#Also TOMOYO SPOTTED

[completeoveranalysis]

[4]

Kurogane’s shocked “Can they do that?” is ME. That’s INCREDIBLE. Restoring the worlds and also restoring all the rules of reality as they go?

Oh I really love that split shot of Sakura Sakura Sakura Sakura and Daddyaoran there. That’s gorgeous. 

I also love that Kurogane and Fai are trying to figure out where they could have been for Evil Wolverine not to sense them, and MY answer is in a Jam Jar. 

The real answer is probably either the world of dreams or outside reality itself. But that’s Jam Jar for you!

And now Mokona is also jumping in with questions about the logic behind the clothing WHICH LIKE. 

I just think it’s hilarious that all this [trying to save the entire universe] is going on around them and these three are sitting here trying to poke holes in the narrative and ask how it all makes sense. 

It’s relatable but also time and place! We can probably ask them about their clothes after reality hasn’t entirely collapsed around us.

And now I’m trying to remember who explained the time travel for us to know about it but the main cast doesn’t understand. It was Yuuko in... let's see... Chapiter 216. I suppose that was technically offscreen? Did no-one hear that but us? 

I mean I know Yuuko is always just narrating to herself but it seems like such a shame that no-one heard that part in particular. 

[teecupangel]

cardcaptor sakura au with Desmond as Sakura, Altaïr as Syaoran, Ezio as Kero, Rebecca or Clay as Tomoyo maybe, maybe Ratonhnhaké:ton as Yuki and Shay as Toya?? that'd be interesting! Leonardo would make a great Tomoyo too. oh oh, maybe Kadar as Yuki?? that'd make sense with Altaïr as Syaoran

can't remember if you’ve done something for this idea before!

(I've not done something like this before and we’re going to focus on the first season on this one so no Eriol and his cohorts)

Okay, that’s such a fun cast but hear me out:

Instead of Kero, Ezio should be Desmond’s Tomoyo. He’s rich af and would definitely shower his best friend/second cousin with cute clothes to go along with his miserable life as a sorta magical girl and videotape it. He’d also be shameless in calling how cute and adorable Desmond is. Leonardo can be the older man who makes Ezio’s vague outfit ideas into reality.

Altaïr as Syaoran is so spot on. A total badass with a character development of adorkable.

Kadar being Desmond and Altaïr’s Yuki would be so funny because, this time around, it would be Altaïr having a crush on Kadar. XD

You know what would be fun? If Kadar and Malik are the same ‘person’. Kadar is the Yuki persona while Malik is the Yue persona. And the twist is Altaïr has a crush on Kadar but absolutely thinks Malik is annoying af (although, to be fair, Malik would start to show up during the time that Altaïr’s feelings for Desmond would be developing and Malik is a bit of a dick to Desmond due to him being loyal to the person who created the cards)

Speaking of which… how about Clow Reed is someone like Bayek? Or maybe Basim if you want to go for the ‘is he good? Is he not?’ kind of vibe.

The annoying older brother who cares dynamic between the Kinomoto siblings would be a bit hard to do with Ratonhnhaké:ton and Desmond, unless you want to change it up to cool older brother who shows he cares for his younger brother quietly. Plus, the idea of Kadar and Ratonhnhaké:ton together sounds like a fun pairing.

Haytham can be their father, I guess. He’d be more interesting to add than Bill anyway.

Clay needs to be Kero. Just imagine his snarkiness in all that cute mascot glory XD

[meimi-haneoka]

Clear Card Trivia 1 ~ Literary and musical references/mentions in Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card

Hello everyone! The end of the Clear Card manga is very near, so I thought it was about time to start writing the long list of posts I'm going to release in the upcoming months, since it's almost time to wrap everything up and it would be nice to look back and not only analyze the plot but also trivia and themes/topics discussed (openly or not) in these almost 7 years of serialization of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc.

Today we talk about the several literary and musical references spread across the different CCS Clear Card media. The references are quite a lot and I find it so very fitting for a story that features books so much, both under a positive and negative light. Books have a life-saving role, being the only thing young Akiho could cling to, to survive mentally till the arrival of Kaito in her life and the subsequent removal from her abusive family, but for a twist of fate, a spell under the guise of a book is also what was about to destroy her soul forever when said book got filled up with magic. The very first time Akiho's inner book gets set off is precisely in Fujitaka's library. Moreover, a fictional world existing into a forbidden book called Alice in Clockland is also where Kaito sends everyone in the climax of the story. In that fictional world, it is said that books record the memories and feelings of people. And after recording them, that same book can rewrite them. Books are literally an essential element of the plot of Clear Card Arc.

In my list I will take in consideration both the anime and the manga, with a special section for the now-defunct Happiness Memories mobile game! The references are ordered basing on their impact or importance within the plot, and include all the info we have till chapter 72. I might update this post if we get more literary references in the very last chapters of the arc. I will probably not be able to talk in depth about all the possible double meanings and connections of these stories to the real Clear Card plot, as I haven't read most of these books or I'm still in the process of reading them, but I have looked at summaries on Wikipedia, so hopefully I'll be able to feature at least a part of the interesting connections. Anyone who knows these stories or songs in depth is welcome to give more insight!

Soooo, ready to dive in?

1) Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There / Lewis Carrol

Of course the first reference featured in this list couldn't be other than this one! The whole Clear Card arc is heavily based on the Alice In Wonderland narrative, but particularly in the sequel "Through the Looking-Glass". The very first mentions of "Alice-related" stuff is as early as chapter 12, when Sakura and Tomoyo visit Akiho's home and they check out her huge library: here Akiho shows them her book "Alice in Clockland" for the first time. Tomoyo spots the resemblance with the title of the best-known novel, but Akiho says that the book she's holding wasn't written by the author of Alice in Wonderland, and although the language it's written in is composed by runes, she was taught how to read it. Later on we discover that the more she progresses reading this book, the more it gets connected to recurring dreams she's having, with an "Alice" as the main character who experiences all sorts of adventures (unbeknownst to her, she's dreaming about Sakura's adventures with the Clear Cards). Akiho sometimes shares these dreams with Kaito and he always listens attentively, commenting that it'd be good if Alice acquired "more and more skills". We also see Rika (through Sakura) giving away to Akiho one of her Alice picture books, and the girl is definitely thrilled and moved by the kind gesture of who is basically a stranger to her.

Moreover, in chapter 38 & 39, Kaito shrinks Sakura in order to prompt her to create a Card, and sends her down a hole carved in a tree, calling her "Alice". Sakura also created the Shade card supposedly basing it on the Jabberwock featured in Through The Looking Glass. The whole situation prompts Kaito to remember about his first face-to-face meeting with Akiho, which he says happened in a garden fit for Alice in Wonderland. The whole scenery Sakura witnesses in the strange world she's sent to is very reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland/Through the looking Glass, with her being so little and the talking flowers. Of course, the biggest reference to Through the Looking Glass is the whole Alice in Clockland play, in its first version based on Akiho's beloved book with the same title (Naoko initially called the play "The Two Alice", but then decided to change it at last minute, in a twist of fate). Both "before" and "after" the rewriting of memories operated by Momo's book, we not only have an Alice in this story, but also a Cat (which will have a key role) and a Red Queen. Another notable similarity is how Alice, in Through the Looking Glass, crosses "the wood where things have no names", forgetting her own name for a short time while crossing that forest in the company of a fawn. In Alice in Clockland, the Red Queen completely forgot her name once she entered Clockland, in both versions of the play, before and after the rewriting. Akiho/Red Queen regains her memories by lifting the dark veil covering her face, while Sakura/Red Queen regains her memories thanks to Alice telling her the truth about what happened.

Furthermore, the fact that later in the climax Sakura and Akiho are turned into twins by the forbidden magic activated by Kaito might be considered a reference to the famous twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee (although, that's also commonly known as one of CLAMP's obsessions 😂). One more reference is represented by the White Queen in Through the Looking Glass, who can remember events that will happen in the future, and while Sakura can do that herself to a certain degree, certainly this character is better represented by Lilie, Akiho's mother, who could see so much of the future ahead and tried to reach Sakura in her dreams to inform her of an important truth. It is also to be noted that the White Queen's daughter in Through the Looking Glass is named.....Lily.

2) Ten Nights of Dreams (夢十夜) / Natsume Sōseki

"Ten Nights of Dreams" is a collection of short pieces by Japanese novelist Natsume Soseki, where he narrates 10 mysterious dreams set in various time periods, including his own. The book gets featured for the first time in chapter 10 / volume 3 of the manga, and episode n. 6 of the anime. In this scene, Sakura and Akiho are each reading a portion from the 7th dream, the one where the dreamer finds himself on a ship, among strangers, not knowing where the ship is headed to or when he'll see land again. The tone of this dream, like the rest of them, is pretty dark, as the dreamer is extremely discouraged and decides to throw himself into the sea, regretting it when it's already too late. This book gets directly mentioned again in chapter 58 of the manga, when Naoko reflects on the fact that even the tenth night told in the collection is a dream, because there's no point where the storyteller wakes up. This leads her to think how scary it would be to have a dream you can't wake up from, and this will become for her one of the sources of inspiration for the scenario of the school play. When the teacher talked about this book to her students back in chapter 10, she stated "this collection features plenty of mysterious stories, but depending on the person, they could also be considered 'scary' ". I feel like this is exactly how Clear Card Arc could be described too, especially from the POV of the Japanese readers, that I've witnessed these past couple of years on social media. I wonder if this wasn't a way for CLAMP to tip the readers off regarding the thematics and tone that Clear Card would take halfway through. Moreover, the teacher mentions "foretelling dreams" in relation to this book, and that prompts Sakura to consider if the dream she's constantly seeing with the Mysterious Cloaked Figure could be a foretelling dream too.

3) Momo / Michael Ende

"Momo" is a fantasy novel written by German writer Michael Ende (the same of The Neverending Story), and it gets featured in chapter 39 of Clear Card, while Kaito is having a flashback of his first face-to-face meeting with Akiho. At the moment of Kaito's arrival in the rose garden, Akiho was reading a book, and when she's asked about its content by Kaito himself, the girl tells him of a story that is unequivocally that of "Momo": a little girl battles some so-called "time thieves". Akiho seems to love that story, as she has read it many times.

Although it might seem just an easter egg at the level of the Cthulhu books that I will mention later, the presence of the "Momo" novel here is completely different and very significant to the main story of Clear Card. First of all, its complete German title translates in English to "Momo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the people". As we all know, this sequel of the Cardcaptor Sakura series deals heavily with the theme of time, and Kaito is strictly related to that theme, as he's the major "player" of that element, using magic to stop it or especially to rewind it. In "Momo", the "time-thieves" (also called Men in Grey) are some kind of paranormal parasites with the goal of stealing the time of humans. They appear to people offering to save their time in some so-called "Timesaving Banks", urging them to spare time by dropping any activity that supposedly "wastes time" like relaxing, playing, enjoying things, with the goal of having that time returned back with interests later. But that time saved in the bank is actually stolen and consumed by the Men in Grey for their own survival. Human feelings such as love are a hindrance for them, and they avoid at all costs to form any bond with anyone. Momo is a mysterious little girl, beloved by everyone in her town as she seems to be able to solve anyone's problems or afflictions just by listening and talking to them. She will eventually take on the task of defeating the Men in Grey. Ende's novel is a critique to consumerism in the modern society and how hectic our lives have become, where time is everything and we often never use it for what really matters the most: making us happy. Momo was published in 1973 but its thematics are super relevant even today.

Aside from the easy connection of the topic of time to what Kaito does (although in a more benign way, in our case), "Momo" is also how Akiho chose to name her beloved bunny plushie, who, unbeknownst to her, is actually the magical Guardian of the Book of Time. We don't know when exactly that naming happened, as of chapter 72, but the fact that one of the most treasured and beloved existences in Akiho's life was named "Momo" - the same as the title of the book Akiho was reading when she met Kaito for the first time - suggests hitsuzen is strongly at work here. Akiho might have named Momo after she met Kaito, and to show how important that meeting was to her, she chose to name her after an element that was strictly connected to that meeting. And if she named her so before meeting Kaito, then it shows just how fateful their meeting was. She named one important existence after a beloved book, and precisely when she was reading that same book, she had her first meeting with another important person in her life. The one she will love the most.

It is also to be noted that in "Momo", the time is consumed by the Men in Grey in the form of smoking cigars made out of dried hour-lilies' petals, which are pink flowers representing time itself. Again, a feature of lily flowers, which connects us once more to Lilie.

Depending on how Clear Card will end, and whether Sakura will be able to regain all the memories and the time lost with them, beating the Forbidden Magic activated by Kaito, we might even draw another reference - how Ende's Momo is able to give the stolen time back to the people of her town.

4) "Tsuki ga kirei desu ne" (月が綺麗ですね) / Natsume Sōseki + "Kaze no nai yoru ga boku wo semetogameru" (風のない夜が僕を責めとがめる) / SPARKS GO GO

In chapter 48 of the manga, Akiho, unable to sleep after waking up from an unsettling dream, heads to the garden of her home in the middle of the night. And there surprisingly she finds Kaito, also awake and staring intently at the full moon. In a magical and emotional scene, illuminated by the full moon and prompted by feelings of worry for Kaito's pale complexion - too pale for his own good, Akiho tells him "Can we talk a little bit longer? Because...the moon is really beautiful".

At first, these can seem totally normal words of admiration for the full moon illuminating the two. But actually in this scene, Akiho has just covertly confessed to Kaito that she loves him. Many of you probably already know, but in Japan there's a little story that takes us back again to the famous novelist Natsume Soseki who seems to influence Clear Card so much (he'll get another mention later in this post). There's no actual written evidence of this, so Japanese people tend to consider this as some folklore tale, but when Soseki worked as an English teacher, he allegedly corrected one of his students who translated too literally the English phrase "I love you" in Japanese. He supposedly said "that's too direct, Japanese people don't express such phrase so directly. You should use 月が綺麗ですね (tsuki ga kirei desu ne, 'The moon is beautiful, right?') instead". And that's how the myth of expressing "I love you" in Japanese with "the moon is beautiful, right?" was born. It is very poetic, romantic and subtle so there's no doubt its popularity is really high and used in all kinds of media even today. And, I have to say, it fits romantic, shy and bookworm Akiho to a T. But how can we be sure that Akiho was really-really meaning that? It's because of the quotation marks on the original Japanese script. Akiho was deliberately quoting a source. And her face right afterwards, eyes cast down and red as a tomato, is the final proof of her intention. We still don't know, 24 chapters later, if Kaito's surprised face meant he understood what she was secretly meaning, or not.

However, I have a second source for this particular line from Akiho. One day I was searching on the internet, wanting to know more about this popular phrase, exactly as she worded it (it's slightly different from the classic one) and I stumbled upon the song "Kaze ga nai yoru ga boku wo seme togameru" (The windless night is reproving me) by Sparks Go Go. It's a love song from 1993, and the very first verse features the very same line Akiho said, worded exactly as she did. When I started to translate the lyrics, I was shocked. The lyrics actually fit perfectly the scene in the garden under the moonlight and what was going on between Kaito and Akiho in that moment, so much that it really makes me wonder if Ohkawa wasn't trying to make a double reference here:

Since the moon is beautiful I'll invite you for a stroll outside Tonight it's a bit chilly So wear one more layer of clothing I'm stammering And for some reason I suddenly realize All the feelings I've kept inside till now The windless night is reproving me Even though you're telling me A funny thing that happened to you today Tonight it's a bit different than usual My heart is twinkling Our footsteps echo softly As if I'm about to realize something All the feelings I've kept inside till now The windless night is reproving me The windless night is gently inviting me

As you can see, it's almost a precise description of that scene, with the mention of the stroll at night under the moonlight, the talk and the hidden feelings that are being conveyed in that moment.

I'll conclude this paragraph with something that I usually always mention when I tell people about the "moon is beautiful" 's hidden meaning in relation to Clear Card's storyline, because I think it's highly related. There are several ways to respond "I love you too" to a love confession made in that fashion. And one of the most popular ones that gets associated so much to this phrase (despite not coming from the same author but actually another one, Japanese novelist Shimei Futabatei who lived in the same period of Soseki) is 死んでもいいわ (shinde mo ii wa), which literally translates in English to "I can die happy" or "I can die for you" (you already know where I'm going with this one, right?). Apparently, Futabatei decided to translate in Japanese as shinde mo ii wa the Russian word Ваша present in a passage of the book "Asya" by Ivan S. Turgenev. The word Ваша actually literally translates in English as "yours", and the scene showed a woman deeply committing to her love, but since this is the same period as Soseki, the Japanese novelist used an indirect way to express it. I've read that the choice of shinde mo ii wa is tightly connected to the context of the original story, where a woman of low social status (an illegitimate daughter of a Russian landowner) and a man of higher class fell in love, but kept it hidden for most of the story. Back in those times, such relationship was frowned upon by society and so, indulging in that love could also be seen as the death of someone's life in society. In that sense, that "I would die for you" expresses the spirit of abnegation and complete dedication that such profound love inspires. Now, back to Clear Card, consider who's literally sacrificing himself for Akiho, and draw your conclusions.......

5) Liber Ivonis, Celaeno Fragments / H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth

When Akiho visits Sakura's home in ch. 26 in order to learn how to cook from her, Sakura also brings her to visit her father's small library. In a very excited way, Akiho recognizes some books of her interest and she asks Sakura if she can take them. Those books are, in order of appearance, "Liber Ivonis" and "Celaeno Fragments" (there's a small typo on the book's title, due to the ambivalence of R/L in Japanese) which are two books featured in the Cthulhu Mythos created by US writer H. P. Lovecraft. Both books seems to be grimoires about occult topics and dark magic spells. It is very likely that the two books are merely easter eggs (they had no influence whatsoever on the plot) or a covertly way from CLAMP to let us know that Akiho was acquainted with magical books.

6) Buying Mittens (手袋を買いに) / Nankichi Niimi

"Buying Mittens" from Japanese author Nankichi Niimi is the book Sakura and Akiho are asked to read to the children of the hospital in episode 19 of the Clear Card anime. The story features a baby fox going on a journey to a nearby village to buy mittens to warm its cold paws in the rigid snowy winter. The story revolves around the themes of trust in other human beings. Although the mother fox advised her little one to be careful of human beings, because if they found out it was a fox, something terrible would've happened, the little fox actually finds out humans are not all the same, and the human being selling the mittens wasn't actually harmful at all.

See, when this episode was released in May 2018, I remember it got a lot of criticism for being a "wasted episode" and not bringing the plot forward at all. But I had already understood back then that this was actually a very symbolic episode for one of the major thematics of Clear Card, which would've shown its full importance only later on the story: how much we can trust other people, especially when we don't know them and they are having seemingly hostile behaviors. I knew the anime staff chose to feature this book for a precise reason. With hindsight, from the manga storyline POV, this is absolutely connecting to how Sakura had her trust tested multiple times in the entire arc, not only towards Kaito who had the most ambiguous behaviors, but also her loved ones, starting from Syaoran himself - who stole her cards in the very beginning and even lied to her, hiding an important truth for her sake; but also Yukito, for a moment, when he activated the Moon barrier all of a sudden, scaring even Kero and Suppi; or how inevitably Sakura's trust in Akiho was also put under pressure once she found out that Kaito was a magician and so inevitably she had to question the reliability of a person very close to him. Trust, trust in your beloved people and even more deciding to trust someone you don't know well is of utmost importance in this arc. If Kaito the magician is, in Buying Mittens, the human known for hurting and hunting and killing foxes, Sakura is the little fox who has to make the important decision of whether she can trust him or not, especially when she's in a moment of vulnerability (in the story the little fox shows the fox paw instead of the human hand to the hatter, who recognizes it as a fox but actually doesn't hurt it at all).

When Sakura found out about Kaito being a magician, she made a careful and delicate decision: she decided to trust Akiho and indirectly to trust Kaito too, avoiding to jump to conclusions and to ruin Akiho and Kaito's relationship by questioning her friend about Kaito's nature. And despite acting in shady ways for the entire arc, and sometimes being just misunderstood - leading everyone to believe he intended to hurt Sakura, in the end we found out that none of that has ever been Kaito's intention from the very beginning.

As repeatedly told by Nanase Ohkawa of CLAMP in Twitter Spaces, Sakura trusts her loved ones, and that actually represents her strength to believe that she will always be ok and everything will eventually be alright.

At the end of the Buying Mittens story, on its way back to his mother, the little fox hears a human mother singing a lullaby to her baby, and the fox draws a parallel to its own mother. Thanks to that, while being cuddled by the mother fox later, the baby fox says "maybe humans are good, after all". Motherhood and mother's love is definitely another thematic common to Clear Card and Buying Mittens, but also finding something that wholesome in common between the two species (humans and foxes) is the key to trust that there can be something good to be found even in "the other" that seems so scary and oppositive in the beginning. I'm certain that will also be a huge theme that will lead Sakura to help Akiho and Kaito in the very end of this climax.

7) Night on The Galactic Railroad / Kenji Miyazawa

"Night on The Galactic Railroad" is the title of the book Yukito is reading to the children of the hospital in episode 19 of the Clear Card anime.

8) "Oborozukiyo" (朧月夜)

"Oborozukiyo" is a Japanese folk song that gets featured in chapter 9 of the manga and episode 6 of the anime. Tomoyo and Akiho sing together this song in 2 different occasions between manga and anime: in the manga they sing it at the hanami in front of group of school friends, while in the anime it is a song that Tomoyo suggests to Akiho to sing together, and at the end of the performance she offers Akiho to join the choir later. The song is also featured in the Clear Card soundtrack album.

9) Special references appearing in the mobile game Happiness Memories:

Botchan / Natsume Sōseki

Natsume Soseki gets mentioned again in the Happiness Memories game when Akiho, in one of the photostories (the one focused on the study of English, with Syaoran reiterating his love to Sakura in English without her knowing what he meant ❤️) tells Sakura she's looking for the English version of some books, namely Night On The Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa (already mentioned above) and Botchan by Natsume Soseki. Apparently, Kaito suggested her to find those books and read them in English, since she's still having some difficulties with Japanese language. Akiho doesn't initially remember the titles of those books, so Syaoran intervenes and tries to help.

The Wandering Lake / Sven Hedin

"The Wandering Lake" is a book written by swedish geographer Sven Hedin. This one gets seemingly mentioned during one of the photostories set during the old anime arcs, where Syaoran gets invited to the Kinomoto home and bakes a cake with Fujitaka and Sakura (I don't really know much of the details because I never got this card 💦) While they wait for it to bake, Fujitaka and Syaoran talk about their favorite subject, archeology! And Fujitaka apparently makes references to this book (he supposedly mentions the lake name, Lop Nur) while explaining his love for archeology.

And I believe that's all for this first installment of "Clear Card Trivia"!! I hope you enjoyed it and maybe that it surprised you too, for some reference that you didn't catch before today! My love for this story is infinite, for all the reading "layers" it provides us with, and one of those is composed by all the literary references featured in it, since books are really so important in this arc. Knowing all these little quotes and references makes me appreciate CLAMP's efforts to build this arc as something deeper and more meaningful.

As I said in the beginning, I intend to update this post in case something else comes up in the handful of chapters that are left! See you next time, what will I feature? I have looooots I want to talk about!!

[vintagelacerosette]

Interview tag game ✨️

Made by the sensational Lemon @depressedstressedlemonzest & I was also tagged by these dazzling sweethearts Evie @energievie Willow @ian-galagher Jay @surviving-maybe Nosho @creepkinginc Lyle @milkovetti Bri @y0itsbri Carolie @shinygalaxyperson thanks so much 🥰

What are some movie/tv quotes that you quote often? My brain has blanked lol but one thing I noticed I was sing YMCA to my niece, then I immediately when to Do you really wanna hurt me to Stayin Alive & this is all from the Sherk karaoke sing along from the 1st movie lmao

What is your favourite flower?

All flowers bring me joy but one i think is super cool is the bleeding heart

If you were in Avatar the Last Airbender what element would you want to bend? Earth, fire, water or air? I've always found controlling wind appealing even tho I'm a fire sign haha but prob makes sense bc my moon is an air sign

What was your first job? Retail at the Christmas section 🎄

What is your favorite breakfast?

There's this meal called the Alex Breakfast as this local cafe which has sundried tomato, sauteed mushroom, pesto risoni on toast & it's sooo yuuumm

What's a meal from childhood that you love?

Crunchy rice a dish my dad made where you cook old rice in butter & salt to your liking. Then slow cook to make a crunchy crust on the bottom. I made it recently for nostalgia & boy did it hit the spot 😋

What's your favorite joke to tell?

Can not think of any haha but here's one from a nye cracker I got.

What music do planets like to listen to?

Neptunes ba dum tis 🥁

What's your favorite animal to see at the zoo?

Kangaroos, red panda & penguins

What's your go to quick meal to cook/make at home?

Crispy omelette

What's your go to meal to cook someone to impress them?

Brazo de Mercedes which is a traditional Filipino meringue roll with a condescend milk custard filling. It's making the meringue rolls which is impressive haha i accidentally made it hc i was trying to make marshmallow instead but it turned out to be this 😆

What's something you want to do better?

Get more active, sticking to plans, driving & at chatting in discord group chats. (I can find it a bit overwhelming with so many ppl 😅)

If you're working do you like your job?

I'm a month & a bit in my new job & am enjoying it so far & my team is great, but there are some tough transactions that get me nervous to do on my own

Do you collect anything? What?

I've started to collect these cute sanrio blindbox toys, anime figures, crystals, hardcover books, fanfic on google drive, art supplies, eyeshadow palettes, plush toys & pins.

Newest collection 😆

If you were trapped in a kids tv show, what show would you be okay with being trapped in?

Ohh maybe same as Lyle with Steven Universe just so aesthetically pleasing & I'd so be friends with Steven! Or maybe Avatar as a bender or Cardcaptors bc I could be wearing cute outfits made by Tomoyo with a magic staff wand

An adults tv show?

Ohh this one was a hard one! Maybe Reign for the fashion, Roswell New Mexico to be friends with the pod squard or maybr in Firefly

What kind of job did you want as a child?

I have an amazing memory of going on the train for the 1st time & asking who drove the train & was told it was the train driver! I then exclaimed "I wanna be a train driver" My mum protest bc they apparently didn't make a lot of money lol. Also a GP bc i admired mine growing up haha

Do you follow any sports? What team do you root for?

No ❤️ but i think i could be fun if i did lol

If you could be any animal what would you be and why?

Otter or chinchilla i just wanna be something cute

If you could be any mythological creature what would you be and why?

Totally a fairy 🧚‍♀️ having fun in nature, causing so mischief, have pretty wings to fly with & having so many cool abilities like maybe shape shift into animals

What's the most obscure thing you've had to google for a fanfic you were writing/reading?

I was double checking in to power ranger characters types with their suit colours for a power ranger au I'd love to write one day bc I realised I have a lot of power ranger lore i could put to use lol ☺️

What Milkovich do you identify with most?

Mickey with his unwavering loyalty & his ability to love fiercely

Which one are you actually like the most?

Honesty no clue lol

What Gallagher do you identify with most?

I think Ian with his big heart & self doubt

Which one are you actually like the most?

Maybe Ian which makes sense why i can get so frustrated with some of his actions bc like that could me too in that situation lol

I'll tag these dearhearts if they wanna play @mrsinistertype @sleepyfacetoughguy @xninetiestrendx @heymrspatel @squidyyy23 @auds-and-evens @jomilky gardenerian @celestialmickey @gallawitchxx @suzy-queued @rereadanon @darthvaders-wife @gallavichgeek @sickness-health-all-that-shit @shameless-notashamed @howlinchickhowl @gallavich-headcanon @stocious @bravemikhailo @crossmydna @chicanomick @whatwouldmickeydo @bekkachaos @deathclassic @suchagallabitch @beebabycastiel-main @iansw0rld @ianandmickeygallavich @greggster @messedwithmandy @friend-bear @mishervellous @mmmichyyy @lalazeewrites @very-sleepy-head @ psychicskulldamage @captainjowl @abundanceofnots @look-i-love-u @imikhailotakeyouian @mikhailoisbaby

[psychewritesbs]

Chapter 211: Ripen—Megumi, on the power of suffering + a bunch of other stuff

Happy JJK Sunday! Gege is a sadistic cat and is going to “punish” Megumi. In case it wasn’t obvious... my favorite mangaka are always sadistic to their creations--I’m looking at you CLAMP’s Okawa Nanase.

So this chapter made me feel like Tomoyo and her adorkable obsession with Sakura...

There’s just something so cathartic about seeing a blorbo be put to the wringer for the sake of character development. And now, my favorite cursed cat is going to pull some machiuvelical, Greek Tragedy, Mexican telenovela style, twist on us. yesssssssssssssss!

I have a nasty migraine so... don’t expect much intelligence underneath the cut. 

Also, did I ever publicly mention that this particular scenario is one of my favorite self-indulgent head canons? You know... Tsumiki turning out to be at the crux of Megumi’s conflict because she’s up to no “good”?

Like just imagine the shock to Megumi’s schema of the world, the pattern interrupt to his logic, but more importantly, his inability to exert his will upon another being’s free will.

THE DRAMA... 

Sea-Urchin-Head

I wasn’t going to write anything for this chapter... 

So my plan was to just be a troll and write about the evolution of Megumi’s hair and how it went from this...

to full on epic sea-urchin-headness proportions.

But like... how to bring up the evolution of Megumi’s hair without also addressing the evolution of the art style and how much Gege has improved over the last 5 years?

And it’s not just the art that has improved from an aesthetic perspective, but the way he draws brings the characters to life on a new level. The characters aren’t static 2-dimensional figures on a 2-dimensional surface any longer...

Rather, the characters reflect their character development and multi-dimensionality in that Gege has also improved at showing emotion...

And how characters express their unique and diverse emotional landscape.

Just look at the sheer terror on his face... have we ever seen Megumi drop the poker face and betray his emotional state THIS MUCH?

This is like the worst chapter reaction liveblog I have ever written...

Megumi, on the power of suffering

If you’ve been reading my rambles for a while, then you know Megumi shares the #1 spot for my favorite animanga character with Sumeragi Subaru (who, interestingly enough, shares a lot of interesting similarities with Megumi). 

I LOVE Megumi and I ADORE the way Megumi is written.

Megumi is, true to his name, a bright light in the midst of darkness. His voice, the voice of conscience trying to find its way in the dark. 

If Gege is a genius at writing poetic justice, then Megumi is poetry in action. 

I’ve written before about how he got off “easy” after Shibuya and how that could mean his moment to shine and have his ego brutally destroyed is coming.

IT’s HERE! FINALLY! 

It’s not that I’m excited to see him suffer... it’s that I know that the suffering will be like turning lead into gold. ok yes I want to see him suffer because fck yeah catharsis my beloved!

Whatever the case, however Gege executes, Megumi is about to have another “come to Jesus moment” like or much more impactful than the one he had during The Origin of Obedience arc.

Anyways. Shipping dynamics aside, whether Tsumiki has been corrupted or is a vessel to a sorcerer from the past, the fact that she is turning “against” (for lack of a better word, don’t hate me, no nuance to be found in my brain today I have a damn migraine) Megumi isn’t just Reggie’s curse activating... it’s a reversal on Remi’s situation with Reggie. 

It’s a reversal on Megumi looking down on Remi for her unwillingness to see Reggie for what he was.

What an asshole! I love him your honor!!!

Perhaps even a reversal on Megumi looking down on Remi for becoming Reggie’s puppet?

You know... just following down daddy’s steps...

Regardless of what happens...

OH, THE DRAMA!!!! 

Like... The implications for how events can unfold are so juicy!!!!!! 

Let’s see where Gege takes it from here.

Hana

Me before Gege finally introduced Kurusu Hana: she’s poison! Don’t trust her! She’s not to be trusted! She’s probably a horrible person!!!!!

Meanwhile Hana:

Also me: Dammit I love her... my symbol analysis was trash looool (or is it?!!!!! we still don’t know what’s Angel’s deal).

Ripen

Just a reminder that the kanji that Gege uses for the word “fate” includes the kanji for “fruit”. 

The timeline has been super confusing so let’s see how Gege executes and brings it all together.

Allright. Thank you migraine. I’m done. I'm over it. Not even proofreading before publishing.

Thanks for reading to all 10 people who usually read lol. Don’t hesitate to say hi or share your own reactions! 

Happy JJK Sunday.

[mahvaladara]

Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators: For Myra

5. How easy is it to earn their mistrust? 6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

14. What animal do they fear most? 15. How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

24. Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 25. What are their thoughts on marriage?

34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 35. How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive?

5. Easy. Myra isn't the type of person to blindly trust everyone he sees. Guy lives in an abandoned temple rumoured to by haunted by the foot of a mountain and forest where people are known to die by accident or unalive themselves. So of course he doesn't take things at face value.

But once he gets to trust you, it's very easy to lose his trust. Just do something he doesn't agree with or that pisses his off. At the contrary of his father, Myra is very calm, so it takes a lot to tick him off, but once you do it, it's done. Boy blows up like a pressure pot.

6. Depends on the flaw actually. He recognizes people have qualities and flaws to them. He recognizes some flaws can be changed. He also recognizes some flaws you just have to learn to live with them.

14. Spiders. My man will rip himself naked if a spider so much lands on his shoulder. Will brawl bears and pandas, will fights wolves, will face dragons, will crush roaches. Throw a spider at him and he will freak out.

Explanation - Orb Weavers. It was summer, he was cleaning up the forest trail. As he turned a set of bamboo trees, he slammed head first into a orb-weaver's net, with said orb weaver still in the net. Let's just say, he had to spend the next day retracing his steps to find his stuff that he threw in a fit of panic.

15. They rarely rehearse what they must say and mostly just say what comes to their mind. But they do think things through before saying it.

24. When he was a teen he was a lot more talkative about sex than he is now. He would brag about his conquests, as did most guys with his popularity and age. But as he grew and got some sense and humility knocked into him, he stopped doing this. He now only talks about sex with his significant other or his doctor when on appointments.

25. His mother never married and his grandfather was a widow. He was not close with his paternal grandparents nor paternal uncles, so he never had an 'example' or married life. It's not something on his mind, that he considers for himself, but if his significant other was adamant on marriage he'd do it.

34. Depends. So far quite easy. He doesn't think about the kids he bullied when he was a teen. When he got some humility knocked unto him he did think what an awful guy he was and felt guilt for all the people he bullied, but he doesn't dwell on it. If he did meet one of them again, he'd probably apologize.

35. He doesn't have a lot of friends anymore. He currently has four good friends, his sister Aniara, Tomoyo (her bf), Haruki (one of the Forest Rangers) and Megumi a fellow snowboarder. But whenever any of them come to him excited about something he's usually the rational supporter. He's the type where he will listen to your plans and think about them, and give you advice on them.

[satoshi-mochida]

Ys X: Nordics details Phylleia, Ezer, Yolds, Larg, Odr, and ‘Release Line’

Gematsu Source

Falcom has released new information and screenshots for Ys X: Nordics introducing characters Phylleia, Ezer, Yolds, Larg, and Odr, and the “Release Line” system.

Get the details below.

■ Characters

Phylleia (voiced by Risa Shimizu)

Age: 23

“A grand occasion for none other than our princess. Be prepared, because I’ll be watching very closely.”

A leader of the third fleet in the Balta Navy, she is a female warrior with excellent wit known for being one half of the “twin jewels” alongside warlord Gunnel. Aside from being the right-hand woman for chief Grimson, she also keeps an eye out for his only daughter, Karja. She originally was not a Norman, but due to various circumstances, she decided to join the Balta Navy by choice.

Ezer (voiced by Yuuki Sakakihara)

Age: 15

“Are you hurt, Princess Karja?”

A boy who works as a chamberlain for Karja’s home, the Balta household.

Despite his young age, he has a polite and thoughtful personality. He is always thinking of his master Karja first and foremost, and acts accordingly.

Like Phylleia, he was not born a Norman either. Apparently, he had been living somewhere else.

Yolds (voiced by Tomoyo Takayanagi)

Age: ???

“I hate doing more than I need to. It makes me irritated.”

A highly-intelligent humanoid Grieger.

A vulgar sadist who attacks the people of Obelia Bay and abuses them as though they were slaves. She holds an intense rage against Karja, who wounded her by the power of Mana. Like a devil, she follows and targets Adol and the group.

Larg (voiced by Masahiro Itou)

Age: ???

“You humans are interesting. Interesting indeed.”

A highly-intelligent humanoid Grieger.

He takes interest in the culture and customs made by humans, and he appears in front of Adol and the group to ask peculiar questions.

He does not show as aggressive a behavior compared to Yors and Ors, and his constant careless attitude makes it hard to read his true intentions.

Odr (voiced by Kazuki Kyan)

Age: ???

“Build your strength, Adol and Karja. Then come and kill me.”

A highly-intelligent humanoid Grieger.

He boasts outstanding combat skills, even out of the humanoid Griegers. He takes interest in Adol and Karja, who fights using the power of Mana. He even wages battles against them.

There are times when it looks as if he has high hopes for their skill potential. Particularly regarding Karja, he seems to even encourage her growth as a warrior.

■ Keywords

The Immortal Griegers

The name of the immortal beings that appear around Obelia Bay.

It is impossible to kill them, as any wound inflicted by any weapon will be healed instantly. The only way to win against them is to show through battle your absolute dominance over them, and make them lose their will to fight. Adol and Karja’s power of Mana can help deliver devastating blows to them.

There are multiple confirmed reports of their beast-like looks, but there are also rumors that within them are highly-intellectual, humanoid Griegers.

■ Growth System: Release Line

Unleash the Power of Mana, and Reach Adol and Karja’s Full Potential!

In Ys X: Nordics is a brand new and special skill tree system called the “Release Line.” By unlocking the power of Mana, you can strengthen the battle skills individually for Adol and Karja.

The Release Line system explained:

-Level up through combat, and obtain Mana points.

-Using Mana points, unlock various “Spots” placed on the Release Line.

Unlocking “Spots” will allow you to obtain Adol and Karja-specific skills for solo mode, as well as spars.

-Place a “Mana Seed” into the unlocked “Spot.”

The “Mana ability” for combat according to the Mana seed branch will activate.

-By continuing the process of leveling up to unlocking spots, you will go further down the Release Line.

By delving deeper, you will be able to obtain special skills for the Combination Mode.

Adol and Karja Each Have Their Own Release Line

Each character has their own Release Line. By using the Mana points obtained through leveling up, it is possible to unlock new skills individually.

The Four Structures of Mana Ability

By setting items called Mana Seeds, a Mana Ability will activate. There are four branches it can split into. And because the same types can be combined, there are many possibilities for customization. You can set multiple abilities from the “Valor” branch and create a character that specializes in attacks, or you can set an equal number from each branch to make an all-rounder.

Valor – Attack-focused ability. Effects such as increased damage given, and increased knockdown blow.

Strength – Defense-focused ability. Effects such as decreased damage received, and increased status ailment healing speed.

Optimism – Ability that raises all skills aside from attack and defense. Effects such as increased dash speed, and increased skill chain time.

Darkness – Ability that has both merits and demerits. Special effects such as increased damage given during abnormal status, and increasing the rate of critical hits when HP is low.

Multiple Abilities Will Activate When the Mana Seeds That Have Three Branch Properties Are Set

Mana Abilities are activated when a specific Mana seed is set in a branch of the Release Line. However, some Mana Seeds belong to a special branch, called “Dream.”

Mana Seeds of the Dream branch have properties of Valor, Strength, and Optimism, and therefore are able to be combined with other Mana Seeds. You’ll be able to activate each branch’s abilities at a much more efficient rate.

■ Promotional Artwork and Box Art

Ys X: Nordics is due out for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch on September 28 in Japan. Read more about the game here, here, and here.

View the screenshots at the gallery.

[tuliharja]

On the left is my friend’s, @joutei's, character Moesashi (Sachi-chan), and on the right is my character Luis (Lu). I struggled a bit drawing these two because I hadn’t a clear image of Sachi-chan’s appearance (and her clothes) and Lu’s hair was just a pain in the butt to draw! Dx But in the end I think I managed to draw these two in a way that was portrayed between my friend’s and mine RP. These two side characters have appeared thus far really little, but I still have a soft spot for them and the dynamic between the two. I think they both make a really cute couple, despite Lu appearing quite a bishounen. (One day their children will be extra beautiful!) Plus, while Sachi-chan is the couple’s brains, Lu is the couple’s heart/hairstylist. (Yes, he just loves making peoples’ hair and such.)

Extra information about the couple:

Moesashi alias Sachi-chan: She got her name from her father which means ember. Her name comes from the fact that her father is Fire itself’s sword spirit, Sachi-chan has some fire powers. (As she shakes her head or such, small embers will drop from her hair.) Yet her dominant power is time because her mother is Time Lady. Her nickname on other hand means child of joy.

Sachi-chan’s parents are Rayearth (from CLAMP’s Magic Knight Rayearth [I modeled him, though.]) and Tasida (my friend’s OC, based on Doctor Who series.) She is the oldest child from the couple. Her powers are strongly connected to time itself and manipulating it, but thanks to her mother’s heritage she can also turn into a cat which her father doesn’t like. Her father is a wolf and he was quite shocked when he found out his wife and daughter could turn into cats because Tasida never told Rayearth. He still adores his daughter but wishes he would get one more daughter that would be able to turn into a wolf, just like Sachi-chan’s all 23 brothers. Because of that her powers concerning fire are rather weak, she is barely even able to make flames while her brothers have gained the gift of fire.

She has mostly got her looks from her mother, but she has somewhat colors from her father. Her eyes are like mini-galaxies which I tried to portray in this picture, thus making her eyes beautiful. Her hair is always flowing and her style is quite airy yet elegant. She likes to wear beautiful things and let Lu style her long hair.

Sachi-chan travels in time along with her parents and brothers via TASIDA, visiting various timelines, planets, and universes, but her favorite timeline is the one where Lu is, apparently. This makes things a bit complicated between the duo because while Sachi-chan travels back and forth in time she has to make sure she is always meeting Lu that fits the same age as she is currently. But luckily the duo has managed to find the balance between things, plus it helps greatly that Lu just so happens to be a vampire.

~~~

Luis alias Lu: He belongs to one of the few remaining pure-blooded vampires, meaning his both parents are vampires, which shows the true love between his parents. (Note; in my headcanon and there is why in our rp vampires cannot have children unless they truly love each other.) Thanks to that fact and the fact his parents’ high status, he belongs in vampire society quite high. Not as high as nobles, but quite high. His mother is called a Priestess who is basically the high priest of all vampires and is in the same status as all noble vampires who are basically royals among vampires. (Priestess is based on Tomoyo from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and is actually her other self, but she is still a fan character of mine.) Lu’s father is called Lord who is a noble vampire. (He is based upon Byakuya from Bleach and is actually his other self.) Because Lu’s parents are based upon Byakuya and Tomoyo they share similarities in personality- and appearance-wise but are still their own people and full vampires.

Lu is in vampires' age teenager at the moment, but in the human age, he is extremely old. He will still age a bit before he will hit the vampire system to a point where he seemingly doesn’t age in normal humans’ eyes. In personality-wise Lu is really kind person and pacifist, but he is ready to protect his mother, Sachi-chan, and everyone with who he is friends fiercely. For combat, he uses pair of scissors or barber knives that he keeps in his coat’s pockets. He doesn’t like using his long nails when in combat.

He has got his looks mostly from his father, but he has his mother’s purple eyes which turn gold when he is showing his vampire side. He did grow his hair almost waist long at one point because he thought it would be nice to do all kinds of different hairstyles with his hair which lead him to become a hairstylist. He has a huge fetish that comes toward people’s hair, which basically means he loves to touch people’s hair and style those out which has made some people scared of him. (He doesn’t mean anything bad with this.) His style is between comfortable and hipster because he wears anything that his mother would make for him or anything that he thinks looks stylish, even though those wouldn’t match with everything else he is wearing. Despite this, he still has a good eye when comes to dressing to impress when wanted.

~~~

So there was something about the duo! I really like how Sachi-chan’s eyes and hair turned out and Lu’s too! I admit finishing this took more than enough time because I lost the inspiration to draw this a few times… oops! But luckily this drawing is now finished. 😊

Artwork: @tuliharja

Note: I’m fine with reblogging, but ask me first for my permission, if you want to repost my artwork.

DeviantArt I Pixiv

[pitagain]

#365DaysOfVGM Day 120:

LieN - Stairs of Time (.hack//Link [2010])

During my research on franchises featured in Project X Zone, two IPs in particular caught my interest:

.Hack//, and Little Tail Bronx, the former IP being because of a different version of this song I 1st heard when I played the Demo A of Project X Zone in the mid-2010s (Remember when the 3DS EShop still accepted purchases? Yeah, its only been a month, yet feels like a memory of a forgotten past). With it being featured here, you can already tell that even the watered down “Stairs of Time” I heard back then was impressive enough to grab my attention!

I’ve featured the latter IP before, via Little Tail Story’s “To the Other Side of Light” song 79 days ago, but didn’t elaborate on it, because the Twitter character limit was a thing back when I had an account there. I’ll get to that later, but if you browse my Cohost, you’ll already know part of why I love Little Tail Bronx. Reason I bring all this up, is because of my plan to play and watch the .Hack// multimedia franchise in full someday, with prior knowledge of what shared company CyberConnect2 is capable of when they’re at their best.

At the core of this phenomenal song are an impactful Piano and well-placed Bells for the relaxed portions, with the rest held tightly together by sick Guitar melodies and epic singing from Tomoyo Mitani, the vocalist half of CyberConnect2’s regular music duo LieN, with Chikayo Fukuda putting in her own effort as the composer half.

LieN are also responsible for the aforementioned “To the Other Side of Light” song, where their common choices for String instruments can also be heard. Ending it off is a Piano roll with tons of reverb, to make it sound all mystical, I love it when music pieces do that! Even without knowledge of the franchise yet, you might get emotionally attached to this track like I did, it’s really that powerful!

Perhaps when my experience with the .Hack// franchise truly begins, I’ll also have more cool things to say about the song itself. I’ve given a special spot to this track for this very day, marking a moment to go back to and expand upon, for when I’ve finally shaped my own history with .Hack//

(Length: 4+ minutes)

[evelhak]

Anime ask please!!!

1, 9, 27

Thank you so much Eve 💕

Thanks, V. :) I'd be glad to ask you something too, but no pressure.

1. First anime that I remember watching was Versailles no bara, or "Lady Oscar" as it was translated. It fundamentally affected me as a person. I had never connected to any cartoon in the same way before, it was love at first sight and made me irreversibly an anime fan right off the bat. I was mesmerized. I wanted to be Oscar. Which is no wonder, I mean, the trans, and I think from my view even specifically nonbinary vibes are through the roof. Of course, I wouldn't realize that until years later. But I think it's such an amazing story because depending on how you look at it, it has the potential to be relatable or an inspiration to pretty much any trans person (and definitely other queer people as well). Obviously it's a product of its time and has its shortcomings, but it made me positively elated when I was an eight-year-old, and after that too to be honest. It sparked a lot more questions for me than it answered about Oscar and at the same time the world. So, the premise is "a girl raised as a boy" and even as a child I never felt like it answered whether this fate was a freedom or a cage for Oscar. Later, I've answered that question to myself as "both" because it doesn't even matter what gender identity Oscar actually has, because so much of the story is about gender roles, and those have the potential to be both a cage and a freedom to everyone despite of gender and whether they are trans or cis. I think this early experience granted me the freedom to feel like I can explore these themes in my own writing, and I still find myself doing it a lot, because both gender identity and gender roles are such interesting topics to me. Haha, the last side story I wrote in my KnB fic series even happens to be inspired by a scenario similar to this anime's, although my inspiration for it specifically was the medieval French poem "Silence" instead. But yes, this anime affects me greatly even today.

9. Favourite anime child... I guess this means literally a child character. I'm honestly not that interested in child characters. I would have said Yotsuba, because she's freaking hilarious, but there's no anime of that manga, so... hmm. Well, Sakura from Card Captor Sakura, maybe? She's ten at the start if I remember correctly. I like her attitude, and she falls in the realm of characters I tend to like for many reasons. I have a soft spot for characters who are smart because they are simple, in a sense. Also, characters who are energetic but not in an erratic, annoying way. Characters who are focused and live in the present. Characters with kick ass athletic abilities who are still surprisingly clumsy and get in funny situations because of it. I kind of relate to her friend Tomoyo's perspective, I totally get why she's charming.

27. Anime I plan to watch in the future... Maybe Beastars? My sister recommended it, which means it's about a 50% chance that I'll actually enjoy it, or that it's a sensory nightmare that bounces from idea to idea, being simultaneously overstimulating for my senses and understimulating for me mentally. Which is the reason I haven't watched a lot of anime in recent years, there just seems to be a lot of hectic stuff around that goes broad rather than deep. I plan to rewatch a lot of old favourites though, like Kaleido Star and Princess Tutu, which I already mentioned to you, V. Oh, and I plan to keep up with Jujutsu Kaisen. Not enough of a fan to read the manga (which I usually do first) but it's interesting enough to watch, and one of the only shonen anime I've seen with actually good female characters, so, that's why I'm going to keep watching it.

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

Chapitre 193 - The Seventh Day Birthday

In which we get lovely couple’s portrait! 

I love that this could almost be a royal painting hanging up somewhere. Both Fujitaka and Nadeshiko looking important and astonishing in their own right, but both with the matching friendly gentleness that characterises them both. The splash text really captures their vibe in these chapters:

The more love they gave the more hope would remain

Now all that is left for them to do is believe...

It matches them as well as all the other parallel characters who know bits of what's happening but just have to sit by and watch it all from the sidelines (our starting Touya and Yukito, Yuuko, Tomoyo and co, etc)

It's honestly fantastic that Nadeshiko and Fujitaka are shown here essentially as together and NEAR each other but still physically taking up their own individual space. And the casualness of the moment! The soft touch of fingertips to the pillar in passing, the book still propped open as if caught mid-read, the wind blowing Nadeshiko’s hair out in soft arc. Meanwhile Nadeshiko holds a flower (a Nadeshiko flower??) so casually that you might not even spot it unless you’re looking at Fujitaka - which adds a small note of the something lovely that rests between them. 

I ALSO love that Fujitaka is visually out in the open but Nadeshiko is framed on three sides with straight lines - she’s almost completely contained, though her hair escapes out on the right. It could be a neat tie-in to the fact that Nadeshiko’s existence seems to be at stake here - Fujitaka appeared to exist in both versions of the Clow Kingdom, but this is the first time we’ve seen Nadeshiko at all. She could, potentially, vanish from the background of this image and not alter the remaining Fujitaka - as she seems to have done with the [whatever happens to the timeline]. It makes their distance from each other just all that much sadder, especially considering that there’s an actual visible wall between them here. Not a huge one, but one nonetheless! Will they soon be separated due to Evil Wolverine’s shenanigans, or does something else cause their separation?

Oh you could also point to their inverted colour schemes as such a LOVELY way to pair them, so that they’re matching and fit perfectly together but also adding just a hint of being on two different sides of reality. 

[robins-den]

CHARACTERS IN THIS: Brodia squad

Diamant (VA: Junichi Suwabe) is a strong and honest man with a serious personality. Has a deep respect for his father, the king.

diamant if you’re reading this i am free on thursday night. if you would like to hang out i am free on thursday night when i am free to hang out. i am free to hang out on thursday night so if you want to hang out on thursday night i am free. He’s EXTREMELY hot I’m sorry. It’s weird that his hair’s central point is on his forehead but I’ve seen weirder and the extreme anime style helps it not be bad. My man has a lot of belts but I love his arm cloak thing and I also love the furs and stuff. Unrelated but I hope this game lets us S rank multiple characters because there are a lot of characters that make me go heart eyes.

Alcryst (VA: Nobuhiko Okamoto) is the second prince of Brodia; Diamant’s younger brother. Pessimistic and has low self-esteem, often devaluing himself by comparing himself to his incredible elder brother. On the other hand, he’s sociable with the backbone demanded from royalty.

alcryst if you’re reading this i am free on thursday night. if you would like to hang out i am free on thursday night when i am free to hang out. i am free to hang out on thursday night so if you want to hang out on thursday night i am free. You can tell they’re siblings because I’m using the exact same joke for both of them but it applies anyway. He looks so fucking depressed i HAVE to run my hand through his hair while we take a nap on a couch. The last sentence interests me a lot, though. Sociable and has a backbone? Is that only in settings that require it (fancy parties, entertaining important people, important meetings), or does he always manage to pull himself together when it’s required? Anyway how hot is the king if he’s turned out two absolute hotties like these guys. I like his escargot and his shoulder spikes, I think his vest doesn’t connect in the middle enough and I want him to have warmer clothes if they live in a cold country. I like his lacy hairpin. A present from the blond twins?

Amber (VA: Atsushi Tamaru) is a royal knight from Brodia, and Diamant’s retainer. He’s an endlessly bright and pure knight, with a passionate heart. A romanticist who loves the fables and legends of the world, but everything he does usually leads to trouble.

Is this the alpaca guy who goes into your room in the floating island trailer? I’ll execute him for that. Anyway, he looks average level cute, but after Three Houses it’s nice to get that again. I think one of my friends said he looks like Ares from Genealogy…? I can see it. I like the ruffles.

Jade (VA: Marie Miyake) is a royal knight from Brodia, and Diamant’s retainer. She’s a knight who’s very calm, and serious about her duties. Since she doesn’t speak much, people think she’s emotionless, but actually she can be cheerful and funny. When she’s in danger, she begins meditating on the spot.

OH MY GOD A WOMAN DRESSED FOR BATTLE …. YES…. FINALLY….. Crying tears of joy. Anyway the front hair pieces are a hazard but again, unless it’s egregious or I’m nitpicking I don’t care too much. I like how her personality won’t entirely be serious and emotionless and nothing matters but her job, because not many people are actually like that. In her support conversation she said she’s writing a book, which I’m interested in. Her hair looks like Claire’s from SoV, but it’s mostly being paired with the armor helmet that makes it. I love her and her armor.

Lapis (VA: Tomoyo Takayanagi) is a royal knight from Brodia, and Alcryst’s retainer. Has a good-natured and kind personality. Despite her delicate appearance, she can exhibit unearthly strength. Her talent is knowing what kinds of grass are edible. | Because she was trained to survive as a hunter, she’s stronger than most, despite her frail and delicate appearance.

She feels like Noelle from Genshin impact. Similar haircut, similar doubt in own skill when they can literally carve mountains in half… I love her armor, though. It’s simple without being boring, and I do like her hair accessories. I love that she eats grass and knows a lot about it, that’s always fun.

Citrinne (VA: Ikumi Hasegawa) is a royal knight of Brodia, and Alcryst’s retainer. Kind-hearted and always thinks of her friends. She’s the daughter of a relative of the royal family, and sometimes spoils others with her stupendous wealth.

She’s cute! We finally have a woman who’s shirt doesn’t show off her cleavage in the exact same way as 4 other women, which is nice. I like her hair, I like her clothes, I like her jewelry… It all comes together nicely. Nothing outstanding, but it’s almost better in its subtle quality. Interesting that she’s their cousin; was it by her choice alone, or a political move to keep her branch of the family close to power?

hi hellow i've been planning this post for two months anniversary today so

HERE ARE MY OPINIONS ON THE RELEASED CHARACTERS OF ENGAGE but i might not do all of them and this is only their blurb and physical appearance unless i know more ty

Something I’ve noticed while doing this is the sheer amount of siblings there are?? Is there going to be a plot reason (I hope not honestly) or did a writer go ‘wait, it was pretty rare for royals to only have one kid because of the high chances of childhood death and stuff’ or did a twincest writer win the kink lottery or ? Why are there so many siblings… It makes me wonder if the Alear you don’t pick is going to be evil or something.

Why are there so many mount users in the desert? Can horses traverse sand now?? I always hated that mechanic but it was because it made you work around it. Except that you never had enough fliers or mages to actually work around it. Why are there wolves in the desert?

everything taken from serenes forest because its convenient godbless

image and text formatting is to make it not godawful on mobile

CHARACTERS IN THIS: Firene / Firenese characters, the three dragon guardians + Anna

Céline (VA: Akari Kitō) is the first princess of the Firenese Kingdom and Alfred’s younger sister. She’s a kind and innocent philanthropist who always strives to solve things peacefully. However, she won’t hesitate to fight for peace if necessary.

I hate the weird lace stuff and the fact that she just ... does not have a shirt. She looks too young for that to be interesting instead of 'girl what the fuck' and the sheer lace texture would be a genuine nightmare. she's another 'kind and innocent younger sister princess' which like, i feel like we've had at least one in every game, but whatever, the people like what they like.

Alfred (VA: Ryōhei Kimura) is the first prince of the Firenese Kingdom, a brisk young man who battles alongside the Divine Dragon. He’s a kind, disciplined and flower-loving pursuer of happiness.

I like that he has lace as well, it ties him and his sister together. I like his little leafy crown and that he has a love of flowers strong enough to be mentioned in his mini blurb. I don’t like that he’s Dimitri’s little brother, basically. Having one of the first companions look so similar to a protagonist from the last mainline game feels annoying. Also, the yellow white clothes, pale skin, blond hair, and black lines of lace make him look like a bee to me.

Chloé (VA: Saori Hayami) is a palace knight from the Kingdom of Firene. She’s easy-going and adores her liege, Princess Céline. Loves fairy tales and pretty scenery and is always seeking a picturesque combination of the two.

i dont like the boobed breastily down the stairs vibe of her armor (which really isn't armor) but if she's one of the few like it then i can accept it as a character trait. i don't like the armor period, though, it has a lackluster feel to it. I'm really hoping for an s rank between her and Celine. Chloe likes Fairy Tail Aesthetic because she likes Celine, who has a Fairy Tail Aesthetic. This is my most beloved and sapphic headcanon.

Etie (VA: Tomomi Mineuchi) is a palace knight from the Kingdom of Firene. She’s a noble lady who exudes elegance. Has a positive and active personality; devotes all her time to body-building

I like her facial expression, and I think her hair is cute without being overbearing. I like that she's stated to be noble and extremely elegant while also doing bodybuilding. I like how it's a 'yes and,', not an 'even though'. I don’t like that what I thought was a dress is a crop top, though. I think it’s better as a dress.

Louis (VA: Haruki Ishiya) is a palace knight from the Kingdom of Firene. He’s a gentle servant wearing massive armour. He always pays attention to how his friends are faring and seems happy whenever he sees them at peace.

Hello Kellam with curly hair. His arms remind me of Ruin Guards from genshin impact, actually. I don’t like armor knights much (i really value mobility and the sheer defense of armor knights has never been necessary for me to beat maps, even in the GBA games), but maybe his personality will convince me to use or reclass him. From what I’ve seen, I doubt it. I like the pointer clicker on his armor.

Boucheron (VA: Toru Sakurai) is a palace knight from the Kingdom of Firene. He’s a polite and kind young man. Born with a good physique and highly tolerant of others.

Logically the green accents on orange shirt is fucking hideous, but they manage to make it work with his armor, which keeps the orange from being extremely loud and the green from looking horrendous. He’s not that striking physically but for some reason I want to sit on his stomach and stare at his face for an hour. Also touch his face ??? I like that his tolerance of others is important enough to be mentioned here; I hope he has supports with people from other nations and when they do something not commonly done in his nation he’s like ‘oh, that’s pretty neat’ or the like. Maybe they did western market research and he’ll be a himbo lol.

Framme (Sayaka Senbongi) is a 33rd generation Dragon Guardian, protecting the Divine Dragon at the Land of Lythos. She’s Cramme’s younger twin sister and more determined and lively compared to her brother.

I like her shirt and gloves. I think they're fun. her hat nd scarf don't feel battlefieldy but y'know what, sure, go styling. Honestly I think she looks really cute with the soft bob cut so I wish she didn’t have that braid of hair(?), but the ribbon braided in makes it interesting. I like lively kid characters as long as they aren’t annoying about it, and twins / siblings can be fun if the writers aren’t annoying about it. The contrast between simple sleeveless shirt+skinny arms, and the huge thick gloves, scarf and hat gives her an energy that I really love. All the colors pair together extremely well.

Cramme (Kōhei Amasaki) is a 33rd generation Dragon Guardian, protecting the Divine Dragon at the Land of Lythos, alongside Vander. He is Framme’s older twin brother and was by Alear’s side when they awoke. A gentle priest who serves–and is also a fan of–Alear.

The fact that he’s outright a fan is…. Odd? I’m not going to say bad but we’ll have to wait and see. I love his braid and that it pairs with his sisters. I think his colors pair together less well than his sisters do, but I’m always a slut for arm cuffs. I like that he’s green, black, and beige to his sister’s white, pink, and beige. It’s a fun way to contrast and compare them. I wish the outfits themselves matched a bit more.

Vander (VA Yōji Ueda) is a 32nd generation “Dragon Guardian”, protectors of the Divine Dragon at the Land of Lythos. Cared for Alear who was asleep for ages and a reliable ally who’s sworn loyalty to Alear. Very serious and strict; the guardians’ mission is at the forefront of his mind.

Our jagen!! I really like his beard and hair. How many families got conscripted into staring at my bedroom? I wonder if the care was anything more intensive than standing guard at the doors of wherever it was and running off bandits and treasure hoarders. I’m curious if they entered the building on a daily basis [ for cleaning and making sure everything is okay, or maybe they live there? ], only on special occasions [ deep cleaning every few months or year or for festivals ] or fuckin never and only patrolled the perimeter. We’ll get the answer I’m sure, but I’m curious regardless. Relatedly, I’m curious if there were any signs of Alear waking up? If they knew it was beginning to happen or if it was completely out of the blue. 30 generations of your family getting paid to do nothing, and now you have to fight a cross continental war for the planet or some shit. 

Anna (VA: Saori Seto) is a merchant-in-training. It seems she’s traveling around each country, in search of treasures that can be sold for a high price.

She’s a lot cuter than her FE3H incarnation, thats for sure. It’s probably the posing but she’s actually super cute. Nice outfit that is visually solid without being overly complex and puff sleeves. I dig it. I’m interested to find out what merchant means as a class. We likely aren’t getting a separate convoy again, but (bold take) I actually found it fun. In training is fun; I wonder if we’ll see the endless amount of Anna’s again. I hope so. I hope she has supports again, and it’ll be great if it’s with people other than Alear. It’s interesting that her job / class is first and her name is below it, unlike all of the other character cards.

[meimi-haneoka]

I consider myself a regular on the CCS subreddit (although I'm not the anon who cited it). While I do think some of the grievances I see there can be valid depending on how I look at them (and I have them too tbh, I'd be lying otherwise), others just sound too nitpicky. Especially if I can already tell from one read that they didn't even try to get crucial details right. Once I saw a post about Akiho there where the poster completely thought she wasn't abused (I won't link it here because you don't need to see it) that I was half-tempted to write a defense for her because that detail was way too obvious to miss. Like??? Did they even read the same story as me? Which was odd because she's far from my favorite character and I don't have much attachment to her. For me, she's just okay, largely inoffensive, and has some moments worthy of admiration, yet somehow those people think her worst crime is just existing in the same story as Sakura and refuse to try to understand her role there at all. (Also, yes, I mainly want them to stay away from the anime once it continues because I don't think I'll even have the patience to deal with their braindead arguments in the future. They should waste that energy doing literally anything else.)

This is why the only things I do there are admiring fanarts, writing up my thoughts on a chapter release, and answering questions someone might have, as long as they're respectful and I have some extra time in my hands. Otherwise, I stay out of petty arguments (they're not frequent, but they do happen). I don't have the energy for them. I had enough of witnessing those in my previous fandoms, so no thanks.

(To that anon: I really think you should stay away from the sub for a while if the negativity is getting to you. I haven't reached that point yet, so I can still manage being there. But the case is different for you, so please go do that.)

See, if even someone like you who doesn't exactly considers Akiho one of their favorite characters ends up thinking "are these people reading the same story as me??", there is a fundamental problem, here.

It's not just bias of the Akiho fans, it's really an issue with the understanding of the story, with the expectations, with how skewed by nostalgia their perception of this story is. How can you be so blinded by hate that you have the audacity to say that Akiho wasn't abused??? I mean, the story might have hammered in our heads that Sakura and Akiho were similar but there hasn't been a singular instance in which Akiho showed a desire to be in Sakura's place, or to envy her on an unhealthy level. She never wanted to steal anything from her, while along the years the fandom accused her to be wanting to steal Syaoran, Tomoyo's best friend spot, Sakura's powers, Sakura's family... The times she's praised Sakura for something she didn't have were always framed as "this is my cue to do my best, too". It's a very healthy way to portray a relationship between friends (envy and jealousy can be so bad) and the mere fact to be SIMILAR to someone else CANNOT be a crime, come on!

Also, anon of the other day: this is the second person I see suggesting to stay away from the subreddit if the negativity gets to you, so I warmly suggest you to follow their advices.....

[pinkbroflovski]

꒰ ♡ my favorite sapphic ships !!

sense i'm really bored and its pride month id though id compile a list of my fav wlw/nblw anime couples !! yay !! cannon or not *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

long post ;

natsuri *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

not technically an anime but natsuri is cute,, all the girls deserved so much better and ugh. look. at. their color pallet !! these 2 are just adorable together and i love this offical art of them.. they look like they r making valentines chocolate ( for eachother perhaps? ) (◕◡◕✿)

croma/cromaka *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

this ship is. literally. perfect. THEY WERE MADE 4 EACHOTHER ISTG!! and crona is giving us nonbinary lesbian rep?? amazing. crona clearly really appreciates maka and the feeling is mutual for the both of them. maka cares about crona, crona cares about maka. (◡‿◡✿)

homumado *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

ok. how could i make a post about sapphic couples and not include these two???? LIKE ?,.???,..?? they are the best anime couple in the history of the world. actually. madoka magica is so good and if you haven't watched it,, go watch it rn

sakuhina *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

these 2 are just so ADORABLE !! their energy and dynamic is unmatched and their aesthetic is immaculate. sakura had a huge soft spot 4 hinata and seeing them together makes me so happi

rinku / mikurin *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

waaa !! another thing that's not really an anime but its close enough??? in the rhythm games SEGA made them so gay. lets go webcore lesbians !! also knife was my lesbian awakening. that music video is wonderful

imuteru *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

im not really into saiki k that much but these girls,,,, are the only thing that makes me care just a little bit about the show haha, they are lesbians !! ( i am so sorry for the low quality pic ;_; )

tomosaku *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

explain why tomoyo always blushed while around sakura?? she def admired her and sakura adores tomoyo back. ccs was always super gay. even the official art is??? i feel like they were implying something i haven't finished ccs yet tho T_T""

so in conclusion ;

PINK X PURPLE SUPREMACY !!

ALSO YELLOW X BLUE,,

[redwing2000]

KKUSS KKUTS My Template Setting

Build through Haruka_KK氏 (https://www.pixiv.net/users/1654061) Plugins  KKUSS, KKUTS, Post Processing Effects

If you know the setting. You don't need to read this post. This post is for lazy people liked me. Setting done, and then \ COPY & PASTE /

[コイカツ! シーン KK Scene] https://www.mediafire.com/file/ibftx9uvmzr156w/ 1) Import the character to your scene. 2) Use Material Editor Copy Material, search and copy ""face","body" and "hair" 3) Paste Material to your own character one by one

Didn't test for imported texture ; But Coordinate tested and you can't just Copy and Paste. So I didn't make "KKUTS item" for copying.

KKUTS (Koikatsu Unity-chan Toon Shader) 

Comparing - Orignal and KKUTS KKUTS can import Matcap. That would be convenient.

I discover Tweak_SystemShadowsLevel and RimLight are magical number.

Tweak_SystemShadowsLevel Default 0.3 ; Mine-0.4 ; Any negative number, sometimes you need to fine tune

RimLight, RimLight_FratherOff, RimLight_InsideMask RimLight, RimLight_FratherOff not 0 (0 = deactivate) Main value you need to tune is RimLight_InsideMask

Default 0.0001 which affect too much ; Mine usually 0.1~ 0.3

Drag skin color to BaseColor, prevent skin too white / grey. But some cards not work (Depends on skin color). You may need to push reset.

If you feel the tiny highlight annoying. HighColor_Power n Is_BlendAddtoHiColor turn to 0

KKUTShair

Most setting is same. The only one needed to mention is Addcolor Default RGB 1.2 ; That’s the reason why it’s bright. Try RGB 1.1 ~ 1

Known issue

If your character use Alpha Mask. KKUTS won't read alpha mask properly.

KKUSS (Unity Standard Shader for Koikatu)

Compare Anime style KKUTS, KKUSS good at soft shading.

Main edit value : "Addcolor" and "ShadowPower"

Addcolor > Pick a skincolor instead of white ShadowPower > Decrease a little prevent too dark

You also need to care about Light source when you use KKUSS.

Main light source usual below than 1 ; 1 usually is overexposure in KKUSS. You may use Point/Spot Light to make a better lighting, just liked HoneySelect

Some user mentioned this. Dark skin > DetailNormalMapScale use "2".

Other Issue Every KK topic would has same issue. If your Material Editor doesn't have "OO". No color picker or something. Use HF Patch and update your "BepInEx"

[Credit] KRArts - Tomoyo Character Card Haruka_KK - KKUSS KKUTS https://www.pixiv.net/users/1654061

★ Twitter - https://twitter.com/wingr2000 ★ ★ Discord - http://discord.gg/xtnWz4h ★ ★ If you enjoy my work, supporting me on ★ Fanbox https://wingr.fanbox.cc/

[melipetals]

Sorry to pop in with another question! But what are some of your favorite characters? They can be from any source!

Oooohhhh, from anywhere? GAH, that's difficult, where should I start? Let's start with Non/Disney things haha

Dimitri from 'Anastasia' (1997)

Half simping for him, half just.. loving him all around. Great character with heart and soul, funny af moments and unique in my eyes ♥

Charlotte LaBouff 'The Princess and the Frog' (2009)

She very much threw the girly rich brat trope out of the window. She's all that, she has her flaws, but she deeply cares for Tiana and her happiness and can be very selfless even when she got so spoiled all her life. Her round design makes her all squishy and I love her very much!! ♥

Ariel 'The Little Mermaid' (1989)

I just love marmaids. Always have, always will. And redheads too (ehm, I totally don't have a type-). I have a very big Ariel figurine collection actually that I'm very proud of- (I want moooooore-) yeah, it's constantly growing haha.

Eric 'The Little Mermaid' (1989)

Hands down best disney prince ever. Do I even have to elaborate why I'm in love with him? I think everyone knows his qualities.

Anne-Marie 'All dogs go to Heaven' (1989)

Cutest little girl everrrr! You feel so sorry for the absolute sweetness this little sugar is and just want her to find the family she deserves ♥ She also reminds me a lot of my little sister when she was younger, so my soft spot for this is even bigger roasfgehe

Nancy 'Enchanted' (2007)

I especially love her animated version. Absolutely lovely!! She's also one of my favorite disney faceclaims to roleplay as! ♥ Can't wait for 'disenchanted' to come out!!

Trixie 'Chip n Dale TV series' (1989)

I loved her as a kid. She's cute and smart and does her own thing. Of course, nostalgia ♥

Ehm this list already got super long, so.. others I like: Rapunzel, Jack Frost, Loki, Peggy (Captain America), The Evil Queen (Snowwhite and the Huntsman), Ron Weasley, Sakura & Tomoyo & The mirror card (CCS), Lucia & Kaito (Mermaid Melody), Marron & Chiaki (Kaito Jeanne), Edward Elric, Sasuke Uchiha, Potato girl, Gray Fullbuster, Sora & Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Light Yagami, Zen (Akagami no Shirayuki-hime), Yona & Hak & Shin-Ah (Yona of the Dawn)..... OK LETS STOP HERE LMAO