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#tomoko mariya
grapeflavoredorange · 2 years
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i love you mariya takeuchi i love you miki matsubara i love you tomoko aran i love you junko yagami i love you miho nakayama i love you taeko ohnuki i love you yurie kokubu i love you junko ohashi i love you takako mamiya i love you kaoru akimoto i love you meiko nakahara i love you yukiko okada i love you momoko kikuchi i love you citypop
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kez19h · 2 years
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testure-1988 · 8 months
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lightlycareless · 7 months
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Chapter 36 - thoughts.
Hello everyone!
Back at it again with chapter 36’s notes! Of course, if you want to avoid spoilers I recommend reading the chapter (found right over here) first. Also, I skipped chapter 35’s notes because I didn’t think there was much to say… or if there was, it would be too short for me to make a post. However, if there’s something you’d like for me to expand on that chapter I’ll gladly oblige! My ask box is always open ❤️
As always, major spoilers underneath the cut, as well as no proofreading, or very minimal. All candid you know lol.
Now, without further ado, here are the notes!
This chapter was meant to clarify or deepen the motivations behind some of the characters :> uncover the continuous mystery surrounding Minako’s and Tomoko’s absence, their relationship with their family, and one thing I’ve been wanting to explore about jujutsu (which I’m not done with hehe) however, I did face some difficulties, mainly because of the timeline and if the stories were tragic enough HAHAHA.
But anyways, let’s start with the hardships.
The timeline, a.k.a how old were Y/N and Naoya when their respective mothers died. Now, I don’t like setting down dates because I feel like once you take that commitment, there’s no going back 😂. And there’s too many things I want to explore to reduce them into dates, so I tend to leave them open-ended.
However, with Y/N I did have some guidelines. It was important for me to keep Minako’s death occurring after ’98, and all because I said she was very supporting of Ren when Ginger Spice left the Spice Girls 😭 not them influencing my fic once again 😂 that, and because I didn't envision her being present in the high school era of their kids.
Taking all of this into consideration, her death would've to occur inbetween 99-01. The latest would make Y/N roughly 10 years old, Hinata 12, Ren 14. Very young to lose a mother, indeed.
As for Naoya, I just needed him to be old enough to remember Tomoko, but not that old for Mariya and the gang to remember her. Out of the two, she would have to be the most mysterious one, considering nobody wants to talk about, (I wouldn't be surprised if the members of the estate didn't know when she was last seen) one could even say she’s more of a legend at this point, impossible to prove or disprove.
I think the one that knows/remembers most of her had to be Junko, considering how she was trained to be Ogi’s wife or whatever bullshit by her. Naobito can’t be bothered to remember his own wife, not even after the 6 kids she gave him, although he is the kind of person to compare “his ex” with his partners, saying how she was prettier or some other bs, or even look for said partners who kind of resemble her. At least her memories live on with him like that jfc what am I even saying.
Anywayssssss
I think that out of the two, Tomoko’s story was the most tragic. In the way that she was essentially doomed from the very moment Naobito set eyes on her. I don’t think she ever imagined the things she would have to go through. Maybe the kid part she had an idea, but the rest? Nah, no amount of indoctrination could ever prepare her for that.
The more depth I give her, the more realize how truly alone she is, like it physically pained me to have to write how Tomoko could only trust her children (and not even all of them); she probably couldn’t even rely on Junko for anything. Now that it’s been brought up, Tomoko probably asked Junko’s favorite flowers to be planted as a way to show sorority, reach out to her, but it flew past her. I don’t doubt she desperately tried to reach out to her family too, only to be told to “suck it up” and that this is the best thing to happen in their life, so she better not ruin it.
Once again, the Zen’in dynamic is heavily inspired by the Todoroki fam lol Tomoko must be Rei around the time she burnt Shoto. I’m glad to say that it didn’t go to those extremes but had Naoya not said anything… who knows what might’ve happened. Even as disgusting as he’d become, I’m glad his child-self didn’t get attacked like that.
Another point I wanted to explore about her was her dynamic with the rest of her kids. If I had to put like a list of her most to least liked kids, Naoaki would be the first, from there Naofumi, Naohiko, Naosuke, Naohito, and finally, Naoya.
Naoaki is mainly because he was her first child, back then when she was still… “ok”, and even with the environment she had to raise him, she still cared for him and was very involved in his upbringing, as much as she could anyways.
Because he was the oldest one, the most “mature one” thanks to his crude childhood, Tomoko felt she could confide in him, but that relationship didn’t flourish until he was replaced by Naoya.
I swear, Tomoko must’ve been the kind of mother that unintentionally pitted her children against each other and spoke badly of their father to them by saying things (mainly to Naoaki) like “I don’t know what your father is thinking about, you’re clearly much better than Naoya” and “You were never as impolite as him” and so on and so forth. She might’ve also been blunt about how Naobito doesn’t seem to like them, but that “didn't matter” because she does. (OK Tomoko, not sure they wanted to hear the first part but aight)
She tried being a good mother, she really did. But her environment, alongside the critical pregnancies she had finally took a toll on her mental health, and it led her to take it out on Naoya—I believe the best way to describe what she was feeling was postpartum depression, but considering how grave it was and the problems she had with her previous pregnancies, it was more likely postpartum psychosis.
The Zen’in strike me as the kind of family that doesn’t believe in mental health—less if it comes from women, I shouldn’t be surprised they thought Tomoko as simply “emotional” instead of having an actual condition that needed treatment. Oh no, the Zen’in shooting themselves on the foot once again? Who could've seen this coming?!
Naoya unfortunately became the outlet of Tomoko’s suffering, which started as soon as she gave birth to him and held him—she looked at that poor baby and something inside her snapped. Something like “you’re the child these bastards were looking for, you’re the reason why I had to suffer so much.”
Also, I don’t know if anyone remembers one post a long time ago, where I said I was watching the movie Hereditary and was like “Huh, inspiring.”
I meant this scene. Except that Tomoko (or at least that’s what I understood from the mom’s “disdain” for the kid—of course, that was just one issue of the many they had lol) didn’t feel sorry for Naoya and the life he was going to be put through, but rather all that she had to endure to conceive him. Can’t blame her, it was tough… I just wished none of them had to become her victims too.
That, and essentially Azula from Avatar, that one scene where she’s like “my own mother thought I was a monster” goddamn if that isn’t painful—it made you feel bad for her, even with her craziness, she just wanted a mother 😭 unnghhhh not me trying to redeem Naoya!!!! (more like make him… human)
Her absence was definitely the major point as to why Naoya turned out to be the way he did. With her gone, the last “happy” (let’s put it that way) thing inside the Zen’in was completely eradicated. Even if Naoya didn’t get to interact much with her, just by seeing her by afar he probably would’ve been like, wait…. What is… that—get a reference on how not to be an absolute, indisputable piece of shit.
He would’ve still turned to be a jackass, but maybe not that bad? Idk, people can have two parents and still turn batshit crazy.
Now, this also served to justify his womanizing ways lol. I don’t know why the fandom decided that was to be one of his traits (which I don’t mind I guess), considering he’s insufferable, but after watching one of my favorite youtuber’s expand on someone who behaved a similar way, I was like DAMN is that Naoya.
People tend to seek attention through various ways, and for Naoya that would be in countless women. It’s peak mommy issues, I know, but in his defense… don’t we all have parent issues 😭? Anyways, Naoya tried to search for that one person that would cherish/love him unconditionally, someone that made him truly special, saw for who he was and not for what he had… (can you believe I based that “you’re my favorite child because you’re the most talented one” line FROM A GODDAM DOUJINSHI? I won’t go into details, but it’s a certain obnoxious, irritating heir from a prestigious clan and his renegade cousin HAHAHAHAHH)
I mean, I get it, but what was Naoya expecting to find by flaunting his wealth in order to meet people? Not to say that everyone is like that but come on lol. And he wasn’t even selective about them either? He would just go with the one he considered attractive/convincing enough and hoped for the best, I guess? He became pickier further down the road (aw, Naoya eventually learned to be choosy lol) stopping only, of course, when he eventually met his beloved Y/N :> Just another tease for their first meeting (I feel like I’m hyping this too much, I hope it ain’t disappointing when it finally appears on the story)
Well, even if he cares for Y/N, he still takes a lot from Naobito. He’s lucky Y/N is essentially trapped with him because she would’ve left the moment she could—she’s not like Tomoko, she still has someone to support her so… the clock is ticking Naoya.
Now onto the other BS family, the L/N.
This is the part I liked the most, because it’s more inclined to the whole “expanding how jujutsu can be used” kind of thing.
I already knew that Minako was going to… die like that and was looking forward to expanding on it when it finally came to it. (I just know that Ren, Hinata, and Y/N would hate this one vine with a burning passion—Gojo is the one to show it to them and they will beat his ass) doubling down when the whole culling games arc thingy happened on the manga, I was like DAMN so that’s what Kenjaku was doing? What was going to happen with Tsumiki? oohoHOHOHO, although I don’t think both things could relate considering the timeline and the requirements to mark them… or who knows? I don’t remember if it was specified when Kenjaku started marking people, or if Tsumiki and the rest of the victims were the first ones. (there’s allot of things that don’t make sense to me 😭 and I haven’t kept up with the manga tbh)
Well, it didn’t stop me from going on with my plan, and thus I began to torture Y/N and her family.
The reason why Minako got cursed… was easy: because some sorcerers were jealous/desperate to get to her. After seeing how strong her kids were, they thought “well maybe we can kidnap her and use her” but after that proved to be a failure, they decided “if we can’t have her, no one can.”
It’s really sick to know that, but with a crazy-ass community as the one the jujutsu world has… I really couldn’t think of anything else. I mean, the Kamo’s…
Anyways, I always wondered what it meant to be haunted in this universe. Once again, I don’t remember if it was ever mentioned/shown (outside of haunting places) so I had to exploit that to my advantage.
I know curses are seen by sorcerers, but I like to think that those powerful enough, maybe having a set goal/victim/target manage to become invisible to everyone but them—either by sheer determination or something lol. No, but really, that must depend on the level/power/talent of the sorcerer that begins the haunting as well as the curse, and if they’re really powerful they might be able to zero-in on their victim completely untraceable, God help if the person isn’t a sorcerer. Like, no one will be able to feel a curse is nearby.
Because it takes great skill (to pass undetected), only a handful can perform the ritual it takes to haunt someone, making it a dangerous practice. I’d like to believe it was eventually forbidden at one point, thus destroying all records showing how to do so.
And because I want to, there are levels of haunts too hehehe, here are the ones I can think of right now:
Those to harass. Self-explanatory, they’re just there to bother, and depending on the intention, they might hurt too.
Those to influence. Do someone else’s bidding, an additional voice for your conscience. The victim might think it’s them thinking such thoughts and enact them on their own within time. They’re fully conscious of what’s happening, might question if they truly want to do that, but they go through with it anyways.
Those to control. Take full control of their body and conscience. It’s the harsher one of the three to do (as well as difficult to trace), because its success greatly depends on the will of the victim. If the victim is strong-willed the haunt might take some time to work, if at all, and depending on the curse, it might find ways to debilitate them to ease their entrance. Once controlled, the victim will not remember anything that happened until after, rarely are they conscious during the act.
Minako was affected by the last one—however, it didn’t go as successfully as the perpetrator wanted because I like to imagine that since the OG rituals were wiped out, the only thing that managed to survive (if anything) were pieces here and there of information, leaving the rest to the imagination haha.
It’s why Minako was still able to fight it off a bit, and remember some things. But yeah, someone was intending to take control of her—and she was fighting that person (as shown by those allegedly senseless conversations) to stay away from her, but in the end she succumbed.
Omg I just thought… what if Minako, upon noticing the curse user’s intentions, decided to sabotage her body??????????????? Stop eating so they wouldn’t control her? Omg………………………………………………………………………………………………
But of course, the notes are here to give closure on some things, so… even with Minakos’ strong will, the curse managed to inflict enough damage on her, the result of those actions being the marks on across her body, setting her up to be controlled.
I gotta say, even though the L/N are absolute, always-wrong, pieces of poop, they did the right thing by “killing” Minako during this stage, because the next thing would’ve been the curse controlling her.
The rumor of them being the ones responsible of her death is nasty. But not so crazy, considering the elders really did not like Minako for something that wasn’t even her responsibility, but try convincing these “old-style” bastards out of it…
Writing this made me think of a question idk if anyone wondered lol considering these rituals were “banned” it would make sense someone would try to report them to HQ right? or if it’s something new, never-seen before… right?
Well, Eiichi tried, but without solid evidence, it could easily just be a rumor—and a waste of time/money to pursue. He was very angry with that, believe me, and scolded the elders for wasting an opportunity to prevent another family from suffering the same.
However, if they had been responsible of that… they obviously wouldn’t rat out the person that helped them.
Omg…. What if in the au where Toji takes Naoaki’s role or so, he was taking jobs on the side, shady ones, and he was actually involved in Minako’s death (to not say he was the one responsible)?????????????????????????????????????????????????? that might be the point where she starts to look at Naoya under a different light lol.
But yeah, going back to the actual story, gee, what an entanglement, truly. F the jujutsu community.
The following point is the deepening of the relationship of the main branch, a.k.a Eiichi, Minako, and all them kids.
I always envisioned all of the kids being super close to Minako, and not because they disliked Eiichi (he was a good dad—just… awkward lol. Uncool, and just how Posh Spice would say... yeah, poor Eiichi 😂. He’s definitely an avid practitioner of dad-jokes) but because his duties often kept them apart; he tried his best to be present, but it’s hard sometimes.
They all loved them kids tho, but because of particular reasons I will disclose later, that being now, Y/N was the favorite one. After Hinata and Ren filled the L/N clan’s expectations, it essentially allowed Y/N to have allot of free time with her parents, so they were able to dote on her more frequently.
It just made me wonder how much Y/N had to train in order to keep up with them (specially Hinata) since she wasn’t a priority when it came to her jujutsu education—I’m sure they all did what they could so she wouldn’t be left behind, but more likely than not she did lots of self-learning.
I really liked the opportunity this chapter gave me to deepen Ren’s, Hinata’s, and Eiichi’s motivations. I swear to God their subconscious took Y/N’s abducting as “yet again, another sorcerer (clan) trying to hurt our family”
Of course this was enough for them to snap, but they all reacted differently.
Because Eiichi felt completely alone without Minako, it was easier for him to be manipulated by the Zen’in (allegedly AHAHAH) and because they were so aggressive about it, he genuinely thought Y/N would be much better with them than him continuing to resist, so there’s that—but if it’s worth anything, he’s deeply regretful for having succumbed and there’s not a day where he doesn’t believe Minako is cursing him from heaven. Of course, those thoughts come more to him while he’s drunk, another consequence of having lost her. He was an occasional drinker, mostly social, but his grief certainly took him to that point.
Ren was probably the most aware one when his mom got sick, and thus, the one that probably felt the most responsible. Going on and on about how he was supposed to be a sorcerer, just a few years away from entering jujutsu high, and yet didn’t figure out his mother was being haunted/cursed. The guilt inside him was so big, he had to get out of the house as quickly as possible—one of the many reasons why he decided to study in Kyoto at first, only coming back later when he grew disappointed by the environment there (which just made him remember of the elders of his clan he hates so much) and missed his family, so he eventually returned. It was kind of a “well, if I’m going to be angry all the time, I’d rather be angry with my family around.”
Hinata also felt very, very guilty for what happened to Minako, mainly because of her cursed technique. She went through a phase of constantly demeaning herself, calling herself “inept” or “stupid” because her technique is supposed to protect the user/target from those kinds of attacks—this led her to become far more… involved/creative with her technique, trying to exploit her limits as much as she could to prevent something like this ever escaping her attention.
Y/N felt the most isolated, because she heavily relied on being with someone, (thanks to the elders being nasty with her ugh) you know? Someone to support her. The rest tend to deal with their own things by themselves, and while they still supported each other, it wasn’t the same. I guess that’s the reason why she was so excited to attend jujutsu high, only to be left virtually alone when the whole crisis thing happened and no new students were enrolling, worsening when Naoya decided to further isolate her from the rest of the world when marrying her. Her getting heavily attached to Naoaki, Mariya and the gang, Mai and Maki, shouldn’t be a surprise at this point. Specially Naoaki nnnhhhhggghhhhhh.
I know there were different expectations for this chapter, mainly because we’ve been desperately hoping for the moment Naoya and Y/N will finally talk lol. And I gotta say I might’ve disappointed some by how she essentially ran away… but I promise it will be worth it in the end lol Y/N running out on him like that is good I believe, cause she’s shocked that Naoya is actually capable of feeling anything else, but you know, pure evil.
These two chapters were mostly intended to show the human side of Naoya, Y/N’s reaction to it and just how similar their backgrounds were when it came to their mother's.... but with outcomes so different.
To give him emotions (and show how he handles them—terribly. I mean, he got sick!! HAHAH it’s like that one episode in atla where Zuko is good for the first time in his life and gets sick) and maybe deepen their relationship. It helps that Y/N is very empathetic to those around her… but it’ll be up to her and how he decides to act during this time if something happens between the two.
I gotta say, if I play my cards right, I think we’re like 3 chapters away from that one chapter I’VE BEEN WAITING TO WRITE FOR FOREVER I SWEAR ALL THIS SLOW BURN WILL BE WORTH IT. :> But until then…
Thank you so much for coming for a new update!!!! I know I’ve been taking quite the hiatus here and there, but it does not mean I don’t find importance in this fic, and the support you’ve given me 🥺❤️ Thank you so much for being patient with me! Can’t wait to show what’s coming next!!
As always, these are just important parts I remember as highly influential for the chapter, but if there's something you'd like to know more about don't hesitate to let me know!! I'll do my best to respond ❤️
Now, take care, have a wonderful week, and hope to see all of you soon!!
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insomniac-jay · 3 months
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Alrighty then, introducing the official Solana Floof-Ghostie™ RiddlerChrome Noir! AU Playlist:
Midnight Driver, by Minako Yoshida
Twilight Zone, by Minako Yoshida
Koi ha Ryusei, by Minako Yoshida
Midnight Pretenders, by Tomoko Aran
Smooth Operator, by Sade
The Sweetest Taboo, by Sade
Is it a Crime, by Sade
Frankie's First Affair, by Sade
Suspended in Gaffa, by Kate Bush
Summertime, by Billie Holiday
There'll be Some Changes made, by Mildred Bailey
In the Mood, by Glenn Miller
The Way You Look Tonight, by Frank Sinatra
Why Don't you Do right? (Amy Irving's version)
I Put a Spell on You, by Nina Simone
Work Song, by Nina Simone
Feeling Good, by Nina Simone
St James Infirmary, Cab Calloway
The Villain I Appear to be, by Connor Spiotto and Molly Pease
Hit the Road Jack, by Ray Charles (I recommend listening to the live versions)
Cherry Pie, by Sade
Fear, by Sade
A Song of Friendship, by Yueko Kurahashi
4:00.AM, Taeko Onuki
Plastic Love, by Mariya Takeuchi
Sunset, by Blu-Swing
Harlem Nocturne, by Dr. Saxlove
(I recommend listening to Dr. Saxlove's Jazz Noir album)
Just the Two of Us, by Bill Withers, and Grover Washington Jr.
I Can't Stop Loving You, by Ray Charles
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, by Ella Fitzgerald
My Last Affair, Mildred Bailey
FBRJENEJEENEJE BARK BARK BARK IT'S HERE I NEED TO WRITE THE NOIR AU NOW
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dajkag · 6 months
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Esti lejátszási listám:
Mariya Takeuchi - Plastic Love
Yurie Kokobu - Just a Joke
Tomoko Aran - I'm in Love
Matsubara Miki - Stay with Me
Cindy - Watashitachi o Shinjite Ite
Cannibal Corpse - Edible Autopsy
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wellthebardsdead · 2 years
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I Headcanon Sojiro from my Shimada coffee au really loves 80’s-90s J-pop.
Like I just imagine it fits him so well, him out on the small balcony above his cafe, shirtless on a hot summer night, having a smoke and occasionally staring back through the glass sliding doors to make sure his sons are still asleep, tired but wanting to just have a moment to himself before he finally goes to bed while ‘Stay with me’ by miki matsubara plays or even ‘tsuki no le’ by Akino Arai. ‘4am’ by Taeko Onuki would work too but on nights when he’s especially upset.
Or him up late after counting the tills and doing the books for the cafe, the kids are asleep, he’s struggling to stay awake doing the dishes and cleaning the house and he thinks Jack and Gabe are still off on a mission only for them both to to come home early and greet him with gentle hands sliding around his waist and soft kisses to his neck and cheek while one ushers him to bed and the other stays to finish the dishes before joining them all the while something like ‘Midnight pretenders’ by Tomoko Aran or maybe even something like ‘Plastic Love’ by Mariya Takeuchi.
I dunno I just think the soft gentle nighttime citycore sounds fit him nicely. I see him as a very tough on the exterior, fragile on the inside type of man whose now finally beginning to crack and come to terms with how messed up his life was. He’s trying but he’s so stressed and the music just makes him calm or fits his personal aesthetic perfectly! ~Bambi
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narvaldetierra · 11 months
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Tagged by @yesifitswithyou thanks for tagging me 💖✨
Ten songs I have on loop lately!
Warrior of the Mind - Epic: The Troy Saga
Exile - Taylor Swift ft. Bon Iver
Midnight Pretenders - Tomoko Aran
Defensores de Causas Perdidas Retirada - Agarrate Catalina
Complicated - Avril Lavigne
Someone to you - Banners
Nicki Nicole Tiny Desk
Dulce Locura - La Oreja de Van Gogh
Oh no, Oh yes - Mariya Takeuchi
Reyes de la noche - Guasones
The first one has been on loop for the last hour.
tagging @nachosncheezies @unorthodox-oblivion @ladyriot @scarletfern @thisismehappy and whoever wants to do it
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daisys-gard3n · 2 years
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crying and screaming and throwing up at the thought of Tomoko and Mariya's mother being co-workers. They're pretty much gossip buddies and hang around each other any free time given at the office, the occasional company dinner and so. So when Mariya's mother (I'm thinking Mayumi since that and Tomoko were popular names in the 70s and theyre around the same age) sees Mariya and Josuke out in public. She automatically goes to them and questions who the 'handsome young boy her daughter's with' and 'if he was her boyfriend' - only to get embarassment from Mariya trying to deny those claims and that Josuke was a friend at school.
Once he introduces himself, Mayumi gets estatic and tells him that she works with his mother and that it's such a happy coincidence. Telling him to please watch over her rowdy daughter since she was similiar to Mayumi in her youth.
The next time she's at work, Mayumi goes straight to Tomoko and starts gossiping about their children.
"I saw them getting ice cream together~ Do you think they're dating~? What if we became in-laws~!"
Tomoko going home and pinching Josuke by the ear.
"You better not fool around. Mayumi is one of my dearest coworkers, if you break Mariya's heart I'll kick your ass."
Mothers just embarassing their children about their very obvious developing feelings for each other.
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kez19h · 2 years
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“Being looked after, Looking for someone... Isn’t that what trust is about? Watching over the people you trust... I think that’s a good way To end our days. When they said it was hopeless... I brought my wife back home. And my wife said this: ‘All I have to do now is to look out Over the garden shining gold. Somehow that feels like a joyful luxury.’ There’s that, isn’t there? Even when people looked wretched, There are times that shine like a dream. In that house... I want to experience Many more times like that.”
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dare-g · 2 years
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Tokyo Heaven (1990)
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anamon-book · 4 years
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広告批評 特集・広告の七つの扉 1993・11(166号) マドラ出版 表紙=天野祐吉、撮影・佐藤晃通、モデル・毬谷友子
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lightlycareless · 2 years
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Chapter 23 - thoughts.
Hello everyone one!
As promised, here are the behind the scenes of the latest chapter! Chapter 23.
Now, I think it goes without saying that this will be filled with spoilers, so if you haven’t read that chapter be sure to do so! Unless you want spoilers, it’s ok. We all have free will hehe
Now, without further ado, here are by thoughts behind this chapter!
This chapter was basically me trying the loose ends around the estate; so, to make things easier, I think I’m going to break it down by characters, starting with:
Mai and Maki.
Well, I think I have to admit that I wanted them back—actually, we all wanted, right??? They were too cute and the way their relationship with Y/N was like 😭 So it didn’t feel right leaving it just like that.
There are many things that I initially intended for this to happen, starting by Naoaki being the one behind the reunion. But then I was like nah, I think it’ll have a better impact if it’s them directly, you know? Besides, I can’t give him ALL the wins lol. (a bit more realistic I think as well)
And I also intended their relationship with Junko, their mother, to be a bit darker. Example: Junko slapping Maki (although it would be stated that it was only to immediately place them back in their place, and avoiding their father getting involved) but nope. I don’t want that either. I’m like—I don’t need angst coming from my favorite members of the Zen’in clan. They deserve to be happy; nonetheless, it wouldn’t be all smooth sailing, you know?
The twins not giving up was super wholesome; and something I enjoyed writing. Y/N and Mai—Maki are such a sweet friendship 😭 I wasn’t going to give up on it. But I can also imagine how tiring it is, after all, kids can be a bit… well, they never seem to stop lol. Nonetheless, they care for each other very much 🥺❤
Now, onto Junko.
Junko and Y/N is a relationship that has still much more to explore? I think so, considering she hasn’t really opened up to Y/N (and reasonably so, she’s still like baffled with this modern woman and the fact that she’s Naoya’s wife lol) I mean, she somewhat accepted Y/N efforts to be grateful because she was kind of forced to lol but she was still thankful to accept the gesture anyways 😭 she deserved better, I hope to make her happy lol.
Also, her going on with the twins like: “I’ll tell your father about this!” Reminds me of Draco Malfoy so much hahahah, of course, with other wording, but still the same (somewhat) sentiment.
The servants.
So, I gotta say, the servants’ reactions were something that I wanted to do from the very beginning; having the whole estate against you must be terrible, and adding the staff—oof. However, I always imagined the staff to be like that simply because they’re riding the wave of whatever it is the masters are doing; however, they feel misrepresented so I guess it was obvious that seeing one of their masters or higher-ups defend them as like WoAH; I mean, I don’t think Junko would’ve stepped in, Tomoko might’ve tried—but she has a whole circus of children to take care of, so I don’t think she could either. She kind of just allowed things to flow.
Y/N coming to stand up for them was like a breath of fresh air, kind of natural that they would react like that. Not all of them of course, but some. Such is the power of endless possibilities but Y/N is not buying it (and doesn't know either); so it’s like a one-sided thing ahahah
Mariya
I GAGGED WHEN WRITING THIS and I also crying on her scene during the night, but let’s start with her paramour hhahahaha
I wanted to write this for the longest—Mariya is like my favorite OC and I just wanted to explore more of her, and somehow, it always struck me that she’d be dating someone secretly, you know? And you’d think BUT HOW since she’s just a workaholic i-gotta-do-what-i-gotta-do no BS person, respecting the rules and so, right? Because that’s what she always did.
But she has an edge, and that was this one hahaha. She deserved to be selfish—thus, Tatsuro came into scene. And idk, I always thought she’d have a secret lover hahaha Also, there’s a reference in their names, I hope someone gets it 🥺
Now, moving on to the scene during the night. In a way, it was kinda good that it happened—I can say that Mariya was looking for a moment (or always has) to get to speak to Y/N and just clear everything up, and this was the perfect awkward excuse. However, she never expected Y/N to understand her; I mean, they had conflicts before but this opening up between the two was… ah, so good.
It really hurt me to see them not get along; but at the same time, I wanted to have this kind of relationship with the MC and their best friend, not to generalize, but I always see the MC already having a good friendship with the one that is supposed to be their best friend from the very beginning and I wanted to try something different. As well as to get a bit of backstory on her and what she thought of Y/N when she started working with her and whatnot. As well as a bit of Haruko and Hitomi as well.
In the end, this scene was like very emotional for me and I’m glad they finally made up; I’m excited to explore more of their newly acquired friendship :3
And finally, the thing that shocked the most (even me when writing it), Naoaki.
I just let the scene flow and things happened, you know? Idk if anyone saw it coming and if you did, I hope I didn’t disappoint hahahah the whole thing was super sweet.
Also, I think allot of people interpreted Y/N confessing to wanting to kiss him like, literally out of affection, but it was more of like a cuteness overload of wanting to kiss him to say thank you and nothing else (I hope I make sense, that’s how I’ve seen the sentence be used—in other words, platonic) and then Naoaki replied with “well, if you want to” and that’s when the whole thing changed it’s meaning. (I CANT FIND THE REFERENCE but if you’ve seen miraculous ladybug it’s that scene were Luka and Marinette are at the movie theater and they’re guessing stuff, Marinette then screams something among the lines of KISS ME and Luka is like well, if that’s what you want I literally gagged)
I think I did a good job trying to plant the seeds here and there?? Naoaki always thought of Y/N as beautiful/pretty, and the rest of his brothers too; but he’s the one that got to know her a bit more hehe.
I guess what I mean to say is that Y/N and Naoaki found solace in each other. And… well, things started to happen naturally.
Now the scene I knew some would gag with was his conversation about her, Naoya, and what he was trying to imply lol It was to show these three things:
How comfortable he is with Y/N, to the point of just saying shit without thinking lol. After all, they’re still getting to know each other in a way so he still has to figure out what things he doesn’t like about Y/N.
Second, the misogyny in the estate and how it affects him. Even if one is aware of the surroundings we grew in, there are things that still influence our way of thinking, and I believe Naoaki portrayed that here (as well as being conscious to how Naoya is affected by it)
Let’s get him off that pedestal and make him realistic lol as I said, he can’t be winning all the time lmao. But he good.
Finally, the end scene. Some people believed they were going to get exposed, but I think not. The night shift is like super calm, nothing ever happens, so I doubt anyone was going to notice anything. Besides, who is gonna be standing guard at the living quarters??? Also, Naoaki knows what he doing, so no worries.
Or as well how weird it was for him to like, seek her out at night? But I always intended it to be some kind of inner joke on how he prefers to reach out for people at night (remember that scene with kid Naoya?) And yet, here I am… thinking it was sweet. Well, I think it’s sweet because of the relationship we saw flourish between Y/N and Naoaki—had it been anyone else well damn I’d be like Uhhh Security???
Now, the elephant in the room: Y/N’s admittance of wanting to marry him, a.k.a starting to realize she kinda likes him more than just a friend. Sure, she felt attracted to him from time to time, but it was always intended to be a joke, you know? I think we’ve daydreamed the things she has in a way, but doesn’t mean we want something serious with that person.
But now… well, I don’t think it’s a joke anymore hehe the first sprout of her newfound feelings is appearing—HOWEVER, there’s another thing that I think I didn’t do a good job writing and I want to clarify… which was…
Y/N never admitted out loud that she wants to marry him. It was all in her mind, mainly because she was just coming to the realization and she didn’t want to admit it out loud, since she doesn’t know if Naoaki feels anything for her (and she’s one to take care of her words, always thinking on not making uncomfortable ever since he told her his background) sure, he’s complimented her many times but most of the time she’s just like… are you making fun of me?!
But putting that aside… it’s safe to say… just enjoy this moment as what it is: something sweet 😊
Well, I think that’s all I wanted to say about this chapter. Just more insight in what I wanted to portray; I’m really excited for what’s to come!!! I hope I don’t disappoint. I’m just out here living my fantasy. (Also, do you guys like these kinds of posts? I hope I’m not spoiling anything and just giving you a better explanation… if not, I’ll stop 😭)
As always, if there’s any questions regarding this chapter, or the others, be sure to let me know! I love explaining my work hehehe and it gets me excited to see that others do.
Thank you so much, and hope to see you around! Take care 🥰!
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nikitasbt · 5 years
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Taishō Trilogy of Seijun Suzuki
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As a salaried director at Nikkatsu, Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki has been making crime movies for decades. He has directed around 40 movies from 1956 to 1967, of which Tokyo Drifter and Born to Kill are considered the most acclaimed. In a later attempt to reignite his career after splitting paths with Nikkatsu and veer off to the new ways of expression and stylistics, Suzuki started working on surrealistic feature film Zigeunerweisen becoming the first part of unformal Taisho Trilogy: Zigeunerweisen, Kagero-za, Yumeji. The three films are not linked with any similarities in the plot but set in the same period of emperor Taisho ruling the nation. It was the time of 1920-1930s. All films resemble hectic dreams and bear unmistakable visual similarities. The films have been meant to create the new stylistics for Suzuki developing his old strife to produce the shots of supreme beauty to strike not less than Godard’s shots used to do. Taisho Trilogy is an example of films lacking the coherence, yet remaining unforgettable with their quixotic and wild visuality.
Zigeunerweisen (ツィゴイネルワイゼン) - 1981
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From my point of view, the best way to get a glimpse in the Taisho Trilogy is to watch the last part of it Yumeji. The last film encapsulates all the achievements of the trilogy. Comparing with Yumeji, Zigeunerweisen is almost impossible to comprehend. The film employs riddles in abundance, and the hints given can unlikely help to solve quite a few of them. In a surrealistic way, Suzuki’s tale shows the relations between two former co-workers Nakasago (portrayed by Yoshio Harada) and Aochi (Toshiya Fujita) who developed affairs with the wives of each other (at some point, Nakasago even suggests to exchange the wives). The story is ambiguous and not very coherent as Suzuki doesn’t bother himself to show the things in any sort of logical way or order.
In fact, the film is set in several dimensions, and it never becomes clear whether Nakasago has died or not, and whether Koine and Sono (both played by gorgeous Naoko Otani) are the same women or two different. We don’t really get a clear idea of why Nakasago killed a woman and if he actually killed her or not. The behaviour of a spooky girl also remains mysterious and unclear.  Is she sort of ghost or she has bridged some spiritual connection with the world of death? We never learn it for sure. Moreover, we don’t even know where is the reality or dream or fantasy. Suzuki does his best to confuse the viewers with his surrealistic images and bizarre storytelling.
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What we know for sure, is that Zigeunerweisen is the title of a vinyl record that Nakasago and Aochi used to listen. It has some gypsy tunes on it. Somehow, the record is used as the spiritual connection between Nakasago who dies and the outer world. Also, there are some references making to think Suzuki paints some ties with the political situation in Japan in the 1930s. The blind kids might symbolize of Japanese right forces getting insane prior to invading Manchuria (though, it is too obvious for Suzuki to be entirely sure that was an original intention). There is also a connection between the fact that Aochi is a German language professor, the relations of Japan and Germany and the title of record taken from German - Zigeunerweisen. And once again, this is just a guess as it never becomes clear what the author implied.
Suzuki uses Aochi as a sort of symbol of his audience: a confused man is trying to follow the story and understands very little from his friend’s behaviour. The ending is bizarre just like the whole movie, and we are left with no answers, as well as Aochi. However, giving the answers is not something the film has been made for. This is entirely visual work, and it is drastically important to pay attention to the shot, mise-en-scène, camera work and usage of light. Zigeunerweisen is a visually appealing film, and many shots are just like gorgeous paintings we enjoy. The matter of greatest importance for Suzuki was to fully realize and utilize his potential in elaborating the exquisite ways of artistic impressions. Making Zigeunerweisen, he made up his mind for creating a fresh visual language. He comes up with the material which is confusing, but it goes without a doubt Zigeunerweisen can be hardly compared to anything else. Watching Zigeunerweisen, at some point you realize there is probably no way to twig what is real and what is just irony, mockery, dream or fantasy. Nevertheless, the visual style is so solid and brilliant that it starts seeming the only way to accompany the frantic twists of the plot which remain spooky and incognizable just like the vinyl record or tunnel we see several times in Zigeunerweisen.
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Kagero-Za (陽炎座) - 1981
The second film of Taisho Trilogy clarifies several points I remained dubious about after watching Zigeunerweisen and Yumeji. This trilogy is an example of substantially visual cinema where the logic and storyline are abandoned, in order to prioritize the importance of the mood and shocking stylistic beauty of the shots. Seijun Suzuki used to say “I make movies which make no sense and no money”, and this is true. Watching Zigeunerweisen, I was struggling to understand where do the twists of plot and expression lead and what is the idea behind it. Kagero-za or Heat-Hazed Theatre makes it transparent there was apparently something Suzuki implied, but it would remain incognizable as there are numerous ways to interpret the tale.
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Kagero-Za is another psychological surrealistic tale in this trilogy. The plot is a formality as it never gets too clear. We follow the story of playwright Matsuzaki (portrayed by Yusaku Matsuda) who encounters his different mistresses, one of whom appears to be the wife of rich businessman Tamawaki (Katsuo Nakamura) who wants protagonist dead. Heroes pass away and appear again. In Zigeunerweisen I was still wondering what that supposed to mean, but with Kagero-Za I realized these are the actual fantasy ghosts who might bear symbolic meaning. The protagonists talk in one location, and in the next shot show up somewhere else. They jump from topic to topic, the dialogues are bizarre making both conversations and plot incoherent - though, this is something Suzuki has been trying to achieve.
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Kagero-Za resembles a deranged dream or plot of a kabuki play. At some point, we actually see the events might be nothing but the new play of Matsuzaki who is seeking for the new story. We see awkward scenes on the theatre stage, and playwright observes them too. Perhaps, the whole story is like that - just a fantasy of Matsuzaki told in a surrealistic way.
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What is Suzuki brilliant in is coming up with the fresh ideas of his shots. Dozens of shots require studying and might be considered art objects. The usage of vivid traditional paintings Suzuki employs is striking and spectacular, making the film’s visuality pretty impressive. Camera work and montage also follow the lead of Suzuki’s bizarre visual code. Again and again, Suzuki creates mise-en-scene of stunning beauty. The scenes and shots are often not linked to each other with any sort of explanation, but they are perfect with no respect to the story. Kagero-Za is not a film of non-linear plot and not a non-plot film either. It is an attempt to reject any sort of dictate created by traditional view on the films and necessity of coherent plot and background. Highly experimental and visually appealing work of Suzuki is meant to make neither sense nor money. But the aesthetics of Suzuki should be acclaimed as something rare and remarkable. This aesthetic will lead him to the third and last film of the trilogy Yumeji which I regard as the best part of Suzuki’s surrealistic Taisho films.
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Yumeji (夢二) - 1991
The last film of Taisho trilogy in a very surrealistic tone tells a story of Japanese painter and poet Takahisa Yumeji (1884-1934) encountering several mistresses and his rival artist Gyoshu Inomura who is arguably more talented than Yumeji (portrayed by Kenji Savada). Throughout the account on the screen, we get a glance on the psychological and art struggles of the painter who is seeking the perfection and inspiration for his paintings.
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The tantalizing tale is enhanced with numerous surrealistic forms, characters, images and entire scenes. It is also impossible to follow the stream of the tale before we get an idea we bump into the artistic fantasies of Yumeji, and the line between the death-life and reality-fiction is painted by Yumeji himself. The bizarre work of camera moving from the left to the right, and back again and showing the scenes with unusual composition and angles illustrate this far-fetched definition of different dimensions which unite and mix up in Yumeji’s mind. The story contains both surrealistic scenes and detective-like motif, though It is not entirely clear whether Wakiya (played by Yoshio Harada) has been actually murdered or not, and it is unclear if the whole story ever took place in the reality. The endless riddles bridge the gap between Suzuki and Buñuel with Robbe-Grillet.
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What is certain is that the film tells about Yumeji’s perception of the art and women which are pretty much related in his life. There is no mood for art without passion Yumeji chases women with. He encounters the most beautiful ladies and seduces them, but he doesn’t love them in a human way. His fetish is about their postures, outfits, behavoiur is utilized for the ideas of paintings, and the women’s beauty for him is nothing but inspiration for art and poetry. He feeds himself on their boundless sexuality and allure like a vampire, and he is so addicted to their beauty that women, in fact, define his art. We see Yumeji is in the relationships with a woman who loves him, but the artistical mindset makes him seduce the other women as potential models or nudies.
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Seijun Suzuki shows the gorgeous women and their perfect bodies in abundance to immerse himself and viewers in Yumeji’s fetish (and probably the director’s fetishism as well). The scenes with Tomoyo (played by Tomoko Mariya) and Hikono (Masumi Miyazaki) are charged with the enthralling sexuality the female protagonists radiate. They are frequently shot as the paintings, and this images strike with the boundless beauty Yumeji and the viewers fully immerse into. This is a very sexy and surreal fantasy which resembles Alain Robbe-Grillet’s L'Eden et après in an artistic way and Trans-Europ Express by the manner of storytelling. The usage of aggressive montage and dense colours reminds of the style of La Chinoise by Jean-Luc Godard.
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To sum up, Yumeji is a set of fetish fantasies made like a collection of his paintings he could have possibly completed. Every shot is like a painting where mise-en-scene stuns with beauty and bizarre mesmerizing power. The story is hard to follow and riddles might be very confusing, but it can be interpreted in many ways. Yumeji is important and striking as an art object and surrealistic experiment, yet there is probably no way to delve too deep into the film: it is much better to enjoy the sophisticated shots and the beauty of Yumeji’s mistresses portrayed by Tomoko Mariya, Masumi Miyazaki, and Reona Hirota. The last but not the least thing is the usage of music. This is the film Shigeru Umebayashi has written his brilliant and sublime music theme Yumeji for. Later the same theme would find international acclaim after being remarkably used in the film of Wong Kar-wai In the Mood for Love.
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ozu-teapot · 7 years
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Yumeji | Seijun Suzuki | 1991
Tomoko Mariya, Kenji Sawada, Yoshio Harada
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