#'Yuuko is this illusion or real?'

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

Chapter 76!

In which Yuuko makes use of everything she has on hand to take up as much of the frame as possible. 

AND WE SUPPORT HER. 

I love when they do this, but there’s an interesting mix of illusion and reality in the cover. The flowers are all drawn realistically, but are any of them actually there? The ones on her lantern and clothing are just images. The one dangling under the lantern is probably also an ornament. But what about the one in her hair? Ornament or real?

Where does the smoke floating around her also become part of the pattern on her clothing? Where does the real meet the unreal? Is there even a line at all?

You just can’t tell with Yuuko Ichihara!

[mikkeneko]

7, 22 + Missing Worlds?

Ooh, The Missing Worlds! It's been ages since I thought about that one :)

7 - Were there any ideas you had for 'The Missing Worlds' that you couldn’t make work? What were they?

Surprisingly, not really! I think I did just about everything I wanted to do with this fic!

If anything, I think I would have liked to do more with Yuuko and Watanuki -- but I got snagged by canon there; Yuuko can't appear before Fai in anything except an illusion (there's mirrors again, hah) without triggering his curse. So she couldn't show up except in chapters where Fai was not present, which made interacting with her difficult.

22 - Have you used any symbolism in 'The Missing Worlds?' What does it represent?

Each of the four main characters had their own symbol, which was prominent in their own arc -- but if there was one symbol that sort of overarches the whole series, it's probably mirrors. In Water World, they can't make any progress until they 'go through the mirror' - that is, go under the surface in the water, and let themselves see what's really there instead of the flat empty surface.

In both Middle Earth and Castle in the Air, Fai and Syaoran's alters are both using mirrors as methods of deception -- Xiao Lang by showing his marks what they expect to see, and Fane by covering the apocalyptic tragedy of his world up with pretty, shiny illusions. Fane is the best at this, to the point where he can walk into and move between mirrors -- he has mastered the deception to the point where it has literally become him.

And in Firelands, of course, we see only the wreckage of the mirror that The Beast smashed when he lost the last of his humanity; he's given up any illusions that he is anything other than what he is, but at the same time, that means he's given up all hope of things ever changing or improving. And then Fane again with the mirror at the end, of course.

I'd say taken overall, the mirrors in this story represents the promise of progress -- which may be a real hope or may just be an illusion, just as the progress they were making throughout the actual series was largely an illusion -- but either way you have to try.

Fic ask game

[firstagent]

Review: Digimon Adventure: (2020) Episode 16: The Jet-Black Shadow Invades Tokyo

In this episode, Taichi, Koshiro, and Mimi arrive back in the real world eager to return home, take a shower, and eat fancy cheeseburgers. Then they realize this is the Bad Place.

A character arriving home prematurely is always a weird experience. They’re suddenly thrown from the terror of Digital World fighting and having their lives on the line to the relative safety yet constant bustle of Tokyo. There’s that uncomfortable sense of familiarity after spending so long in the wilderness. There’s the inevitable realization that there’s still business to do away from home and they’ll have to leave their homes and family to return to battle. And that’s when it’s actually happening! Now take all of those emotions, then add in red flags that build to a world that is genuinely wrong, and you’ve got yourself a real trip.

This standard-fare disorientation is what makes everything work. If not for those, all of the warning signs could have been discovered sooner. They’re not used to the usual noise, so they don’t realize it’s too quiet. Taichi might know how long it should take for the train to surface. Mimi might remember which way is home without relying on faulty signs. Most of all, their relief and enthusiasm to actually be home makes them desperate for it to be true, even when evidence suggests otherwise. This creates this lovely buildup where everyone processes the weirdness that they’re supposed to experience, only to be thrown by the weirdness that they’re not.

As she often does, Mimi provides us with the most vibrant and satisfying reactions. She’s the fastest to accept reality, storming through all the logical hurdles and happy to return to the comforts of home. With some characters, that would come across as annoyingly naive, especially when Taichi and Koshiro are still piecing everything together. It is naive no doubt, but what helps us join in on Mimi’s enthusiasm is how much she wants to share her world with Palmon. It’s not just about getting home and showering and eating fancy cheeseburgers, it’s about introducing Palmon to her parents and treating her to the revelation that is avocado. They’re also subjected to the wonky signage dragging them around to the point of exhaustion and gets the team’s first glimpse at the world’s creepy customer service. Mimi’s always going to have bigger reactions to these than the boys.

At the same time, the boys offer a nice contrast in their reactions. Koshiro asks all the right questions, pointing out that they haven’t saved anything, haven’t found the Holy Digimon like they were told to, and finds it odd that the phones and internet are down when they were the only things that weren’t affected by the blackouts in reality. Mimi drowns out his suspicions, and Taichi doesn’t help, hesitantly entertaining the idea that this is real and going through the motions. He’s not exuberant about it the way Mimi is, but he’s still playing along and suggesting they go home, falling into the same traps.

Once the trap is sprung, you’d expect all the episode’s interest nuance to vanish. With everything exposed as illusion, you run the risk of a standard battle, an instant return to the Digital World, and ultimately no consequence. Taichi in fact uses this to his advantage, blowing a hole in the ceiling with no concern for the property damage. He’s the one who tells Mimi the world isn’t real, despite Koshiro probably figuring it out well before him. But Koshiro figures out something more important, which in a nice turn adds color to the fight: not only is Eyesmon stealing data from the real world and causing the blackout, he’s using this data to shield himself.

All of this matters, and it’s the most important thing this episode could offer. Otherwise it’s just eeriness for the sake of eeriness. It even marks the big reunion as Yamato, Sora, and Joe show up for reasons we hope will be touched on later. It’s the first time we get to see all six Ultimates in action, fighting off random artifacts from the real world that could have been just weird Digital World background objects in the original series. A combined attack finally blasts its way through in a massive, glorious shot. Even this doesn’t fix everything. They’re still in the fake reality. Koshiro gets live updates from the real world (which itself is odd) showing that everything’s still terrible and time is running out. Eyesmon is still alive and scurrying away as a new threat configures itself. You expect these sorts of episodes to deliver on both mood and impact. There are moments where those are in doubt, but in the end it delivers enough of both to be more than satisfied.

My Grade: A

Loose Data:

As unusual as the kids find their sudden re-entry in the real world, the show is good about showing how the Digimon react to Tokyo. It’s completely foreign to them and while they don’t have the opportunity to make mischief, their awe is nice to see.

While Koshiro is perfectly logical about his assessments of the situation, Mimi raises a very good counter-argument in suggesting that maybe Sora’s team did everything while they were messing around riding Kiwimon and stuff. Also love how Mimi refers to it as Sora’s team. Screw you, Yamato.

Love how Mimi chalks up her endless circle around Shibuya Station to construction complicating all the usual routes. That’s a mood.

The real world update is far more important and far better integrated this time around. Though we do have to wonder how Yuuko is so stable when Taichi’s been missing for almost three days in all of this. Even if it isn’t perceived as the ages spent in the Digital World, that’s still a long time for a child to be missing in this chaos. But go ahead, just leave him a note. Also: Miiko’s alive again!

Mimi could have had a serious wave of depression after realizing the world isn’t real. Instead she uses it as a moment of motivation, promising to treat Palmon to an avocado cheeseburger.

Love Joe confirming that damaging property is acceptable before charging in with an attack.

See reviews of every Digimon episode at Digimon: System Restore! Support the site by joining our Patreon!

[sparklyjojos]

Let’s Read & Suffer: Tsukumojuku by Maijō Ōtarō [part 13]

Today`s recap: In which we unexpectedly jump from the Third to the Fifth Story, and in the resulting confusion talk a lot about dreams and privileged death. (tw: discussion of suicide)

STORY 5 PART 1

Tsukumojuku and his wife Rie were living in Chofu, close to the Illusionary Castle. As the case was still in progress, they could hear the trapped victims’ screams and pleading for help from inside the Castle all the time. But what once had been hard to bear, after half a year was now treated by everyone in the neighborhood as just annoying. Just another normal day. [In fact, the Story begins with Tsukumojuku and Rie casually unpacking groceries while screams echo through the town, and Rie is more focused on forgetting to buy beans than anything else.]

More than 180 people had been killed in the Castle. While all reports claimed around 200 people had been trapped to begin with, this didn’t add up, since there was at least 100 of them left alive inside. New people (or their bodies) had to be brought in somehow, but nobody could find any secret entrance. In that half a year, there was a lot of disappearances reported all throughout the country, which probably had something to do with the new bodies.

[Like in the previous story, the first person killed was Yanbe, the Castle’s owner, and soon after that Seiryoin Ryusui's body was found in a locked room.]

Tsukumojuku and Rie finished with the groceries, went upstairs to the bedroom where Kandai, Seijitsu and Shoujiki were sleeping, and returned to reading “The Fourth Story”.

[Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first time slip, where the characters are reading a Story that the reader hadn’t seen yet. Expect things to get... a little confusing.]

In the Fourth Story he himself, “the great detective Tsukumojuku”, was trapped in the Castle and tried to solve the case. His final conclusion was that the 333 people who had been trapped in the Castle, as well as the Castle itself, were nothing more than an illusion, a dream, and none of the related events happened in reality. As “the great detective Tsukumojuku” himself pointed out, him coming to this conclusion probably meant that the “case” would end soon. And since it was just a dream, there was no need to explain how impossible murders could happen. Nobody really died, so there was no reason to catch anyone. The murderous Artist was “the great detective Tsukumojuku” himself [because it was him, his imagination, that created those murders]. But apparently even though the case and the Story both came to an end, the dream itself did not.

(Tsukumojuku thought about how he was also, right now, captured by the illusion of the Story, detaching himself from reality to live inside the narration.

He thought that maybe his reality was all a dream, too... but then it’d be just as strong as real life, so there would be no reason to come back to reality. Well, let's just act like this “dream” is reality, then, and live in it happily. And if this was a dream, maybe there's no reason to care about the Castle murders, right?)

--

Rie wasn’t very happy with the “all just a dream” conclusion to the Fourth Story, as that’s not exactly a solution the reader had a fair chance to come up with. No doubt Rie had wanted to get hints to help with the real Castle case, too; she’d always felt strong sympathy for the trapped people. One night she even tried to convince Tsukumojuku that he should go to the Castle and solve the case -- if he's actually a “Tsukumojuku”, wouldn’t it be his role?

It surely wouldn’t, he thought. He wasn't a great detective, and had nothing to do with Seiryoin's weird tales. While Stories 1-3 had really familiar content, they contained a lot of lies too. Sure, Tsukumojuku was Way Too Beautiful, and Tsutomu was his brother not by blood, and Seshiru and Serika had killed Yurika, Naoko, and Junko and ran away. But the mitate concerning Genesis and the Book of Revelation were all lies. And none of this “old man yelling Hallelujah from inside a corpse” business.

From the Second Story, the mysterious phone call and the “Armageddon” thing both really happened. But all the stuff with the burned victim being mitate for “men burned by the sun's fire” [note: in Revelations the burning sun is the 4th plague], Yuuko in a bloody bathtub being mitate for “water turned into blood” [2nd plague], and the three women being killed for the “Adam and Eve” shtick -- all of it wasn't real.

In the Third Story, Okubo's serial murders being mitate for “reaping of the Earth by the Angels”, and “Seshiru” killing his younger brother “Tsukumojuku” being mitate for “Cain and Abel” [note: remember that they had switched names at the end of that Story and that’s why this mitate works], and the last line that resembled the God's curse on Cain – all of it was also not real.

As for the Fourth Story, if there was mitate for the Castle murders at all, it might have been “War in Heaven”, or maybe “Noah's Ark” (perhaps the criminal was trying to kill everyone but two people or something?), or maybe “Babel Tower”, he had no clue.

There was also an unsettling revelation in the Fourth Story: if you wrote down the name “Tsukumojuku” in kanji, read it as three nines connected into one number by the “ten” kanji (so 9, 9 and 9 got you 999), and then flipped it upside down, you'd get 666, the number of the Beast. Which was obviously some serious bullshit. Tsukumojuku wasn’t an Antichrist or anything, and last time he checked he had no ten horns or seven heads. All this stuff about a “Mark of the Beast” was also bonkers.

He was just a normal, if a way too beautiful human being. Not a great detective. There were so many things he didn't know. He didn't even understand why all the mitate of the Old Testament was put there in the Stories.

Tsukumojuku had no idea who that “Seiryoin” writing the Stories was (especially since the real Seiryoin had been killed in the Castle), but they didn't seem to be written to hurt him or Rie. If anything, Rie seemed strangely comforted with the fact that the Castle case in the Story was solved by "Tsukumojuku”. Sure, she had a lot of expectations towards the real him because of it, but it wasn't that much of a deal. In fact, they found themselves waiting for the next Story to arrive.

As they were reading, Rie made a snarky but light-hearted comment about how even if she was the one to carry and give birth to their triplets, those various women in the stories took all the credit for her hard work [lol], to which Tsukumojuku answered, “You know all these women were then killed or left behind, right.”

“Well, if we're together, I don't really care about living... But there is always a way to live and to be together.”

And a way to die, Tsukumojuku caught himself thinking

--.

In opposition to the mass death of the World Wars, detective novels are rich in creative devices allowing a character to “die a privileged death”. But is death in these novels really privileged? The real privileged death is the one that comes after a fulfilling life, that family and friends and many strangers care about, that comes when you want it and how you want it. It’s a death how it's “supposed” to happen. It's to live your calm daily life until the end, it's majestic and gentle.

It’s not like anybody would want to be killed with a strange trick in a locked room, or to have some boring mitate done with their corpse, even if it was related to something as popular as the Bible. Nobody would ask for death (even privileged) in the first place. Some would wish to be seen as a mitate / image of God, maybe, but probably not at the price of their lives.

The real privileged death is to die your own death to the last. To die after getting what you want. It’s the dignity of it, the majesty. The sadness of those who lost you. A small wish to live a little longer, perhaps. And good memories. Satisfaction. Confidence. Being proud of your life, and rejoicing at good death.

That's not what happens in detective novels.

Not a lot of dignity is given there. And since the dignity of human death is so weakly felt, it's with an easy heart that the authors kill characters, wound them, toy with them. It’s also why they come up with absurd motives for the criminals, or no motive at all, why they portray the psychological effects of human beings coming in contact with death very lightly or don’t care about it.

At the same time, every detective story contains the possibility of a privileged death happening: there’s always the possibillity that the victim in that story only pretended to be a victim of a murder, and in reality committed suicide, thus dying a satisfying death. But even then, a great detective would inevitably bring the case to an end, eliminating any further privileged deaths.

(...It didn’t sound so bad to die your own death while pretending to be murdered. And it'd be nice to think that this was what had been happening in the real Castle, just a giant performance of sorts, and that since there wasn't a Great Detective Tsukumojuku there to get in people’s way, they could keep on dying how they wanted.

Yeah, it’d be nice, but he didn't actually believe this was the case. The horrified screams coming from the Castle couldn’t have been just a performance.)

--

IMPRESSIONS

Welcome to the Fifth Story, the one I had to read with a dictionary in one hand and a Bible in the other. There’s a lot of obscure references to Genesis and especially Revelations later. A Lot. In fact, I’d seriously  advise the reader of this recap to read the Book of Revelation as prep for this and the next Story.

It’s interesting how in Jorge Joestar the big thing about Tsukumojuku’s name is that flipping the three nine kanji (九) upside down will get you three symbols of Jupiter (♃) = three “powerful gods” = Beyond (aka Technically God)... but in this book the exact same train of logic, but after swapping the kanji with Arabic numbers, will give you the number of the Beast (aka Technically Satan).

From what I observed, Tsukumojuku’s age is always 12+[Story number], which would make him 17 here. [EDIT: the 12+number rule doesn’t actually hold true, as he’s 16 later in the 7th Story. Time is kinda weird in this book.] And of course he’s once again somehow married and has kids with a woman who’s later stated to have graduated from college before they met. Because we can’t have a single not-creepy relationship in this book, apparently. Sigh.

I believe that constrasting the deaths in the World Wars and mystery novels is a reference to Kasei Kiyoshi’s detective novel theory. It states that around the time of great disasters and wars, which are filled with mass senseless death and chaos, the mystery genre flourishes, since the society is sunbconsciously searching for balance and/or escapism, and thus yearns for orderly stories focused on a privileged death of the individual (victim), a death that has some sort of reason behind it and doesn’t happen just by senseless fate. The original theory links it to both World Wars, but it also applies to other conflicts, natural disasters or great economic crashes. It’s not an accident that the first JDC book came out a year after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which is so obvious an inspiration that the Detective Ritual manga outright features it as the backstory setting. (If you can read Japanese, here’s a cool article putting JDC, Tsukumojuku, Disco Wednesdayyy and many others in that context.)

>>>>NEXT PART>>>>

[thatmangoka]

Tale of the Sleeping Prince Dj Chapter 1 Masterpost (plus reading aid)

   I SINCERELY apologize if this ends up being an obnoxious longpost on mobile ;-;  For those who could use a reading aid to accompany the doujinshi, I’ll have the Script O’ Words down below in the “read more” section, but sometimes that automatically displays on mobile version ahhh so sorry. I hope this helps! Pt. 1 > Pg. 1 > Pg. 2 > Pg. 3 > Pg. 4 > Pg. 5 > Pg. 6 Pt. 2 > Pg. 7 > Pg. 8 > Pg. 9 > Pg. 10 Pt. 3 > Pg. 11 > Pg. 12 > Pg. 13 > Pg. 14 Pt. 4 > Pg. 15 > Pg. 16 > Pg. 17 > Pg. 18 Pt. 5 > Pg. 19 > Pg. 20 > Pg. 21 > Pg. 22 Pt. 6 > Pg. 23 > Pg. 24 > Pg. 25 > Pg. 26 Pt. 7 > Pg. 27 > Pg. 28 Pt. 8 > Pg. 29 > Pg. 30 > Pg. 31 > Pg. 32 Pt. 9 > Pg. 33 > Pg. 34 > Pg. 35 > Pg. 36 > Pg. 37

SCRIPT O’ WORDS

|| Pt. 1 || Pg. 1 Mom: Mari! What happened?! Mari: Just get some warm blankets! He was playing on the lake and hit a patch of thin ice... He fell through before I could reach him. I pulled him out as soon as I could, but... Pg. 2 Dad: How many times have we told you to stay away from that lake?? It’s dangerous!! Mari: Dad, it’s not cursed!! It’s just a lake! Mom: Sweetheart, go get some dry clothes, will you? Mari: Fine. Mom: Mari’s right. It’s been ages since there was an incident on that lake. Dad: Not anymore. Pg. 3 Yuuri: MOM!!! Mom: Yuuri! Sweetie, I’m here. It’s okay. Pg. 4 Yuuri: No- I- I can’t see... Mom...? Pg. 5 Dad: It’s been days since his fever subsided. Even the doctor said his vision should have returned. Mari: I told you, it’s not a curse! He just had an infection! Pg. 6 Mom: Yuuri, sweetie? Yuuri: Mm...mom? Mom: Sh.... Yuuri: Where are we going? Mom: Just to see a friend... || Pt. 2 || Pg. 7 Yuuri: Where are we going in the dark? (Yuuri narration: Is it even dark?) Mom: To see a friend of mommy’s. Yuuri, sweetie, do you remember the time Vicchan ate Mari’s slippers, and we promised that would just be between you and me? Yuuri: Did you eat someone’s slippers? Mom: No, sweetheart. Pg. 8 (mom narration: But it’s a secret.) Yuuko: Business? Pg. 9 -- Pg. 10 Yuuri: I- I can see... Mom: Oh, sweetheart!! Yuuko: Payment. Mom: Oh, yes of course! Thank you so much, Yuuko! Yuuri: W-wait. How- Yuuko: If you have any issues with the lenses or frames, be sure to come back and I can adjust them for you. || Pt. 3 || Pg. 11 -- Pg. 12 (Yuuri...) Mom: Yuuri? Pg. 13 Mom: Be sure not to mention where you got these glasses. Some people would consider it witchcraft. Yuuri: Why’s that, mom? (Yuuri narration: My mind is burning.) Mom: Because it’s witchcraft. (Yuuri narration: I wonder if this is some sort of side effect...) Pg. 14 (Yuuri narration: It’s magic right? So... Magic can have side effects... Maybe... That’s why I can’t get that face out of my head. That’s gotta be it. I’d never put them on before. Something weird was bound to happen. Just some sort of illusion. A really... really lonely looking illusion.) || Pt. 4 || Pg. 15 (Yuuri narration: Things are still pretty blurry without the glasses... I guess for now I’d better keep them on... I was starting to think I’d never see your face again, boy. What’s the big problem with witchcraft anyway if it does so much good? Pg. 16 Prince: Hello...? Can you see me? You’re the one from before... Pg. 17 (Prince narration: You can’t hear me, can you...? No one can. Not even the people here. Please, just let me know someone’s there.) Pg. 18 (Yuuri narration: Okay. Calm down. Just a dream. You’re just wrapped up in that hallucination from earlier. He’s not real.)

|| Pt. 5 || Pg. 19 Yuuko: And he called out to you?? Tell me every detail! What color were his eyes?? What was his voice like?? Yuuri: Has this ever... happened before? Yuuko: Well to be honest, it’s my first time preparing glasses on my own. (I’m still in training ><) But it’s possible the enchantment on the glass I picked was a bit on the strong side. Maybe that’s what’s giving you this extra sight. Pg. 20 Yuuri: It’s not just... a curse, is it? My dad keeps saying the lake I fell into is cursed. Yuuko: No, Yuuri- Listen, that’s not how curses work. Normal people all have their own fears and worries. It’s when these traits breed out of control that a curse is born. Lakes don’t put curses on people, and honestly, neither do witches. At least, not yet...(One day...) Yuuri: Um okay well I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that last part but- Okay, assuming it’s not a curse, and the glass is just too strong... he must be real!! Yuuko: (YEAH BOY) Pg. 21 Yuuri: ...He’s real. He’s real. Yuuko: I think there’s a good possibility. He can’t be far! We should go look for him! Pg. 22 (Yuuri narration: Can you hear me? My name’s Yuuri. I don’t know if you can hear me. And I’m sure you can’t see me. But I’m here. Please, just know that you’re not alone.) || Pt. 6 || Pg. 23 (Prince narration: How long has it been? It feels like I’ve been crying for days. God, my chest hurts. Ah... I can’t even keep my eyes open anymore. It’s fine... No one’s coming. Get some sleep.) Pg. 24 Yuuri: Yuuko! I need help! Nobody knows anything about him and I think he’s in trouble! Yuuko: Oh, Yuuri...I’m so sorry, I really screwed up...I wasn’t sure, so I went back and checked the materials I used to make your glasses. I found some mislabeled materials that must have gotten mixed in with the usual glasses... It’s high-grade looking glass. Its maximum range is meant to extend across the neighboring three kingdoms. Pg. 25 Yuuko: Yuuri, I’m sorry... I know how worried you are about him, but he could be anywhere. Yuuri: No. Like you said, he has to be somewhere within the neighboring three kingdoms. That’s not anywhere. I won’t stop looking. I’ll find him. Eventually, I’ll find him. Pg. 26 (Yuuri narration: I don’t know why the glasses keep showing me your face. I don’t even know if it’s too late to help you. But if there’s even a chance, I’ll keep looking for you. However long it takes.) Phichit: Yuuri! || Pt. 7 || Pg. 27 Yuuri: Phichit! Can you see town from up there? Phichit: Yeah! It’s just a straight shot from here! AH! Yuuri! Catch the hamsters! Yuuri: WAGH!! Phichit: Ah, sweeties!! Daddy’s so sorry! Please forgive! Pg. 28 Yuuri: You gotta be more careful with these poor guys...  Phichit: No no, it’s fine! Terror and excitement look pretty much the same on a hamster’s face! (They’re just having fun!) Hey, before we get too far, do you think we could stop back at the last town? They had some FANCY treats for sweet babies and I forgot to grab them. Yuuri: Phichit, can’t we pick something up at the next town? If we’re going to make it North before winter sets in, I’d like to avoid backtracking as much as possible.

|| Pt. 8 || Pg. 29 Minako: What’s the rush, kid? I saw some choice flower stalls the other day and I bet I could make a wicked hot dress out of them. Yuuri: Minako, no- I’m not buying you more...flower...evening wear... Minako: Yuuri, my god. I’m a grown fairy. I can buy my own club gear. Yuuri: Look, I just want to make sure we make it out of here before winter sets in. Phichit: Yuuri... I know you don’t like the cold, but once we hit the Northern Kingdom, that’s pretty much all we’re gonna find. Yuuri: It’s not the cold! The cold is fine, I don’t have a problem- (Minako: Don’t ignore me, child! Mama’s gotta get slick!) Phichit: Look, no offense, but that’s pretty much the slogan of every person with a debilitating problem ever.

Pg. 30 Phichit: It’ll be fine Yuuri! I’ll never let you be cold! I’ll find you whatever warm clothing you need! Yuuri: PHICHIT I BLINKED WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE. Phichit: It was the hamsters YUURI LISTEN- Yuuri: No, Phichit it’s fine really. I just- I just I don’t like the ice. I’m a lot bigger and heavier than I was when I was a kid and- Pg. 31 Yuuri: I’d just rather- not go through any of that again. (Yuuri narration: I don’t ever want to see the other side of the ice again.) Pg. 32 Phichit: Wait- Do you hear that? Yuuri: Minako, can you take a look? Minako: Do what I can. Can’t see much from up here either. It’s pretty dark in there, boys. || Pt. 9 || Pg. 33 Minako: It’s a feeble! It looks small, but be careful! Phichit: Ah, hams wait! Let Yuuri and I handle this! Pg. 34 Minako: Okay FOR THE RECORD these guys do not need anymore treats. AGH!! Pg. 35 Phichit: Yuuri!! Get down! Pg. 36 (Yuuri narration: What... Where...) Pg. 37 (Yuuri narration: Who...) Victor: Hello, handsome.

[cullinankatsudon]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov Characters: Katsuki Yuuri, Katsuki Yuuri's Family, Yuri Plisetsky, Victor Nikiforov, Celestino Cialdini, Nishigori Yuuko, Nishigori Takeshi, Makkachin (Yuri!!! on Ice), Okukawa Minako Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Steampunk Summary:

This is an alternate universe retelling of Yuri on Ice rolled back roughly 100 years, set in a steampunk world borrowed from a series of my own. My goal for the story is to keep it as close to the original anime storyline as possible inside the new setting, with one major alteration: instead of competing on ice, Yuuri, Victor, and the rest of the Grand Prix finalists are competing as storytellers. They have short and long programs, the same as the skating world; they have costumes and coaches, and they use the steampunk element aether to power their illusions as they weave their tales.

I began writing this (my first fanfic) as an escape from some life/career blows. However, my day job is also writing stories (real and author name is Heidi Cullinan) and so my apologies in advance if I'm slow to update. My hope is to use this fic to push through and finish it and several other works by August. I anticipate this being at least 7 chapters, but my work always runs long. Assume at least 12 or 13. I'll also probably edit as I go. Rated mature because we'll get steamy, eventually.

All right. I did it. Here’s chapter one.

Be gentle. It’s my first time.

@hamykia I hope to hell I tagged you right on there.

[venialsun]

1/5 | it’s just a simple symphony

A lot can happen in five years. (Or: the chronicle of Yuuri’s five years in Detroit, leading up to his disastrous showing at the Sochi GPF.) 

Read on AO3.

.year one.

Yuuri tries very hard not to cry, all up until the moment Vicchan untangles himself from his leash and leaps up at Yuuri’s legs, whining. Then, all bets are off, and he barely contains himself from sobbing outright in the middle of the train station with all his friends and family ready to send him off.

Shakily, Yuuri bends to pet Vicchan, tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes.

“You’ll be good for them, won’t you?” he whispers, pushing his fingers through the brown curls under Vicchan’s ears. The fur feels impossibly soft beneath his hands, like a stuffed animal’s, and Yuuri is suddenly struck by how small Vicchan is, panting at his feet, top paws barely coming up to below his knees.

Vicchan barks, high and keen, a confused sound as Yuuri stands.

“Okay,” Yuuri says, wiping his eyes and attempting a smile that is braver than he feels. “I’m off.”

There’s another round of hugs and squeezes as his family, Minako, and the Nishigori’s wish him well. They make him promise to call when he gets to Tokyo, and again when he lands in America. Yuuri nods, swallowing and white-knuckling the handle of his suitcase.

It all seems very final all of a sudden, this huge leap away from the life he’s always known to go to school in a foreign country and keep on training. It’s as if, until now, none of it had be truly real. Despite all his awards in the Novice and Junior competitions, he can hardly believe it: Katsuki Yuuri, professional figure skater.

Yuuri’s staring down at Vicchan, watching him play with the loose tie of his shoes, misty-eyed and nervous, thinking himself into a spiral, when three sudden weights threaten to topple him over. He looks down, and it’s the triplets, wrapped around his ankles, muttering in their own strange baby language. They’re crying.

“Axel-Lutz-Loop!” Yuuko exclaims, in that way she does where already the triplets’ names have started to run together. “Let Yuuri go!” She kneels, attempting to extricate the girls, but they’re clinging tightly enough that Yuuri ends up falling back on his ass with the motion.

Abruptly, the buzz in Yuuri’s head clears. Vicchan licks at his ear. Yuuri laughs, stooping to pick himself and one of the girls up in his arms. The other two dutifully pick themselves from the ground, too, used to tumbles in the way only toddlers can be, immediately going back to hug Yuuri around his calves. His family and Minako laugh, great bright sounds. Takeshi and Yuuko are caught between apologizing profusely to Yuuri, saying how very sorry they are for the trouble, and barely containing their own laughter. At their feet, Vicchan leaps, barking again and attracting attention.

Yuuri waves off Takeshi and Yuuko. He hitches Loop higher on his hip and asks, voice teasing, “You don’t want me to go?”

Up until a month ago, Yuuri had been under the impression the triplets absolutely despised him, seeing as they took every opportunity to torment him by hiding his glasses and tripping him up on his way to the rink. But then Yuuri had admitted to Yuuko his plans to move to America to continue his ice-skating, and—surprise of surprises—the triplets could not have been more distressed. It had been pretty satisfying, then, when the triplets declared Yuuri to be their favorite person on the face of the planet and how please, please, please he couldn't go when he still had to teach them how to skate.

So when Loop cries out, “No!” in perfect sync with her sisters, Yuuri has to fight down a smile.

“But don’t you want to see me skate?” he asks, attempting a pout. Loop hesitates, a considering look appearing on her chubby face. “That’s what I’m going off to do, you know. I’m going to get better and keep skating in the Senior division. One day, I’m even going to skate alongside Victor Nikiforov at the Grand Prix Final. Don’t you want to see that?”

The invocation of Victor’s name has the desired effect, as it always does: the triplets go quiet, wide-eyed with wonder. Behind them, Takeshi sniggers.

Loop says, "Victor—"

"—Nikiforov?" finishes Lutz.

"Really?" asks Axel.

Yuuri’s smile softens. He sets Loop back down alongside her sisters, who have finally loosened their death-grips on his legs, and nods. "Definitely."

It doesn’t take long after that for Takeshi and Yuuko to persuade the triplets back into their carrier, now murmuring to themselves about Victor and Yuuri competing against one other on the ice. It's pretty terrifying—barely two-years-old and already scheming. Yuuri would feel sorry for Takeshi and Yuuko, if the triplets' prime target for scheming were not Yuuri himself. How it is, when they wave at him in muted farewell and make closing motions with their tiny fists (bye-bye!), Yuuri just waves back, bemused.

Overhead, a woman on the speakers announces the train for Tokyo will be departing soon. Yuuri looks up, caught off guard, then back down, eyes gone wide again. This is really happening.

His mother pushes him forward, gentle, one last contact, sweeping the hair out of his eyes. "Hurry," she says, "before you miss your train."

"Call when you get to Tokyo," his father reminds him.

"I will," says Yuuri, nodding and smiling. He trips as he boards the train, looking back as often as he is, distracted by Vicchan's whining. "Goodbye! Take care!"

~+~

“Hmm. You keep over-rotating your triple axel.”

Yuuri winces and looks away. “I know.”

Celestino drums his fingers on the barrier to the ice, lips pursed. Yuuri tries not to fidget under his gaze, keeping himself straight by sheer force of will, but it’s a near thing. It is Yuuri's second practice with Celestino as his coach, his fourth day in America, and he doubts it will ever get easier to hear this criticism, constructive though it is, no matter how much Yuuri knows he needs it.

Finally, Celestino says, “Build more momentum before you jump, si? Let that lead. Make it tighter. Now try again.”

Yuuri nods, brusque. He pushes off onto the ice and tries to land the triple—and he keeps trying, but he falls, over and over. His frustration mounts with every slip of his feet and hand on the ice. From the barrier, Celestino calls his name, likely to call him back, but Yuuri ignores it.

One more time.

He goes half a circuit around the rink, building momentum. Brings his feet together and jumps. Spins, just once—twice—thrice—

He comes down, one clean landing among a dozen that were not.

“That was good, Yuuri!” Celestino calls out, flagging him down.

Good, Yuuri thinks, frowning and gasping, sweat beading past his hairline. But not good enough.

He can do better. He knows he can. He just needs to keep pushing.

~+~

On the other hand, he might have pushed too hard when he disregarded his academic advisor's recommendation and took five courses instead of four for his first semester. The coursework piles up, his professors speak too fast for him to take proper notes, especially at first, and all of his exams usually happen one of top of the other, usually two or three within the same week. It doesn't help that any time he could be using to study he has to spend out at the rink.

Yuuri quickly finds himself overwhelmed, trying hard to juggle his schoolwork with his practices. Often, he spends his nights bent over a textbook, squinting at the Roman letters, mind caught somewhere between what he’s reading and the choreography of his programs.

He aches, mind and body, stressed and lonely in his one-student dorm. Having this much room to himself is strange, uncomfortable, too used as he is to living at the inn, where people come and go as they please and he only ever had the illusion of privacy. Being on his own, completely, is a new experience Yuuri has already decided he does not like. He tells Celestino as much, but Celestino says he cannot do anything until the school year is over and more rooms become available.

It makes him miss Hasetsu terribly, more than he thought he would. Even when he makes time and tries to call his family once a week to keep them updated—classes and skating going well, yes, he's eating enough, no, he hasn't really made any new friends but his rinkmates are nice—it is not enough. It’s definitely not enough to only be able to see Vicchan through his computer screen whenever Mari Skypes him, always stuck between laughing at Vicchan's exuberance and feeling irreparably guilty that he cannot be there to calm him. It's not enough when Mari admits that Vicchan has taken residence in his old room, sleeping on his bed every night, missing him.

Surrounded by strange people and strange smells and the constant, buzzing activity of Detroit, so different from anything Yuuri is used to, Yuuri almost allows himself to believe the move to America was a mistake. It certainly feels like it, sometimes.

But there on the wall above his bed when Yuuri flops back on stomach, the reminder of why Yuuri is here at all: Victor Nikiforov smiling down at him, gleaming brightly even by the dim light of his desk lamp.

One day, Yuuri swears to himself, setting his jaw as he looks at the poster.

One day, he will skate alongside the same ice as Victor, just as he promised Axel, Lutz, and Loop. One day, Yuuri will meet Victor on the podium, on equal footing, years of childhood fancy coalescing into one moment. And Victor will look at him and him alone, and smile. He might even reach out to shake Yuuri’s hand, a congratulations, the ice-roughened callouses of his palms catching on Yuuri’s own. And then—then everything leading up until that moment, all the lonely nights and grueling exams and bruised feet, will be worth it. Yuuri believes it. He has to. He can't imagine how anything else will ever be close to worth it.

~+~

(In Yuuri’s most private fantasies, those he guards close to his heart, Yuuri sees himself standing above Victor on that podium, smiling down at Victor, all of Yuuri’s awe and reverence flipped in on itself.

With Victor, there, present for no one else except him.

But as it is, Yuuri doesn’t let himself indulge too long. It will be enough to have Victor’s eyes on him, he tells himself, in whatever way he can have him, when the day comes.)

~+~

His standing leading up the Grand Prix Final is not too bad, according to Celestino, who says placing within the top ten at both Grand Prix qualifiers is something to be proud of, especially for his second year in the Senior division.

But Yuuri is decidedly not proud. He doesn’t want to settle for “not too bad.” He doesn’t want top ten, or even top five. He wants to hit the podium and hold a medal in his hands, to feel the weight of it on his chest. He wants to win. He wants gold.

The desire for it is probably selfish, ugly. After all, he’s aware enough to recognize the talent he’s surrounded himself with in the Senior division. Men who have been skating years longer than he has, who have already made their marks on the ice and defend their titles with all the conviction of seasoned veterans of the sport. Yuuri’s a dime-a-dozen now, one professional skater in a sea of professional skaters, one mediocre talent among men who ooze talent out of their pores. He still feels half a boy sometimes, with his messy hair and glasses, gawky and awkward under the television cameras and bright lights.

But the worst of it is knowing—had he skated cleanly, had his programs not been as safe as Celestino advised when Yuuri admitted to his mental weakness, had he been good enough—Yuuri might have placed. It's within his ability; he knows that. Looking at the other skaters, seeing them glide across the ice, Yuuri had known: they were beatable. Yuuri could beat them. But he hadn't. He'd fallen on the triple axel. Downgraded the one quad in his program he comfortable with—toe loop—into a double. He'd lost.

His one consolation, mid-season and refusing to settle for Celestino’s “not too bad,” is watching Victor take gold for the first time at the Grand Prix Final during the skating club watch party. He stands tall and beautiful at the top of the podium, his long silvery hair pulled away from his face, smiling like a beacon, and Yuuri wants.

So he pushes himself, well past his own mental obstacles. Pushes to change his jump composition, when he finally proves to Celestino he can land his jumps in practice. Pushes to skate longer hours at the rink, now that his exams are over and the new semester has yet to pick up.

He pushes and pushes, exhausted with it, stubborn and clawing forward to improve.

He forgets to call home as often as he should, regaling most of his family communication to texts with Mari, Minako, and Yuuko.

But he doesn't feel too guilty for it when, for the first time, he pushes himself onto the podium, at Nationals.

Silver. He wins silver.

At nineteen, his first medal of his Senior career.

At the medal ceremony, Yuuri holds his medal aloft in his hands, steady for the cameras, knowing Celestino and Minako are in the crowd, cheering. Knowing his family and the Nishigori’s are watching in the dining area of Yutopia at their own watch party. Knowing all of Japan is watching, in one way or another, watching him stand there, for now until next year, officially Japan’s second topmost skater.

It's a victory, what he has waited for for so long.

He tells himself he has no reason to feel sorry for himself, not when silver is perfectly respectable. Definitely preferable to eighth or ninth.

But as the cameras flash and the announcers call out the names of the medalists, Yuuri cannot help but be disappointed.

Suddenly, one day with Victor seems very far away. 

--- TBC ---

[ao3feed-yurionice]

The Storyteller's Apprentice

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nsMSnj

by CullinanKatsudon

This is an alternate universe retelling of Yuri on Ice rolled back roughly 100 years, set in a steampunk world borrowed from a series of my own. My goal for the story is to keep it as close to the original anime storyline as possible inside the new setting, with one major alteration: instead of competing on ice, Yuuri, Victor, and the rest of the Grand Prix finalists are competing as storytellers. They have short and long programs, the same as the skating world; they have costumes and coaches, and they use the steampunk element aether to power their illusions as they weave their tales.

I began writing this (my first fanfic) as an escape from some life/career blows. However, my day job is also writing stories (real and author name is Heidi Cullinan) and so my apologies in advance if I'm slow to update. My hope is to use this fic to push through and finish it and several other works by August. I anticipate this being at least 7 chapters, but my work always runs long. Assume at least 12 or 13. I'll also probably edit as I go. Rated mature because we'll get steamy, eventually.

Words: 5253, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Katsuki Yuuri, Katsuki Yuuri's Family, Yuri Plisetsky, Victor Nikiforov, Celestino Cialdini, Nishigori Yuuko, Nishigori Takeshi, Makkachin (Yuri!!! on Ice), Okukawa Minako

Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Steampunk

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nsMSnj

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

Chapter 82 aka Symbolic sad boi hours!

I dearly love the design of the fan, and especially the little string coming off the end that is a perfect match for the one on the end of Lava Lamp’s sword. 

I want to say the flowers might be lotus this time? So could be about attaining enlightenment or spiritual reawakening - mirroring Watanuki’s steps into his final stages of character growth at the end of the story, and maybe even his learning the final bits of his personality that he isn’t currently aware of. Or that’s my rough guess anyway. 

I’m sure the outfit itself has meaning I couldn’t attempt to decipher on my own, but I DO adore that it’s very much got the same type of imagery that Yuuko has been using the last few chapters - with the fabric using a pattern identical to the very real things elsewhere in the frame, but overlapping and just off enough that you notice that it’s an imitation instead. Here it’s the birds, both around Watanuki and on the garment - especially with the one almost in centreframe looking directly at another one, which is just an imperfect mirror image in the fabric (Which in itself is a great callback to the idea of duality and twins, but we’ll set that aside for now). I like the one on his shoulder even more, with the wings of the bird behind him ALMOST looking like it extends into the material of the garment itself, but that too is just an illusion made by the pattern... OR IS IT?

The pattern of the wing even goes OVER the detail on his collar, which it wouldn’t do if it was part of the design of the clothing, but it DOES end where the fabric ends, showing that it really is.

It ALMOST makes it look like the garment is reflective, working like a mirror - but that’s not it either, because the bird’s face isn’t looking directly back, but off in a different direction, and the bird behind Watanuki is not at the right angle to be reflected on the front of his clothes. 

It’s honestly stunning to look at, deliberately misleading with no clear answer that really rises to the surface. It’s all overlapping layers of reality - things that are and aren’t real existing so closely together that they might as well be one and the same, slightly off in places but completely in line with each other in others. Does the difference really even matter, or is it just a matter of perspective? How much of reality itself is just a matter of perspective, and does any of THAT matter either?

I - OOPS

I am having the sudden memory that I might have the colour version of this saved somewhere on my computer. Let’s look for it. 

OH HERE WE GO