#EDIT: OOPS THEY WERE IN THE WRONG ORDER AHA

[a-wandering-ghoulette]

Copia as Papa: the blue papal ensemble first thoughts

I won't beat about the bush: I’m convinced the color is important. We’re used to Popes in black (yeah PE1 wore white, but can't we agree it’s not that surprising?) and now we have this strange bird showing off. So much can be said about this color! Let me add “few” things which, to me, seem accurate or would have personnaly inspired me in the choice of this color, based on the middle age, plague-ish and Renaissance theme following Copia so far:

First of all, starting from the XIIth century blue is a new, trending color, symbol of wealthyness and aristocracy. Deep and vivide tons are the most expensive. It’s said blue colors used to be more expensive than those using gold powder.

During the XIIth century, blue already tended to replace black even in the funeral rite and religious objects.

Catholics didn't accepted the use of blue that easily. Wearing blue was considered as a surge of pride. Actually, they didn’t really care about what people wore but still, it was unworthy of a good Christian. It was a true moral fight opposing the big bad blue of the nobles and Protestants to the imperious red and discreet black of the Christianity.

Copia as a Cardinal often wore red and black, traditional colors, and seemed a little bit clumsy and oopsy oops sorry Nihil aha ‘living now byebye~. Now he’s in blue and he’s the new Pope and he's like eh there can be only 1 Pope, shoo~! Mere coincidences, most certainly, but I wanted to highlight this.

After the Black Plague strucked Europe, wearing blue wasn’t well seen. First, because it’s expensive to produce and european countries are ruined. So decreats were made to stop this hunger for luxurious textile goods. Secondo, ethic: to keep a christian tradition of modesty and righteousness. Young people and women were targeted and repression on innovative ideas were made bc they were “disturbing the established order and moral”. Finally, ideology: a need to initiate segregation between classes and genders. To maintain strong barriers and avoid mixes between classes is a priority and the outfit -the complexity + color- is the first sign of social classification. To break these borders, it’s to break the order desired by God, which is both dangerous (boooo fear the return of the plague!) and sacrilagious.

About the Holy Mary™ (bc I saw posts about that and I know some of you are just joking around and it’s 100% okay! I’m adding that for those who may want/need more infos). Blue started to be associated to Mary during the XIIIth century, and let's be honest, the most noticeable symbolism in that is they used an expensive pigment to depict Mary bc she is a very important biblical figure. Blue wasn’t that valorised symbolicaly speaking at the time, it was too early, not trending enough yet.

So according to me, here Copia is basically showing off all his pride to the eyes of the world and most certainly his will to be a great leader, while sticking with this idea of “death” surrounding him since he first appeared. He’s totally breaking the habits established so far (it already started with Prequelle released. I meaaaan....!!!).

(For the most curious soul: read the book Blue-The History of a Color by Michel Pastoureau. Good shit, well written and documented!)

If I can easily speculate on the color and complexity of his ensemble, when it comes to the embroidery I admit I don't have brain Brig enough lol. However, I instinctively want to shout: “I see astronomy mixed to alchemy here, all followed by Baroque like arabesque, aaaah!!”, but I wonder: what’s going on here?

The first thing I spotted is the G ending on a star, as if it’s pointing at it, wanting us to look at it closely. Indeed, it guide our eyes to it. Is there a comparison to do with Ursa Major and the North star?  I’m kinda confused bc of its look. The symetrical shapes makes sens with the whole aesthetic of the outfit, but the G doesnt look like anything else on this ensemble. Everything is full of arabesque or fine lines, and here we have a thick sharp shaped G (and is it silver or blue? I wanna see HD close ups! ;;). Don’t get me wrong, I think it looks super cool! I’m simply confused because I feel like I’m missing the point here. I’m curious to see what you think about it! (EDIT rightafterpostingthis: Wait, constellation ! I'm stupid aha, it's a constallation.)

We also have this:

I instinctively see cardinal points and the compass rose. Very important when you observe the sky. Again, with the G pointing at the star, this symbol bring the notion of direction, discovery, travel, guiding us/ourself. It’s a tool meant to help us... And the G is centered. But let’s not speculate more than necessary, it’s a bit too early for that.

Alchemy, the Heptagrams :

I don’t know much about them tbh. It’s some good alchemy stuff, about universe and perfection, and it’s also used in occultism/paganism, and catholicism (7 days of the creations + protection against... the evil?).

About the stones. Lot of blue ones apparently. Let’s say it’s meant to be saphirres: stones use to make amulet for travellers, protection against the plague and various nervous illness and such. Note that “saphirre” also refered to “lazulis” during Renaissance(people were confusing them. Both blue stone, can't blame them). Another reason why blue is such an important color here! Fun fact: saphirre also symbolize honesty, fidelity and truth.

Overall, the ensemble looks like a mystic map of the sky and I just love it! These notions also go along with my idea that Copia's character development is bases on Middle Age/Renaissance humanism and opening of minds toward the world, letting go of old beliefs. I mostly linked it with astronomy and alchemy, with historical/social bacground, but I’m pretty sure people into astrology and paganism will surely have a lot to say as well! Let’s see what others interpretations you’ll come with... And what Tobias actually has in mind!

[animaniachan]

A3! Act 3 Episode 9 Summary

Please read through this note before you start reading the summary!

whhhhew, finally finished episode 9 and THE EMOTIONS ARE ROLLING-😭😭

but ofc being the maniac that i am ive decided to provide a full summary of episode 9 for those who are interested!

Be warned that this is MAJOR STORY SPOILERS so i would recommend you be at least finished act 2 and all the events leading up to it before you read this. Otherwise you’ll probably have a hard time understanding the full context of things.

The last note I want to make is that this won’t be a detail-for-detail summary! I still want to keep things decently vague so people can still have the joy of experiencing the story for themselves while still providing adequate information to clear up any confusions and speculations. This summary will basically be a rough outline of the story that highlights some of the major events that went on. This summary will follow the order of how the episode played out, all the events will be listed in order.

Ofc, if anybody has any specific questions regarding the story that they want clarified or just simply want to discuss episode 9: always feel free to shoot in an ask or dm me! I’m always happy to provide with information and/or rant about these precious boys!

Well, without further ado, here y’all go~~

WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG POST AND MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD~

the new groups of people now are the following:

High schoolers- Yuki/Muku/Azami/Kumon

Yosei University- Juza/Tsuzuru/Tenma/Taichi

Amabi- Kazunari/Banri

Adult group is still adult group~~

Apparently Tenma’s parents decided it would be a good idea to let him attend university so it was decided on the spot that he would be going through exams. He had to get Chikage to tutor to barely scrape by passing bc of how busy he was. Taichi on the other hand....Tsumugi the GOAT-

Omi now works as a professional photographer through a job his friend introduced him to.

Masumi decided to go to Fuyou University which is Tasuku and Tsumugi’s old university to study. Misumi’s brother, Madoka, also studies there. Although Madoka does not look like it, he’s actually 19... I know...

Azami decided to attend the same high school as Kumon which warms my heart honestly bc it just showed how good of friends they’ve become <3~~ Here’s his new uniform look <333

not sure how i feel about the red hoodie but eh, boy can pull it off so it doesn’t matter aha~

Guy is apparently opening up a new Zahra style bar with the help of the winter troupe members such as Homare who introduced him to an interior design company (same company that installed that brick wall in his room orz). Hisoka will also be helping out in Guy’s bar.

The entirety of Reni’s backstory (5 episodes in total) which describe his initial meeting with Yukio during high school to how they built Mankai together was described through the format of portraits (the autumn troupe signature). HIs backstories are basically just narrations of Act 3 1/2 if any of you read that when it was first posted.

Reni’s real name is apparently “Kamikizaka Reiji” and “Reni” is a nickname that Yukio gave him in high school bc Yukio thought that his real name was too hard to write out in kanji and pronounce lolol.

Reni keeps a journal which documents his time with Yukio (basically Act 3 1/2) in a safe in his office.

Kasumi’s nickname back in the day was apparently “Juriko”: stems from “Juliette” and “ko” which is a way to feminize someone’s name in Japanese. This was because he was the crossdresser that had to play Juliette in the OG spring troupe RomiJuri- heh.

 Shifuto is now the new “top” in GOD Troupe after Tasuku and Haruto who got demoted.

FRIEND ANGST BETWEEN AZAMI AND SHIFUTO HNGHHH and that’s all I’m willing to say oop-

GOD Troupe challenged Mankai to an act-off once again and this time appointed Tsumugi as the lead and Tasuku to be in the play and the theme as “devil” and thus...Devil Tsumugi was born.

The company was initially debating on whether to accept the challenge or not but Tsumugi and Taichi desperately wanted to show Reni who they have become as an actor and prove him wrong on all the things he’s said to them. Basically, everyone who was casted for this play had their own reasons on why they wanted to act.

Misumi’s dad’s name is revealed to be “Kusumi” which literally means nine-points/sides and I- top 10 betrayals? I was certain that his name will have something to do with a square but apparently not-

Although it was briefly revealed during Sky Pirates, Misumi’s dad is the official script writer for GOD Troupe. However, it is shown here that he has absolutely no talent in writing so what he does is get Madoka to act as his ghostwriter and write for him.

Hence this birthed Madoka’s complex of wanting to write in his own free will and not under the control of his father. Since everything he writes gets “edited” by his father but everything his father edited gets rejected by Reni and so Madoka has to fix it himself anyways.

Returning to backstory, Reni revealed that Yukio legit went to visit Misumi’s grandpa (Hakkaku) as a senior high school student to ask him for a script. As a note, Hakkaku was already a very famous script writer at that time and age wise he is about what both their dads would be. Ofc he was refused many times but Yukio wouldn’t give up and would not stop pestering Hakkaku until he finally caved in.

Honestly I loved the autumn and winter troupe dynamic throughout this entire episode- just the way they supported Taichi and Tsumugi is just-

Kumon had to act as the mediator between Azami and Shifuto to try and recover their friendship and the entire process was hilarious.

Yukio and Reni were actually Yuzo and Kasumi’s high school seniors at Nanakusa High. Yuzo was the “ghost member” that was only member of drama club in-name only that was mentioned earlier.

NAMIKAWA DAISUKE’S VOICE IN KASUMI- *deaded counter x1* as a tiny side note: i realized half way through that Tezuka (Reni), Sanada (Yuzo), and Ootori (Kasumi) were in the same high school together bc of their seiyuus. This is for my TeniPuri fans out there haha~~

During their last performance in high school, Yukio and Reni got boycotted by the other junior members right before their play. Reni ended up forcing a reluctant Yukio to go at speak act out the monologue Hakkaku provided for them and everybody ended up being overwhelmed by Yukio’s performance.

This is what ended up making Reni dedicate his post high school life creating Mankai with Yukio, he wants to see Yukio act on stage again. He describes Yukio’s acting as “someone who was chosen by God” and even went as far as using his own money his parents gave him when they kicked him out (strict family bs) to build the initial theatre while they both worked part-time. Reni was the one who designed the entire theatre according to Yukio’s wishes to “make it long lasting”. However, Yukio revealed to him that he has no desire to stand on stage again and instead wants to make others “full bloom”, this invoked a sense of betrayal in Reni.

Reni was also the one who recruited Syu, his childhood friend, into the theatre. From there on, Yuzo and Kasumi also joined. Kasumi was revealed to also be garbage at acting at first but Yukio appointed him as lead for their first play nonetheless.

There is apparently some outside force wanting to ruin Mankai as they even went as far as stealing a part of Tsuzuru’s script and provided it to Misumi’s dad who ended up plagiarizing. It is later revealed that Reni had nothing to do with this so it is currently unknown who the main perpetrator is.

 In order to get a better grasp on his devil character, Tsumugi opted to spend one day with each of the other winter troupe members (Homare, Hisoka, and Azuma) individually. This is to get more insight from people who had lived such different lives and accumulated such different experiences. Honestly, one of the most heartwarming moments ever.

MY ANGST MAN IS HERE WITH HIS FIRST APPEARANCE!!! SAKURAI TAKAHIRO’S VOICE OMGGGGG *deaded counter x2*

He met Tsumugi in front of the GOD Theatre and asked him to “save” Reni.

On the day of the performance, Tsumugi and Taichi decided to walk to the theatre. They met Banri and Juza along the way who were planning to do a street act to release some energy. On their way, they ended up being surrounded by numerous punks who were presumably sent by the same outside force who stole Tsuzuru’s script.

The night before the actual performance, the plagiarism was revealed to both sides and both sides were just as much caught off guard by this. Reni, however, refused to change the direction of the play since it was too risky as the performance is the next day. However, Shifuto refused to act out something that is plagiarized since he promised Azami that they would have a “fair fight like men”.

And so, he managed to convince Haruto to use Madoka’s script that he has written for the first time according to free will and changed the entire play in one night. With the help of Haruto’s authority, they managed to do it in time. (I’ve failed to mention this until now but these three has been building up chemistry all through out this episode and im so down for them tbh)

Banri told Juza to take Tsumugi and Taichi and go ahead while he stays behind to try and buy some time alone against all the men. Just when Banri was in a tight spot due to power in number...

BAM THIS OLD MAN COMES IN AND SAVES THE DAY!! by now y’all already know... YASUMOTO HIROKI’S VOICE HAAAAAAAAAH *deaded counter x3*

After Banri revealed to Zen that he was autumn troupe leader of Mankai, Zen gave him a card of his restaurant, “Gentiana” and promised to treat them to a meal there afterwards.

Costume reveal for GOD Troupe. Honestly, I love the chemistry that was built throughout this episode between Shifuto, Haruto, and Madoka. Haruto really did give out redeeming qualities and i don’t dislike him as much as before aha (even tho he is still a snob) and I acknowledge him as a character. Madoka’s script consisted of two characters and basically talks about two estranged brothers (his way of writing down his guilt for towards Misumi)

Costume reveal for Mankai as many of you probably have seen already- devil tsumugi and sexy tasuku is just-

 In terms of actual in-game plays, this was the second play that I’ve actually cried at, the first being Clockwork. Super emotional and well-written play and certainly it draws a lot of parallels to Sympathy for the Angel.

SAME RENI...JUST-SAME. TT

After the performances...i won’t reveal who won and by how much but Reni did officially apologize for all his past actions as he was reminded of his passion for acting through this play. Izumi thought this too but it is hard to 100% forgive him bc of the pain he’s brought on all the members.

He revealed why he quit Mankai, it was bc he and Yukio had become so divided that if he had stayed, the entire balance of Mankai would fall to ruins. He actually came to the conclusion to leave after being trapped in the time loop with Yukio for about three days aha~

Reni decided to create GOD Troupe bc he wanted them to win the Fleur Awards first and crush Mankai, that way, he may have the chance one day to accepted a lost Yukio in his troupe as an actor and not a director (obsessed much my dude??)

The last part of the episode is Reni wanting to talk to Izumi about the Ikaruga family and being invited to Mankai Dorms as a result. There he reminisced the days with the OGs before we are left with a cliffhanger-

Even though he only talked for two lines but ONO DAISUUUUKE~~~ *deaded counter x4*

The very last scenes showcased how the OGs are starting to come back together as they will be getting involved with the new Mankai members.

THIS OLD MAN LEGIT WENT AND HELPED THEM PICK CABBAGE I-

LOOK AT THIS EXPRESSION HE IS SO PRECIOUS-

~❀❀❀~

that concludes the rough summary of episode 9! i...this was an ordeal to get through aha and sorry for it ended up being such a long post...It was inevitable bc this episode consisted of 39 chapters. 

Honestly im so dead by the end of this that i didnt have the heart to check for any grammar mistakes so there’re probably quite a few that i ask you kindly to just ignore~ 🥺🥺

now, time to dig a hole and cry until episode 10 comes out...☠️😇😭