#ENA5 MENTION

[coro-sg]

Cooking up this random block tales au through a dream so here goes nothing (I remember nothing else)

The ghostwalker makes flowers bloom like after the demo 3 and the flower is cherry blossoms (ena5 player and kyoko) (the venomshank made Griefer into a literal Venus flytrap 😭)

YESYEYSYEYS

The good effect of the Ghostwalker

[mimikyuno]

let's talk about the mizuena costumes from ena5!! because!! there's so much to say!!

let's start with the cards composition overall. the trained versions clearly are meant to complete each other and mizuki and ena are clearly facing each other; we can infer this from the lighting, the background, and the composition. ena extends her hand to mizuki, and mizuki smiles openly at her. they are both crying out of happiness and love. as many have already pointed out, when mizuki's card is placed on the left, the cherry trees and the girls' silhouettes form a heart shape 🩷

just as their cards complete and perfectly mirror the other, so do their costumes. in the lighting of the cards, the costumes seem completely white (*cough* mizuena wedding real *cough*), however, they are have accents in a lighter shade of their character color (beige for ena, and pink for mizuki). both ena and mizuki are wearing a wreath of white cherry blossoms and leaves.

mizuki's main headpiece is on the left side of her head, while ena's is on the right. both headpieces feature two white cherry blossoms, close to each other, embraced by cherry leaves. the headpieces and their location complete and mirror each other. both ena and mizuki have a second, smaller headpiece, for both of them on the right side of her head. both the smaller headpieces feature one lonely cherry blossom, which for ena is surrounded by 6 leaves, whereas for mizuki only by 2 leaves.

their earrings also match/mirror each other!! ena has one earring with an incomplete cherry blossom with only 2 petals on her right ear, whereas mizuki has a fully bloomed cherry blossom earring on her left ear. on ena's left ear is an earring that again, features a cherry blossom with only 2 petals and a single leaf. the same earring, but whose cherry blossom only has 1 petal, appears on mizuki's right ear. it's like they got 2 sets of earrings and split them between them!! and they mirror so well! god!!

now let's move down. their dresses match, however they are very different, and showcase their personalities and hobbies. ena's dress has beige accents, and the beige belt reminds me a bit of the painter outfits ena has already got (e.g. the outfit for ena1 or her colofes outfit). mizuki's dress has pink accents, in the form of a pink bow that calls back to her hobby of creating clothes.

on their chests, is a big butterfly. both butterflies only have one wing that is colored, whereas the other is white. again, they complete one another. as someone pointed out, whereas ena's butterfly is completely pink, mizuki's fades from blue to pink. across cultures (including japan), butterflies symbolize change and transformation, and mizuki has often been shown with a butterfly motif. now, everyone in the set (ena, meiko, kanade, and mafuyu) also proudly display a butterfly on their clothes. they know now.

butterflies have many symbolic meanings in japanese culture, but i would like to point this specific meaning out, please cry with me. giving mizuena beautiful white dresses with two butterflies whose wings complete each other...... oh im unwell.

another element from the outfits that matches are the rings that mizuki and ena are wearing on their index finger (on the right for ena, and on the left for mizuki, mirroring one another). the rings are identical, and feature a pink cherry blossom and a silver band. in hanakotoba (japanese language of flowers), cherry blossoms typically mean kindness, gentleness, and stand as a symbol of the transience of life. im literally crying typing this... ena's kindness and gentleness truly reached her and crystallized in matching rings spare mee

notice how meiko (the only other character with a wearable outfit from the set) isn't wearing a ring, and neither are kanade and mafuyu in their 3* and 2* cards respectively. which you know. could mean nothing.

both ena's and mizuki's dress features 4 cherry blossoms on a branch. again! they! mirror! ena's blossoms are on the right side of her dress, whereas mizuki's are on the left. ena's blossoms rise up, and mizuki's run down.

both the backs of their dresses feature an opening (wider for ena and smaller for mizuki), bolder accents in their character color, and matching bows located at the same height. ena's bow is tied together with a pair of white cherry blossoms, and so are her braids... she loves mizuki so much. im okay.

they match down to their shoes!! ena's shoes (on the left) have pink laces and cherry blossom petals and overall pink accents, whereas mizuki's socks are beige.

now let's talk about meiko's dress. for meiko, the butterfly is not on the front of her dress, but on the back. on the front, she has two branches with cherry blossoms. bith branches feature a pair of blossoms, which i like to think represent mizuki/ena and mafuyu/kanade respectively.

as someone already pointed out, meiko's asymmetrical hairstyle seems to call back to ena's and mizuki's default hairstyles: ena's braid and mizuki's long and wavy side hair.

anyway. love is real. i wonder if they are holding the wedding ceremony at the lone cherry tree where niigo went to for their first mystery tour. 🌸🌸🌸🌸

[flipitkickit]

nemonemo nemonemo sign !!!

@sillymizu-13 for you babygirl

[project-sekai-facts]

I'm just gonna leave this here because I feel like I should say something. Mizuki is trans, I still agree with the stuff I said a month ago. Did they say it in the story? No. Were they ever going to say it in the story? Well it seemed like I was but they just pulled the most insane 4 year queerbait.

Did people warn me? Yes, and I probably should've listened more, but from a writer's perspective what happened in Ena5 is very stupid so I had a little bit more hope for clpl. Confining any sort of actual coming out scene to a card story and fading to black over the actual reveal is honestly just cruel. Not to mention that Mizuki's bio is probably locked as "gender: ?".

Mizuki is still a trans character and trans representation, though the lack of actual confirmation really sours her story. Especially since the only indirect confirmation of her identity as a woman comes from student a talking to Ena about Mizuki (the whole Ena is a "normal girl" thing). Having Mizuki being robbed of her chance to come out by transphobes, and never resolving this so her bullies are left as the only credible source of her gender is atrocious. Mizuki being outed was a crucial plot point, to never resolve just leaves a bad taste.

It's still a glaring issue that clpl is trying to play both sides here. Which has always been an issue with things like white day and other marketing featuring Mizuki and the boys together. It's just gross that they're still trying to do it now, cutting off the actual reveal of Mizuki's secret and having the characters say "Mizuki is Mizuki", something that's often used by people who want to deny any trans reading, and a new area conversation about Mizuki's voice. Remember that old area convo about Mizuki having a lower voice. It gets referenced in a new one.

The reveal of the secret itself, transness aside, is comedically bad. Project SEKAI's writing isn't exactly amazing by any means, it's pretty basic in the grand scheme of writing, but this is worse than a lot of their other worst offenders. Building up to this big reveal of a secret that is incredibly important to one character's development, only for it not to actually be revealed, and probably never mentioned again, is ridiculous. It feels like a last minute change to ensure mass appeal but I don't know if it was. If it was, they still failed because some fans are dissatisfied that they never got told what it was, regardless of what they think it was.

And no, it's not corporate meddling. Probably. From colopale, maybe, from Sega, honestly probably not. Sega has other franchises and games with queer and specifically trans characters so it's not like Mizuki would be harmful to their brand image. If anyone interfered it was other staff at colopale.

Anyway, I'm not quitting the game and I'll still be running this blog for the time being. Not saying you have to continue playing and I totally understand people who are dropping the game over this. If anyone wants to add their thoughts to this post or send an ask freel free to.

[autistic-autumn]

honestly a lot of the complaints about ena5 and not directly confirming Mizuki is trans feel like they betray a lack literacy when it comes to queer representation. Mizuki being trans isn't really a debatable topic, she just is trans and it's absolutely integral to her story. Refusal to see Mizuki as trans is realistically just refusing to engage with her character at all, and not to mention just blatantly transphobic. The idea the representation where a character explicitly and directly states their identity is more better than their identity being woven as an important part of their story seems like an extremely plain and reductive take on the whole situation. As someone who is transfem, seeing someone like Mizuki who's struggles and conflict is directly a result of her transness is far more meaningful and impactful to me than a lot of the other representation I see. Ena5 was about Ena first and foremost, and Ena reconnecting with Mizuki. Yes Colpal's writing kind of sucks sometimes and there have been point where it could have been handled better but it isn't really a huge lost here I don't think.

[emero0]

Someones said this already- surely- but i cant stop thinking about ruis whole “thank you for giving me a chance to change” mentality

Because its super sweet and all but i dont think either him or tsukasa have realized how much tsukasa has changed because of rui

Like- read main story or even early game tsukasa and then read the most recent (eng or jp)

HES CHANGED SO MUCH and its all because rui humbled him- told him that he’d never be a star—because at that rate, he really wouldnt have—in a moment of pain and hurt because tsukasa was being a bitch towards nene, and also possibly because this great opportunity rui wanted to have was turning out to be a lie

Until tsukasa changed

Realized his behavior and worked to better himself, and (lets be honest) practically begs this guy hes known for maybe 2 months (idk how long the main story takes place) to come back and make shows with him because??? Because tsukasa thinks hes just that good of a director? Or maybe its because ruis the one who made him realize his true dream again and what being a “future star” really means

Not to say rui hasnt changed either, him and mizuki talk a bit about it in ena5 and he mentions it a lot,

I think the wonder halloween event might be the best example

Cus the reason i thought of this post is because i was reading tsukasa side story from that event and MAN is he cocky- like annoyingly so- idk why he was (and still is) my favorite /j

But anyway- i remembered just now that the whole plot of that event is rui learning not to hold himself back, which is a big part of his character development imo

On the other hand, ruis impact on tsukasa is less direct

Like i said its because rui first got him to realize his “true feelings” (as the game calls it), but after that its really all on tsukasa—well not quite-

See- a big part of Tsukasa’s character development is his constant realization of- i guess “his place in the world”

For me personally the phoenix edge event is a good example of him acknowledging it- but i realize it actually started way sooner

In the pop in my heart event- he realized that his acting is so far behind these american (or atleast english speaking) actors who can convey feelings through language barriers

Its his “humbling” arc if you will, he realizes just how far he needs to go, and its not that he’s not confident anymore, but that hes more aware of where his talents lie and isnt overconfident

And this is all stuff he learned more on his own- however: rui still helped propel this growth

He realized in the torpe event (on the stage of dazzling lights i believe-) that he had been holding tsukasa back by typecasting him, and decides to give him more diverse roles as well as let wxs do the play torpe in the first place (because as director, it was his final decision)

But after that—and this applies to all of wxs, but mostly nene+tsukasa—he goes and tries to figure out how to keep wxs together while still giving them the chance to grow as actors and not be confined to a stage

And he succeeds, and off wxs goes to improve!

They (and every character in game i feel) have changed and grown so much and its so awesome to see it happen—and its neat how much theyve influenced each other’s change through it all

So yeah— ruikasa(/p or /r idc) have helped each other grow so much and i hate them with a fiery passion /j

[butterfly-ribbon]

i was thinking about mizuki's gender being listed as unknown again and how everyone else has an explicit mention. people tried to point at that to say she's either not trans OR that she isn't a tgirl (instead a different kind of trans) at some point, but i think that… actively misunderstands the internal intent of the game. like this was done so people wouldn't assume she's a cis girl and i also think there's an active intent in noting that, but not wanting to say "gender = male" bc this would be misgendering (duh) and for a character who's burying so much of her gender struggles bc of how others deny it, i think it makes sense. there's a struggle, i think, in writing and exploring trans narratives that engage with that… question? idk. maybe it would be better if she was just noted as female from the start and i think she's overdue for that especially after ena5, but i also think there's so much nuance in how she's portrayed that i see saying her gender is "?" isn't meant to actually be a declaration of her gender or meant for the reader to question what her gender is.

in many cases, trans girls are already automatically shunted into that expectation of either a fetish or wish fulfillment (which in many ways are the same thing at a certain point) and that's the conceit of her introduction in the main story in terms of how everyone treats her as an exhibition at school - she's fetishistically mythologized and vilified as an Other type of girl, which is something she tries to reclaim by hiding behind the facade of the Mysterious Manic Pixie Dream (Cis) Girl when she's around niigo bc it's the only way she feels like she can be with them without imposing on them or getting close enough to them to the point of having to reveal her secret due to her desire to avoid being hurt. it's wild to me that the consensus in the past about her was that she's anything but a trans girl when the treatment she's subjected to at the school is textbook transmisogyny and this is something we see immediately in the main story.

people are constantly fetishizing her and treating her like an object to be ogled at. she's constantly under the threat of violence. even when she puts so much work into pushing back just through being full of energy and looking "past" it all, they never stop. there's nothing she can do about a society that refuses to recognize her as a person, much like mafuyu can't do anything to change her own mother.

at most she gets told by others that this person is "just not used to her yet". terrible implications all around bc she's made to feel as though people are just putting up with her existence instead of making the effort to understand something that should be simple about who she is, which makes her feel terrible after she's put so much effort into both explaining herself and making herself as palatable as possible?

i think there are some valid criticism to be raised about how marking mizuki as "unknown" and how it might've contributed to people writing her off as "neither a girl nor boy" and the unfortunate parallels with degendering/third sexing therein. if i were to engage in good faith, i'd say the intent is draw attention to mizuki's gender struggles and make the reader interrogate that (and then ideally arriving at the answer being that she's a trans girl), but i still stand by my take that ena5 should've had her refer to herself as a girl explicitly to reclaim the way she was outed previously. it also always felt like the equivalent of mafumom being 'hidden' due to mafuyu's perception of her as a figure of authority rather than a person until kanade saw her for the awful person she is. in this case mizuki's "unknown" is also meant to tie into her own internalized transmisogyny (e.g. referring to herself as an artificial flower in many songs). mizuki herself plays into the degendering she's been subjected to for her entire life in many ways … we know that in the beginning of high school she actually made effort to explain herself to others and they didn't get it? she presumably said that she's a trans girl but she wasn't taken seriously. now she just finds it exhausting to explain anything and she doesn't want to feel like she constantly has to prove that a trans girl is just a type of girl so she's just like "that's me. i do this bc i wanna be me. this is the person i am, why the hell do you think i would do this, why would i dress this way, why would I put up with people like you if it wasn't obvious." i think there's also a lot we can engage with in terms of the presentation of mizuki which is wholly under her own control vs that which is outside of her control... mizuki finds comfort in niigo and connecting with girls over discord bc she can rewrite her life in such a way to as to obscure her own transness like when she narrates her backstory. the fact that the details of her trauma are so carefully hidden carries a strong intent bc it reads as mizuki's renarrativization due to not wanting to get too much into detail about her own trauma? it feels very meta considering mizuki's genre saviness and the fact that most transfeminine narratives tend to indulge in transmisogynistic violence in really voyeuristic ways... we know mizuki had numerous traumatic coming out moments and i think there's so much to read into the ambiguity around this... she's frankly constantly under the treat of SA as well as a trans girl, but i just appreciate that this is something the writing treats respectfully and affords her so much dignity. to be trans in many contexts is to be expected to give over so much of yourself to people who frequently won't care, won't actually understand how much of yourself you're giving over, and will actively rewrite your narrative to define who you are for you based on their own prejudices… and mizuki communicates that well bc she's allowed to be almost wholly in control of her presentation and her narrative.

[not-so-empty-sekai]

kanade and ena both have flower symbolism and mafuyu and mizuki both have butterfly symbolism !!

kanade's fragment sekai is a field of flowers. not to mention carnation recollection which literally has a flower in its name

for ena: sunny field place thing and self portrait surrounded by flowers. also flowers growing in the third card.

in this card, kanade is shown protecting mafuyu, who is depicted as a butterfly

and this is an old image but mizuki is shown as a butterfly in both of the mizu5 and ena5 event titles, the my footprints, your destination event title, and in the our escape for survival event title

she's even shown as a butterfly / fairy in the exciting picnic event

in the this wish will someday cross the morning sky event title (because i like that one better than the actual translation), four butterflies can be seen. i think kanade and ena would be the rounder-winged ones and mafuyu and mizuki would be the pointy-winged ones. idk just a little extra thing i thought was cool

in conclusion: mizuki has a lot more butterfly symbolism than mafuyu and ena has more flower symbolism than kanade. mafuyu has more symbolism with water, apples, masks, bunnies, and sometimes snow. i'm actually still trying to figure out kanade but until then, goodbyeeee

[yuerikoko]

Kanamizu analysis just because!

(Copypasting most of this from twt)

CW: suicide mentions

Similarities

So I see that they’re similar in the sense that they both have a loved one who encourages their passions (music and fashion).

Kanade’s dad inspired her to make music whereas Mizusis encouraged her interest in fashion and cute things.

But then tragedy strikes: Kanade’s dad overworked himself to exhaustion and hospitalization while Mizusis had to leave to study abroad. In the end, they’re now alone— Mizuki becoming more socially isolated up until they met Niigo and the whole secret arc happens whereas Kanade becomes literally more reclusive; only going out when it’s necessary like visiting her father at the hospital.

They also foil Mafuena in the sense that mfen do not have parents who support their true ambition (art and nursing/music) yet found friends who truly care about them and aid them in improving and discovering themselves over time. Knmz both have loving and supportive families but end up being left alone; going out of their way to help others but never having felt/brought themselves to accept (esp in mzk’s case) that warmth and support again. (At least Ena5 has happened for Mzk; I’m not rlly sure about Knd from what I remembered)

“Punishment”

Kanade and Mizuki both have traumatizing events occur to them— both of which heavily influence the trajectory of their lives.

Kanade blames herself for her father’s ordeal— her song had gained him recognition yet that lead him to overworking himself. In the end, Kanade composes in hopes of saving people; she’s punishing herself for it and hopes to atone for it through saving others.

Hence why she was so hellbent on creating a song to save Mafuyu— despite the fact that the latter simply appreciates her support and company as it is.

Mizuki, on the other hand, is paranoid that the people she loves (Ena, Niigo) will turn against her when they discover her secret. And it drags on until she inevitably jinxes it herself. Once it happens, she jumps into the conclusion that Ena hates her— even if it was actually just a misunderstanding.

In Bake no Hana, the lyrics highlight this: “it’s cute, yet tastes of sin” and “to end the curse of being born, I will stop breathing…” Mizuki believes that these are the consequences of her own actions. Of living. Of being herself. And to atone for it she must “disappear”. (And she literally does. For two whole months)

Hitorinbo Envy

(This was something I thought of not too long after posting the original thread)

Mizuki and Kanade are chosen to sing the cover of Hitorinbo Envy. The song details a child whose parents are facing marital issues. As a result, the family grows apart, with the child longing to be happy with their parents again before deciding to take her own life. In the end, however, her parents finally take notice and save her, and they rejoice once more.

Sounds familiar?

[pjsk-headcanons]

-post-mizu5/pre-ena5 hcs-

(focuses: vbs and niigo)

(a bit of a warning here: this one covers some pretty upsetting topics, especially during the niigo parts. like it gets ROUGH, especially with ena's part in the niigo section)

(this also serves as an expansion on some of the shinosibs hcs too)

(oh and one last thing, i want to make note of the timeline here. i'd like to believe there's around a 3-4 week gap (i'd say at most 1.5 months) between mizu5 and ena5 in story also i think that akito5 happened before mizu5, mostly since that does not fuck up my chronologies and works with the canon. i'm also focusing on vbs first)

-vbs-

(note: i like to believe that akito5 happened before mizu5. i should also note that the impact on vbs is more indirect and connected to an and especially akito)

an was particularly worried, having not heard from or seen mizuki whatsoever after the festival. (of course, mizuki frequently skipped school, so it wasn't as if not seeing her was a rare occurence, but being completely ghosted by her was extremely abnormal)

she ended up asking ena about mizuki relatively early on in this timeframe (mizuki would always talk about ena, so she knew the two had to be close), the look of unadulterated dread plastered upon ena's face for a moment before dodging the question all together horrified her. (she would not bring it up again after)

akito also started to become visibly worried and anxious. (he would end up frequently checking his phone, what if something happened to ena, what if she-) (it did surprise him though when he found a text from mizuki that one time, stating "happy birthday lil bro") (he did end up telling ena about it, he swears there was a glimmer of something in her eyes as he showed her the text, before immediately being told to fuck off) (she would start asking him about mizuki after that. as much as it annoyed him being pestered about mizuki, having that daily confirmation that his sister was somewhat okay (or atleast in the state to be able to ask about mizuki) meant the world to him)

toya and kohane were left in the dark about it all, but they were left almost helpless. (a large chunk of the time, the two were stuck idling)

at the worst points, akito would be frequently falling asleep at weekend garage and crase cafe or pacing around anxiously unable to focus on practicing, or would push himself so hard that he would end up collapsing afterwards. (and when asked about what was wrong, he would only give cryptic answers. he would seldom blame his sister, and when he did, there would be a certain pained look in his eyes) (even the vocaloids started to worry about him, especially after he passed out in the sekai after overexerting himself)

an was in a similar situation, either pushing herself too hard or anxiously pacing, but to nowhere as bad of an extent as akito.

-niigo-

//this section has a multitude of tws, especially for self-harm and references to a suicide attempt. nothing super explicit though.

between the events of mizu5 and the end of ena5, ena spiralled hard (might remember this from my shinosibs set of hcs) but the extent of which i haven't fully mentioned:

(there will be repeats of the things from the shinosibs.)

(it should also be noted that ena really hasn't fully recovered post-ena5, but god she is doing far better afterwards)

meeting with niigo would end much quicker. ena usually would barely speak, often getting lost in thought or leaving herself muted.

her art's color palettes shifted to focusing on more intense reds or pinks. (the pinker pieces would always be the more concerning ones)

these paintings tend to had more concerning themes too, usually focusing on death and abandonment. (usual recurring motifs were blood and wilted flowers. another was a very particular horrified expression)

extremely frequent nightmares and night terrors. (this and the lost sleep from worrying over mizuki would only worsen things) (she would tend to accidentally wake up akito, either because of her running to the bathroom to puke or splash water on her face or because she would breakdown into sobs) (she would never admit how often akito would end up consoling her)

and the incident (as the two would put it whenever mentioning it, downplaying it to avoid addressing it properly, because both of them knew that neither one of them are ready for that conversation) was a particularly bad night. akito always fears the fact that if he had gotten there any later, if he might've been too late. he could never get that visage of the sickly red propagating through the water in the tub, or the hollow yet horrified stare ena had upon seeing akito, it all remains etched into his mind. (in the moment, he would lie to himself, swearing that this situation was the result of some sort of freak accident, that she didn't actually intend to dissappear, it was a lie that didn't hold up long.)

neither one of them would ever tell a soul about what happened.

//tw end

mafuyu and kanade on the other hand were more blindsided by the situation.

when asked about it a week after, ena would tell them that "she fucked up and ruined everything"

mafuyu and kanade are similarly freaked out about it. (and the fact that ena refuses to tell them anything whatsoever about what transpired only worsens that anxiety)

kanade would become more and more guilty over it (even though mafuyu would try to reassure her that it wasn't her fault, and that no, she couldn't have done anything to prevent this from happening, but even then it hung over her head)

mafuyu would feel even more guilty for what they said to mizuki in the sekai. (they really never forgave themself for it. and to see it be practically proven right, with her vanishing without any info about if she was okay or not...)

niigo would be ground to a near-complete halt (of course they could work on expanding their backlog a bit, but without mizuki, the videos would not be anywhere near to quality that niigo kept and would have far less reach)

(-a quick aside-)

i am a bit sorry for this one, because this one is a definitely a bit of a rough one.

i did not expect the love and support for my headcanons!

i should note some things: i am a huge fan of hurt/comfort and angst

i've been debating writing a shinosibs angst fic among a few other things.

-la manchaland anon

‎

[demodraws0606]

Slight Ena5 spoilers ///

If I hear another fucking post making Rui out to be the "good ending" version of Mizuki I will actually murder all of you.

Because not only is it disrespectful to Mizuki's character but also Rui's.

Just because Rui mentions the main story in comparison doesn't mean he's like "what if Mizuki was a happier person ??", HE'S HIS OWN PERSON BITCH. Mizuki isn't a sadder version of Rui either.

The fact that colorpalet in fact chose Rui's first event as something to parallel Mizuena speaks a lot about how their path diverged now because like YEAH Rui has his own fear of change he hasn't tackled fully and secrets (well mostly one) that he's hiding. It's almost like he is his own fucking character !

"Rui accepted change while Mizuki didn't :)" Okay yeah cool only wokrs if you factor in the fact that Mizuki did accept change by joining 25ji in the first place and Rui didn't accept change with the disbandement arc.

I have slight gripes with the way colorpalet just shoved Rui in Ena5 but honestly people's reaction to it is what makes it unbearable, it would've honestly been better if he wasn't there at all.

Now that Mizuki also is finally happy and content with how things are, I hope people stop thinking of Mizuki as "angsty trans Rui" because that is genuinely such a dumb-ing down of her character.

THEIR STRUGGLES ARE DIFFERENT BUT COME FROM THE SAME SOURCE

[mizuki-foreshadowing]

Mizuki likes to run!

While Mizu5 and Ena5 show off how fast our girl can go, Mizuki has always loved running. She does it all the time! She heard 'this character runs from her problems' and didn't wait to learn whether it's figurative or literal.

Mizuki's not as athletic as Mafuyu, who's good at sports and practices a demanding hobby in archery, and it's no achievement at all to be more athletic than Yoisaki 'can't walk directly into the wind' Kanade (Kanade: The Usual Ramen; Part 1), but it is mentioned every so often, usually in Mizuki teasing or making accommodations for Ena, that Mizuki is more athletic than Ena and Kanade, despite neither Ena nor Mizuki really doing much for physical fitness.

You may be asking yourself, Renn, didn't Mizuki literally say she likes to work out one time? The thing is though, out of the story content I have access to, I couldn't find more than one source on that. (I haven't read past Carnation Recollection yet, but I did also check every side story I have access to, which is both parts of 11 Mizuki cards and 35 side stories featuring Mizuki)

But, it is true that in Secret Distance, Mizuki asks Kanade if she'd like her to share some fun workouts to build up stamina for her. The reason I checked all the side stories that even feature Mizuki, is I figured characters might run into her while doing one of those workouts, or that she might mention doing stretches in her room or something while bored or before checking in on Nightcord, but it just isn't mentioned.

The sewing lounge that Mizuki frequents featured a few times, and she had many encounters walking home from school, but Mizuki just doesn't seem to exercise on screen.

There is another factor at play, the medium. The way the visual novel is presented, it's very funny to have a two-person shot become one-sided accompanied by a running sound effect, with the other person asking Mizuki to get back here and still being uncentered in the frame. It communicates how abruptly it comes off to the person that she's with whenever Mizuki flees a social interaction, and it reflects the way she dodges closeness in her conversations as well, between how good she is with improvising and with changing a subject.

Here's a self-indulgent montage I collected. About half of them are her fleeing a potential personal moment, but the other half are just her running because that's how she is.

Mizuki leaves Ena behind to break the awkward silence between Kanade and Mafuyu in Imprisoned Marionette.

Mizuki just bolting for no reason is a salient enough part of her personality that it snuck its way into Mafuyu's nightmare in the same story.

Mizuki reads Kohane as getting weirded out by her and doesn't want to make her uncomfortable, in Kamiyama High Festival.

In the same event, Mizuki runs off saying she'll find Tsukasa so Toya can sing him the praises of Romeo: Battle Royale. She did actually seem intent on finding Tsukasa though, so I guess her gameplan was to run around again until she found Akito and Toya.

In What's on Your Mind - Exciting Picnic, Rui picks up on Mizuki's unpleasant revelation that even if she wishes she can stay with N25 years into the future, that she has no faith in that future, and Mizuki hits the ground running.

Ena admits in Ena: Nightcord at 25:00; Part 1, that Mizuki can be fun to hang out with sometimes and that she misjudged her. Ena asks her if Mizuki had a similar experience for her after their good day together and Mizuki's just gone.

In Mizuki: A Night With Just the Three of Us; Part 2, Mizuki pranks Ena pretending to be a talent scout looking for prospective models. Mizuki hurries across the crosswalk when the light changes.

This all asks the question, why does Mizuki run. [She is afraid of intimacy.] I set about researching for this post thinking that I could make a case for it being a subtle nod to her having a different physique from the other members of N25, but it just fits her personality too cleanly.

In all of these scenes, however, it can be framed that Mizuki runs for essentially selfish reasons; she avoids an unpleasant situation or she leaves people behind while having fun alone. But, there was one time her running had nothing to do with selfishness. Mizuki still strikes off alone, but in the moment, it's just not about her.

Later on in What's on Your Mind - Exciting Picnic, Episode 8, Rui remarks that Mizuki had a certain desperation about her then. Mizuki dismisses it as being too unlike her and asks Rui to forget about it.

[proship-mafuyu]

do not interact

if you support:

the destruction of israel, ukraine, or palestine.

bestiality, child molestation, and anything similar (this does not count paraphiles with no intentions to act.)

donald trump.

the idea of “narcissist abuse”

the ideologies of tankies or the consideration of yourself as one. (especially anyone who supports stalin. fuck ALL the way off my blog.)

the ideologies of nazis or the consideration of yourself as one. (this includes transnazis. i cannot believe i have to say that.)

killing or harming ANYONE for their political views.

if you don’t support:

all races, genders, orientations, ethnicities, faiths, ability levels, and mental illnesses

paraphiles (with no intent to act on potentially harmful paraphilias)

the right for indigenous people’s self determination (notably native americans and jewish zionists)

non-traumagenic/non-disordered systems

transIDs and radqueers

ALL mentally disabled people (this includes cluster Bs)

self-diagnosis with research

“contradictory” labels

additionally:

if you are a double of mafuyu asahina or ena shinonome from project sekai.

if you selfship with kanade yoisaki, akito shinonome, mizuki akiyama, or either of the above characters i mentioned.

if you reblog a lot of donation scams, i may block you

if you post/reblog a lot of nightcord at 25:00 angst, i may block you or not follow you (you can tag with #mafuyu don’t look if you’d like, but there’s no obligation especially if you have no interest in following me)

if your profile picture is from mafuyu4, mizuki5, or ena5, i may block you or not interact with you.

my “additional” list above is absolutely nothing personal. i want to curate my experience, and i assume you do too.

if you unfollow/block me over any of what i’ve said, i’m glad you’re doing so for yourself. i wish you the best.

[remimibanana]

A bit about The Hymn of Disapperance!

I wrote a story about Mizuki and Ena, set after the events of Mizu5 and what I thought could happen between them.

Poor Mizuki is hiding from everyone, until they run into the Empty SEKAI…and Ena is forced to run after them to save them from themselves.

You can read it here!

I thought someone would like to hear my thoughts about how and why I wrote this, and I didn't want to make the notes section too long with my blabbing because I can do a lot of that!

All under the cut!

Conception

I was there when Mizu5 dropped and everyone went insane on Twitter about it.

I've always liked Project Sekai, playing since 2021! I like to play casually, coming back to the game when there is a new card that I really want. This was definitely the case with Mizu5, the designs were absolutely stunning (although I didn't get a single card at the end, weep weep).

The story, especially the ending for the event story tickled my brain in all the good ways, and I was compelled to write something for it. As you can see, I didn't finish thus until WAY later, since I was busy with Uni wrapping up and I kept losing motivation.

I’m glad I finally got it done!

I honestly think I made this story too dark, the actual resolution is way less intense than what I wrote. I think I forgot that they're all just teenagers at the end of the day and nothing this crazy happens, but I did enjoy writing all this out!

I didn’t plan this story out too much, which is the norm for little old me when I write. I also used they/them pronouns for Mizuki here, since I thought it would fit best for the story. It made writing Ena and them a little bit easier.

Beginning

We have Mizuki’s point of view at first, establishing the basis of the story.

From the very beginning, you can tell that they’re not okay at all after what occured. Breaking their mirror, throwing their phone and hearing voices….they’re going through a lot alone despite having their family being kind and friends trying to contact them.

We already know from the game that Niigo disbanded for a little while and that Mizuki has been avoiding everything and everyone. I played into that, especially the bandages on their hands that is mentioned throughout the story.

The cuts are from the glass shards around their mirror, but it can allude to self-harm as well. It’s never explicit since I didn’t want it to be TOO dark (but it gets rather dark either way aha).

Then we have Ena, who just wants to hear Mizuki and to make sure that they’re okay. Fun fact, I wrote the painting scene before Ena5 came out, and she actually is doing a painting at the beginning of the event!

What a coincidence.

I did use lines from the fan translations mawaru_pingudrum did for Mizu5 and Ena5! They were what helped me shape the story into what it is!

SEKAI

I took various creative liberties with the SEKAI, I don’t think half of these things can happen in the actual game…I hope that’s okay! Don’t come at me, Project Sekai lore enthusiasts….

This is where the darkest stuff happens, since it’s the main setting for the story. I think I managed to not make it super bleak but…it still hits hard. I hope I didn’t make anyone cry too much while reading!

I don’t know if the SEKAI can actually change according to someone’s will and emotions but here it can because plot.

Mizuki’s despair was stronger than any other will in there and the place responded in kind. We see a lot of that later in the story, how the SEKAI can change and act.

I knew that I wanted MEIKO and KAITO in the story, since they’re a major motivator for Mizuki to tell Ena their secret in the first place. I hope I didn’t mess up their character too much, I just went off what I saw generally.

I also ship them so that’s very implied hehe, I just had to sprinkle it in there.

I’m sorry I sort of killed them…it was for the plot and they’re okay at the end of the day! It was one of the things that came to me and I had to write it…poor Mizuki though.

I don’t know if you can be forced into any of the SEKAI, but here Ena is because it’s the one thing that Mizuki wants the most aside from wanting to disappear forever as they said.

You can tell I used the Mizuki and Ena cards from the Mizu5 event in the story. The dress that Ena is transformed into is the same one from her card, and the area with the rippled floor is from there too. For Mizuki, the whole latter half of the story takes place based on their card.

Ribbons are a huge part of this story! I made them super scary because…uh…plot once again….and because it appears throughout the card set from Mizu5.

It's important to clarify that the red ribbons are Mizuki's, and the white ribbons are Ena's.

You can see that the SEKAI also reacts to Ena’s will, manifesting the dress you see and giving her the strength to overturn Mizuki’s will. Of course, her will is rather fragile since she’s just a teenager dealing with all these intense things being thrown at her.

The scene where Ena is being constricted by ribbons is probably the most intense scene in the whole story, but it also serves an important purpose. We get to see Mizuki and learn about how they both feel about what happened.

The love is rather implied between them over me explicitly saying that they love each other. You just know based off on what they say and do for one another!

I wonder if you noticed but…Mizuki can hear Ena’s thoughts because they are the master of the SEKAI and it is bending to their will completely. Practically like a God if you think about it.

Since that Mizuki in this place is just a reflection of that monster as they call it, they help her find the real Mizuki who is all tied up like she was. It got a little too dark here too….

Especially the bleeding I keep alluding to. Both of our character’s hands are bleeding in parts of the story, a parallel between the two who are both trying their best.

I wanted to play into the fact that Ena is just a girl, and she has this habit of slamming her feet when she’s stressed or annoyed. This is amplified and used as a way to break Mizuki free when her will becomes stronger than Mizuki’s once again.

I saw a tweet back then that these two cards are taking place in the same area, and I knew I had to use it in my story.

It transforms back into the proper bedroom after Ena’s will takes over, surprising her.

After all the suffering, we finally have a proper reunion between the two girls. I wanted it to be sweet, with a lot of hand holding and hugs. It’s not all that dark, okay?

The mirror is very important, I mentioned it a lot. I wanted to show that Mizuki's reflection is now normal, because they aren't a monster as they keep calling themselves to be. Here, it’s implied Ena can hear Mizuki’s thoughts because SHE’S the new master.

I’m so big brain.

We have MEIKO and KAITO come back! I’m not that cruel to have them disappear forever. I knew I wanted them to appear right at the end in their new outfits we can see in the Mizu5 set. Clearly something happened between the two because they're acting much closer than before (I wonder what LOL).

The ending itself is nice and happy, wrapping up the whole story as a whole! Niigo reunite and everything is alright again between them all at the end of the day.

That’s a wrap!

Thank you for reading all this if you do!

I spent a lot of time on this story and I’m glad it’s finally done, out there for others to see! I can now move on to other stories I want to write that won’t hopefully take as long…

Maybe I’ll write some more Project Sekai in the future if I feel like it!

- Miku

[project-sekai-facts]

Pre-broadcast station commentary

The next Broadcast Station episode will be on the 23rd, with guest Caririn, Fumiyan, Komachi, and Minoringo. The guest during the VOCALOID Music SEKAI segment this time will be OSTER Project.

I reckon we will definitely get Nene5 announced during this stream. It's been a very long time since her last unit event, and multiple WxS event stories and card stories prior to now have mentioned that they're going to start mentoring with the opera house soon.

Despite Minoringo being on stream, I think it's too early for Ena5 considering it will probably have a near identical lineup to Mizuki5 which is currently running. Ena is more likely for a November hakolim or December perm event.

That means our other event next month should be L/n or MMJ. Even though no MMJ members are on stream, it might just be a case of unavailability. If it's MMJ, it will be Shizuku5, and if it's L/n it could be either Honami or Shiho. Assuming this will be the music festival event, I think either could be a good fit. Shiho hasn't had an event in longer though.

For this month's lim event, I reckon it's likely to feature Saki, and maybe Tsukasa. However, if Honami5 is announced, there's a chance for that to be a hakolim instead of a mixed event at the end of this month.

[shrewfern]

it’s been more than three days since i’ve been online, yk what that means: new hl oc yayyyy

ok so her name is agnes black and she’s transfem yippee. she’s not the mc, but much rather an acquaintance. by the time the mc and agnes meet, she already appears feminine and the mc really doesn’t know she’s trans. everyone else in the school does though, and it’s kinda this unspoken thing.

she gets picked on for this, and somewhere near the middle-ish of the main story, a whole mizu5/ena5 happens.

if you don’t know what i’m talking about, mizu5/ena5 is a reference to the game project sekai; mizuki is trans, but that isn’t revealed until their fifth focus event where some random kid basically drops their secret in front of ena. mizuki, being afraid everyone would reject them for their gender, runs away and isn’t seen for months. ena however doesn’t give a shit that mizuki is trans. one day, the two run into eachother and mizuki has a total breakdown and ena grabs their hands and says (i’m paraphrasing a translation) “people may point and judge and laugh at us, but none of it would ever compare to the pain of losing you” and then they’re friends again and mizuki is back yay.

she really struggles with her identity, and i really want to zoom in on that with her character arc: her mother always wanted a daughter and tried for years to have one, but all her pregnancies ended short. the one kid she did have – a bastard-affair child, might i add – is a boy. her mother, as well as the rest of her family, shunned her, her mother for her gender and her family for being a bastard. not to mention, she’s a black (her last name inherited from her father’s side) in ravenclaw. shun, shun, shun!

if you ask her why she’s trans, why she’s really trans, she won’t be able to put a finger on the real reason, though.

after years of refusing to accept herself, she finally learns to do so with the help of the mc. it’s a lengthy process, but it happens.

to sum it all up, listen to guchirei’s “abnormality dancin’ girl”. 

ofc being trans isn’t her only character trait. she’s really nice and kinda shy; she’s one of those w people who’s abusive past makes them super nice and understanding. she loves animals and cooking and baking even though her ass can NOT make a meal or treat without blowing up the castle. she tries though <3

sorry if this reads like shit, i didn't proof-read it. anyways uhhh i’ll draw her later ok bye <333