#Chinese zodiac is different on one

[rosereign]

I have found three different men with similar birth charts and they’re all connected to me in platonic ways God I love astrology

[mathmusicreading]

@yummysuika @ospreywhite I really appreciate your translation work; can you explain more about shichen timekeeping to me? Because I know a tiny bit of modern Mandarin Chinese, but I can't recognize the shichens as the zodiac animals:

Zi (I don't know "rat", so I actually can't make any argument here.)

Chou (I don't know "ox", but I reasonably could have expected "niu" for "cow".)

Yin (I know "tiger" as "hu".)

Mao (I don't know "rabbit", but to me "mao" is "cat".)

Chen (I know "dragon" as "long".)

Si (I don't know "snake", but now I find it interesting that it sounds like death, like snakes could be seen as evil in Chinese culture similar to how they are seen in the Christian world.)

Wu (I know "horse" as "ma".)

Wei (I know "sheep/goat" as "yang".)

Shen (I don't know "monkey", but I would have expected "Sun" or "Wu" or "Kong" because of "Monkey King".)

You (I know "rooster/chicken" as " ji".)

Xu (I know "dog" as "gou".)

Hai (I don't know "pig/boar" unless "pork" and "pig" are the same "siu".)

I tried asking my parents, but they just starting talking about how the Chinese zodiac is actually a 60-year cycle with the 12 animals and the 5 elements. So are these shichen names the "Pre-Han dynasty semi-descriptive terms"? Is it kind of like the difference between "midday" and "noon" in English? The former is a "descriptor", the latter is a "name", but they "mean" the same thing?

(I tried checking the etymology for "noon" on dictionary.com, so to be fair "ninth hour" is a descriptor, but in Modern English it's not really recognizable as such and so for the sake of my shichen question, I'm calling "noon" a "name".)

Or is this another language/dialect or due to the evolution of language (changing words and pronunciations)?

I was also looking up the Dragon Boat Festival being on the unluckiest day of the year, and it says, "The Chinese name of the festival is pronounced differently in different Chinese languages. Duanwu (端午) literally means 'starting horse'—i.e., the first "horse day" of the month according to the Chinese zodiac." so I was able to get the exact character for "wu". I think it's interesting that Wikipedia says "literally ... horse" but putting 午 into Google Translate yields "midday, noonday, seventh earthly branch, 11 a.m.-1 p.m." It's unfortunate that Wikipedia only says "different Chinese languages" for "Duanwu" instead of specifying them or time periods, but I appreciate it listing different romanizations by country for Cantonese.

Would you say there's any pattern to Chinese writers or English translators using the above terms vs. using "hour/time/head/body/tail of the (insert zodiac animal here)"? Like if one sounds better for a historical fantasy setting, or choosing to use the pinyin in English instead of translating to not be translating literally? ETA: I should have gotten onto a computer sooner. I asked my parents and then you guys because searching "shichen" in Wikipedia just resulted in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_units_of_measurement. But further digging took me to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_timekeeping. I'll probably get answers there (Maybe I'll even be able to explain to my dad why he was thinking of ten stems and not matching mathematically with "60 is from 12 times 5, not 10 times 6" when he was trying to lecture on the 60-year cycle for the Chinese zodiac, lol.), so my apologies for bothering you. I'd still appreciate your thoughts on what was formerly the last paragraph about writing and translation choices!

[zoe-oneesama]

I have notice that you are giving the kwamis different and more uniques personalities. How you imagened their unique emotions and how they react with the holders?

For sure, there are very few instances where the Zodiac Kwami get to show their individualism except for Sass or when they briefly interact with their new holders, so I really grabbed on to any little bit I could see and held tight.

Mullo - In the story of the Chinese Zodiac, the Rat rides the Ox and jumps off at the last minute in order to arrive first, so I thought it'd make sense for Mullo to be mischievous - also because Marinette uses it first for some cheeky misdirection. I got lucky that Mullo turned out to be a bit of a prankster when "Mega Leech" came out.

Stompp - As one of the Leftover 4, Stompp didn't get a lot of expression when they were shown in "PenalTeam", but I kinda ended up working with how calm they were. The way they addressed Chloe not knowing the kwamis names gave her a Disapproving Mother vibe, so I went with them being a nurturer. I picture them wanting to watch over their holder, particularly children ones, and watch them grow into full grown Oxes.

Roarr - So this one was easy cuz they've been very consistent in the show, and since the kwamis default to loud and bratty when they're in Mob Mode (ie, when all the kwamis act in sync instead of in line with their personalities), Roarr was simply a too rambunctious child. An extrovert to the extreme. Their name is very appropriate.

Fluff - This one is pretty established in canon, so I guess I'll just extend my headcanon. Fluff is easily confused and babbles a lot, and I think it's because they're being constantly bombarded with information from so many timelines. Existence is a prison and Fluff just comes across as dumb because all their brain power is overheating from a massive influx of information, so they have nothing else to offer in the Present.

Longg - "Ikari Gozen" makes them out to be a Long Winded Old Man/Woman (depending on the dub lol), but aside from them being pretty polite later, they don't hold on to it. I am. Longg is old as shit and just wants these damn kids to hear out their long ass stories, but they just don't know how to edit because it's been forever since they've been out of the box (a nod to how Dragons are now "mythical"). They don't know how to talk to the youngins anymore.

Sass - Okay, c'mon, we all know Sass. Sass is the only one we know definitively. They're the leader and being level headed and calm is the thing that distinguishes him from the rest. He is mildly cursed like Fluff to recall every remade time line, remembering what happened the other times that needed a second chance, but it's less of a burden than it is for Fluff.

Kaalki - I opted to lean in to her being a Diva, obviously thanks to her attitude in "Startrain". You'd think that'd clash with Max, so the struggle was more about making them work together despite that, so I also gave her a fascination with innovation. She's not very technologically literate, but she's interested in what humans have been able to do, especially when it comes to exploration. But in the end, she's still pretty vain lol.

Ziggy - since they were very upset at how mean Chloe was in "Miracle Queen" as opposed to angry like Stompp and Roarr, I felt Ziggy was probably younger and a bit sensitive. I also leaned into some goat traits, having them eat paper and headbutt Nathaniel.

Xuppu - Xuppu can easily become very annoying, especially in "Destruction" where they're trying to be helpful, but uhhhh...they aren't. So I just stuck with how they were portrayed in their canon debut episode. Like Roarr, Xuppu is very much like A Child, so even in Mob Mode they feel in character - getting into stuff and making a mess.

Orikko - I made them very patient, which you gotta be when your powers are bullshit and you constantly have to give a tutorial on how they work. They could talk all day with their holder trying to find loopholes.

Barkk - So they have two standout moments where they're allowed individuality - in "Furious Fu" and "Risk". In the former, they are stubbornly staying behind to guard the house and the Miracle Box, and in the latter, they're super excited at getting a new holder and getting to "play". So both a guard dog and a puppy. I met in the middle where they DO really want to play, but also want everyone to be as excited as them which takes a little coaxing. Like an Extrovery adopting Introverts.

Daizzi - They're just very sweet. Almost just like Rose but soft spoken. They feel very much but like to focus on the things they like, no matter how simple they are.

[sillygoofyqueer]

I don’t think demon feathers would have supernatural abilities all on their lonesome, but with the right silver inlays or markings, plus some qi, their abilities shine through!

For Quills:

Since crows are adept at mimicry, enchanted quills from their feathers would be excellent for dictation. The user “fills” the quill with qi, sets it on the paper, and then they can just dictate their notes and the quill will record their words faithfully!

For chicken/rooster feathers, it looks like the rooster symbolizes honesty, luck and prosperity, among other things, so I’m thinking properly enchanted chicken demon feathers produce quills that enforce or ensure honesty and are especially good for contracts.

For Arrows:

Crows supposedly have some amount of fortune telling ability (particular with respect to bad tidings) so crow fletching plus qi would make arrows more likely to strike true (as though the arrow can predict where their pray will dodge). With some different enchantments, arrows that hit victims with extreme feelings of dread, or ill fortune, are also possible.

Roosters are associated with the sun, and it’s said that ghosts fear a rooster’s crow, so I’m thinking enchanted arrows with rooster demon feathers can potentially light up and are extra powerful against the undead! (It might also be possible to make paralysis arrows, for reasons listed below).

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any Chinese stories about demon chickens, so we can just assume they exist because Airplane wanted demons based on all the Chinese zodiac animals. (Maybe there was even a plot-line about it, where Binghe had to collect certain body parts from all the ‘zodiac demons’).

Since he didn’t have any Chinese monster-chicken lore handy, Airplane borrowed and tweaked some cockatrice lore instead. As such, chicken demons have paralysis abilities.

For weaker demons it’s paralysis breath, but with enough cultivation they can paralyze with just their gaze (potentially to the point of death if they paralyze their victim so thoroughly as to stop their heart).

Quills!: I was hoping that you would mention a dictation-type quill, and linking them to crows is so good!! It could also be a reason as to why crow demons are so defensive of any random people waltzing in on their territory - they have good feathers, anyone would want to have a dictation feather. The fact that it would require qi for it to be useful makes it more dangerous in a way, due to the fact that those people that would be able to use their feathers are also the ones that could be known for hunting down demons and collecting spoils of war! Love the demon chicken feather becoming a truth ensuring quill and definitely need to drag that into the plot somehow, because that is such a good plot device - maybe having Bing-ge write his intentions for Shen Yuan to ensure that he doesn't have any bad intentions (this could be SUPER silly), or Shen Yuan using Airplane's own feathers against him and forcing him to write down everything he remembers about this plotline (entirely fruitless because he probably remembers more than Airplane himself). Arrows: For crows, I think that having arrows that are more likely to strike true would be incredibly useful! Especially when shooting from in the air, one may not have time to consider things such as the wind or resistance on the arrow, but having the added benefit of a higher chance of striking true can sometimes nullify these concerns. This would make targeting certain people from the air easier, rather than just shooting into a crowd of enemies and hoping that one arrow sticks. The different enchantments that could cause overwhelming dread would be useful for threatening and intimidating certain people - People who hurt the clan or things like that - and I think it would be a special kind of torture (not actual torture) for those it is used on. When crow demons use this arrow, you've seriously offended them and are probably about to die. Chicken feathers with those abilities for arrows is so cool! I think they could definitely be used for more defensive combat - a way of affecting the enemy earlier on - especially with them being extra powerful against the undead! Paralysis arrows would also be so cool as they are can be really useful in large scale battles (paralysis and then trampling from your own side) and one on one (paralysis then finish them off while looking into their eyes and watching the light leave it blah blah blah edgy). Airplane would definitely fuck around with different zodiacs and tweak everything so that it fits his new plot idea - much to Shen Yuan's utter dismay - leading to certain ideas being..."edited" to fit Airplane's wants. I'd find it so funny if, even though Airplane wrote PIDW, he actually classifies as a weaker demon until Shen Yuan kicks some sense into him (literally) and he cultivates enough to be able to actually use the paralysing gaze. Both transmigrators are pleased when he manages to do it because, according to Shen Yuan, his breath smells "rank" and "the sooner you upgrade, the better"

[writingwithcolor]

Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction?

Dear readers: 

Today we are trying something new. To give you some insight into our process in the Japanese moderator section, we are presenting our response in the form of running commentary to show you how we dissect and answer long asks. We hope this makes clear what points are useful and not useful when sending us a query. As always, this is for learning purposes, not callouts. Be prepared: this is a long one. 

To summarize: the asker is looking to create a comic drawn in Japanese manga style, and has provided a long summary of the story and worldbuilding which involves a mix of “reimagined” Japanese yokai mythos and cultural symbols from many other sources. They have questions with respect to cultural appropriation, coding etiquette, and “what is and isn’t ok.” 

Opening Comments

I know a common advice when it comes to the thing I am about to ask is to talk to people involved in __, but I struggle with opening up to strangers for reasons I'm uncomfortable explaining. 

Marika (M): This is already a red flag. If you want to engage with another culture without talking to people from that culture, then research is going to be very challenging. You won’t have members of that culture to guide you towards sources and perspectives they feel most accurately represents public opinion. If I were in your shoes, I might start with tackling my discomfort when engaging with other people, if only to improve my work. If you aren’t ready to engage with a culture and its people directly, then I think you should wait until you are. 

I should note, reaching out to the Japanese mod team at WWC does count as engagement, but WWC should not and cannot be the only point of contact because there is no single, legitimate cultural perspective. 

Rina (R): Also, you don’t need to “open up” to strangers or talk to them in person to get perspectives. Asking specific research questions anonymously to a forum or on social media requires very little vulnerability. You managed to do it here on WWC. So give it a try! 

Anyway, my question basically amounts to the what is and isn't ok [sic] in terms of depicting fantasy creatures and concepts outside of their respective culture.

R: So, the reason why we turn away rubber stamp questions by that ask “is XYZ okay?” is because “okay” & “not okay” 1) is vague and 2) creates a dichotomy where there isn’t one. 

When we say something is “not okay,” do we mean:

It’s offensive to the general majority of XYZ group? 

It’s contentious among people who ID in the group? 

It has a potential to be interpreted in a certain negative way, but may not be a red flag to everyone?

Insetad try asking:

What are the reasons this subject is offensive? 

What makes cultural appropriation bad? 

When might it be “okay” to intentionally discuss a difficult or controversial topic?

What is your reason for including something that may be interpreted as offensive and can it be sufficiently justified? 

What stereotypes or tropes might it be consistently identified as or associated with, and why? 

When might it be justified to bring up these tropes?

With That In Mind...

Let’s get into the rest of the ask below. 

…a story I've been working on in recent times is largely inspired off the Japanese yokai, and the setting is basically Earth in the far future, as far as when the next supercontinent may form. These yokai, although portrayed differently here, do retain their main characteristics [...] Included in this world are two goddesses of my own creation, primarily representing the sun and the moon. [...] There will be thirteen nations, named and based after the Chinese Zodiac, and the life force found in the living things in this world, called qi, comes in two forms that are always opposing each other but can never fully overpower the other, this being based off yin and yang. They're even directly named this; yin qi and yang qi.

M: This reads more like using Japanese and Chinese culture for the “aesthetics”, not the cultures themselves, which I personally feel falls under cultural appropriation. From a world-building/ coding standpoint, the actual use of concepts is workable, and, dare I say, typical, given how Chinese cosmology influences Japanese culture. However, naming a concept “yin qi” or “yang qi” is the equivalent of naming something “- charge” or “+ charge”, respectively. That you don’t seem aware of this tells me you are pretty early in your research phase. In that vein, we’ve covered translating terms and names from foreign languages in fantasy before. See the following article linked here for our recommendation against using RL terms outright but instead encouraging people to create their own conlangs. 

R: Worldbuilding-wise, I think you would have to figure out the chicken-or-egg of the zodiac nations. Did the nations come first, and the zodiac later as an origin folk story (which you would have to rewrite to serve the nation-building narrative)? Did the zodiac come first, and the nations named (most likely re-named) by a political entity? What is the justification? Otherwise, again, it’s a shoehorning of aesthetics. 

There is also a third, lesser known god based off of fox spirits and trickery and I imagined he's the patron deity of a family that honors and worships him, but his influence on them has transformed them into Kitsune-tsuki, which I depict as fox-like anthros. 

M: Not related to this ask directly, but I have jokingly ranted about how often non-Japanese people prefer using imagery related to kitsune-tsuki in Japanese coded world-building (link). This makes me feel the same level of petty irritation. See my troll answer below for a similar experience.

R: Same. It’s boring tbh. 

M: Troll Answer: I get that kitsune-tsuki are very sexy furries, but Japanese folklore has other sexy furries too! These underrepresented demographics also deserve recognition and appreciation!!

The plot of the story is this; modernization has left the goddesses neglected of their worship and forgotten, something that is necessary in this world to stop them from fighting each other. The Moon Goddess awakens first, punishing the humans by unleashing the yokai. Then the Sun Goddess wakes up to fight in humanity's defense…

M: This could feel rather like Shinto-like coding (Ex. the myth of Amaterasu and the Cave, or Tsukuyomi slaying Ukemochi), but something about this scenario feels a bit too binary in terms of themes of good v. evil, light v. dark to be Shinto. The plot also feels more Gaelic/ Nordic in influence for me as a person raised in a Japanese Buddhist and Hindu household. I imagine this dissonance could have been fixed with better guided research. 

…but their fighting has caused a perma-eclipse and this world is in danger of ending. The yokai have run rampant; some are loyal to the Moon Goddess, and some aren't, and it lies to the main characters to bring balance back to Midgard. Yeah... the name of this future Earth is Midgard. I debate changing it since it and some other things I will mention sorta feel out of place.

R: Marika, looks like you were right on the Gaelic/Nordic influence /j 

Also, worldbuilding question: if the Earth is in the far geologic future, how long has it been since modernization (19th-20th century)? Centuries? Millennia? How long has this fighting gone on for? What triggered the perma-eclipse, and why now? Why is this time depth necessary? 

One of the main characters in question is a humanoid woman with wolf features named Ling, and she is a descendant of the dynasty that had first ruled the one of the nations, particularly the one based off the dragon zodiac. She accidentally summons the other main character to this world as she's praying at a shrine, a humanoid with dragon features--I call them drakon--named Angelynn.

[on the names of characters] is it appropriating by not having the world entirely based on [Chinese, Japanese, and Indian] influence? it's a little weird to me how worldwide the creatures are referred to as yokai, implying a strong Japanese influence not unlike how it is today with Western culture being so dominant, yet there are still names like Keith and Kiara.

M: I will give you credit for recognizing you have unconsciously veered towards white-washing/ race-bending: either presenting European cultural influences (drakons, Angelynn, Keith, Kiara, Midgard) as default or utilizing general E. Asian cultural influences and aesthetics for a Western-style story (Ling, qi, Chinese zodiac, yokai). I agree with you that this creates a sense of cultural dissonance. At this point, I’d say you have a clear choice: write a Western-style high fantasy using a background with which you have more familiarity, or get some better guidance on research with East Asian cultures so you can code the story more effectively. 

The focus of this story is centered around meeting all these yokai and showing that there's more nuance to them than Ling believes, all while saving the world. But I worry if I'm appropriating these concepts and creatures by 1, drawing from more than one culture--I initially imagined that there would be a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Indian influence because according to a website I am getting the info on yokai from, the yokai in question already draw inspiration from or have been based on something in Chinese mythology or Hinduism [...]

R: Sure, some yokai have Chinese or Hindu parallels as that tends to happen with folk tales. But not all–some are unique to Japan, and some are more modern. Sometimes it’s very political–some people consider the Ainu Korpokkur as being a “Yokai of Japan” despite it belonging to the indigenous culture. It’s up to you to research, untangle, and understand these influences. 

The fact that you bring up that the Asian continent has seen a lot of cultural exchange is not a sufficient reason to randomly combine influences for the sake of visual appeal or “coolness.” That is appropriation. These influences must be understood in their historical context so that you know how/why certain things combined or morphed into another, and what makes sense to combine/morph. 

M: This also indicates that the character views the yokai as evil/inherently bad, which I would argue is not a typical stance for much Japanese folklore. Again, this shows a deficit in research. 

2, reimagining these yokai in a new context even though I have done the research on them, because one thing I kept seeing in regards to cultural appropriation is that it's bad to do that […]

R: Refer above to my note on “okay” and “not okay.” The thing with folklore and fairy tales is that every–and I mean every–folk tale is reinterpreted with every new iteration of it. Reimagining in a new context is what people do every time they pass on a story or tell a story with the same plot or characters. Do not think of folklore as an “original” that is altered and rebooted, but rather a living document that gets added to. Reimagining is not the inherent issue. HOW you reimagine something matters. 

So I suppose my question is...if someone were to do research upon the creature they want to use, given they are allowed to use it, and gained an understanding of what the creature or concept stood for, are they allowed to pick it apart and reimagine it? Alternatively, is it ok if it's explicitly pointed out that it is derivative of the original?

It has actually become my biggest fear that I may have internalized something that could both continue to do harm long after the fact and attract the wrong people to me work. I don't wanna let people down!

M: As Rina has noted several times, I think the problem is in trying to ID a set of specific variables and circumstances that make a thing “okay” or “not okay.” I want to recommend that you read my joking response about writing in secret rooms while wearing a disguise (Linked here). Who can you hurt if no one knows what you are doing? There’s a difference between creating for oneself and creating to share. 

You have internalized a message incorrectly, but not the one you cite. The goal of many recommendations against cultural appropriation is to avoid causing direct harm to people who have seen their cultures demeaned, discredited and devalued, especially in shared spaces. Assessing cultural engagement, whether we are talking about appropriation, appreciation or exchange is not a measure of personal virtue or a collection of commandment style do’s and don’t’s. Rather, I believe engaging with other cultures is the state of mind of acknowledging that when using these cultures’ in one’s own work, there is value in consulting members of that culture and giving credit where credit is due. This will be challenging if you are only comfortable engaging with all of these cultures in a distanced, minimal capacity. 

FWIW, I’ve written stories that probably will offend people from other cultures and backgrounds, but I don’t show them off. I don’t think writing these makes me a bad person, but I also don’t see the need to give unnecessary offense, so those stories are just for me, to be written and read in my own secret room. However, I’m not ashamed of having written them, and I’m also comfortable to “let people down” provided that my own shared work reflects my personal principles of what I consider to be sufficient research and engagement with other cultures,  As a creator, my work wouldn’t be mine if I didn’t first please myself. I think the trick to the creator role is deciding what to keep private, what to share and what constitutes sufficient engagement. 

P.S. 

We’ve referenced the need for research multiple times in this ask, and in some of the other asks that have gone up this week, so we thought this would be a good place to plug a beginner’s guide to academic research created by the mod team.. Look for it soon under WWC’s pinned posts!

[bovineblogger]

I grant you a Digimon partner and evolution line. If you don't know, Digimon evolve through several levels that are different species and evolution isn't always permanent. Evolution lines are also very open and pretty much anything can evolve to anything else.

For the Rookie/Child level I give you Pillomon. It's not a cow (there aren't any at this level), but sheep are still family Bovidae so I think it works. It's also based on counting sheep to go to sleep and it gives people pleasant dreams while they sleep.

Pillomon will evolve to Bullmon. It's a bull powered by hope that has a temper and gets mad when it sees red. It charges full speed at whatever angers it and needs to come to a stop before it can turn or go backwards.

Bullmon will evolve to Vajramon. This mino-centaur is an honorable and noble warrior who disdains the cowardly and seeks to detatch itself from material concerns. Vajramon is the most physically powerful members of a group of Digimon called the Deva who help guard the world and are based on Buddhist legend and the Chinese zodiac.

At the final level of Mega/Ultimate, there is once again no cow, so I'm going with AncientMegatheriumon. It's a horned ungulate so I'm going with it. AncientMegatheriumon lives in the frigid polar regions and is powerful enough to destroy icebergs with a charge. It is one of a group of super ancient Digimon that are the progenitors of modern Digimon. AncientMegatheriumon is the progenitor of mammalian and ice Digimon.

omg???? thank you???????? this is so cool????????!! im absolutely going to watch digimon again this is the coolest thing ever my heart is going like 20000000000000 mph

[demonslayedher]

Determining Ages and Birth Years

Kimetsu no Yaiba’s first official fanbook gave us ages for the many of the main characters, but in a manga where calculating age can be crucial, why are these numbers not so straightforward? Because the Japanese calendar is a mess, and the Taisho period was an in-between stage in many ways. Many new changes were established in the Meiji period but not broadly enforced until the Showa period, including how to count one’s age.

This subject can be terribly complicated, but please follow me below for:

--Historical context for how methods of counting age could differ --Which method I choose to apply to Kimetsu no Yaiba and why --Based on that, a list of my calculations for dates of birth, zodiac signs (Chinese and Western), and because it’s handy, the date each of these characters would have turned 25

In the Taisho period, there are two methods of counting age in play:

Kazoedoshi (“counting years”): Counting the years one has been in alive in, with that year having started on the agricultural new year and counting a new year to one’s age each New Year’s Day after that, like how it is still practiced in South Korea.

Which is to say, you are born at age 1, counting the first calendar year you lived in, and on the following New Year’s Day, you are age 2, even if you have only been out of the womb a very short time.

Mannenrei (“full year age”): Counting only each full 12-month period since your birth as part of your age, like how it is practiced in the United States of America.

Which is to say, you are born at age 0, and after twelve full months have passed, you are age 1.

Kazoedoshi was practiced through most of the Demon Slayer Corp’s history, but the Meiji government enforced a switch to Mannenrei in 1902. However, most people still practiced Kazoedoshi throughout the Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa periods, and it wasn’t until 1950 that the government reinforced the switch to Mannenrei. This is also when, with the influx of American culture due to the post-war occupation, individual birthdays started to be marked with cake and presents. Until that time, people did not pay much attention to their date of birthday besides, perhaps, a passing notion and maybe a shrine or temple visit and a nice dinner (see more on this post). Many people continued to count their own age in Kazoedoshi until 1950, and although some people liked the “oh, actually I’m younger than I thought I was!” surprise (because Manrenrei really was outside of their usual way of thinking), it made centenarians a little sad that they hadn’t actually reached 100.

Similarly, even though the Meiji government enforced a switch to the Gregorian calendar which put New Years on January 1, many people still celebrated a sliding date according to a lunar-based agricultural calendar, like is still done in China. It was likewise later reinforced.

In modern Japan, New Years on Gregorian January 1 and counting age by the Mannenrei system are the norm and standard, however, some customs (especially but not limited to religious customs) are still celebrated according to the agricultural calendar and Kazoedoshi ages. It’s annoying to keep track of and if I had a 5-yen coin for every time I say the Japanese calendar is a mess, I’d have a lot more yen.

The canon of Kimetsu no Yaiba does not specify any of the following: 1. What year most of KnY takes place (but based on clues from the Hand Demon, we can extrapolate that most of it takes place in 1915) 2. Whether the characters’ given ages are according to Kazoedoshi or Mannenrei, and whether the characters’ given birthdates are according to the Gregorian or agricultural calendars 3. Which method the characters use to count New Years and their own age 4. If there are any differences among the cast and how they count these things (like if the city-slickers were with the times and the country bumpkins were not) 5. Whether or not Amane accounted for Mannenrei or Kazoedoshi when stating that all the marked swordsmen of the Sengoku period died by the age of 25

So what are fanfic writers who are preoccupied with canon accuracy to do? How much should the fans of characters who got the mark fret?

After tying my brain in knots (for years, since I attempted tackling this issue years ago and this is my better post addressing the issue(s)), here are the ways that I approach it.

First: I firmly treat most of the events of canon as firmly taking place in Gregorian 1915, with the Final Selection taking place that winter and Muzan’s defeat coming sometime around the very end of 1915 or start of 1916. (See here for how I calculated all the time frames indicated in canon. You’re welcome.)

Second, we have to treat the official fanbook material in the context of how it was published. I think the ages in the fanbook are given in Mannenrei for the benefit of Heisei/Reiwa period readers, but if you really want to dig into it, the characters might interpret their own age differently based on Kazoedoshi, since it was such a prevalent way to count one’s age even for people born in the Taisho period. For example, Tanjirou’s given canon age is 15 (Mannenrei), but if you ask him in-universe, he might say he is 17 (Kazoedoshi).

Even if we assume many of the characters use the agricultural calendar and Kazoedoshi, there is a chance that characters who actively used western technology—for example, Shinobu, who uses textbooks in English microscopes and thermometers that likely came from Germany—had switched to Mannenrei for the sake of more accuracy on an individual basis. It is also possible that the Corp enacted their own standardization to Mannenrei around the time they standardized uniforms and updated the payment structure. If this is the case, it might have required country bumpkins to rethink the systems they had always been used to. Tanjirou, if asked in-universe once he is a Corp member, would therefore say he is 15 (Mannenrei).

The places the Kazoedoshi/Mannenrei difference has more implications is where characters have stated their own age. For example, Himejima seems to use a Mannenrei system (he states that he became a Hashira at age 19, and now is clearly over the age of 25, with his canonical age being recorded as 27. The numbers check out). This makes me more curious about Muichirou, who has a canonical given age of 14, but says in his own recollection that he was 10 when he was orphaned, and 11 when Yuichirou died.

If Mannenrei: It was four years or more ago that his parents died, and then sometime after he and Yuichirou turned 11 on Gregorian August 8, the demon attacked on a hot summer night. If Kazoedoshi: It was four years or more ago that his parents died. New Years passed that winter and he and Yuichirou turned 11. Many more months passed before the demon attacked on a hot summer night. However, if the Corp enforces his Mannenrei age of 14, but being a country bumpkin with a fuzzy memory, Muichirou still thinks of himself in Kazoedoshi, thereby making him think of himself as 16: It was six years or more ago that his parents died. New Years passed that winter and he and Yuichirou turned 11. Many more months passed before the demon attacked on a hot summer night. He nonetheless became a Hashira relatively recently (according to aligning Kyojuro-related flashback material and the second fanbook making passing mention that he hasn’t been a Hashira that long so his impression of the others isn’t that deep). This implies he spent a very, very, very, very long time incapacitated before he could so much as hold a sword, let alone join the Final Selection.

So what if we consider the opposite, that every given age is in Kazoedoshi? That would mean that when the fanbook and Tanjirou say he is 15, we would translate that back to a Mannenrei age of 13. And, dear readers, do you really want to imagine the entire cast being one or two years younger than their given age? I didn’t think so.

It is already very, very difficult to determine the order of Kimetsu no Yaiba canon both due to incomplete histories and canonical errors introduced by outside material (Ufotable animating Kanao’s May 19 encounter with the Kochou sisters with a winter setting, or Hirano-sensei drawing a spread of all nine Hashira in a 1913 setting) or timeline errors introduced in the original manga likely due to oversight (Gotouge drawing Aoi in uniform shortly after Kanae’s death when Aoi is later stated to have attended the same Final Selection as Muichirou, who at the time Kanae died is likely still living with his parents). That is why I assume the following rule of thumb:

When ages are given in-universe or in supplementary material, assume it is Mannenrei, because this is a shounen manga and not a math textbook. (As another case in point, the heights of the characters would have made most of the characters giants in Taisho society, though they get away with just being a bit on the tall side in Reiwa society. Some things are simplified for the benefit of modern readers.)

Assume the characters do not pay much attention to their age, or their birthday, because this is a shounen manga with a lot of dedication to historical settings and folk traditions (and those folks didn’t pay much attention to their birthdays).

Ergo: If the Corp tells its members “this is your Mannenrei age, use it. When we say 25, we have already done the math from our Sengoku period records and we mean 25 in Mannenrei,” the Corp members probably accept that. However, the Corp members might think of it as having two ages for two different purposes. Given the prevalence of Kazoedoshi, in their heart, they might still think of New Years as the time when you collectively celebrate everyone’s birthday.

Since I’m assuming Mannenrei, I’m also assuming Gregorian birthdates, and assuming everyone’s given canon age to be the age they were during the Infinity Fortress battle that took place roughly around New Year’s Day 1916.

Why am I picking this date? Because this is when the first fanbook was published, and it treated canon as it was occurring at that time in publication, so Akaza, Douma, and Kokushibou were not yet given the “eliminated” status (also, Rengoku was given already called “former” Flame Hashira. Shinobu’s demise had not yet been published in the serialization).

I also say “roughly New Year” because of the agricultural/Gregorian calendar issues. The agricultural New Year’s Day in 1916 would have fallen on Gregorian February 4, but because I’m treating this as the Corp having adopted Mannenrei, I’m also having them treat Gregorian January 1 as New Years. Because Ubuyashiki Nichika and Hinaki were singing a New Years song when Muzan strolled in to visit, that leans credence toward it happening around then. More crucially, cherry blossoms are in full bloom “three months later,” which aligns it best with Gregorian January 1, since late March/early April is when you are most likely to get the full bloom of the most common somei-yoshino cherry trees.

It’s also a convenient date and time in the plot to measure by because all their birthdays would have passed for that year, barely including Nezuko’s. (But if Mugen Ressha took place prior to May, like I have calculated before… does this mean Rengoku would have been part of Team 21? My gosh, I’m crying. For this list, I’m treating it as the age he would have been relative to the others on that date.)

Tl;dr: I’m assuming you can treat every canon age as Mannenrei, and totally ignore Kazoedoshi in the first place (unless if it will help you be crafty in your fic, because there’s still a good case to be made for the characters using it).

Now here is the fanfic reference list I promised, including: 1. Their date of birth according to the Gregorian calendar, calculated based their canon age being their Mannenrei age as of December 31, 1915. 2. Their birth year according to the Japanese period 3. The year they would have turned 25 4. Their Chinese zodiac sign (yes, I know there is argument about whether or not you can say “zodiac” here, but this isn’t the place to start a new topic. Anyway, I’ve also included the elements for each year for the deep nerds who anticipate it) (also I’m really sorry, Inosuke is not born in the Year of the Boar, nor is Iguro born in the Year of the Snake) 5. Their Western zodiac sign (yes, I know there was a recalculation of sun signs some years back, but no, I’m not bothering to take that into account, this post is complicated enough as it is) Important caveat: I'm bad at math.

Kamado Tanjirou: July 14, 1900/Meiji 33 (1925/Taisho 14), Metal Rat, Cancer Kamado Nezuko: December 28, 1901/Meiji 34 (1926/Taisho 15), Metal Ox, Capricorn Agatsuma Zenitsu: September 3, 1899/Meiji 32 (1924/Taisho 13), Earth Boar, Virgo Hashibira Inosuke: April 22 (as was written on his fundoshi along with his name), 1900/Meiji 33 (1925/Taisho 14), Metal Rat, Taurus Tsuyuri Kanao: May 19 (chosen for the day she encountered the Kochou sisters), 1899/Meiji 32 (sometime in 1924??/Taisho 13??), Earth Boar(?), Taurus (???) Shinazugawa Genya: January 7, 1899/Meiji 32  (1924/Taisho 13) – by Gregorian/modern Japanese system he is an Earth Boar, but the agricultural New Year wasn’t until February 10 that year, so he might instead be considered an Earth Dog, Capricorn Tomioka Giyuu: February 8, 1894/Meiji 27 (1919/Taisho 8), Wood Horse, Aquarius Kochou Shinobu: February 24, 1897/Meiji 30 (1822/Taisho 11), Fire Rooster, Pisces Rengoku Kyoujurou: May 10, 1895/Meiji 28 (1920/Taisho 9), Wood Sheep, Taurus Uzui Tengen: October 31, 1892/Meiji 25 (1917/Taisho 6), Water Dragon, Scorpio Kanroji Mitsuri: June 1, 1896/Meiji 29 (1921/Taisho 10), Fire Monkey, Gemini Tokitou Muichirou: August 8, 1901/Meiji 34 (1926/Taisho 15), Metal Ox, Leo Himejima Gyoumei: August 23, 1888/Meiji 21 (1913/Taisho 2), Earth Rat, Virgo Shinazugawa Sanemi: November 29, 1894/Meiji 27 (1919/Taisho 8), Wood Horse, Sagittarius Iguro Obanai: September 15,1894/Meiji 27 (1919/Taisho 8), Wood Horse, Virgo

Afterword:

Suppose Amane didn’t do the math to state the Sengoku swordsmans’ ages in Mannenrei terms? What if their records were spotty, or she took Kazoedoshi and applied it to swordsmen who now use Mannenrei?

Well, in that case, Tanjirou would probably die sometime in 1923, and Giyuu & Sanemi sometime in 1917. Ergo, I think I will stick with Amane having done the math and converted Sengoku ages to Mannennei if she was going to tell them all something so important.

Also, using Kazoedoshi would totally mess with the Kimetsu Gakuen AU.

[cupidlovesastro]

𝟷𝟶 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚢

1. sign ≠ house- the reason this is, is because they both have their own characteristics and also represent different meanings. the signs represent more of a personality and the houses represent aspects of your life. they correspond but they aren’t the same thing. this is because when you think about it, aries has qualities such as leadership and impulsivity, but the 1st house doesn’t represent those things. therefore they’re not the same thing. when you see post that say aries/ 1st house, it’s usually because they try to add aspects of both placements

2. there’s multiple kinds of astrology- most people that live in america follow western astrology, but there’s vedic astrology which is said to be the most accurate, chinese astrology, medical astrology, and more. they are all different but also similar and some ways

3. there’s multiple charts in astrology- this is one of my favorite parts about astrology but it can also get confusing lol. there’s your natal chart, which everyone knows about, but then there’s persona charts, transit charts, progressive charts, draconic charts and more. then synastry and composite charts which takes 2 people’s birth information to create

4. asteroids- you don’t have to only learn about planets, you can learn about asteroids too. asteroids usually fall between 2 planets, which somewhat helps form a personality for them. not all of them though, some of them are in the outskirts of our solar system and some have meanings that don’t necessarily relate to the planet it’s closest to

5. there’s thousands of asteroids- there’s so many asteroids out there, that have been discovered with in depth meanings, some that have been discovered with no clear meaning, and obviously some that still aren’t discovered. that’s why there’s so many different elements to your chart, and so many different things can dictate your personality in a natal chart

6. greek mythology and astrology- greek mythology and astrology have a lot of points where they correlate. especially with asteroids, if you read into greek mythology, you will start to understand why certain asteroids and placements mean the things they do

7. cusp- if you believe in degrees in astrology, then you don’t believe in cusp. cusp basically means when you were born “between” 2 signs. so people born on may 20th or 21st could say they’re a taurus/gemini cusp, but that’s not true if you believe in degrees. degrees can go from 0 to 29

8. no such thing as a bad placement- no placement is bad, some are just harder to deal with than others and that’s okay. it doesn’t mean parts of you or bad or that your cursed for the rest of your life. everyone has rough edges, you just have to smooth them out if that makes sense lol

9. astrology and tarot- some major arcana cards actually represent the zodiac signs. not all of them but about half of them do. like gemini is the lovers, aquarius is the star, libra is judgement, and so on

10. empty houses- technically no house is empty because like i mentioned earlier, there’s thousands of asteroids out there, and all of them fall in a house. but as for your natal chart, having an empty house doesn’t mean anything negative, it just means that’s an aspect of yourself you don’t really need to focus on or pay attention to, or nothing is really going to happen in those areas of life. if you have an empty 4th house it can mean that nothing significant or out of the ordinary or specific is going to happen to your family or children. i hope that made sense 💀

[ovytia-art]

Happy Lunar New Year!

The Vietnamese zodiac differs from the Chinese one this year, and it’s the year of the cat for us! So now they are friends :D

[enmi-land]

⌕ ENFiNiT MEMBERS PROFiLES .. ❞

ENFINIT ❨ 엔피니트 ❩ is a sub-unit of the group ENHYPEN, a nine-member co-ed group formed on the survival program, I-LAND. It consists of the female members of the group, Kiara and Mila. They debuted on November 30th, 2020 with the song, 'Lucid Dream', their contribution to ENHYPEN's debut EP 'BORDER:DAY ONE.’

▞ › #GROUP NAME EXPLANATION﹗▞

ENHYPEN is a mix of an en dash and a hyphen that connects different words to create new meaning, members of ENHYPEN will connect, discover each other, and grow together. ENFINITis a name that combines the en dash with infinite possibilities of the group when the come together as one. Their male counterparts, ENIVERS, is a name that combines an en dash with universe, to show that they are connected by the universe they share together, even when physically apart.

▞ › #ENHYPEN FANDOM NAME﹗▞

ENGENE ❪ 엔진 ��

▞ › #DORM ARRANGEMENTS﹗▞

❪ 1 ❫ Kiara & Mila

❪ 2 ❫ Heeseung, Jay, Sunghoon & Ni-ki

❪ 3 ❫ Jake, Sunoo & Jungwon All of the members have their own solo rooms

𖦹 ݁ ﹐KiARA ❳ ݁ ⸒ ˚

﹟ STAGE NAME ‣ Kiara ❪ 키아라 ❫ ﹟ BIRTH NAME ‣ Kiara Park ﹟ KOREAN NAME ‣ Park Kyunghee ❪ 박경희 ❫ ﹟ CHiNESE NAME ‣ Pu Kaian ❪ 朴凯安 ❫ ﹟ POSiTION ‣ Main Rapper, Vocalist, Dancer ﹟ BIRTH PLACE ‣ Somerset, New Jersey ﹟ BIRTHDAY ‣ November 7, 2001 ﹟ ZODiAC SiGN ‣ Scorpio ﹟ CHINESE ZODiAC SiGN ‣ Snake ﹟ HEiGHT ‣ 170cm ❪ 5’6” ❫ ﹟ BLOOD TYPE ‣ AB ﹟ MBTi ‣ iSTJ ﹟ NATiONALiTY ‣ Korean-American ﹟ REPRESENTATiVE EMOJi ‣ 🦁 ﹟ SOLO FANDOM NAME ‣ Kiwis ﹟ MiC COLOUR ‣ Gold ﹟ KiARA FACTS ‣

She's the oldest child and has three younger brothers

She ranked 5th on I-Land

Despite being born in America, she grew up in Seoul, South Korea

Training Period: 5 years

She started training to become an idol at 14 and was a trainee at YG for 2 years before auditioning for BigHit

Her parents are very wealthy

She has the longest training period out of everyone in the group

Education: School of Performing Arts Seoul

She is fluent in Korean, English and Japanese

Her nicknames include 'Kiki', 'Mama Bear', 'Golden Girl' (because she was good at everything), 'Ddeonghee’, ‘Music Fairy’ (Behind the Profile Shoot)

Her favourite food is Kiwis

She doesn't like growing her hair past her shoulders

In the 'One and Only' M/V, her Pokémon partner was Umbreon

According to Kiara, Jake and Jay remind her a lot of her brothers, which is why she bickers with them the most

Her closest idol friends include ITZY's Ryujin, IVE's Yujin and Gaeul, Jeon Somi and TXT's Beomgyu

When asked what made her want to be an idol, Kiara said, "I was good at it."

Of all the members, she's the tidiest and always cleans up around the dorms

Kiara doesn't like aegyo because she thinks it doesn't suit her image

Kiara's special charm is that she looks cool no matter what she does

She can have an intimidating appearance at first, but members say that her smile is surprisingly cute

She is a producer in many of Enhypen’s discography and other groups as well, hence her nickname ‘music fairy’

She is the shortest of the group

When asked why she didn’t want to be leader, she claimed she could be very strict as it is and finds it hard to express her emotions at times, so she didn’t want her members to feel like she didn’t care for them

Her biggest inspiration as an artist is RM from BTS

Her Chinese name Kaian was given to her by Mila, and means ‘quiet victory,’ which Mila believed represented Kiara the best

Charming Point: charisma, girl crush, chic visuals, cat eyes (Behind the Profile Shoot)

Likes: cat videos, sleeping in, spas, kiwifruit, short hair, RM, BTS, Enhypen, taking morning walks, songwriting and producing (Behind the Profile Shoot)

Dislikes: aegyo, mess, swimming, vegetables, people who walk too slowly, people who manspread on public transport, wearing skirts to perform (Behind the Profile Shoot)

Motto: "Do what you can do. What you can't do, do better."

Show more Kiara facts . . .

𖦹 ݁ ﹐MiLA ❳ ݁ ⸒ ˚

﹟ STAGE NAME ‣ Mila ❪ 밀라 ❫ ﹟ BIRTH NAME ‣ Milana Bai ﹟ CHiNESE NAME ‣ Bai Minglu ❪ 王明璐 ❫ ﹟ KOREAN NAME ‣ Baek Mirae ❪ 백미래 ❫ ﹟ JAPANESE NAME ‣ Shirakawa Mitsuri ❪ 白川 光璃 ❫ ﹟ POSiTION ‣ Visual, Vocalist, Dancer ﹟ BIRTH PLACE ‣ Sunshine Coast, Australia ﹟ BIRTHDAY ‣ March 31, 2003 ﹟ ZODiAC SiGN ‣ Aries ﹟ CHINESE ZODiAC SiGN ‣ Goat ﹟ HEiGHT ‣ 173 ❪ 5’7” ❫ ﹟ BLOOD TYPE ‣ O ﹟ MBTi ‣ ENFP ﹟ NATiONALiTY ‣ Chinese-Australian ﹟ REPRESENTATiVE EMOJi ‣ 🐼 ﹟ SOLO FANDOM NAME ‣ Miluvs ﹟ MiC COLOUR ‣ Pink ﹟ MiLA FACTS ‣

She was born in Sunshine Coast, Australia but moved to Shenzhen, China when she was 9 years old

She is an only child

She comes from a wealthy family

Training Period: 2 years, 1 month

She ranked 3rd in the final episode with 1,181,289 votes

She isn't a picky eater and can eat almost anything

She did competitive cheerleading for 7 years before switching to dance after a back injury

She ran away from home to pursue her dream of being an idol because her mother didn’t approve

Her nicknames are 'Princess', 'Kirby' (because she eats anything), 'Wildcard', and 'Milana Monroe' (Behind the Profile Shoot and Self-Revised Profile)

In the ‘One and Only’ MV, her Pokémon counterpart was Jigglypuff

Her Japanese name came from the name of a character in the anime Demon Slayer, which fans claim she resembles

She was called a born star by Bang-PD because of her raw talent and fast growth rate (I-Land Ep. 1)

When her grandmother took her to get a fortune-reading, she was told she would be loved by many people

Mila's grandmother is her biggest supporter and has a shelf dedicated to her achievements

Education: Shekou International School, Hanlim Multi Arts School

She ranked 7th on TC Chandler's Most Beautiful Faces of 2020

She has a 03-liner group chat with Le Sserafim's Kazuha and ITZY's Yuna

She mentioned her closets idols friends are ITZY's Yuna, IVE's Wonyoung, Le Sserafim's Kazuha and Yunjin, and Kep1er’s Xiaoting

She is currently learning about producing music from Kiara

Kiara says that Mila and Heeseung have the most raw talent in music that she’s ever seen

Specialty: stage presence, flexibility, versatility, languages, modelling, facial expressions, ending fairy

Charming Point: Pretty smile, visuals, cute laugh, bright personality, hype-woman, starry eyes (Self-Revised Profile)

Likes: Jake (x5), Sunghoon, ENHYPEN, performing, dressing up, eating, shopping, sweets, watching dramas/anime, sleeping in, reading, working out (Self-Revised Profile)

Dislikes: Horror movies, sleeping alone/with the lights off, waking up in the middle of the night, math, sports (Self-Revised Profile)

Motto: "Live each day as if it's your last"

Show more Mila facts . . .

Related: ENFINIT Discography | ENHYPEN Members Profiles | ENIVERSE Members Profiles | ENIVERSE Discography . . .

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Thank you for answering my Origins Dragon!Marinette and Turtle!Adrien question! Please don’t worry about disagreeing with the idea; I asked for YOUR opinion and analysis on why it would OR wouldn’t work, and that’s what I got. 😌 It also made me consider meta and in-show stuff that I hadn’t before, which is cool. You mentioned wanting all of the Kwamis to be part of some sort of set of two or more, and I’d love to hear what those sets are in your head going down the full Chinese Miracle Box list and why you’d pair them together with consideration towards both the Kwami themselves and their Powers.

(Post this ask is referring to)

Oh good, I'm glad that you found it useful and not discouraging!

Talking about how to pair the Kwamis is a little tricky because of an issue that I've discussed before. That issue being that the "Chinese" miracle box seems to be about as Chinese as fortune cookies. That makes me uncomfortable because - as far as I'm aware - the Chinese zodiac is a major part of Chinese beliefs and traditions. As such, I personally feel like the box should reflect those beliefs and traditions, but I also don't know those beliefs and traditions, so I can't tell you how I'd effectively group the zodiac Kwamis in order to honor their cultural origins. I can't even be sure if my criticism is valid or just me being overly cautious!

In an ideal world where I had money to invest in this sort of thing, I'd hire a cultural consultant to work with me to design a Chinese miracle box that feels Chinese (or to tell me that I'm overthinking this and to just do whatever I want). Assuming that I'm not overreacting, this would probably mean redesigning a lot of the powers and looks so that they honor Chinese lore and not Western lore.

For example, one thing that I know for sure is that black cats are not unlucky in China. They're actually symbols of good luck (all cats are), so a Chinese box would not have the implied good luck/bad luck thing that we get with Ladybug and Chat Noir. My limited research has also raised some doubts about ladybugs being a go-to symbol of good luck or creation in China, but I'm a lot less confident about that one being a bad choice as the association may exist. I couldn't find anything definitive one way or the other. This leads me to think that, if the association exists, then it's probably a bit obscure, meaning that a Chinese box would probably go with a different animal if we were trying to be culturally accurate to what a Chinese-inspired box would really look like.

I can say with reasonable certainty that Creation is associated with the masculine yang and Destruction is associated with the feminine yin, so Tikki should possibly feel masculine to feminine Plagg. At the very least, their spots in the miracle box should probably be reversed with Plagg in the black and Tikki in the white since yin is black and yang is white?

[Image Description: center of the original miracle box showing that ladybug earrings are placed in the black part of the yin yang symbol while the black cat ring is in the white]

I also known that white rabbits being associated with time, watches, and umbrellas comes from Alice in Wonderland and not China. Are you starting to see why I'm doubting the cultural accuracy of the miracle box?

The alternate way to approach this is to remove the possible issue of Chinese culture being treated as "mystical" or nothing more than ornamentation by making the Chinese miracle box into the miracle box of no specified culture. Since that's kind of what the box already is in terms of deeper meanings and cultural ties, I think we can go that route for this discussion since we have taken a moment to acknowledge the potential issues with the box's existing design and why that's leading me to take this route as - to me - this seems to be the only way to stick to canon's lore while avoiding potential further insults to Chinese culture.

If we went to my ideal extremes with this approach, we'd actually massively cut down the number of miraculous in the box because I think that there are way too many miraculous! Who needs nineteen "unique" powers to arm and fight one villain? This is extra true since there's no real theme to the miraculous beyond the initial setup of Creation/Destruction + five random powers followed by the addition twelve more random powers with no clear ties to any culture or theme other than the look of the Kwamis that grant the powers.

But that's getting real extreme, so for this ask, we won't go there. Instead, I'll talk about some general ideas for grouping the powers that we already have and some ideas for how you could fix the randomness of our current powers to make them feel like they make sense.

To start, I love the fact that our two main heroes are supposed to be a pair power wise. That's a lovely way to approach your lore and is why I think that they should have grouped the other miraculous, too. Why are Creation and Destruction the only set? Why aren't the others in any sort of group? Why do these miraculous have the powers they do? What ties them to this box and not another box?

There are a few ways to approach pairing the other miraculous. You can come at it from a theme perspective such as the fact that both the snake and the rabbit are all about time. You can also look for opposites such as the turtle being all about defense and the dragon being more about offense. You can even go more broad and say that a given group of miraculous is all aspects of one type of power such as the peacock, the goat, and the ladybug all feeling like aspects of creation. There's really no clear way to go about this because the current powers are so freaking random!

When I approach this stuff, I don't just come up with powers. I come up with the lore and let that help guide the powers or I shape the lore around the powers I want to use until both things make sense. For example, it makes sense that Creation would have some magical being guiding it. It also makes sense that Creation would either create Destruction for balance or that they both popped into existence together so that there was always a balance. Once you have that, you say, "Okay, what other Forces would these two want in order to help guide the universe? What can't they do or what do they do consistently enough that they might want to hand it off?"

Going from there, you start to come up with ideas like maybe they wanted Time to have a physical embodiment so that they could get some guidance on the long term effects of the things that they were making, so that's Fluff coming online. But Time is a lot and they liked their balance, so maybe Sass was brought online too in order to balance Fluff with Fluff being focused on what was and what could be while Sass is focused on what is, thereby giving Fluff someone to ground her. Or maybe you even add in a third Kwami to be some sort of historian who remembers the past while Fluff is the future and Sass is the now.

Another thought path is that most things are not pure Creation or pure Destruction. You must destroy to create. When you make bread, yeast consumes sugar to create air bubbles. Creation and Destruction working together. So maybe Tikki and Plagg wanted to make "children" who could do what they couldn't do solo and that's how we got the peacock?

No matter how you go about this, I really don't think that there's a great way to explain/group all nineteen miraculous, especially if you add in the eagle and Fei's wacky prodigious with it's animal abilities. It's just too random! But I do think that there's a lot of potential in strong subsets of the ones we get in canon, especially if you're allowed to edit the powers or the Forces a bit to make them fit their supposed Force or granted power better. I've talked before about how I'd mess with Lucky Charm to remove the odd Luck association and focus on Creation and that's what I'd do with most of the miraculous because, right now, most of them don't make much sense.

For example, Ziggy - the goat - is supposed to be the Kwami of Passion and that somehow gives the power to create anything you want? I know creatives are passionate, but that still doesn't fit in my mind. It would make more sense for this to be an inspiration power like the pig or for the Force to change to Creation and Ziggy is just a lesser ladybug for some reason? And Stompp - the Ox - is Determination, but I'd actually label his shield power as an aspect of Protection, making him in some sort of pairing with the turtle. Self defense verses defense of others?

In short, the canon lore is a disaster that needs major work to feel solid which leads to lots of paths for fixing the mess. In my opinion, the best way to go about fixing it is to take the element that worked best - the Creation/Destruction pairing - and expand that out to make strong, logical lore for the other Kwamis and their associated powers. Lore that probably won't be rooted in any one culture because no culture seems to be a solid match for the lore that canon is using, which is only concerning because of the current obvious associations with China and that's not even touching on the whole Tibetan monks + Chinese culture issue. Go check out the post I linked at the start for my thoughts on that which basically sum up to, "I am not even remotely qualified to talk about this one, but it seems like a terrible idea."

(Once again, reminder that I'm not Chinese or otherwise deeply informed on Chinese culture. I'm just a person who tries her best to respect other cultures and the miracle box sets off a lot of warning bells for me. Those warning bells could always be a false positive, so you shouldn't take my thoughts as some sort of final say on this topic. Please feel free to look into this on your own and form your own opinions.

If you are Chinese or otherwise educated in these topics, then please feel free to reblog this or send an ask giving me some additional context as I really do love learning about this stuff, but it's near impossible to research! I spent a good hour talking to a local librarian trying to find books or articles in our library that talked about the Chinese zodiac from an academic perspective and we found nothing. I've got a few interlibrary loan requests out to academic libraries in our library network though and I'll follow up on this if those books end up having information that adds to the discussion.)

[synkalice]

𐚁 BASICS

BIRTH NAME :: BAE MINJI (배민지)

STAGE NAME :: ALICE (앨리스)

ENGLISH NAME :: ALICE BAE

BIRTHDAY :: NOVEMBER 7, 2000

ZODIAC SIGN :: SCORPIO / DRAGON

ETHNICITY :: KOREAN

NATIONALITY :: KOREAN

BIRTHPLACE :: ANDONG, SOUTH KOREA

HOMETOWN :: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

SEXUALITY :: HETEROSEXUAL

RELATIONSHIP STATUS :: TAKEN

LANGUAGES :: KOREAN, CHINESE, JAPANESE, ENGLISH, THAI

𐚁 PHYSICAL

FACECLAIM :: PARK 'GO WON' CHAEWON

GENDER :: CIS FEMALE

HEIGHT :: 163 CM (5’4″)

WEIGHT :: 44 KG (97 LBS)

BLOOD TYPE :: B

VOICECLAIM :: KIM SIHYEON (EVERGLOW)

DANCECLAIM :: CHAEYOUNG (FROMIS_9)

𐚁 CAREER

LABEL :: SM ENTERTAINMENT (2014-PRESENT)

GROUP :: AESPA (에스파)

SUB-UNIT :: N/A

POSITION :: LEAD VOCALIST & LEAD DANCER

𐚁 AESPA UNIVERSE

OFFICIAL ANIMAL :: FOX

OFFICIAL SYMBOL :: FLOWER 🌸

OFFICIAL NUMBER :: 7

OFFICIAL ABILITY :: CODEBREAKER

OFFICIAL WEAPON :: DIGITAL INTERFACE GLOVES

AVATAR: AE-ALICE

𐚁 FACTS

SHE WAS ORIGINALLY CONSIDERED THE LEADER OF THE GROUP.

HER STAGE NAME "ALICE" WAS CHOSEN OUT OF SEVERAL DIFFERENT CANDIDATES. OTHERS INCLUDED 엔야/ENYA, SOPHIE, 보다/BODA (TO WATCH), & 한비/HANBI (ONE RAINDROP).

HER ROLE MODEL IS GIRLS' GENERATION MEMBER TAEYEON.

ALICE'S STAGE NAME MEANS "NOBLE" IN GERMAN.

ALICE WANTS TO INTRODUCE A NEW VILLAIN TO AESPA'S STORYLINE. SHE HAS 3 IDEAS BUT WANTS TO KEEP THEM TO HERSELF.

ALICE'S FAVORITE ERA IS BLACK MAMBA SINCE IT WAS THE FIRST SONG TO MEET MYs.

SHE IS INCREDIBLE CHARGE OF ELEGANCE IN THE GROUP.

SHE AND KARINA ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR SIMILAR FACES , NETIZENS CALL THEM MY-ALICERINA.

SHE PREFERS THEIR GIRL CRUSH CONCEPT THAN THEIR INNOCENT CONCEPT.

[shitpostingkats]

Pinning Down Every Shinjuku Reapers Hanafuda Suit

In The World Ends With You, there are a total of twelve (named) reapers, each corresponding to a member of the chinese zodiac. They continue this design philosophy in NEO, with all of the Shinjuku reapers being based off a different suit of Hanafuda.

Let's start with the ones we know.

(post does contain spoilers)

Tsugumi - January, Crane

Conveniently, most of the reaper's birth months point to their suit, as well as their noise forms, for the ones that have them. Tsugumi is a new years baby, and Grus Cantus is from the hikari card. (Each suit is divided into four cards, with higher point cards being marked with an animal or object, and I'm gonna be honest, this is about all I know. This post is not a comprehensive guide for how to play hanafuda.)

Ayano - May, Iris

Skipping forward a few months, we have Ayano, born May 18th, and using the iris. Every suit, along with having a month associated with it, also has a plant, which is used on every card in the suit. Ayano is pretty much the only reaper who uses her suits flower, rather than an image from a hikari or tane card.

Shiba - June, Butterflies

Born June 21, his noise form is butterflies. Not much to say. I guess I could point out how he's the only of three reapers who wears a symbol of his suit inspiration on his non-noise-form person (necklace). The other two are:

Susukichi - October, Deer

The deer skull is on his tshirt, as well as being able to see a little of his tattoos, which we see later is also a stylized skull and antlers. Birthday matches; October 13th.

Hazuki - December, Phoenix

Ah, the mysterious Haz. The first of our reapers to have a birth month that does not match his hanafuda inspiration. (According to the official guidebook, his birthday is May 5th)While the Phoenix Cantus isn't his noise form, it is mentioned in the secret reports that he is the one responsible for shaping the soul pulvis into that form. Also, like our previous two reapers, he wears his motif on his civilian clothes, in the little phoenix symbols on his jacket. Him being a phoenix is also likely to make him a further foil to Joshua, as they both are the only mythological animals in their respective groups.

Now lets get into the less clear cut ones.

Minamimoto - July, Boar

I know what you're thinking! "Minamimoto isn't a Shinjuku reaper! Also, he isn't a boar, he's a catboy." Undoubtedly true. But he is used caught up in their scheme, purposefully absorbing the soul pulvis and afterwards Leo Cantus manifests with tusks and a snout. What even more interesting is it's very likely his original noise form was a boar as well. But a boar from the chinese zodiac. While he is a lion in the original game, a lion kinda clashes with the Shibuya hierarchy. And between Sho being process-of-elimination the pig, as well as setting up during week two in Pork City. Which could imply that Leo Cantus Armo is a regression to a more berserk and less enlightened state, literally sending Minamimoto back to his roots, before he radicalized and broke away from the Shibuya Reapers.

Kubo - August, Geese

Like Haz, Kubo doesn't have a noise form, but he does have strong narrative ties to the Soul Pulvis, which manifest as a flock of aggressive birds that fly in a V formation. Also, his birthday is August 14.

According to Nomura, Kubo was added late in the writing process. Initially, Nomura wanted to add two characters, but the writer gave him a concerned look, so he settled for just Kubo. Not only is this incredibly funny, we'll be looping back to this.

Hishima - September, Sake Cup

His surname, Sakazuki, is actually the name of the specific sake cup pictured in the September suit. It's the one you see in used in cermonial exchanging of sake, like weddings or yazuka deals. Considering his subplot with Shiba, themes like "brotherhood" and "marriage" are pretty fitting. Once again, the birth month matches: September 7th.

Shoka - November, Swallow

Asterisk. Once again, the cat themed characters of Shibuya have it complicated.

Shoka's birthday is March 30, which is the suit of the cherry blossom. This is further supported by her surname being Sakurane, which was originally made for the protagonist of NEO, to go with Neku's surname being Sakuraba. However the name was given to Shoka as they thought it fit her better. Internally, she is sort of a dual protagonist, being labelled in the data as ch002 and getting billing right after Rindo's actor in the credits.

But her online alias of Swallow points pretty directly to the November suit, and its tane card which features a Swallow. As mentioned earlier, Nomura initially wanted one more Shinjuku reaper character than we end up seeing in the game, so its possible Shoka got some design elements merged together from two different suits so as to not waste any creative material. Or she's just meant to be both and I'm overthinking it.

Kaie - Febuary, Plum Blossom, Warbling White-Eye

We've got ten out of twelve suits catagorized! This, unfortunately, means we are gonna have to start making some guesses.

Kaie's birth month is no help, being November, where Shoka is already using the Swallow symbolism. If we're continuing the tradition of using animal cards, Kaie is either the warbler or the cuckoo. I'm gonna be honest folks, I'm partial to the warbler just because of Kaie's eyebags.

Anyone else see it?

Also, "warbling" could be a a reference to Kaie's preference to not speak, because while he communicates mostly through text, he does have a few voicelines near the end of the game, which shows us his voice is quiet and with a little bit of a stutter. Also, it leaves the last suit open for:

Tsugumi's brother - April, Wisteria, Cuckoo

I bet you thought I forgot about him! Yes, our last suit is the April suit, represented by hanging wisteria and the cuckoo.

Cuckoo's are, for better or for worse, famous for their brood parasitism: a cuckoo will lay its eggs in another birds nest, and when it hatches, the young cuckoo chick will attempt to push all the other eggs out, so it can have the parents sole attention. Tsugumi and her brothers' relationship does not seem anything like that, but it is worth noting that they are only reapers who are related. I think the cuckoo's parasitism is more likely a reference to how her brother was a high-ranking Shinjuku reaper who nonetheless "betrayed" the hierarchy and tried to defy Haz's schemes.

Wisteria is a symbol of love, longevity, and endurance. His final act in death was to protect his sister, ensuring she would survive.

[imthepunchlord]

Expanded Miraculous Changes to Canon Miraculous

So with this post, it sent me down a little rabbit hole just thinking about Chinese Miraculous and how they're set up, and this want to just, try and make them work. Make them make sense.

As one of the big major issues for Miraculous is that, they just exist. And that's it. Only thing we truly know is that they, for sure, are meant to be used for good, and were used to help humanity.

But we don't have anything on why. Why are certain Miraculous grouped together? Why are Ladybug and Cat yin-yang? Why are the 5 specifically based on Wu Xing? Why are the Seven grouped together? Why are the Zodiac grouped together? Did they come before or did they inspire the Legend of the Zodiac Race? What is the role of all Miraculous? What do these groups do that's different from each other?

We just don't have these answers.

So the idea behind this post is to just, delve into plausible lore and given some idea. Some of which will just work off what I've thought about before.

The Zodiac

The Zodiac I think would've best served working off individual growth. Tying them to virtues could be great as there are a lot of virtues out there, but there's also a lot that are similar in meaning. And it can work off the Zodiac tied to personality traits and certain animals embody certain virtues, like Dog can be tied to Loyalty, Rooster to Honesty, Pig to Wisdom, Ox to Determination, Goat to Creativity, ect..

It can nicely add to what Zodiac should go to who, who needs to learn these virtues.

The Bagua

Since The Shanghai Special brought up the Prodigious tied to Bagua, which is apart of Taoism and tied to Wu Xing and yin-yang, and it was a prior concept plan for Miraculous; Bagua did feel fitting to be Miraculous and apart of the Chinese Miracle Box. It does expand the numbers, bumping the 19 to 27/28, but there is also solid background to work off of that can make it plausible to exist. Additionally, there are a few animals that should exist as Miraculous when tied to China that have yet to appear (like Bear, Crane, Deer, Lion, Mantis, and Eagle).

Core idea is that these Miraculous would bring forth what Bagua represents, covering what people may want or what they need.

Bear represents family, ancestry, and foundation. It comes to assist those who feel isolated.

Fish is tied to wealth, prosperity, and opportunity. Coming to those who are in need of financial aid.

Songbird is tied to reputation, expression, and fame. Coming to those who desire to be known or to change perspective.

Crane is tied to romantic love, union, and kinship; seeking to be the matchmaker and to help those desire love find love.

Deer is tied to creativity, inspiration, and projects; to help boost productivity, find inspiration, and inspire creation (it does technically stand for children and the future, but it's not easy to do a Miraculous power related to that).

Eagle is tied to travel, community, and guidance. Working off those in need of freedom, connection, or a change of pace.

Lion is tied to purpose, change, and ambition; helping those find their calling.

Mantis is tied to knowledge, learning, and wisdom; seeking to help those expand their perspective.

The maybe bonus, Snake (with Sass made to be a Cobra instead), the possible unofficial 9th member of the Bagua, reflecting balance, duality, vitality, and energy. Comes to those in need of harmony or energy. Partly incorporated Snake as it's one of those animals that has a lot to it and you could do a lot with, so might be nice to have more for it. It's a reason I dabble in the snake renling yesterday. And given the 9th slot of Bagua represents yin-yang, I thought of a possible additional unique role this could play...

The Seven

The Seven I'm thinking should have the role tied to being THE defenders and preservers of humanity, fighting for the greater good and keeping balance. Typically, the focus is fighting for the greater good, and individual growth and needs aren't as prioritized (you can still learn and grow with them, it's just not a kwami priority in contrast to the Zodiac and Bagua kwamis).

And to play off yin-yang exists everywhere, and Wu Xing is heavily tied to the concept and goes through cycles, the idea is that, as a safeguard against the wish, who are the wish granting duo will alternate by lunar year, and all would have themes to work off recreating reality:

Ladybug and Cat are Creation and Destruction.

Butterfly and Bee are Chaos and Order.

Fox and Peafowl are Deception and Truth.

Turtle doesn't have a set counterpart in the Seven, and instead is meant to be the mediator and peacekeeper between conflicting pairs.

Potentially, Turtle could also be a key in undoing a wish, and if there's the unofficial 9th member of Bagua that is the Snake, that could be Turtle's counterpart and help undo a wish made.

If this Snake was more Ouroborus themed (and Sass was more music based), given power ideas I had in mind for Turtle, these two could echo Time and Space. Which can be big enough concepts you can get them being split into two different groups, but you can also get them having the ability to undo a recreate reality.

Extra bonus that Turtle and Snake are a pair in Chinese mythology, commonly counted together in the Four Symbols.

And both are tied to creation myths in China, which has another turtle and snake mentioned together with Nuwa (creator goddess who is a human headed snake) and Ao (world turtle); though their relation isn't so pleasant in contrast to the Black Turtle.

To those who stopped to read, thanks for reading. Hopes this helps give something more to Miraculous and the groups that exist/can exist. As I feel all Miraculous are lacking in individuality and it wouldn't hurt to have defined rolls or purpose to them.

[pseudowho]

HIHI Haitch! I’m glad to hear that @mrhaitch is forcing you to rest! (I also try to work while sick but oddly enough I don’t really get sick often but when I do it incapacitates me for about 3 days, so I end up trying to get up then, I feel dizzy before falling back down with a sigh). Today I have double the FUN FACTS!

Does Mr Haitch call you pet names? If yes which is your favourite?

Can you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE call Mr Haitch some sickly stupid corny pet name and tell us how he reacts? Using specifically a mix of emojis? (Something like: “my sweet honey man”)

What is your favourite formal wear outfit? To wear

FUN FACTS: there is a type of reptile thing that shoots blood out of its eyes as a defence mechanism. Like western zodiac signs Chinese zodiac has different traits assigned to each zodiac. But they also have certain luck and other traits assigned to the specific year of which zodiac you were born in. One of my nieces is a golden pig which is supposed to be super lucky

He's been a good egg, the kids have been especially intense this week! I'm so sorry I'm so slow responding to these, compared to Mr.Haitch 💀

I do not share petname use info...sorry, that's a private and intimate detail to me!

I actually called him 'babycakes' this morning but he COMPLETELY IGNORED ME, so there's your answer, apparently as his wife I'm not even worth listening to.

I have a high waisted bottle green pencil skirt, and a black cleavage cut-out, with sheer long sleeved turtleneck, with a pair of stockings and black heels. I usually add in my gold glasses chain, and look like a sexy librarian.

I did not know either of these and that's really cool!

[tamaruaart]

Honestly I want you to go more into detail about the dynamic your ocs share:>

Hohohoho thank you doppel, ama have FUN with this one!

So for this, I decided to Choose Wukong and Zhaoyan's dynamic, mostly because it's really lore heavy.

The whole shtick of their dynamic is:

"Opposites who you'd think could never be similar to one another, until you realize how similar they actually are when you start reading in between the lines."

From the surface, yeah, they'd never get along (again). Zhao's a relaxed magic lady. While Wukong is a loud demon. And also, the Chinese Zodiacs of the monkey and tiger are specifically stated not to get along very well haha

(Not to mention fashion wise they're also supposed to be opposites, with Zhao's fashion being elegant and feminine while Wukong's literally in armour most of the time)

And just the fact they get on each other's nerves a lot. Zhao's bitch-y-ness and hypocrisy (reasonably) get on Wukong's nerves. And Wukong's recklessness and just the general fact he's pretty frustrating, get on Zhao's nerves.

But they're actually a lot more similar.

Both in looks (orange hair, golden eyes), association with the sun (Wukong's aesthetic with the sun and the tiger's association with weather elements in Chinese culture. Zhao's being the sun), but also in their flaws.

Both run away when they make mistakes. And it's gotten to the point where they're even running togheter methinks.

But the difference is, Wukong stops running and actually starts facing his flaws. While Zhao just chooses to live her life alone, as the witch doesn't have the will to try and rekindle everything that's happened.

But when MK comes along, she HAS to face her problems. And though she doesn't realize it, it's the best thing that has happened to her. Because it also gets her closer to Wukong, and they start realizing their shared flaws internally and they become one of my fave duos

Because they still dislike each other of course- But now it's more lighthearted. But that development is SLOW, I think in Zhao's story they only start progressing in like, late season 3.

I also love their dynamic in general- The wine aunt and Apple Juice uncle as I love to call it! It's my favorite trope afjjfkfmkfk be it platonic or romantic (Zhao and Wukong AREN'T supposed to be in love but I'm actually neutral about it because some of my irl friends ship it)

And yeah that's it about em lololol, there's a LOT of (admittedly poorly executed) symbolism in their dynamic and I really like talking about them :D

Feel free to send in more asks lmao