#20 billion Yen

[pochapal]

this might be the single most failson line in all of umineko

[don-dake]

1,595,000円 (approx. USD$12,000+, €11,000+)

495,000円 (approx. USD$3,700+, €3,500+)

純金フィギュア 『ブラック・ジャック』

連載開始 ５０ 周年記念商品

Solid Gold 『Black Jack』 (& Pinoco) Start of Serialization, 50th Anniversary Commemorative Merchandise

1,595,000円… … …my 🧠 ↓

[dnangelic]

' i'll deliver a full refrigerator tied and strung up to the bottom of a helicopter every time that i visit , of course . ' of course not : though , when it came to a character like him , could anybody , sakura most especially , have really been so sure ?

setting things up this way would only make it that much more entertaining when he did inevitably welcome sakura to a few new accessories at home --- yes , despite the protests . he's already had a mind for a few pillows , what was a freezer to keep a little drink and food ? even a small one , enough to keep leftovers or frozen breads and maybe something sweet or two .

' but --- you can worry about that later . ' as for the rest , his lip tugs again . it's a nigh-immediate , near-exhausted answer in his thoughts : steal for over hundreds and hundreds of years , and you inevitably built up a little repute .

nothing that someone like sakura would have known , much less even cared for ; so he had imagined , so he seems to be proven incorrect , if only by the latter . even then , his eyes only narrow and shine with some sort of secret humor that he doesn't share with the other : ' who knows , right ? why don't you watch for yourself , some day ? after all , i take it you've still never seen one of the great dark mousy's heists . '

“And where do you think I could be keeping anything you get me to cook, dumbass?”

He’s so focused on that conundrum that he cant even bring attention to anything else. In his defense, this isn’t even to mention the question of where they’d put anything left over—there’s no fridge here, no icebox, not even a damn communal one. Unless Dark just goes out to buy shit every time he wants something (and why is he even entertaining the dumb idea!?), they’re gonna be shit outta luck.

“And don’t say you’ll get me somethin’ for that, either,” he adds on quick, though, because a momentary fear makes the hair on the back of his neck stand on end; “there’s no room to put anything.”

And let it be known: He really doesn’t wanna grace his threats with responses. It’s hard as shit keeping the little klepto’s secret as it is (why he agreed is beyond him), but if word gets out about a thief in the night here in town, Bofurin’ll rip the place apart looking for him. It’s just as much about saving his own skin as it is Dark’s, sure, but he just—he doesn’t want anyone going through that trouble.

Also, his egg is done, so not a damn thing matters anymore.

“How’d you even get famous enough to keep cards?” He’s asking with no animosity because of the egg, though, Dark better know that. “And famous enough for people to recognize’em?”

[tobiasdrake]

Ranma 1/2 episode 3. I can't be the only person who somehow, despite not thinking about this series seriously in a long time, still hears "YAPPAPPA YAPPAPPA II SHAN TEN hashagu koi wa ike no koi" in their head when starting up the reboot series.

Where did you come from? I thought I forgot you.

By contrast, the new OP hasn't grown on me as much. Can't imagine why. It couldn't be that I've heard the new one twice but heard the old one eight billion times over the course of three decades, such that any new music in its place is going to inherently sound like an imposter.

Nah, it's probably just that the song isn't good. That's a reasonable thing to conclude.

(In seriousness, new OP is fun.)

Uhhhhh, part 1 because I had a lot to say about Nabiki, my fave from back in the day who gets to be in the spotlight for the first time this episode.

Speaking of the OP, this is my favorite shot.

I don't know what it is exactly but every time I see this, there is a haunted look in Ranma's eyes. I don't think that's on purpose. I think he's just supposed to look like he's happily jogging.

But I see a thousand-yard stare on this boy. The look of a person who has seen things that can never be unseen.

Which.

Is fair.

For Ranma.

Rejected so hard. This is a misunderstanding but it's still hilarious how quickly Nabiki nopes the fuck out of this shit.

To be fair, she's seen the way Kuno treats the women he's interested in. If I were her, I would want no part of that.

Ironically enough, Nabiki/Kuno is IIRC the most popular ship for both of these characters. Though, given that being physically strong enough to beat the shit out of him at martial arts is such an important quality to Kuno, I'm not sure he and Nabiki are really compatible.

Makes perfect sense from Nabiki's perspective but honestly I'm pretty sure she's more likely to Black Widow him for his wealth than fall in love with him sincerely.

So begins Nabiki's career of being the absolute worst person in Ranma's life, in a cast that includes multiple people attempting to murder him. Nabiki is something far worse than a shonen rival. Worse than a romantic rival. Worse than a shonen rival who wants to surpass you at romancing your love interest.

She's a capitalist. And she has found a saleable product.

(My characters are always the absolute worst. Goddammit, Nabiki.)

There's something really interesting in Nabiki's reaction to that remark. Like. She gets back into gear pretty quickly after this moment.

But.

Just for a moment.

She had a visceral, kneejerk reaction of shock and disgust at the realization that Kuno was planning on pursuing Ranma and Akane at the same time.

Just for a moment, she had an emotional reaction strong enough to break her poker face.

I mean, she's still going to profit off it. She is a capitalist after all.

But it happened. That brief glimpse into the humanity underneath the cash register was there.

For those unaware of yen to dollar exchange rates, she's charging about $20 for Ranma's photos. Akane's are about $27. So we can actually quantify her feelings for Akane. She loves her sister exactly $7 more than a stranger she met a few days ago.

Don't take it personally. It's just business.

(I felt really gross saying that. Probably because it was really gross. In seriousness, Nabiki is an active participant in Akane's harassment, without Akane's knowledge.)

That said, she does still try to help this situation once she's done cashing in on violations of Ranma and Akane's privacy.

It doesn't take because Kuno aggressively refuses to learn the truth about the Pig-Tailed Girl throughout the series lest it compromise his delusions. But she does try. There seems like there's basically no reason for her to do this except to burst Kuno's bubble.

...except then she also does this when she realizes Kuno didn't get it.

She tried to burst Kuno's bubble and it didn't work so now she's making it worse instead. At this point, it's clear that Nabiki's just starting shit for funsies. She is the show's trickster. Her allegiances are to money and entertainment.

She was expecting a hilarious blowout the one way and when she didn't get it, she went a different route. Goddammit, Nabiki.

Of course, her troll antics eventually blow up in her face when they out her capitalist antics.

But she never really has to face any sort of consequences for it. Right when it seems like things are about to turn against her...

Ranma, rather than presenting a united front against their mutual abuser, decides to open his fucking mouth and insult Akane instead.

This is how capitalists win. They skate home with all the money and no comeuppance while their victims pick each apart.

[imustbenuts]

kiryu is so smoll bean coded at times its hilarious. to elaborate:

kiryu, for whatever reason, is given to be 4 years younger than majima, effectively turning their relationship into a senpai-kouhai one from the start. this eventually becomes more big bro little bro relationship at the very least, and kiryu seems to asks his big bro (majima) for help who indulges too happily multiple times. (also theres the whole dropping cash bombs on kiryu thing. whats up with that)

in a similar vein, hes also got kashiwagi who behaves like a mentor and a older brother to him

y0 has him be 20. instead of saying nijyu-sai its hatachi and theres a whole idea that 20 is where adulthood starts proper. so he reads like a small bumbling kid trying to suss out his position in an adult yakuza world

y0 then has him getting chased down by yakuzas in a similar fashion to haruka and lani. and also his life was exchanged for 1 billion, haruka's was the 10 billion yen girl, and lani is uh probably the net worth of scientology or something.

him getting saved and set up by kazama's schemes so many times in y1 and y0. and then nominated for chairman position. for some reason (too smoll bean and has no desire for blood fame and power is my guess)

falls for scams. multiple times. punches his way out tho its ok

his hated food is green bell pepper. said to be one of the most commonly hated veggies by japanese children. usually invites a "are you a child?" comment when an adult doesnt eat their bell pepper over there. he continues hating this even up into y6 at the very least (havent found evidence in y8 its likely its still there)

goes full smoll bean mode in y8 where the yokohama party catches onto his sweet tooth quirk and accepts it without ever making fun of him. immediately. (in the bucket list cutscene with seonhee and nanba he immediately zeroes in on the tamago sushi (sweet) and wants to find out what sweets are popular with the youngins)

also you can have the yokohama party order strawberry deserts and trigger a table talk event where you can get kiryu to break up the sweetness by... ordering more strawberries

little bro vibe too strong

[golden-witch]

Trick or Treat

Behold the sweetfish river running through my beloved hometown. You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key.

As you travel down it, you will see a village. In that village, look for the shore the two will tell you of. There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.

The one who obtains the key must then travel to the Golden Land in accordance with these rules.

On the first twilight, offer the six chosen by the key as sacrifices. On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close. On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name. On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill. On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill. On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill. On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill. On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill. On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive, and none shall be left alive. On the tenth twilight, at journey's end, you shall attain to the power of the Golden Land's treasures, once and for the last time.

The witch shall praise the wise and bestow four treasures. One shall be all the gold from the Golden Land. One shall be the resurrection of all the dead souls. One shall be the resurrection of the love that was lost. One shall be to put the witch to sleep for all time.

Solve this riddle and you'll be given candy too.

-- BEATRICE the Golden

As of October 31, 2024...

Market price for pure gold is roughly $88.50 per gram, according to Google. There are 1000 grams per kilogram and there are 1000 kilograms per metric ton. The treasure is said to be 10 tons.

So, $85 x 1000 x 1000 x 10 = $850,000,000

The current exchange rate from US dollar to yen is $1 = ¥152.10 yen, coming out to more than ¥130 billion JPY in illiquid assets. Now, let's say we want to liquidate all the gold into cash, to readily make purchases. Woah, that's a majorly bad investment idea (the value of gold always goes up), but we need money and we need it now... to buy candy.

It's not easy to sell gold. It wasn't easy for me to find information on how to exchange tons of gold into USD, let alone JPY. Unfortunately, I am not plugged in to networks of Saudi princes or Swedish bankers. Let's say, purely hypothetically, I have connections to Russian oligarchs, and I can charter Borris's mega-yacht to float the gold to the Siberian coast from Rokkenjima. Borris is covering the cost of transporting the gold as part of our bargain, otherwise we would have to factor in shipping cost for /ten tons/ of gold. Like all business people that make a living from buying gold, Borris is more than happy to pay me this favor because he will never pay me market price for my treasure. I'll only walk away with 70-90% of the value. Because Borris is offering such a niche service, and because I need money, and I need it now to buy candy, Borris springs the 30% loss on me when we're already in Vladivostok, on Russian soil. He says, "This is the best I can do after seeing 'imperfections'." I say, "fine, dasvidaniya." Borris uses his shady contacts to wire me the money in USD from his Morgan Stanely account.

We were at approximately $850,000,000 worth of illiquid assets.

Now, thanks to Borris, we have $595,000,000...

But wait! There's more...

The money transfer is flagged by the IRS for a gift tax. Any "gift" amount over $1,000,000 is subject to a 40% gift tax rate.

40% of 595000000 = 238000000

595000000 - 238000000 = $357,000,000

I walk away with $357,000,000 and Uncle Sam laughs.

Finally, FINALLY... a 20 lbs bulk box of mini Twix is around $110. That's perfect fun size.

$357,000,000/$110 = 3245454 boxes of mini Twix or 64,909,080 lbs of mini Twix, or 32,454.54 tons of Twix.

Ergo, solving the riddle, discovering the gold, and selling all 10 tons would yield approximately 32, 454.54 tons of mini Twix. In case anyone like, asked....

[lulumilkshake]

spoiled - g. satoru

summary - no matter how many times you tell your blue eyed husband to stop buying you expensive stuff, he still continues.

warnings - just tooth rotting fluff and some angst if you squint

“honey im home!” you heard a yell across your shared apartment.

“coming baby! one second!” after you finished up your skincare, you ran downstairs to see your gorgeous blue eyed husband after a week of him being away on a mission.

it was a rare occasion at this point for him to even say hello anymore due to the uprising in special grades lately.

when you went downstairs you found a bunch of bags sprawled on the couch

designer bags.

“now before you get mad at me.. i wanna say i love you so much and-” he was cutoff by your objections.

“satoru i told you to stop spending this much money on me! this is at least a billion yen oh my god!”

there was at least 20 bags of all types of brands he bought.. dior, chanel, dolce & gabbana, versace, gucci, etc.

“i don’t understand why you don’t wanna accept my gifts” he pouted and looked up at you.

you tried your hardest not to give in and look into his eyes. eyes that could convince you to say or do anything.

you sat down next to him, “it’s not that i don’t want to accept your gifts honey, its just that i feel like im the only one being spoiled sometimes, and i dont like that.”

you were venting to him at this point, but no matter how much you vented, he still listened.

even though he sometimes felt he couldn’t comfort you, he still was the best listener you could have.

“baby i never feel like im imbalanced to you, i buy all this stuff for you because i love you. i love seeing you dolled up with everything i got you. your love is the only thing i really need from you” your husband reassured you.

you never realized before, but he could be really sentimental if he wanted to.

your used to seeing a goofy side of him when he jokes around with the first years or with nanami.

“god when did you start having a way with words” you joked as you looked in his eyes, giving in to him.

“ouch, ive always been the perfect husband haven’t i?” embracing you as he spoke, showing you how much he loved you and how much you loved him.

“let’s go through the bags now so we can see the lingerie i bought you!”

and then he ruined the moment.

[falseandrealultravival]

Fumio Kishida " The Man with Glasses Who Increases Tax": The Opposite - Emperor Nintoku (Essay)

Emperor Nintoku

Fumio Kishida

Whether he was a real person or not is up for debate, but Emperor Nintoku (the 16th emperor) is known as a monarch who was kind to his subjects, as his name (Jin: gentle) suggests. When he looked out of the palace, he saw no smoke coming from the kitchen and realized that his subjects were struggling to make ends meet, so he exempted them from taxes for three years and did not re-roof the palace.

Truly "Jin". However, in modern Japan, there is a man who is the exact opposite, "Non-Jin: Never gentle". He is Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. This guy taxes the people at every opportunity and boasts they can achieve a primary balance surplus of 800 billion yen in fiscal 2025. In other words, he has robbed the people of their money and transferred it to government offices. He has been nicknamed " The Man with Glasses Who Increases Tax". He gives away that hard-earned tax money to foreign countries such as Ukraine without consulting the people.

The voices of resentment from the Japanese people are gradually growing louder, and it has been almost a year since the cabinet's approval rating fell to 20%. However, Japanese politics is controlled by the corrupt Liberal Democratic Party, and its head, Fumio Kishida, has not resigned as prime minister and is clinging to his job.

It is especially noteworthy that he has done nothing in response to the major earthquake in the Noto region in early 2024, has not repaired the roads and water supply even six months after the earthquake, and has publicly declared that he will "abandon" this region, while at the same time saying that he will go ahead with the construction of the World Expo and international resort hotels in all the national parks. This man is a psychopath without a human heart. Far from being gentle, he is cruel.

Note: On August 14, 2024, Fumio Kishida announced that he would not run in the next LDP presidential election. This is a late decision.

Rei Morishita

2024.08.04

「増税メガネ」岸田文雄：逆―仁徳天皇（エッセイ）

実在の人かどうか、議論の余地はあるが、仁徳天皇（１６代）は、その名（仁: gentle）の通り、臣民に優しい君主として知られる。彼が宮殿から外を見たとき、炊事の煙が上がっておらず、臣民が生活に困窮していると見て取った彼は、その後３年間租税を免除し、宮殿の屋根も葺き替えなかった。

まさしく「仁」。だが現代日本には、その真逆を行く「不仁」の男がいる。岸田文雄内閣総理大臣だ。この野郎は、ことあるごとに国民に課税し、２０２５年度のプライマリーバランスを８０００億円の黒字にできると威張っている。つまり、国民から金を強奪し、役所に移転したことに他ならない。ついたあだ名が「増税メガネ」。その血税を、国民になんの相談もなくウクライナなどの外国にホイホイくれている。

日本国民の怨嗟の声も次第に大きくなっていて、内閣支持率が２０％に下落して１年になろうとしている。でも日本の政治は、腐敗した自由民主党が握っているので、その長の岸田文雄は、それでも総理を辞めず、職にしがみついている。

特筆すべきは、２０２４年初の能登地方の大地震に対して、何もせず、地震発生から半年経っても道路、水道を直さず、この地域を「見捨てる」と公言し、一方では万博、国立公園の国際リゾートホテル建設は進めると宣言している。この男は、人の心のないサイコパスである。彼は、仁：gentleどころか、残忍である。

注：２０２４年８月14日、岸田文雄は、次期自民党総裁選への不出馬を表明した。決断が遅い。

[thenightpool]

rinharu wrapped 2023

We almost can't believe it's already time to bring out the kadomatsu again! 2023 just raced by, didn't it…?! Let's take a moment to look back on everything Rin & Haru (and their fans!) have achieved this year.

🌸 Archive of Our Own

The Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka tag on AO3 now holds 3,674 works!

That means 173 new fics were posted this year. (There might've been more than that, but it's hard to keep track of creators privatising their older fics!)

And the Night Pool's AO3 collection is up to 90 works!

.

🌸 The Night Pool

Here at TNP, we revived @sakurathon, a cherry blossom-centric event! This year, the event received 40 works by 19 lovely participants.

Since it was such a big success, we're bringing the event back on April 27th & 28th 2024.

°•. ✿ .•°

We also held the aquatic-themed Unleashed Blue, during which 20 participants created 51 (!!) otherworldly works for us.

With permission of the creators, we lovingly collected them in a 400+ page commemorative zine. You can download it on linktree

°•. ✿ .•°

Writers filled an impressive 35 prompts during our prompt meme Make a Splash! that we held in honor of Haru's birthday.

Read the fills on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

Rin & Haru's Big Warm-Up, our monthly prompt event, received 16 new works on AO3 across the year & more on socials.

Check out our collection on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

We also kicked off rinharu fandom's very first bang: MEDLEY!, a mini + reverse hybrid bang that will start posting in March!

(Psst. Sign ups are still open for a few roles!)

°•. ✿ .•°

We held 3 training camps – super fun writing retreat weekends – over on our Discord. We have 4 more retreats planned for 2024!

If you'd like to join us for the next one(s), here's the info

°•. ✿ .•°

We posted 33 new fanart translations!

Here's the link to our masterlist

°•. ✿ .•°

And finally, The Night Pool beat out Harurinralia to win our Ultimate Rinharu Moments Tournament that we held back in April on both Twitter and Tumblr!

.

🌸 Other Fandom Events

It's been a busy year!

In July, @starstarfairy hosted Wave Of Memory (@rinharumemories) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Free! The event ran in two wave on tumblr and Twitter and combined polls, fan memories, and all types of fanworks.

@sweetheavenfics helped us run the RH-friendly @soumako-week in September!

@ryu-outsider hosted the month-long daily prompt event Free!cember here on Tumblr. It welcomed the entire fandom. The event was promoted by eleanorenchanted and run via hashtag.

And @rinharuweek ran for a full 10 days this year in celebration of the show's anniversary! They are just wrapping up.

.

🌸 Official News

Free! turned 10 in 2023. Omedetou gozaimasu!

Free! The Final Stroke Part 2 broke all of the series' previous records in the box office, bringing in over 1 billion yen

It also finally made it to Crunchyroll.com for the US & select others

Miyano Mamoru & Shimazaki Nobunaga fed us (+ fanartists' inspiration) well by shouting "HARU!!" and "RIIIN!!" at each other before hugging passionately during the 10th anniversary event at the Saitama Super Arena

We got tons of amazing new art; including a cover illustration for Free! The Band Live's Ever Blue performance in Yokohama, Animedia's July W-cover, Sweets Paradise's promotional art, and Kyoani's 10th anniversary event's illustration

Rin's ripped jeans (+ THE ANKLETS) in the Matsukiyo & Cocokara's Top Of Summer collaboration launched a thousand fanworks

Matsuoka-senshu, Nanase-senshu, Kirishima-senshu & Yamazaki-senshu represented Mizuno at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka

Spoon2Di recently restocked volume 78 & 85 on their webshop, and Akiba Pass Shop opened pre-orders for some gorgeous tapestries featuring said art

Karatz, Bikkuriman Choco, Iwami & DECOL all bumped Rin up to 2nd place in character listings (where he belongs!!)

Last but not least, KyoaniShop bankrupted us all by releasing amazing new merchandise (and also did not try to hide that Rin is the Free! series' 2nd protagonist, either…)

--

Thank you so much for being here with us in 2023. We hope it has been a wonderful & creative year for you. Here's wishing you an even more rinharu-filled 2024!

[pochqmqri]

As of this week, the 27th Detective Conan film, "The Million-Dollar Pentagram," has climbed into 15th place for Japan's All-Time Box Office earnings, making 15.06 billion yen total. This places it above two of Makoto Shinkai's blockbuster anime films, that became global hits: 2019's Weathering With You and 2022's Suzume, which trail close behind at 17th and 16th place respectively.

Of course, three of Shinkai's films have placed in the top 20, but 2016's Your Name, ranks high above at 5th place having earned 25.17 billion yen. It seems unlikely that Conan could reach that high, but given that it's been about two months and a half since M27 premiered, and it's already made this much, who knows just how much longer this film can go?

[mariacallous]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday offered her strongest public support yet for the idea of liquidating roughly $300 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets and using them for Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction.

“It is necessary and urgent for our coalition to find a way to unlock the value of these immobilized assets to support Ukraine’s continued resistance and long-term reconstruction,” Yellen said in remarks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting this week.

“I believe there is a strong international law, economic, and moral case for moving forward. This would be a decisive response to Russia’s unprecedented threat to global stability,” she said.

The United States and its allies froze hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian foreign holdings in retaliation for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Those billions have been sitting untapped as the war grinds on, now in its third year, while officials from multiple countries have debated the legality of sending the money to Ukraine. More than two-thirds of Russia’s immobilized central bank funds are located in the EU.

Using the assets to help Ukraine “would make clear that Russia cannot win by prolonging the war and would incentivize it to come to the table to negotiate a just peace with Ukraine,” Yellen said.

The idea of using Russia’s frozen assets has gained traction lately as continued allied funding for Ukraine becomes more uncertain and the U.S. Congress is in a stalemate over providing more support. But there are tradeoffs since the weaponization of global finance could harm the U.S. dollar’s standing as the world’s dominant currency.

Yellen said Tuesday that it is “extremely unlikely” that tapping the frozen funds would harm the dollar’s standing in the global economy “especially given the uniqueness of the situation where Russia is brazenly violating international norms. Realistically there are not alternatives to the dollar, euro and yen,” Yellen said.

Earlier this month, the European Union passed a law to set aside windfall profits generated from frozen Russian central bank assets. Yellen calls that “an action I fully endorse.”

Brazil kicked off its presidency of the Group of 20 nations this month, with finance ministers meeting this week. Topics for discussion include poverty alleviation, climate change and the wars in the Gaza Strip and in Ukraine. G20 leaders are slated to gather at a Nov. 18-19 summit in Rio.

[winterfieldfrontiers]

Conan The Movie 27 is surpassing M26 in 1 month.

M27 grossed after 24 days of showing have now reached about 11.6 billion yen, while the movie 26 has achieved about 10.3 billion yen after 24 days of showing

and expected to breaking a new record

With 15-20 billion yen in final.

(it exceeded by more than 1.3 billion yen!!)

M28 might need more work up next year...

[follow-up-news]

Nissan reported Thursday a loss for the latest fiscal quarter as its vehicle sales sank while costs and inventory ballooned, prompting the Japanese automaker to slash 9,000 jobs. Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said he was taking a 50% pay cut to take responsibility for the dismal results, while promising that a turnaround was coming. Nissan Motor Corp. announced a global workforce reduction of 9,000 people, or about 6% of its more than 133,000 employees, as well as a plan to slash global production capacity by 20%. Uchida declined to say which regions will be affected by the cuts or give specifics. For the latest quarter through September, Nissan racked up a 9.3 billion yen ($60 million) loss, a reversal from the 190.7 billion yen profit recorded the same quarter a year ago.

[darkmaga-returns]

Japan announced one of its largest aid packages to Ukraine to the tune of $3.09 billion (471.9 billion yen). The fund is merely part of the G7 scheme to use frozen Russian assets to finance the war. In total, the G7 is prepared to redistribute $50 billion in Russian assets to Ukraine.

This plan will pass through the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Japanese government has said it plans to oversee how Ukraine spends these funds, insisting that the aid is simply for human aid rather than military purposes.

No nation has been able to determine how Ukraine is using the endless aid they’re supplied. Portions are funneled back into the military-industrial complex and paid out to the very nations supplying aid. Everyone acts on the invisible hand in their own best interest. None of these aid packages were meant to be a handout, and Ukraine would suffer the repercussions. It is ridiculous to say that individual nations are contributing when they are using frozen Russian funds. The majority of these funds were ceased from private Russian citizens and companies who have committed no crime other than being Russian.

They stipulate this by saying they will only loan Ukraine money made on the profits of holding these assets. The risk will be shared among the G7 nations, and this risk is substantial, for Ukraine will no longer exist as a nation when this is over based on our computer models. Zelensky is too busy stuffing his pockets to care about his people or the future. He is banking on NATO invading Russia and extinguishing it as a country so he can then seize all the assets of Russia for Ukraine.

These nations are teetering on the edge by using these assets as collateral. Putin could confiscate ALL assets held by Western countries and private/public corporations under these new economic warfare tactics that completely violate international law. Zelensky has been demanding the full $300 billion in confiscated Russian assets as no sum will ever be enough for his bottomless pockets.

These funds are yet another reason why the war cannot simply end. Russia will demand that these funds be reinstated. Trump could be sworn into office and attempt to broker a deal with Putin, but all the other nations in the G7 will be against him. The US has already provided Ukraine $20 billion in Russian assets through the World Bank who would not likely reimburse a single nation’s “contributions.”

Will the G7 attempt to do the same to China when tensions in Taiwan heat up? No one seems to understand the consequences of these lowly actions, which have not prevented Russia from waging war or looking for alternative trade partners. One day, they will look back on these actions as an epic mistake, as there is no longer respect for international law; the rules no longer apply.

[mind-me-n0t]

Like a Dragon: Yakuza - Episode 2

It doesn't hurt like I thought it would?

I don't know whether it was my own effort to temper expectations or the flurry of sucker punches in episode 1, but I'm now comfortable with enjoying this show on its own merits and not just hone in on every single deviation from the games. I rather enjoyed episode 2, as a matter of fact.

I still don't dig the story structure with the parallel time lines and I don't think they will move away from it until the every end, which sucks.

But all in all, I got a good feeling about it now. Or at least a better feeling. More detail and spoilers below.

The episode starts out answering one of my questions from the last epiode: How old are these people? In 1986 they were... 10-ish? I don't know children. But that fits with Kiryu being around 20 years in 1995, give or take. Quite a few years to shave off a character, especially since the series is middle-age-men-punch-each-other-simulator, but you can't have everything, I guess.

A lot of episode 1 felt like a "fuck you" to Yakuza fans - or at least to me personally - with how much fundamental stuff being changed to dramatically. Now in episode 2, I feel like the show is extending an olive branch. That, or maybe I'm just developing Stockholm syndrome. Kiryu is in his suit, hanging out with Date who's helping him find his footing again 10 years later. What I liked about the leaving prison scene in episode 1 is built upon here. And Kiryu making silly comment with that straight face of his, where you can't tell if he's joking or oblivious to what he is saying.

So Haruka's mom is in cahoots with a group of Satanists who runs around killing yakuza? Alrighty then? It is nice that Yumi and Mizuki Aiko are separate people, that plot line wasn't exactly the best part about Yakuza 1. I guess it's also nice that the women are given some agency, although it's never been a real must-have for me. The feminist within me leaves as soon as I find myself in Kamurocho. I'm just here for the crime boys, okay?

And then it's back to 1995. Let's do the time warp agaaaaaaain!

A good chunk of this episode is dedicated to the four of them - Kiryu Nishiki, Yumi and Miho - starting their new lives indebted to Doujima. Getting their living space set up, getting an aniki to mentor them and the girls getting started on hostessing. I kind of understand why they have lightened Kiryu's character so much, since his normal lone wolf shtick would fit rather poorly with this situation. And despite circumstances being pretty iffy, they are having a great time together. Perfect for a downfall later on... We all love found families around here.

And then enter THE EMPTY FUCKING LOT! Alongside American Tachibana and his sister with a pendant worth a million yen or whatever! I don't necessarily mind that the show is just playing the greatest hits of the series, but I fear that it's going to mash ALL of the games' plot lines together (I'm looking at you, Taiga-san. Better check them bullets before you go on your kamikaze mission!).

See, this is where the time jumping gets muddling again! Are we after the seal in 1995 or the Omi's 10 billion yen in 2005? We kind of know that someone finds the seal since Kiryu gets to stare at the Millennium Tower at the start of this episode. Probably Nishiki, since he's up in the ranks in the Tojo now. Can't we just have one mystery at the time, please. Especially since what is happening in mystery #2 spoils what happens in mystery #1.

But a lot can be forgiven because I am a sucker for what I already know and here comes Majima and his kyoudai!

(Did they change Saejima's family name to Taiga since it is a little silly to have them be the "-jimas"? Or is he just getting addressed informally? Rude!)

I wish their entrance had been a little more bombastic, but I guess Majima needs to have his breakdown somewhere in the time skip in order for the fun to get proper started. It's all good, my boys are finally getting to know each other.

And while I'm still riding on that high, who else enters the scene but the sunshine of my life. And now we have Kiryu in babysitter mode as he is destined to be! I love it... please don't drop the ball on this, episode 3!