leave this strange atmosphere.

“I... never,” she shrugs. “It was always a waste of time to me, to my work and family.”

“Mph... I don’t know why that doesn’t seem strange coming from you.”

“I don’t know if I should feel offended by that,” the girl rolls her eyes.

“Hasn’t there been someone... that has... loved you?”

“I don’t know. I never showed enough interest in that,” Karen says, disturbed by such a conversation subject. Hashirama doesn’t usually ask about personal stuff, just like Tobirama. Both keep out the topic of her family, interests and so on.

“I see.” Hashirama approaches her. Karen trusts the man who stands a few centimeters away.

“You know you don’t have to be nervous about the wedding, right?” the civilian blinks with a comfortable smile at the man. She doesn’t feel any worries about this approach, but his eyes shine strangely because of her question. “I’m sure Mito is the right one for you, and for the clan,” she adds slowly.

“...” The leader snorts lightly and takes a strand of her hair to play with, with an air that she interprets as friendly. Karen wants to hit his hand but stays still without bothering to get out of his grip, attributing these oddities to nervousness and without seeing the wrong in the actions.

Things that are still not important in her eyes.

“Hashirama?” Madara interrupts with a slight arch between the two.

“Good morning, Madara-san,” Karen greets, not paying attention to the approach and strange behavior of her partner who walks away sadly.

“Am I interrupting something?” the newcomer questions.

“No, your friend is just very nervous,” the civilian says carelessly, handing the scrolls to the blushing Senju leader. “Review them. I made some notes to take into account for the clans.”

“S-sure.”

“Good,” the girl accepts to look at the Uchiha, who stares suspiciously. “Is there something wrong?”

“That’s the same thing I’m wondering,” the one with disheveled hair says with a double tone.

“Huh?”

“It’s better if you go, Karen. I’ll check them and let you know,” the Senju leader states, taking her out and directing her to the door with a shy face. She simply shrugs not minding what happened, nor with enthusiasm to decipher it because it is one of those things that are better left hidden from her understanding.

She is deceiving herself... she notices it but remains silent.

It’s not for the best... at least she left the house without any kind of impediment. She sighs, remembering the newly arrived redheads being escorted to the back of the house where they will be housed.

The wedding will soon be here.

──

Mito is a nervous wreck as the hours begin to end the day. She doesn’t laugh because she is euphoric, giving another check to her clothes, yukata and other things that make her growing anxiety noticeable. She knows this is so different for each bride, so she sighs, entering what is her house and the place where the bride is staying.

Something about being her best friend, which she didn’t know she was classified as.

Karen didn’t even bother.

“How long has she been like this?” the civilian questions Kaori who sighs, watching the girl take another turn around the room where her things are located. The noice is notable when Mito mutters a list with her face focused on each spot in that room.

Her red hair is a mess, and the movement of her mouth is feverish.

She’s never seen a bride like that... or maybe it’s because she’s a shinobi.

She does not know.

“For a while now.”

“You better bring some tea... a relaxing one,” the civilian clearly agrees with the old woman, who blinks.

“Yes?”

“She needs it. Otherwise, I’m sure she won’t sleep, and it will be chaos.”

“But...”

“I know you are shinobis; it is not the same with a civilian... but Mito-san will get more anxious, and that is difficult to hide with makeup. She must sleep and rest.”

“I see,” the assistant accepts calmly, turning on her heels. Mikami is nowhere to be found and that is for the better. It is not the best time, so she remains silent and faces the euphoric kunoichi.

“Mito-san?” She takes a step forward. She doesn’t look at her for a while, walking to where her ribbons rest. “Mito-san?” she calls a second time. “MITO-SAN?!” she shouts just as she is ignored for a longer time. The fine lady stops dead blinking, finally noticing her.

“Karen...” She chuckles sadly. “I apologize, I did not hear you.”

“I noticed,” she accepts with the strangeness of her having lowered her guard. For a kunoichi, she has many dangerous manias, which she sees she controls with finesse. “You should rest.”

“But I still...”

“Everything’s ready.”

“But...”

“Yesterday, you put the ribbons in that silver box. The headdress is in the gray one in the back next to the dresser, along with the yukata,” the civilian recalls calmly. Mito blushes easily.

“I am sorry... for that.”

“Don’t worry. It’s normal for a bride-to-be.”

“Surely Hashirama is not currently like this, right?”

“He’s nervous,” Karen agrees, remembering his strange attitude this morning.

“Really?”

“Yes,” the civilian laughs calmly, sitting in a lotus position at the edge of the room. There are many things lying around that she knows will be used tomorrow. “By the way, where are your assistants?”

“They will arrive tomorrow.”

“On time.”

“Y-yes.” Mito sighs, forcing herself to sit down just when Kaori brings some tea. “Along with my brother and Oto-san.”

“Oh, I thought they would come on the wedding day.”

“No. They want to talk to Hashirama about political matters.”

“I see.”

“Yes.” Mito takes a sip of her drink. “Relaxing?”

“You need to rest and sleep,” Karen states without the guilt of ordering this. “For the bride, it is important to have eight hours of beauty sleep considering that you will be the star of the event.”

Mito laughs lightly. “Thank you... for being my support.”

Karen blinks at that comment. “Don’t mention it. Besides, one of the two has to be the sensitive one.”

“I am a trained kunoichi. This is embarrassing,” the redhead says.

“Even if you are the most trained and strongest one, you are still the future bride. It’s normal to be nervous.”

“Yes,” the Uzumaki accepts. “I... I have waited for this for a long time,” she states again with a light tone, looking at the hanging yukata... so fine and elegant, with light tones and expensive embroidery. “And soon... I shall be a Senju.”

Karen doesn’t say anything because she remembers very well what they have talked about since she arrived and in that first meeting. Her entire world is Hashirama... and deep inside, she thinks that her world is so small. She doesn’t judge her; she knows she loves the Senju leader and it’s noticeable.

She is happy for both of them, and hopes they are happy.

“Oh...” Mito blushes as she remembers something to herself that makes her raise her eyebrow. “I had not thought about the wedding night,” she comments, making her laugh.

“Well, maybe we can have a sleepover. Like a bachelorette party.”

“Bachelo... what?” The woman blinks with an innocent gesture at her comment. Karen laughs. She sees that this will be complicated to explain and prepare for tonight; she just needs help from Mikami... and Kaori. She’s sure they will need to help her.

──

She is leaning against the railing of the house. The noise inside consists of embarrassing talks of women exchanging tips on how to please their future husband. Both Touka and Kaori are versed in the art of flirting and courtship that it has made the interaction so lively... although Mito is still blushing about the whole thing.

Leaving aside resting for today.

She didn’t think that such an infamous woman would be oblivious to what she will have to do to ‘fulfill’ her duty. Plus, this is not well regarded by people outside her small circle of friends. She giggles... this is what bachelorette parties are for.

To clarify doubts and exchange things that may be useful for the future bride.

It was embarrassing at first, considering the traditionalist culture, but it was brought to fruition by the other ladies. She laughs, feeling dizzy from the little sake she has ingested, which is what brought her to go out for air. Bad idea.

Karen feels that her world is moving, causing her to feel vertigo and even looking at the ground... it continues to wobble.

How coarse.

“You should not be out here,” someone calls from her side. She smells a little of antiseptic, which makes her snort slightly. Sighing, she tries to lift her face, but it only makes her dizzier. “Did you drink?”

“No?”

“Karen.”

“Uh... just a little, Tobirama,” she laughs amused at the man with a harsh gesture, making her frown slightly. “Don’t look so angry, I’m fine.”

“Why are you drunk, then?”

“I’m not... just dizzy,” she explains calmly while the man doesn’t take his hands off her arms, sighing. “Welcome home?” She doesn’t know what else to say when the silence becomes long. If she had her mind clear and not focusing on not vomiting, she would question more things... like his presence there and why he is looking at her that way.

“... So careless.”

“It’s not that big of a deal... plus, I haven’t left the house.”

“Did you not learn from last time?”

“Tobirama...” she sighs, wanting to free herself from his sudden grip. “I’ll be fine, I just... needed air.”

“You must go to sleep.”

“I can’t... I have visitors,” she clarifies upon hearing the laughter of the most shameless woman in that small group.

“It is not a request.”

“You can’t just order me around, you know?” the woman complains, but getting out of his grip is difficult. “Can you let me go?”

“No.”

“Tobirama...” The woman frowns, but it is the man who sighs somehow in his dignified bearing. He releases her and she takes a few steps back... being caught by said shinobi before falling in her butt. “Uh...” She feels she is being carried carefully after such a painful action.

“Idiot.”

“Rude...” she growls reluctantly, leaning back when she feels the heat and feeling angry at being treated like a child, but she feels like she will throw up if she keeps fighting. She is drunk, but she still has a little sense... she is not a stubborn drunkard.

That’s good.

“You haven’t bathed,” she complains when she smells the body of the person carrying her. She closes her eyes, a slight hiccup coming out of her mouth while the sound of the girls can still be heard. Haven’t they moved? ...perhaps not.

“...” Tobirama as always ignores her comments.

“Tobirama-sama?” someone calls. Karen would like to open her eyes, but she just sighs without the desire to face whoever is watching such a sorry scene.

“I will take her to bed.”

“A-alright.” That was Mikami’s voice.

Tobirama doesn’t say anything as he keeps walking firmly. She doesn’t hear his steps... she never does, so the silence lulls the girl a little more, until she feels her bed easily.

“Thank you,” she says, oblivious to the type of look she is being subjected to. Karen turns around to grab a small sheet nearby. The shinobi surely gave it to her, but she ripped it out of his hands. She’s cold, she’s dizzy and her eyes burn.

Like that time... but two degrees less painful.

The man just stands there. She doesn’t know if he’s going to stay, but Karen doesn’t know much about anything anymore.

Sleepy.

──

She wakes up the next day with a slight headache and an anxiety for a fresh glass of water. She sighs... she begins walking barefoot, not caring about changing her clothes, when she hears a noise, turning to notice an absent Mikami.

“Uh...” Karen comments right in the hallway. “I’m sorry I didn’t stay until the end,” she says casually with a gesture worthy of someone with a hangover. Her friend laughs.

“Do not worry. You were in good hands,” the woman accepts firmly as they both begin their walk towards the kitchen.

“Mito-san and the others?”

“Touka is still asleep. Mito-sama came out to greet her father and brother.”

“Right, I forgot about the reception.”

“You do not have to worry about it. Mito-san understands that you were not in very good conditions,” her friend laughs amused with a mischievous touch.

“Did I miss something?”

“No... nothing.”

“It feels like I did,” she complains as she enters the kitchen without noticing the way her friend looks at her.

“You know, despite it being a complicated matter... your wedding with Tobirama-sama...” Mikami states as if she was not talking about something curious so early in the morning while preparing some strong tea... that special one that only shinobi know of for hangovers and she learnt about that celebration day with the Uchiha clan. “He takes care of you.”

Karen doesn’t say anything, reminding herself of the night before. “He’s always been like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He thinks I can’t help myself,” she complains, remembering the comments he said. “That I’m stupid.”

“Uh...” Mikami blinks. “Does he say that?”

“Yes,” she shrugs. “It’s annoying... but I think I’m the same,” she laughs amusedly to herself, taking another sip of that drink that is a pleasant invention. It would be a success in her world, being so effective in quenching thirst and headache. At least it would be functional on this busy day.

Mikami laughs. “No one would believe that about the infamous Uchiha Killer.”

“...” Karen blinks at the nickname.

“That was his nickname during the war, before peace,” the kunoichi in front of her explains. “Do not tell him I told you.”

“...Don’t worry,” she shrugs. “Mito-san... how did she like it last night?”

“It was fun,” her friend accepts. “I did not think we could do that.”

“Where I come from it is common, although it is celebrated differently.” Karen remembers the few bachelorettes she went to in the past; all animated, with lottery and those spicy activities typical of those events. Not so scandalous as to bring a stripper, but rather a pleasant routine with friends.

To say goodbye to being single.

“I am glad you suggested it,” the kunoichi laughs. “Mito-sama was very anxious, especially about the topic of the wedding night.”

“I noticed.”

“It is a taboo... fur us to talk about what is expected that night.”

“...” Karen doesn’t say anything.

“What we know are things we learned from the elderly... for ‘that’ type of missions,” she states with a clear and dignified tone. “Not to do it... with our partners.”

“It’s complicated I guess... considering the cultural difference,” Karen says. “But it is important to help the future bride cope with her tension. And what better than with friends?” she chuckles amused at her position.

Mikami laughs just as happily and less tense considering the time that is approaching and the memories that are being relived, focusing on day-to-day conversations and how the workload is increasing. But that will end just when the wedding passes.

She hopes so.

──

Uzumaki Aoki laughs just as she arrives at the meeting room. She can see Madara standing in the background along with Hashirama talking to a serious, newly arrived leader. Uzumaki Ashina is remarkable, which tells her not to interrupt whatever they are talking about.

She only came in because the council told her that they were expecting her.

“Oh, my dear... prettier with every day.” Cheeky as he usually is, the man gives her a light wink, looking enthusiastic as always and giving a soft gesture in her direction.

“Aoki-san,” she greets firmly with a slight bow.

“Leave the –san. I have already told you in my letters,” the boy assures, letting her pass and sit next to him. “By the way, did you like the last gift I gave you?”

“Your family sent me many.”

“Well... I apologize for not being present on your engagement.”

“Not at all. I know you are an important person in Uzu.”

“Nah, still,” the boy calmly assures.

“Karen?” Tobirama questions, entering with a harsh gesture to the one who laughs amusedly next to her. Aoki gives a cheeky wave with a perpetual smile without bothering to leave her side. “Let us talk.”

Karen sighs. It’s surely something about what happened last night. She doesn’t remember much so she doesn’t hesitate to get up. Besides, they have things to check about her new yukatas and the earrings that Kaori claims they must already see. Their wedding with be two months after Hashirama’s.

So, there are many things to prepare.

And they haven’t spoken about it because he was on a mission.

“Wow Tobirama... who would say that you are... protective,” the Uzumaki mocks.

“Do not be a nuisance, Aoki.”

“So serious,” he pouts. “Karen-san, if you need help, don’t hesitate to ask,” he says with a serious tone, giving a warning gesture that she didn’t completely ignore.

“Aoki,” the albino warns.

The Uzumaki laughs shamelessly to turn around and walk to where the other three leaders were looking with varying degrees of strangeness. Karen sighs and frowns at the shinobi.

“What was that for?”

Tobirama, as always, doesn’t say anything and walks outside. She sees Izuna enter with a mocking gesture at who stays on the sidelines of the political issues discussed inside. “Do not say anything,” he growls at him, who lets out a satirical laugh.

They are both strangers in their relationship, but at least she sees that there is a tentative friendship based on sarcasm and bad comments.

One that she had already noticed but is glad it didn’t break during the course.

“Tobirama?” she questions when she is taken out of the room. She huffs because she is sure they needed her for something, which makes her cross her arms with a serious gesture.

“Last night... you drank too much.”

“No?”

“...” The albino arches his eyebrow, not at all surprised.

“I will not discuss something that I made clear last night.”

“Do you remember?”

“A little... fuzzy, but yes.”

“Mph...”

“By the way, where were you going so late?”

“To check on the wedding.”

“Oh... Kaori-san told me that we need to take final measurements and adjustments last week.”

“I see.”

“Also, the food...”

“I will see to it with her.”

“Yes,” she sighs, looking at the tall shinobi. “What?”

Tobirama snorts. “I do not know if you are an idiot or just pretending.”

“What’s that about?”

“Nothing,” the man’s face does not express any discomfort, but it gives him an air of irritation.

“How did your mission go?”

“It does not bother you.”

“We are going to be associates.”

“...” Tobirama frowns at the nickname he doesn’t like, but he doesn't care to correct it.

“I will be your wife. At least put some consideration in your words.”

“I will not tell you anything.”

“At least a ‘good’, ‘more or less’, ‘bad’...” she shrugs. “We will be husband and wife. I already don’t ask for too much because you are very reluctant to share something with me,” she complains.

“It is a bother.”

“Maybe, but you’ll be stuck with me during this time,” she admits with a solemn gesture and a contrary feeling, because saying it out loud is uncomfortable. She didn’t think she’d feel that way, but it’s better to clarify this now that there’s a chance. “It would be nice to be friends...”

“...” Tobirama frowns irritated, which surpriseds her.

“Is there something wrong?” The people around her are acting weird, and Karen just asks directly because she feels like she’s missing something.

“No, nothing.”

“Mmmmm... Tobirama.”

“I will not talk to you about it.”

“You have to talk,” Karen presses her lips, but it is her partner’s gesture that makes her snort. “Fine, whenever you want.”

“Karen?” Tobirama stops her escape before letting out a long sigh to walk next to her. The civilian does not say anything but continues with her bad mood for a little while before re-entering. Saying that her fiancé did not leave her side is strange.

For the entire meeting, he was her shadow.

Karen really... didn’t know how to interpret it.

Progress? She doesn’t know.

──

He is protective, she notices as the days go by and the work increases. The Hyuga clan has agreed to the terms and will begin visiting them a week after Hashirama’s wedding, so she is working with a shadow next to her sitting on the edge of the patio with a concentrated gesture.

They both don’t speak to each other, working on their own thing.

“Karen,” the shinobi says harshly.

“Hmm?”

“Did you review the entry numbers?”

“Yes, I just finished them,” she points to a scroll next to her.

“I will take them.”

“I can do it...”

The shinobi, as always, does not listen to her.

“I also have to take Madara-san's report.”

“I will take them.”

“I’ll go,” the girl sighs, looking at them with a firm arch. “What is it?” She is direct.

“Nothing.”

“You have been like my shadow, and I am sure you would prevent me from leaving the house.”

“The wedding is tomorrow.”

“I know.”

“Hashirama needs to deliver this quickly for his days off.”

“Oh...” Karen sees the logic. “Well... then, I’ll go alone with Madara-san.”

“I will also deliver it.”

“You have enough work for you to be doing this. I’ll hand over those at the Uchihas.”

“Karen.”

“Tobirama.”

“Mmmm...” The man frowns.

“I am no longer your prisoner,” she reminds the person who purses his lips with a harsh gesture.

“Do what you want...”

“Good,” she easily accepts, not guilty of using that mistake to her advantage, getting up just to take said scrolls and go discuss the points still pending with Madara.

“Are you going now?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you not working?”

“I can leave it for now. This is actually urgent,” she says with a quick shrug. “And since you will help me deliver Hashirama’s stuff, it is better that I at least finish this and focus on the rest, right?”

Tobirama does not frown, but she can see a slight wrinkle between his eyebrows. “Mph...” He ignores her to concentrate on his own work. She sighs because she does not know what strange thoughts are going through his mind. It was better to continue with her things.

And to finish on time. At least he didn’t offer to take her... because she’s sure he has too much work.

A point in her favor.

──

The Uchiha compound has a different air to the Senju clan. Its houses are made of wood with a more rustic, traditional touch than the ones presented by her usual home. Elegant in its own way. It is usually silent with several children staring at her shamelessly.

“Karen-san,” someone calls behind her. Izuna, her usual companion within the walls, gives her a formal greeting.

“Good morning.”

“The idiot?” he questions, not seeing the usual shadow around her.

“He has a lot of work,” she shrugs.

“Oh...” The Uchiha laughs amused. “Are you coming to see my brother?”

“Yes, I’m just here to deliver this.”

“Right now, he is in a meeting in the neutral building,” Izuna states with a soft gesture. “Didn’t the guards tell you?”

“No.”

“Mmmm...” Izuna looks upset. “If you want, I’ll hand them over.”

“Oh, I wanted to explain some things to him.”

“If he needs something, he will look for you.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” She shrugs at how easily this task is solved. Izuna only gives her a light look. “What is it?”

“Emmmm... he hasn’t talked to you?”

“He?”

“Hashirama.”

“No? ...I haven’t seen him since the leaders of the Uzumaki clan arrived.”

“I see.”

“Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened,” the infamous Uchiha laughs, hiding his interest to turn on his heels and direct her to the exit. “The idiot?”

“No.”

“I see.”

“...Izuna-san?”

“I imagine that you are only limited to going to the neutral building, right?”

“Uh... well, they’ve had a lot of work and Tobirama says they need everything urgently.”

Izuna chuckles amused. “Those morons.”

“?”

“Nah, don’t worry... I think things are tense because of the wedding.”

“Yes, everyone is nervous.”

“Uh-huh,” the man agrees to stop at the door. “You better go to the Senju clan. We don’t want your boyfriend to get angry.”

Karen does not say anything to the tone used. She walks a little further to stop right on the cobblestone path that leads to the neutral office. The one in which both leaders work hard and that she is sure, now that more clans will be added, will be needing to increase the number of its floors.

She sighs... she doesn’t know what to think about all this attitude, but she stays silent. She doesn’t want to figure it out. Maybe it’s a shinobi matter that they don’t want to share, right?

──

It is at dawn that she feels someone enter her bedroom. She sighs in alarm just to see an absent shadow at the edge of her room. “Tobirama?” she asks, recognizing him even in the shadows of her room illuminated by the full moon.

He doesn’t say anything. “Did I wake you up?”

“Uh... yes,” she accepts with a long yawn. “What are you doing here?”

“...Sleep,” he deflects her question with a firm order.

Karen looks at him with strangeness and a solemn arch. “Tobirama.”

“Everything is alright,” the man assures, leaning against the edge of her room with an indifferent look, as if he were the guardian of something far from her understanding.

“This whole week you’ve been acting strange, you know?” she says, taking note of what he has been doing during this time.

“...”

“It would be nice if you trusted me... even if it’s just that.”

“It is not something that concerns you.”

She snorts indignantly at his attitude. “Are you running away from someone?”

“No.”

“Kaori-san told me that you changed many things about the wedding.”

The albino looks at her. “Just some things.”

Karen sighs without turning to look away. “Are we under attack?”

“No.”

“Tobirama.”

“Just sleep...”

“You’re in my room... you came in at midnight... do you think I’ll let it slide?”

“Do not ask.”

“Shinobi stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Mmmmm...” Karen doesn’t believe him, but she sees that the man is an iceberg trained not to share any of his information. “Well... I’ll pretend that I believe you,” she comments while yawning.

“...” Tobirama doesn’t say anything. However, he remains in his position expectantly. Karen did not know what time she fell asleep, unaware that there was an argument shortly after outside her house. Hashirama was sad... upset by what his heart may feel and Tobirama was there as a guardian, to ensure that he did not do something stupid whereas the focus of attention was just asleep, without paying attention to his interests.

One thing that can be misunderstood... or not?

And so, the awaited day arrived outside of the personal feelings of those involved, of the unusual tensions of a confused groom, while the woman causing his confusion... is completely oblivious to any hint that she could perceive or small actions that could be confused with an interest beyond friendship.

The wedding took place... and with it comes change.

A/N: A chapter before the wedding!! As you saw, our OC is oblivious to anything because she is very good at playing blind and not paying attention to certain interests. She may be older, but there are issues that are complicated for the civilian to deal with... Love being one of them.

And she is shameless about it. Tobirama is a guardian and has seen his brother’s interest and the confusion that grows with the approach of the wedding... not being noticed by Karen, but by those closest to him (Izuna and Madara). The latter would have mocked him if Hashirama wasn’t so volatile (something he hadn’t seen in his always boisterous friend.) Plus, he gave scandalous suggestions to the Senju about it (how to run away and not exactly with his official fiancée).

Tobirama is the voice of reason in this, so he just stands firm by his fiancée’s side, guarding his real interest and what is beginning to become stronger in his heart... grateful that the woman is oblivous to everything that is happening. Not because she is stupid, but because of her own interest in things outside of romance and that his brother is loyal to the affairs of the village and what it would cause if he broke up with Mito.

The self-sacrifice that means for the leader of the clan, even if his heart is in the way, without fully declaring himself... Hashirama is in love, but not with Mito :s

Karen just doesn’t want to look any further.

Thanks for your comments.

Author-chan out!

#lost in the forest fic #warring states period #angst #senju tobirama #tobirama x reader #tobirama x oc #ocs #hashirama senju #naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto fanfiction #uchiha madara #uchiha izuna #mito uzumaki

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ecargmura · 9 months

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The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Episode 8 Review - More Progress With The Leads

Mie and Komura go through more cute moments together that bring them closer together. It does seem like Mie is on the verge of reciprocating Komura’s feelings with the way she’s blushing at his actions and movements like how he does. I do get the feeling that this anime will end with Komura confessing and them dating.

The topic of Mie forgetting her glasses is still obvious, but it’s not pointed out as much in this episode. Instead, we get cute moments with our two leads. The first is Mie getting her socks wet after she stepped on a puddle. She didn’t want Komura to look at her taking off her socks, so she asks that he look away; it’s cute that she’s starting to get a bit conscious of him as these episodes progress. Komura gets a good look at her bare feet and gets flustered. I do like how he’s trying not to go too overboard with it and just keeps looking away.

The swing portion was super cute. She wears her glasses in this one. She got locked out of her house because she forgot her keys and she’s waiting for her mom to return. She’s at a park where Komura spots her. She asks for him to push her. While his overreacting was a bit much, he does push her and when he thought her skirt was flashing her, he stops the swing and the two get a cute moment looking at each other from an unusual angle. It turns out that she’s wearing safety shorts under her skirt and kind of flashes her thighs at him. It’s weird how she’s conscious of taking her socks off in front of him yet she has no qualms flashing her leg in front of him. Maybe it’s because she’s wearing safety shorts that she thinks it’s not as big of a deal?

Next is when their class rearranges their desks for a class lunch. Glasses-less Mie picks up a payment card for a gacha game he plays, referred as an Apple Card. While Komura was worried that she might judge him for being a loser who plays games, she doesn’t think much of it and hands it back. When they got their lunches, Mie remembers the apple card so she gives him her dessert but he hands it back to her. This was cute, but it wasn’t as heartwarmingly cute as the previous two segments.

Later on, Komura, while trying to sleep, gets a phone call from Mie who mistook him for her friend Asuka. She’s over at Asuka’s house for a sleepover and is trying to find the bathroom, but is scared of walking through the night due to watching a horror movie before going to sleep. While she did apologize for the mistake, she still wants him on the line because she’s scared. I think this moment was the cutest since Komura was doing everything he can to reassure her; he even sings for her—though, it’s only their school’s anthem. He had to stop in the middle because his mother was awake and going to the restroom. When he whispered to her, she got startled and blushed. Hehe, she’s getting nervous too. I think this whole part was the best portion of the episode and it’s not even the highlight!

Mie’s awareness of Komura continues as she gets shy after her friend points out how hard Komura is staring at her in her swimsuit; Komura’s friend Yasaka also points this out. At this point, I wonder if their friends are going “JUST DATE ALREADY”.

Afterwards, Mie is seen eating ice cream and meets Komura. She gets a winning popsicle and gives it to Komura after almost throwing it away. I think this is the first time she has given him something and he doesn’t give it back. I can tell Komura is going to keep that stick.

The last segment is the one the episode title mentions. Komura sees someone confessing to Azuma. He gets flustered and tries to not get in the way and hides behind a tree. A cat keeps coming and going. I think the confession was super irritating with how long it was dragging out. Mie eventually passes by as she was looking for the cat. Komura gets nervous and then pulls her towards him and they both hide. It’s a cute scene. However, Azuma rejects her as he has someone he likes. Oh, does he like Mie? Komura? Someone else?

Overall, all these segments show more progress towards Komura and Mie’s love for each other. I do like seeing Mie gradually reciprocating Komura’s kindness and affections. I do wonder who will confess first. It’s implied Komura will, but I do have a feeling that it would be Mie confessing first. What do you think about this episode?

#the girl i like forgot her glasses #suki na ko ga megane wo wasureta #ai mie #Kaede Komura #Ren Azuma #Asuka #Yasaka #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal

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yuisdad · 29 days

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Review and Rerwite of Hiiro no Kakera's anime adaptation

Overly long post ahead.

Hiiro no Kakera, also known as Scarlet Fragments in English, is a 2006 ps2 otome game created by the then new Otomate sub-brand of Idea Factory, and was the company’s first flagship franchise that garnered over different ports and sequels. It’s 2 season anime adaptation came out in 2012, with an English Dub by Sentai Filmworks in 2013.

The story is about Tamaki Kasuga, who moves back into the countryside at her grandmother’s request. Upon arriving, she not only discovers that it’s filled with many spirits, but it also contains the Onikirimaru, a sword with the ability to destroy the world, and as the next generation’s Tamayori Princess, Tamaki must do her best to seal the sword in order to prevent the world being enveloped by unruly spirits.

Tamaki also has guardians with her, each of them representing different creatures that helped the first princess long ago. Tamaki and her knew found friends also need to fight off an enemy organization called Logos, originating from Germany and run by a 10 year old girl.

Characters:

Tamaki Kasuga: The protagonist and the next Tamayori princess. Is apparently the ‘Oujou-sama’ type character, where she’s a little stuck up and mouthy, but is otherwise kindhearted and a hard worker.

Takuma Onizaki: A descendant of an oni, he’s the first guy Tamaki meets and initially dislikes because he called her ‘clumsy’. He’s apparently the ‘tsundere’ type, and is the one Tamaki ends up with.

Yuichi Komura: A descendant of a fox spirit, he’s the 'kuudere’ type with the ability to cast illusions and fire. He also has narcolepsy, which the show thinking it’s funny that he sleeps at random times.

Mahiro Atori: A descendant of a crow spirit that can control wind, he’s hot-blooded and short for his age. One of the few instances where a main guy character is shorter than the protagonist.

Suguru Omi: A descendant of a snake spirit that can control water, he’s very mellow and is the oldest of the main cast. He seemingly turns on the others to join Logos, but his actual goal is to prevent another sacrifice to the Onikirimaru from happening.

Shinji Inukai: The shy youngest of the main cast who uses words to cast magic, he seems to be the descendant of the wolf spirit, but he’s actually a part of Logos working as a spy under the code name Funf. Thank God I watched the dub because I heard his original voice was really annoying.

Ryo Kutani: A mysterious character who turns out to be the actual wolf spirit descendant, and I believe he can control earth. The first thing he does is sniff Tamaki and she rightfully calls him a sexual harasser. He appears later into the first season.

Shizuki Ugaya: Tamaki’s grandmother and the current Tamayori Princess before her granddaughter takes over. Initially appears to have Tamaki’s best interest, but is later revealed to have been sacrificing other villagers (aka, drowning them) for the sake of the Onikirimaru, and attempts to kill Tamaki and Takuma as well.

Mitsuru Kotokura: A shrine maiden who takes care of the house and prepares meals. She initially has feelings for Shinji, but it’s later revealed that they are twins…The game makes this even weirder. She’s traumatized from helping Shizuki sacrificing the town’s villagers to the point where she disassociates and behaves like a doll following orders.

O-chan: A little fox spirit that appears out of the shadows. Has a human form in the games. He’s a cutie pie and I love him.

Kiyono Takara: Tamaki’s classmate who makes money from making straw voodoo dolls. She’s quite excitable and is weirdly into knowing Tamaki’s love life. She’s actually 23 and is a spy for a governmental bureaucracy, using her youthful looks to sneak into high school to keep an eye on the Onikirimaru.

Masataka Ashiya: A businessman who works for the government and likes eating rice crackers. Initially thought to be Kiyono’s uncle, he’s actually her boss and wants to control the Onikirimaru for the sake of world peace…and by world peace, he actually means controlling the world to his bureaucracy’s image.

Aria Rozenburg: The 10 year old leader of Logos who is believed to be a sacred maiden blessed by Gods. She’s only being used by Logos because she’s the only one who can break the barrier containing the five artifacts that weaken the Onikirimaru’s power.

Eins/Leif Helluland: An aid to Aria who wants the Onikirimaru to protect her. Has guilt over losing a child that looked like Aria.

Zwei/Hugo Stingrail: Another aid to Aria who wields a death sythe and eats his opponents’ souls. He’s actually a human being controlled by a spirit.

Drei/Magus Melchizedek: Another aid to Aria with ulterior motives. He’s the big bad and one of the founding four Wisemen of Logos. He killed the original Drei and took his place to better manipulate his way to wield the Onikirimaru. He’s also a mage who wants to control the world that outcasted him for his magical abilities.

Vier: The closest aid to Aria and was chosen by Aria herself out of all of her subordinates. Acts motherly towards Aria and has her best interest. Disguises herself as an English teacher named Fiona Ashiuma and converses with Shinji behind the scenes. She’s actually a homunculus of Suguru’s dead mother who was one of the many sacrificial victims that seals the Onikirimaru.

Thoughts:

The anime suffers from sticking close to the game’s story and pacing, leading it to have the same issue as the game it’s based on; the plot is boring and slow paced up until it’s later half with sporadic fight scenes sprinkled in. You would think the first season would use it’s time to develop the relationship between it’s main cast, but it only has the characters suddenly saying they’re close without actually showing them spending time together, outside of more comedic scenes. The worst offender is Ryo, who appears later into the first season and doesn’t have that many scenes with the main cast, but apparently they consider him a close friend by the end of the series. The show spends most of it’s time building things up that the second season pays off rather than character interactions that could help develop their relationships more naturally.

I’m also not a fan of how some of the guys treat Tamaki…er, the ones who actually have an established relationship with her, who are Takuma and Mahiro. The guardians are established to listen to the Tamayori Princess without question, but Takuma and Mahiro constantly question and berate Tamaki’s decisions and her capabilities of being a Tamayori Princess from the start, as well as dismiss her concerns about their well-being and self-sacrificial tendencies. Cue in my confusion where they say that they support Tamaki and will no longer die for her sake and instead work together in the last few episodes. These two are particularly bad with this because Mahiro’s ancestor knew the first princess the most and made a promise to die for her instead of letting her get killed, and Takuma’s ancestor was killed by the original princess along with killing herself for the sake of sealing the Onikirimaru’s powers. Outside of Shinji and Ryo, the others say they will die for Tamaki when she’s made it clear she doesn’t want that, ignore her wishes anyways and nearly get killed fighting Logos, up until the few final episodes of the first season where they decide to work together with Tamaki.

The first season also has an issue where they fill scenes with lore dumps, Logos sitting around talking about lore and the main cast also talking about lore. Lore is a good way to establish the characters and the world they’re in, but most of the dialogue revolves around the Onikirimaru and the five seals’ purpose that characters just hanging out and having fun together are few and far between. Thankfully, the second season not only has better pacing overall, but it actually has characters doing things outside of fight scenes and off-screen moments.

There are also moments where it seems like set up to important character work, like how the guardians are viewed as disposable monsters by the general public and the main cast going through generational trauma, but it’s all overshadowed by not only lore dumps, but the writers feel the need to make almost every main character as complex as possible. This is a problem the game apparently has as well, where they take focus away from the guardians and shift development onto Logos, leaving characters like Yuichi and Ryo to get very little screen time and moments with the other main cast members. Complex antagonists aren’t bad in theory, but it becomes a bad thing when the show also has to develop 7 main characters, which is why antagonists often work better as being one note. Outside of Aria and Vier, I don’t care about the others, and the only one who actually works as a villain is Drei because he’s the only one who has a set goal and is written in a way where the writers don’t want it’s audience to sympathize with.

I’m also not a fan of how the Onikirimaru is presented as malevolent in nature rather than it becoming dangerous to use based on it’s users’ desires. No matter who the user is, it just turns them evil. An example is how the Oni that Takuma is descended from wanted revenge on the Gods who killed his people. Not only does this paint revenge as an inherent act of evil, but it also establishes that the Onikirimaru’s powers came from another Oni who we don’t see until Hiiro no Kakera 3 rather than Takuma’s ancestor, because they wanted to establish a tragic romace between the Oni and the first Princess, and since Tamaki and Takuma are reincarnations of both of them, I guess they want to absolve Takuma’s ancestor being the possible creator of the Onikirimaru and just do a 'revenge bad’ backstory on top of it.

Rewrite:

In terms of lore, the Onikirimaru works similarly to the Elements of Harmony from My Little Pony’s fourth generation, where it’s fated user wields the item’s ability based on their desires. Any user that uses it for evil purposes, like Sunset Shimmer in the first Equestria Girls’ film, will corrupt the magic the item holds.

Takuma’s descendant, the god of the underworld, decided to become the Tamayori Princess’s guardian to work closely with the Gods for the betterment of demon’s reputation and to protect the world itself. However, he formed a twisted infatuation with the princess through the teachings of the guardians being sacrifices to the princess if she were in danger, leading him to commit acts that he thinks would be better for the princess alone, tarnishing the bond he made with the Gods and other demons, as well as the other guardians. This twisted love and paranoia causes him to use his sword and five artifacts protecting the world to kill the Gods and his people, as well as killing the other guardians when they tried to stop him. The oni only stops when he sees what he did to his world, Earth, and the world above, as well as seeing the princess in complete and utter misery.

The princess decides to seal the sword with both her powers and the Oni’s via killing both of them so her and the oni’s powers could be in balance so another disaster wouldn’t happen. This leads to future generations of the princess and the oni to share the power of the Onikorimaru rather than having powers themselves. The princess also sealed the sword’s powers with the remaining magic the artifacts have, leaving the artifacts in a weakened state to where it could only protect a village rather than the entire world. This leads to future generations having multiple princesses throughout the world that could support the ones originating in Japan.

Aria Rozenburg is the European equivalent of the Tamayori Princess, and she, along with other princesses around the globe, has the abilities to wield the artifacts and sword if their original wielders die. Her parents wanted Aria to live a fairly normal life to not cause her stress, leaving her to be sheltered off from the world and the guardians she only met in passing. These guardians were made up of the controversial Logos, whom Germany has a tenuous relationship with due to their tactics not keeping in line with the princess’s best interests and well being. The founder of Logos, Magus Melchizedek, kills one of the guardians to take their place as well as kills Aria’s parents to use Aria’s abilities to take control of the artifacts and sword. He also creates a clone of Suguru’s dead mother so Aria can have a motherly figure she can depend on after the 'unknown’ cause of death of Aria’s parents.

Tamaki moves to the countryside to become a shrine maiden under her grandmother, but learns that she’s the next princess in line, and direly so since the artifacts protecting the village and the Onikirimaru has been weakening over time. The cause of this is Tamaki and Takuma being reincarnations of their first ancestors, causing the sword’s powers to become unbalanced since they have regained their abilities that future generations weren’t capable of having.

The guardians were taught to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the princess, but seeing how fiercely loyal Aria’s guardians are to their princess leads them to start questioning their purpose in regards to protecting Tamaki.

In regards for overall characters, Tamaki is similarly spoiled and mouthy like Aria, but where they differ is how they were raised. Tamaki, aside from being more mature in general, is still kind to others and does her best to be a great princess, even of that means getting her hands dirty. Tamaki was also raised by loving parents who taught her life experience, even if they spoil her a little too much. Aria, on the other hand, is more selfish with her role due to literally being ten and being taken advantage of by guy who hypes her up to be the rightful owner to wield the artifacts and sword. Before that, Aria was sheltered due to her parents not trusting Logos’ protection, but it was at the cost of her not gaining enough knowledge about her role and how to treat others up until her current age, making her seem more immature than how a ten year old usually acts.

Takuma’s words may come off as a little harsh, especially at the beginning, but he’s ultimately sweet and a tad awkward, but has a hard time expressing his thoughts clearly, which led to Tamaki initially not liking him. However, the two of them eventually become close friends due to their shared interests in 'odd’ things, (Tamaki is a shrine nerd and collects ayakashi themed items, as well as seeing and interacting with spirits her whole life, while Takuma is into crossword puzzles and creates close bonds with the spirits in the village, even giving them names), as well as their initial abrasive attitudes causing some of their peers at school to think they’re know-it-alls. Takuma’s arc deals with him learning to be more emotional since it was ingrained in him to keep his feelings at bay for the sake of the princess, as well as learning to not feel guilt over using his powers from his first ancestor.

After an initial mix-up with Tamaki thinking Mahiro is much younger due to his height, the two of them hit it off and have a relationship similar to siblings who annoy others in their proximity. Mahiro dreams of traveling the world when he’s older, but he puts them aside to focus on protecting Tamaki. Ironically, it was Tamaki and the other guardians who helped him reignite his interest in traveling, even making money in bizarre ways to help him achieve his dream.

Yuichi is seemingly stoic and brutally honest to others except himself, and acts as the student council president and is the smartest in his class. He’s an intense rule follower, leading him to be the hardest to get through to not sacrificing himself for both Tamaki and his friends. He becomes more mellowed out when he learns to have fun and relax sometimes. This all comes to ahead when he learns of the sacrifice of the other civilians, leading him to snap and almost attacks Tamaki’s grandma, as well as having an existential crisis about his role on being a guardian. Cue him being comforted by his friends and found family, leading him to wanting to remain friends with everyone rather than acting as a shield.

Suguru acts as an older brother/parental figure to the other guardians and Tamaki, mostly due to the trauma of losing his mother at a young age and would often comfort the others after Shizuki’s harsh scolding. He starts working as a spy and pretends to join Logos to understand how they find the artifacts and their true goal. It’s here that he discovers Shinji was working for Logos and that his dead mother’s body was used to make a clone of her. He eventually reveals to the others about the sacrifice of the other villagers for the sake of keeping the Onikirimaru sealed.

Mitsuru and Shinji are twins who were born from a shrine maiden, but Shinji was stolen as a baby by Logos to create a spy that would replace the wolf spirit after Ryo and his family moved away. Both of them were given abilities by the bureaucracy Masataka and Kiyono work at. Mitsuru is able to create force fields and Shinji is able to materialize items using words that appear on his body. As the years went by and Mitsuru became a part of sacrificing civilians, she disassociates and only acts when given orders.

Shinji was raised by Logos into believing that Aria is the true princess, but he’s not fiercely loyal to her like the others, and often acts as the closest thing she has to a family member and giving Aria reprieve from constantly being praised by her guardians. Shinji starts to question both Shizuki and Logos after spending time with Tamaki and the others, ultimately deciding he wants to free everyone from their so called 'fates’. When Shinji met Mitsuru, the two automatically have a close connection that they initially couldn’t describe, as well as revealing their secrets to each other before anyone else. Once they realize they’re twins, both of them decide to abandon their initial roles to help each other as well as their friends.

Ryo moved with his parents at a young age since they didn’t want their son to be sacrificed for the sake of the princess. Growing up, he exhibited odd behavior due to being the wolf spirit’s descendant, such as sniffing and hearing things from far distances and eating more portions than the usual child, causing him to become a victim of bullying by his peers. He grew up as a loner and was emotionally distant aside from his parents.

Entering high school, his parents moved a little closer to the countryside, deciding to go to the same school as the next princess since he wanted to protect her on his on volition, as well as hoping to bond with her and the guardians. He was only able to make friends with Kiyono, making him seem even weirder to everyone else since he was hanging out with someone who has interest in the occultic arts. He especially became upset and confused when Shinji took his place as the wolf spirit guardian role, and even more angry that Shinji was working with the enemies. After some initial bad impressions, he becomes a part of the friend group and becomes more open to the others, to the point of putting his hatred of Shinji aside to help him question the situation he was put into.

Logos themselves, aside from Drei, are only semi-competent since they need Aria to steal the artifacts, although this leads to various results. Eins represents the oni and is willing to become as powerful as possible for Aria’s sake. When he discovers Drei’s true motives, he begrudgingly hands Aria to Suguru to protect her, and gets heavily wounded protecting Aria from Drei attempting to kill her. Zwei represents the crow and eats his enemies’ souls after defeating them…at least he would if he didn’t lose every time. Behaves oddly and cranky to everyone else except Aria, where he acts rather calm and collected so he wouldn’t scare her away. Tends to give her dirty toys in the forest as presents. After discovering Drei’s real motives, he takes Aria and nopes the fuck out with Eins and Vier following him.

Vier is the most level-headed of the group and is only working with Logos since Aria not only chose her to become the representation of the snake guardian, but also from a desire to protect Aria from vague memories of leaving a young Suguru behind before being sacrificed for the Onikirimaru. Unlike the others, she’s always been weary of Logos due to how they treat Aria as a messiah figure, and her remembering Suguru, as well as disguising herself as an English teacher, only fueled her hatred for how the Tamyori Princess is treated. After the final battle, she decides to raise Aria herself while occasionally visiting Suguru.

Drei was around during the first Tamayori Princess’ rule. After seeing the oni’s terror on the Gods and his friends, as well as discovering that the princess and oni’s powers were sealed inside the Onikirimaru, he wanted that power for himself since he believes he’s the true ruler that was robbed of his 'fate’. He created Logos to keep track of a German princess who has the abilities to take the sword for him, but up until recently his plans were always thwarted. When he figures out the sword was weakening due to Tamaki and Takuma’s gaining their past incarnation’s abilities, he finally sets his plan into motion. Almost kills Tamaki and Takuma to seal their powers in the sword, but ends up being defeated and killed. Hammy and deliciously evil as fuck of course>:)

Kiyono is Ryo’s only friend and is classmates with Tamaki, often giving her seemingly unimportant advice that later becomes relevant. Is mocked by her peers for her interest in occultic items and legends and usually sells them to make money. She’s 19 due to starting school a year late, but she looks a bit younger and often says she’s around 17-18 to mess with those who make fun of her.

Kiyono works with her boss Masataka at the governmental bureaucracy that overlooks the Tamayori Princess. Masataka created the bureaucracy to deal with the sword his own way and becomes a threat in Hiiro no Kakera 3, where he gets a god complex after discovering an unfinished project from Logos where they created mirrors that act as portals to alternate timelines. Views the guardians as disposable mongrels.

Shizuki Ugaya is the current Tamayori Princess and is training Tamaki so she can take her place. Raised to be willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of protecting the world from danger, she grew up isolated to not form any strong relationships with her guardians. As the Onikirimaru’s seal was weakening over the years, she was initially going to kill herself to seal it, but since she still needed to act as ruler, she reluctantly decided to sacrifice the villagers to keep the swords powers at bay until Tamaki can replace her. She acts cold and distant to others under the belief that she could hide her guilt and crimes long enough after Tamaki succeeds her. When she’s ultimately succeeded, she faces the consequences of drowning civilians.

The main themes for Hiiro no Kakera is how generational trauma effects others and protecting your loved ones by being their for them rather than acting against their wishes.

#Hiiro no Kakera #scarlet fragments #otome games #visual novel

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genezisjapaneselitblog · 1 month

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WEEK 20 BLOG

This week I read pages 318-368 of the book “Kafka on the Shore” by Harukami Murakami

The most important sentence of the week can be found on page 363 “my role is to restore was here now to the way it should be. That’s why I left Nakano when across a huge bridge and came to Shikoku and as I’m sure you’re aware you cant stay here anymore” Here’s Why. In this section we see Nakata and Miss Saeki meet each other for the first time. This is when the book starts to connect with both stories. In the book, after a long ride around Shikoku Nakata finds the Komura Librabrt and gets an automatic feeling that he needs to go in there and that it’s the place he needs to see. While Hoshino and Nakata go in they read lots of book and gets a tour around 2 by Miss Saeki. After the tour he gets this sudden feeling that he needs to talk to Miss saeki which he ends up doing. While talking Miss Saeki realizes that they both have been waiting for each other. We find out that Miss Saeki hasn’t had any friends because of her memories but it’s the same with Nakata however he has no memories of all which causes him to be friendless. Later, we find out that Miss Saeki has also opened the entrance stone years ago in order to keep a hold of her old boyfriend. But since it has now been opened by Nakata, they both realize that Miss Saeki can’t stay there no more and is fated to die. Although Miss Saeki should be sad, she isn’t. She knew it was time, she says that her whole life has just been a string of meaningless mistakes which she wrote down in files. Nakata is told to burn them as one last wish from Miss Saeki and that is it… Miss Saeki dies with her head down on her desk. Oshima walks in and see her but it seems as he knew that this was her fate.

While reading this section, I got shocked. I never expected this outcome. I knew that sooner or later the stories will connect but the outcome of Miss Saeki dying was something shocking to me. I have so many questions, why did she have to die? how did Oshima know? And how will Kafka react? All these questions are in my head and I know that I will get answers to them later. This book is really good., it brings a lot of suspense the mor who you read it. I can’t wait to finish the book and read more about the connection and what happens next in the plot.

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middleagerunblog · 5 months

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Week 1 Recap

Exercise:

Sun Dec 10 - walked 30 minutes on the treadmill after dinner

Mon Dec 11 - 6:07a, outdoors near home, 3 mi, 31:19, 10:25 pace

Tue Dec 12 - 6:04a, think I did it wrong, 5x400m in 8:00 to 8:40 pace range, walking in between, then I did a 5k in 27:58, 8:59 pace, will figure this out for next time

Wed Dec 13 - 6:05a, outdoors near home, 3 mi, 31:08, 10:20 pace

Thu Dec 14 - rest, maybe too much? only walked 6,508 steps the whole day

Fri Dec 15 - 6:09a, outdoors near home, 3 mi, 30:59, 10:18 pace

Sat Dec 16 - around 11a, 5 mi on hotel treadmill, 51:13, 10:15 pace

Diet:

Not terrible weeking eating-wise for the first week. I still need to figure things out, i.e. preferring a 16/8 noon-8p low carb eating strategy which doesn't really go with running. I allowed myself some carbs after lunch this week. I allowed myself some mid-morning snacks too when I was hungry after a run. We've been on a good routine cooking at home lately, so that helps.

The week ended with a bang though, Saturday at the hotel for a soccer tournament wasn't the greatest eating, but I didn't too bad considering the weird eating times and limited options. Did drink too much though because other dads kept buying me drinks. I had 2 beers and thought that'd be that, but then 4 more drinks were delivered to me over the course of the night.

Alcohol for the week - 6 drinks total, averaging just under one per day, but that was zero Sun-Fri, then 6 on Saturday, let's make this the high water mark and taper down from here.

Grading my diet...

Sun A-

Mon B+

Tue B+

Wed A-

Thu B

Fri B

Sat C

EGPA for the week of 3.14, a B/B+ average

Weigh-in:

I did my first official weigh-in on Friday at 190.9, so there's no loss or gain to report.

Music:

New song I heard this week and liked - "Numb" by Have Mercy (2023)

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The more that I speak, the more I feel so numb And when the words just get in the way, how do you want ‘em?

Old song new to me I heard this week and liked - "The Energy Story" by College (2008)

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It's all started when he was kid

Old song I listened to the first time in a while this week - "Back on the Train" by Phish (2000)

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When I jumped off, I had a bucket full of thoughts When I first jumped off, I held that bucket in my hand Ideas that would take me all around the world I stood and watched the smoke behind the mountain curl It took me a long time to get back on the train

Rereading:

I feel more disconnected from the book because I'm not reading it every day. The first time I read it in 3 weeks by reading ~25 pages per day. In some way I can't explain, it motivated me to run another half marathon and start this blog. But now I just reread until there's a quote I want to post here and then stop. So I've read 46 pages over the course of week 1 and I'm not sure how I feel about going this slowly.

I've reread the first 5 chapters. The Boy Name Crow has convinced Kafka to run away. Kafka packs his things, takes some money and a cell phone from his dad and takes an overnight bus to Takamatsu. On the bus he meets Sakura and wonders if she's his sister. He finds his way to the Komura Libaray and meets Oshima and Miss Saeki. He reads Arabian Nights. Maybe I should read that too to mix in some more reading to this blogging process.

There's been two flashbacks to the unexplained Rice Bowl Hill incident where the school children fall into brief comas toward the end of WW2. They all recover quickly but for one boy named Nakata.

The thing that stands out to me upon reread so far is the battle between fate and freedom. I mean, maybe that's what this whole book is about. But I didn't catch how clearly that's setup from the jump.

One thing I didn't notice or think about the first time through is the location of the Rice Bowl Hill incident. Could it be in the same place as the forest cabin that comes later in the book?

#running #half marathon #reading #haruki murakami #kafka on the shore #have mercy #david grellier #phish #music #books #diet #alcohol #drinking #weekly recaps

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zerogayakun08 · 9 months

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Discover innocence, friendship, and playful misadventures that will leave you smiling.

#anime #animereview #thegirlilikeforgotherglasses #sukinakogameganewowasureta

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miistical · 1 year

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week seven - japan

Took a week for the midterms, but now we’re on to the latter half of the semester! I’m a big fan of Japanese media (I’m currently working my way through a Haruki Murakami novel as we speak, who just so happens to be on this week’s list), so I was definitely interested in what some of these other writers have to say.

This week’s stories were: Yasunari Kawabata’s “One Arm” Yukio Mishima’s “Patriotism” Haruki Murakami’s “UFO in Kushiro” Seirai Yūichi’s “Insects”

As I stated in the beginning, I am already aware of Haruki Murakami and his work. While reading, I did my best to divorce my existing opinion of Murakami’s controversial writing proclivities (how he writes his female character is down-right criminal). Did I achieve that? Well... this week’s main theme is about how each of these authors write about the narrators’ relationships with the women in their life.

So, uh, no. Probably not.

The first story in Yasunari Kawabata’s “One Arm”, a very descriptive and surreal piece that fits nicely with the rest of Kawabata’s artistic endeavors. It also includes one of the creepiest narrators in this batch of stories. All of the woman in “One Arm” are tainted in some way according to the narrator. This alone is not noteworthy until you incorporate his reaction to the girl he gets the arm from as well as the arm itself. He treats the girl as if she’s a perfect specimen, soon to be “tainted” just like the other women in his life (whether or not they actually exist or if they’re all in his mind). It is not the girl that keeps him company, that he wants as a part of himself, but rather only the “best” part of her; he doesn’t really see her or any other woman as a whole person, but rather as parts with some more desirable than others. They are people, but only in a distant, alien way.

Thankfully, the next story is Yukio Mishima’s “Patriotism”. For a man described as being obsessed with beauty, eroticism, and death, he really does knock it out of the park here. The title is in reference to both the husband’s (Shinji) loyalty to the Imperial family and his wife’s (Reiko) loyalty to him. The language in the story backs this up and even though this is a translation, Mishima’s mastery over words is obvious. Shinji is constantly referred to as “the lieutenant” in his narration, showing that he feels his truest self to be his military rank—the very reason he is ceremonially killing himself. This honor follows Reiko as well. Unlike the women in “One Arm”, Reiko has all the agency in the world. She follows her husband in death because it is what she believes is right and Shinji trusts her with this decision; it goes beyond, even, when he wants her to die after him. This works as him not wanting to be in a world without her and trusting she won’t go back on her word to join him in death. There really is love here, in life and death.

Sadly the love in “Patriotism” does not extend to “UFO in Kushino” by Haruki Murakami. To be fair to this story, I don’t think Murakami has ever written a woman normally. At least in this story I can blame it all on the narrator. Komura is either completely blind or utterly ignorant of the fact that women are people who have extensive lives outside of how they look of their relationship with him. However, when you’re able to look past Komura’s general unpleasantness, there is a sense of something softer than unease, but more brutal than confusion. The main brunt of the story revolves around Komura’s wife, who might be gone at her family’s home or dead. As a reader, it’s impossible to tell which is real—did she leave abruptly because she was unhappy with their marriage, or did Komura convince himself that that is the case? Are the women he meets at the airport actually real or is he imposing his grief onto them? It’s all very ambiguous—another thing Murakami is known for.

Lastly is “Insects” by Seirai Yūichi, an award winning novelist for books with far more important messages than this little short story. While “Patriotism” had great narration, I appreciated the narrator of “Insects” due to how much character she has. Jealousy isn’t a good look on anyone, but I love someone who is deeply petty. In this story, the narrator is a woman recalling the life she had while pining for a taken man for years. The man, Sasaki, only shows up in flashbacks as the woman and Sasaki’s wife are planning his funeral. The narrator goes back and forth on which woman truly knew him: his years-long wife or his one-time mistress? It’s an interesting claim to make as the narrator does know a side to Sasaki that his wife never knew existed; that a part of him would always be outside of her. Who are either of these women outside of Sasaki? Who would they be without his influence on their lives? What parts of themselves did they tear away for a man that didn’t show who he really was to either of them?

Only one of the women this week really knew who she was or what she wanted from the man in her life; “Patriotism’s” Reiko knew what she was going to do with her husband and then did it confidently and thoughtfully. “One Arm” focuses solely on how the narrator picks and chooses what parts of women he wants while completely disregarding the woman as a whole. Both the women in “UFO in Kushino” and “Insects” are forever tied to the man in their life—we will only ever know of Komura’s wife through his eyes, of what she was to him rather than who she was to her, and both the mistress and the wife will never get over Sasaki and who was most important to him. For the women in “Insects”, Sasaki will never die because they have carved so much of him into themselves. It’s a lot to think about, how people’s perception can change the way they view the entire world - and how those perceptions can ruin them, again and again.

#yasunari kawabata #yukio mishima #haruki murakami #seirai yuichi #japanese literature #short stories #ENGL 4430 #miistical murmurs

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tsuki-sennin · 2 years

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So uh... Donbrothers is everything.

Like. goddamn. I... might have to do a liveblog/recap/what-have-you like I do for Revice! I mean, I know I could've done one for Zenkaiger, but it didn't feel right to do so so late into the series. Well, to make up for it, how about we compare their first episodes?

"don! don! it's a full force peachy festival!" That's my new Donbrothers tag. Filter that out at your discretion.

-It's definitely a lot less funny than Zenkaiger so far. That's not a bad thing at all, mind you, Toshiki Inoue's a way different writer than Junko Komura, he's more about drama than comedy. That being said, there's a lot of banger jokes filled with traditional Sentai absurdism, sooooo~!

-I love Sonoi, he's a very stylish villain, compared to Barashitara. The Barom reference makes me smile, I love seeing Toei pay homage to their classics. ...by the way, there's another villain in this series who's a Kagestar reference. By the way, GO WATCH THE KAGESTAR IT SLAPS. The fight scenes and shadow effects are so awesome, the characters are fun and loveable, the fashion is so fun, Goro Naya voices the main villain, and Bellestar's badass, especially for a toku heroine in the late 70s.

-Haruka's boyfriend being a mama's boy. Wheeze. He's a bad boyfriend though, she should dump his ass. I also like Yoppy, he's pretty effective for a first victim type character and will definitely kick off Haruka's character in a great way.

-Speaking of whom, Haruka seems to be our narrator and POV character. I love her a lot. Her backstory of her dream coming crashing down plagiarism allegations and getting turned on by everyone she cares about horrifies me personally, and I really hope Inoue doesn't bully her as much as his other protagonists. I think I might cry if he does.

-Did you know that Kohaku Shida was born on the same day as Britney Spears's performance in Munich, Bavaria in Germany? You can't do anything with that information, but hey! I also really like how she compares to Ako/Blue Swallow in Jetman. They're both ordinary gals dragged into all this nonsense, but there's a lot of fun contrast. Ako definitely felt like she was just along for the ride in the backseat (even if she was my favorite out of the Jetmen when I first watched it), but Haruka's essentially our protagonist so far. That alone is huge. I don't think she's quite as funny as Magine for our token lady, but this different angle works to make her just as relatable for me.

-God, there're Sentai face actors younger than me! I feel so ancient and I'm only 20!

-Tsuyoshi's got proper DILF energy. The way he and Haruka don't seem super into the whole super hero thing the way Tarou is is comedy gold, and I look forward to meeting his wife. ...is he our comic relief character? Like Raita/Yellow Owl in Jetman? Raita's also a Chad though, so I hope Tsuyoshi gets the same respect. I mean, he's literally a bird Ranger written by a guy whose last Sentai work had all bird Rangers. He's not as much of a DILF as Zyuran though. *Yet*.

-Tarou's funny as fuck though. I love just how extra he is, and the idea that he's using his obvious ego to uplift others into having as much fun as he is is really charming. Compared to fun and silly but capable Kaito, Tarou's just a posturing madlad and the contrast gives me serotonin. He's probably the most different from his equivalent in Jetman so far, at least personality-wise. Just from the first episode, he's a straight up good boy, but Ryu/Red Hawk was driven by vengeance and grief, and that made the love triangle between him, Kaori, and Gai so tragic and interesting. What's Tarou's deal, I wonder?

-Reiwa Era toku is like... peak aesthetic. Traditional Japanese wash paintings and cyberpunk and comic book trappings? Bitchin'! I love the DonBlaster too, it seems a lot less militaristic than the Geartlinger and more comic book-y. The vocal cameos from previous Sentai toy announcers are also very appreciated. Especially (at least as the wiki tells me) Shigeru Chiba from the Gaburivolver and Takeshi Kuroki as the Morphin Brace. The Zanglassword's also probably one of the coolest Sentai weapons I've seen so far. The LEDs and edge especially are super stylish.

-I know some folks are divided on having gears again but, I do like there's a lot of contrast between them. Like, different gears in the Sentai machine, if you will. I liked not having Zenkaiger just be Gokaiger again, but I think enough time has passed to go for the copying approach again. It can be a victory lap! ...I imagine the suit upkeep costs must be crazy though.

-This world's Kaito is mad sus, but good on Kiita Komagine for selling his (as of right now) very quiet performance. Is he God taking on Kaito's appearance to help out the Donbrothers fam (and yes, I'm serious about that question, Zenkaiger got insane later)? He's evidently learned a lot. The Zyuran he summoned seems awful quiet, so... And to avoid confusion, I'm going to call this Kaito Don Kaito.

-Compared to Zenkaiger, I also noticed that the sound design's not quite as bombastic? Like, the voices specifically. I feel like the music and the actors have been carrying the all the ham in the first episode. Like, that's not a knock against the series either, it's just kinda something I noticed? I do think I'll love the sound design more as I go on though. I know the opening fucks, that's to be expected!

Anyways yeah! Please look forward to next Monday, when we keep this festival going! We'll probably meet Professor Monke and Sonic OC soon! I already love them, sooooooo~! Don don! Don don don~! Matsuri da ze!

#avataro sentai donbrothers #tsuki talks #don! don! it's a full force peachy festival!#zenkaiger spoilers #donbrothers spoilers

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iczer-ryuga2 · 2 years

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Junko Komura - Underrated or underbaked?

I've been hinting at this topic for quite a long time ever since my Zenkaiger premiere episode which I still consider it to be the best premiere episode out of any Sentai show in the modern era of now.

https://www.facebook.com/zzduhdark/posts/156308802993805?__cft__[0]=AZUOHod4cZJGacvtNVx_gzg1zUEwi2ZumQAvnxo22uqougeEXL3_ozTJFFYQvlpjqmlOQ37zthxhV0kgR0RDoy9NwJy2XZNS9MglmJ70RQch-PbiVmI_uYWxedaN7GKuH7M&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R And a little correction I like to make...considering the 'I feel we've never seen two Sentai heroes from the start of a series for quite some time. (Not counting Ryusoulger with starting off with 3..ok,they had 6 rangers but they were 3 pairs of the main 3 rangers) We rarely had Sentai first fights that started with less than 3 Sentais fighting the villains the first time around. This made me feel nostalgic since I first watched Jetman when they started off with 3 members tho I do recall the early Heisei Sentais having less than 5 sentais members duking it with the starting wave.'

(Do note this writing was before I knew Junko Komura had a hand in writing Kamen Rider Drive and Kamen Rider Wizard, Wizard bein’ the series that brought me back to watching Kamen Rider alongside Gaim years ago.)

I totally FORGOT Ohranger started out with the MAIN RED RANGER - Zeo Ranger 5/OhRed started out fighting the Machine Empire all by his lonesome. Now that is badass. Now back to the topic at hand - Junko Komura. Junko Komura is a writer on a bunch of Sentai shows, notably Gokaiger, Akibaranger, Zyuohger and LupinRanger vs PatRanger as well as Zenkaiger which will finish up its run by next month. A lot of ppl say Zyuohger is fine, Akibaranger is awesome, Gokaiger is super awesome and Lupin vs Pat is one of their faves. A lot of her writing has some good qualities though there are some things that eagle-eyed viewers tend to see in her writing which would definitely be a good thing or a bad thing. What are those? Well..let's try to compare each seasons' premiere episode as they begin starting with Zyuohger till Zenkaiger since they all have her as the main writer. All 3 of them set up our heroes and villains pretty well I might add - Yamato stumbles upon a strange world where animal-ppl live in a society but unfortunately, the Deathgaliens arrive on Earth due to their planet destruction count reaching up to 999, making Earth the 1k-th - Zyuohger, Lupinranger vs Patranger starts with the Ganglers being an already existing threat to humanity before the start of ep. 1, Lupinrangers take the Lupin collection the Gangler of the week has in his possession to complete their criteria while the Patrangers were mobilized publicly for the first time and the Zenkaiger premiere showcases the debut of friendly mechanoid aliens from another world called Kikainoids dropped on Earth due to Tojitendo and upon meeting Kaito Goshikida became acclimated in the new Earth, their cruel tyrannical leaders from Kikaitopia unable to procure the latest acquisition of an Earth their slaves the Kikainoids escaped onto and decided a month later to cause chaos and confusion among the streets of Kikai Tokyo as I dubbed this world.

The premieres themselves are a first dip into the series and like any other new show coming in, very gripping and intriguing and perfectly segways to the next episode organically, each seasons' starting 2-parters laying out the motives of the villains and heroes perfectly well I might add. The first few episodes till ep. 10 shows a pretty good pregoression on some of our heroes and what their motives are for eg. LvP with ep. 5 and 6 where it solidifies the starting and the debate of thievery vs justice thanks to LupinRed and Patren-1 which I'll admit was very strong in its execution and quite dark as well in terms of the visuals. I admit, the conviction Kairi took when Keiichiro pushed him too hard due to 'You THIEVES THIEVEING PUTS YOU IN THE WRONG!'

Looking back at the first few episodes, you can definitely tell her seasons had quite a lot of character set-ups to it. Gaon being sympathetic towards organics but doesn't find comfortability in his own kind, Leo being loud and proud but has a chivalrous attitude towards women and not fight them, hurting Sela's pride as a warrior during a tournament which she doesn't take kindly to, Keiichiro and Tsukasa remembering what it means to serve and protect in LvP's 5 and 6th episodes which is even further developed in a special feat. a previous Patren-2 member and Vroom proclaiming he is his own person and not a slave to an empire who looks down on the weak. It seems like Junko has quite a record on interesting starts and motivations for her heroes. Tho with good, there always seem to be the bad.

Let's go over the bad first starting with the villains. You got your Megatron-style final bosses - Genis, Dogranio Yaboon and finally, Bukkowaus.

Next we have your brawler second in command tanks - Azald, Destra and Barashitara whom the cannon guy I dubbed Cannon Top because VR Troopers naming conventions and his name was too long to remember.

Then we have your Shockwave type intellects - Quval, Gauche and Ijirude tho Naria counts as well.

Finally, we have the wild cards a.k.a the Starscreams - Bunglay, Zamigo and Stacey tho Gege counts alongside Hakaizer (who happens to be a reverse-Zenkaiser due to him being the hero's father).

Other than Genis' "Let's start this game!" or Dogranio's uninterested demeanor or Bukkowaus/The Wall's temper panic attacks, I can't say I find the villains to be...engaging. What I mean is...other than their descriptions, that's their entire shtick. I know Sentai villains aren't the biggest character changes but there was a reason why Skeletor, Megatron, Cobra Commander and other kinds of villains were quite remembered to this day. They basically delight in evil and showcase the worst sense of humankind and micromanage a lot of things, even going out of their comfort zone to fight their own battles. Genis would talk a big game on making things interesting but would rather drink whine, Dogranio would be too busy being bored and sometimes ask if Destra's doing a good job or Bukkawaus having panic attacks on the current Earth's status and the MOTW despite capturing a lot of worlds at his disposal and his empire to rule but other than their...1-dimensionality, they just stand in a corner and let things happen without a plan of their own. The villains themselves seem quite interesting but never make a move of their own with Ijirude being the mad scientist of the Tojitendo group initiating a plan but doesn't follow-up.

It's quite a shame since we could have at least see how their strengths would have benefitted their groups and why their leaders basically kept them around as long as possible. Azald was once a fighting god but sealed but when he got his memories back, it's never explained or followed-up like Azald trying to overthrow Genis or just fight for him since he likes having him around as a bro or Destra being called a son by Dogranio but never followed up. Cannon Top being a high-ranking officer and basically gaining tons of wives whom were already dead and Stacey being his bastard son though he never loves him and considers him trash. We never get to see how the chemistry of these bad boys goes which could've been hella interesting but sidelined. Then we got Quval who is the smartest of the Deathgaliens but was fooled to believe he was fighting for the right side considering he was a conquered slave just like Stacey thanks to Bunglay's interference. Naria...basically made monsters grow. Gauche herself seems like the mad scientist of the Ganglers though I find it baffling that the Patrangers never managed to arrest her whenever she appears out of nowhere, you think they might have had a plan to apprehend her for enlarging Ganglers and causing mass mayhem, it would have made for very interesting developments. Same goes with Ijirude who seems like an interesting villain like Gauche but even when Stacey was around, he never made it clear that Stacey was his tool into getting it big with Bukkawaus' approval to be his apprentice and get even with Cannon Top. You think with repeated failures between Cannon Top and Ijirude, having Stacey to level the playing field would have Ijirude boss him around and stuff buuuuut...nah.

So yeah, the villains themselves aren't quite memorable because well, they never did much nor did they have any memorable lines imo, even when the story seems to elevate at a certain level. But that's not the only problem I have with Komura's writing. With a story, there's a lot of stuff to cover over and the biggest problem comes with the pacing itself. You might say 'Well, Sentai does have this kind of writing. It's nothing to write home about.' True but considering we have Kiramager and Gokaiger that has quite a lot of explaining of heroes' motivations as well as world building aspects, it keeps the story engaging and makes the world our heroes live in believable. We can also say the same thing about Super Sentai Strongest battle which is possibly the best thing Sentai related which has the heroes battle for a special prize but little did they know, a plot is emerging from the shadows and some Rangers are wise to the plot. The middles of Junko's does suffer from the usual MOTW formula which tends to get repetitive a lot too quick but the biggest problem is of course coming. And that is....world building.

Yes, world building. This quite irks me a LOT and I wanted this to be touched on in Sentais. For example, Zyuland/Beastland is touted to be an ancient part of the Earth until it was ripped from our world and transferred to another dimension. Beastland was never discovered until a few humans accidentally dropped into said world but when they were accidentally thrown into a cliff, the Beastlands' officials basically stayed quiet until Bud couldn't take no more of them keeping their xenophobia silence until he decides to get away from Beastland and escape to Earth.

It could have had interesting developments like how Larry was accidentally hunted down by humans when he got too close to humans and got injured by a gun. We could have seen more Beast members coming out of the wood work and acknowledging they didn't like to be in the quiet zone for too long but got caught in between the anger of humans who got fed up with alien attacks and got mistaken as aliens or have been captured or forced to fight by the Deathgaliens for their Blood Game. It could have been quite a huge story drive up and feels a lot more like proto-Kamen Rider Zero One in terms of the story and themes.

What about Lupin vs Pat? The Ganglers are attacking humans? Why do they? They seem to enjoy pushing humans around due to the backstory of them co-existing with humans from another world called Back World so maybe they feel as though they're superior to humans and other organics so they feel they have the right to get what they want but sadly, never explained. Zenkaiger might be the closest we'll get to explaining worlds but even then, we still dunno what is even keeping Kikaitopia afloat for all these years and thankfully, one episode of Zenkaiger explains that the revolutionary fight against Tojitendo happened long ago thanks to Juran's ancestor and never finished due to how powerful they were. A lot of the formulaic aspects of Komura's writing feels quite left to be desired considering a lot of other world aspects of her shows tend to be thrown under the rug and that's a shame because I would love to see quite a different take on Sentai if she was able to breathe her own style which could be something a lot of ppl would be talking about for years to come. It would elevate the themes of Zyuohger where huntings the name of the game for the villains, no matter which world it is, the thrill of the hunt is what matters to them but for the heroes, either Beastman nor humans, all life should be protected no matter the cost and we're all living under the same Earth which would be an A-plus. I would have loved to see where the humans woulda found out that Zyuohgers were different kinds of beings to their own, reject them for tricking them but at the end of the series, grew to accept the Beastman and bring them in as our own while rejecting the Deathgaliens whom they have been tricked by and pushed them back. I woulda loved to see Lupin vs Pat where despite the justice and great ideals the Patrangers have, the humans are no better than the Ganglers considering the reason why Ganglers love humans. They like them for their dark natures that they conceal and denial and pity while also delight in picking on humans due to them kneeling down to much stronger powers bigger than theirs and delights how powerless humans are when pushed back by a stronger power. An endless cycle that Dogranio let the situation slide, waiting for the rightful heir to his throne...a dead world that he brought upon himself due to having too much power and all human-like species on Back World were wiped out, causing boredom and patience. Lupinrangers maybe stealing but they feel they're the only ones who can stop the evil from growing when humanity is powerless to stop the Ganglers while the Patrangers are a symbol of that hope that humanity needed but challenged by both government and public opinion due to their effectiveness on the battlefield against the forces of evil as the Patrangers had their own personal struggles and trauma to deal with.

Zenkaiger...kinda a lot to take in though if we have to talk about symbolism, it would be co-existing between man and machine and becoming a machine to fight against a single mind who would subjugate other worlds in hopes of not being conquered and the only world that matters..hopes of being the ultimate god but 1 man along with 4 machines who were driven out by their world will band together to fight against a corrupt world they hope to bring back their freedom from their captors. Not to mention, the dangers of giving your own soul up to a machine who has no soul and no will of his own, just one simple goal of world wide unification kinda like Snatcher on Sega CD.

That's my thoughts on Junko Komura's writing. It has some potential but in a nutshell, it goes completely wasted but I hoped that one day, she might hit the big one with a hit.

But on the bright side, she has a pretty good track record on pretty good Red Rangers/Sentai leaders. Yamato being a college graduate who will help anyone regardless of what they are tho struggles to coincide with his father whom he thought to have cheated on his mother, even on her death bed. Kairi being a smooth talker, confident and adept with his abilities though his jealousy over his brother's althetism gets the better of him and not to mention, guilt of his brother's death causes him to be bitter and pissed depending on who pisses Kairi off. Keiichiro who is a serious dude who takes his job really seriously but has to learn to see things around him and recall what his duty is to the ppl for the ppl and Kaito (strange because a name like that is usually for thieves when it comes to Japanese media) being a weird and eccentric but also a capable go-getter when he gets his engine running, will not stop until justice is served and makes huge goals of being the first mummy to fight, first guy to climb a tower, etc. Not to mention, some characters do have quite a character buff-ups like Touma being a responsible boyfriend who works hard for his girl and makes time for her in a flashback (unlike a certain surgeon though that Kamen Rider admits his denial so I shouldn't be hard on the guy) and will fight to get her back as well as being the cool-head among the Lupins, Sakuya being the greenhorn of the Patrangers though despite his clumsiness, he's still a sharpshooter with an amazing big heart and also is in love with Umika, Umika being one happy girl and one you wouldn't wanna mess with when she's all on her lonesome, a problem she'll have to face considering the incident that claimed her best friend's life she'll have to overcome.

Junko Komura also happens to write the best 6th rangers we've had in a long time when it meant something back then. Misao...probs is the least of the best imo but considering he was put through the wringer, no thanks to Genis (think captured animal logic, it applies here too), with patience and a cool heart, Misao does fight for his friends despite being pulled out of his own comfort zone, Noel being the dazzling and charismatic mofo he is (srsly cool,man), basically crosses the line between Lupin and Pat but instead of antagonizing, basically infiltrates our heroes' hearts in order to get the two teams to fight against the real evil hurting the world other than their own personal issues. Then we have Zoxx....dang, that Zoxx....is just one badass mother brother. You got no clue of how badass this dude is. He has no right to be this cool but Junko managed to write this dude as bombastic as ever. It's like Don Karnage from Tailspin and Disney's Ducktales '17 if he was an anti-hero in a Power Rangers show. That's him.

Not to mention, the Zenkaigers have quite a subtle hint on their world building too. Vroom being able to pull his best Jack Skellington impression and is curious about the world but when in Tojitendo, he was a measly janitor who had no idea where his life will head, Magine was once timid, now she's a lot more vocal, a lot more go-getter and her mana easily surpasses 100% accuracy. No srsly, her magic is literally that good though her episodes do showcase her bringing in a lot more friends, raising her self-esteem and love for her magic and occult stuff a lot more when in her debut, she was quite shy to face the news camera and Kaito. We get to learn Gaon's backstory that with Tojitendo's rule under his head, Gaon never seem to find any solace in his own ppl and possibly thinks all machines are the same no thanks to Tojitendo and the Wall's influence and when given the chance to get out of his prison-like world, he enjoys the company of organics, human and animals included. It's when being near the Zenkaiger team where he has to learn that not all machines are like the Tojitendo and when the Zenkaiju gear was tossed out of his hand due to it wanting to eat a lunch he prepped, Jyuran reprimanded him that if he ditched a Kikainoid child who wanted help, he'll help a human kid instead. That's when in the peaceful scenery of humans and reploi...I mean Kikainoids, does he finally understood that not all his kind was programmed for bad. I even liked the love episode where the Zenkaigers are huge that Vroom was basically on a board in a library and one episode when Zoxx and Kaito were framed for countless acts of crime, the police basically caught Kaito but not what you think would happen but instead decided to put him in sanctuary so the real criminals who were the fakers would be captured properly and the real deals will be released. Not something I would imagine happen considering Marvel and DC would always try to find faults in their heroes, its nice to see a city whom is thankful for their heroes and wanting to deal with the problems head on on their own and acknowledged the real problems and get the perpetrators sent by the villains to surrender.

Also another bright spot, according to Kotetsu Toys on Youtube/Taka, Lupinranger vs Patranger got an award for best writing and rave reviews from famous Japanese Screenwriters which I'm glad happened since it goes to show that Junko does have a little spark in her. I honestly hope in the future, some of her ideas might grow into fruition, even rivalling that of Kamen Rider in general which I hope to see Sentai excel in the future. https://youtu.be/fPqCFyo_ftU

I'll be waiting to see Zenkaiger's finales and I enjoyed Zenkaiger for what it is. Though what do you think? Share your thoughts on what do you think of Junko Komura as a writer? I’ll be waiting for the end of the show to give my final thoughts.

Also, considering the number of TF references I make, does anyone get the feeling Junko Komura is secretly a Transformers fan? Certainly looks like it from what I'm seeing. 0_-

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