#Birthday girl murakami

[its-ya-boi-kaz]

Birthday Girl by Murakami

A perfect start of September read. This is the first work of Murakami that I'm reading,and I definitely understand the hype. I love his straight-forward-yet-still-mysterious writing style.

The story follows the narrator having a conversation with the protagonist. They are talking about their twentieth birthdays. The relationship between the two is not disclosed, but they seem to be good acquaintances.

She explains to the narrator that on the day of her twentieth birthday, she had to do a ful shift because her night out was cancelled. She and her boyfriend had had a huge fight just a few days ago, so she wasn't celebrating with him either. A turn of events takes place, and she is left with the responsibility of delivering food to the mysterious owner of the restaurant that no one has seen except the manager.

Spoilers below (more like after read ramble)

Oh my god what was the wish??? I'm no literary expert, but here are my thoughts on what it could have been. It seemed to me at first as though it was a lesson to young people that no matter what they wish for, what they achieve, they can never change who they ARE.

Was her wish to be someone else? The owner said ordinary girls might wish to be prettier, smarter or rich. Had she wished to be someone else entirely? That might explain her change of tone while saying "No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves." That might also be why she brushed away the narrators question of whether or not her wish had come true. She said they'll have to wait and see. But she HAD become somebody else entirely, right? She had friends, when her 20 yo self had none. She was now happily married with kids as opposed to the failing relationship of 20 yo her. She now drove an Audi, when she was working in a restaurant in the past.

Another one of my interpretations is: On page no.27 the owner asks her "Do you have a wish, or not?" And on page no.41 she tells the narrator that they can't think of a wish because it has already been made. Does this mean her wish had already been made before the day of her twentieth birthday? Did she wish for everything she had wished for before to come true?

Overall, it was a solid 8.6/10. I will definitely be reading more of Murakami's work in the future. I haven't read something this thought provoking in a long time.

[magicmorningmeteora]

Who is your birthday oshi ~Early June 2024!

[k03mbi]

The fragrance of the breeze, the tone of the light, the tiny flowers in the grass, the subtle reverberations that accompanied sounds: all these told me that autumn had come again, increasing the distance between me and the dead with each cycle of the seasons.

Kizuki was still 17 and Naoko 21: forever

- Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

[booksandlits]

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[supitsgdo]

Book review: Short Stories by Haruki Murakami

Rating:

The Second Bakery Attack: 4⭐️

Birthday Girl: 3⭐️

Sleep: 3⭐️

Murakami has been on my radar for a long time. However, the first time i took a swing at it was with “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle”, and I kept falling asleep because I read it on the train on my way to college ahahah. In Feira do Livro de Lisboa (2021) (Lisbon’s Book Fair) I bought these small books in order to try and reignite the “flame”.

I must say, I wasn’t disappointed.

The book I enjoyed the most, and that I found highly amusing, was “The Second Bakery Attack”. “Birthday Girl” got me a little lost by the end of it, but I liked it. “Sleep” was just ok overall, but it was still an interesting read.

They are short books, under 100 pages long, and fast reads, in a completely irreverent style, with a touch of dystopia, but which I believe is due to a particular enjoyment of the author in confusing his readers and taking their thoughts and prejudices about society to the limit.

[fictional-birthdays]

Happy (late) Birthday, Tomoe Murakami and Sora Nonomura! (Cinderella Girls)

[boizandgurlzinthehouse]

𝐍𝐈𝐉𝐈𝐑𝐎'𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌

nijiro murakami x fem!reader ; instagram au!!

tw: make out session, dirty talk (i don’t what came over me it’s just felt right sorry 😭😭)

pov: since nijiro doesn't post anything on his ig account, you're the one who leaks pictures about him from yours. fans go crazy every time you post anything, scrolling through your pictures, they search for even a glimpse of nijiro in the background or when you post a silly picture about him. you are beautiful too, they know this, because why wouldn't nijiro date a pretty girl and love her with all of his heart? you two complete each other so perfectly, it's an extra pleasure if you leak some nijiro content!!

"are you gonna post that too?" nijiro asks as you lay on his chest, scrolling through your phone that is full of photos about him.

"why? i think it's cute." you replied as he stroked your waist. you two were in tokyo, and after he got home after shooting the new season of alice in borderland, a heated makeout-session eased his mind, but you still felt the semi hard-on under your thigh.

"you don't need to raid your account with me. i know you are doing this for my fans too." furrowing your eyebrows, you made a fake gasp.

"no, i'm not!" then sighing, dropping down your phone, you kissed his neck. "i'm sorry 'jiro... just can't get enough from you. i want everybody to see how you really are." you muttered into his chest as he tiled both of you on your sides.

"that's okay. just don't leak the most important things about us." he said, making you laugh as he kissed down on your neck, to your shoulders. you were in for a session again, but you wanted more, and you knew he wanted too. and maybe, turning on the voice record, it could be the next tape in the hidden map of the most important things on your phone.

"our sex tapes are our sex tapes. and you... "you began to slip down with your hands on his lips and his chest, "...and your body..." down to the waistband of his boxer, "...and your everything is also mine. just as i'm yours." you whispered as the two of you kissed. nijiro took away your hand with his, sipping the other to open your bralette behind your back.

"did you said this intentionally to fire me up and make love to you all night?" he asked with a hoarse voice, turning you on your back, pushing his thigh in between yours, making you gasp and low-key grind down to it.

"yeah, maybe i did it." you whined as he get down to your abdomen, stroking your fingers between his locks, waiting to ease the built up tension between your legs, the phone and the posts long forgotten.

"good girl", nijiro's voices were muffled by the skin on your thigh, and you let yourself gasp into the night from the pleasure he gave you.

and nijiro? since you're his girlfriend, his fans makes fan accounts about you too, hyping you up and encouraging you to be a model, making edits about you two, but mainly you. he doesn't tell you, but he always looks about these pages, and he playfully rolls his eyes from time to time, as you grin, while showing him tweets about his account as he liked these videos and edits. although he doesn't follow anyone, after a long time, he gets one followed account. yours. isn't he cute?

itsjusty/n's story

itsjusty/n

itsjusty/n birthday boy!! @njr_mk

itsjusty/n

itsjusty/n finally in tokyo again... mr. nijiro the explorer was sure that he knows the way, but guess who got lost three times on the airport 🤧

itsjusty/n

itsjusty/n back in kyoto, i took like 600 pictures (gonna dump it), while that’s the only two he got 🥹

itsjusty/n’s story

itsjusty/n

itsjusty/n arriving home at 4am, sleeping like babies 😴🛌

[klaustozier]

the truth ; nijiro murakami

SUMMARY: you and nijiro have been dating for almost a year, all his fans and your friends make jokes about how fun your sex life must be, but you never did anything, because of a secret of yours.

warnings: nijiro x virgin!fem!reader, he's cute :c and will teach you stuff, fluff, dirty talk, soft sex, big cock!nijiro, never mentioned this before but I think it's good: ALWAYS wear a condom, that said: no condom will be used, breeding kink

that was a request so here it is, i hope the anon that asked liked it!

word count: 2.4k

english is not my first language, so i'm sorry for any mistakes

enjoy!

Nijiro kissed you gently. They were both in bed in his room, they were supposed to be just watching a movie, but things were getting more and more intimate and when they noticed they were already kissing.

When Nijiro's hand began to seep into your blouse, your breathing hitched and anxiety consumed you. Pushing him away, you took a deep breath looking up, your breathing uneven.

You were supposed to tell him the truth, but it had been so long, you were nervous about his reaction even though he was always a dream and extremely patient and understanding. You remembered a tweet from a Nijiro fan commenting on Twitter with a photo of them together something like "if this woman doesn't ride this man at least three times a day, she needs therapy", little did they know that the two never go to fucking.

Once, after a friend's birthday party, Nijiro masturbated you, while kissing you in his car when they were still in the garage of their friend's apartment building. Another time, they disappeared at a party and went to the bathroom, where you jerked him off while making out. And it was only those two times that they had been sexually intimate.

Their friends were always mocking them, if by chance they didn't find them at parties, they would make fun of them, because one of them had caught them leaving the place together.

And there you were, pushing him away again, out of insecurity, "Sorry, Niji… I'm really sorry…"

"No need to apologize, baby…", he smiled and ran his thumb across your cheek, "If you don't feel like it, that's okay."

"It's not that I don't want to", you commented softly, sighing, "It's just that there's another problem."

He frowned, "What is it?"

"It's so stupid", you covered your face with your hands.

He smiled softly, taking your hands away from your face, seeing your face turning red with embarrassment, "Nothing that comes from you is stupid… tell me what's wrong, baby girl."

You sighed, "I'm a virgin", you whispered, so quietly he didn't hear.

"What?"

You sighed more deeply, clearing your throat, "I'm a virgin."

His eyebrows shot up, "Really?", you nodded, "I thought you already had sex… one guy even ended up in the hospital…"

You laughed, thanking him for wanting to lighten the mood, "He went to the hospital before anything happened."

The story was that you were going to have sex with a guy and he, also inexperienced, got tangled up in the blankets trying to stay upright on the bed, fell to the floor and hit his head. You didn't even have sex, at least he was still wearing pants.

"Oh", he nodded, "why didn't you talk to me? You didn't have to hide it from me."

"I was ashamed", you confessed, "I feel old to still be a virgin…"

"You're two years younger than me", he commented.

"Yeah! And you already fucked up half of Japan."

"Hey, hey, hey, what's that?", he laughed, "Maybe a little less than half, it's not all that."

"Dumbass", you whispered, giving him a peck.

"You don't have to be ashamed of me", whispered Nijiro, "We can have new experiences together…", he paused for a second and took a deep breath, running his hand through his long black hair, "So when touched you in my car, it was the first time someone jerked you off?"

"It was…"

"Oh", his gaze darkened, "I'll remember that when I think about that day again."

You raised your eyebrows, your hair being stroked, "When you say 'think about that day', what do you mean?"

He smiled, leaning in to kiss you, "I mean that I'm going to be thinking about you whimpering over me while I fucked you with my fingers in my car when I jerk off."

"You can't talk like that", you whispered.

"Why not, princess?", he smiled, feigning innocence.

"You know why…"

"Oh… because it makes your little pussy throb, doesn't it?"

"Niji… I've never done that…"

"But do you want to do it?", he asked softly, his thumb trailing down your bottom lip, "I can teach you."

You just kissed him, climbing into his lap, your hands running through his dark hair, your tongue and his tangling together. Something inside you heated up when you heard him say he would teach you.

You shouldn't have hidden the truth for so long, but you were so ashamed, even more so with so many people talking everywhere that they were basically two rabbits in heat. Nijiro always laughed politely, but never reinforced when his friends made these jokes or denied it, saying they didn't have sex, he didn't want to pressure you.

Nijiro took your pajama top off, throwing it on the bed, seeing the cute simple black bra you wore. He sighed, he loved your breasts, he always told you that when you wore cleavage or bikinis, but he had never seen your breasts, only touched them.

His fingers trailed down to your breasts as he removed your bra. You sighed, watched him take a deep breath and put his face between your breasts and pressed them against his face, distributing kisses along one of them until he reached your nipple, giving a little kiss raising your eyes to yours.

"You're so hot", whispered the brunette grabbing your breast, his tongue sliding over the delicate nipple.

Your body arched against his lips, "Nijiro", you whispered, your fingers stroking his hair as he licked and sucked your nipples, paying due attention to both, alternating when he felt it was necessary, "Fuck", you whispered, rubbing your hips against his.

When you had masturbated him at that party, you were slightly drunk, so you didn't remember how big he was. You could feel it pulsing against your pussy, thick against the football shorts he was wearing, you loved seeing him in those shorts, just imagining the volume, your pussy was throbbing.

Nijiro stopped sucking your breasts only to kiss you, his tongue licking yours and his fingers pinching your nipples, "You're so pretty", he whispered.

"You are so pretty", you whispered back, making him smile as you took his shirt off, "Niji…?"

"Yes, my baby girl", he whispered.

"Can I…?", your hand touched the elastic of his shorts, wanting to indicate what you wanted to do.

"Of course, you can do whatever you want, kitten", Nijiro smiled and sighed when you got off him and took off his shorts, leaving him naked, making you raise an eyebrow because he was without his underwear, "I'm glad I I chose not to wear underwear today", he joked making you laugh.

"Dumbass", you said, laughing and shaking your head.

You finally paid attention to his cock, your eyes widened a little. His body was laid bare and relaxed against the headboard, the thick cock, resting on his belly, pulsing, slightly reddened, the bulging veins lining the entire length, the tip glistening softly with a bit of precum.

You took the cock and sighed when you felt it hard in your hand, the sigh he gave made you tremble, "I don't know what to do…", you commented, being honest, "I've never done that…"

"Done what?", he asked, wanting to tease.

Your little eyes widened and your cheeks heated up, "You know…"

"Kawaii", he whispered, "I don't know", he smiled, "Tell me…", he whispered, his eyes dark, "What have you never done?"

"I never gave a blowjob…", you said very softly, despite the embarrassment, you felt so excited to hear him talk like that, he never talked to you like that, it was so good.

"Oh…", he nodded, "I got it, baby girl", and smiled, "Want me to teach you?"

"Please, Niji."

Nijiro took your hand and brought your index finger close to his mouth, "It's quite simple… you have to be careful with your teeth, okay?", you nodded paying all the attention in the world to him, "You can start licking", and his tongue slid along the base of your finger, "The tip is very delicate so you can give it a lot of attention too", he looked into your eyes as you watched his lips sucking the tip of your finger and rolling his tongue around it, your breath was almost hitched, "Since you've never done something like this, be careful when you suck, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay", you replied automatically.

"And you don't have to be afraid of saliva, make it all wet", he explained, opening his lips and sucking your finger, being gentle, his tongue wrapped around it, rubbing against the skin.

"Can I try?"

"You can do anything you want, my pretty little kitten", you breathed and leaned towards him, your legs folded over the mattress, "Oh, fuck", whispered the brunette.

With the position you were in, he could see your ass in the small mirror he had in the corner of the dresser under the TV, he even adjusted your hips before letting you get to work so he could see better. Your pajama shorts were tight against the skin of your ass, marking perfectly.

His eyes closed as you took hold of his cock and licked up and down, spit sliding across the skin. First, you paid attention to the tip, sucking and licking, salty pre-cum slicking your tongue. With one hand, you began to move up and down the length of the cock while your mouth followed.

"Fuck", he purred, stroking your hair.

His moans were so sweet, soft little whimpers, his hands stroked your hair, his toes curled whenever you paid attention to his balls, especially when you used your index finger and thumb to massage the tip of his cock.

You couldn't go as deep as you wanted, your jaw hurted too much, you stopped sucking him and lifted your head to talk to him, one of your hands stroking his balls the other masturbating him. Poor Nijiro looked lost.

"How do I swallow everything?", you asked softly.

"You have to practice", said the brunette smiling, "and luckily, I'm here to be your little practice toy… anytime, anywhere, just tell me you want to practice and I'll drop my pants", he joked. him making you laugh, relaxing you, he didn't want you to be nervous about your first time so he wanted to make you laugh.

"Fine, I'll keep that in mind."

"Fine", Nijiro smiled and ran his thumb across your cheek, "Now, lie down on the bed."

You nodded and complied, your head lying back against the pillows. Your shorts were removed and he took a moment to look down at your panties, the black cloth glistening with your pleasure.

"Fucking shit", he cursed, his thumb digging into your pussy though the panties, "You're all wet… look at that… all excited from blowing me."

"Don't talk like that, Nijiro", you asked, "You make me feel ashamed."

The brunette laughed, "Are you ashamed of being hot now?", and clicked his tongue three times, shaking his head, "What nonsense."

Your panties were removed and he looked at you completely naked on his bed. He slid his tongue across your pussy, earning a startled little whimper from you as he purred from the pleasure he was having from licking you.

"You taste so good", he whispered, licking once more as he lay on top of you, "Taste it", and kissed you, the taste of you being shared between them. You didn't think you could get any wetter, but Nijiro was trying hard.

And that's when you first felt what it was like to be eaten out. Nijiro hugged your thigh with one arm, hand in hand with you, his other hand caressing the inside of your thigh as he licked and sucked your clit, his tongue moving up and down.

"Nijiro", you moaned, your back arching when you felt a finger slowly penetrating you.

His eyes crossed yours, low and dark, his mouth and finger never stopped, you moaned louder when another finger joined the first and after a little while, another was inserted.

Your free hand was in his hair, stroking and holding it, pushing it out of the way as he made a mess of it. It didn't take long for you to cum, calling for your boyfriend, begging him to give you more of that pleasure.

He leaned over to the bedside table and grabbed a condom from the drawer, "No", you whispered, "you don't have to."

"No?", he repeated.

You shook your head, "No, I need to feel you inside me…"

Nijiro nodded, letting the condom fall back into the drawer and got back on top of you, kissing you as your hand guided your cock inside her.

His movement was slow, very carefully he penetrated your pussy, staying still from time to time so you could get used to it until he was all inside. Once he was all the way inside you, he stood there just kissing you and kissing and sucking on your neck.

"Nijiro", you whimpered, "please, move… I can't take it anymore."

"Of course, my princess."

Nijiro kissed you and began to move, his hips first thrusting calmly, being gentle, however, as your moans became more desperate, the faster he began to thrust.

You held his shoulders, scratching gently, as he tightened the sheets as he kissed you, his hips working nonstop.

"So tight", whispered Nijiro, biting your bottom lip, "You're only mine…"

"Only yours, Niji", you agreed.

It didn't take long for both of them to be cumming. Your eyes rolled back as the orgasm pressed into your belly before you finally came on his cock. Nijiro came right after, his cum filling you, making you purr.

"I love you", whispered Nijiro, smiling.

"And I love you too", you whispered back, being kissed with all your love.

"Do you want a little water and something to eat?", he asked, softly.

"Please", you agreed.

"Wait for a bit, I'll get something for us to eat."

Nijiro got back twenty minutes later, still naked, with a tray filled with food, there were two bananas and a half papaya, a glass of orange juice and a glass of water, a little plat had waffles freshly made with honey, strawberries and whipped cream, and a little grilled cheese for them to split, and also silverware for them to eat.

He was so caring.

"You didn't have to do this much", you said.

"Yeah, I did."

"I'm sorry for not talking to you earlier."

"I'm just happy you've told me", he smiled and sat down, putting the tray on top of your legs, "Now let's eat."

"Okay", you agreed, softly, both of you eating together, starting the movie once again because you both stopped paying attention ten minutes after it had started.

…

tags: @klouise12345 @tofunabia @chishiyasdarling @smiley-roos @crybabyyzey222 @sistine124 @kaeuromii @scaramouchestiddies @conny1111 @julie03 @celery-o @ocean-minho

please reblog and leave a like if you enjoyed it! and leave a comment with your thoughts, i would love to know!

see ya next time.

(´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

♡masterlist♡

[thehobbitchronicles]

You should date a girl who reads.

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

if you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

— Rosemarie Urquico

[librarycomic]

It's hard to find "graphic novels" full of short stories to recommend to adults, but here are two I loved.

Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 1 by Haruki Murakami, adapted by Jean-Christophe Deveney, illustrations by PMGL. Tuttle, 2023. 9784805317648. 144pp. https://www.powells.com/book/-9784805317648?partnerid=34778&p_bt

Contains adaptations of "Super Frog Saves Tokyo,""Where I'm Likely to Find It," "Birthday Girl," and "The Seventh Man."

Though I once read every one of Murakami's short story collections, it's been a while since I've read one, and I don't specifically remember any of these. But the adaptations capture the strangeness of some I remember and the drifty, specific vibe I associate with others. I admired PMGL's art and particuarly the way the coloring and style varied from story to story, plus Deveney's adaptations are solid.

I'll be picking up the forthcoming second collection of Murakami's stories from Tuttle because I loved this on, and also because it contains one of my favorite short stories, "The Second Bakery Attack."

Werewolf at Dusk and other stories by David Small. Liveright, 2024. 9781324092827. 192pp. https://www.powells.com/book/-9781324092827?partnerid=34778&p_bt

Contains adaptations of "Werewolf at Dusk" story Lincoln Michel and "The Tiger in Vogue" story by Jean Ferry, as well as a story by David Small, "A Walk in the Old City."

Small's art is exact and beautiful, and somehow he manages to make it feel immediate, as if the pages are full of wonderous, quick sketches. My favorite thing about this collection is the way Small balances words and images to tell the stories, plus I also love how he draws objects and people in the distance. When you pick up this book, I think you'll be wowed by the way he uses red in the first and last stories.

[himitsusentaiblog]

HIDEAKI ANNO'S EARLIER LIVE-ACTION WORK

Anno is the current darling of the Tokusatsu world with his amazing Shin Japan Heroes Universe films and especially with the debut yesterday of the American premiere of Shin Kamen Rider. He is, of course, best known as an anime director and the creator of the seminal 90s series Neon Genesis Evangelion.

However, his first two forays into Live Action filmmaking were definitely different. Back in the late 90s, after 'finishing' Evangelion (Ha ha ha ha), Anno directed an anime romance series called Kareshi Kanojou no Jijyo (Kare Kano) which was a departure from his usual science fiction oriented shows. I was part of a fansub group at the time and was buying the laserdiscs for this series and I rather enjoyed it. The theme song is a total banger.

After finishing that project, Anno moved on to some live action films, his first being an experimental, shot entirely on digital, art film about the phenomenon of compensated dating called Love & Pop.

Compensated dating is/was the practice of older men paying high school girls to spend time with them and was basically a form of sex work that was questionable at best and downright illegal at worst. Anno was fascinated by a book about the subject called Topaz II by Ryū Murakami and adapted it to the screen with co-writer Akio Satsukawa.

In 2000, Anno made his second major Live Action film Shiki-Jitsu.

This was a highly personal film starring Ayako Fujitani and was about a disillusioned filmmaker who meets a young woman who continually repeats "tomorrow is my birthday". He tried to communicate with her through the movies he makes on a video camera. Anno met Fujitani (who is the daughter of colossal asshole actor Steven Seagal) while hanging out with Shinji Higuchi on the set of the the 90s Gamera films and thought she would be perfect for this role. After this, Anno directed the 2004 adaptation of Cutie Honey and the rest is history.

I thought it would be fun to take a peek at his lesser known films while he is in the eye of the tokusatsu public. Hope you learned something. These films are not super easy to find, unfortunately.

[ncrdyboyz]

( layout ib : @/stcpidcupid )

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . MEET THE MEMBERS OF VARSITY !

Are you a new Smartie who wants to learn the VARSITY members? Are you trying to pick a bias? Well, you're in luck! Here is where you can learn about our wild and rebellious boys!

( tw. mentions of helicopter parents (?), religion, + disowning )

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . RATSAMI DEVAKUL, known professionally as JACE, was born as an only child on March 22nd, 1998. Born to an uber religious family, he was expected to grow up in the ways of God, get a normal, steady job, get married to a nice girl within his religion, and have two children and live next to his parents. However, his dream to become an idol interfered with his expectations, and his parents were not happy to hear of his dreams. They continuously set him up with girls from their church and sent their servants to follow him wherever he went. 

In 2010, when Jace was twelve years old, he ran away from home and was found by a couple of American tourists at the airport. They took pity on him, and decided to stay in Thailand for another week to help him find his parents. However, when they did find them, they refused to acknowledge Jace as their son and disowned him. Taking the chance to leave his old life behind, he decided to go to the United States with the couple, who adopted him and he was renamed as Jace Montgomery. He lived in Connecticut for six years.

In 2016, he auditioned and was accepted into STARBORN CREATIVE, where he trained for a year before debuting in VARSITY.

STAGE NAME › Jace

FULL NAME › Ratsami Devakul 

ENGLISH NAME › Jace Montgomery

BIRTHDAY › March 22nd, 1998

BIRTHPLACE › Phuket, Thailand

NATIONALITY › Thai-American

ETHNICITY › Thai

TRAINING PERIOD › One year

POSITION › Lead Rapper

FACE CLAIM › Opp Weerapong (THE7) 

( tw. mentions of running away )

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . HIROI KAZUYA, known professionally as KAZ, was born as the oldest of three siblings on July 27th, 1998. Growing up, he helped his parents run their small restaurant, but was always getting into fights at school, skipping class, and overall being a so-called 'problem child' at school. He developed a love for dance during his middle school years, and joined a dance crew called BLUE RYUU when he started high school. In 2016, a month before he was to graduate, he ran away with a group of his friends and crewmates to South Korea. There, they all shared an apartment together as they looked for jobs, and Kazuya ended up auditioning for STARBORN CREATIVE. Once he passed the audition, he trained there for one year before debuting in VARSITY.

STAGE NAME › Kaz

FULL NAME › Hiroi Kazuya

BIRTHDAY › June 11th, 1998 

BIRTHPLACE › Sapporo, Japan

NATIONALITY › Japanese

ETHNICITY › Japanese

TRAINING PERIOD › One year

POSITION › Main Dancer, Vocalist

FACE CLAIM › Nijiro Murakami (actor) 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . KIM SIEUN, known professionally as LEVI, was born on June 11th, 1998. As the youngest of three siblings, he grew up surrounded by his older brother and sister boxing and dancing, and aspired to join them. He took up both dance and boxing at the age of seven, soon becoming the youngest member of his father's gym to become a boxing champion and the best student of his class at his dance school. This caught the attention of STARBORN CREATIVE, and in 2016, he auditioned for the company. He trained for one year before debuting in VARSITY.

STAGE NAME › Levi

FULL NAME › Kim Sieun

BIRTHDAY › July 27th, 1998

BIRTHPLACE › Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

NATIONALITY › Korean

ETHNICITY › Korean

TRAINING PERIOD › One year

POSITION › Main Dancer, Lead Vocalist, Visual

FACE CLAIM › Choi Yeonjun (TXT) 

( tw. mentions of death due to childbirth, sexual abuse, + running away ) 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . YOSHIKAWA KENJI, known professionally as KENJI, was born to a young couple on January 22nd, 1999. His mother died giving birth to him, and his paternal grandparents wanted nothing to do with him or his father, so he was raised by his maternal grandparents and schoolteacher uncle while his father went out to work as a metalsmith. As he was growing up, from the age of six, Kenji had been mistreated by his uncle, who sexually abused him. As soon as he turned sixteen, he moved into the school's dorms, where he lived for almost a year until he ran away with a group of his friends to South Korea in 2016 a month shy of his graduation. There, they all shared an apartment together as they looked for jobs, and Kenji ended up auditioning for STARBORN CREATIVE. Once he passed the audition, he trained there for one year before debuting in VARSITY. 

STAGE NAME › Kenji

FULL NAME › Yoshikawa Kenji 

BIRTHDAY › January 22nd, 1999

BIRTHPLACE › Sapporo, Japan 

NATIONALITY › Japanese 

ETHNICITY › Japanese 

TRAINING PERIOD › One year

POSITION › Main Vocalist, Face of the Group  

FACE CLAIM › Kono Junki (JO1) 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . SILAS KIM, known professionally as SILAS, was born as the oldest of two brothers on March 26th, 1999. Born to a well-known mechanic father, Silas and his younger brother had been surrounded by racing cars and their famous drivers since they were children. Both boys were interested in the racing world, and both were taught the arts of mechanics and racing. However, in 2014, Silas wanted to become an idol after seeing EXO perform one day as he was visiting family in Korea for the summer. A year later, his family permanently moved back to South Korea and both Silas and his brother auditioned for JYP Entertainment and STARBORN CREATIVE. They were both accepted into STARBORN CREATIVE, and in 2017 Silas debuted in VARSITY. 

STAGE NAME › Silas 

FULL NAME › Silas Kim 

KOREAN NAME › Kim Dowon 

BIRTHDAY › March 26th, 1999 

BIRTHPLACE › San Francisco, California, USA 

NATIONALITY › Korean-American 

ETHNICITY › Korean 

TRAINING PERIOD › Two years 

POSITION › Lead Rapper, Sub Vocalist 

FACE CLAIM › Yoo Yongha (WEi) 

( tw. mentions of divorce ) 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . DIAZ MONTOYA-HWANG, known professionally as DIAZ, was born as the oldest of two brothers on October 8th, 1999. When he was three years old and his brother was a newborn, his parents divorced and his mother won full custody of the brothers, moving to Cancún, Mexico, where she remarried to a Mexican schoolteacher in late 2001. As he grew up, Diaz developed a talent for songwriting and rapping, his mother having been a retired songwriter. He and his childhood friend Reyna ended up traveling together to City of Mexico in 2014 to see Kpop group SHINee perform, inspiring them to become idols. In 2015, Diaz and his family traveled to South Korea to allow the brothers to audition for STARBORN CREATIVE, where he trained for two years before debuting in VARSITY.

STAGE NAME › Diaz

FULL NAME › Diaz Montoya-Hwang

KOREAN NAME › Hwang Handuri

BIRTHDAY › October 8th, 1999

BIRTHPLACE › Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico

NATIONALITY › Korean-Mexican

ETHNICITY › Korean

TRAINING PERIOD › Two years

POSITION › Leader, Main Rapper, Visual

FACE CLAIM › Park Serim (CRAVITY)

( tw. mentions of a car accident, death, + bullying ) 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . JEON HYUNSU, known professionally as HYUNSU, was born as the oldest of three siblings on December 19th, 1999. His parents were a loving, happy couple who worked regular jobs as a florist and taxi driver. When Hyunsu was eight years old, his mother died in a car accident, when a drunk driver lost control of his car and ran into his mother's flower shop, killing her and two of her customers. After her death, things went downhill for the siblings; instead of being understood and helped in school, they were bullied by their peers for being motherless, and the teachers did nothing to help. To escape the bullying, Hyunsu and his sister would hide in the music room, which inspired him to become an idol. In 2016, Hyunsu auditioned for STARBORN CREATIVE, where he was accepted and trained there for a year before debuting in VARISTY.

STAGE NAME › Hyunsu

FULL NAME › Jeon Hyunsu

BIRTHDAY › December 19th, 1999

BIRTHPLACE › Incheon, South Korea

NATIONALITY › Korean

ETHNICITY › Korean

TRAINING PERIOD › One year

POSITION › Lead Vocalist

FACE CLAIM › Kang Seokhwa (WEi)

( tw. mentions of neglect (?) ) 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . FABIAN MOON, known professionally as FABIAN, was born as the second oldest of five children on November 16th, 2000. As he was growing up, he was pushed aside in favor of his other siblings, leaving him to learn to fend for himself around the house. He spent more time avoiding his house, moving into his high school's dorms and becoming involved in more after school activities, including his school's choir. In 2017, as soon as he graduated, he moved in with his aunt, who took him to live in South Korea a few months later. He auditioned for STARBORN CREATIVE and Fantagio Entertainment, only being accepted into STARBORN. He trained for a year before being added to VARSITY in 2019.

STAGE NAME › Fabian

FULL NAME › Fabian Moon

KOREAN NAME › Moon Hwiyoung

BIRTHDAY › November 16th, 2000

BIRTHPLACE › Stanford, New York, USA

NATIONALITY › Korean-American

ETHNICITY › Korean

TRAINING PERIOD › One year

POSITION › Vocalist

FACE CLAIM › Jung Wookjin / Nine (OnlyOneOf)

( tw. mentions of a car accident, death, + bullying, implied grooming ) 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . JEON JISU, known professionally as JISU, was born to a loving couple on November 20th, 2001. As the youngest of three siblings, he was babied a lot by his parents and older brother and sister. When Jisu was six years old, his mother died in a car accident, when a drunk driver lost control of his car and ran into his mother's flower shop, killing her and two of her customers. After her death, things went downhill for the siblings; instead of being understood and helped in school, they were bullied by their peers for being motherless, and the teachers did nothing to help. To escape the bullying, Jisu would hide in the art room, where he met the dance teacher who had been modeling for his art class. He soon entered an inappropriate relationship with her, where she took him to STARBORN CREATIVE in 2019, where he was accepted and trained there for two years before his addition to VARISTY in 2021.

STAGE NAME › Jisu

FULL NAME › Jeon Jisu

BIRTHDAY › November 20th, 2001

BIRTHPLACE › Incheon, South Korea

NATIONALITY › Korean

ETHNICITY › Korean

TRAINING PERIOD › Two years

POSITION › Main Dancer, Vocalist

FACE CLAIM › Song Hyeongjun (CRAVITY)

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ꒰ ७.*´. ꒱ . . . HWANG MINSU, known professionally as HARU, was born on December 4th, 2001, to a teacher and a social worker. Growing up, he was always surrounded by kids who didn't have a proper home, and he would help his parents as much as he could to make the kids feel safer and be more open. This originally inspired him to be a teacher like his father, but later decided to become an idol when his friends dragged him to see a dance crew busking on the streets in 2014. Since seeing the crew, he changed paths and decided to become an idol. In 2018, he auditioned for STARBORN CREATIVE and was accepted, training for three years before being added to VARSITY in 2021.

STAGE NAME › Haru

FULL NAME › Hwang Minsu

BIRTHDAY › December 4th, 2001

BIRTHPLACE › Jeongeup-si, North Jeolla, South Korea

NATIONALITY › Korean

ETHNICITY › Korean

TRAINING PERIOD › Three years

POSITION › Maknae, Lead Dancer, Lead Vocalist, Center

FACE CLAIM › Jang Dongil / D1 (DKB)

[magicmorningmeteora]

Who is your birthday oshi? ~Week of June 4~

It's time.

Full birthdays & anniversaries list under the cut.

Birthdays and Anniversaries ~Week of June 4~

The following members, ex-members, and single releases have birthdays and anniversaries this week.

June 4

Nakanishi Kana (ex-S/mileage→ANGERME; 26)

Matsuura Aya - GOOD BYE Natsuo (2003)

Berryz Koubou - Ai no Dangan (2011)

Berryz Koubou - Ai wa Itsumo Kimi no Naka ni / Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Desho!? (2014)

June 5

Furukawa Konatsu (ex-Up Up Girls (Kakko Kari); 31)

Goto Hana (Hello Pro Kenshuusei ANGERME; 15)

Heike Michiyo - Murasaki Shikibu (2002)

Juice=Juice - "Hitori de Ikiraresou" tte Sore tte Nee, Homete Iru no? / 25sai Eien Setsu (2019)

June 6

Murakami Megumi (ex-C-ute; 31)

June 7

Nishida Shiori (BEYOOOOONDS; 20)

Goto Maki - Glass no Pumps (2006)

S/mileage - aMa no Jaku (2009)

June 8

Saho Akari (ex-Up Up Girls (Kakko Kari); 28)

Berryz Koubou - Nanchuu Koi wo Yatteruu YOU KNOW? (2005)

Hello Pro Kenshuusei feat. Juice=Juice - Ten Made Nobore! (2013)

Morning Musume '22 - Chu Chu Chu Bokura no Mirai / Dai・Jinsei Never Been Better! (2022)

June 9

Nakazawa Yuko - Junjou Koushinkyoku (1999)

Melon Kinenbi - Namida no Taiyou (2004)

Morning Musume - Seishun Collection (2010)

June 10

Melon Kinenbi - Onegai Miwaku no Target / Crazy Happy! (2006)

Happy birthday/anniversary week!

[jpf-sydney]

Haruki Murakami Manga Stories

Book review:

• A graphical, manga-esque treatment for Haruki Murakami. Four of his short stories are retold by comic book artist PMGL in his abstract, highly stylised manner. The selected tales offer a variety in terms of plot, characters and also the degree of deviation into Murakami's favoured domain of urban supernatural surrealism.

You would think that making a manga adaptation of arguably the best internationally-known Japanese author of today is a winning move. More so considering that Haruki Murakami's trademark magical distortion of everyday life seems exceptionally suitable material. Such anticipation will probably meet with mixed satisfaction.

Though titled "Manga Stories", the artwork of PMGL (Pierre-Marie Grille-Liou) is atypical of any style of any mainstream manga. It's faintly reminiscent of parts of Frank Miller's divisive DKR sequel, DK2 (2001). Not that unconventional or high art approaches can't work as Hirohiko Araki's ever popular and growing JoJo series exemplifies.

This volume itself is the first of a series with the second volume newly out and a third in progress. They appear to be the colourised and translated versions of the "9 Stories" series that was only released in Japan. The adaptations are faithful to their source texts which have all been translated and previously published in some form. The selected stories exhibit deliberate sampling from across the Murakami spectrum of weirdness. The opening tale is full blown fantastic and the most action oriented. The others are interesting blends that subtly mix drama, tragedy and self growth.

Shelf: 913.6 MUR Haruki Murakami manga stories. by Haruki Murakami ; adapted by Jean-Christophe Deveney ; illustrated by PMGL ; original onomatopoeia by Misato Morita.

Rutland, Vt. ; Tokyo : Tuttle Publishing, 2023. ISBN: 9784805317648 (hardcover)

142 pages : chiefly illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 27 cm.

Table of contents:

Super-frog saves Tokyo

Where I'm likely to find it

Birthday girl

The seventh man.

[chupenguin]

Chuuya Nakahara is back

(since I don't know when or if it'll be complete one day at all the figure skatar Chuuya fic, have the prologue that is the only part i finished for real)

Spring is arriving late this year, there is no sing of the cold wind of the previous months going away anytime soon and, inside the venue, cold sink to his bones, making him shiver. For someone born during spring, having his birthday approaching with bad weather always has looked like a bad omen. 

He sits there, one leg crossed over the other, hands resting over them. Calm and collected, eyes fixed in the ice, sharp as ever.  

There's a flash, the click of a camera next to his face, but he ignores it. He blinks a few times, so the whiteness disappears, and his vision focus again.  

Chuuya sits there, wrapped in his black leather jacket, with his brother by his side.  

They sit in the front row center at the Sud de France Arena. In the sidelines, coaches take jackets from the skaters and offer water bottles sprinkled with last advice. Young girls in pink dresses wait for their time to take the ice, once flowers fill the surface of the rink, they'll take it, dreaming of one day where they would be the stars.  

The last of the five group of skaters take the ice. Murakami first, followed by Kitakata and Ibuse. Contesti and Gauthier, the only Europeans in the last group, wave as they glide across the ice. Jin-Seo, from Korea, closes the group. Even if the skaters from the last group made almost clean programs, this is the moment of truth.   

This last group will determine the winner.  

Chuuya and his brother watch, in a venue filled to the rim for the first time in years, as the skaters start their warmup. In thirty minutes, a new world champion is going to be crowned.   

(more under the cut)

Verlaine's hair looks almost white under the lights, maybe it is, the last three years have been nothing but cruel to him.  

"They're watching," he says. French rolls easy on his tongue. Even after two decades, there's no trace of Japanese in his accent when he speaks. "Vultures."  

"They always do."  

The click of the camera doesn't distract him from the ice, from the six skaters using every second of the warmup. The Italian kid, because he’s not even a man jet, is jumping out of his axe. He doesn't fall, he doesn't stumble, but it feels so wrong in Chuuya's eyes.  

His hands tighten against the fabric of his pants, his legs crave to get down there, to teach all these kids how it's done. If the Korean skaters wins here, he’ll tie his lifetime record of three world titles in a row.  

The cold air burns his nose when he takes a deep breath, and it feels like home. The razor shape pain of jealousy fills his lungs and Chuuya eyes narrow when the first kid takes his starting position.  

The gold medal is within this six. But he only cares about the one who is been trying less than a point apart from his record four times already. The man who can make two of his records in this sport disappear like it’s nothing.  

“They’re trying to catch you angry. They want to see you rooting against him,” Verlaine is more collected that Chuuya thought he could be in this situation. “What did I always tell you?”  

“Don’t let it show in your face,” since he was a kid, Chuuya always wore emotions in his sleeve, in his face. And that wasn’t good once you stepped out of the rink. He was asked to be royal once he was seated in the Kiss & Cry or in the green room, especially in the green room. 

In the ice, representing Italy, Marco Contesti, the announcer says.  

Contesi is 6th after the short. He needs 123,2 need to take the lead. Good skater, nice jumps, but he gets nervous the moment he makes a mistake.  

"Want to share anything with the classroom?"  

When Verlaine speaks, his lips barely move. He doesn’t tear his eyes apart from the ice, not letting anyone know what is happening in their seats. In a few hours, they will appear in magazines and blogs, under the news about the just crowned champion.  

“He always messes his second jump in the free if he had a clean short.”  

The quad loop is his worst jump, the one Contesi fails two of each three times. Having a clean loop in the short, means that right now, the jump is the only thing in his head, and that overthinking is going to be his demise.   

Skaters are, after all, creature of habits. Once something is engraved in you, dropping it is almost impossible.   

Chuuya squares his shoulders before a jump, and he always turn to fall on his left hip.  

Verlaine used to prerotate all his flips, even if it was so subtle that only Chuuya and himself knew.  

“Maybe Kitakata can stop him, he has a good free. If he skates clean, he’ll already be 3 points over Jin-Seo with the segment score only.”  

"Kitakata has a cursed song and a stiff presentation, everyone knows it. Nothing good comes of skating to La, La, Land soundtrack.”  

It started as a joke, between both fans and skaters, but each year it proves to be real. Chuuya only saw two skaters finish a clean skate with that music.   

And in top of that, he is from Kagawa, of course the federation hasn’t even blinked in his direction to help him improve the messiest parts of his programs. Why would they do it, when they can focus in their new brilliant Tokyo stars?  

“He's bending his knee to much he'll-”  

The takeoff is clean, but not high enough, so he falls.  

In the second jump, Verlaine almost smiles.  

“You haven’t lost it.”  

“I don’t know what you mean.”  

The kid leaves the ice, waving and bowing to the judging panel. To the public. The smile on his face is fake and forced, the one you offer after a mediocre presentation.  

“Every skater has a weak spot, a flaw” Verlaine says. “And you’ve always been fantastic at seeing them.”  

“Right,” it’s in his veins, in is blood. It's in every single cell of his body. He has spent more years in the ice than out of it. Observing program after program across the world, both in person and trough a screen. He as attended to camps and seminars. He has imparted them. If a part of his body is more trained than his legs, is his eyes.  

“So, what’s Jin-Seo?”  

There's an answer in the tip of his tongue, but he can’t say it out loud.  

“I can feel you staring Paul,” even if he hasn’t stopped looking at the rink. “Jin-Seo relies too much on quads,” not like that’s a big flaw. Chuuya used to do that too. If you have a jump, why not use it?   

“But he does them so often that his triples are unpolished.”  

“Lots of power, but he's slow, he needs too many crossovers to jump. He’s fast on his spins and in the air, but for the preparation, he’s not quite quick as Contesi or Tetcho.”  

“Or you,” his brother says. “There’s nobody on the circuit right now who is as fast as you were. Not just with your feet, but with your head, too.”  

Because he was one in a million.  

Because he had been training two hours a day when he was just six.   

Because he was born to step in that podium, one time and other and other.   

“I’d have to face a bunch of kids with powerful quads and ten years younger, though,” he tells Verlaine. “Maintain the speed and my jumps.”  

“That won’t be easy.”  

“Not at my age,” Verlaine scoff at that. At twenty-eight, Chuuya is past the age of skating. In this sport, most people retire young and broken, and Chuuya is just one of those things. “I don’t have the jumps I used to have.”  

Another skater takes and leaves the ice, boring program, the millionth guy in a plain purple shirt, skating to Prince.   

“That’s truth,” Verlaine reaches for his bottle, taking a sip. “And you’re out of shape, you’ll need to go back to your previous regimen.”  

He’s not that out of shape.   

He still trains, he still goes out for his morning run. But he doesn’t spend five hours in the rink each day, burning until his legs can’t take it anymore.  

“If I did it...” he says, the answer he had a few minutes ago burns in his tongue.  

Jin-Seo takes the ice. Four minutes and it’ll be over. He'll tie his record.  

Or two of them.  

A migraine starts to grow as he visualizes it. He's stuck in this chair, watching as a kid takes everything he ever earned from his hands.   

He wants to scream. He could be his weak spot.  

His flaw.  

Facing him, the face of facing a living legend would be their demise.   

“Who’s going to coach me? You?”  

Because, if Chuuya at least steps in the rink each day for job, this is Verlaine’s first time facing the ice in three years.  

“That’s on you Chuuya,” because he wouldn’t blame his brother if he wanted to take this road alone after everything that happened.  

“Fuck,” Jin-Seo's only messy jump, the triple axel, is flawless. Around them everyone leans forward. Everyone waits for a perfect program, for a record to be smashed.  

Chuuya looks at the screen, this looks bad for him.  

The boxes are green, the TES keep getting higher.  

His stomach sinks, he feels sick.  

So Chuuya squares his shoulders and, without looking at him, Verlaine gets his answer.  

“Are you sure?”   

No.  

Absolutely not.  

“I’m not at my best.”  

“Neither I am.”  

Does people even remember him? Do reporters even care about him from something apart from gossip?  

“You’ll coach a ghost.”  

“I’ll coach the best figure skater the world has known,” Verlaine’s hand rest in his leg.  

Even after all those years, affection doesn’t come easy to them.   

In the ice, after one last jump, all Jin-Seo's boxes are green.  

“You’ll really do it?”   

“It can ruin everything,” he whispers. “Prove that I run away, that I was scared... I’ll lose my name and my legacy.”   

“This is not everything Chuuya,” his hand squeezes his leg, and Chuuya feels tears prickling his eyes. Oh, he knows. God, he knows that world doesn’t end once he takes off his skates, he learned it the hard way.  

He feels so cruel, because for a moment, the thought of telling him that he’s wrong crosses his mind.  

“You’ll have to work me to the bone.”  

“It would an honor,” he jokes. Like he had ever done anything but working his brother to the bone, squeeze all the talent he had out of him. “To coach you again, it’ll make me so happy.”  

Jin-Seo sits in the Kiss & Cry.  

His coach, an old Korean figure skater, puts a jacket over his shoulders.  

The glint on his eyes tells Chuuya everything.  

The way he punched the ice is enough.  

“I guess I’m coming out of retirement,” he says, and Verlaine’s hand squeezes his leg a little tighter when the numbers show in the screen.  

Jin-Seo jumps, hands in the air, he just crowned himself world champion for the third time.  

“Let’s see how long that last.” 

Nakahara surprises the world one last time  

Nakahara Chuuya (23) takes the gold in Saitama, his third world title in a row stabilizes a new record since the federation statutes changes. But the record is not what everyone is talking about. After a challenging event, where he struggled to take the lead, Nakahara announced his retirement from competition skating without any previous statements about it. For now, he has not announced any press conference, and all his social media has been deactivated. Both fans and teammates ask what the reason behind this is. An injury? The pressure of the new generation of skaters? For now, we don’t have any answer, but will the ice prince become a coward prince? We'll see it.  

Amanda Campbell, Golden Rink. March 2019, issue 345.  

[chororine]

The Who's Who of Hipipo

("Open Image In New Tab" highly recommended!)

one of my favourite scenes in "Osomatsu-san: The Hipipo Tribe and the Glistening Fruit" was the climactic chase featuring cameos from many reoccuring and one-off characters (some of whom also appeared in the film's opening) from all three seasons of the anime - some well-known among fans of the franchise, others not so much.

in an attempt to fill in those "not so much" gaps, I proudly present a project I've been looking forward to posting for three months: a visual guide to the name and origin of every character who cameos in the climax and/or opening. see the list in text form under the cut!

Nanmaiders (season 3 episode 16: "Nanmaider Attacks")

Potato Kingdom citizens (season 3 episode 17: "Imoni")

Tatsunami/"Tacchan" (season 3 episode 23: "Friend")

Satozaki (season 3 episode 5: "Well, Yeah...")

Drunk couple (season 3 episode 2: "Let's Be Quiet At Night")

Sanematsu/Sanecop and Kaoruko (season 1 episode 13: "Sanematsu-san", season 2 episode 14: "Sanematsu-san Episode 9" and season 3 episode 16: "Sanecop")

Jyushi-senpai (season 3 episode 3: "Magical Angel Magi Lunatic Icchi")

Kouji Murakami (season 3 episode 1)

Shonosuke Hijirisawa (season 1 episode 2: "Aesop's Fables That Are Actually Terrifying" and others)

The New Sextuplets (season 3 episode 1)

Dobuko Busujima/"Dobusu"/"ugly flower fairy" (season 1 episode 15: "The Life of Chibita's Flower" and others)

Sukeroku (season 3 episode 12: "AI")

Tortoise and Hare (season episode 15: "Cosplaymatsu" ("Mister"))

The voice actors: Takahiro Sakurai, Yuichi Nakamura, Hiroshi Kamiya, Jun Fukuyama and Daisuke Ono (season 3 episode 1)

Miyu Irino (season 3 episode 24: "A-1 Grand Prix")

The director: Yoichi Fujita (season 3 episode 1)

Kumi and Miwa (season 2 episode 7: "Osomatsu and Todomatsu")

Sextuplets as "kill the cacao" demons (season 2 episode 19: "Valentine's Day")

Shoei (season 2 episode 3: "Totoko's Challenge")

Kinko Inuyama (season 2 episode 16: "The Cutie Next Door")

Devil Yeti (season 2 episode 17: "UMA Expedition Team")

Eitaro (season 2 episode 12: "The Eitaro Family")

Eitaro's mother (season 2 episode 12: "The Eitaro Family")

Michaelmatsu (season 2 episode 13: "Discharge Notice 2017: The Youngest Brother Who Got Fired")

Osoma (season 2 episode 17: "Inn")

Matsuzou as "Cherryzou" (season 2 episode 4: "Matsuzou and Matsuyo")

Sousou (season 2 episode 7: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms")

Giant oni/demon (season 2 episode 25: "Osomatsu-san in Hell")

Regular oni/demons (season 2 episode 25: "Osomatsu-san in Hell")

Chupacabra Deluxe (season 2 episode 15: "UMA Expedition Team"

F6 (season 1 episode 1: "Osomatsu-kun Returns" and others)

Super Mongolian Death Worm (season 2 episode 14: "UMA Expedition Team")

Chanto Shitaa/"Propershitter" (season 2 episode 1: "Osomatsu-san Returns")

Aida and Sacchi (season 1 episode 2: "The Melancholy of Osomatsu", season 1 episode 7: "Todomatsu and the Five Demons" and others)

Dayon girl/"Dayoko" (season 1 episode 23: "Dayon Tribe")

Black Factory supervisor (season 1 episode 2: "Let's Get A Job")

Sutabaa Coffee manager (season 1 episode 7: "Todomatsu and the Five Demons")

Dayon Tribe members (season 1 episode 23: "Dayon Tribe")

Totoko's parents (season 1 episode 4: "This Is Totoko" and others)

Flag Corporation employees (season 1 episode 6: "It's A Birthday Party, da jo")

Kamimatsu/Godmatsu (season 1 episode 21: "Kamimatsu")

Jiguzou (season 1 episode 3: "Tidbits Collection" ("OAW/OSO"))

"Christmas couple" (season 1 episode 11: "Black Santa" and season 2 episode 5: "Summer Kamen")

"Fheeeh" master (season 1 episode 22: "Final Sheeeh")

Shaorin (season 1 episode 22: "Final Sheeeh")

Atsushi (season 1 episode 22: "The Star of Hope, Todomatsu" and others)

Oil magnate (season 1 episode 24: "Totoko's Huge Panic")

Coachmatsu (season 1 episode 25: "Osomatsu-san, Such As It Was")

"Kanojo"/"Homura" (season 1 episode 9: "Jyushimatsu Falls In Love" and season 2 episode 8: "Jyushimatsu and the Dolphin")

Akumatsu/Evilmatsu (season 1 episode 21: "Kamimatsu")

President of France (season 1 episode 6: "Iyami Has Arrived")

Musashi Ironworks baseball team (season 1 episode 25: "Osomatsu-san, Such As It Was")

Fourth Galactic University Affiliated High School baseball team (season 1 episode 25: "Osomatsu-san, Such As It Was")

Oguri Overbite (season 1 episode 6: "Iyami Has Arrived")

Wanta (season 3 episode 19: "Dogs")

PHEW 💦