“Oh, I see.” Tadano turned to Komi. “So you want to go see a concert?”
Komi ardently nodded, then her face tipped to the side slightly, indicating that she was thinking. She then picked up her notebook to write out a response.
I’ve always wanted to go to a concert, but concerts on TV look crowded and scary, the page read. She flipped to the next page and wrote some more. This place looks nice and small, but I don’t know any of the bands playing there.
Tadano picked up the poster to read it again. “Can’t say I’ve heard of these bands either. ‘Love Crysis’, ‘Black Frill’, ‘Ho-kago Tea Time’… what kind of a name is that?”
Komi let out a single, barely audible giggle at his reaction, causing Tadano’s head to whip around and face her.
I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard her laugh, he realized with no small amount of awe.
Continuing on posting about how I making my coding experience more fun, I'll be going to show you what I did to pinkify my:
code editor (VSCode)
IDE (Visual Studio)
Visual Studio
Theme
So, let's start with Visual Studio because I use that the most because of work! I installed themes to it (here is a post I made on how to install the exact ones I have (install once, comes with lots of themes)) and I changed the fonts!
Best you follow my installation post, as the themes I will list now will be from that exact theme set I installed (called "The Doki Theme"). I'm a fan of Light themes more than the Dark ones for VS:
♡ Natsuki Light (the theme in the pictures + my favourite)
♡ Beatrice
♡ Mai Light
♡ Miia
♡ Mioda Ibuki Light
♡ Nakano Itsuki
♡ Nakano Nino
♡ Ram
Themes 'Beatrice' to 'Ram' have pink in the themes but it's not the main colour of the theme, if that makes sense, but still cool to me so I switch to them every so often! ヾ(^-^)ノ
Fonts
Sometimes I get tired of the monospace font on my code editor. I know it's almost a crime to change the font of your code editor/IDE but I get bored so easily, a well-known trait of mine, and want to spice things up again so I change the font! As well as that, my eyes have a hard time reading the code after a while because of the monospace font! I still sometimes use it though~! (´;ω;`)
But first, for those who don't know how to change the font + font size (if you want also) in Visual Studio:
♡ Toolbar > Tools > Options > Environment > Fonts and Colors > Font
Okay, so I split my chosen fonts so you can pick according to your font style taste~! :
These are my favourite themes and the first one is the one I am currently using! To learn how to change the theme on VSCode: here. Now my chosen themes:
The entry and exit to each floor of Mementos is based on the appearance of train stations, and the stamps you collect for Jose are seemingly the game's version of train stamps lol.
I'm not sure if this is still true, but train stamps were introduced to me as something that smaller kids will collect when they travel with their families, so it makes sense to me that the NPC associated with them is also a kid. As an adult tourist, I've never bothered with train stamps cause you really have to go out of your way to find some of them and when I'm at a train station my ass is trying to go somewhere lol. I suppose that even in real life, some of those stamp locations must feel like they're random spawns.
I have absolutely bothered with red shrine seals, though. Maybe Persona 6 will have the protagonist collecting those.
Ryuji takes you to a ramen restaurant in Ogikubo. Based on it being in Ogikubo and the appearance of the restaurant in-game, it's modeled after Marufuku Chinese Noodles near Ogikubo Station. The sign in-game just says "Chinese Noodles" without the store name. I'm not sure if this is a famous restaurant or maybe it's just one that Atlus employees like to eat at lol.
Ryuji also takes you to a monjayaki restaurant in Tsukishima during his Confidant. You go to Tsukishima specifically because Tsukishima has a line of restaurants called Monja Street that specializes in, you guessed it, monjayaki.
Akechi introduces you to a jazz bar in Kichijoji called Jazz Jin. The outside appearance seems to be based on Some Time which is also located in Kichijoji. Only the outside resembles what's in-game, though. The inside is different.
Yongenjaya isn't a real place in Tokyo, but it seems to be a renamed version of Sangenjaya - san means 3, yon means 4. I've not been to Sangenjaya, though I've heard that details like the laundromat, even down to the vending machine, looks nearly the same as it does in-game. (If you are interested in doing Persona 5 tourism around Tokyo, I've heard that the Sangenjaya locals do not appreciate Persona 5 tourism or related loitering in this area.)
Shibuya Station is pretty much accurate with how it is IRL. The green train car that you visit Tora at has been moved since the game came out, but the dog statue of Hachiko (or Buchiko as its known in game) is there, the 1000 stairs you climb to get to the Ginza Line, etc, is also all accurate.
When you touch base with Ohya, you unlock Shinjuku. The movie theater in-game is called Cult 9, which is based on an actual movie theater in Shinjuku called Wald 9. The other areas in Shinjuku seem to be a condensed version of Kabukicho (or Kamurocho, if you've played Like a Dragon).
Futaba wants to go shopping in Akihabara and Nakano. Akihabara you've probably already heard about as Nerd Haven. She also talks about visiting Nakano, likely to go shopping at Nakano Broadway which is home to a bunch of Mandarake 2nd hand anime/etc goods stores.
The "huge pancake" that Morgana was talking about is how Tokyo Dome looks from the outside. The pancakes he's comparing it to are the thicc souffle-style fluffy jiggly pancakes that you can get at various restaurants. (Also probably what Akechi thinks of when he hears delicious pancakes lol.)
The other areas and things, I'm really not sure there's much to say about them.
Ann takes you to Harajuku cause she wanted to eat sweets (this is really relatable btw)
Meiji jingu is also real and located near Harajuku
The buffet Ann takes the guys to is the Marble Lounge, but I believe it's since been remodeled
There's multiple museums in Ueno
There's a Catholic church in west Kanda but afaik the inside looks different than in-game
Inokashira Park is real and has swan boats and stuff
Ikebukuro's planetarium is in Sunshine City Mall
Chinatown is real but it's much further than the map makes you think (it's in Yokohama)
Odaiba Seaside Park is another real location
Miura Beach is also real, way down south past Yokohama
Let's Read: A Requiem for Char: The Red Comet of My Youth - Chapter 1
by Shūichi Ikeda
This post will be an overview of the first chapter, Steps to Becoming an Actor.
Please note this isn't a full summary by any means, just a highlight of parts I found interesting. Very long post under the cut!
Shūichi Ikeda was born on December 2, 1949 in Numabukuro in Nakano Ward, Tokyo. Growing up in the years after World War II, Ikeda recalls that although the scars of the war still remained here and there, the entire country was filled with an upwards surging momentum that could be described as "hope after a long period of suffering".
In 1958, he was invited by a friend to join Komadori Theater Company (劇団こまどり). Founded in 1948, it was a prestigious children's theater company that later produced many famous actors, including familiar names like Maaya Sakamoto, Daisuke Namikawa, and Ikeda's wife, Sakiko Tamagawa. He passed the entrance exam and started his career as an actor at only eight years old.
Along with movies, radio had a large presence in popular entertainment in those days. The first experience that Ikeda and the other child actors had was with radio dramas, broadcast on NHK radio. In elementary school, it was his daily routine to go to the NHK studio after school. There he co-starred with popular talents of the time.
In a funny side note, Ikeda recalls fond memories of the bento lunches they had at the studio. The rank of the bento changed depending on the rank of the actor with whom he was working. One particular instance he noted was how when the famous Musei Tokugawa starred in a lead role, lunch was eel bento, a rare delicacy back then.
As time went on, TV dramas became more popular, and Ikeda was offered his first role on television only three months after he joined Komadori. It was a simple role - a child crying in the corner in the background of a shot - but he remembers it fondly as a memorable first step into the world of acting.
In his junior high days, Ikeda starred in Gashintare (がしんたれ), a TV adaptation of the autobiography of playwright Kazuo Kikuta, and the movie Robō no Ishi (路傍の石, "Roadside Stone"), two works that made him seriously consider the job of "actor" for the first time.
In this chapter, Ikeda also talks about his relationship with famed Japanese film actor Yūjirō Ishihara. The two met as co-stars on the TV drama Shi no Hakubutsushi - Chīsaki Tatakai (死の博物誌 – 小さき闘い, The Natural History of Death – A Small Battle). Ikeda says he was immediately struck by his aura the moment he entered the rehearsal room.
Ikeda recalls how on set, Ishihara jokingly addressed him as “Shū-sensei”, as a nod to the fact Ikeda was much more experienced with TV dramas, despite being much younger.
“Shū-sensei, you're a junior high school student, but you’re more senior than me as a TV actor, aren't you?”
In response, Ikeda replied,
“Well then, I'll call you Yu-sensei. On TV, I may be the sensei, but if I appear in a movie with you, please be the sensei.”
Ikeda fondly remembers him as a star that never faded no matter how much time had passed. Sadly, Ishihara passed away July 17th, 1985, and he never got the chance to film on a movie set with him.
In his words, “Even now, I keep in mind the way of life as an actor that Yujiro-san taught me. And I still call out to him...as Yu-sensei.”
In the spring of 1964, Ikeda began his role as the star of Jiro Monogatari (次郎物語), a TV drama based on the novel of the same name. The story depicts Japan in the early Shōwa period as seen from the perspective of Jiro Honda, a boy of a former samurai family.
The show was a hit among viewers of all ages, and ended up running as a nationally broadcast drama for two years. However, due to the popularity, from that point forward in his childhood acting career, Ikeda was typecast as a similar character - or as he refers to it, the image of “Jiro Shonen”, “a boy in a kasuri kimono”.
Ikeda was around 24 or 25 years old when Kohei Miyauchi asked him if he would be interested in doing voice-over work. The role was in a one-shot overseas drama for NHK about a group of three train robbers. Ikeda remembers struggling to adjust, thinking it might not be the best fit after all.
Soon after he was offered a role in André Cayatte's Mourir d'aimer as the dub voice for Bruno Pradal. At first he was hesitant, but accepted after finding out he would be alongside Tomoko Naraoka (dubbing Annie Girardot), whom he had worked with earlier in his career during his time as a child actor.
Ikeda recalls how this experience helped change his perspective on voice over work.
"Rather than trying to match the voice of the actor on the screen or strictly matching the actual lip-syncing, I felt how the actor and director put together the character, and translated that atmosphere into Japanese-style acting."
After appearing as a voice actor in other overseas dramas, a new opportunity arose. The person who approached him was Kazuya Tatekabe, of Doraemon fame. The two became friends and often went drinking with their fellow co-stars after work.
It was Tatekabe who introduced Ikeda to Noriyoshi Matsuura, who worked as an editor and sound director on various anime. Through some gentle persuading, he convinced Ikeda to give anime a try (while drunk, he admits), specifically the character Radik in Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3.
However, Ikeda found the speed of the process and inability to preview the material beforehand (like he was used to with film voice overs) overwhelming. He remembers thinking, "this is my first and last anime".
Despite this, Matsuura convinced him to give one more audition a try, with the promise they could go for drinks afterwards. Ikeda agreed, though wasn't enthusiastic about it.
...That audition was for the role of Amuro Ray in the upcoming anime Mobile Suit Gundam.
~
That's all for Chapter 1! I'll continue with these posts for each chapter as I go. Of course I recommend checking out the book for yourself if possible as I've left out a lot of content here for brevity.
Godzilla having himself a grand ole time in Shinjuku, from The Return of Godzilla (1984).
I remember vividly touring Toho Studios in 2015. I met the late Teruyoshi Nakano, the special effects director for the film, who proudly described the filming of Godzilla’s rampage through Tokyo.
Nakano-san was grinning ear-to-ear as he joyously and animatedly demonstrated - on the exact stage where filming took place - where his staff had erected and destroyed buildings, how pyrotechnics were placed, how the Super-X was flown on wires, and a million other details. It was as he had just filmed the scenes the day before, instead of 31 years earlier.
At the time of the tour Japan was experiencing the worst heat wave in its history (at the time; the record may have been broken since then), where the temperature and the humidity remained in the high 90s for over two weeks. The temperature inside the stage we were on was well over 100 degrees because it, like 90% of Toho Studios, was not air conditioned. Yet Nakano-san, who was 79 years old and long retired, seemed unaffected by the heat and moved about like a man a quarter his age.
It was an absolute joy to see Nakano-san so proud and passionate about his work, even decades after it had been completed. It was even more meaningful to me, because the fruits of that passion brought me endless hours of entertainment, and has been a big part of my life.
Thank you very much, Sensei, and rest in peace knowing your legacy lives on.