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Anachronisms are annoying

So first and foremost I really do love Yuukoku no Moriarty (Moriarty the Patriot).

But omg sometimes there are small details that really. wind. me. up.

Like the police hats. In the anime at least, all of them have E R on the insignia. E R stands for Elizabeth Regina. Moriarty is set in the reign of Victoria. No E R hats in the 19th century. I'm not 100% on the hats, period. But certainly none with E R on the front.

Probably the most annoying twitch for me however so far is in the manga - the Moriarty family's tea party. In which a bunch of unchaperoned Victorian women showed up at the Moriarty mansion, started flirting shamelessly with the Moriarty boys and their coterie (who are pretending to be servants)...and acting like a bunch of 21st century fangirls as per idol culture in Japan.

...In the 19th century that's just a nope. On all levels. It doesn't matter how attractive the gardener/butler etc is. It's just a nope. The story is all. about. how divided the strata of society are and how disinterested the rich are in the poor. So obviously it's jarring (and blatant fanservice) that these women are apparently willing to throw themselves at people they believe to be servants.

This is all assuming the obvious fact that such obvious flirting would have been considered shameful behaviour for a woman in the 19th century.

The fact that Louis (as the 'adopted orphan child survivor) is often cast in a butler/inferior status role to Albert and William (who is pretending to be the actual William) also seems to jar with this so badly.

So yeah. I'm glad they didn't animate that chapter. It's a complete nope from start to finish.

Also, no way is William going to have £600 at his disposal (or more) from doing odd jobs from people whose annual income probably is less than £100. In modern money we're talking around £36k ($46k). Not exactly something that can be earned in a few months from people living on the breadline, no matter how smart he is. It's the kind of money that would have bought a house, or paid for Louis's surgery outright. It's not pocket change.

#Moriarty the Patriot #Yuukoku no Moriarty #Anachronism #Rantage #Opinion #Babble #manga

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<3

Halloween week kicks off with the prompt of vampire @DaiyaHalloween

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This, only in my case it's not fanfiction. And trying to rewrite something I've already rewritten multiple times... I don't want to do it again T_T

What it looks like: I've abandoned my fic

What's actually happening: It consumes my thoughts every single day. The urge to write gets stronger but my putty brain just. won't. let. it. happen.

#The pain of writing

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So I decided to rewatch Saiunkoku.

Having dug out some of my LN the other day and translated that scene, it put me in the mood to rewatch. It's been such a long time since the last time, but it still holds up well :D

May end up translating some more LN bits. But now I've gone down a rabbit-hole and dug out other LN and other stuff, including my Yuugi novels and a few others...

Still, gotta do something while we wait for season 4 of Daiya, right??

(And at this rate will be waiting forever for season 2 of Yona, so...)

#saiunkoku monogatari #shi seiran #anime #babble

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Why was he still here? Surely, it was because he wanted to live.

~Saiunkoku Monogatari, LN volume 4

My blog is usually full of baseball boys and the occasional Fushigi Yuugi spam, but today I felt like translating something Saiunkokuish.

~-~-~-~-~

She was a fragile, sickly woman. A woman with a weak character.

She used her beauty as a weapon, but she had no interest in the rivalries or jealousies of rank among the other consorts. Rather than being an imperial flower, her life would have been so much happier had she married an ordinary man and lived quietly out in the country. But she was a woman who had captured the heart of the Emperor, become pregnant, and given birth to the second prince.

If only she had birthed a princess, not a prince, then her father would not have grasped power and influence, and would not have behaved so foolishly.

And most of all, if only he himself had realised sooner his own vulnerability – his own foolishness. If so, all these years later, perhaps his mother would have unearthed some tiny fragment of happiness.

But this woman had not even the fragile hope of finding such a dream.

He glanced at her face. She was staring up at the sky, fear etched into her expression. The youth closed his eyes.

 If he had asked her whether she loved him, she would always reply vaguely. That was the sort of mother she was. Instead, she would say, ‘if only you didn’t exist. If only I had never birthed you’.

In the palace gardens, he had often spent time with his youngest half-brother, whose circumstances were similar…Spending time with this youngest brother, who adored him with innocent affection, had helped him to understand how long his own heart had been frozen. Because of his youngest brother, he understood what was dear to him, and how to love.

But his emotion towards his mother was unchanged. He regretted her weak spirit and frequent tears, and looked on her behaviour with disdain. But still, he did not hate her. She was the woman who had given him life.

He had realised too late that his own skills and talents, which his other brothers and consorts resented, should have been better concealed. Instead, he had turned them into a weapon, with which he could protect his fragile mother from their scorn.

But that effort too had now been ended.

The spring was on the horizon, but it was still winter; a cold, frozen day. Their pursuers had already achieved half of their goal.

Simply allowing them to be exiled was not enough. For the brothers and consorts left behind, the decision to pursue and put an end to them was the right one. In this place, they could do so without leaving proof – they had orders to make it look like the party had been waylaid and slain by bandits.

The youth pushed aside his bitter recollections, and opened his eyes.

His mother lay dead. He was surrounded by assassins. The guards who had accompanied them were no more, their corpses scattered across the ground.

He was the last one standing.

He had nothing left. Nothing but the enemy blood now staining his hands.

He tossed aside his mangled sword, which had already claimed the lives of so many enemies. The assassins hesitated for a moment, and he took full advantage. He launched himself at one of the remaining thugs, breaking his arms and wrenching away his weapon.

In comparison to the jewelled sword his father the Emperor had once given him, this weapon seemed too weak even to cut through paper. It was a blade, however, and so long as he had a weapon, he would make it work. With one swing of the sword he cut through the throats of two assassins.

“You’ve underestimated me. Who do you think you’re dealing with?”

His handsome features showed so sign of losing their spirit. His voice was icy enough to have been frozen by the winter wind; his words did not sound like those of a thirteen year old boy.

“My name is Seien. I’ve already overcome more than a hundred assassins in my life. If this is the best you can manage, I won’t lose to you. If you think you can kill me, you better come at me resolved to die.”

Like white feathers, the dancing flakes of snow began to fall all around.

Each time his blade became thick with blood and no longer useable, he grabbed up the discarded weapon of one of those he had already killed. His fighting was no longer the elegant skill he had learned growing up. It was the committed fight of a young man determined not to be slain. It was a fighting style that was designed to kill.

Before the snow had a chance to cover the melting patches thick with blood, the young man proved his declaration true. He had killed all of those who had pursued them.

The clouds hung heavily like mist over the wide, empty plains on which he now stood. He was surrounded by bodies, each discarded like objects in the snow. He was battered and bruised from the conflict, and he sank down onto his knees. He could feel his throbbing pulse, as now he registered the injuries all over his body.

The ragged breaths he drew in felt hot enough to melt the scattered snow. He had never felt such raging warmth from within his body before. He sneered at himself, wondering why he had not just let himself be killed.

Not being killed meant having to live.

Being killed would have meant defeat.

So instead, he had killed.

But what now? He had no place to go. There was nobody for him to rely on. He had battled through to survive, but now he faced the darkness of the abyss. So, why had he killed them all?

Was it his pride as a prince, not wanting to be killed by common thugs? In that case, he could have easily put an end to it all himself. So was it just that he did not want to let his brothers and the other consorts succeed in killing him? But even then, surely, dying meant those things would no longer be his concern.

So why was he still here?

Surely, it was because he wanted to live.

Even he found this realisation to be strange. He tried to laugh at it, but instead, red liquid poured from his mouth. Along with the encroaching darkness, the frozen field, still waiting for the dawn of spring, was soaked anew in crimson.

The injury to his gut was more serious than he had first thought.

In the last snowfall of that winter, this youth, who had once been a prince, toppled forward. His body collapsed onto the frozen morass of mingled blood and snow.

A shadow fell across the white terrain. The last thing the youth knew before he lost consciousness was that someone was coming towards him.

He had no way of knowing that his real hell was about to begin.

(Translation and all mistakes and/or liberties are mine. Credit to Saiunkoku author Yukino Sai for original text. Text from the opening of Saiunkoku Monogatari, LN 4.) Image from the anime, ep 20, borrowed from this site blog/episode guide of the original series.)

#translation #saiunkoku monogatari #shi seien #spoilers #light novel 4 #such a great series <3

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Sadly we didn’t get to see it, but here it is again just for the sake of the last summer Koushien ;)

Hoping for the day we see this sight again…

#daiya no ace #Ace of Diamond #Koushien flag #Miyuki #Captain #Spring Senbatsu #act ii

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When your family care more about your lovelife than your grades.

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~Melancholy Messenger

Ace of Diamond Fanbook 2015 Winter Miyuki x Kuramochi

Presented by Kanade:Sushiko (ryokuyousha)

“A tale which begins when Kuramochi is asked to convey a message from a girl to Miyuki”.

All and any translation errors are my own.

Please note that this is a text translation, not a scanlation. The couple of images were the best I was able to get, but give a flavour of the doujin.

This doujin is safe for work and is Kuramochi x Miyuki themed, translated in honour of 6.2.

Keep reading

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Kuramochi: Oi, Miyuki, wake up! If you’re gonna sleep, go to bed! Are you even listening? Sheesh, what am I gonna do with you…

Doujinshi seem to follow this cardinal rule that Miyuki should not drink.

Ever.

This from a KuraMiyu doujin. As if you needed me to explain that.

Apologies for the image shadow, my scanner has died and I am left with camera/phone options only. Although I can’t put these in the scanner without wrecking them anyway so w/e.

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Rurouni Kenshin

I have to spare a moment to just mention this. It's been a long time since I watched the original Kenshin, and I had no idea they were putting out a new one. I've watched the first several episodes and so far, I think they're doing a good job.

Saitou Souma is a great choice for Kenshin's seiyuu. After voicing William in Moriarty the Patriot, it's really a good parallel. Kenshin and William both have shades of light and dark and Saitou reflects this really well.

I'm curious to see how this pans out, what changes are made, and so on. It looks promising so far, though. Fingers crossed it continues.

#rurouni kenshin #new anime #comment

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Graduation Certificate

Honoured Reader, You have completed the reading of "Daiya no Ace"

"Daiya no Ace Act II"

This certificate confirms your graduation from Seidou High School.

Reiwa 5 (2023), May 17th

#daiya no ace #ace of diamond #act ii #manga #graduation #certificate #vol 34 #omake

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Chapter 307.5: Our Tomorrow

I haven't seen a lot of people talk about this chapter, but I love the hints it gives us about the future of some of the characters.

Nori & Shirasu

Nori said he planned to quit baseball after high school, but Shirasu definitely seems to think that he'll continue.

On a side note, I'm really happy that Nori had a chance to shine in the second Koushien game, before Eijun came on. Nori has had a tough run at times - he deserves to be out there on the mound.

Kuramochi

My favourite part of the whole chapter. Although he plays it down to Haruichi, Mochi's had university offers, and the incentive that if Seidou make Koushien's top four, he could get a scholarship.

Haruichi Although he has another year yet to go, Ryousuke is still very much backing his cause. "Believe in your own potential. Go show the national tournament what Kominato Haruichi can do."

Zono

Zono's pretty much the chapter's comic relief, but I think we can read into his determination that he isn't planning on quitting any time soon.

What's also nice about this chapter is that the first years - Koushuu, Seto, but especially Asada - are reflecting on their own future and how things will be for them going forward.

"What kind of tomorrow awaits our generation?" - Asada

#daiya no ace #ace of diamond #act ii #vol 34 #chapter 307.5 #Nori #Zono #Haruichi #Kuramochi #Summary

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The Double-Ace Phenomenon

Though the manga is done, I've seen some people still raising concerns about Furuya's prominence in the later stages.

Personally I don't have an issue with Furuya. BUT I do think his role in the story has changed since Daiya began.

At the very beginning, it was clear that Furuya was THE RIVAL to Eijun's desire to be the Ace. He got all the typical early advantages, was already massively talented, was assigned with Miyuki from the off, etc etc.

But by the end of Act II, I don't think their rivalry is at all the same. In fact, they've become a kind of partnership - working together, 'connecting' between games to see Seidou through.

This change in dynamic is actually pretty well explained in Terajima's end note in volume 34, where he states,

"These days the number of pitches a pitcher can throw is limited, and the number of teams who rely on one ace to see them through is on the decline."

This gives some insight into Terajima's own thoughts here. Whatever he intended when he began writing Daiya, as time has gone on, he's also adjusted his characters and his team to better fit the modern reality. The idea of Eijun as ace but Furuya as a secondary ace figure isn't bias towards Furuya, but another sign of Terajima trying to reflect some sense of real in his manga.

This is also reflected in the summary to the Inajitsu-Seidou final. Here it states, "Settled by the Double-Ace (Wエース)! Seidou guided to victory by their pitcher rotation!"

Ultimately, Daiya is a story about a team and the bonds/dynamic within that team. I actually think it was always that way - with Miyuki telling Eijun that first day that he can't play baseball on his own. But while I get that probably it irked some folk, I like that Eijun and Furuya ended the manga as friends and rivals who can appreciate and rely on one another as well as compete.

#daiya no ace #ace of diamond #eijun #furuya #opinion #manga #act ii #vol 34 #Wエース

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完・Never has a kanji felt so final

I really feel like Daiya has ended, now. Now I have the volume here in my hands, that single black character feels like a closing gate on the lives of our baseball guys. 

I didn’t expect to be writing a post about the content of vol 34, and because I’m so late to get my hands on it, I’m sure it’s already been discussed to death. But I’m going to talk about it anyway, because I don’t really want to see this as ‘the end’. I feel like the epilogue is actually a beginning. What kind of beginning? I guess we’ll see...

The epilogue in vol 34 came as a surprise to me.

 I think we can assume Seidou did well at Koushien, given Miyuki’s call up to the under 18s Japanese team. 

Furuya and Eijun were both called up as Tokyo representatives as well.

The biggest surprise to me was Kanemaru as the new captain, although it shouldn’t be a surprise, not really. 

That aside, though, what I like about this little epilogue is that sense of continuity and connection. Koushien is over, but Miyuki is still out there with Furuya and Eijun. The bond isn’t broken, because even though they’re now playing in the autumn tournament with a new team, they still want to challenge Miyuki at full strength.

Eijun’s ending words - this pitching is my parting gift, is also reciprocated by Miyuki’s response - I’ll be waiting for you (in the pro circuit).

So is this really the end? Or is it a beginning? I don’t expect Terajima to write anything about them in the pro leagues, of course, but there is a sense that all of Daiya has in a way been a prequel of their lives as pro baseball players. Eijun introducing it in the way he did - mentioning how meeting Miyuki changed his life - also suggests that. 

Whether they are rivals or teammates in the future, it just feels right that the manga ends with the bond that began it. And I guess if that really is it for Daiya - then it’s probably the right ending.

#Daiya no Ace #Act II #Vol 34 #Epilogue #Miyuki #Eijun #Furuya #Babble #Opinion

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Finally got my hands on Daiya VoI 34...

I’m gonna talk a bit about the epiloguey bits in a separate post, but now I have this here in my hands, I really feel like it’s time they finished animating the rest of the series. I mean, I love reading it in intricate black and white, but who doesn’t want to see that finale with Mei and Miyuki in colour?

#Vol 34 #Daiya no Ace #Ace of Diamond #Act II #manga

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Daiya: The Dramas (Translations) to date:

So for anyone stuck in lockdown and looking for something to read, I made a compile list of the character CD drama tracks I already translated to now. Here are some quick links to help you find them. (For anyone looking for the soundtracks elsewhere, these drama titles are mostly of my own invention).

Stay safe everybody.  #1 Naked Shiritori and the Patent Cold Cure (Starring Miyuki, Eijun and Furuya) #2 Vending Machines and Polar Bears (Starring Miyuki, Eijun and Furuya) #3 What’s in a Name (Starring Haruichi, Ryousuke and Eijun) #4 Educating Youichi (Starring Ryousuke, Kuramochi, Haruichi) #5 Egg-streme Strategy (Starring Eijun, Miyuki, Chris and Furuya) #6 A Billion Swings (Starring Tetsu, Jun and Tanba) #7 Dirty Fingernails (Starring Nori, Eijun and Miyuki) #8 Kanemaru, Kane Nai! (Starring Kanemaru, Toujou and Eijun) #9 Musical Tastes (Starring Kanemaru, Toujou, Shirasu and Nori) #10 Third Year Study Group (Starring Tetsu, Jun and Tanba) #11 Leader of the Pitcher Pack (Starring Nori, Eijun and Furuya) #12 Lucky Niisan (Starring Haruichi, Eijun and Ryousuke) #13 Bananaman (Starring Raichi, Sanada and Mishima) #14 Personal Data (Starring Miyuki, Chris, Furuya and Eijun) #15 Senior Citizens (Starring Toujou, Kanemaru, Eijun) Bonus: Pitcher’s Wife snippet (Starring Eijun and Miyuki)

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The Seihou game, again...

I don’t know why this still bugs me, but I’ve been rewatching the anime and yet again I feel like this game is so clumsy in how it’s handled.

There’s not really a reason for the main team to be benched, because it’s not like they dropped effort or didn’t score in the Yamamori game after Ono’s injury.

Ochiai’s inner thoughts talk about it as not quite a penalty, but designed to make the regular team sit up and take notice. But why do they need to? I still feel it’s unnecessarily harsh on Mochi in particular, who’s done nothing wrong as temporary Captain but is being punished anyway.

It seems like a clumsy attempt to put Eijun in the spotlight. I don’t have a problem with Eijun being the focal point of this game - I just feel like it’s clumsy.

And then there’s the Okumura battery. 

Both Koushuu and Eijun are capable of eye contact conversations with other pitchers. So why in this specific game is Koushuu unable to interpret Eijun’s meaning? Why does Ono need to explain/translate for them?

I guess it’s again because this game is all about Eijun, and showcasing him as leading the team and leading his junior. And for that reason, these steps have to be overcome.

No matter how many times I read/watch this game, it just feels stage managed to give Eijun a position where he is the most game-experienced player on the field. Which in terms of the narrative is fine, but a bit awkward overall.

And it absolutely isn’t an advertisement for Eijun and Koushuu as the best battery ever. 

#Daiya no Ace #Act II #Seihou v Seidou #Eijun #Battery #Some opinions (again)