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akiiyamashun · 2 years

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I know you mentioned you enjoyed Akiyama and it pushed you to pick him up as a muse.

What was the exact reason on why you picked him up? Was / is there something that the fandom portrays him as and you don't? What is one dynamic you love to explore more about that isn't talked about enough yet you want to? Annnnnd what's your thoughts on how Akiyama would be & react towards about the homeless in Yokohama?

I know he will definitely be open towards them and understand their situation, but how would he go about in interacting with them?

unscripted asks . always accepting

Beck, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sending this ask because I realized that I might not have... Fully explained the reasons why I picked up Akiyama as a muse (at least not after officially opening up the blog!). And not only that but all these other juicy things, too! Ugh, thank you so much for this!

But first things first: I picked up the Yakuza games again after I started chatting/plotting with @sixthxchairman over at my other blog, and Y3 was... A not so fun experience, to put it mildly. It is my least favorite entry and I struggled to move forward because of 2 main things: graphics/technology whiplash (I went from Y0 and Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 to... A PS3 remaster haha; it was a jarring experience) and the story. Gosh, the plot and pacing of Y3 is just strange, with a lot of dad Kiryu content that I did not particularly care for, Daigo being mostly off-screen and just confusing/cliché conspiracies including lost twins and everything.

I did not know a thing about Y4 when I started - I just wanted more Daigo content, really - and then Akiyama Shun happened and oh. my. god. I was smitten with him right at the beginning - confused because I had no idea we were getting non-Kiryu protagonists at the time, but I thought his initial scenes with Hana amusing; I absolutely LOVED his fighting style (I’ve always done very well with him, as opposed to Saejima, for instance) and by the time Kido did the introduction with that voice-over about who he was and everything, I was sold.

Akiyama is just a very likeable, charming and refreshing character for me - Kiryu is not a favorite of mine and I largely played the games for the other characters/overall lore (and Majima, my original love from Y0 haha). But then suddenly there was this guy, with mysterious motivations and great lines, awesome voice and fun moves. I was entranced - he felt more relatable and an everyday sort of guy than Kiryu and his mythical fighting skills and legendary reputation etc. Also a protagonist I did not feel like groaning at and questioning his motivations every 5 minutes.

As I got further with the game and then somewhere along Y5, I was so deep into Akiyama hell that I knew I needed to write him; I started creating backstories, motivations, relatives and a lot of things to explain why Akiyama is who he was and my portrayal was born. I like to think I’m rather singular in the aspect that I don’t personally think he’s stupid/lazy or a shallow comic relief - sure, he acts like that sometimes, but my interpretation of Akiyama feels like it’s different from most of the fandom in the sense that I see him as someone with above-average intelligence, with strong anti-system bias and who genuinely wants to make life for others better. There are a lot of particular political and societal views that I incorporate in how I write him.

On your second point: I would absolutely love to have the chance to write homeless!Akiyama or even his past, arrogant self prior to his fall from grace. I think these two are sides to his personality I haven’t yet touched in detail and which would be fun to flesh out more - despite the fact that he is not yet the Akiyama Shun we all love and adore. Particularly his homeless era - the original one post-Touto scandal, and not during Y6 - is a period that fascinates me because it was hard, dark and a lesser man would have been destroyed by it; somehow, he managed to not only survive, but to be reborn as someone he’s happy with and confident with his role in the world. There is a reason I keep associating himself to the phoenix so much (in addition to the little in-game hints, too).

And finally your third question re. Yokohama - I sincerely think Akiyama has an edge there because he’s not formally anything (he’s a civilian running a legitimate business), but Y6 suggests that he’s considered an ally/connection to Daigo and maybe he could be targeted by the Omi as well if he stayed in Kamurocho as a Tojo loyalist (despite not being yakuza!). Although I don’t think they would personally go after him - because, again, he’s a civilian and the entire idea of taking control over Tokyo was doing it in a way that was different from the open all-out yakuza wars - I still think it might have driven him to someplace near for a breather and discover/interact with the people there.

I sincerely think his modus operandi would be similar to what we see in the other games because he would offer food/minimal material comforts and try to understand what is going on in the city first - but the moment someone tried to take advantage of them (such as charging protection money), he would fight back and likely get pulled into the Ijin Three mess because that’s what he does - he keeps being dragged into underworld business because he won’t stay quiet or put, haha.

But chances are (unless he crossed paths with Kasuga and friends) that he wouldn’t go deep into their business or the power structure in Ijincho - he would attempt to negotiate some deal for these people, and probably work with Hello Work/local organizations to try and find employment or better long-term solutions. I don’t doubt he would grant loans himself, or just try to find a way to put their skills to good use and overall make a difference.

#iii. answered #vi. ooc #digitalmadness #thank you so much for these!#so many lovely questions!#you spoiled me Beck <3

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sambart93 · 6 years

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2018.09.22 Ensemble Stars ‘EnStage’ Live in Yokohama [Report]

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4 PreOrder DVD (Strangely they haven’t released any Animate Online or Amazon dvd preorder even though I’m sure they had DVD Reservations at the venue...)

CAST and CHARACTERS

TRICKSTAR

Ozawa Ren as Akehoshi Subaru Yamamoto Ikkei as Hidaka Hokuto Tanimizu Riki as Isara Mao Matsumura Taiichirou as Yuuki Makoto

UNDEAD

Konami Koji as Sakama Rei Chihiro Okutani as Hakaze Karou Akazawa Ryoutaro as Oogami Koga Akira as Otogari Adonis

FINE

Maeyama Takahisa as Tenshouin Eichi Yasui Kazuma as Hibiki Wataru Watanabe Takaki as Fushimi Yuzuru Hoshimoto Yuzuki as Himemiya Toori

2WINK

Yamanaka Kenta as Aoi Hinata Yamanaka Shouta as Aoi Yuuta

RYUUSEITAI

Saeki Ryou as Morisawa Chiaki Hori Kaito as Takamine Midori Fukazawa Taiga as Sengoku Shinobu Konishi Seiya as Nagumo Tetori Murakawa Shoichi as Shinkai Kanata

RA*BITS

Oosaki Natsuki as Nito Nazuna Sakurai Keito as Shino Hajime Miyazaki Kiyuu as Mashiro Tomoya Okui Nagato as Tenma Mitsuru

AKATSUKI

Higuchi Yuta as Kanzaki Souma Komatsu Junya as Hasumi Keito Ueda Kandai as Kiryu Kuro

KNIGHTS

Hashimoto Shohei as Tsukinaga Reo Takasaki Shouta as Sena Izumi Kitamura Ryo as Narukami Arashi Aramaki Yoshihiko as Sakama Ritsu Kitagawa Naoya as Suou Tsukasa

REPORT

Long story short: It was not worth the 12,000 yen I paid for an arena seat but it had some nice moments...

Let’s just get the crappy parts out of the way okay? BUT if you wanna skip it just CTRL F to ‘the few good parts’.

First, the massive mess up about the goods! If you didn’t hear, they announced about 3 days before the show starts that we would have to APPLY for a LOTTERY for a CHANCE to buy goods! And that the event venue and the goods venue were going to be at least 30 minutes apart (depending on your mode of transport). So we had people not hitting for the goods lottery meaning they couldn’t get any goods even though they might’ve been seeing it that day, so they were going without penlights, tshirts etc. So naturally people were pissed. It got worse when 8 minutes into the goods starting; penlights were sold out. And they were not going to get a new batch in until about 3 hours later. So again, people were losing their shit. There were people who could ONLY get goods at 10am because they were going to the afternoon show but within MINUTES one of the main wanted goods was sold out? Again, people lost their shit. It just got worse as the day went on... By the time the shows actually started, no one gave a shit about anything the official EnStage twitter had to say, everyone had lost their trust in the staff and company. Luckily, I had smooth sailing; I hit for goods, I got all my goods. But just imagining people who didn’t even HIT for the goods lottery but were going to the shows, just broke my heart. It made me just as angry as those who were being left out. OH and they did NOT prepare any trading area this time; why the fuck are you selling RANDOM and TRADING goods if you’re not going to provide a fucking trading area? Idiots...

The second mess up was, when the first show was about to begin, lots of tweets came out saying ‘there’s been a mistake in the seating plans, first row has NO seats, and they’re moving people’ well what a fuck up that is. How can you not have enough seats?! You know how big the room is, you know how many tickets you sold, you know how many people are coming; how did you fuck up the seating plan, not have enough seats and then have the audacity to MOVE a front row ticket holder to other parts of the room?! What the fuck. Again, I was lucky, I had a seat and there were no such problems at the night show I went to.

The next one is more to do with me personally. I am barely 159cm and I never wear heels to any events, even concerts, because I know how tiny some Japanese women can be and if one is behind me, I don’t want to be blocking them more than I should be. But because of this, I could not see the main stage AT ALL. The entire show I had to WATCH the screen even though I was to the left of the front stage. I could not see the main stage at all! So I was pissed! But also that meant that not only me, who paid 12,000 yen for an arena seat which should be one of the best seats, but others too weren’t able to see the stage. What’s the point paying 12,000 yen if I can’t see the whole fucking stage? GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK! I seriously think those in the stands and second floor had the best view for any of these performances. It was easy for them to see the stage, sitting or standing.

The next part, which is apparently my fault again, but apparently (no matter who I talk to) it’s ‘COMMON KNOWLEDGE’ that every stage/musical concert/live that you go to is lipsynced. Well I’m sorry but I DID NOT KNOW and they didn’t tell us it would be And if I HAD KNOWN, I wouldn’t have bothered paying for a ticket at all, let alone a 12,000 YEN SEAT(!). But apparently ‘everyone else knew it was going to be lipsynced’. WTF?! I realised straight away (during TRICKSTAR’S first song) that they were lipsyncing, so it wasn’t even GOOD lipsyncing! It really rubbed me the wrong way. Like A LOT. What did I pay 12000yen for? What did EVERYONE pay 9000+ yen for?! If you’re not going to PERFORM?! I did not pay a ridiculous amount of money to watch people LIPSYNC for 2 and a half hours. I paid that much money to be entertained, to be able to see everything, to enjoy myself, to hear the beautiful voices that people like Ikkei, Kandai, Kazuma and Yuzuki possess(!). To hear the booming voices of RenRen and Shohei who are SO damn loud, there’s no point giving them a mic - but again, because their voices were strangely the same volume as the melody when they were ‘singing’ was also obvious proof that they were lipsyncing -, to hear bad singers like TakaChan and KitaMu sing badly (because I fucking love hearing people live REGARDLESS of how shitty they are!). That’s what I want! I want a LIVE concert performance, and they gave me..... Higuchi barely trying to lipsync in time, for example ---- seriously he BARELY moved his mouth!!!!!

OH and they didn’t even sing ALL the songs. WTF?! You just play the group songs and... why?! Judge of Knights was such a success and you’re not even going to put in any battle or Knight Killers songs?! Oh please fuck off. I’m sorry but that is NOT a performance! That is 30+ people barely putting in any effort and getting paid for it. Oh I was SO PISSED for the entirety of the show when I figured it out STRAIGHT away. No wonder I sat down for most of the concert; I couldn’t see the main stage whether I stood or not, they were lipsyncing so I don’t really need to watch them, I can just listen to them like I’d listen to a CD because that’s what they fucking were anyway! Again, why did I pay 12,000 yen to listen to a CD recording of them?! what the fuck....

Yeah, I’m still going! At this point I might as well let it ALL OUT. But the audience sucked as well. The cast was trying to get us to ‘oi!’ and yell chants at some of the songs but EVERY TIME, as soon as the boys stopped yelling it out, the audience went quiet again and I’m like ‘FUCKERS CONTINUE!’ it was obvious we could still keep cheering along, they wanted us to continue. The audience fucking sucked. OH god and every time KNIGHTS came out..... FYI I fucking HATE KNIGHTS at this point. I fucking hate Ritsu with a passion and ALWAYS have <<< feels so nice to finally admit how much I can’t stand and have never stood Ritsu. But the audience volume change and the squeal change when KNIGHTS came on compared to the REST of the groups is just so fucking bias and I am so fucking over it. OH and another part that really pissed me off, Rei and Ritsu did the ‘15 minutes before the show rules announcement’ and it started with Ritsu yawning but apparently everyone in that room was dumb as fuck because I knew that was Maki straight away, but it wasn’t until he spoke an actual line that everyone else realised it was Ritsu and then everyone started to lose their shit and scream -______________- . It was obvious it was him. -____________- idiots.... <<< like I said, I might as well let it all out.

Also, fucking hate UnDead. Hate their songs too. You’re welcome to like them and everyone was super yelling and into their songs (the audience actually yelled and cheered during their songs which was nice) but ugh... just no for me.

New Yuzuru was so robotic whenever he spoke his lines. He didn’t really get a good reaction from the audience the night I watched. But he has time to improve, I think he’s a newbie anyway and he wasn’t on stage long enough to give people an impression really.

No Encore... seriously? No Greetings/Curtain Call... seriously? Ugh....

Sigh.... I think I’m done ranting.. let’s get to the few good parts...

The actual ensemble cast were a dream! The actual ensemble cast were so good and they were all so good looking! I spent MORE time watching them than I did with the actual cast. They were so much fun! Their dances were great, I loved how they tried to encourage the audience (but were obviously being ignored by everyone else) with claps and cheers constantly, they were good looking, they were just a great ensemble cast! I really, really liked all of them!

There was about 50% live singing when it came to the new FINE, Akatsuki and All Cast song. Knights Escort was 50% live too. But everything else was not. The two new group songs were good. BUT they were obvious goodbye songs and their lines before their songs were obviously scripted ‘graduation’ lines which just made me sigh. If it’s scripted then it just ruins their actual graduation if I’m going to be honest. Making them do the same ‘goodbye / graduation’ lines every show just ruins it. Okay, I’ll stop complaining now.... maybe...

There were so few interactions between people (as in groups mixing and interacting), it was just group song, after group song, after group song. BUT I did enjoy the few interactions that did happen; Ritsu running away from Rei, Ritsu falling asleep on Mao, Ra*bits hugging each other during their songs. But, looking at twitter reports, it was ALL scripted so again, it just cheapens it. BORING.

EVERYONE LOVES KNEW MITSURU! EVERYONE! When he first came out for his group songs, everyone was yelling ‘kawaii / cute’ and cheering for him and when it was his ‘singing’ parts, everyone gave him so much support! It was absolutely adorable and so great to watch. I’m glad everyone was already so ready and welcoming for him!

Rei messed up his line just before their first UnDead song and everyone died laughing and Kaoru started making fun of him and pointed it out ‘you messed up’ and Rei tried so hard just to ignore it xD

I really liked when it got emotional with FINE and Akatsuki towards the end, there was great (scripted) timing from Reo when he finished writing his song on the floor and popped up like ‘I DID IT!’ and it helped break that tension and sadness and brought laugher back to everyone, which was a nice touch.

Kandai made SUCH an effort even during the lipsyncing parts. You could tell he was actually singing even though his voice wasn’t going to come through the mic. You could tell in his neck movements and his throat and his neck veins were popping out. He really gave it his all even though he wasn’t going to be heard. But I appreciate how much effort he put into it regardless! He’s a star seriously. He looked the most legit out of everyone ‘performing’.

During the final song, Keito was near my side of the blocks and gave everyone attention as he ‘sang’ the end of one of the Shooting Star chorus’, everyone around him sucked it all in.

TakaChan took his moment to congratulate Ritsu on his birthday and Maki replied ‘oh you say it HERE?!’ and we all yelled happy birthday to him.

And I think that’s all. Like I said, NOT worth the amount of money I paid but I’m glad most other people seemed to enjoy it.

#ensemble stars #enstage #ensute #review #report #aramaki yoshihiko #kitamura ryo #takasaki shouta #kitagawa naoya #ozawa ren #yamamoto ikkei #tanimizu riki #ueda kandai #higuchi yuta #sakurai keito

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