#Era of Samurai: Code of Love

[kbtbb-soryu]

Walk Through Hell with Me [Takasugi x OC] Chapter 8

Ai had been brought with the trio to a certain tea house for yet another one of their boisterous parties. “Well my oh my! Look who it is! Yer still alive, are ya?” As soon as Ai stepped into the room, Sakamoto wrapped her up in a hug so tight she could barely breathe. She stiffened. “I had a hunch you’d be alright, what with Shinsaku around ‘n’ all. But, seein’ yer face just sets my heart aglow.” Ai didn’t respond. “You think you might let her go any time soon? Or is it your aim to suffocate her?” Takasugi asked. Sakamoto laughed heartily. “Jealous, are ya?! Look at you, blushin’ like a schoolgirl,” Sakamoto said as soon as he let go. Ai gulped down some air. “If my face is red it’s because you kept me from breathing.” Ai took a step in Kazuya’s direction when Takasugi caught her by the elbow. “You’re going to sit right here, beside me,” he said. “Huh? Why should I have to do that?” Ai protested. “Because I said so.” “You’re far too bossy for a human.” Despite her arguing, Ai sat down next to Takasugi as the men began their meeting. “Looks like we finally found out which wholesaler is getting richest off all that opium,” Sakamoto said. “Sakai-ya seems to be the main culprit. It’s located here, but has strong ties to all those foreigners in Nagasaki,” Takasugi explained. “This is a map of all the warehouses we found that are being used to store the stuff.” Maro spread a map out on the table. A map of the capital with certain locations circled in red, marking the warehouses that were housing opium. It was a far larger number than Ai imagined. “One strategically started fire could wipe them all out at once,” Gen said. “Can’t afford to risk it. What if it goes wrong?” Sakamoto asked. “You needn’t worry about that. The plan is immaculate. And it’s also our best chance of stopping the spread of opium.” Takasugi cast a meaningful glance at  Ai, then at Kazuya and his friends. Ai guessed that Takasugi must know what their talents were. Kazuya, Takashi, and Chikage could all control fire. And Takashi, like Ai, could manipulate wind. Maintaining fires to target specific locations would essentially be a cinch for the four of them. “Whatever you boys’re preparin’, I’ve got high hopes for it! Shinsaku knows how to get his hands on all the finest things… Like this, for example.” Sakamoto pulled a heavy metal object from his breast pocket. Ai leaned close to inspect it. “Is that a… gun?” “Never seen one before, huh? Well, lucky you. You’re layin’ your eyes on the finest, here,” Sakamoto said. “So you’re planning to use these to fight the foreign invaders, then?” Ai asked. “In other countries, everyone walks around with one of these things, as a matter of course. The era of settling disputes with swords alone… well, it’s over, I’m afraid,” Takasugi explained. “The sad truth is, this country ain’t unified the way it used to be,” Sakamoto added. “Times have changed. And if you think you can fight off foreign invaders with swords, you’re only fooling yourself,” Takasugi said. “The Choshu found that out the hard way, didn’t they?” Sakamoto asked. “And I do not intend to let past sacrifices be in vain.” That look in Takasugi’s eyes… He was thinking of his old master. “I’m with Takasugi,” Gen added. “We’ve been beat down once. That’s enough. We know what we need to do now,” Maro said. The men exchanged grave looks. With the exception of the oni in the room, they were willing to risk their lives for their country.

The meeting was adjourned and everyone began drinking. Ai stared, mouth agape, at the passed-out humans in front of her. “How do they call themselves samurai when they’re so passed out? What if the enemy breaks in here at this moment? What then?” “We’re all on guard. And when push comes to shove, they spring into action automatically. It’s just second nature for them. So don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” Takasugi said. “It’s not me I’m worried about, but fine. I’ll take your word for it.” Ai rolled her stiff shoulders. Takasugi took his shamisen in hand and started strumming softly. Ai didn’t realise she was staring at him until he looked up and their eyes met. “Would you like to try playing?” he asked. “Me?” Ai raised an eyebrow. “You just pluck one of these strings, and it makes a sound. Try it.” Takasugi took her by the hand and pulled her into his lap. Ai stiffened. Takasugi’s arms wrapped around her and he placed his hands on top of hers. It felt intimate. “Then, you do it just like this…” The string made a quiet but resonant sound. Ai smiled. “Just takes a bit of practice. It’s really not that hard.” Takasugi guided Ai’s hands across the strings. “Got the hang of it yet? Think you’re ready to try it by yourself?” Ai nodded and plucked at one of the strings. The sound was melodic and soft. She struck another. And another. The music she played was gentle; beautiful even. “You learn pretty fast.” Takasugi sounded surprised. Ai looked at him over her shoulder with a mischievous smile. “I actually already knew how to play it.” Ai turned back to the shamisen and played another song. She was keenly aware of Takasugi’s gaze on her concentrating face before they scanned the rest of her body and rested on her moving hands. When Ai stopped playing, she sighed softly and leaned her back against Takasugi’s chest, her head on his shoulder. “What?” he asked. “Nothing.” Ai closed her eyes, a content smile playing on her lips. “Have I stolen your heart away? Is that it?” he asked teasingly. Ai opened her eyes to find his full of determination as he stared down at her. “Think what you will.” Takasugi’s arms embraced Ai tightly around her waist. As he took her chin in one hand, she heard some stray notes from the shamisen. Looking into his eyes, she felt as though she was being pulled into another world. He stared as deeply into her eyes as she was, but she couldn’t tell what was going through his mind. He leaned in closer, his breath grazing her lips as he sighed. Remembering the first time his lips were on hers, Ai felt the heat rush to her cheeks. “You’re not even going to try to resist?” “Why would I?” Ai asked. Taksugi’s lips, nearly touching hers, curved into a seductive grin. “Silence isn’t the same thing as consent, you know? How am I supposed to know what you want?” Takasugi’s arms held her more tightly as he whispered in her ear. “I thought you were such a good girl… We haven’t even known each other very long. But, if you like, I can show you a few more things I learned overseas.” He stroked her neck, her hair standing upright. Ai rolled her eyes and maneuvered herself out of his arms. “You have a real talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, you know that?” Her voice had no edge to it as she said that. Without waiting for a response, she left.

Ai shouldn’t have left. As soon as she stepped out of the room, she ran smack into the one person she didn’t want to see.

Previous Chapter

[quietbooklion]

My all time favorite Voltage men. These guys are S-tier husband material.

[frostyserenity]

My first Voltage love. Please make this a Switch port I'm begging you

My heartttt ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[colourless-hydrangeas]

Kondou is married. :')

Time to cry and cry some more.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hi again, i am in need of you help. How do you write a loyal knight character? A true devotee of their charge, but not so much it turns dog-like.

Writing Notes: Loyal Knight Characters

Hi, you can consider using some character tropes as a guide. Found a few examples for you:

"Knight in Shining Armor" Trope: The medieval knight who fights baddies, whether villains, knights, or dragons, and in The Tourney, charms ladies without deliberately seducing them, behaves honorably, and saves the day with his sword; but also, any hero who behaves similarly.

The "shining" originally referred to the way his armor and weapons were kept in good condition, as opposed to the rust that accumulated for less competent knights. Most knights will be depicted wearing plate armor, despite it appearing relatively late in the era of knights. Them using a Knightly Sword and Shield is also pretty likely, though the usage of plate armor with Knightly Sword and Shield is actually historically inaccurate since shields were considered redundant while wearing plate armor.

"Lady and Knight" Trope: The brave, chivalrous knight defends and falls in love with the fair lady.

"The Paladin" Trope: Paladins are warriors dedicated to furthering the cause of all that is good. Holy crusaders, they combat the forces of evil wherever they are found, and defend the helpless as much as possible. Above all else, paladins are good.

"Knight in Shining" Tropes

This is the set of tropes that cluster around Knight Templar: the forces of light in hardcore mode, excessively or otherwise.

This mentality is all the way over on the Idealistic side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.

The Trope Codifiers are the Chivalric Romances of the medieval Matters of Britain (Arthurian Legend) and of France (Charlemagne) — especially the innumberable fantasy novels and verse epics of the 15th through 17th centuries which were based on, set in, or vaguely inspired by the older Carolingian myths.

The Arthurian myths have a less militantly idealistic style than the Carolingian ones; the Arthurian work most completely of this style is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

This pattern is rarer outside of Europe (and before the Middle Ages) than within it.

The closest analogue to European chivalry was bushido, the code of the Japanese samurai, but the Japanese code emphasized loyalty to one's lord, even to the point of doing evil,

while the European one emphasized loyalty to one's conscience, even to the point of treachery.

Of course, that doesn't mean that non-European heroes can't act like this—and it doesn't mean that European heroes always do, either.

The Roman-derived tradition of "My Country, Right or Wrong" was always present in Europe.

Originally, the word knight was a job description with no connotation of high birth or status: it merely meant a warrior who was skilled and wealthy enough to fight on horseback, and owed their service to someone powerful.

The English word knight is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word for "servant", while most other European languages use a word meaning "horseman" (e.g. German Ritternote or French chevalier).

The word began to take on new meaning in response to social changes at the dawn of The High Middle Ages: the flourishing of merchants and cities gave them new wealth and power to compete with the nobility, while the increasingly independent Catholic Church became more assertive in trying to curb the misbehavior of the warrior class.

In order to maintain their distinction from the class of people who worked, and to reconcile the violent nature of war with the ideals of courtesy and piety, the nobility and gentry absorbed the military role of knighthood while turning it into a more exclusive and regulated order.

A noble child would usually start as a page in order to learn discipline and manners, spend their teenage years as an arming squire taking care of a master's horse and equipment, and when they had grown into a fine warrior, they would be recognized as having earned their spurs. Not everyone became a knight through such careful grooming, though.

Commoners could be rewarded with knighthood for exceptional service, and rulers facing a shortfall of heavy cavalry would sometimes make laws requiring anyone who possessed a certain amount of property to present themselves to be knighted whether they liked it or not.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

Hope this helps with your writing! More research might be needed for literary/historical accuracy.

[kunaigirl]

I love your art a lot but I need to ask! What's this imp inc thing you've been drawing so much of?

IMP INC is a failed animation pilot made for CN back in 2001! It was created by Charlie Bean and the great (late) artist and animator Chris Reccardi, who's best known for his work on shows such as Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Spongebob, Samurai Jack, and My Life as a Teenage Robot to name a few!

It's currently living in my brain rent-free because of how adorable the characters are along with how fascinating the setting is! In this universe, low-level demons (imps) and angels alike work alongside each other to secretly help humans under the same "Big Boss" while using outer space as something of a neutral zone between Heaven, Earth, and Hell. (Though actual Biblical terms are never used, terms like "upstairs/downstairs" are used instead.)

The pilot follows a team of 3 small imps named Vex, Erk, and Net'l who are currently working as wish granters for humans in need. They desperately hoping for a promotion so they can work "upstairs" instead of the space-zone, and they pilot a ship that's disguised as an asteroid! They're the shooting stars people on earth see and make wishes on! All they want to do is help people and finally be allowed "upstairs" full time! IT'S REALLY CUTE AND SUPER INTERESTING!

You can watch it RIGHT HERE! (Internet Archive link)

Also, Net'l's a VERY gay coded character ESPECIALLY by early 2000s standards AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! (he's the green one with the long nose lol) I wrote a whole paper back in college about "queer signals" in media during eras where it was FAR less socially acceptable to be openly gay, and Net'l checks MULTIPLE of those boxes!

Some of those "queer signals" in 2000s media (specifically cartoons in this case) that he checks include:

being the only male character drawn with eyelashes

being the "emotional one"

the "gay lisp" while speaking

usually played as comic relief

played/voiced by an openly gay actor

SO YEAH SUPER AWESOME STORY SETTINGS, CUTE CHARACTERS, AND A GAY PROTAGONIST LET'S GOOOO

Also if you want, check out my IMP INC tag!

[wsancho]

Updating my preconceptions about Cyan’s preconceptions

Because he’s been taking up space in my mind, plus January is Cyan month and he should get more love ❤️

My first impression was that he was an ultraconservative, square-minded, old-fashioned, knight of the round table (by ‘94 my knowledge of other cultures was limited to whatever I got from the Saturday morning cartoons, so it never crossed my mind that he was a samurai from Japan).

This character got filtered through Ted Woolsey’s best try at localizing “samurai mannerisms”, which can’t really be translated faithfully without some thorough explanations on the side. He was portrayed as a Shakespearean-mannered knight, which I still embrace as a fan, but it made me see him as a prude. After reading about samurais, I feel that there’s more nuance to his conservative behavior.

The world of FF6 relies heavily on steam-based technology, so if we place this story in the steam era (between late 1600s and late 1800s) it matches the Edo period in Japan, in which samurais became bureaucrats and were no longer warriors, so this class/job was decaying in a way.

Cyan is old-fashioned even in his own land (he’s the only Doman with that manner of speech). He’s the last dying breath of a culture that already ceased to exist, so he’s a traditionalist sticking to a code of honor that has very strict protocols.

The scene with the prostitute made me think sex was taboo for him, because Cyan’s reaction looks like hypocritical, preachy prudery. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to play out, because after Japan got westernized it acquired the same taboos as us. But Edo Japan Doma isn’t there yet. Prostitution was not deplorable, it was regulated.

Cyan may be scandalized because this girl is not adhering to his ways.

Whoring around is fine, just stay inside the whore-house and remain quiet and discreet until a client chooses you 🧐

I think my man has no issue with sex and sex-work, but with how the girl throws herself at him. In particular I wondered why the devs didn’t add any head-butting between him and Edgar, given that this girl was behaving like Edgar on a regular Tuesday. These boys barely interact, but when Edgar successfully used his man-whore superpowers, Cyan was not scandalized, but kinda proud.

Cyan's culture is chauvinistic, so there’s nothing to note if one of the boys is “exchanging pleasantries”. Cyan is also respectful of hierarchies, so he’ll never butt heads with Edgar (and I think he kinda does with Sabin only because at the time he wasn’t aware of Sabin’s lineage).

I think the chauvinism/machismo he’s accustomed to is what makes Cyan embarrassed when he’s caught being a softie.

The initiation for samurais included homosexual intercourse, because having sex with a woman can turn a man into a sissy, you see. Real macho-men have sex with other men, if you didn’t know 💪🏼🧐

Along those lines, I think being romantic with his wife would gain him a roast from the boys (not ridicule, just playful banter). So even thought romanticism comes natural to him, it wouldn’t exactly be celebrated by his peers, so he’s self-conscious about it 🙁💐

Finally, I think it’s heartbreaking that the way of the warrior is conflicting with his honest heart desires. His exchange of letters with Lola and his eclectic reading material 😏 tells me that this man is not done with life. He wants to love again and to find his footing in this new world. Which is unacceptable for a man who should live and die for his lord 🖤

The dreamscape quest serves as express therapy (there, we killed your demons, now move on!), but his inner conflict is quite deep and devastating, even if his story wasn’t already tragic. Yet this middle-aged, ultraconservative man is breaking through his conditioning (at an age when the brain has hardened to the point that it’s really difficult to learn or unlearn anything). His character evolution may be the most extreme and brutal, and he made it to the other side without bitterness, remaining kind and righteous. He's simply extraordinary 🥹👏🏼⚔💔🩸❤️‍🩹

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 45 Uh, Seriously?! Posting

So! Full speed ahead it is, internet void! What a dense chapter.

First up, John Hishaku and the Samurai Murderer Guy that was at Chihiro's house in chapter 2.

Guess we'll see more of him soon, how fun! It's not quite clear how many people are talking here, but Hishaku scheming is afoot and the game is on. The only question is how fucked the Kamunabi is going to be by the end of the arc IMO.

And don't think I missed that vase reappearing. My nemesis. The spiky boi on the mid-left drove me insane as soon as the raws dropped but I would like to tentatively propose that it is a kiku (chrysanthemum). Different colors have very different meanings so I still admit defeat on that front. But kiku are usually associated with mourning or Imperial imagery, so that's cool. I demand a treat if this flower arrangement turns out to be the world's subtlest hint that the Hishaku are related to an old regime or breakaway faction of the government.

But yeah... so much cuteness this week. Very welcome after the rich drama from the past few chapters.

Boys who commit patricide together fall asleep mid-conversation wake up together, apparently. And for all the fan artists/fanfic writers out there, it's now canon that both of them are wearing long-sleeved shirts under the other layers. I was kind of hoping for Chihiro to be wearing one of his dad's shirts but this is more in character...

Fine, okay, it's probably for convenience's sake since apparently these guys can only rest for one night before jumping into the lion's den. But I'm flabbergasted by their soulmate coding. I kind of expected Hakuri to pass out, but Chihiro conking out at the same time in the same pose is too damn cute! Barely over a week together and they've already perfectly synced their sleep schedules and postures lol.

I find it deeply amusing that the entire flashback sequence at the end of chapter 44 was purely for the reader's benefit though. Seriously! Hakuri asked Chihiro "So... what comes next?" and then they both immediately passed out sitting up. So the last four pages were there just to spare us from even more infodumping in this chapter, which is much appreciated.

That's something that Hokazono-sensei also did at the end of the vs. Sojo arc in chapter 18. 10 pages to him exploding, 7 to the situation at the Kamunabi (which will now come into play! EXCELLENT LAYERING OF DETAILS!). I don't know if I'm smart or educated enough to do a full analysis on the techniques he's using, but I love the style. He doesn't let the emotional points linger too long or waste a single goddamn panel in this manga. Yeah, I want more time with the characters outside of serious plot moments, but there's not much else for me to complain about. The need isn't particularly dire anyway since every scene is efficient in giving us characterization and info at the same time (example later this rant).

So yeah. Thanks to that excellent pacing decision, we get to witness this crowning moment of heartwarming:

LOOK AT THESE DORKS. LOOK AT THEM. I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE. Thank you for this moment of Team Goldfish x Hiyuki and Tafuku bliss.

And look at the food on the table! Hiyuki and Tafuku have earned a measure of trust with Team Goldfish! Just a bit, but Shiba definitely wouldn't have let them stay the night and eat with them if he felt they were dangerous.

It's also so sweet that Char's comfortable sitting in big bro Tafuku's lap... she's come a long way since her debut as a scared, scruffy orphan. Wonder where the gang is hanging though. Someone's apartment, I guess? A nearby hotel? More insignificant details this annoying reader wants to know...

TW for SF5-era tournament enthusiasts: That Stage appears in the first panel.

Did anyone have bets on Shiba wrecking Hiyuki in Street Fighter while waiting for Hakuri and Chihiro to wake up? I didn't, but I love it. And this scene highlights something I've really come to appreciate about Kagurabachi's writing: it's incredibly efficient. Almost every scene has more than one thing being conveyed at a time. For instance, here we learn that Hiyuki sucks at Street Fighter compared to Shiba but is too stubborn to quit (comedy & character consistency) and still doesn't know he's ex-Kamunabi (serious). This in turn tells us that Shiba's probably got something to hide from active Kamunabi personnel. After all, it's not like the org itself is a secret, and we wouldn't see Hiyuki questioning him twice if his circumstances weren't suspicious. So Shiba's subplot thickens while we laugh at the gag- peak efficiency.

The cuteness, though... the sweetness of this chapter, man!

Chihiro respecting Yuu's nickname and correcting Hakuri with such a gentle expression is incredibly adorable. He's so relaxed here... but oh wait, there's... chibi Hakuri and Chihiro apologizing for worrying Uncle Shiba?!

Chihiro and his new #1 enabler owe more than an apology but it's good enough for now.

This break wasn't quite long enough to reset the tension in my opinion, but it absolutely delivered on character moments. We definitely needed this after all the big feels from the previous few chapters. I wish there was more time devoted to letting us calm down before ramping up again but what we got here is pretty good.

And so we jump feet-first into laying the groundwork for the Kamunabi arc. A nice, efficient recap of the situation leads us into some additional context and a surprising bit of Shiba characterization. Whatever beef he's got with the Kamunabi feels quite personal for a guy who plays it cool and loose most of the time. We know he's glad he quit because they're too uptight, but there's gotta be more to it than that- he's subtly trying to steer Chihiro away from them while Hiyuki is having none of it here. I want to gently snap this man in half to make him spill his secrets...

At the end of the day, though, Shiba's not going to stop Chihiro from joining the Kamunabi. That's been his thing since Chapter 1: if Chihiro makes up his mind to do something, Shiba will offer advice and make suggestions but ultimately leave the decisions up to him. I wonder how much of his guilt over Kunishige's death plays into that...

Then!

PFFT. "I know what I'm doing here seems risky and unwise but It's fine, trust me. I've got Hakuri." OKAY BUDDY. You've been able to do a hell of a lot since you met this kid haven't you? It's like meeting him changed the trajectory of your life as much as you changed his.

Shiba's expression is very interesting to me. He's like "ah, I get it..." and he's not thrilled in the slightest. Adding Hakuri to the team means Chihiro can be even more reckless than ever before; what little influence he had over Chihiro's safety is all but gone now. And Hakuri himself won't try to stop Chihiro from putting his life on the line- he'll risk his own to help him do it! All this while they're poised to go somewhere he probably can't follow... poor Mr. Shiba.

And then!! AND THEN!!!

Chapter 32: Smile Unlocked (once has no meaning...)

Chapter 36: Smile Lost (twice is a coincidence...)

Chapter 38: Locked In (three times is a pattern...)

Chapter 45: Smile Restored (four times is fate)

The one pulling the other forward is always on the right, leading the reader as well.

When one calls, the other answers. What one starts, the other finishes. A and Un. And this time Hakuri echoes Chihiro's "you got it" catchphrase back to him! I hope this is their thing now, like the "How's my timing?/Perfect" bit that Shiba and Chihiro had.

I'm going absolutely insane over this interaction though. It's the first time Chihiro's gotten to hear someone affirm that they'll see things through with him at his own request (on-screen at least). The first time he's outright said he needs someone, even. And of course Hakuri responds so enthusiastically- he's finally wanted. Just a few days ago he thought he'd never amount to anything. But he's got so much hope thanks to Chihiro's faith in him now.

"What I need in my life is a samurai! THAT'S YOU!" is finally answered with "I'm going to need your help again." hnnnngh what in the hell is this chapter.

Platonic, familial, romantic- however you want to see their relationship, these guys are meant to be together. If I ever start to doubt Hakuri's importance again just smack me right upside the head- he's truly Chihiro's other half now. Let's cheer them on and hope nothing horrible happens to Hakuri ever again! Protect the smile of the boy who would die for you on command, Chihiro. You've been warned.

Protected Bearers

Cool stuff ahead, and tough times to go with them. I doubt things will be as simple as Chihiro successfully making his case and being allowed to start trying to Talk no Jutsu the former wielders. This arc seems like it could easily be longer and more complicated than the previous two combined. I kind of hope it is, just to get more time with everyone. I've never loved a cast of characters this much.

That said... In another series I'd be sure Chihiro would visit each area one by one in their own mini arc, but Kagurabachi is probably going to subvert the expectation somehow. We got previews of the areas so we'll be seeing all of them. Probably (we goddamn better after that gorgeous spread showing them off.), but not in the way we'd expect. This story is so fast I kind of expect us to blitz through all of them in a handful of chapters each... guess it depends on how in-depth we get with the bearers themselves.

As we originally saw them in chapter 18. The slightly updated designs from this chapter are pretty nifty.

I'm 100% sure the order they're presented here corresponds with the areas shown on the spread immediately afterwards. So eye scars is stuck in a temple, the girl is stuck in an onsen, kabuki monk guy is stuck in what looks like a floating shrine, and sushi chef is in... a sushi restaurant. Wow shocker.

I'm going to make the assumption that they got to choose where they were imprisoned for the rest of their lives. Maybe it was the government's way of expressing gratitude for helping the war effort? Which makes Magatsumi's wielder (the Sword Master) being sealed up like a nasty curse all the more intriguing... he's clearly fucked up but was he always that way or did the sword corrode his mind? Is there more to the lifelong contract with these swords than just being the only person who can use them? I better get some answers!

Anyway.

So Kunishige personally knew and chose these people... I wonder how meeting them will deepen Chihiro's understanding of his father's legacy. I sincerely doubt that all of them will make it easy for him to recover the blade they're tied to, but we'll hopefully learn a lot while Chihiro makes his attempts. Really seems like we are set up for Kunishige and Seitei War backstory so I am hype. Dead DILF lore! DEAD DILF LORE!

Hiyuki and Kamunabi Thoughts

Hiyuki also had some interesting moments this chapter. She understands that the current stalemate with the Hishaku has tied the Kamunabi's hands for the most part, forcing them to do less than savory things (like bidding on the Shinuchi) to keep the peace. And despite her hotblooded outburst before the auction, she still has rock solid faith in her org's mission. So I don't think she'll defect easily so as long as she believes the mission is doable under better circumstances.

And it seems like she thinks Chihiro might be the right catalyst for change... hmm. She's essentially using him as a chaos agent to shake up the status quo because he proved himself to her. She finds him worthy of deciding how to handle the blades, so now she's giving him and Hakuri the opportunity prove themselves to her leaders. Very cool. There's some rather deep stuff going on with her.

Hiyuki's much more establishment-oriented than her personality and actions suggest. I get the sense that she's there as an idealist who is willing to upset the status quo to see the mission through. A true believer in a bureaucratic institution- love that type of conflict. Can't wait to see more of her in this arc!

So now we're set to see Chihiro's philosophy and methods on trial. Super intriguing stuff and I'll definitely be looking at the questions each Kamunabi leader is asking to try and suss out their allegiance. Playing Guess the Traitor this arc is gonna be a lot of fun (I hope)!

Speaking of which... Azami as the traitor allegations don't move me, but I do think he'll be restricted this arc due to the ongoing investigation into his clandestine activities. Chihiro could well be on his own without an adult to watch out for him. At least he and Hakuri will be there for each other. ...With no one to try and stop them from doing reckless stunts. Uh oh.

So that's a wrap on this fuckhuge ramble. Hope the breakneck pace slows down just a smidge but I'm still very onboard with whatever is coming next. Thanks for allowing me to ramble as always, void.

[robot-roadtrip-rants]

@krakoansam this needed its own post

i rearranged my bookshelf for this flex

A lot of these are primary sources (Baburnamah, Nihongi) or collections of primary sources (The Classic Slave Narrative, The Jew in the Modern World). Primary sources are an acquired taste, but once you acquire it, they're delicious. I can't tell you how delightful it is to read Babur I describe swooning over a boy when he was nineteen, or watch ibn Khaldun almost figure out the connection between sunshine and dark skin. And of course, there's no substitute if you're trying to understand the minds of the people back then. Reading the writings of 19th century European Jewish intellectuals in high school literally changed my life (hence why the textbook from that class, The Jew in the Modern World, is on my bookshelf). But it can also be very difficult. I only made it a few pages into Voices of Chernobyl before I had to put it down.

Also the comics:

I was kinda hesitant to include Nonnonba, but I think it earns its place as a primary source, just like When I Grow Up. It's very precious to me. There aren't many primary sources on pre-war Japan in English, and few of them focus on everyday, small town life. Even fewer are as accessible as Nonnonba.

A reoccurring problem with pre-war and especially pre-Meiji histories is that too many Anglo authors are fixated on ~the honorable samurai~ with their ~wonderful code of bushido~ AARRRGH SHUT THE FUCK UP. If I see "bushido" anywhere near a serious discussion of the aristocratic (kinda) warrior caste of Japan, then everything goes right in the trash! Nitobe Inazō coined the word in 1900 when he was trying to explain how Japanese people were civilized to racist white people. There were, in fact, various codes of ethics/military conduct that circulated through pre-Meiji Japan, just like in every other fucking civilization, and the word bushido does pop up occasionally due to how the Japanese language works. But there was no unified code, and the concept of proper warrior conduct changed over the centuries. The Book of Five Rings, written by a guy who lived through the tail end of the Warring States Era, reads very different from the Hagakure, written after about a century of peace.

Imperial Japan is extremely interesting and extremely fucked up. The guys who jerk off to that shit are vile. Studying WWII, regardless of the theater, is like digging through an endless ravine of shit. Every time you think you're done, you've excavated all the shit, you're completely inured to the stink and the filth, TA-DAH! There's another, even worse strata of shit beneath your feet. I'm probably going to piss people off with this statement, but reading about WWII, is how I learned to stop worrying and--well, not love, per se, but make my peace with The Bomb. Yes, I am bitterly aware of the sick irony of that. No, that does not change my mind. The Mexican standoff that The Bomb inflicts on the world is preferable to WWIII. We aren't civilized enough as a species keep the peace without that sword dangling over our heads. I'd like to believe that we will be someday, but that day will not come in my lifetime.

I should note that my collection is currently missing The Tale of the Heike, since my old copy fell apart. I've also been meaning to get my hands on a collection of Abu Nuwas's poetry because he's amazing. Everyone should read Abu Nuwas. You haven't lived til you've read one of the greatest poets of all time write about getting drunk and banging dudes.

(translation by A.Z. Foreman)

[quietbooklion]

So I want to talk about Saito. Or, more specifically, why I think he deserved a finale.

It's pretty common for Voltage to abandon a title or give some characters a finale while others have their stories uncompleted. For Era of Samurai, Hijikata, Okita, and Takasugi all have their stories completed, whereas Saito and Harada only made it to season 2. Kondo only has one season, but if you know the history of the Shinsengumi, then he definitely wouldn't have gotten a season 3 storyline.

If we're going on based off of the real Shinsengumi, then out of all the LIs, Saito is the one that manages to not only survive the war, but also live a natural life until he died at 71. Everyone else died, leaving him as one of the few Shinsengumi members that survived. And you would think that with this piece of information, Era of Samurai Saito would get a finale where he and the MC would mourn the Shinsengumi and live the rest of their natural life together. But they didn't. Instead, Saito only made it to season 2 and his story ends there. Why though?

I guess the answer to that was that he wasn't as popular as Hijikata, Okita, and Takasugi. Again, this isn't anything new with Voltage as they have a history of not giving characters a proper finale. It sucks and for the most part, I accept that they weren't as popular as other characters and move on. With Saito, however, I'm a little more annoyed because he survives the war. Him having a finale makes the most sense. He lived while everyone else died.

Even after all these years, Saito deserved a finale. Saito deserved better than simply cutting off his storyline.

[fushichoumomo]

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓  𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈  𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐎  :  𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  &  𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲

(  So  ,  thanks  to  @ketsumyo  for  pointing  this  out  ,  it  really  helped  succinctly  summarise  what  Momo  is  all  about  !  :3  )

I'm  sure  many  of  you  have  heard  of  BUSHIDŌ  (  武士道,  "way  of  the  warrior"  )  ,  the  code  of  morals  &  ethics  of  Japanese  Samurai  .  It  originated  during  the  KAMAKURA  SHOGUNATE  ,   the  era  that  enshrined  bushi  as  a  special  class  of  noble  .  Aside  from  the  fact  that  this  time  period  is  critically  important  to  Momo  as  a  character  (  but  more  on  that  another  time  :3  )  ,  the  principles  of  bushidō  run  so  deep  that  Momo  follows  them  ,  regardless  of  her  alignment  to  Aizen  ,  and  even  contextualises  her  deep  loyalty  to  both  him  and  TŌSHIRŌ  . 

First  ,  there  is  GIRI  ,  which  is  the  duty  a  warrior  owes  to  others  in  service  .  Back  in  the  Rukon  ,  this  meant  that  Momo  would  work  herself  to  the  bone  ,  leaving  her  granny's  house  for  days  on  end  to  bring  home  the  money  for  food  and  necessities  .  Her  assuming  the  name  HINAMORI  is  also  an  act  of  giri  ,  to  shield  them  from  retaliation  of  those  she  went  against  .  In  the  Seireitei  ,  she  became  known  as  one  of  the  hardest-working  Shinigami  in  the  Fifth  ,  and  in  Las  Noches  ,  she  became  known  for  taking  care  of  the  smaller  Arrancar  and  any  outcasts  that  would  find  their  way  to  the  palace  .

Second  ,  there  is  NINJŌ  ,  representing  personal  love  ,  desires  &  feelings  .  Her  desire  TO  STAND  AT  AIZEN'S  SIDE  ,  and  to  keep  Tōshirō  safe  ,  are  both  examples  of  Momo's  ninjō  .  Romantic  and  familial  love  are  the  cornerstones  of  her  character  ,  driving  her  deep  devotion  in  everything  she  does  .

Giri  and  ninjō  often  stand  diametrically  opposed  to  one  another  ,  in  Japanese  literature  ;  to  put  the  former  before  the  latter  was  seen  as  AN  ACT  OF  ULTIMATE  SELF-SACRIFICE  ,  duty  over  emotion  ,  the  pinnacle  of  nobility  and  tragedy  . 

This  ,  again  ,  connects  to  MAKOTO  ,  which  conceptualises  true  sincerity  ,  representing  a  warrior's  sacrifice  of  life  and  desires  to  their  lord  .  For  Momo  ,  this  means  condoning  (  and  even  committing  )  evil  in  the  name  of  Aizen's  end  goal  …  this  explains  how  she  could  remain  so  unmoved  during  Fake  Karakura  ,  even  when  Aizen  made  it  clear  that  creating  the  ŌKEN  (  king's  key  )  would  mean  sacrificing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  human  souls  .  Many  (  rightfully  so  )  call  this  act  of  hers  vile  .  She's  not  a  good  person  ,  guys  ,  no  matter  how  loving  and  devoted  she  is  to  those  she  considers  hers  . 

Momo  ,  like  Tsubaki  ,  unites  giri  ,  ninjō  and  makoto  in  such  a  way  that  these  three  concepts  work  in  harmony  ,  rather  than  diametrically  opposed  to  one  another  .  The  love  that  is  in  her  heart  ,  thus  ,  becomes  not  weakness  ,  but  HER  GREATEST  STRENGTH  .  Interestingly  enough  ,  this  connects  to  AIZEN  MYO'O  ,  who  is  the  Buddhist  God  of  love  and  the  deity  Aizen  Sōsuke  is  based  upon  .

Her  love  for  Aizen  isn't  simply  a  crush  ,  or  a  fleeting  romance  ;  but  rather  something  that  seeks  to  connect  to  his  very  psyche  ,  to  understand  him  fully  and  truly  and  thus  best  aid  him  in  the  completion  of  his  goals  .  This  has  led  to  her  decision  to  commit  the  ULTIMATE  HERESY  against  all  shinigami-kind  ,  hollowfication  .  It  is  simply  both  continuation  and  the  logical  conclusion  of  what  began  as  a  deep  familial  love  for  her  brother  ,  because  the  jobs  she  would  take  also  required  her  to  dirty  her  hands  with  blood  .  So  if  one  were  to  ask  her  why  she  is  evil  ?  It  is  in  service  of  those  she  cherishes  the  most  . 

[leportraitducadavre]

Hi. I apologize for the delayed response. I've been busy with Lunar New Year celebrations, and unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to check Tumblr until now. Here are the links that I sent in the foreshadowing ask https://www.tumblr.com/maoam/740334141571219456/chapter-182-beginning-of-sasuke-retrieval?source=share and https://maoam.tumblr.com/post/689252113529847808/narutos-feelings-in-kage-arc. I also apologize that I should have considered the possibility of you being wary about clicking on unknown links, especially given the current complex state of network security. I simply wanted to ensure my ask appeared tidy.

Hello there, I know you sent me an ask a long time ago about my opinion on these posts, I don't know Japanese so I can't say for sure if what she translated is correct.

What I can tell you, is that suicide amongst Japanese warriors was a practice that was considered the epitome of self-sacrifice towards an ideal. It was also an undying proof of loyalty, the ethos of Bushidō:

Ideas of the samurai code formalized earlier samurai moral values and ethics, most commonly stressing a combination of sincerity, frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, honor until death, "bravery", and "loyalty to the samurai's lord." The idea of a samurai code or codes was developed and refined centuries before the Edo period in the Kamakura period. (Source) Seppuku (切腹, lit. 'cutting [the] belly'), also called harakiri (腹切り, lit. 'abdomen/belly cutting', a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour, but was also practised by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (Source)

I don't understand the comparison, regardless. Why do they claim a character (Darui) speaking of double suicide directly relates to Naruto speaking of dying alongside Sasuke (they used Japanese raws in one image, not in the other one, so I'm not sure the possible interpretation of the Japanese writing, did Naruto use the same "心中" that Darui used?).

The first example they present is from a specific character and his arc (Shikamaru), is he who introduces the notion (women being a problem), and is he who closes it, modifying his views (for a specific woman, Temari).

In the second case, it's Darui who introduces the notion (in a single bubble speech, not an entire page like Shikamaru to convey the relevance of his views), so how come is Naruto the one who closes it?

There's no mention of suicide, either, Naruto claims they'll die together, but the context implies a clash, a fight between them both, not a double suicide; furthermore, Naruto's statement is "If we really do take this all the way to the end, and we both die..." He's not choosing to die, and he's not looking forward to it either, he's listing it as a possibility, that if it happened, it'll mean that in the next life, they'd have no burden of being an Uchiha or a jinchüriki, being able to understand one another without that weight upon them. Having a "clean slate" to understand one another, of sorts...

Kishimoto used the name Monzaemon Chikamatsu as the creator of puppetry ninjutsu, and he is one of the most well-respected Japanese authors. Indeed, Chikamatsu was better known for his double-suicide stories (alongside his reflection of commoners within his plays), but Kishimoto likely used this name because Chikamatsu was, well, a japanese playwright of the jōruri, puppet theatrical art, ancestor of bunraku and kabuki; so likely his homage has more to do with Chikamatsu being "the father" of puppet plays, and less to do with the idea of "double suicide" (Chikamatsu is also mentioned in a completely different arc by Sasori when fighting Chiyo, there's no mention about his stories but rather, his relevance as a puppeteer).

About the second post... I don't know what to say, Hinata confesses as she ends her speech with "I love you, Naruto-kun", while Naruto finishes it with "I'm happy I knew you", the speeches are similar as they both focus on the influence of the other person in their lives and how they inspired them to move forward in their goal; they both idealized the other (Hinata -> Naruto / Naruto -> Sasuke) so in that front, I understand the parallelism.

Naruto uses this speech to morally downgrade Sasuke ("one bad move... and I could have been like you..."). Hinata's confession focuses on how she wants to be beside Naruto, moving alongside him, Naruto's speech is mostly about how he wants to "surpass" Sasuke (their fallout starts when Sasuke refuses to acknowledge Naruto).

I don't understand the "notice how Hinata is facing away from Naruto while confessing, while Naruto is facing Sasuke. It’s the same thing whenever Sakura is confessing, Sasuke always gives her his back. This is again intentional from Kishi." The reasoning is different: Sasuke turns his back towards Sakura because he doesn't want to face her (there's rejection, yes), and Hinata has her back turned because she's facing Pain. Naruto is paying attention to her. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto are facing one another because they're the ones about to fight, so the context in each situation is completely different.

[docholligay]

Things that were nominated 2024

FOr people who won Shamash or the merely curious!

Anime/ation

legend of Vox Machina

Dear Brother

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Bubblegum Crisis

Ranma 1/2 (2024)

Megalobox

Scavengers Reign

Higurashi When They Cry / Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Castlevania

Yataragasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (Japanese title: Seirei no Moribito)

Blue Eye Samurai

Bojack Horseman

Code Geass

Tokyo Godfathers

Sasameki Koto

Akiba Maid War / Akiba Meido Sensō

Death Note

Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared

Rose of Versailles

Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Monster

Paranoia Agent

The Promised Neverland

Akira

Live action:

Letterkenny

Kevin Can Fuck Himself

FROM

The Penguin

Santa Clarita Diet

Shogun (2023)

Deadloch

Severance

Godless (netflix)

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

Max Headroom

Tipping the Velvet

The Batman (2022)

Schitt's Creek

Promised Land (2022)

The Twilight Zone (Original series)

MASH (TV Show)

Life on Mars (UK)

The Americans

Masterminds (2003)

Deadwood

Great British Bakeoff (Mel and Sue Era)

Fallout

Gentleman Jack

The Green Knight

The Only Murders in the Building

Doctor Who (Modern Era)

Yellowjackets

Justified

Hacks

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Vigil

Beef

The Last of Us

Picnic At Hanging Rock

WandaVision

Misc:

Jackbox Games

Cocktail ask hour--we all make a cocktail together (or I show you how) and then we answer asks!

Couples Therapist Holligay

Noted English Scholar Doc

Holligay History Moment -- 2-10 minute videos to teach us more about something in history

Bad Lesbian Advice: Anime Characters Editon (characters give the advice for the question)

Bakeoff-style technical challenge

Show Openings

If You Don't Like What God Gave You, Store Bought is Fine (tutorials on shapewear, wig-wearing, using makeup to sculpt, etc)

Doc Reviews Grocery Store Snacks or International Snacks

Make an Effort: Doc gives advice and guides on how to dress yourself and fashion

History of the American West Day

Who Wants to Be An Intellectual Shit (THis is what Mike did with me and the anime, only it's me as the host and him having to identify what classic literature is about)

Vetting Kids' Media for Beeb (as a children's story for children, specifically my child)

Cooking stream

Music day: whether it's you telling us about music you like, or us recommending music to you.

Holligay Loves Food/Cooking Advice

Redo Day:

ER

Deadwood

The Haunting of Hill House

Santa Clarita Diet

Daria

Sasameki Koto

Twin Peaks

Magical Girl Raising Project

Leverage

Motherland: Fort Salem

Picnic At Hanging Rock

The Legend of Calamity Jane

Sailor Moon day

Write between the episodes scenes

Live Blog Bandai-era Sera Myu

PGSM liveblog

Liveblog of your top Sailor Moon scenes (any incarnation)

Liveblog of the Sailor Moon Manga

Writeup of Michiru/Haruka and Lead Crow/Aluminum Siren double date

Write a fic of Toonmakers (nee Saban) Sailor Moon

Dressing the Senshi using clothing that exists in my closet

Liveblog of the Original Anime

Writing Day:

Fuck Marry Kill and other quick popcorn prompts

Doc writes about history

Odd Ones Out (specifically, prompts for stuff you don't normally write- something besides OW or Sailor Moon, characters like Hotaru or the OW cowboy, comedy genre)

Holligay Loves Food

Prompt Day

Fuck Marry Kill and other quick popcorn prompts

Doc writes about history

Odd Ones Out (specifically, prompts for stuff you don't normally write- something besides OW or Sailor Moon, characters like Hotaru or the OW cowboy, comedy genre)

Holligay Loves Food

Prompt Day

[mizukidevlog]

Devlog 6:

Wow, it's been over a month since I started this thing! Here's to keeping it going for 6!

This has been an interesting week for game development, mainly in that there hasn't been much coding. I've been doing a lot of research into different Japanese things, like fighting styles, eras, etc. Since my game will be taking place in feudal Japan, I want to make sure that everything is relatively historically accurate. I really enjoy little details like that in other games that I play.

Another part of development that I've been putting a ton of time into is sprite work! Not just with developing new sprites but with trying to get better at it. Lately I've been learning sub-pixel animation. It's tough stuff, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Here a comparison with Mizuki's old idle with her new one.

Personally, I really enjoy the swishing of her tails. Very different from the old idle animation. The rest of the sprite work went to the first boss of the game, The Yokai Hunter! This swordsman has been trained in the ways of handling the super-natural, and has been ordered with fighting off any yokais that try to leave the forest. He keeps his face hidden and his katanas sharp, and will test the player's skills before they jump into the rest of the game.

The Yokai Hunter's sprites still need some work, but I'm happy with the rough draft that I have so far.

That's all for this dev post. I'd love to hear what you all think! Both about this post and the game as a whole. Feel free to leave questions on my page or on my posts, I'm always happy to talk about my game.

Enjoy the weekend!

(BTW, here's the links to the stuff I've been learning. It's cool info, especially the sub-pixel animation videos.)

I Try to Explain Sub Pixels in Animation - YouTube Pixel Art Class - Sub-Pixel Animation - YouTube

The Eight Traditional Styles Of Japanese Sword Fighting Used By Samurai - BudoDragon

History of Japan: The Feudal Era to Modern Periods (historycooperative.org)

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

The New York Times

By Jason Zinoman

June 20, 2025 Updated 10:32 a.m. ET

Early in Larry Charles’s juicy showbiz memoir “Comedy Samurai,” he describes a formative moment writing for the television sketch show “Fridays.” Andy Kaufman was doing a bit with a masked magician swallowing a sword, only to spit up blood. “These were the laughs, the comedy, that I would try to pursue all my life,” Charles writes. “The deeper codes of comedy.”

His book, a must-read for comedy nerds, is an account of nearly half of a century attempting to crack those codes, mostly as a director and writer, working with the most famous funny people in show business (Mel Brooks, Jerry Seinfeld) and some of its most notorious bullies (Scott Rudin, the Weinstein brothers).

Charles, 68, describes them all with entertaining candor, while also illuminating the creation of several of the greatest comedies of the modern era, including “Seinfeld” (he wrote for the first five seasons), “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (he directed episodes for two decades) and “Borat,” which he directed.

His career, which began by selling a joke to Jay Leno, is a pocket history of modern comedy, anchored by surprisingly melancholy portraits of his two most fertile artistic relationships — with Larry David and Sacha Baron Cohen. In a recent interview over Zoom, he reflected on the path from Coney Island to Hollywood.

You grew up in Trump Village, a then new housing complex in Coney Island built by the President’s father, Fred. You meet him?

Fred and Donald came by when they opened a Little League field. His father looked like Satan. I found it hilarious.

You barely mention your childhood in the book.

All these kids moved into Trump Village at the same time and it became a “Lord of the Flies” situation. A lot of violence, sadism, cruelty. The bully to victim ratio was one to one. A lot of my humor grew out of surviving this. It’s for my next book.

The importance of class is a theme of your story. You say “Seinfeld” changed when the writers became more well-off.

When I first met Larry David, he was looking to pay the rent. At some point, he was playing golf with Obama. That’s going to change you. The writers whose parents were doctors and lawyers are going to have different problems than me, whose father was basically a drifter. I think this absolutely had an impact not only on “Seinfeld,” but on all popular entertainment. You don’t see working class humor much anymore, except in standup.

It struck me as a triumph of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” that Larry David made being an incredibly rich guy seem like an outsider, if not an underdog.

He had that conflict, that dichotomy. That was real to him. To be from the lower classes and to become that successful, the absurdity of that never left him. I see a bizarro version of that in Trump. Ostentatiously wealthy but also, the Queens accent.

I had heard that you replaced Todd Phillips (“Joker”) as the director of “Borat,” but I didn’t know, as you write, that he was originally a star of it.

That was the main weakness. Todd was in it, and he wasn’t funny. That was my first note: Edit Todd out and Borat must drive it.

What appealed to you about the concept?

I’ve always been attracted to the transgressive. I tried to bring as much transgression to “Seinfeld” and “Curb” as I could, but there were still rules. With “Borat,” I was encouraged to break rules, to offend, to not worry about the results. I found that to be liberating.

Can you do great comedy without transgression?

There are gentle comedians who can be very successful. But if you want to cut through, if you want people to lose it, to lose control, then I think you need to go to the forbidden places.

You write that “Borat” was about love and your next movie with Sacha Baron Cohen, “Bruno,” was about hate.

You write that “Borat” was about love and your next movie with Sacha Baron Cohen, “Bruno,” was about hate.

Borat is an antisemite, a rapist. He’s incestuous. But the fact he’s straight and seemingly innocent made him much more of an acceptable character [when interacting with strangers]. The fact Bruno was gay made him a subject of derision and hostility. That was a revelation that none of us were prepared for. No matter what Bruno did, the fact he was flamboyantly gay was enough to make people not accept him. That’s why “Bruno” is a darker movie.

You made the documentary “Religulous” with Bill Maher, who, you write, “timidly demurred” to film in Palestine. Why?

In his mind, Palestine was a place where something out of control could happen.

He’s been an outspoken defender of Israel.

He feels very differently than I do.

You went to the West Bank for your 2019 series “Larry Charles’ Dangerous World of Comedy.” If Bill Maher did too, do you think his mind would change?

I do. I felt like anyone walking through those towns and meeting those people and seeing those children, you couldn’t think they are our enemy. I’m sure there are crazy people there. I’m sure there are people who did terrible things. But overall, my experience was these are gentle people who want peace. Who are under siege.

You worked closely with Bob Dylan writing the movie “Masked and Anonymous” and describe him, along with Larry David and Sacha Baron Cohen, as one of your “teachers.” Is he also funny?

Yes. Very dry. He would come in with lines like ‘I’m not a pig without a wig.” I was like: ‘What does that mean? That doesn’t mean anything, Bob.’ I was able to say to that to him, which freaked me out. ‘No one is going to understand that line.’ And he said: ‘What’s so bad about being misunderstood?’

Was that Dylan’s idea of a joke?

If you thought it was a joke, fine. If you didn’t, fine too. He’s not concerned with what you or the audience thought. This is the correlation with Larry David. They’re both savants. If they didn’t do this, they would still be doing it on a bench somewhere.

You say Cohen changed after “Borat.”

He became more insecure and more uncertain and found that quantifying laughs from an audience gave him a certain confidence. When you try to figure out on a laugh-by-laugh basis, you can lose sight of the big picture.

You did a long interview with Larry David that was supposed to be a two-part HBO documentary, but it was never released. What was in it?

You see the Larry David behind the persona. The one I’ve known for 40 years. Very well-rounded, very deep, surprisingly spiritual. Not the Larry of the show. That’s one part of him. He cries in the documentary. He talked about death. And he was funny. I think people would have been enlightened by it.

Why didn’t it come out?

I think Larry got frightened by exposing himself. He didn’t like the way he looked. He wanted to be funnier once he saw the footage, even though he told me this was the best interview he’d ever done.

You haven’t talked to him since. Do you hope for a reconciliation?

He’s the most influential person in my adult life. He made me a writer and director. He taught me how to be a man. I am grateful to him. But I think there’s an inevitable ending to everything. Life is temporary. I do feel sad and at the same time: Life goes on. We’re both fine. You lose friends sometimes. Things do have a finite quality and that feeling is very acute to me. I don’t regret anything.

In your book, you describe these great partnerships with Cohen and David that don’t end well. Do you ever think it’s your fault?

I know my own self-destructive qualities. I didn’t want to make Sacha or Larry seem like villains. I have my failings. Yes, it’s something about me. I grew up in a neighborhood of failure. I’m more comfortable on some level with failure than success. It’s something I’ve tried to reconcile.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/books/review/larry-charles-comedy-samurai.html

[talenlee]

Tigatron Was Gay Accidentally

Transformers is a franchise with queer characters (now), mostly due to people who grew up with the series getting involved in making it. I’ve talked about the way that animation errors led to the creation of Acid Storm, a genderfluid Transformer, and the way that Starscream’s gay coding created trans subtext.

But what about the first Gay Transformers?

Now, understand here, I don’t know if this is first. I’m sure there are ways that more authoritive voices can get ahead of me on this one. There are after all, lines of continuity that reach back to 1982 and it’s possible that two robots in say, Kingdom kiss and that’s meant to be how things were back then, as well. Quite frankly, Megatron and Optimus are coded like a pair of extremely bitter exes at times.

But, I think I can point to the earliest gay pair of Transformers.

Spoiler Warning for Beast Wars in 1996, like you care.

In 1996, the Transformers series of the hour was Beast Wars, a show that I’m not showing screenshots of because it feels mean. It was a full CGI show, and one I love because the central character Dinobot. This is your typical Transformers piece of media, with a narrative just engaging enough to keep kids tuning in and cheap enough to keep getting made, and anything good is a byproduct of, basically, an accident. Ask me about the Golden Lagoon sometime. One of the things the show could do to shake things up a little and continue the important task of presenting kids with ads is to introduce new characters, and the conceit for that in Beast Wars was a chain of floating Transformers in pods waiting to crash on earth and get a new form.

One such story hook was Tigatron, in Episode 7 of season 1. Tigatron took the form of a tiger, and then, to not upset the status quo too much, he took to a life out in the northern frozen parts of the world. Up there, he occasionally contacted the Maximals (‘good guys’) with things that needed help or that they wanted to know about, and showed up in stories as a sometimes food, like grapes or something.

Tigatron wound up forming a friendship with Airazor, a lady that turned into a big cool hawk (Animorphs joke), and the two eventually, as loners isolated from the rest of the group, formed a relationship, then eventually fell in love. This is one of the two romance stories I remember of Beast Wars, the other being Silverbolt, a goodie team boy, and Black Arachnia, a baddie team girl. But you might notice in both cases, I’ve mentioned boys who get with girls, or girls with boys (I’m a feminist), and that’s not a good indicator of gayness.

See, in Japan, Airazer was dubbed as a boy.

And like, you can change dialogue in a dub, you can change the style of a thing when you can control the dialogue, you can change what characters say, but you sure have a hard time explaining when the characters hold hands, embrace and near-kiss (because the models are not doing that well with this era of CG). Rather than try and work around it, the Japanese dub just had the episode Other Visits (Season 2, episode 32, February 1998) open with Airazor pivoting from the brotherly ward of Samurai Ronin Tigatron to just straight acting super gay with him.

This puts the introduction of Tigatron, the earlier guy in that relationship, in 1996. Airazor was introduced in 1996, too, but the relationship itself – for two mostly offscreen characters – was something of a slow boil. That puts our first gay characters in 1996, and their relationship forming fully in 1998. Was it good writing? Was it a good gay relationship? Lords no, I’ve heard nothing but criticism for the kind of gayness Male Airazor has, which is a big shift from the cool flyboy persona Femme Airazor has. I’m sure there’s something deeply disappointing to my plane nerd expert friend where a cool lady pilot flyboy becomes a mincing queer boy when you can just have both if you play your cards right.

You can talk about gayness in Transformers in a deliberately obtuse way because, haha, you fool, the Transformers are alien robots, do they even have gender and sexuality? To which I say: Shut up, you’re stupid, you’re not helping the conversation, go home Jeremy. I don’t know if you’re called Jeremy, but I knew a Jeremy around this time and he was a tool, so he’s the standin.

That Transformers can be treated as a mystically genderless space where all relationships are queerer on a deeper level than we express in our mere world of meat is a backfill and you know it. The Transformers were very cis hetero media, coded for male children by men who wanted to sell toys to boys and the whole exercise is very deliberately gendered and coded that way. Transformers are, by default, boys, and that’s an old way of doing things but it’s undeniably true. There’s a reason why the boys outnumber the girls even now something like 10:1.

With that in mind, then, knowing that the story is not an actual documentary about a science fiction universe and is instead an outgrowth of a cis hetero society, then yeah. Transformers are boys and as the boys get older or interested in girls, that gets to be their one special interest, like Elita 1 and Optimus’ relationship, or Arcee’s and Springer’s (or was it Hot Rod’s) relationship.

Airazor only got to be gay because of Japan, and only because of the peculiarities of how the show got made. After all, this isn’t something that I imagine anyone anticipated coming up, and the decision to have Airazor get really gay in response to the change in the status quo was probably a byproduct of the show not being made with the Japanese dub studio’s input. After all, there’s nothing unsafe in what was being done in America, and the dubbers weren’t doing anything unsafe themselves until they suddenly were. There’s a lot of competing theories as to why, a lot of possible reasons, but nobody can prove them. And Airazor and Tigatron have been a fixture of a relationship in the comics, too – where she shows up, he tends to, too. It’s legitimately interesting in that Airazor is one of the more long-running fleshed-out women in Transformers (by dint of sheer age) and that brings with it the queerness of Tigatron thanks to someone not liking the cool lady.

You can obviously harmonise this with her being trans now, and Tigatron being bi or pan.

This is just another node in a long line on the chart that shows Transformers is a place where really cool and interesting things happen, but often, largely by accident.

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